In 2022, Matt Werner released the soundtrack to Burning Man: The Musical featuring lyrics he wrote and the music of the composer Gene Back. Co-produced by Rodney Bush.
Below are Matt’s music and DJing projects prior to 2010.
Click on image to download the complete mixtape (19 tracks, 114 MB)
Note: To download the MP3 files below, right click on the links and select Save Link As…
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute mixes:
1. Rocky Song Remixed to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Features Ronald Jenkees’s remix to the Rocky Song mixed with Dr. King giving his inspiring “Mountaintop” speech on April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination along with an excerpt from his first I Have a Dream speech. Check out more from Ronald Jenkees at: http://www.ronaldjenkees.com. The original audio of Dr. King’s speech can be found on the vinyl record “…free at last” released by Mowtown in 1968.
My most popular mix at live shows, DJed from two vinyl decks, this track features Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first ‘I Have a Dream’ speech delivered in Detroit, Michigan on June 23, 1963 as part of the Great March to Freedom. The original audio of Dr. King’s speech can be found on the vinyl record The Great March to Freedom released by Mowtown in 1963.
This was the first mix I made of Dr. King’s A Knock at Midnight Sermon. I remixed it to Last Night by Diddy featuring Keyshia Cole. The beginning features one of the first lines of Express Yourself by NWA and then Time to Get Ill by the Beastie Boys in dialogue with Dr. King’s refrain of the speech. But I found the mix, though on beat, to be a little too light and incongruous with the words King was saying. This is one of his famous speeches where he publicly criticized the Vietnam War, about a year before his assassination. In this profound sermon, King addresses psychological and ethical issues relevant to our culture today. The full audio of this sermon can be found in the collection “A Knock at Midnight.”
This features the same clip of Dr. King’s A Knock at Midnight Sermon, however, it’s remixed to a much more somber instrumental to compliment the heavy tone King takes for this sermon. The track is “Love Me.” The full audio of this sermon can be found in the collection “A Knock at Midnight.”
One of Dr. King’s best speeches, largely forgotten by the younger generation, is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “If I Had Sneezed” Speech, here mixed with the instrumental of “My Ghetto Story” by Cham. This is one of the crowd favorites when I DJ this off vinyl at live gigs. The original audio of Dr. King’s speech can be found on the vinyl record “…free at last” released by Mowtown in 1968.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mixed to “Live Your Life” by T.I. and Rihanna. Features an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sermon where he talks about discovering his moment of obligation and the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The complete audio of this sermon can be found in the collection “A Knock at Midnight.”
Other Political Remixes
1. Ted Kennedy “The Dream Shall Never Die” Mix
Honoring the life and legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy, I made this mix to one of his most famous speeches: his 1980 Democratic Convention Speech, also known as “The Dream Shall Never Die.” This was inspired by seeing Ted Kennedy deliver a rousing speech in support of Barack Obama in Oakland, California on February 1, 2008. Kennedy’s speech is mixed to Letting Go (Dutty Love) by Jamaican American rapper Sean Kingston. Special thanks to Mike Del Ponte who recommended I remix this great speech.
Robert F. Kennedy gave this historic “Day of Affirmation” speech at the University Cape Town, South Africa on June 6th, 1966. The beginning of the speech features a great rhetorical strategy rarely seen in political speeches today. Excerpts of Kennedy’s speech are mixed with the instrumental to “Amazing” by Kanye West, featuring Young Jeezy. The full text to Kennedy’s speech in Apartheid South Africa can be found at: http://www.rfksa.org/
Features Al Gore’s http://www.wecansolveit.org speech on July 17, 2008 mixed with Lil Wayne’s song “Lollipop.”
Audio from Mario Savio speaking on the steps of Sproul Hall during the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 1964.
Features the instrumental to Marshawn Lynch by the Cataracs and Mistah F.A.B. For more about the Free Speech Movement, visit http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/FSM/
Barack Obama Mixes
1. Obama in Iowa Kanye West Remix
3. Obama to Timberlake/Timbaland
6. Obama Weekly Address #2 Remix
7. Obama Inaugural Address Mix (larger file: 21 minutes, 44 MB)
Literary Mashups
Features 10 authors, poets, and political figures.
Mashup with T.S. Eliot and The Game. Features The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock mixed to “Big Dreams” by The Game, produced by Cool and Dre.
Video also features Martin Luther King, Jr., Dave Eggers, Sylvia Plath, William Butler Yeats, William Carlos Williams, W.H. Auden, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Williams, and Ise Lyfe.
Joe Sciarrillo’s spoken-word tracks
1. Nigerian Girl (Fela Kuti Mix)
DJ Matt Werner
1. Sonnet 19
I wrote this sonnet when I was 16 years old. Instrumental is sampled from ‘Soul Survivor’ by Young Jeezy.
Lyrics are by Mike Del Ponte. Song performed by DJ Matt Werner. Instrumental sampled from ‘It’s Okay (One Blood)’ by The Game
3. Sartre Poem
I wrote this when I was 18 or 19. I won a $150 poetry prize for it at UC Berkeley.
My first rap song in years. Written in 2008, it’s abounding in literary references; perhaps too many references and allusions. Mixed with samples from “We Come One” by Faithless. Lyrics to this can be found in the info to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLtnwi7IdIc
Here’s a freestyle poem I put together, with many references to William Butler Yeats, among other things. Features the instrumental from “Lost” by Coldplay. The first two lines of the poem are by Joe Sciarrillo and his housemates. Lyrics to this can be found in the info to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEReHbuBuHs
Fresh Air: The Alternative
1. The Hella Hyphy Hour with DJ Matt Werner intro
This intro track I used for my fall, 2008 broadcasts on Fresh Air: The Alternative features Ben Felsing with the Don LaFontaine-style voice over mixed with the song Stay Crunchy by Ronald Jenkees.
2. The DJ Matt Werner Show intro
This intro for my spring and summer 2009 broadcasts on Fresh Air: The Alternative features Ben Felsing, Saul Williams, Kid Beyond, and Dahlak Brathwaite. Music in the background is the top 25 hits of 2008 mashed up together by DJ Earworm in his The United State of Pop 2008.
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Note: All of these tracks are provided free of charge, and DJ Matt Werner makes no claims on the copyright of the original material. The copyrights are owned by their respective owners. If a track needs to be removed by claim of the copyright owner, please e-mail me at mattswriting at Gmail.