Saturday, August 8, 2009

Day 219: A reminder from the 90s.

Earlier today my friend matt advised me of an album currently being advertised in the UK called "Big tunes Back 2 the 90s" knowing it would ignite my senses.

Don't get me wrong, for me the 90s is the most musically significant decade ever. These were very much my formative years, and, I personally believe they were the last decade that was actually defined by it's musical revolutions (Rave/House, Grunge, Indie and Brit pop).

Today access to music is so much easier, and because of that (and the internet) musical revolutions are much harder to form, everything gets over exposed the minute it starts to develop, leaving a catalog of half formed music scenes that live and die within a summer.

However... it's not all sunshine and happiness. Being into rave in the early 90s meant constantly having to distance myself from all that bland 4/4 chart dance shite. For example people always used to say "You're not into that 'techno techno techno techno' bollox are you?" (mimicking the 2 Unlimited tune).

This happened more often than I care to mention, and therefore I formed a steely hatred of this particular chart dance, which was for many years the bane of my life.

These days however I can look back on it with fond amusement. Listening to this CD it's clear how bad it actually was. 'Wiggle wiggle' anyone? All of the tunes have the same formulaic sound, dull wimpy kick drums, repetitive cheesy stab, and some pointless vocal (Do you really have the key AND the secret???).

Soooo... yes, the 90s, a polar decade. Some amazing genre defining music, but also some madly cringeable stuff. The sad thing is though, it still seems a bit more fun and naive than the very serious, coldly calculated and prepared pop of today, so maybe not that bad after all.

10/365

p&&l

bang!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Day 218: The easy way to become a DJ (& a hit with the girls)

A bit of Friday fun.

Damn... if it wasn't such a scathing truth (about what little DJs actually do) then I'd find it funnier :P

Have a nice weekend (though see you tomorrow!).


10/365

p&&l

bang!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Day 217: Best sound cards for laptop users.

Almost as important as the the laptop itself, the audio interface is the beating hart of the digital Musician/DJs set up.

However, there are as many specific requirements, as there are musicians. As such finding the right one for you isn't just a case of picking the one yer mate's got, or, more foolishly, the most expensive.

Fortunately list-a-holics MusicRadar have made... er... a list! Thinly veiled as content, however it does serve the noble purpose of advocating a variety of audio interfaces, some maybe lesser known, yet interesting ones.

Have a look here...


10/365

p&&l

bang!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Day 216: How to optimise you Mac for DJing (in One click)

Ok, I don't have a mac, I wish I did, but currently I don't.

Anyway, I figured, seeing as most self respecting DJs do have macs, that this might be of interest to them. There you go, serious public service for you right there.

Nice.



10/365

p&&l

bang!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day 215: Beat the competition

I don't know what's happened recently, but it seems to be competition fever. I've lost count of how many I have entered recently.

This time next month however, if all my numbers come in, I could have won:

DJ set at Creamfields Andalucia
DJ set at Creamfields UK
A pair of CDJ 1000s
A DJ set at ASOS unsigned
Had a remix released on Skint records
A Pacemaker
A DJ pack of Loop DVDs, Ableton 8 and Vestax kit
A remix competition for exposure
A helicopter ride with Sander Van Doorn
A VIP trip to Ibiza
A coveted place at the Red Bull Music academy.
9000€!

See what I mean, even after all that lot I am sure there are one or two things I missed. I just gotta keep everything crossed. However, if nothing else, then it is at least demonstrative of how I have thrown myself back into the DJ venture, and just goes to show you what opportunity is actually out there when you go look for it.

So, who knows, next month, everything could be completely different!




10/365

p&&l

bang!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Day 214: More CDJ 1000 and DJM800 tips

This is something I thought worth checking out. Annoyingly I have never used these decks, or mixer, yet they are basically the club standard. What this means is that if I was to rock up to some club, then I would basically have to learn on the fly. Which, on top of playing in front of people makes it a fairly daunting prospect.

So, for that reason I have been trying to gen up as best I can without actually touching them, and this video is a good basic overview of the whole set up. Enjoy.

<

10/365

p&&l

bang!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Day 213:Ok ok ok... iPhone... I get it.

Right, so I have been battling with reasons NOT to get an iPhone, and, to be honest, the only one left is the fact that they have released like 3 or 4 versions with it still really being the same phone and shizzal.

My (albeit wonky) spidey sense tells me that they are gonna release an iPhone "2" at some point which will blow the cheese out of the old one... and it would crucify me to get a iPhone 3GS and for this to then come out months after.

The marketing fucks at Apple would cream at that obviously.

Anyway, despite all that... seeing this does make it hard for the muso on the street to ignore...

Clever marketing bastards...


10/365

p&&l

bang!