DJ/Rupture, Matt Shadetek Solar Life Raft

Solar Life Raft is the collaborative project of Brooklyn's DJ /rupture (aka Jace Clayton) and Matt Shadetek. Their spacey mixtures of tropical heat, Top 40 bounce, punishing drum and bass, sweltering dance hall and grimey dubstep intoxicated fans of underground dance music for a large span of the '00s. The liner notes of the full-length reference a strange, Waterworld-like future, "where youthful optimism and solar panels survive alongside dolphins in a drowned New York."

While touring in Europe, Rupture and Shadetek unearthed their mutual appreciation for mad gully beats. After the return flight to NYC, the pair began crafting beats in tandem. While the twosome produced vocalist Jahdan Blakkamoore's 2009 debut LP, Buzzrock Warrior, Raft was pieced together. The ambitious mix CD features 25 tracks interlaced on three turntables. Fellow Brooklynites Gang Gang Dance, Telepathe and Jahdan Blakkamoore, offering up their re-rub skills and underground artists and poets also litter the sonic landscape. On prime example of the latter is bard Elizabeth Alexander, who famously spoke at Obama's Inauguration.

Abstract by Kyle Lemmon