Bridge & Burn

Beats & Burn Vol. 37 - June Playlist

Jun 15, 2019

With the warm, sun-bearing months so close that you can almost taste the sweet corn, the time to find a killer playlist for all things summer is now. This month’s cool and calming playlist comes to you from our friend Justin Gage in Los Angeles, who suggests you may want to listen along with a nice mezcal and well-worn huaraches. Featuring cover art by a returning Beats & Burn collaborator, Austin Rossborough, who offers us a glimpse into his nostalgia for the early months of summer as a child..

About The Playlist

Following a particularly wet winter here in Los Angeles, the following set was inspired by a recent trip to Mexico City and the coast north of Salulita. Pairs well with a nice mezcal and well-worn huaraches. Salud.

About The Mixer

Based in Los Angeles, Justin Gage is the founder of Aquarium Drunkard, Autumn Tone records and a partner at Gold Diggers bar/hotel/studio. Additionally, Gage works as a producer, music supervisor and consultant, and hosts the weekly Aquarium Drunkard show on SIRIUS XM radio.

@aquariumdrunkard | Aquarium Drunkard

About the Cover Art

“Summer has always carried mixed feelings for me. The excitement and energy of longer days is balanced by my love of colder weather. Thinking back on my childhood however, summer nights stand out to me as some of my best memories. Sitting on the front porch during a thunderstorm, eating slices of watermelon on the curb, and staying out later than usual. Of all these, watching fireflies will always be nearest to my heart. In honor of the first month of summer, I wanted to capture these memories of peace and excitement through illustration."

About the Artist

Austin Rossborough is an illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. Inspired by the methods and practices of the past, specifically woodblock printing; his work explores the search for peace and beauty amidst a changing world.

@austinrossborough | Austin Rossborough

Beats & Burn Vol. 36 - January Playlist

Jan 26, 2019

Well, 2019, you've certainly got our attention—just 27 days into the new year and we've already experienced a total lunar eclipse, a supermoon, a blood moon and quite possibly the moodiest weather known to man. But these natural phenomenons aren't the only things to grab our attention lately, with the release of our new (and perhaps most exciting) Spring/Summer collection coming down the pike, we can barely contain our excitement for what's in store for our Bridge Burner community.
This month's Beats & Burn playlist, curated by our friend David Ireland, contains a very fitting set of tracks for the current state of affairs. A beautiful mash up of dark matter with small tinges of hopeful light, our January playlist will make you feel all the feels, and we're here for it.

ABOUT THE PLAYLIST

THE MIX
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been listening to a lot of cinematic electronic stuff and artists that kind of straddle the line between classical and electronic, often called neoclassical. Artist like Nils Frahm, Max Richter, Agnes Obel, and Dustin O’Halloran create the perfect music for introspective winter walks on cloudy January days. This mix was made for a kind of melancholy mediation or emotional reset after the post-holiday void, a perfect audio companion for a month that can often leave us feeling a little blank - nothing but feels here. Enjoy.

THE MIXER | @magnetic_mag | magneticmag | magnetic_magazine
David Ireland began his career in 1995 as creator and publisher of BPM Magazine. In August of 2000, BPM Magazine merged with djmixed.com LLC, an online media company based in Los Angeles, which later evolved into the Overamerica Media Group [OMG] in 2003. In 2009 Ireland left Overamerica Media Group to serve as the VP of Marketing at Diesel and In 2011 Ireland returned to his roots in media and cofounded the online electronic music publication Magnetic Magazine (magneticmag.com) and The Magnetic Agency Group. In June of 2018, Ireland joined Winter Music Conference (now owned by Ultra Music Festival) as the Director to lead the brand reboot for 2019 and usher in a new era for the iconic brand.

ABOUT THE COVER ART

THE ART
Inspired by the recent Blood Moon, or how we would have liked to experienced it. Instead, Portland had a fitting view of a cloudy sky as the moon moved into the last phase of its total eclipse. A new year brings time to reflect on our purpose in this world, and nature always seems to do its job by putting us in our place. Watercolor & Pen.

THE ARTIST | artofstone.bigcartel.com | @art0fst0ne | bbeccastone@gmail.com
Rebecca Stone is a tree lovin' gal trying to survive the concrete jungle. Her artwork is inspired by the natural world around us and our complicated relationship with it. She continues to make art with traditional materials in an ever increasing digitalized world.
She supports her art habit by doing commissions! Check out her website, Instagram, or send her an email!

Beats & Burn Vol. 35 - DJ DNA

Dec 21, 2018

A brand new mix from DJ DNA is your antidote to the holiday hustle. A little bit psychedelic, a tad bit experimental, and a lotta bit chill vibes—our December playlist will make you want to kick back, put those feet up, and reggae your heart out 'til the sun goes down. Happy Holidays!

Cover art is by graphic artist extraordinaire Joshua Minnich

This is the 35th volume of our monthly Beats & Burn series, a collaboration with Portland's local, independent radio station XRAY.fm.

Playlist by DJ DNA

ABOUT THE MIX
My basic goal with this mix was to compile some pop tracks I could imagine playing as background in a retail environment, though in some alternate reality where the normal history and economic realities of the music industry had been bent and flipped; bringing together tracks that, though all created around roughly the same period, happened in different parts of the world and in different levels and corners of a then-sprawling global music industry, tracks that would have most likely not ended up playing next to each other at the time.

As I made the mix, and listening back to it, I picked up on another theme, which is the pure psychedelic exploration of the instrumentation and studio techniques employed by these artists and producers. From strange samples to expansive reverb effects to little animal-like synth doodles to cosmic arpeggiations, these songs are brimming with the sense of fun everybody must have had tweaking these tracks and fleshing out their idiosyncratic visions. For example, Rebbie (pronounced Ree-Bee) Jackson’s “Centipede,” after a slightly jarring industrial intro, begins as a masterpiece of understated moody synth touches adding color to a soulful funk piece, before evolving into a celebratory jammer, all the while maintaining this absolutely bizarre and creepy lyrical conceit about some sort of sexy centipede (?!?!). Her brother Michael wrote the track, maybe he was hanging out with David Cronenberg at the time?

P.S. I’m a sucker for a good reggae cover of a solid pop song

ABOUT THE MIXER
DJ DNA splits time between selling groceries, selling records, and playing records around town and on XRAY FM Tuesday nights from 10-11pm, with a show called San Remo 1985. Having contributed over 200 (mostly) live vinyl mixes under the San Remo 1985 format since XRAY’s debut, DNA will be switching it up in the near future with a brand new show in the pipeline (same day and time)… stay tuned!

Cover Art by Joshua Minnich

ABOUT THE ARTIST | joshuaminnich.com | @joshuaminnich
Joshua is an illustrator living in Portland, Oregon after a recent move from his home state of Ohio. He has been full-time freelance since 2010 and specializes in illustration and hand-lettering with a focus on branding, label and packaging design. His work is inspired by nature, as well as design and typography from the late 1800’s - 1940’s. He collects old packaging and labels to surround himself with inspiration and interprets the inspiration from these items in a new, yet timeless approach.