After teaming up with Swagger Paris for a kick ass CMJ party (with We Have Band, Sleigh Bells, Phantogram, etc.), we’ve teamed up with our good friend Sian-Pierre Regis and his fly fashion site again to bring you a monthly mixtape tailored to the Swagger style.  Ready?  Ready!

SWAGGER: MIXTAPE by forthebeat (track list below and click on the image above to stream the playlist)…

Biggie vs. Tupac vs. The xx – Runnin’ With The xx
Sebastien Tellier – Divine (Danger Remix)
Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Cold Blank Remix)
Lykke Li and Kings of Leon – Knocked Up Rodeo Mash Up
MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix)
Telepathe – Chrome’s On It (Gold Panda Remix)
Mystery Jets – Half In Love With Elizabeth (Delorean Remix)
Four Tet – Love Cry

We’ve put together our “Best of” list — forthebeat’s 9 of ‘09, featuring 9 original tracks and 9 remixes. Not all of these debuted in 2009, but this list is comprised of our favorite tunes we couldn’t stop repeating, all year long.

Our friends over at Et Musique Pour Tous have compiled the list into an 18 track, candy for your ears, end of year mixtape.  Head over to EMPT and download here.  In no particular order, the track listing:

White Rabbits – Percussion Gun
Delorean – Deli
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A Trak Remix)
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Sleigh Bells – Ring Ring
Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
The xx – Crystalized
The Virgins – Rich Girls (The Twelves Remix)
Miike Snow – Sylvia
Telepathe – Chrome’s On It (Gold Panda Remix)
Florence and The Machine - Cosmic Love
Sebastien Tellier – Roche (Breakbot Remix)
La Roux - I'm Not Your Toy (Jack Beats Remix)
Air France – Collapsing At Your Doorstep
Lykke Li – Dance, Dance, Dance
Florence and the Machine – You’ve Got the Love (The xx Remix)
Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
The xx – Shelter (Them Jeans Drum Edit)

One of EMPT’s fans, KIKI, left an extensive comment list that is nothing short of amazing, describing how each track makes her feel.  Some incredible highlights here:

track 3: I fucking love a-trak. and the word alchemy. at 2:28 I’m jamming with steph in a club and then we’re at the beach and then in a plane….by about 4:25 we’re at hiro.

track 6: YESSSSSSSSSS. NO WORDS. JUST PARTY MOVES AND PARTY DRESSES. SEQUIN ONES. black sequins, and spaghetti straps and champagne and a disco ball and jumping on banquettes. and falling in love or out…

track 8: I wish I could walk around nyc with songs like this blasting from a boom box on my shoulder.

track 9: saturday afternoons during ny winter with no real sunlight and rain and snow and walking down the street with a hat and mittens and loving whats in your ears and loving strangers.

track 13: repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat.

track 14: whatevsky.

track 18: dance party in slow motion. or steph doing the running man…..

MSTRKRFT

There were certain bands this weekend that really confirmed “yeah, this is so worth it,” despite the mud swamps and the cold rain on Friday and again on Sunday.  Namely the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Crystal Castles, MSTRKRFT, Lykke Li and La Roux.

I’ve always felt partial to male frontmen, but this weekend really showed how f’ing amazing women leads can be.

Karen O. is an absolute rock goddess. Her on-stage antics and thrusts are exactly how I would want to rock out if I could sing.

We were FRONT ROW for Lykke Li. She kept doing this bad ass move of punching her chest, and I kept thinking “YES.”

La Roux was the reason I made myself get up to go on Sunday. Two songs that certainly stood out from her performance were “Bulletproof” and “In For the Kill.” I also felt complete after finally seeing her red-headed poof (that I admire so much), in person.

And lastly, seeing MSTRKRFT and Crystal Castles. MSTRKRFT is just ridiculous.  I only caught three songs, sadly, because we were coming back from Jay-Z, but they absolutely live up to the hype. And as for Crystal Castles, Alice Glass scared the crap out of me, and I loved every minute of it.

xx sl

Lykke Li

Katie White of The Ting Tings

Caroline Polachek of Chairlift

sl’s Top 5:

1. La Roux
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. Ra Ra Riot (already seen them, but I still can’t wait)
4. Lykke Li
5. Elbow

kc’s Top 5:

1. Jay-Z
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. Lykke Li
4. Gogol Bordello
5. Arctic Monkeys (already seen them, but excited to hear new material)

…and who I am NOT excited to see — The Honey Brothers.