Mixtape Mondays: Cosmo Baker x Skratch Bastid, Midnight Rockers Express, LeftO & Hobo Truffles

This week's Mixtape Mondays features mixes from Cosmo Baker x Skratch Bastid, Mixtape stalwarts Midnight Rockers Express and LeftO and something a little different from in the way of a beat tape from Hobo Truffles. Lee and GETLIVE! of Midnight Rockers Express include artists such as Four Tet, A$AP Mob  and Arcade Fire in their 25th collection. LeftO's #587th show goes from the hip hop of Vic Mensa to great beats from the likes of Fatty DL  and Daedelus. Lastly, production collective Hobo Truffles drop an instrumental mixtape titled Ode to Ghana, wherein all the samples come from Ghanaian highlife music. The result is beautiful. Click through to find mixes that can turn up the heat in these frigid times.

Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2013 / Okayplayer Mixtape Mondays

Artwork by Rhek.

Cosmo Baker is not only a homie of ours and Philly representer, he is one of the least fade-able fader-jockeys in the world, one of our very favorite DJs. So when he hit us up about debuting this 2013 best-of tape, made in collaboration with one of his very favorite DJs--the one Skratch Bastid--we jumped at the chance like Kris Kross listening to Acid Rap. What resulted is this little gift for a cold monday in January: Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2013. Now this is true. The selections Baker & Bastid packed this mix with fall basically into two categories: 1) songs we included on our own best-of lists from Omar to Jai Paul, 2) songs we wish we had included on our best-of lists. There's even a tribute to the late, great Donald Byrd in there between the Pusha T, Disclosure and Janet Jackson remixes. Listen below and scroll down to read what Cos & Skratch had to say and grab the full tracklist.

Skratch Bastid & Cosmo Baker - Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2013 by Skratch Bastid on Mixcloud

We've all got our own jams.

Good songs have a way of finding our ears and if we love them, we keep them near. We go back to them, sometimes every day, sometimes every few weeks, or months, or even every few years. Some songs are new, some are old -- our personal soundtrack is unique and comes from a number of different influences. We play certain songs over and over, and those songs often go on to define that time in our lives.

"Songs We Listened To A Lot in 2013" is sort of a "Best Of" year-end mix, but the catch is it isn't only comprised of music that was released that year. Many of the songs ARE from 2013, but we want to make sure the 'older' songs that made noise on our speakers & headphones get the shine they deserve, too. 39 tracks, and just under 3 hours of music. It's safe to say that there is something on here for everyone, and we guarantee you're going to hear something new.

Outside of listening, we want you to get involved. We want to know what songs got the most spins on your Discman last year and what songs you would have put on a mix like this one. We've already got some great selections & stories from some of our good friends and we've been posting them over at songs2013.tumblr.com. On Twitter, people have been posting titles & links, using the hashtag #Songs2013 - and they've been putting us up on great music. Let your favorites be known.

And let that mix bump. Peace!

- Bastid & Cosmo, 2014

 Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2013:

Wee - Aeroplane (Reprise)

Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You

Omar - The Man

Pusha T - Numbers On The Boards

Jai Paul - 100 000

Mayer Hawthorne - Her Favorite Song (Oliver Remix)

Janet Jackson - If (Kaytranada Remix)

Rihanna (f/ Mikki Ekko) - Stay (DJ Theory Dub)

Disclosure (f/ London Grammar) - Help Me Lose My Mind

Alice Smith - Another Love

Rich Homie Quan - Type Of Way

Gunplay - Bible On The Dash

King Krule - Easy Easy

Thundercat - Heartbreaks + Setbacks

Rhye - Open

Erasmo Carlos - Sorriso Dela

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - If This World Were Mine

Shy FX (f/ Liam Bailey) - Soon Come

Beres Hammond - Can't Stop a Man

Derrick Harriott - The Loser

Toots & The Maytals - Pressure Drop

Idris Muhammad - Could Heaven Ever Be Like This

Donald Byrd - Love Has Come Around

Alicia Myers - I Want To Thank You

Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip - Thank You

N.O.R.E. & Large Professor - Built Pyramids

Wale (f/ Sam Dew) - Lovehate Thing

Mariah Carey & Miguel - Beautiful

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Reflections

Todd Terje - Strandbar (Samba Version)

Ninetoes - Finder

Little Boots - Satelite (Lindstrøm Remix)

Goldroom - Embrace (Cyclist Remix)

Classixx - Hanging Gardens

Ned Doheny - Get It Up For Love

Alessi - Do You Feel It?

The Futures - Ain't No Time Fa Nuthin'

Janelle Monae & Miguel - Prime Time

Bobby Hutcherson - Now

Kicking off with Kelela, Kingdom, FlyLo and Burial the tracklist to Midnight Rockers Express #25--selected & mixed, as ever, by Lee Harrison & DJ GETLIVE!--is another mix that reads like one of our best-of year end lists (like this one, or maybe this one). It's kind of like a slightly more specific, eclectic version of Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2013. Another organizing theme: good shit. Stream or download below and scroll down for the tracklist

Comrade LeftO always comes through with the jams that make an okayplayer's day, and show #567 is no exception, running from Kwabs to The Jackson 5, from Burro Banton to Shirley Bassey, baby.

the breathing effect - daydream prison

jonwayne - attitude

vic mensa - suitcase ft. chance the rapper

the jackson 5 - i am in love pt.1

lee perry & the upsetters - khasha macka

lester sterling - lester's skank

burro banton - gunman

nancy holloway - hurt so bad

shirley bassey - light my fire

great dane - stormy weather

losco. - protein

drake - come thru (james blake version)

bishop nehru - mobb dizzle

som sete - esquindindin

juan pablo torres - ey!...Op.1

kwabs - wrong or right

andrew ashong - flowers

dorian concept - trilingual dance sexperience

cid rim - fade

lone - dream ache

illingsworth - due dads

ras g - gmo hoes

step brothers - step masters (alchemist & evidence)

daedelus - experience accordion

black phoenix - black

donny hathaway - memory of our love

WITCH - come together

tyree cooper & vin sol - it's house

j.a.n. stormy

HNNY - no

loefah - veal

deetroit - feeels

billie jewell - over you boy

crackazat - dancrodile

owiny sigoma band - nyiduongue drums (champions remix)

falty dl - danger

Okayafrica stay putting us up on the cool shit, and this highlife-inspired beat tape from Hobo Truffles was so cool, we had to include it in Mixtape Mondays. Here's what OKA said about it:

Worldwide beatmaking collective Hobo Truffles pay dope tribute to Ghana’s music heritage for their debut compilation, a beat tape based entirely on Ghanaian samples. On Ode To Ghana, participating producers (all 19 of them) sourced highlife and afro-jazz cuts into a new life as instrumental hip-hop bliss. Have a listen to all 21 tracks below.