As I sit here on this rainy September Sunday, I find myself in a contemplative mood. I come back to this blog after perhaps a week or so of inactivity and wonder: What is the point? As it stands right now, more the 2500 hundred people have viewed my blog since it’s inception sometime in February of this year. That is not bad, but let us be honest with ourselves that it represents but a scant sliver of the sum total of what we call humanity. Wikipedia tells me that as of December of last year there were at least 112 million blogs in existence which would make me like a grain of sand in the Gobi Desert. Well, maybe not that insignificant.
But again, what is the point? Imagine standing among 112 million people, all talking at once, and trying to be heard? It would seem pointless. As I look at my tiny piece of the Internet pie I can find some solace however. I have still reached 2500 people I never would have otherwise. Who knows who those people are? It’s crazy to think that someone from a far off place has read my words. At this moment, those images that you always see in commercials that tout the way this or that company is using the Internet to connect the world come to mind. I see a youth in a Brazilian favela reading one of my entries or an African tribesman. I know that this is highly improbable. My readers, whoever they are, probably hail from less exotic locales. Still, even if someone from St Louis or Rennes reads my blog I am happy. I get the impression (hopefully correct) that in some way I have connected with them. That something has been shared.
Thus we come to why I choose to write, despite the overwhelming evidence of it’s complete and utter futility. If you have perused this blog even superficially you can tell my entries about music are not bound by genre or subject or really anything. I guess the spirit of this blog can be summed up as: here is a good song that I like and think you might like (with a definite “party music” slant). One could ask why I would think that I am any more qulified than anyone else to do this and truly I am not. The difference between me and anyone else is that I am doing it.
I do have other motives as well. I believe in a unifying theory of all music. I believe all genres are in some way interconnected. I believe if you truly like music then you should like it all. As a dj I try to illustrate that as much as is technically possible with two turntables and a mixer. Which comes to another of my motives as well: self promotion. But then, aren’t all blogs fundamentally a type of self promotion? The blogger giving regular newsflashes about their lives or ideas in some way?
So, it has been a while. Anybody that put any faith in me probably has given up by now. I know all of you. You want a steady stream of content. New things to read and contemplate. Well contemplate this mothafuckas!
This is my new dj mix. Here is the list of songs I used:
Dj Blaqstarr – Hey MF’s
Late of the Pier – Space and the Woods (the c90s Remix)
New Young Pony Club – Ice Cream (Herve Goes Bananas Remix)
ACDC – Thunderstruck (Tittsworth Remix)
Roisin Murphy – Overpowered (Herve Remix)
Crookers – My Penny
Boys Noise – My Head (Para One Remix)
Jamelia – Something About You (Crookers Crunky Remix)
The Count of Monte Cristal – Bounce That Ass
Spank Rock – Bump (Switch Remix)
Crookers – Aguas De Parco
Princess Superstar – Licky (Herve Goes Low Remix)
Liquid – Sweet Harmony (Streetlife Djs Mix)
Scotch – Penguin’s Invasion (Hot Version)
Sinden and The Count of Monte Cristal – We Don’t Give a Damn
South Rakkas Crew – Mad Again (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
Now I know what some of you might say: “Some of this music is from last year or (gasp!) two years ago.” Well indeed that is true and some of it is from the 80’s. Really I don’t give a fuck. I just play music and try to come with the most compelling mixes possible with two record players and a mixer. Really the pleasure of djing for me (if you have not figured it out yet from previous posts) is the mixing of disparate styles. I think an older or even overplayed song can be elevated by creating a synthesis with another song. When I dj, rather than seeing it as an opportunity to show how in the know I am, I use it more as an excuse to make different mixes. It is easy to play one song after the other and make them mix in together but the way I see it, the songs are just links betwenn new mixes. I’m not trying to say I’m special. Just explain myself.
Alright, now I’m gonna talk about one of the most overused and overplayed songs in electronic dance music making and playing. What’s funny is I bet many more people know this song to hear it played than to hear it’s name. Kano is a group that made funkier sounding Italo Disco in the early 80’s. They have other great classics as well like “Don’t Try and Stop Me” and my personal and era of my life defining favourite “Now Baby Now”. This song is great but it was ruined a few years back when every dj in my town rediscovered it and I heard it at 8 parties in a row. It was sampled for tons of hip-hop tracks, most hilariously 1993’s classic “Whoomp! There it Is” by Tag Team. I just love how from the beginning it just builds and then it just drops that crystaly sounding part. Any connoisseur of what I would call the “dance musics” worth their salt should know this track. If you do not, then I hope at this moment I have implanted in you a certain soupcon of shame. Kano also inspired the character in Mortal Kombat. I mean it.
Yeah, here’s some baile funk for you mofos. Once again I am blown away that a music so obscure where I am is so mainstream in it’s country of origin. But then again I shouldn’t be. This song is nice and intense and cleans the aural palette after too much house. It kinda sounds like crunk baile funk at least to me. The only clip I could find is from a brazilian tv show. Maybe this is their version of 106 and Park? I don’t know. All we hear in my part of the globe is Bonde de Role but there is so much sick baile funk out there. It is a genre that is so fun to party to and spin if djing is your ticket.
This track is so intense and I can’t wait to drop this on people. For those who don’t know, Kuduro is an urban music of Angola, an African country and former Portuguese colony. Like Baile Funk, the lyrics are in the local Portuguese creole of the country. It seems to have been influenced by the beat of Soca. I have been exploring this genre a lot as of late as I am always looking for new sounds. In the most part, Kuduro is very fast paced at about 140 bpm. That means it does not go with a lot of music other than Soca but a night of just those two would make anyone not from Trinidad or Angola’s ears bleed. On this song M.I.A. is basically just here to provide hook and probably some name recognition so people give it a listen (and probably associate herself with some new upcoming third world sound so she remains “cutting edge”). Buraka Som Sistema need no help though, they have already proven they rock with their ep from last year. Check out a few of their other tunes. They are a bit slower in the bpm department and mix quite nicely with anything from dancehall to electro to house. Kuduro is definite worth adding to your listening and playing collection since it is high energy and adds some new sound to the club (and it may freak many white hipsters out, always a bonus).
