I call them my secret weapon. As a DJ, that is.

They are rather un- or little-known around these parts, and I’m not sure how well they are known overseas, but I know for sure that without being a household name, they are certainly not complete unknowns.

I’m talking about the Mungolian Jet Set, also known as The 16th Rebels of Mung, among other monikers.

Pål “Strangefruit” Nyhus, Knut Petter Sævik, Reidar Skår and their variable geometry crew, are, to this humble but savvy DJ, among the most creative music producers of recent memory.

No, I’m not exaggerating. And no, I’m not saying this because they are Norwegian and I think Norway (where I’d move anytime given the opportunity) is the best and most beautiful country in the world — as well as being second only to the UK, maybe, in terms of the quality of the music that comes out of it.

I’m saying this because the Mungs consistently produce epic tracks and remixes of Psychedelic Disco, Abstract Ambient, Sound Collage, Trip Hop, even stuff that could be categorized as World Beat! You name it: they’ve done it or will do it one day, without a doubt, and you can be assured that they will constantly raise the bar for themselves in the process.

They’ve remixed a host of great names, among which Ost & Kjex, Lindstrøm, Dominique Leone, Mari Boine, Nils Petter Molvaer, Bebel Gilberto and LSB as well as collaborating with Altz.

Here are a few examples of their unbelievable ecclectism:

Clairevoyage (A Medley Performed By The 16th Rebels Of Mung) – Dominique Leone
Clairevoyage (A Medley Performed By The 16th Rebels Of Mung) – Dominique Leone

Bring Back the Love (Mungolian Jetset Dub) – Bebel Gilberto
Bring Back the Love (Mungolian Jetset Dub) – Bebel Gilberto

Jet Setter – The Mungolian Jet Set
Jet Setter – The Mungolian Jet Set

For everyone’s listening enjoyment, they’ve recently collected some of their best productions and remixes on a double compilation entitled We Gave It All Away…And Now We Are Taking It Back out now on Smalltown Supersound, even though the release date announced everywhere is Aug. 18th.

This is one of those instances where I cannot urge you enough to get yourself a copy of said compilation, because their releases are not always easy to come by.

Once you’ve accustomed your ears, and mind, to their mind-blowing sound, with all its cultural references — borrowing as much from Ornette Coleman as from Eminem —, seek out their first album, 2006′s Beauty Came to Us in Stone, released on Jazzland Rec.

That album is not for the faint of heart and the intellectually weak, but it is OH! SO rewarding!

Here’s a clip of the Mungs live on Norak national television (!) with Bugge Wesseltoft on piano:

Just a few months after the second iteration came the third of the series, Third Sun from the Rock.

This one’s birth was tougher.

I re-recorded it twice before I was entirely satisfied with it technically, while musically, I stretched out the boudaries of the genre even more, going as far as including tracks that didn’t readily fall within those boudaries.

Let’s put it this way: I was offering people to include them within those boundaries, if they were willing to stretch those boundaries alongside this DJ.

The presence of Swag’s edit of New Jersey Deep by Black Science Orchestra or Lullabies in the Dark’s Iridium are telling examples.

The jury is still out on whether this one or its predecessor is the better mix: they both have their strong points, and they both boogie!

Hope you enjoy!

As usual, you can stream it
cosmix3 or download it by right-clicking the image on the right.

As always, your donations are welcome to help me pay for the file hosting!

 

TRACKLISTING

1. Don’t Turn Away (From My Love) – Lovelock
2. Liberate – Force of Nature
3. Stop – Casco presents B.W.H
4. Di Solito – Popular Computer
5. What The Fuck Do You Want With Us, Earthlings? – The Diaphanoids
6. The Low Murderer Is Out At Night (AN-2 Remix) – Low Motion Disco
7. L-ight – Force of Nature
8. The Dancer – New Phunk Theory
9. Kosmetisk – Magnus International
10. Cosmic Wild Boar – LSB
11. Radar Pulse Is Sent – Ichisan
12. Grand Ideas – Lindstrøm
13. Iridium – Lullabies in the Dark
14. The Escape – Woolfy vs. Projections
15. Otaku – Popular Computer
16. Boulderdash – Division by Zero
17. Cedar (Yamwho? Remix) – Spektrum
18. Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Extended Disco Dub Mix) – Panthers
19. Pom Pom (The Juan Maclean Backup Vox Mix) – Matthew Dear
20. Pluto’s Retreat (Optimus Remix) – Brennan Green
21. Riot On Planet 10 (Blitz Gramsci Remix) – Strangelets
22. Psychedelic Symmetry – Free Disco
23. New Jersey Deep (Swag Edit) – Black Science Orchestra
24. I’m Ready – Kano
25. Pendulo (Pete Herbert Edit) – Silver City
26. Supernovac (Live At The Lanchonete Version) – I:Cube
27. Resist – Plastique De Rêve feat. Radical Cheerleaders

It’s around 2005 that I discovered this new sound whose name (or names, as the case may be) I was still unaware of and which blew me away.

Slowly, I started researching, digging virtual crates and it took me a good year before I felt confident enough to try my hand at mixing the tenors of the genre.

As it happened, it was the first mix I recorded with my newly acquired Torq Xponent and the mix that made me decide I was doing away with the restriction imposed by the 75 minutes time limitation of the CD, which itself replaced the good old cassette tape, cutting out yet another 15 minutes from what used to be a good DJ mix.

From that point on, I have not recorded a mix shorter than 1h45 minutes, and all three Cosmix iterations are close to 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Bon voyage!

As usual, you can stream it
cosmix or download it by right-clicking the image on the right.

As always, your donations are welcome to help me pay for the file hosting!

 

TRACKLISTING

Monsieur Seb’s Cosmix — Recorded Live January 2nd 2008

1. Kids with Sex Bits (Monsieur Seb’s mashup of Kids with Guns (Quiet Village Remix) [Gorillaz] and Dave’s Sex Bits (Quiet Village Remix) [Toby Tobias]
2. Music (In My Mind) – Lindtrøm feat. Christabelle
3. Mount Pleasant Lane (Spuns Manthrax) – Mudd
4. Illusion (Lindstrøm Dub) – Imagination
5. Let’s Practice – Lindstrøm feat. Solale
6. Rex Drums – Christian Prommer’s DrumLesson
7. Barbie’s Back – Golden Bug
8. Sentimental Breakdown – Doc L Junior
9. Secret Pillow (Prins Thomas Remix) – Bermuda Triangle
10. Clairevoyage (16th Rebels Of Mung Medley) – Dominique Leone
11. Get Innocuous! (Soulwax Remix) – LCD Soundsystem
12. Original Highway Delight (Mungolian Jet Set’s Miami Camp Mix) – LSB
13. Jurassico (Prins Thomas Miks Del 1 & 2) – Nemesi
14. Dragon (Shit Robot Remix) – Dondolo
15. Stratus Energy (Special Disco mix) – Faze Action
16. Another Station (Todd Terje Remix) – Lindstrøm
17. All Flowers Must Fade – Daniel Wang
18. Erodyne – Metro Area
19. Erotic Discourse (2020 Livestyle Reversion) – Paul Woolford aka Bobby Peru
20. Speak & Spell (Putsch 79 Remix) – Will Saul
21. Nummer Fire En – Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas