During the mid nineties a couple of seemingly simple, unrelated events occurred that wound up changing my life: I started driving, my buddy Adrian’s cousin visited from Germany and the Bay Area got a new radio station. Well, turned out that Adrian’s cousin was a German DJ who came baring gifts in the form mix tapes jam packed with rave, trance and happy hard core jams that still remain legend among my crew of friends to this day; the radio station was the first incarnation of the recently re-established 92.7, the first ever all dance music radio station in the Bay; and my car was a new environment for me to listen to whatever crazy music I wanted at any decibel level I saw fit. This new, exciting, pulsating, driving music consumed me and my buddies and led us to raves, which led to a deeper love of the music, which eventually led, at least for Cor and me, to a desire to share that music with as many other people as possible.

Since I took that final step and started DJing in 1998 I’ve moved through different styles; I’ve played at countless house parties, raves, and clubs; I’ve thrown underground parties in warehouses and open fields on both sides of the Pacific Ocean; and I’ve watched the scene change and evolve. The one thing that has remained consistent though, the one constant over all these years is that same love for this ridiculous music that started in my car stereo all those years ago.

This brings us here, to this blog, which in a very real way is a labor of love. While my I still prefer to share my passion live, loud and in person, this is a fantastic opportunity to share with an even larger audience. And not only do you get to hear my stuff, and that of the immensely talented DJ Cor, but we’re gonna be bringing you all the music that inspired us to step behind the deck in the first place! So whether you’re an old friend from our raving days or someone I’ve never met, welcome. Pull up a chair; I want you to try something tasty!

Me:

Jay AKA Dee Jay AKA DJ Austin Gregory AKA Paradox

What I Play:

Hard to say… eclectic, exciting dance music would sum it up! I’ll play anything from techno to trance; making stops at progressive, breaks and electro along the way if the crowd and I are feeling it. Whatever it is it’s not gonna be boring ‘casue I like songs that do stuff, and like any good story my sets will always evolve, progress, take you from one place to another. And if I’m doing my job right, you won’t even notice it ‘till we’ve arrived!

DJ Jay - Barons of Bump

Last modified on 2009-12-24 20:13:43 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

Super-awesome cover art by my new Bolivian gf Paola Lambertin (who I think will be personally offended if Daft Punk doesnt win this).

So I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but we’re doing this little contest here at The Beatery trying to find the best producers of electronic dance music of the 2000s. Somewhere along the way (I think it was at Tiesto of all people…) it dawned on me that: fuck, I should really do a podcast with these Dons of Dance, these Behemoths of Beats, these Saints of Synths* all mixed together!

*Thank you, thank you, I’m here all night.

So I came up with some quick rules for this “So You Think You Can Bump” podcast:

1. Every contestant would get one, and only one song.
2. I would not be trying to include everyone’s “biggest” or “most memorable” or “definitive” track. Way too hard to put together anything with flow, and quite frankly, I’m sick to death of most of those*
3. I would not use a track (or the same mix of a track) that was ever on any of our sets. These guys are so prolific let’s hear some new stuff**
4. Any mix, re-mix, cover or mashup was fair game as long as the SYTYCB artist was somehow associated

* This is not to say I COULDN’T use one of these, it just wasn’t the priority.

** Like every good set of rules one of them needs to get broken, and for me it was number three. I used one track that appears elsewhere in a mix on this site. Can you catch it? It’s pretty obvious…

So with these rules in hand and 15 holes to fill I felt like the manager of and All Star game. Who do I start? When do I use the heavy hitters? With so many of these guys being multi-dynamic producers, what style should I have them represent? With so many different styles how do I get them to gel together?

Well, the need for flow made most of these decisions pretty easy. And now that the dust has settled I have to say I’m pretty excited about this mix! It’s not often that you have an excuse to only use the best producers in you set, and wow, what a result.

