SURFPUNX: The Mixes - Spring Has Sprung

Flowers bloom, sun shines, and rain falls. Spring has sprung and there's no better way than to celebrate outdoors with this mix on full blast. As always we keep your head bobbing and toes tapping as we spin our way through some of the top songs of today's charts, clubs and maybe a melody or two that we all know.

Enjoy "Spring Has Sprung - A Pollinated Mix"! 

SURFPUNX: The Mixes - One For My Baby

To celebrate Valentine's Day 2012 I thought it'd be nice to post a mix for all of the lovers out there. Press play and relax to the soothing sounds of artists from yesterday, today, and tomorrow as they sing some of your favorite love songs.

Created a few months back this mix was created especially for the love of my life. It matters little that this mix was created for one person as the two hour mix goes from Dru Hill to Lil Wayne, Aretha to The Beatles, Elton John to Dr. John and more. Each song exudes one simple feeling. Unending love, in it's various forms.

SURFPUNX: Year 2012 - Let's Warm This Up a Bit

While the winter months continue to pile on cold weather, (it seems mother nature forget to bring the snow this year) we struggle to keep the blood flowing in our bodies buried beneath blankets and sweaters. I say NAY! Let's pop on this mix and progress from head bobbing, to feet tapping, to torso swaying, right onto legs standing, and before you know it you've been dancing two and half hours wrapping up up the celebration with Kurt Cobain backed by some French House beats.

We've pieced together some remixes and mash-ups of your favorite Top 40 songs from yesterday, today and tomorrow. We're back in the mix after a hiatus of a few months. We hope to be back giving you mixes to listen to on a regular basis. Thanks for following our work and we can't wait to more of what we've been working on! 

Press play and get that body moving to "Let's Warm This Up a Bit - A Mid-Winter Heater!" 

Let's Warm This Up a Bit - A Mid-Winter Heater! by Es Digga Tee on Mixcloud

SURF PUNX The Mixes: DJ Digga's Eclectic Energy

Welcome to a bi-weekly auditory feature here on Mad About Music Mondays highlighting some of the music we love to listen to and enjoy. First up we have your's truly tackling many styles in this week's mix. Contained within is a four-hour journey through what we believe is the necessary backing to a kick-ass good time.

Sit back, crank up the speakers and let your ears enjoy the melodic tones of
"Es Digga Tee - Eclectic Energy".

MikeD's Ten Instrumental Songs You May Have Never Heard

On Monday, Scooter posted his Top 10 Instrumental Songs. Using his criteria (listed below) I compiled my own list.

No themes from movies or television are allowed. (Love Theme, Peter Gunn theme, Guns of Navarone, TSOP)
Not a single word may be said during the whole song. (Reel Big Fish's 241, Tequila, Wipe Out, The Hustle, Daft Punk's Musique)
Lyrics may not exist for the song upon recording. (Jeff Beck's A Day in the Life, SRV's Little Wing, Sing Sing Sing)
No overly campy songs featured prevalently in media. (Dueling Banjos, Star Wars Cantina, The Entertainer, Soul Bossa Nova)
Cannot predominantly feature a solo as the majority of the song. (Moby Dick, Eruption, I Know You're Here)

Music is a powerful tool that I think helps exemplify many aspects of life, whether ones life experiences, hardships, celebrations, or misery. I've always had a interest in instrumental music though, even at a young age when I first bought my first Metallica album, actually cassette Master of Puppets in 1989, which features of course Orion, which Scooter mentioned in his post. (Which you can purchase on the left in it's amazing lo-fi sound.)
It's emotional impact ran deep even without words you get a keen sense of what kind of moods they were expressing throughout the passage. Since then I have greatly expanded my musical influences; whether it's traditional folk, classical, jazz, rock, metal, electronic or anything in between. I like music that takes me on a journey, something to ponder, or simply zone out to.

Words never meant much to me too often in music because I think of them as more personal to the artist, unless the subject is more historical. This is probably one reason why I got very into heavier death and black-metal as the vocals were used more as instruments of rage and fury.

This post is not intended to be a 'best of' by any means. This list was sort of thrown together from bands off the top of my head that I greatly enjoy. These also are not listed in any particular order. I could probably go on and list 50 more ranging from all different genres but I'll keep this short and to the point. Hope you may find something you enjoy. If you do, check out their albums or buy them HERE.

Guest Blogger Thursday - RMaynard's Musical Chairs

My friend Scooter has invited me to contribute to this blog, and I am happy oblige. First, let me make one thing clear: I have never blogged before. The very word "blog" conjures up strange thoughts in my mind. It sounds fecal to me. "You wouldn't believe the size of the blog I just dropped in there." Furthermore, I firmly believe that opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and they usually stink. So why would anyone give a damn about my perspective? It's a mystery to me, but here we are, so here we go.

Recently I decided that after almost 15 years of dedicated playing I was going to hang up the guitar. When I announced this to my friends I was met with shock, disapproval, words of encouragement to continue playing, and disbelief. Nobody seemed to be able to understand why I would do such a thing. I don't know if I can fully explain what led me to that point, but the best analogy I have come up with is this: Being able to play the guitar the way I can without achieving any real level of success or fame is like having the keys to a Corvette and not being able to get it out of the parking lot. So I decided to get out and try to enjoy the walk. Make sense?