Unindie Listening

What better method of amalgamation than to take now-famed pop-cultish illustrator Aye Jay (or, Ayejay depending on your nationality) slap some headphones atop his grill, pair him next to longtime friend DJ Matt Loomis and mesh-up a mix of seemingly 'indie' Rock and a somewhat 'indie' Hip-Hop.

While Loomis is no turntable wizard, he does have a wonderful ear for blending, and melds multiple tracks over one another, tech-savvy enough for hip-hop heads and hip enough for the skinny hipsters. Combinations make stellar conceptual connections, as uppity anthems from The Yeah Yeah Yeah's aside Newcleus into The Rapture are genre-less party smashers, in the same hot vein as stic.man and M1 wrapped about Pavement and Sonic Youth's "100%". Modest Mouse meets Shadow; the Flaming Lips with a presumptuous MF Doom, a sorrowfully late Elliot Smith and Charizma meet posthumously in harmony. Capped by an interesting debut of sorts of Aye Jay's even longtimer rap-collaborators Faydog and MC Heathkilla on the mix-concluder "Ride The Dragon". - Peter Agoston