FRESH Vinyl Records and CDs

Home to such acclaimed electronic acts as Carl Cox, Cirrus and DJ Dan, the L.A.-based record label Moonshine Music offers a new batch of solid beats and breaks from Germany-born, Boston-bred act the Freshmaka. Once the DJ/mentor to fallen teen idols New Kids on the Block, Samuel Von Freshmaka reiterates his commercial viability and pop culture expertise on this collaborative project with Duke Mushroom, the percussionist on Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" and Janet Jackson's "Together Again." Cooking up irresistible party grooves, the Freshmaka's tangy Big Beat/Trip-Hop styles lace old-school hip-hop, pop-rap, Disco, easy listening, House, soul and Funk samples with candy-coated strips of late '80s film, television and radio commercial references. Imagine a chunk of retro-beat enthusiast Deejay Punk-Roc lounging comfortably over a thin layer of Fatboy Slim's beat style topped with a whole lotta Tim "Love" Lee's kitschy trip-hoppery. Branded with unavoidable self-referential vocal cuts, these carnivalesque tapestries let catchy hooks and happy melodies swing precariously from massive basslines like granny's Christmas ornaments from your parents' freshly cut fir tree. Preserving beat standards with the spicy bite of a pot of homemade jalapeno jam, the Freshmaka's grooves capture the feel of a year-round summer vacation in the hazy Southern California sunshine.