Berlin Wall Party

A big big thanks to Katherine and Ravi, and Christina and Fritz! I think I can finally say I’ve gone from bedroom wannabe to a REAL DEAL amateur dj.

• brought your own speakers? check.
• borrowed a second set of PC speakers from a friend? check.
• played mp3s off your laptop? check.
• mixed with a usb midi controller? check.
• compiled a wholly uninspired list of songs on the theme of the party? check.
• made other wannabe bedroom djs jealous? check.
• faded the chorus out to a silent crowd? check.
• coaxed a few bodies to move to the rhythm - but not enough to spark a “dance party”? check.

With my bases covered, I can set my self-deprecation aside and say, “y’know, out of all my experiences playing out (4 total, 2 complete disasters), it’s never a bad party if your friends show up.”

And to all you professional djs - watch out! I’ll be back in ‘09 with cdj-800s and more mp3’s, some possibly ripped from real vinyl!…soon as I get a room with 3 digits of sq footage and decks.

Pete Rock at Hudson Last Night

Instead of immediately writing about the party with Pete Rock last night, I wrote about stupid jewelry - but that was because it was late and I needed my Dynasty fix.

Every other Monday the company I work for throws a party at the Hudson Hotel, a swank, midtown boutique hotel with a bar.  No matter how hard I try I can never get any of…well not any, but most of them don’t even reply to me when I ask…anyways, like I said it’s in midtown, the uncoolest place in NYC, so they avoid it like the dickens.  Their loss.  (How you can turn down a free event with DJs like Danny Krivit, Bobbito, Louie Vega, Spinna, The Rub…etc. whatever).

To the point, a month or two ago I submitted a list of DJs I thought might work at Hudson.  It went something like this:

Theo Parrish
Harvey
David Holmes
Pete Rock
J-Rocc
In Flagranti (Codek)
*Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better, Troubleman Unlimited)
**The Martin Brothers (Christian Martin & Justin Martin of dirtybird records in SF) doing a half hyphy, half hyphy-inspired nu-techno set.

*My personal fav at the moment, best 1 hr set I’ve gone nuts to in nyc.
**Not serious, but thought the idea was fun.

Admittedly, the reason I did the list was because Mike Simonetti had completely killed it at Love a few weeks prior.  But the only filler on it was In Flagranti - and I only say that because I’ve never really seen them play out.  A couple weeks later my boss announced Pete Rock - yus!

—
My first few months in NYC 2 years ago (wow), my buddy luis and I went to a lot of hip hop nights: Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Premier, Pete Rock, Babu, J. Rocc, Kool Herc, Rob Swift, Prince Paul, Bobbito, Skratch Mekaniks at clubs like Southpaw, Triple Crown (R.I.P.) and APT - pretty tough to beat a Monday at APT with the funktion 1 sound system.  Anyways, as I recall Pete didn’t actually play ANY hip hop and I remember him dropping in particular Minnie Riperton’s Les Fleurs at Triple Crown (shit system btw).

So fastforward to the party at Hudson.  It’s like moderately packed at 915 when I get there.  Pete’s playing kind of…I don’t know.  Not a lot of dancing going on,  just a lot of staring, which got me a little nervous and I started looking for a drink ticket.  Met some people and some friends, chatted, stood around.  So, I’m holding my free $18 glass of wine and Pete drops BBD’s Poison full volume - hands immediately go up in the air, the place lit up.  Totally reminded me of this one time I was in the middle hating on a DJ when all of a sudden he dropped a Mr. Oizo track, and I ran off to dance floor while my friend luis - ah we used to be inseparable - was still talking mid-sentence.  Instantaneous reaction.

From then on it was like APT on a Monday with 5x the energy, 5x the floorspace, -1 for the sound.  Jam after jam, stuff I didn’t know (of course, everyone else was spitting it right back), stuff that’s normally cliche, stuff that’s always a party bomb.  It made me so happy - most of all to live in New York, where it’s possible to oh-i-don’t-know go see a rap revolutionary like Pete Rock throw down on a Monday night to an incredible crowd.  He was just feeding the fire and it was just straight up murder - so many people going silly to music. Pics here (yeah, i know it takes forever to load).

Word on the street/in the office is that we might get one of my favorite DJs to play at the end of the year.  Thank god I didn’t booked my flight for the holidays yet.

Jay’s List (for first half of noughtie-eight)

Kimmiz Hits 4 Milfs. Even if it is only for a laugh, this played a large part in me actually liking techno (a genre I thought was synonymous with annoying). But this mix has big bouncey basslines (Lucio Auilina’s Magic M, Donk Boys’ Zonky, Claude Vonstroke’s mix of Worthy’s I’rste, Red Robin & Hilden’s Lazy Jack…etc), but interspersed are random treats like Dolly Parton’s Jolene, some happy hardcore turned German trance song, followed by a kraut show tune, Minor Threat and Roy Orbison. Truly eccentric mixing – kind of reminds me of the Triptych, just done in a more techno heavy format.

