Top 10 Tracks for Thanksgiving: Get Basted!

By Chris Tarantino

A belated welcome to the Holiday Season to you and yours! Even though Thanksgiving isn’t officially until tomorrow, it already feels like we’re late to the game. With Christmas decorations going up shortly after Labor Day this year, there’s no way to fight holiday cheer without revisiting people’s bogus election claims of leaving the country.

But if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Head to South Africa and celebrate our American holiday in Cape Town with Cold Turkey and any of their Thanksgiving-themed rave-up nights like Smoked Turkey, Raw Turkey, and of course Get Basted!. Or if you’re running low on Krugerrands, you can always go to other (unrelated) “Get Basted!” parties in San Francisco, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. That is, unless your idea of partying this holiday season is this.

1. Guy Gerber – ‘The Pilgrim’

Not much is known about the settlers’ taste in dance music: were they house heads, jungle fiends or psy-trancers? We just cannot know. Regardless, they surely needed some dark tribal vibes to get set up when they landed on Plymouth Rock. Here, Guy Gerber provides the beats — as he often does — in the form of this long-distance dedication to their plight.

2. Blaus – ‘A Pice of Pecan Pie’

This deep spatial journey is the perfect reward for those who make it to the late night/early morning hours when most amateurs have already tapped out — just like it’s namesake. You wanna get nuts?? Let’s get nuts.

3. Mounsie – ‘Turkey Business’ (Droplex Remix)

While it’s not officially a sponsored competitive eating event, Thanksgiving has always been synonymous with gluttony. If you do decide to enter in a timed race with your relatives this year, this song has that chugging drive to really help you pack on the pounds. Just remember: fat beats = good, diabetic beats = bad.

4. Dachsund – ‘Wishbone’

As I’m sure you already know, the “wishbone” (or furcula) is formed by the fusion of the two clavicles, and strengthens the thoracic skeleton in birds to withstand the rigors of flight. But we use this important bone to play a game that grants magic wishes! According to Wikipedia, “Alternatively, the winner of this contest may choose to transfer the fragment of the wishbone, along with the wish, to a person of his choosing.” Oh boy, a furcula!

 5. Milk&Bread – ‘Butternut Pumpkin’

Milk and bread: Two quintessential staples that taste great together…just like the bubbly keys and the clipped vocal samples in this mid-tempo percussive workout. There seems to be a backlash lately against pumpkin flavored items (Lawry’s Pumpkin Steak Rub?!?) but personally I can’t get enough and this song is no different.

6. Lil Silva – ‘Gobble That’

Do as Lil Silva does (bounce), not as he says (eat), and you may still be able to boogie to his filtered digi-bounce without an antidote to tryptophan. The 22-year-old Brit producer has only been around for four years, but has recorded for more labels than there are items on the buffet table.

7. Alfonso Llovera & DJ Plaztik – ‘Turkey’ (Alex Rae Remix)

The second of this week’s ‘Turkey Bangers” is from last year on Mexico’s own BeatBox Records. And if there’s one thing Mexicans know better than funky house, it’s Mexican food, so why not roll all those leftovers into a Thanksgiving burrito?!  Just add turkey, stuffing, some yams, cranberries, and drown in gravy. (Thanksgiving Burrito™ recipe copyright DJZ 2012)

8. Maceo Plex - ‘Gravy Train’ (Nico Mix)

…In which Nicolas Jaar does his typical mellow/deep/jazzy transformation on a track by Maceo Plex. Perfectly in keeping with the young auteur’s all-time-great “Essential Mix” & his already “deep” oeuvre at twenty two (!!!). Brand new on Get Physical.

9. Gold Panda - ‘I Suppose I Should Say ‘Thanks’ Or Some Shit’

Wind down your sleepy, full-bellied evening with this jam (also with a free DL). Throw this on the stereo and dryly repeat the title to your family. When their eyes widen simply continue “…is this great jam from Gold Panda, Mom!”

10. Green Velvet – ‘Cornucopia’

Rounding out our list with an old school tip, as always, we have one of the originators of jack and house music: Curtis Jones. As Both Green Velvet and Cajmere, he pushed the genre forward with enough classics to fill a horn-of-plenty such as “Percolator”, “Flash” and “La La Land”. So fill up on this instead.