I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did making it! It’ll be a nice way to look back at an incredible period of dance music:

DJ Jay – “Barons Of Bump”

1. Stanton Warriors – “Bang”
2. Hookers & Blow – “Blow the Whistler” – (Mashup of Claud VonStroke and Too Short)
3. Steve Porter – “Rap Chop”
4. Bass Kleph – “Stitch” – Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
5. Deadmau5 vs. Busta Rhymes – “The Reward is Dangerou5”
6. Chris Lake – “Shake”
7. Modeselector – “Dancingbox”
8. Plump Djs – “The Rub Off”
9. Daft Punk – “Technologic” – Peaches No Logic Remix
10. Wolfgang Gartner – “Push and Rise”
11. Justice – “Dvno”
12. Röyksopp – “What Else Is There?” - Trentemøller Remix
13. Britney Spears – “Breath On Me” – Jame Holden Remix
14. Sasha - “Xpander” - Mark Norman Edit
15. Imogen Heap – “Hide and Seek” – Tiesto’s I still can’t find the god damn Sunrise Mix

So what do you think of all of our favs rocking together? If you had only one song to play from your fav producer* what would it be?

*Again, not quite the point of this set, but an interesting question no the less

DJ Jay - Electron Flow

Last modified on 2009-09-25 16:47:26 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

You hum… you excite… you arc and spark.  You are invisible to the human eye, yet you help it see the most microscopic of objects.  You can be a solid particle or an undefined probabilistic wave, depending on your mood.  You can be spun 360 degrees, only to show a new side of yourself.  People are always calling you negative, but you know it’s all relative.  You kick it with other sub-atomic particles, but you know you are better, stronger, faster… and a whole lot smaller.   You yearn to break out of your nuclear home, to flow free, to carry information, to change the world.  And you never… stop… moving…

For our 100th post on The Beatery I invite you into the world of the electron, and all they wonders it makes possible.  From the neurons in our brains, to the intricate workings of modern technology, we owe much of our existence to these sub-atomic marvels.  Step inside the stream and who knows where you’ll end up…

DJ Jay - Electron Flow (Right click and “Save as…” to download)

Tracklist, movies sampled and more after the jump, but don’t forget you can get your own personal flow of electrons to your computer every other week by subscribing to our podcast.  Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. “On Off” - Cirez D - (With some samples from “Doppler” by Plump DJs thrown in)

2. “Another Last Cigarette” - Flavio Diaz

3. “Discotechno” - Sebastien Leger

4. “Wired”  - D.Ramirez feat. LDV

5. “Go” - Moby - Trentemøller Remix

6. “Louder Than Boom” - Tiesto - Extended Mix

7. “Brace Yourself” - Jochen Miller - Extended Mix

8. “Kidsos” - Sebastian Ingrosso - Wippenberg Remix

9. “Cafe del Mar” - Energy 52 - Deadmau5 Remix

Movies Sampled:

Sneakers

The Matrix

The Lawnmower Man

Star Trek: First Contact

Johnny Mnemonic

——

I’ve been wanting to make a techy set for years, but if I did it, I wanted to do it my way (read: spent hella days obsessing over it, almost giving up then throwing away half the tracks and starting over).  What do you think?  Can you get into the subatomic flow?

DJ Jay - El Gusto Es Mio

Last modified on 2009-07-31 21:44:05 GMT. 8 comments. Top.

Hola amigos y amigas!  I’m back on the podcast to serve you up a healthy portion of electro house, sweet progressive house & trance, some salted classic trance, a dash of spicy Latin house, all topped of with a bit of savory dubstep.  If you think this too much for one dish, have little faith in this veteran chef!  Turn it up and get ready to be taken on a musical journey that will surely have you shaking your nalgas every step of the way.

“El Gusto Es Mio”, or “The Pleasure is Mine”, is meant as introduction to the kind of music you will most likely hear me play out at a discoteca.  As I’m sure you all know, I’ve been living in Bolivia for the last month, learning Spanish at a breakneck pace, and getting ready to work in La Paz until February or so.  I would also love to DJ at some local clubs out here, so this set will also be the demo CD I hand out to folks.  Because I’m using the set as a promo, it’s  a little bit longer than we normally dish out here at The Beatery (one hour instead of 45 mins), but I’m sure you won’t mind ;)  You can also hear the Latin influence in the first few songs, as I am try to dial in my sound to the Latin American crowd a little bit.