Princess Julia – Milky Lunch 1994. The Dalston Oxfam Shopper calls this “progressive house,” which probably was the term for it in ‘94. I’ve been learning more and more about Princess Julia and her clubbing history, and this mix is another piece in the puzzle. It’s really fun house music on the less commercial side of the C+C Music Factory tip.

Mavs – And Did We Mention Our Disco? Live 2005.5.27. This has been a favorite of mine for quite a while. At first it was just for the beginning 30 minutes. Now it’s more for the last 40 or so. Funk mixed into rock/indie classics the way it was meant to be. It ends with Martina McBride’s I Never Promised You A Rose Garden – which is great because it’s just so wrong.

Duke Dumont – Europeans Do It Better Live Hamburg Dec 2007. There are too many mixes of its kind in this scene/genre, including ones by Matt Walsh, Casper Clark, Hannah Holland, Cormac, Warboy, Peter Pixzel, Brodinski - all who I would love to play out on a regular basis. This one was the least boring as a mixtape. The best part of Duke’s live mix is Len Faki’s My Black Sheep (Radioslave remix) - a total stomper - followed by Luciano’s Calypso remix.

Todd Hart Live at Durrr 7.4.08. Okay. For this one, let’s pretend it’s not Durrr and that it’s played at some dingy bar you’re not really expecting anything from. You aren’t paying attention to the music; you’re just there, chillin’, talking to friends. (Just for illustrative purposes, let’s say you’re at any bar in williamsburg). I think around 25 minutes into this mix, I’d start thinking, “wow wtf. this is a really great DJ – what a surprise!” and regardless of what I’d had or hadn’t been expecting of the night, I’d be dancing and having the time of my life.

Todd Hart – January 23^rd 2008. I liked this one a little less than the 7.4 mix, but it’s filled with a lot of really great tunes. I’d only heard the original version of Love Hangover before, so the remix really threw me! Love it. And of course, the Phil Collins track.

James de la Cruz 9.30.06. I stumbled across this mix because I was so bored of listening to his Beneath The Surface mix over and over and needed another James de la Cruz fix. This is just another example of his hip hop style of mixing from a library of world, funk, hip hop, classics…etc - I don’t know why I tried to describe it like that. Basically, the next record is always a surprise and always great.

elbartoliamb_-_niespodziewany_koniec_lata (The Unexpected End of Summer). I cannot pronounce any of that. There are interspersed avalanche-esque moments (guess where I got it from), but it’s enjoyable start to finish. It’s 100% Polish records.

In Flagranti – A Decade of Hero Worship. While myspacing Tomboy, I came across the Gomma.de site, which has a load of fantastic mixes for download. One of them was In Flagranti, who I knew very little about at the time. It comes in 30 some tracks (I don’t know why).

Zines/Blogs
The P.i.X
SuperSuper
Dalston Oxfam Shop
Zarcorp
KCTV
secondhandzine
Gutter Broadcast

Sources
Slsk
Blogs (zshare, mediafire, sendspace, ysi..etc)
Mininova
Beatport

Hatcham Social – Dance As If… I can’t remember the first Hatcham Social song I heard, but this is the one that I fell immediately in love with. It’s so innocent and happy and hippity hoppy. I was very sad for a couple months because I only had it at 96k. It didn’t stop me from playing the low quality mp3 over and over. It’s definitely the combination of the high pitched guitar part with a happy go-lucky bass guitar line and care-free “I could care less I suppose”-styled vocals. There was a forum thread with a wide range of favorite Hatcham Social songs. I think people were posting the most obscure ones they could find, though – because Dance As If… is clearly the best followed by Til The Dawn (also with a danceable, jangly guitar melody). Other topics of interest regarding the band were a) the drummer’s bowl cut b) the band’s attire: colorful button down shirts buttoned all the way, muted by a cardigan c) releases on cassette tape and 128k mp3 (particularly upsetting since I paid money for them) d) their online zine called secondhandzine e) nicola probert’s videos and artwork f) their influences.

Popof – The Chomper (LSD Version). So, unfortunately after hearing this I discovered a lot of Popof’s songs sound the same <shrug> oh well. This one still takes the cake. Skippy rhythms and ridiculous, over-the-top electronics are the hallmarks of this song. If ever there was an aural equivalent of a strobelight…

Tomski & Fredboy – Mos Eisley (Tartlet Edit). Genius. Cheeky. Tacky. Nonsense. I love Tomboy and Fredski.

Proxy – Dance In The Dark. I’m not a huge fan of his latest singles. I think I’ve already raved about this one enough.

Malente – Killer Applikation (Aston Shuffle Badonkadonk Remix). I was listening to a lot of nu-techno. Just day in and day out of downloading mixes and listening to bouncey basslines and swirling sonics. I thought I’d never hear any of its kind in a club in NYC. So it hit me from leftfield when - I was just following my friends and we ended up in a car driving around Brooklyn. I was actually expecting some proper funk music because $mall ¢hange was supposed to be Djing (or so they’d told me) - As we were walking up the stairs to the loft party, I could hear the bass, and some people were actually dressed up. I thought I was walking into a rave just then. I recognized the song and was like, I have to get in there NOW. It was bliss. Almost 2 hours of Durrr and Trailer Trash anthems. Thank you Dominic of The Glass. (And surprise, surprise when I walked outside: it was not even a half block from Dope Jams in Bed-Stuy).

