Insane Bangers 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: Following up on A Skillz's top-notch treatment of The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" (known as "Strawberry Jam" from Insane Bangers Vol. 6), Skillz is back meddling with the Fabs on Volume 7 of his Insane Breaks series - this time making a huge, hands-in-the-air mix of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". While Skillz piles on the drums and the hoover filters, Bassnectar chops the original even more and adds trademark elastic bass-licks, while Londoners Backstage Sluts go for a more post-hardcore mix that EQs the original down to the acapella and rearranges that intro guitar line beautifully.

Review: Teaming up for the first time, two of breakbeats leading lights - Krafty Kuts and Featurecast - unite to mash-up the Jungle Brothers among other hip-hop classics on "Head Banger". Surely made as a perfect set-closing last tune, the pair keep some anthemic brass loops tucked away with some low-end filters until they're unleashed for a perfect hands-in-the-air, hug-everyone-immediately moment of euphoria. Backed up in style by the Funky Four Plus One-sampling "We Blow Up The Spot" and the Ice Cube-goes-dubstep thrills of "Shake 'Em Up".

Review: The first volume of this collaborative bootleg-style set from two peerless breaks titans, A Skillz and Krafty Kuts, sees the pair have fun with "Insane In The Brain" on the title tune whilst also mashing up 50 Cent and Roy Ayres' "Love Will Bring Us Back Together" on "It's Your Booty". DJ Kool and Chic also make happy bedfellows on "Chic Party Banger" (with a little touch of Stardust in there too), with "Superstar" wrapping up this essential, party-starting pack of four.

Review: The second instalment of A Skillz and Krafty Kuts' collaborative bootleg-style set of edits and mash-ups sees Queen going toe to toe with the acapella from C+C Music Factory's "Do You Wanna Get Funky" on "Another One Bites", while "Flow Banger" rides one of DJ Premier's finest beats - the tightly-looped jazz of Gangstarr's "BYS". With a more subtle, groove-based "Dust Beats Battle Break" also included, these are three party bangers just begging to be rinsed.