Anyway, enjoy “El Gusto Es Mio” and please leave some comments to let me know what you think!

“El Gusto Es Mio” - DJ Jay (right click and “Save As…” to download)*

Tracklist and more comments after the jump (but no photos this time).  And remember, subscribe to out podcast to have these sets delivered directly to your itunes or other music player every other week!

*Not that I think many of you care that much, but I’ve provided this weeks podcast as a variable bitrate mp3 encoded using LAME.  All this means, basically, is that the music will sound really kick ass when played loud, but be much smaller than if it was encoded at 320 kb/s (but slightly larger than the 192 kb/s we usually give you).  Anyway, I want nothing but the best for you, our brilliant listeners!

Tracklist:

1. “Wamp Wamp” - DJ Deekline & Ed Solo - (Remix of Clipse)

2. “El Ritmo Del Amor” - Static Revenger feat. Sue Ling - Vocal Mix

3. “La Tromba” - Chris Lake & LYS

4. “Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony” - Wolfgang Gartner

5. “Tetris” - Electrixx

6. “Play” - Dive & Jin Sonic - Wolfgang Gartner Remix

7. “Hi Friend” - Deadmau5 feat. Mc Flipside

8. “Violet” - Stonewash & Fagault - Lazy Rich Remix

9. “Lifting Me High” - Jose Nunez & Harry Choo Choo Ro - DJ DLG Huge Remix

10. “Madagascar” - Art of Trance - Ferry Corsten Remix (Remastered 2009)

11. “I’m Not In Madagascar” - Calvin Harris, Deadmau5, Art of Trance & Ferry Corsten - DJ Jay’s Mashup*

12. “I Remember” - Kaskade & Deadmau5 - Caspa Remix

* Cor and I both were reminded of the classic trance anthem “Madagascar” when we first heard Calvin Harris’ “I’m Not Alone” so I decided to mash them up!  I’ll post the song by itself next week as a Bonus Beat.

The Golden Hour

Last modified on 2009-06-06 00:08:53 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

We’ve been bringing you a healthy dose of bangin beats here on The Beatery recently, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to take it down a notch… like I was a bizarro anti-Emeril.

I’m always paying visual attention to my surroundings, light in particular. There are these times of day, one hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise, where the world looks just a little bit different. The shadows are longer, colors are softer, warmer, and the world just seems to glow with this beautiful radiance not seen at any other time. Photographers call it “the golden hour”. For this podcast I’ve compiled a set of songs that give the world a similar beauty when I listen to them. Listening to songs like these I can be anywhere, on a bus, on BART, watching paint dry, whatever, and the world seems to have that same glowing sheen; like everything is going to be alright, no matter what. I hope they have the same effect on you, enjoy! Tracklist, discussions and more photos after the jump:

Right click and “Save as…” to download.

Tracklist:

1. Heaven – UNKLE – King Unique Remix
2. Light Through the Veigns – Jon Hopkins – Ewan Pearson Remix
3. Apollo – We Plants Are Happy Plants*
4. Highlife – Adam Parker – Sasha’s Invol2ver Remix**
5. It’s Not My Problem - Sneaky Sound System – Thin White Duke Remix***
6. Radio 101 – Pole Folder featuring Shelley Harland – Francesco Pico Remix
7. Engineers – Sometimes I realize – Sasha’s Invol2ver Remix

*Thanks to the guys over at Binary for turning me on to this track!

**How is this the “Invol2ver Remix” when it is a TOTALLY different version than he uses on his album “Invol2ver”? The one on Sasha’s mix is super minimal and doesn’t have the vocal at all. This should be “Sasha’s other remix that’s way better than the one on Invol2ver”. But maybe that was a little long…

***Thanks to the guys at Silence Killer for clueing me into this one!

Photos:

Here are some shots that I’ve taken during the Golden Hour all around the world. It’s so neat that from New York to the West Bank the Sun is the Sun, and the light it casts is the same (View using “PicLens” to listen and view photos at the same time.  Clicking on the photos will close the music player).

