This coming Saturday, there’s love in the air at Shine when we gather to rejoice in the union of Jeff Ziskin and his lovely bride Yanti!
If you don’t already know Jeff, he’s also known as the notorious Floorcraft, one of the fastest guns in town for throwing down some mean progressive techno beats. He’s even got a killer set up here on the Beatery to getcha shakin in yer britches!
But don’t let his driving rhythms fool ya - he’s got enough heart to go around, and on this Saturday’s special installment of his (in)famous monthly Freeform vs Dubalicious, we’re gonna celebrate the joining of that heart with the fair maiden from the East, Yanti!
This event is gonna go all out, bringing you banging beats from non other than the groom himself and his partner in crime Jonboy!
To help bring the rock, Beatery slingers DJ Cor and Derek Ryan, and Kitchen resident Marc Fong, will be throwing down some mean riddums to add our compliments and positive energy to the bliss of our nupitals!
So come raise the roof and join in the love and joy as we send our dear friends off into the marital starlight!
Hey party nerds, it’s time once again for theFuture Universal crew to host Nightlife at the California Academy of Science! The Beatery’s own Matt Haegen (aka myself) will be downstairs in the beautiful blue aquarium, and so for fun I have three tracks about water for today. A mix of old, classic, and classic-ish, I think they help set the mood nicely.
Full event details are HERE. Hope to see some of you locals there! For our out-of-state readers, if you are ever in the glorious SF Bay Area, this party is not to be missed.
Hola amigos y amigas! Voy a tocar este viernes en “Mojo Lounge”, Av. Montenegro # 942 - San Miguel, La Paz, por el “Techno Football Tour 2010″. Estoy bien emocionado porque no he tocado por mucho tiempo y es un fiesta de pura música electrónica, la música que gusta tocar más. Todos estan invitados pero esta la cosa: voy a tocar 9:00 - 9:45 pm. Muuuuuuy, muy muy muuuuy temprano, yo se. Ojala puedes venir a eso hora.
Ahora, tengo esos nuevos canciones. Escuchalas y elige tu favorita. Voy a tocar el gañador si ó si pero hay una cosa más… Si tu escuchas alguna de esas canciones cuando estoy tocando me avisas y voy a darte un premio! Estás confundido? Aquí es un ejemplo:
Vos: “Oje Jay! Reconozco esa canción de tu blog!”
Yo: “Ahh si! Aqui está tu premio! Gracias por escuchar.”
Entiendes? Bien! Nos vemos el viernes. Abajo están las canciones. No te olvidas elegir tu favorito!
*****
Whassup my peoples? I’m just letting all my homies down here in Bolivia know that I’ll be playing at a club this Friday. But fear not if you can’t make it to La Paz to see me. If all goes well I’ll record this set and use it for a podcast! Unfortunately as I’m playing from 9:00 - 9:45 pm it might not be the livest set ever, but we’ll see what we can do.
Anyway, I wanted to throw some songs out here for you guys to check out and give me some feedback on. I’ve been grooving on these for a while but haven’t yet had the chance to drop a single one live. Take a minute to listen and vote for your fav, I’ll include the winner in the set fo sho:
Ahhh Bob Sinclar. He’s like the Timbaland of Latin America. Throw in Mano Chao and a dash Shabba Ranks and you got a hot, steamy… dance floor banger! What, where did you think I was going with that?
Our top 5 SYTYCB artist is back with a brand new electro house banger, this one straight from the number one slot on the Beatport sales charts. Note to Deadmau5: I know you make these songs with relative ease, I know you think most of the DJs that play your tracks are hacks, but come on, just a little effort naming would go a long way in making you look not like such a douche. Thanks.
This songs hits. Beatery favorite Lazy Rich just gets sick with Fatboy Slim’s classic. If it wins it might be just me and the bar tender, but I don’t care I’ll get my groove on anyway. Can’t help but shake it to this one.
Hey so did you get the memo about this track being “The Official Trance Energy Anthem” of 2010?? Well in case you’ve been living under a rock I just wanted to let you know. ‘Cause, I don’t want you to be embarrassed or anything next time you go to a party and all your friends are talking about “The Official Trance Energy Anthem” and you kind of nod, half smile and stare at the floor in hopes that no one figures out that you’re the ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD that doesn’t know what the official “The Official Trance Energy Anthem” is! It’s like not knowing about gum. Or the number two. I hear Obama is even gonna make Sadner Van Doorn his “Offical Trance Energy Czar”… kidding aside tho, I do really like the track and we need some trance representation.
*****
ELECTAR! VOTE! Yes we can!
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Being a huge Bonobo fan, I originally planned to post my thoughts on his new album Black Sands on the very day of its release, almost a month ago. His last three albums are among my favorites in the downtempo genre, and I think his knack for incorporating and arranging acoustic instruments among his electronic elements gives his music more depth than 98% of the downtempo artists out there.* So naturally I expected to give a listen to the album, find a few highlights, rattle off some superlative praise and the post would write itself.
However, after my first few listens to Black Sands, I was left disappointed. I just didn’t like it. The textures sounded muddy, the rhythms uncoordinated, the percussion sloppy. Bonobo had taken another step away from drum loops and sample-based grooves of his earlier albums, and ventured further in to the territory of loose, organic production. Less quantization, more live percussion. Less synth, more vocals. At what point does this become smooth jazz, or worse, adult contemporary?
As I might have expected (and did, but not without worry) after several weeks Black Sands eventually won me over. It’s a slow burn. Bonobo’s emphasis on live instrumentation and looser layering of parts reminds me of a relaxed, half-drunk jazz combo playing the music. All the complimentary melodic phrases, all the supporting harmonies that make up the pieces are indeed there, but they don’t announce themselves like a high synth-line cutting through at the perfect frequency and timbre to be heard above all else. This music isn’t immediately accessible, but it rewards repeats listening when you begin to anticipate the arrival of that one final part that really makes the song for you… the subtle one you didn’t notice it the first few times you heard the song.
Because of this, I’d suggest using the ‘play all’ button below and giving these songs a few listens in the background (maybe over a few days, while you work) before writing it off. Perhaps it won’t take as long to grow on you as it did for me. Perhaps it won’t grow on you at all. Just know that you’re not going to get what you came for by skipping through the tracks listening for highlights. **
Last thing, if you like what you’re hearing from Bonobo here, and you like what you’ve heard from Bonobo before, then why not come hear him play live? He’s going to be performing (yes, performing, not DJing) at the Mezzanine THIS FRIDAY. I’m going. Who wants to come with me? Get tickets here.
* Scientifically valid statistic, I swear.
** A habit I’m far more guilty of than anyone else I know.
It’s about damn time I put a few Parov Stelar tracks up here for you guys; I’ve been a fan for years and I still haven’t given him his due propers. Like Gramatik, he combines old jazz samples with beats and breaks to great effect, though Parov keeps his beats more uptempo, giving house and breakbeat tracks an infectious 1930s swing vibe. Check out some sample tracks below, and if you find yourself wanting to bust out the ol’ Charleston, then shuffle on over to Amazon for a wide selection of his work.
And lastly, if you’ve been digging the jazzy stuff I’ve been posting here recently, don’t miss this Tuesday night, when I’ll be spinning once again at the SF Green Drinks monthly gathering at 111 Minna (at the corner of Minna and 2nd street, as if you didn’t know that.) I’ll be on the decks from 7-9 pm, providing a soundtrack of sustainable nu jazz and downtempo in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Word on the street is I’ll even be joined by a special guest star from the Beatery crew. Hmmmm… who could it be? I guess you’ll have to show up to find out. See you there!
