We received many great mixes from artists all over the globe but it was HipNeck who razzled and dazzled us with his old school electro mix that had plenty of wayback playbacks from the past. Within you’ll find a handful of smooth transitions, easy flowing tracks, and overall, a very fluid mix with a lot of creativity. There will be lots more mix comps in the future but HipNeck really hit the nail on its head in regards to what we were looking for while capturing a lot of the sound that we try to promote on here. We think the mix is fantastic and urge you all to check it out below. Other HipNeck tracks can be found via his soundcloud page, which is listed at the bottom of this post.

Jeremy cut some time out of his busy schedule to elaborate on what exactly HipNeck is and how he got involved in music. Check out the interview and grab yourself a copy of his winning mini mix below!

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Who is HipNeck and why did he start making music?

HipNeck is a 24 year old producer/DJ… (who knows what the exact terminology is called now)… who enjoys all genres of music. I’ll pretty much mix anything that I like the sound of. Have always loved music but really starting falling in love with making tunes when my little sister taught me the guitar in high school. Made an album with a band called Afreedtrio, and then started getting into producing and mixing on Reason and Ableton.

I guess you’ll have to hook your sister up with some cash when the royalty cheques start coming in… So where exactly did the name HipNeck come from?

One of my friends got surgery done where they had to remove some skin from her hip and put it on her neck… yep.

That’s ridiculously unique- kinda like your beats tho so it all seems to make sense. What do you do when you’re not producing music?

I work at a bungy jumping and high ropes course site. Have a huge love for the outdoors as well. British Columbia is like a giant wilderness playground and I try to take advantage of that as much as possible.

Yeah British Colombia is pretty fantastic (I suggest the readers check it out if you ever get the chance). Since your outdoors so much, where does your musical influence stem from? Would you say your sound holds onto many of these influences?

Cut Copy was the first real electro band I got into and was a huge influence for me early on. Once I heard ‘Saturdays’ and ‘Futures’ I was hooked. Also listened to a lot of early MSTRKRFT, Breakbot, and The Twelves remixes. Saw a live show in Vancouver with The Twelves, Grum, and U-Tern and that got me into Electro even more. And I’m definitely a huge Twelves fan.

Some of my sounds somewhat stem from those influences, but I don’t think I really have a distinct sound. I like to mix it up and go with one sound for a certain remix and then go in a completely different direction on another one. Same with mixes, one will be hard electro and the next will be some chill indie songs; it all depends on how I’m feeling at the time.

Being in Nanaimo (Vancouver Island), you have been able to make friends with some of Canada’s newer disco electro artists, one being Arturo, how have these relationships helped you in your music career?

Yea, good friends with Arturo. Used to be roomates and learned most of what I know about music production and mixing from him. Spent a lot of time making cheesey dance tunes with guitars, keyboards, and drum machines. It’s good to have someone else to bounce ideas off when you’re making a new tune. We’ve talked about maybe making some tunes again, so it might happen within the next while.

That sounds awesome. Keep us posted if you do decide to collaborate with one another. More and more DJs and artists are going mainstream for the financial revenue and popularity that exists in this sector, but in doing so some often lose their unique and original sound, how do you separate yourself from the mainstream crowd? And is this important to you?

It’s great to see that a lot of artists are getting the chance to go mainstream and make a living out of it. There’s so much music out there now, so I’ve got a lot of respect for anyone that can crack into mainstream and be successful. I’ve always mixed and made tunes that I liked, and will always be that way. If that brings me into mainstream at some point, awesome, but I’ll just keep doing what I’ve always done.

What are your favourite songs or albums right now?

Songs: Royksopp – I Wanna Know, Fly My Prettyies – Heavy Weather, Miami Horror – Holidays

Albums: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (2010), Miami Horror – Illumination (2010)

How about the first record you ever purchased?

Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced?

How did you come about choosing the songs that can be found in the Attack & Release mix? There seems to be a particular flow that you were going for that just worked. Do you carefully plan your mixes or just pull it together on the fly?

There was some planning for Attack & Release as there is with most of my mixes. I knew I wanted to make a hard mix and wanted to use some older songs so just played around one night and out popped the Attack & Release mix. I try and make my transitions smooth; a lot of the time I’ll throw out a song I really want to use because it doesn’t mesh well with anything else. Once I’ve got the songs I want to use I’ll mix it live, and then go back and add in some flat drum beats to bits of songs to beef them up a bit.

Can we expect to see more mixes coming our way? An EP or album perhaps?

Yea, every couple months or so I’ll post a new mix on my soundcloud page, and got a Metric remix that’ll be ready soon. An EP at some point, but not right now.

Thanks for your time HipNeck. We love your mix and want to thank you again for submitting it to the contest. Stay classy out there in BC and we look forward to hearing more mixes!

Thanks guys, glad you liked the mix, and keep posting solid tunes.

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HipNeck has a wide array of other mixes available to the public on his soundcloud page here. Stay tuned for that new Metric mix he mentioned. It will be released shortly and there’s also rumour on the street that some big news may be coming out of California shortly so we are all getting excited about that for him. Stay tuned to hear updates on all that as well. Thanks again for the mix. We hope you enjoy as much as we did.

HipNeck’s – Attack & Release Mini Mix

Mini Mix Tracklist:

1. Justice – Genesis
2. Van She – Cat & The Eye (Van She Tech Remix)
3. Calvin Harris – I Created Disco
4. Daft Punk – Robot Rock
5. Mr. Oizo (Feat. Uffie) – Steroids
6. Scenario Rock – Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix) (Acapella)
7. Savas Pascalidis – Defend It
8. Mr. Oizo – Nazis (Justice Remix)
9. Yuksek (Feat. Amanda Blank) – Extraball
10. Brazilian Girls – Jique (MSTRKRFT Remix)
10. Das Pop – Fool For Love (Sebastian Remix)
11. Tepr – Minuit Jacuzzi (Data Remix)
12. Dragonette – I Get Around (Acapella)
11. Alex Metric – Pins
12. Goose – Bring It On
13. Daft Punk – Rollin’ & Scratchin’
14. Boys Noize – Arcade Robot vs. Basement Jaxx – Good Luck  (The Twelves Mix)
16. Daft Punk – Aerodynamic