DJ Jay - Cover Me!

Last modified on 2009-05-05 16:19:51 GMT. 12 comments. Top.

For my first Beatery podcast I decided to play a bunch of songs that you might actually know!  I’ve recently built up a library of some pretty amazing remixes/covers of songs so I’m super stoked be be able to get a lot of ‘em into one set.  I love the flow of this mix, it builds nicely from some indie-dance type stuff into the big trancy finish with “Enjoy the Silence”.  I still remember Gianni (Bay Area DJ of yore) dropping that track at some random rave and my friends and I flipping out.   Ahhh the memories… Plus I’ve got a good cross sample of a bunch of the artist doing great remixes of current jams.  So which remix is your favorite??  Leave a comment and let me know!

Aaaand to grab your own copy, cick here and “saaaaaave as”! (that was my Bob Barker voice)

Tracklist:

1. Kids - MGMT - Soulwax Remix

2. Little Bit - Lykke Li - Villains Remix

3. Need You Tonight - INXS - Jon Gill Remix

4. Check it Out - Beastie Boys - Timoshi Remix

5. Me & Myself - Bendj feat. Sushy - Wolfgang Gartner Remix*

6. Umbrella - Rihanna - VNDLSM Remix

7. Wrong - Depeche Mode - DIM vs Boys Noize Remix

8. The Silence - Depeche Mode - Mike Koglin Remix

* OK so this isn’t technically a “cover song” or “pop music remix” but is sounds like one and I love it so, whatever.  Hey, my podcast, my rules

DJ Jay - There’s No Place Like Home

Last modified on 2009-05-04 20:27:40 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

So I was away in Japan for two years, teaching English and doing my DJ thing; and when I get back people are like “What, you still DJ??” or “I didn’t know you still played!” or “What are you doing back I though you were gonna marry a Japanese girl, make babies and eat rice in raw fish the rest of your life?”  OK, I guess they didn’t really ask that last one…  From my perspective I had established a successful series of parties* and was playing out somewhere at lest once a month, but for every one back at home I had slipped away into the either.  In order to get everyone all caught up on where I’m at musically I recorded this set a few months after I got back last year.  I really like it as it’s kinda a “best of” of a lot of the stuff I play in Japan and also has some tracks that I did a little bit of production on.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Right click and “save as” to dld you very own copy!

Tracklist:

1. B.E.A.T. (Extended) - Justice

2. Silikon - Modeselektor - Sirusmo Remix

3. Shake With Steroids - BassKleph & Mr. Oizo - Jay’s Chemichaly Enhanced Mashup

4. Want 2 Need 2 - Sharon Phillips - Trentemoller Remix

5. Bollywood Beatdown - Stanton Warriors

6. Phantom - Justice - Hydroz Remix

7. Point & Clap - Elroy & Tom Piper - Matty Martinez Remix

8. Oh My God - Mark Ronson & Lily Allen - Chris Lake Remix

9. Tweaked Out - Splitloop

10. Guttersnipe - SnV - Chris Lake Remix

11. The Things You Say - Critical Mass - Diry South Remix

12. Cafe Del Mar - Energy 52 - Dabruck& Klein Mix- Jay’s “What You Thinking?” Edit

13. Groovezone - Eisebear - Hard Mix

14. Arcadia - Gabriel & Dresden

15. Not Exactly - Deadmau5

* SHINE!!  Shine was the name of my parties out in Japan, and I’m proud to say that as of this posting those parites are still going on in Aizuwakamatsu, fukushima Japan.  Keep rocking guys, I miss you!!

DJ Jay - Entropy Radio

Last modified on 2009-05-04 21:36:32 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

Its kinda funny that this is the first set I’m putting up on this here shiny new blog ’cause it’s the one that the fewest number of people have heard.  I don’t think even Cor’s heard it, and he has more of my sets than I do!  I recorded this on my way out to Japan a few years back hoping it would be the first in a series of podcasts that I could share with my peoples back at home while I was away.  Well, turns out that not only was this the first, it was the ONLY recording in that series.  And instead of putting it up on a blog or whatever it sat on my hard drive for two years gathering digital dust, only to be heard by a random smattering of peeps in Northern Japan.  So here you go, for your listening pleasure, the first and only broadcast of Entropy Radio!

