Posted by: Jay

Today I have the great pleasure to present “Optera”, the first official release from Derek Ryan.  If you don’t know, Derek is a San Francisco based trance DJ/producer, friend of ours and all around great guy.  He’s done two podcasts for us here at The Beatery, the first as our first ever guest DJ and more recently “Setagaya Snow”.

I’m a fan of Derek’s sound behind the decks, it’s not easy to find that right blend of trance that has driving energy while not sounding cheesy or dated, so I was super excited to hear how he translated that ear to his own tracks.  The answer?  Well I’ve got the tracks here so you can judge for yourself, but in this humble blogger’s (extremely biased) opinion: fantastic stuff for a first release.

You ever see something that looks super simple but upon trying it yourself you realize “Wait a minute, this is impossible!  How did it ever look so easy?”  I think baseball is like this.  Stand up comedy.  And as I discovered myself producing electronic dance music is like this too.  We hear guys churning out the hits like The Plumps, Deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner and we assume it’s easy, but trust me on this one, it’s not.  I’d post some of my “tracks” here for comparison but then we’d all be embarrassed.   The point is, this is a fantastic accomplishment for Derek and we all here at The Beatery couldn’t be prouder.

Congratulations Derek!  Here are three of the tracks off the Optera EP for the rest of you to check out:

Derek Ryan - “Optera”

Derek Ryan - “Optera” - POL Remix

Derek Ryan - “Resonance”

For more re-mixes and to grab these tracks head on over to Beatport.

Posted by: Cor

Sigh, typical Monday. As usual, I’m having a hard time getting my work done. I was going to write up a review of the new Bonobo album that was released last week, but like so many Bonobo albums it’s taking a while to grow on me and I don’t think I’ve formed my final opinion yet. So I’m putting that off a bit. Instead, I give you this little nugget of distraction. It’s sure to make your head spin…

Posted by: Cor

It’s Friday, which means you can count on the Beatery for another set of booty-shakin’ beats to kick start your weekend. For this week’s retro set I have an old live set of mine from almost three years ago. This is the second in the Standford Sessions series*, recorded on the Big Love show on KZSU 90.1, Stanford radio. Despite the roughness of the set (it’s the radio, I was a bit nervous) this is a great one, working it’s way from kitschy electro house to progressive breaks at the very end. I still really dig the mix of Put your Hands Up for Detroit and White Horse at the beginning… wish I hadn’t smeared my way into that one. You two diehard DJ Cor fans out there may note a lot of similarities between this and No Excuses, which I recorded a few months later. Sue me, tracks cost eleven bucks back then and I was working at startup. **

Hey, speaking of Stanford Sessions, you know who also has a sweet backlog of radio mixes? Our own Beatery resident, Mr. Matt Haegen. I bet if you ask real nice he’ll put them up. For now, enjoy this one from way back in 2007, when vinyl was still around, when Trentemoller was the new Timo Maas, and when Mylo ruled electrohouse for a few minutes before disappearing into complete obscurity.***

Cor - Stanford Sessions II (4/23/07)(right-click to download)

* I’m working my way backwards here. For the third installation, click HERE.
** Soundflavor, R.I.P.
*** Seriously, where IS that dude? Anyone seen him?

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Posted by: Matt

Apparently despite our best efforts at organizing this place we can’t follow our own rules, because according to the calendar I was supposed to post on Monday and not only did I totally forget, but no one called me on it (ahem). Now it is Wednesday at 5:30am, I’m running out the door, and I am in a pinch!

Fortunately for me, Zodiac Cartel foresaw my predicament and very thoughtfully released a bangin’ single just last week. I don’t know a single personal detail about this guy except that he is “elusive” and appears to be stereotypically European-looking (not in the post photo of course, but showing his face kind of undermines the mystique, don’t you think?)

His bass sound is one of my absolute favs: grinding, deep, and lots of personality. I’m always psyched when he drops a new track and this one does not disappoint.

Oh btw, this is the guy who did that Rave is King remix that you’ve no doubt had drilled into your skull for the last year. You know, for context.

Update: I just realized that the track in the player below is an edit and meant to be a promotional tool for sale. I don’t have time to get the original track up but I will if enough people like it. I’d also like to go on record against this edits practice, since we already can’t download it so why punish us further? It seems excessive.

Lee Coombs - Punji (Zodiac Cartel Remix) by  Zodiac Cartel

Posted by: Cor

The other day I ventured into Beatport’s “Chill Out” section looking for some new downtempo, noticed the top ten chart was dominated by this dude I’d never heard of, Gramatik. So naturally I gave the tracks a listen and was delighted to hear a soulful blend of electronic, hip hop, breaks, jazz and soul. Fans of Mocean Worker, RJD2 and Ninja Tunes artists Mr. Scuff and Herbaliser know the sound. I’m a fan. I’m not sure whether to call this cut and paste, trip hop, jazz-hop, acid jazz, nu jazz, but I fucking love the stuff. How the hell did I miss this guy before now? Well, better late than never, I guess. I bought the full album Street Bangerz Volume 2 immediately, and I’m sure I’ll be going back for Volume 1 before long.

Not only does Gramatik rock the jazzy style like champ, but browsing through his extensive catalog I found he’s no slouch when it comes to electro and tech house either. Check out the hiphop/jazz/soul/breaks tracks below, and hit the link at the bottom to hear the tech house track Equilibrium. And then go get yourself some Gramatik.

Hit That Jive

Just Jammin’

Don’t You Know

Straight Off The Block

PLAY ALL

Gramatik on myspace

Amazon download links:
Street Bangerz Vol. 1
Street Bangerz Vol. 2
Pretty much all his stuff, a la cart (88 tracks)

Expand for Equilibrium…
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