First Listen: Mad Decent Block Party 2014 BitTorrent Bundle

MDBP 2014 tickets are on sale now. Grab the interactive mixtape, including the world premiere of new remixes of Diplo’s hit “Biggie Bounce” and “Boy Oh Boy” right here.

The idea of the music festival is semi-mythic to us: Woodstock is a high school history lesson, and a hand-me-down, and an entire genre of clothing at Urban Outfitters, etc. Myth maybe, and more so. Because live music today is a $799 wristband, or a 6-day corporate conference. It’s tempting to say that festival culture circa 2014 is kind of fucked.

But it’s also not true. Because there are amazing pockets of live music preservation. And there are also the decent people at Mad Decent.

Mad Decent is the LA-based record label started by Diplo. Since 2006, they’ve been dedicated to bringing outside (and outsider) sound in: from funk carioca to moombahton to, um, this. It’s the label that Major Lazer, Baauer, Rusko, Dillon Francis, RiFF RAFF, Crookers, and Bonde Do Role call home. It’s one of the most innovative brands in the music industry. And for the past seven years, they’ve been quietly dedicated to rebuilding local live sound.

“Mad Decent is about experimental music: the stuff you don’t hear every day. That’s at the heart of the label, and that’s at the heart of the event. MDBP is where breaking music lives. BitTorrent Bundle lets us bring that experience — new artists, new music — to millions of listeners around the world.”
Diplo

The Mad Decent Block Party started out in Philadelphia as a street thing; a day for friends to hang out and see shows. Today, the block party travels to cities across the US: a few days when live music belongs to everyone.

Including you. The Mad Decent Block Party Bundle is our way of bringing MDBP beyond the block, and back online. It’s a music-and-video-and-art mixtape featuring exclusive remixes from RiFF RAFF (“Dolce & Gabanna”), Diplo (“Biggie Bounce”, “Boy Oh Boy”), plus new music from Sleigh Bells, Keys N Krates, Dillon Francis, and more. You’ll also get a free merch offer redeemable at any show.

The Mad Decent Block Party kicks off Saturday July 26 with Dillon Francis, Diplo, DJ Snake, Flosstradamus, Zeds Dead and more. Tickets here. Let’s go.

MDBP X BitTorrent Bundle

01 Diplo: Revolution [Music Video]
02 Dillon Francis & DJ Snake: “Get Low” [Music Video]
03 Tickets to MDBP14 [Web]
04 RiFF RAFF: “Dolce & Gabbana (Carnage VIP Edit) [Audio]
05 Diplo: “Biggie Bounce (Tony Romera Remix feat. Angger Dimas & Travis Porter)” [Audio]
06 Diplo & GTA: “Boy Oh Boy (Thugli Remix)” [Audio]
07 Mad Decent Block Party City Characters [Art]
08 Flosstradamus Desktop Icons [Art]
09 Big Gigantic: “Touch the Sky” [Audio]
10 Keys N Krates: “All The Time (Tove Lo Flip)” [Audio]
11 Sleigh Bells: “Demons (Diplo Remix)” [Audio]
12 Trippy Turtle: “Poison” [Audio]
13 Paper Diamond & Loudpvck: “Wylin” [Audio]
14 Major Lazer: “Lose Yourself (feat. Moska & RDX)” [Music Video]
15 Run The Jewels: “Run The Jewels” [Music Video]
16 LIZ: “All Them Boys” [Audio]
17 DJ Sega: “BSB (Booyah Stupid Bitch)” [Audio]
18 Claude VonStroke: “Lay It Down Re-Smoked (Ballast Remix feat. DJ Nehpets)” [Audio]
19 STRFKR “While I’m Alive” [Audio]
20 Free MDP Sticker [Discount]
21 Mad Decent Block Party Trailer [Video]
22 Wave Racer: “Streamers” [Audio]
23 Grandtheft & Thugli: “Heavy Hitterz” [Audio]
24 GRIZ: “Hard Times” [Audio]
25 MDBP 2014 Playlist [Web]

Words with Diplo: On the Origins of MDBP, and Why Good Music Matters

BitTorrent: MDBP is a breaking music institution. How did it get its start? What’s the idea behind the event?

Diplo: The parties started in the streets of Philly with a permit from the city. We shut down the block around my house. We just wanted to play music for the neighborhood. It came out of the natural desire to party. But it also came from wanting to create a place for kids to come learn about new music.

BitTorrent: You’re now in your seventh year, and twenty-two cities. What’s changed since 2006?

Diplo: The idea remains the same. We just want to continue throwing these parties. We want to keep them cheap. We want to bring the music we love to more neighborhoods. The only difference is that now we’re in 22 cities, instead of my backyard.

BitTorrent: For a lot of people, SXSW 2014 stood out as an end-of-an-era moment: the corporatization of indie music and festival culture. How does a block party survive in the world of wristbands and Big Bands?

Diplo: We survive by being about good music. That’s the only way to do it. Good music stands above everything else. Identity and genre don’t matter. Big artists. New artists. Cutting edge artists. Whoever they are. We’re all about having a good time and listening to good music.

BitTorrent: What should we expect from MDBP this year? Who should we keep an eye out for?

Diplo: Well, we have OUTKAST on the Denver date. Thats pretty major. Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus have been playing these block parties for the past couple year. Now, they’re headlining them. It’s crazy to see how they’ve grown with the parties and with our fans. For real though, everyone on this lineup is so killer that I can’t pick any one artist out. You gotta come and see and judge for yourself.

BitTorrent: Most events come with a mixtape. Your mixtape is different, though: audio and visual and art; a story that’s bigger than a stream. Why was delivering that experience important for you?

Diplo: Music is an all encompassing form of art.

About BitTorrent Bundle

BitTorrent Bundle is an Alpha project, made with and for the web’s creative community. Our mission is to help artists connect directly with fans, inside the content they share.

Each BitTorrent Bundle allows artists to distribute content directly to the Internet. And each Bundle comes with a key. Fans can unlock artist content with an email address. The idea is to make each song a storefront, and each file more valuable, each time it’s shared. Got ideas for the next BitTorrent Bundle? Hit us up.