Right-click and “save as…” to download

Track List:

Were you looking for a track list??  Yeah, about that… I gotta go dig through my basement ’cause I really can’t remember who did half of these songs.

Reflections:

While it does have its hic-ups, I’m still pretty high on this set.  I really like the over-all flow of it: we start of with some dark, proggy breaks, move into some lighter stuff, then into some driving prog/techy tracks before diving into a healthy dose of trance and, finally, a beautiful proggy breaks song to bring us full circle.  That’s really a lot of what I try to do as a DJ, take folks on a sort of musical journey.  Doesn’t always work, but that’s the idea.  I’m just pissed I flubbed so many of the mixes!  (>.<)  Well, that’s life before Abelton for you.  I think I recall me doing this only once, meaning to go back and try again and never getting around to it.

I’m really quite fond of the songs and mixes starting at 38:20.  It’s really hard to find trance like this these days, you generally get ultra-cheese, and that gives ALL trance a bad name!  Kinda like the frat boys of the collage scene.  Though I like the one before it as well* I think my fav mix of this set is the last one, into “These Days” by Petter.  I’m sure you all recognize this track from Sasha’s incredible mix CD “Involver”.  This is the original mix, not nearly as clean, shiny and…err, good as Sasha’s remix, but I didn’t wan the U.N.K.L.E. vocal in there.

* I really do <3 the part of this song, 53:40 in the mix, where the song explodes into that beautiful break beat and powerful melody.  It’s like fireworks.

DJ Jay - Fatbeats

Last modified on 2009-05-16 16:10:29 GMT. 8 comments. Top.

I will always have a bitter sweet memory of this Fatbeats Diner party*.  You ever have one of those fantasies about the perfect line-up for a concert or a dance party or something?  The kind where you can choose whoever you want to rock the stage, in the order of your choosing?  Well this party was pretty close to my dream line-up of San Francisco DJs, circa four years ago.  I remember being soooooo excited to not only hear them all (or all that I could) but to share the stage with them as well.  To sweeten the deal we were throwing this party in a underground spot which generally only adds to the positive vibe we try to encourage.  Our whole camp pitched in to help, decorate and promote.  The place looked amazing, the line up was off the hook, shit, we even had our own bar room** with a whole other set of hip hop DJs that weren’t even on the billing!  We were primed for one seriously epic party.

And then came the bitter.  I don’t remember the numbers off hand, but the turnout was disappointing.  At the peak each of the rooms had enough people so that it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable to dance, but no more than that.  Financially it wasn’t quite a disaster as we didn’t loose money, but all that work for literally $50 is no one’s definition of success.  And on a more personal note I was devastated.  Not because of the financial stuff, but because so many of my friends had worked so hard and I felt like I’d let them down; and because my dream lineup of DJs had been wasted on mostly empty rooms.  I was so eager to share not just my music, but the music of all these other amazing artists with a packed house, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Anyway, I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom.  I had a fantastic time, as did everyone else who attended that special night!  And if you happened to be one of them then you got this sweet promotional CD which I present to you now.  Cor’s side is an epic dose of funky breaks and house.  Mine starts with some hip-hop influenced breaks*** then moves into some more progressive fare, then onto (if you couldn’t guess) a trancy finish!  Please enjoy, and don’t forget to tip your waiter.

* This was actually the SECOND and final edition of the Fatbeats Diner parties.

** I have never promoted, nor participated in, the illegal selling of alcohol. But man, it sure woulda been fun if I had…

*** Are these first two songs considered “booty breaks”? Seriously, I wanna know. I think they predate booty breaks. That second song, with The Beatnuts & Apollo 440 is the first Stanton Warriors song I ever spun. The thing is, I didn’t actually realize that it was Stanton Warriors until well after they dropped that remix of “Who’s Afraid of Detroit”. Crazy.

