Author: Jim Allen

New Yorker RYNO is a singer and composer influenced by every era of pop music (hell, the guy has even opened for Paul McCartney). He may utilize electronic technology to realize his musical visions, but the sound he creates is informed by a broad spectrum of styles. His track “I’ll Take Forever” is a perfect example. In and of itself, it has all the makings of a classic pop song, albeit presented in a contemporary, synth-slathered framework. But when DJ/producer Mega Spig gets his hands on the track, he takes it someplace else entirely.

Mega Spig is a producer who hails from Spanish Harlem, co-founded the Lifted Crew, and has worked with everyone from Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick to Talib Kweli and Andy Grammer. His remix of “I’ll Take Forever,” which you can stream below in the mix’s exclusive premiere, puts the song in whole other light, underlining the rhythmic intensity that was hinted at in the original version and adding more visceral textures to the arrangement. Snap it up and see for yourself.

As members of the Afrobeat-inspired outfit Underground System, New Yorkers Peter Matson and Elenna Canlas have come a long way between that project and the work they create as the duo Big Everything. On “Sa Wut,” which will become the third single from Big Everything Mixtape when it drops on June 16, the pair embarks on a sonic adventure that takes them way beyond Afro-funk.

That’s not to say they don’t still keep things funky; they undeniably do, but in more (and different) ways than before. The slip-and-slide electro-funk grooves that Mason and Canlas have come up with are influenced by everything from the UK Funky scene of a decade ago to classic ’70s P-Funk, and inevitably a dash of Zapp influence, making for a loose-limbed, woozy atmosphere that’s nonetheless packed to the gills with hard-hitting beats. So what will the rest of Big Everything Mixtape sound like? Stream “Sa Wut” below and then you can extrapolate from there.