Tuesday, March 18, 2008

An Easter mix on Signals


Just in brief. I'm heading to Latvia again, and likely will stop at Space:Garage on Friday, but on Sunday, which is the Easter day, I will have a live mix in the radio show Signals. Its hosted by Ivars Zalkalns (a.k.a. DJ Ivarzz) and it's aired every Sunday 22:00 - 24:00 on radiostation Naba 93,1 FM in Riga. You can hopefully listen also to live stream in Naba homepage by clicking on "Tiesraide"(if it's not down, which happens sometimes). Find some more info and recordings on No Rest blog.

Now about another thing. Somebody has left a comment in this blog that the link to my Funkya! mix does not work any more, which is, I have to say, a normal thing, because most of them are links to Zshare filesharing service and they are temporary. So, should someone be interested in a mix with an expired link, please let me know and I will try to upload it again. This particular Funkya mix is available at my page on LX5 website. There you can also find another mix which is dedicated to Latvian electronica.

Happy Easter and let's celebrate that days finally will become longer than nights! Let there be light!

Monday, March 10, 2008

In brief


-- Friends of mine have set up a new label Regroovable Records - focused on limited and quality minimal/deep techno releases. The first release contains two nice tracks by DV5 - a DJ and producer from Minipower.info project. I wish them good luck in keeping delivering awesome music!

-- I've started a new blog Videoritmi, containig my selection of music videos from Youtube. A large spectrum of genres is covered there - from italo-disco to world beat to booty to 90's dance pop to classic tunes.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

In da box & playlist


It's time for an overview of tracks that have been somewhat most important for me this year so far.

> Bruno Pronsato - Why Can't We Be Like Us LP [Hello? Repeat]

This year started with a grand record - a long-player by Bruno Pronsato, which became an instant classic as soon as it appeared. Abstract samples and complex drum patterns - he takes electronic dance music one step further. Looking forward to hearing anything else from Pronsato.

> Radiohead - Everything Is Its Right Place (Afefe Iku Re-Edit) [White]

Gosh introduced me to some of his discoveries in dance music, and indeed they were outstanding. Particularly this Afefe Iku's unofficial edit of Radiohead's song made my day. The building tension and work with samples in some way is reminescent of another great remix - Villalobos' take on Depeche Mode's Sinner - whereas the tight rhythm more owes to the afro-deephouse tradition (Osunlande might be a good example). Have to be a bomb on a dancefloor!

> Michal Ho - Screw The Coffeemaker (Inxec's Neschino Blend Remix) [Turning Spork]

The original track comes from the same titled LP, which was very good by the way. Now Inxec delivers an insane electronic boogie version.

> Anthony Collins - Bricolage [Liebe*Detail]

A brilliant, deep and melodic track from Anthonny Collins - easily his best work so far. Also Rose's track on the other side is a serious groover. Liebe*Detail keeps its standards high.

> Sian - Wear Your Scars Like Medals [Aus Music]

A peak-hour techno anthem with mind-blowing sirens. Simple, yet effective somehow, the type of tracks like Audion's Mouth To Mouth. Actually the most technoish track heard from Aus Records so far.

> Todd Bodine - Secret Edge EP [Mothership]

Two solid deep tech-house tracks.

> The Cheapers & The Incredible Hochzeitsband - Muaäh [Upon.You]

Taken from Upon.You compilation From Home Sweet Home - Session Chapter 2. Ruede Hagelstein is involved in this project, so no wonder that the track is so funny. Funny yet hypnotic - which is unusual combination.

> [a]pendics.shuffle - No Reduction (Mathias Schaffhauser remix) [Adjunct]

I like the beat.

> Flip & Def Jaguar - This Sound (Dubnoodles remix) [Brut!]

My vote goes for Dubnoodles remix - a dirty electro bassline coupled with bleepy and groovy percussion. Check also Murat Tepeli's Chicago house version.

> Minilogue - Hispaniola [Cocoon]

In terms of jazziness and phat basslines it can easily compete with Mathew Jonson. However, the title track does not impress.


From the camp of IDM, electronica and ambient:

> Clark - Turning Dragon LP [Warp]

Crazy experimental techno meets IDM. Pure blast of energy. So good!

> Rod Modell - Incense & Blacklight LP [Plop]

A voyage into the world of deep, dark and dubby atmospheres by the dubtechno maestro of many disguises: Echospace, DeepChord, CV313 etc.

> Bjorn Torske - Feil Knapp LP [Smallsound Supersound]

Laid back grooves, dubby atmospheres, 8-bit bleeps, contrapunctual melodies - very interesting record by this talanted Norvegian producer and DJ. I saw him DJ-ing last year in Luxemburg - awesome.

Spring's for springing


Oh it's March already! Although there was no proper winter this time, anyway the arrival of spring makes difference - people are ready for new things, new projects, they become more active... That means we can anticipate good parties and hopefully good records coming out too.

I'm just back from Riga - a quick overview. First, I participated in Intelligent Debosch party. My set was rather experimental, consisting of more abstract and laid-back tunes than usually, so I was glad that people seemed to accept it well. Actually I find it amazing - our beloved Space:Garage is probably the only club in the Baltics where such music is played and welcomed. Another good point about this venue - time after time in the Garage I meet people whom I know from my "clubbing past" but haven't seen for long time (years!). So, for instance, this time I had a pleasure meeting Gosh and Dmitriy (the one who was a good house DJ). In general, the crowd was very mixed at this Debosch - from drugged youngsters to regular people to more "solid" ladies and gents whom you usually don't meet there. Probably that was one of the reasons why there was some tension in the air (or was it the full moon?). I mean, the mood wasn't bad, just a bit weird. In general, that's an interesting topic - mood in parties and the factors behind it. The interesting thing is that this ir largly unpredictable, and organisers can't have a complete control on providing the best atmosphere, vibe, mood - call it as you wish. Probably there are too many factors involved - and music is just one of them. Said this I must add that it isn't a simple polar dichotomy - either a good/positive or bad/negative vibe. It can be uplifting, spiritual, psychodelic, energetic, crazy, melancholic, chaotic, deep, thoughtful, friendly, full of affection and love etc. For instance, next week-end DJ Vobla from Moscow and our local Datashock (Ivars Mednis) were in the house with untypically pop-dance tunes (from electropop to all times anthems), and it worked out so well - smiling smaces, openness and positive craziness all around. That moment I realised that it's perfectly OK sometimes to play old hits or even somewhat naive but lovely tunes, because it's not just about pushing boundaries and exploring new musical teritories but first of all entertainment and having fun. Simple like that!

Meanwhile, Ind-ex site has published my another mix, which could be seen as a homage to the real house music (whatever it means), uplifting melodies and analogue drum machines. The new school meets the old school, and the mix is a kind of bridge between contemporary minimal aesthetics and house music roots that stretch back to Chicago. I must confess that I've grew up dancing and listening to Detroit techno and Chicago house (apart from the European Tresor, Disko B, R&S stuff), and although I've never really played Chicago house trax as a DJ, I really like those groovy jacking minimal tech-house tracks with references to Chicago yet produced in a more contemporary way (think of e.g. Tigerskin, Todd Bodine, Marc Romboy). Regarding "analogue approach", sometimes it's a conceptual opposition to music made on computers, but more often it's incorporation of elements from the both hardware and software worlds. Think of Move D, Jackmate, Carl Craig, Oliver Huntemann...

Last but not least. Some people told me that actually they regularly reading this blog, it's good to know, and so I will try to write here more often.