DJ Jay - Fatbeats (Right click to download)

Tracklist:

I promise I will go back through my vinyl and get all of these songs.  There are some seriously epic ones in here.  Back in the day when they actually made great progressive trance!  Can’t find stuff like that to much anymore.  I’ll have to post some of them as Bonus Beats so I can give them their proper due.

DJ Cor & DJ Jay: Octane (2004)

Last modified on 2009-08-21 18:29:21 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

I love driving fast.  Cor loves driving fast.  Hella our friends love driving fast.  To pay homage to this need for speed, Cor and I got together five years ago to make this set, Octane, meant to be the soundtrack for that next stretch of road.

The concept was simple: combine as many songs as we could that made us want to drive with excessive speed.  The result however was far more than either of us had anticipated.  With all of its voice samples, varied styles, great mixes and kickass tracks, this set took on a life of its own and still delights to this day!   It moves from breaks to house, progressive to cybertrance, tribal to old-school rave, all while keeping that persistent, driving beat that urges you to go ever faster.

Whether it be your yearly pilgrimage to Black Rock desert, or just your daily commute, may Octane speed you to your next destination.  And just so you know: “On green I’m going for it.”

“Octane” – DJ Cor & DJ Jay – (one long track, right click and “Save as…”)

As we released this as a CD back in the day we have all the tracks cut up, zipped up and available to be downloaded in full 320 kbps glory!  Enjoy, just be careful: this set WILL get you into trouble.

“Octane” – DJ Cor & DJ Jay – (.zip file with tracks cut up, right click and “Save as…”)

Tracklist, movies sampled and more after the jump.

Tracklist:

1. Vanquish -Force Mass Motion Vs Dylan Rhymes
2. Scram - Plump DJs
3. Genesis - Cass and Slide
4. Break the Limit - Blue Amazon
5. Dirty Walter - Soul of Man
6. Overdrive - DJ Sandy vs Housetrap
7. Shiny Disco Balls (White Label Remix) - Who Da Funk
8. Go Speed Go - Alpha Team
9. Smart Bomb (Plump DJs Mix)- BT
10. Ultra - Trisco
11. Pistol Whip - Joshua Ryan
13. Curva Pelirosa - Weirdo
14. Winning’s Winning
15. Everywhere I Drum (Entropy Mashup) - Space Brothers & Ian Wilky vs Der Dritte Raum
16. Sparc - Futureshock
17. Open the Floodgates - Skynet UK

Movies Sampled:

Cannonball Run
The Blues Brothers
Bullit
The Fast and the Furious
Days of Thunder
Spaceballs
Apollo 13
Back to the Future

On a more personal note, Octane will always hold a special place in my heart as it is the only set Cor and I have actually worked on together.  I really think we brought out the best in each other and I love hearing our different styles weave in and out.  I hope you do too!

DJ Jay - Searching (2003)

Last modified on 2009-09-18 19:51:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Nothing seems to be more prominent about human life than its wanting to understand all and put everything together.” - Buckminster Fuller

This quote circles the edge of the disc that remains, in my mind, the best set that I’ve ever recorded.  To understand why I still like it so much I think you need to understand a bit about a DJ’s goals, and what we are trying to accomplish when putting together a mixed set of music.  I’ve talked about this some on my page, but when I put together a set, live or recorded, my goals are twofold:

1. To play great songs (and if live, great songs that make people wanna dance.)
2. To take my listening audience on musical journey;  to lead them from one place to another; to tell an aural story with a beginning, middle and an end, and to fill that tale with intrigue, romance, drama, tension, and ultimately resolution.

And like any good storyteller I like the plot to unwind smoothly, have the flow of the narrative come naturally, progress effortlessly from one chapter to the next.  Well, with Searching I believe I achieved these with better success than in any of my sets, before or since.

I think all the songs are fantastic*, the mixes (transitions from one part of the story to the next) range from good outstanding**, and the entire set, at least to me, has a wonderful flow: It starts off slow and dark, moves into intrigue, followed by bliss and a hint of romance, before diving into the drama and conflict.  The tension is ultimately resolved and it’s all kisses and snuggles as the story ends.

