A Skillz At Juno Download

Review: More mashed up funk, hip-hop and breaks from A Skillz on the 10th in his series of bootleg booty-shakers. "Twang Banger" sees Tony Rotten himself, Blak Twang, getting his acapella of "So Rotten" placed over a beefed-up "Cross The Tracks" by The JB's. "Poppa Soul" on the other had uses a cat-iron classic acapella, Ultramagnetic MC's "Poppa Large", and marries it to a lost hip-hop classic, Pete Rock's "The Creator".

Review: More from undisputed breaks mash-up king A Skillz, whose impressive productivity shows no signs of slowing down. As with previous outings in the Insane Bangers series, there's much to admire - not least A Skillz' usual blend of classic old skool breaks, wobbly basslines and familiar samples. "Express Yourself" blends elements of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself" with rump-shaking '80s breaks and some serious wobble. "Get Up (Sex Machine)" meanwhile, puts The Godfather of Soul through the ringer, inserting a rocket up the backside of one of his greatest hits via pulverising bass and breakbeats so sharp you could cut a steak with 'em.

Review: A centrepiece of breaks and hip-hop producer A Skillz' Beatles mini-mix for 1Xtra last year, "Strawberry Jam Forever" is a deftly handled remix, cutting up parts of the original in a Dilla or Bullion-style, and adding drums and intense bass shots along the way. "With You" handles Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" with a great deal of class, concentrating mostly on a tight vocal loop, while "Eat My Shorts" takes Ludacris' verses from "Stand Up" and layers them on top of long-forgotten 90s Britpop tune "Eat My Goal" by Collapsed Lung.

Review: A Skillz has something to celebrate - his long-running bootleg series, Insane Bangers, is coming to digital download for the very first time. To celebrate, he's given Junodownload an exclusive 30-minute minimix of Insane Bangers favourites, which we're offering as a free MP3 download (192 or 320, the choice is yours). As you'd expect from A Skillz, it's a thrill-a-minute ride through funk, breaks and hip-hop territory with cheeky samples and sneaky accapellas aplenty. While the source material itself is fun, it's the mix that most impresses - A Skillz whips through the best part of 20 tracks in little over 26 minutes. It's a party for your iPod.

Review: Exclusive to Juno comes the fourth instalment of breaks producer A Skillz's Insane Bangers project - mashing up hip-hop, funk and breaks in a bootleg style for the win. "Feeling Kinda Indsane" whacks down the acapella of Afrika Bambaataa's "Just Get Up And Dance" over a crisp, nu-funk beat, while "Beat Don't Stop" uses portions of Chic-esque disco, the famous "Shack Up" break and tons of vocal cuts from sources such as Marlena Shaw's "Woman Of The Ghetto".

Review: Hooking up with Aussie breaks titan Nick Thayer on the latest in this series of cheeky, hip-hop bootleg cuts, A-Skillz keeps things very funky on "Rock The Spot" - a mix of chanking guitars, thumping drums and tons of accapella cuts from tunes such as Pitbull's "Bojangles". "19.99" is a souped-up take on Prince's classic, with the original accapella layered over a schizoid-funk beat and plenty of fresh MC hooks.

Review: Swapping previous collaborator Krafty Kutz for the Beatvandals on the latest in the Insane Bangers series of hip-hop/breakbeat bootlegs, A Skillz brings home two more battle weapons and party-starters for your delectation. "Hot Dogg" lays the acapella from Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot" over some nicely rounded beats and bass, while "Money Banger" has a lot of fun with the O Jay's "For The Love Of Money", blending in cuts from MOP's "Ante Up" and Frankie Cutlass' "Puerto Rico" for good measure.

Review: Hooking up with Aussie breaks titan Nick Thayer on the latest in this series of cheeky, hip-hop bootleg cuts, A-Skillz keeps things fresh over four new tracks - with the Fun Loving Criminal's getting jazzed up on "Booty Snax" and Kool & The Gang getting a thorough rerub on "Jungle Banger". Elsewhere, M.O.P's still-huge "Ante Up" gets looped, sped-up and generally effed with on "Yap That Fool, while Doug E. Fresh's seminal "The Show" acts as the basis for the sample-fest "Nothing Like A Bonus".

Review: Two masters of bootleg-style, hip-hop/funk mash ups team up for this latest instalment in Bombstrikes' series of party rocking tuneage. A Skillz and Beatvandals play a blinder on "Sunshine" - speeding up Roy Ayres' bonafide classic "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" with a tight beat layered underneath and chopped up respectfully. "Slapdance" however sees the pair take the beat from NERD's debut single "Lapdance" and cover it in well-crafted acapella cuts to make it a heavy-hitting floor filler.