The Violets – Lost Pages. I did have this in 07. But I slept on it. I really like it. It’s one of the albums I can listen to straight through and enjoy every minute.

Halfa 2008

alright… short n sweet, this’ll be…

songs on constant replay, january-june 2008:

busta rhymes – don’t touch me – it’s good to hear busta having what sounds like FUN after who knows how long (a decade?) the lame thug persona he’s been cultivating for years now doesn’t fit the character we all fell in love with throughout the 90s- that rambunctious, goofy, lovable MC going nuts over some some appropriately nutty beats (gimme some more, dangerous, put your hands where my eyes could see, woo-hah… the list goes on). dunno what his new album’ll sound like, but this track gives me great hope…

prgz – bama gettin’ money (diplo remix) – this is SUCH a reply to three 6 mafia’s “stay fly”! love it! extra points for flipping bad 80s cheese (wham!) into something so menacing.

good dubstep tracks:
silkie – sky’s the limit
headhunter – horny teen
skream – tek-a-pill

most dubstep still sucks, and whatever promise it held three years ago has been rendered obsolete by a conveyor belt stream of wobbly, faux-ragga, cheap-thrill bullshit. but these three! silkie has the EEEEEEPIC synths, headhunter the sleaze, and skream the zombie vibe.

duke dumont – almost all he’s done – he’s one of a small handful of producers making *QUALITY* XXXXXX house (don’t know what it’s called anymore, don’t care) that everyone loves so much nowadays. the trick is, his glitches and edits and whatever other elements he uses actually PROPEL his songs, not just attempt vainly at giving the beat a “hard, distorted” feel. his take on debbie deb’s “when i hear music” is the definitive one, “lean and bounce” achieves the gritty texture everyone’s failed at, and the remix of missy’s “we run this” sounds riotous. awesome!

kanye west – flashing lights (video; first version) – why was there a second version made? was there not enough appreciation for the cinematically mesmerizing accompaniment to one of last year’s best songs? did we need some corny, forced, tremendously clichéd new york sob story instead? blah.

bun b – you’re everything – it has a crazy jodeci sample and that buzzsaw bass (trae – cadillac!!!) that i canNOT resist.

special mention:

sometime before summer last year, i came upon a bangladesh-produced track called “amilly” starring then-unknown (and now completely vanished?) rapper charlie mackenroe. the minimal, massive boom-clack beat was one of the year’s very best, though i forgot to mention it in december. this year, the beat was given to lil’ wayne (it’s “a milli” now), but you know what? the charlie mackenroe version was better! lil’ wayne’s stream-of-consciousness flow is all diminishing returns on this monster of a thumper, and even though this mackenroe guy was a no-mark, at least he gave his version a chorus, shitty as it was. anyway, helluva beat. oh, and there’re an endless pile of freestyles over this beat by a bunch of people now… they all stink!

from the top of mt. fuji, even though that lake makes it look like i’m at surface level…

sets on constant replay, january-june 2008

dj clever – offshore records mix – may – bless offshore records! makes you wish it was 1997, when dnb was the truth.

diplo – mad decent worldwide radio #27 – diplo’s often most on point in off-the-cuff sets like these, truly the sign of a great dj.
PRGz - Bama Gettin Money (Diplo Remix)

ghislain poirier – bring the fire – a ghislain poirier set is always gold before even listening.

dj wonder – april 1xtra dubstep mix – GOOD dubstep, no wobbly inanity, great selection, great sequencing… what a relief!

joker – skream stella sessions mix, may 2008 – the only other good dubstep mix so far this year.

and the very best of the last six months…

two entries!

1) JOKER – SNAKE EATER!!!

godDAMN, what a tune. i was gonna lump it with the other dubstep tracks i mentioned above, but… godDAMN, what a tune! this has it all. in a perfect world, this would be the worldwide summer anthem.

2) RUSTIE!!!

his showcase mix on mary anne hobbs’ radio1 show last april was a revelation in the way few things are nowadays, primarily because rustie has accomplished what is perhaps the most virtuous musical feat of all: culling your influences and morphing them into something unique, distinct, and wholly original. we can talk about how rustie employs a bit of dubstep here, hip-hop there, rnb here and such, but NOBODY sounds like HIM. he’s in a league of his own, he’s amazing, and he’s destined for greatness.

rustie on mary anne hobbs’ 1xtra show – april 23^rd, 2008

rustie & hudson mohawk – 4AM drunken mix

rustie – gutterish mix

everything on this list is easily googleable!

see you in december!

PS- you know what song SUCKS?! Estelle – American Boy. WHAT THE FFFFFF!?! TRASH!!!! more »