Bringing it back to the quote, as Bucky spells out I think we, all people, are all are constantly striving for understanding; searching for our place in this often crazy and mysterious world.  To me this set is a story of such a journey.  I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.

DJ Jay - “Searching” - 2002 (right click and “Save as…” to download)

And as a special bonus, as we did with Octane, I have the individual tracks cut up, tagged, zipped and ready to be downloaded (right click and “Save as..” to download).  They’re in full 320 kb/s too, so bump it as loud as ya like!!

* It happens almost every mix: I come back and listen to it three or six months later and there’s invariably one song that I can no longer stand and I think “What on earth were you thinking putting that song in there??”.  Another reason I’m so enamored with this set, not a single one of those “whoops” tracks.

** Cor and I talk about this all the time: it’s really hard to have EVERY mix be great in a longer set.  We often run into the situation were we’ll have some great mixes in the beginning and line up of solid tracks in the end, but bridging the gap can prove very frustrating.  Incredibly here everything fell perfectly into place.

Tracklist and more after the jump!

1. “Apollo Vibes” - Pole Forter & CP

2. “Solitude” - Reza - Jondi & Spesh Remix

3. “Eastern Promise” - Decepticons

4. “Aphrodite” - Paris & Sharp

5. “First Light” - Ogenki Clinic (James Holden & Gwill Morris)*

6. “Travelogue” - Loafer

7. “Faith” - Starecase - Loafer Remix

8. “Heavy Fluid” - Yum Yum - Main Element Remix

9. “Sacred Cycles” - Pete Lazonby - Quivver Remix**

10. “Into The Dawn” - Arcadia - James Holden Remix*

11. “All Because of You” - Universal State of Mind - Sunday Club Mix

12. “Home Page” - Brittany

* Here are those two James Holden songs I mentioned in his So You Think You Can BUMP post.  It’s amazing how much better they sound in context, “First Light” so warm and pretty as we’re getting warmed up and “Into the Dawn” the climax of the entire set.

** “Sacred Cycles” is one of my favorite trance songs of all time.  The original is OOOOLD, 1994 I believe, and Quivver’s remix nothing short of brilliant, and absolute clinic on how to build a progressive trance song that’s equally dancy and immaculately produced.

My favorite part: Quivver builds up all the parts throughout the song until they’re all in during the breakdown at 4:50 (if you’ve downloaded the individual tracks, 56:40 on the continuous mix).  He then drops the track to beat and you’re thinking “man, it’s one of THOSE tracks, the ones that never give you all the parts AND the beat together *frown*”.  But wait!  At 5:34 (57:22) he brings back!  All the parts together, with the beat, for one last glorious hurrah!  And then *poof* it’s gone… Kinda like when you turn around to get one last look at that really cute girl (or guy) who you shared a smile with, and it just so happens that she’s glancing back at you the very same instant!  Your eyes meet, you smile again, then *poof*… it’s over.

DJ Jay - Electric Relaxation (2001)

Last modified on 2009-09-04 18:11:50 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Wow, this set is old.  The graphic there is a scan of the CD I still have kicking around from nine years ago.  Just look at that: “Paradox”.  That was my DJ name before switching to the more “serious sounding” Austin Gregory, and it was because of music like this set that I felt compelled to make the move.  While I had been messing around with progressive stuff for a while, this set was like my official announcement: “Hey world, I’m a progressive house/trance DJ!!!”

And you know what, it still holds up today. It’s got some absolute classics on here: “Lupus” and “Xpander” by Sasha, “The Sway” my favorite song by my home town heroes Jondi & Spesh, some great Cass & Slide tracks in the height of their progressive powers and “Sunrise” by Space Shuffle, a record I’d been trying to get from Cor for the longest (when did he ever play progressive stuff?), and finally convinced him to give me on the caveat that I ended a set with it.  It’s got these chimes and ocean noises that just kind bliss you out as you drift away… fantastic ending song.

So sit back, plug in, and enjoy some vintage Progressive Trance and House like mama used to make for you on those rainy winter days.

