Author Archives: James pagliuca

Excision’s trademark style of insane, intense, in-your-face dubstep has made him one of the biggest names in the bass heavy electronic scene. To be honest, before I listened to this new album I thought that the majority of Excision’s work was a little too crazy to be a part of my usual set, reserving his most popular songs (Swagga, for instance) only for times when I’m feeling the dirtiest of the dirty. X-Rated, while still maintaining Excision’s heavy, brutal style, has influences from all over the electronic music scene, making the album a much more accessible entry into Excision’s body of work as well as creating a richer and more enjoyable listening experience overall.

Tracks like Ohhh Nooo and Swerve have a definite club feel, fusing Excision’s style with electro/house, which I didn’t even think was possible. 8 Bit Superhero comes out of nowhere as an upbeat, chiptune and drum & bass jam–although I’m not entirely sure if I actually like the song or I’m just psyched that Excision is using 8 bit. Sleepless and Jaguar also stand out as being very chill, laid back jams and serve as a welcome break from the usual out of control bangers that dominate Excision’s usual fare. But the two highlights of the album by far are the songs that stay truest to Excision’s badass, epic style; Execute and the title track, X Rated. There are no adjectives filthy enough to describe these two devastating monsters. They dominate your ear drums and are guaranteed to turn the dance floor into something resembling a mosh pit, a riot and an insane asylum.

This album nails it in every sense, delivering an impressive and diverse collection of music while still maintaining a firm base in the classic Excision style. Now hook up those speakers and get ready for a wild ride.

MP3: Excision – Execute

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MP3: Excision & Messinian – X Rated

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Make sure to check out the entire album on Beatport here

Excision | Facebook | Soundcloud | Twitter

Jared Lucas aka Kap Slap has completely changed my opinion of mashups. Generally speaking, they’re pretty simple, easy to make, and have about as much musical quality as the top 40 pop songs from which they are composed. But Kap Slap takes them to a completely new level–sampling beats, effects and vocals from dozens of songs and genres and combining them into epic electro/house compositions that will get the d floor bumping. I included a few choice jams, but honestly I’ve been on his Soundcloud for hours and this guy can do no wrong. And as it wasn’t enough to have a massive collection of total bangers, he also offers his ENTIRE body of work for download on his website for FREE. Not much of a business plan, but I’m not complaining. So if you’re looking for a good pregame/party playlist, Kap Slap has exactly what you need to rage till the break of dawn.

MP3: Kap Slap – Paper Towels! (Deadmau5 x Lazy Rich x Britney)

MP3: Kap Slap – Strobe Lights (Re-Fix)

MP3: Kap Slap Touch Your Arms Against Me (Dubstep Re-Edit)

Check out his entire body of work on his website

Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

Alright Music Ninjas, this week in addition to the usual banging dubstep I’m also blowing the lid off a conspiracy greater than Watergate, Iran Contra and 9/11 combined. This conspiracy concerns the identity of the DJ behind this epic Adele/Skrillex mashup, which before I state my case I have to say is absolutely insane

Adele vs. Skrillex – Set Fire To Everybody (ca7’s Mashup)

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But when I tried to research ca7, the artist behind it, I found a series of unusual coincidences. For starters, ca7 seems to be just a nickname for the DJ’s full name ca715al1v3, which is L337 speak for “cat is alive.” ca7’s Facebook page has no content or activity before last Tuesday. His Twitter account is following 0 people with 0 tweets and 0 followers. He has 0 songs uploaded on Soundcloud, with 1 comment and 2 favorites of virtually unknown electronic songs. His YouTube account was created a mere 2 months ago, and this mashup is the only thing on it. The only reason I have even heard of this guy is because Skrillex posted about the mashup on his Facebook. Before that, it’s like he didn’t even exist.

Which is why I think he’s deadmau5.

Hear me out here. There’s the obvious correlation with cat/mouse, dead/alive and both using L337 speak, but check out ca7’s Facebook profile picture.

Seem familiar?

Add to that the fact that deadmau5 has done something like this before, with his Soundcloud account under the name fuckmylife which began as an anonymous profile through which deadmau5 leaked his own songs. And Skrillex, the one who made this mashup popular in the first place, is presumably pretty close with deadmau5 after beginning his career touring with him and being on his label.

Now I might be way off base here, or this ca7 might just be some clever shmoe trying to get publicity, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t smell a little fishy. So I’m gonna leave this one up to my fellow Ninjas. Is it just a coincidence? A well thought out hoax? Or is mau5 trolling us all yet again?

UPDATE: ca7 actually reached out to us and denied he has anything to do with Deadmau5. Sigh, a blogger can dream cant he? Check the comments bellow to see what he has to say.