The idea for this podcast mix can be traced back to June 26, 2010 in, of all places, the poker room at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. At the time, I was on a self-imposed six-month sabbatical from dj’ing; having decided that a break from something that had consumed such a large portion of my previous 15 years existence would be healthy. It may sound odd to hear that I was on ‘sabbatical’ in Vegas and to further hear that (whilst being so) I was participating in an act that some may perceive as ‘gambling’, but poker was one of the few vices that I allowed myself in Sin City.

Night-clubs were not off-limits either, but I hadn’t stepped foot in one in nearly 4 months (something that may sound normal to the average person but in my case was like a pilot opting not to step foot into an airplane), and, in spite of it being Saturday afternoon in Vegas, I had no plans to break my streak anytime soon. So it is a surprise that I found myself in the Dj booth at Pure Nightclub in the wee hours of Sunday morning hearing the international dance hit “We No Speak Americano” and writing an iPhone note to myself to “Make mix - Yo No Speak Americano”. The concept had been destined to be born.

Dj’ing was certainly the last thing on my mind when I sat down for the game of No-Limit Hold-Em at Ceasar’s on that particular Saturday; that is, until noticing a familiar face at a table across the way – Dj Marshall Barnes – and, after my approach, our subsequent conversation about dj’ing, in which he informed me that he would be at Pure later that evening, and at which he invited me to join him and 20 female friends who were in town to celebrate a bachelorette party. Needless to say, I graciously accepted and unexpectedly ended up scribbling the aforementioned note during his dj set.

Parts of this mix originated well before the summer of 2010, of course. Upon returning home to Los Angeles in September, I started compiling a list of my all-time favorite 'non-American sounding' international dance hits: “Calabria” (from 2007), “Pasilda” (2000), “Magic Carpet Ride” (1996), and so on. I began polling friends for more songs; the goal being to find 70 minutes of dance music without any English and the playlist growing as months went by. The final piece fell into place when my brother introduced me to “Far L’Amore” by Dj Bob Sinclar in May 2011; a second song in Italian was more than enough reason to finally complete the project.

The result is an original mix of music in at least 8 languages and representing countless countries.

From Soundcloud:
“Inspired by the 2010 summer anthem ‘We No Speak Americano’, I wanted to create a dance mix that could PUMP THE PARTY without any English lyrics. Whether you are American, Italian, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, French, Jamaican, Spanish, Indian, German, Filipino, Austrian, Australian, Turkish, Chinese, African, or some other heritage... you will appreciate this mix if you speak the universal language of music and understand that regardless of race, color, or creed WE ALL LIVE AND DIE.”

-rckwll
July 5, 2011

*Recorded live with 2 Technics 1200 turntables + Serato Scratch Live + Rane 57 mixer. Pre & post-edits in Ableton Live. Mastering by Dj Brian Matrix*