DJ Jay - “Electric Relaxation”

Track list and more after the jump!

A peak inside the mind of a DJ: my original track list/notes on this set!  Before Ableton Live this was about as technical as it got.  I kept all my ideas for mixes in this book since I started DJing in 1997, and by some miracle I still have it today!  Ahh, the memories.

1. “Hong Kong” - John Johnson

2. “Urban Static” - Ortus

3. “Lupus” - Sasha - Jimmy Van M / Cass & Slide Remix

4. “Raincry” - Scott Hardkiss - Jondi & Spesh Remix

5. “The Sway” - Jondi & Spesh*

6. “France” - THK

7. “Closure” - Slide

8. “Perception” - Cass & Slide

9. “Xpander” - Sasha

10. “Dirty Logic” - Deep Funk Project

11. “Sunrise” - Space Shuffle

* I still, to this day, remember the first time I heard this song.  I was at 1015 Folsom (San Francisco super club from the days of yor), in that little side room to the left and up the stairs from the main dance floor (if your facing the DJ).  I think it mighta been when Cor, I and some other homies went out to see Paul Van Dyk… anyway, I was up there taking a break from the main room when I heard this song with these haunting voices, and unique sounding synths, the likes of which I’d never heard before, and HAD to know who it was.  I remember the DJ booth being inaccessible but it turned out it was the DJs last song.  When I asked him about it he replied sheepishly that the track was his, and would be released some time in the next year!  That was how I first met local San Francisco DJ/production/Qool icon, and personal DJ role model “Spesh”.

Paradox & DJ Cor - Bump in the Night (200?)

Last modified on 2009-10-30 05:39:34 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

Mwahahahaha! Halloween is finally upon us, and to celebrate we present you with the second in our series of spooky retro mixes: a super-rare versus set Jay and I recorded for a Halloween party way back in… damn, when was this? Judging from the tracks I’d say this was in 2000, but it’s hard to know for sure; I barely remember recording this one. Big thanks to Dustin for getting this to me, as he had what appears to be the only copy of this long-forgotten CD. Even Jay and I haven’t heard this in years.

Listening back now, Jay’s set definitely sounds a lot more Halloween-y than mine, I love the dramatic cello-driven trance tracks and the Psycho theme in there. His set has better flow and mixing as well… You know, on second thought, don’t listen to my set. Maybe I forgot this CD on purpose. Ah hell, it’s too late now, it’s out there, for better or worse. Trick or treat, you decide.

Paradox - Bump in the Night

DJ Cor - Bump in the Night

Cor vs Paradox - Bump (2000)

Last modified on 2009-07-10 17:22:17 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

Ah, here’s a Cor and Jay tape for the ages. We recorded this as a give-away for a “rave” we threw in the pizza junction at UC Santa Cruz in 2000. If memory serves, we recorded about 40 copies of this tape from one master copy on our dual-deck tape recorder… a process that took us weeks. These days all I have to do to propagate it anew is record the tape one last time and throw it on the internets. Yes, I love technology.

This tape marks the point where Jay and I started to break apart stylistically (although we’ve started merging back together in recent years thanks to the rise of electro house.) I had started phasing out the trance in favor of house music, changing my name from the trancy “Paradigm” to plain ol’ DJ Cor (all the house DJs just used their first names… DJ Dan, Tony, Garth, etc.) It was a relief to both Jay and I to finally diverge a bit. We no longer struggled to define our DJ “sounds” from one another, we didn’t need to argue over which one of us would get to feature mutually beloved songs on our mixes, and best of all, we could record tapes like this one, with a variety of styles. There’s something here for everyone.* I kick things off on side A with some hard & funky house, while Jay rocks side B with some classic hands-in-the-air anthem trance. It’s a flashback mix, no doubt, and certainly sounds dated at this point, but we still love it. What do you think? Do any of these tracks bring you back to your raving days?

*Provided everyone enjoys either house or trance music circa 2000.

Bump Side A - DJ Cor (Right click to download)

Bump Side B - Paradox (Right click to download)