mixtape maestro (2.0)

Whether or not the fact that Duck Sauce is a team-up between A-Trak and Armand Van Helden means anything to you (and really, it should!!), all that one really needs to absorb is how ace the side-project’s first single “aNYway” is.

Essentially nothing more than a sampled chunk of the 1979 Final Edition gem “I Can Do It (Anyway You Want)” that’s been beefed up into an irresistible disco house stomper, the makings of “aNYway” may not be all that complex, but damn if it’s simple looping of a gleeful Studio 54 swing and handful of exclamatory soul lines doesn’t make any dark cloud currently hovering over your life instantly dissipate once you’re completely swarmed by it’s euphoric, Studio 54-centered hold.

Alongside it’s entertaining clip of an Afro-ed, Jackson 5-like entity lighting up a ’70′s variety show stage with their infectious boogie, “aNYway” re-strengthens one longing for not only “Soul Train”‘s return to the airwaves, but a brand new edition completely soundtracked with stuff like this rather than the comparably weak definition of what’s considered “rhythmic music” these days.

Check out the video, followed by an MP3 of the sample source, below.

Look for Duck Sauce’s debut EP, Greatest Hits, via Fool’s Gold sometime later this year.

DL: “I Can Do It (Anyway You Want)” (alt)

Earlier this week, Little Joy (the side project act of Strokes’ drummer Fabrizio Moretti, Los Hermanos singer Rodrigo Amarante and singer/ songwriter Binki Shapiro) took a trip to the Daytrotter studios for a couple of live performances, and the posted sessions quickly reminded Mixtape Maestro how much of a pleasantly sublime treat their much overlooked 2008 self-titled debut remains (and how much we look forward to any of their future endeavors in-between day job gigs).

One of the featured performances is the Strokes-y “Keep Me In Mind”, an upbeat summertime rocker revolving around a man’s discovery of a “Dear John” letter that’s somehow both cruel and charming (“Frankly dear, i’m forced to give it up/ Tried my hand and now I’ve had enough/ Even though we have to say goodbye/ Keep me in mind”).

Given the blurried quality of the album version, hearing “Mind” in the crystal-clear clarity of a live context makes it’s even more of a favorite. Now we can better grasp the song’s dancing twin guitar interweavery magic, as well as the ragged edges of Amarante’s lazy croon, which adds a nice wearied tone in his echoed reciting of the title.

Hear/ snatch up the Daytrotter performance below.

DL: “Keep Me In Mind (Live Daytrotter Session)” (alt)