I gotta be honest with you, when I first heard this tape I really wasn’t feeling it. It was in my raving hey-day and if the music didn’t have big banging leads, hard cyber stabs, soaring melodic synths or be going at at least 135 BPM it just wasn’t my thing. Over time though the simple structures of melodic and cyber-trance began to grow a bit monotonous and there was Sasha, live at Camden Palace, welcoming me to a different type of dance music. Like Jazz to The Blues of traditional house or trance, progressive house/trance is geared for those who are looking for a bit more depth in the music; and like Jazz it’s not for everyone. This tape probably won’t wow you rite off the bat, but if you give it a few listens while doing other activites you may find it growing on you. And considering I got this way back in 1997(!), you gotta give Sasha some props for being way ahead of his time. Enjoy!
Bonus: See if you can hear where someone bumps into Sasha’s turntable on side B, wrecking his awesome mix. I can’t tell you how frustrating that is… or was… one of the many advantages of not using records anymore is not having to worry about drunk/overzealous dancers wrecking your mixes!
My Aunt Vicky tells this great story. Over a decade ago she moved to Bulgaria to teach at an international university for a few years. When she left, cell phones were those gigantic bricks that you saw Mulder running around with on early episodes of the X-Files. They were crazy expensive, had no coverage, were way too big to be of use for anything besides self-defense, and as a result no one used them. So when she gets back two to three years later she felt like shed entered the Twilight Zone or something because suddenly, or at least suddenly to her, everyone had a cell phone. Having skipped those intermediate steps, she was completely and utterly blown away by how ubiquitous cell phone use had become. She just couldn’t get over it! For years that’s all we would hear about at family reunions.
Well, I had a very similar experience coming back from my two years of living in Japan. When I left, DJs spun records. That was the deal. Vinyl. Our badge of honor. The fact that it was expensive, heavy as hell, hard to find the tracks you actually wanted to play, and pain to keep organized only added to the romance of the whole thing. It was the price of being in the club. Sure, there was a fringe group of DJs who spun CDs, and while they weren’t ridiculed or anything there was always the feeling that they were somehow not being true to the art. Well, flash forward two and a half years (2005.5 -> 2008) and I was the one feeling like I was in the Twilight Zone. All the record stores had closed and no DJs spun vinyl. None. I can count on one hand the number of DJs I’ve seen playing records in the year and a half I’ve been back… and I go out and watch DJs a lot.
So what happened? Well, a bunch of things I guess. CDJs got really good and were the same price as Techniques turntables (I currently spin CDs, btw). The internet exploded, allowing instant access to all types music not available on wax. Beatport and other similar websites became a viable means for labels to profit from their artists and for DJs to have access to entire catalogs of otherwise unattainable tracks. And finally Serato came out which gave DJs the feel of playing records, while in reality actually controlling MP3s from their laptop computer with two control records. This was the tipping point for many (for example, Cor uses Serato) as you control your tracks just like you would if you were playing a record, but you have access to your entire digital library off your laptop, or simply a flash drive plugged into someone else’s laptop.
Anyway, I wasn’t the only one shocked at this DJ evolution. Today I’m happy to share with you “Records Back” by Hardy Hard, Mr. X and Lady Waks, a track that totally takes the piss out of this new bread of laptop using DJs. The lyrics just kill me! “I like my music physical, ’cause MP3’s invisible!” or “Can I check my email before you do your mix?” Bwahahaha! Anyway, with that excessively long intro, enjoy “Records Back”!
Questions for the DJs: How do you DJ these days? Does it bug you that records are pretty much dead to the DJ or do you feel liberated? And finally, do you ever check your email before you do your mix?
Our new poll got me thinking about Hip Hop recently (reminder: vote in the poll!) and today I’m happy to present fabulous Bay Area Hip Hop producer Amplive! Amplive is best know as the of producer underground Hip Hop group Zion I, but over the last few years he has branched out and done his own work with other rappers. Here are a few of my favorites:
Here Amplive deconstructs MGMT’s “Of Moons and Birds and Monsters” enlisting some great raps from Mistah FAB. I like this remix ten times more than the original… be careful though, it’s crack rock addicting!
Around the blogosphere Amplive is probably best know for his fantastic remix EP of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”. It’s a year old, but in case you haven’t yet heard it here’s a few of my favorite tracks from this now classic release:
If you don’t have this album but like Radiohead and/or Hip Hop and/or good music, I highly recommend you check it out. We don’t usually provide full albums here at The Beatery, but as this is a bootleg and Amplive released it for free himself we can break the rules just this once
For this podcast, our guest fLOORCRAfT drops by to show us what tech house really is. He is involved with a slew of great events and benefits, all of which you can get to through his post on The Beatery. Check it out, and enjoy his awesome set!
Our guest DJ today needs no introduction, but I’ll give him one anyway. Well known for dropping the fattest techy beats in the bay, our good friend fLOORCRAfT is finally rocking the Beatery podcast with this set he recently recorded live. In case you’re not already aware, you can catch him every month at his event, Freeform vs. Dubalicious at Shine in San Francisco. Next week they are throwing a 2-night event to raise both awareness and funds for the Feel the Beat campaign, which aims to educate the public about organ donation and ultimately get them (ie. you) to sign up to become donors. Get the full details RIGHT HERE, and remember to stay tuned for information about this year’s Feel the Beat float at the Lovevolution parade in SF! - cor
The Monkey Chronicles - Vol. 1
Monkeys love bananas. We all seem to know this. Here is a fact that I bet most of you don’t know: Monkeys love bass. It is these low frequencies that really make a monkey howl. Studies have shown that they seem to prefer electronic dance music over any other kind. This mix was originally recorded live on the Orbital Grooves internet radio show, and has been edited down for this podcast. It is the first volume in the soon to be Monkey Chronicles mega set. It was mixed entirely on the fly, and no 2 mixes have ever been pre-planned. Probably the same way a monkey would have done it. This mix was inspired by monkeys. It is for all the monkeys out there and the non-monkeys as well. Enjoy! Just remember, low frequencies are the real king of the jungle!
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