Saturday, February 7, 2009

Day 38: And the point is?

Heylo...

Today is a good day, Saturdays are generally good days I give you that much, but today more so than normal. OK, so I didn't get to go see the Bloody Beetroots, and my pay cheque has dwindled to nothing already... not particularly good so far I hear you sense.

True, but today does mark a mini milestone with the BTDJ project. Some of my incessant mailing seems to have paid off, and I am now proud to say I am on the Dim Mak records promo list.

The Bee Gees macked it out with their new look.

Anyone who has ever dabbled with DJing for even a second knows that being on promo lists is one of the most coveted prizes. In short, free tunes, direct from the label, generally before everyone else.

This is great on so many levels... not least cos Dim Mak are one of my favorite labels anyway (Recording home to the said Beetroots no less), it also symbolically marks my first step in to DJ cred.

Yes I am scandalously awarding myself 1 point. One bang out of the needed 365.

Cracking little tune on the first promo too... certainly gonna feature in this months Phase 2 mix.

1/365

p&&l

bang!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Day 37: And the dirt is gone...

Definitely using that post title as the name for my first Album.

Bangers, it's funday friday, I'm listening to Röyksopp remixed by Boys Noize, which can never be a bad thing.

I have waxed enough lyrical this week so am just going to regale you with a great video from Barcelona 8-bit punkers Meneo.




p&&l

bang!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Day 36: Bang the DJ eats electro for breakfast

Weird isn't it how perceptions can change.

Last night I was rinsing out some awesome mixes, and I thought I would dip in to some older tunes for prosperity's sake. What followed was me realising that I didn't really like any of these tunes, none of them more than a year old.

No I am a staunch opposer of musical snobbery and elitism (I defend ABBA fiercely, and like Gabber if proof were needed), though at the same time there is definitely something about the 'newness' of a tune that can change one's perception of it.

Men want to be him, women want to be with him...

I mean this is the same for many things, and everything has a cycle. I guess good music roughly follows this pattern: Exciting/popular/overplayed/replaced/rediscovered and that's just the natural order of things...

However in the case of last night, these are tunes that I got into on my own merit. I was rediscovering my passion for music, and these were filling my head with all sorts of exciting sounds. I remember it well, thinking I had discovered some secret sounds that no-one knew about.

What happened over the next following months I guess I can only describe as an accelerated version of my whole musical listening preference. Like one of those stop motion films of a plant growing from nothing to fully grown in 10 seconds.

Sweet

I had taken a leave of absence from following music, so when I came back to it, I had to catch up quickly and get to where I am now.

What this made me wonder though was, is this the end of it, has the dust of my musical preference settled, or am I still a few genres to the left of my final resting place.

Ok so obviously this process never truly stops, just slows to an unnoticeable amble. What worries me though are the possible implications. Electronic music has always been criticised for be too "instant" no lasting legacy. This I argued was the whole point. Dance music was about now, however what concerns me is that today's culture isn't even giving 'now' a chance. The focus is always on 'what next'.

It will be interesting to see how long this can last before imploding. Could be a good thing if you ask me, cause people to rethink their choices, maybe push them to (heaven forbid) make their own mind up.

We'll see.

p&&l

bang!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Day 35: Why does the lift always smell of dog

Bangers...

Still chipping away at this months main mix track list. Ya gonna love it.

Whilst meddling with google, I found this site. Imagine my joy at finding a site such as this. I mean, this could save me loads of time and effort... right what nuggets does it have to offer?

Record a mix, OK. Promote myself, right. So that's more or less it. OK... well in the mean time here is a picture of an oriental girl wearing a dress made out of voting slips:

The Japanese - fucking great.

So I think my list was more comprehensive to be honest. Shockingly not got much feedback from the press release (I know, I thought it was a sure fire winner too!)

Definitely think they way forward is putting a night on... then people HAVE to listen.

Just a case of trying to find a club here that's not totally white shirted out.

p&&l

bang!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Day 34: Full steam ahead.

As we hurtle forward deep in to February (it's a short month after all) there is no time for hanging about.

I am already collating tunes for this months mix, which will be shorter, yet a more upfront affair.

On the tube today I had another idea to add to the mix catalogue, which is the biannual UBER mix. This will take the format of a monster, genre smashing ear drum collapsing mix of epic proportions. the length is yet undetermined, but this is to be a constant work in process over the first 6 (well 5 now) months.



This will be an Ableton mix, the idea being that I can really chip away at it. Sculpt it lovingly over time to try and produce something of truly insane genius.

In fact am gonna have a cheeky wee mix up right now.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Day 33: New ideas

It's a Monday, so don't expect much.

However met an awesome guy tonight. A fellow writer by the name of Owain, more importantly likes his music, likes his beer.

Anyway, turns out it might have been a very fruitful meeting indeed.

I like people that share a drive, a passion for things, and want to make things happen. Looks like I might have just added a fine string to this collective bow.

So many shared ideas....

Good times ahead I sense.

p&&l

bang!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Day 32: Need more game

Ok, one month in... how far have we got?

One mix, and a best left minimix. Some new found, yet still incomplete Ableton skillz, and thats more or less it.

I was gonna put up a graph showing points over time, but there is no need. Still stuck on a big fat 0/365.

Need to up the game.

So whats the plan? Effectively I am 31 points behind schedule, and Feburay's points will be adding up before long too. I need to reach 60 points before the end of the month. Ok so thats a tall order considering I could't manage 30 in January.

Girls gone wild WWII edition.

To be fair though, its a slow month, things are just getting back to normal after Christmas etc... I shouldn't be too hard on myself.


For those who missed it, you can find the score card here. So if I need 60 points by the end of the month, what are my options? Certainly would pay to have a fixed goal in mind.

I could try and get 6 name on flyer > 500 people bookings... if only it were that easy. Or 7 and a half articles in the printed media of less than 200 words... hmmm not entirely un-doable. Maybe one and a half sets on broadcast radio, damn I really did set the scoring system tightly didn't I.

OK, so we've got to be realistic. My best shot for gaining some points this month has to be getting some press coverage. 20 short on-line mentions will get me my 60 points. Hmm, 'almost' do-able.

So I've cobbled together something by the means of a press release (yes seriously). As you might have guess I can quite happily talk about myself, so it wasn't difficult. Now I am firing it out to some carefully selected scene giants.

If you received the press release, that means you are awesome. If you haven't received it yet, it's in the post, honest.

p&&l

bang!