Day 59: Big like titanic.

Right, here we are, just coming in under the bar. February's minimix. It really truly, seriously is a belter.

If you hadn't guess, this months theme is Drum & Bass. Being a Bristolian, this is a genre close to my heart. I even kick off the set with an ultra Bristolian combo of Jakes/TC/Dynamite, by means of homage.

Direct Link (Right click save as).

Bang the DJ Drum & Bass minimix:

This reminded me of the Jan minimix, that I wasn't entirely pleased with... so I went back to it, and tweaked the levels to make it a bit smoother, and now, I actually quite like it, so in case you missed it (on my own advice) here is again:

Direct Link (Right click save as).

Bang the DJ Disco minimix:

What I really liked about this mix is that it's a scene that I haven't been too involved with of recent, so effectively had no tunes etc. Off I went to the always excellent Drum & Bass Arena, safe in the knowledge they would have the goods. And indeed I wasn't disappointed. Snapped me up a few bargains. 49p for a kick ass mp3? Can't be bad.

I actually bought quite a few mp3s this weekend. It actually reminded me how much I actually prefer buying them, yeah weird. Without going in to the whole rant about it... basically 'the blogs' are a very good source of upfront tunes, but if you rely too much on that, you soon find your musical horizon is quite narrow.

Example, while looking to buy 'Champion Sound' on mp3, I stumbled upon another tune of the same name, that is a completely different hip-hop number, that was really good. I discovered a new artist, and might even follow that up as a theme for a mini mix.

Not only that, having paid for something, by its very nature, gives it value. I think nothing of skimming through the weeks blog offerings, crassly deleting this, 'possibly' keeping that... this is someones hard work. Yet the mp3s I buy, seem cherished, special.

On top of all of this, is the obvious act of doing right. I don't spect Bruce Springsteen would ever notice if I bought his tracks on mp3 or not... and I don't just mean on a monetary level. However buying these mp3s there is that definite sense of contributing back to the artist. Yes financially, but also in the more supportive sense.

If I released music digitally, I would get a mad buzz, when checking my stats (as I am sure is possible/they do) to see that people actually buy my music, not as part of a mix, or compilation... but the specific track. So it is definitely nice to give that back.

I'm not about to suggest everyone should do the same, we are too far down that road for it to matter, however, I just wanted to comment that despite all the fears, maybe music sales aren't going to die after all. Who knows maybe the hard working independent artist might flourish in this more level of playing fields.

1/365

p&&l

bang!