Hadouken! TatsuMakiSenPuKyaku!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Been up to a bit... but not much. Went to Manchester and bought a few records from good old Piccadilly Records. Will put them in a mix soon. I want to put a song in the mix but it was limited to 500 copies and sold out FAST! Managed to find it at Tower Records Ireland but not sure if that's because the web administrators haven't taken down (it was St Pats two weeks ago, they're probably hung over).

Anyway, the tune is called "That Boy, That Girl" and is by Hadouken.

Hadouken -- That Boy That Girl

Their MySpace

Interview with Mike Skinner (The Streets)

Them, quite literally, blowing the speakers!!!

PS "TatsuMakiSenPuKyaku" is the noise that Ryu made when he did the hurricane kick (duh!) Geek out at this

:)

St Pats = NEW MIX

Happy St Pats weekend! And guess what? The second mini mix, which I'm going to entitle The Cork Allstar Mix. Hope you like.

The levels are nice and even but in a similar problem to last time, it's very quiet. I managed to find this bit of kit, which raises the gain (volume). If it's too distorted, let me know and I'll post the original.

The tracklisting is:

The Errors - Salute France (0:00)
New Order - Perfect Kiss (1:11)
Primal Scream - Swastika Eyes (5:11)
C & C Music Factory - Everybody Dance Now (8:22)
The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (13:02)
Alter Ego - Rocker (15:00)

That last mix is my favourite. Two classic tunes (one old, one new) that shouldn't go together but do.

Follow the link for the mix:

Cork Allstar Mix

7 inch sucks

Earlier in the week I had started work on a mix - finding three or four tunes that seemed to fit. I have to admit that I was excited and eager to put together another 20 minutes of magic. First tune: The Errors (as recommended by ol' Jon M - cheers). Just getting to the part where I mix and "skzeek". It skips. I know it's a 7" but it weighs about 100 grams (heavy) and therefore I imagine is meant to be used for at least mild DJing. I have played the thing about 5 times. It's ruined. I can't even see a scratch on it. "Screw it" I thought I'll move on. Fourth song of the mix: Gossip - Standing in the Way... (I know, I know but it's a good tune). Played twice before. Tiny scratch. Unplayable. Skipped three times in as many minutes. WTF!? Has a pesky badger been using it's TB-infested talons on my vinyl as I sleep. Other 12"s I own have visible scratches on and play fine.

I'm going back to the drawing board and whilst I'm at it, making a pledge. Only 12"s from now on.

PS I'm anticipating some heavy web traffic coming my way with a this post's title :)

Royalty

Quick name related post. I think I've found something I can use. How about this:

Royale Vanguard

I think for the time being I will adopt it. I also thought of a cool sounding MC name if I was a grime rapper... Lament. It's sort of leftfield AntiPop Consortium territory.

Working on a mix BTW. Excited?

TA DA!

It's only taken a gazillion weeks but here it is: the first official mini-mix. The tracklisting is in the previous post. It's a bit quiet but that means that there are no heart-stoppingly loud moments. Yipee.

Going back to flow. The thinking behind it is as follows:

JSBX sets up the mix and has a statement of intent "Lets have a party." Next is a bit of Daft Punk. If things go right then the head-nodding from Calvin should translate into swaying or some light bopping. The Klaxons track is sped up at the hook three times (that was me) to raise the tempo. You can't bop anymore, it's make or break. Chemical Brothers comes in and the mindset should be "Classic tune - I haven't heard this in time." What's this.. dun..dun..dun..dun..du-du-du-dud-du... Blue Monday. The boppers and the dancers unite. This in many ways is the pinnacle. LCD Soundsystem serves as a slight break (we're 15 minutes in drinks may need to be bought - the set is intended for a bar) - the hardcore will remain. The slowdown is the "what's going on" attention grab and Nelly Furtardo is dropped. The juxtaposition is like being at Trash for God's sake. Everyone dances to the Timberland joint.

See what you think and try and imagine being in a hip, crowded London bar.

**** The mix ****

Jukebox Jury

I was bored last night so went to the local to watch the second-half of the Chelsea game. The game didn’t prove very eventful (no tear gas) but the boredom was alleviated by the jukebox. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was 5 plays for £1 and went about my selection.

Now this leads me to an important DJ matter. Flow. You could be the best "turntablist" in the world but if you play the records to the wrong crowd or in the wrong order you're scuppered. The tunes should link together or "flow" in a steady fashion. You can't play The Clash - Venetian Snares - 50 Cent; it wouldn't work. The jukebox is a key example of this, it's all about the songs.

The set-list went:

Rolling Stones - Get off my Cloud
Stone Roses - I Wanna be Adored
Madonna - Get into the Groove
Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You
Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger

Started off with a classic that shows I'm none threatening for the oldies (no Aphex Twin, chill). Then it's time to target the middle-aged crowd with a little beat. The old boys are now on board, lets incorporate some dance - Madonna. The table of 30 year-old women start to sing. Timberlake comes on. There is now dancing. Dancing on a Wednesday night with the football on. The girls have gone over to their boyfriends. The boyfriends pull off the textbook move of hugg-dancing the girlfriend and watching the football over their shoulder. The final whistle blows with the guitar of Oasis fading in. I finish my pint and leave.

I fixed the cable on my decks and recorded the mix proper. Just listened back to it and it sounds pretty sweet. Forgot the data cable but you'll have it in time for the weekend.

Over and out.

Technical Difficulties

OK. I managed to find out what was wrong with the decks. One of the wire's was faulty. I'll try and stop off at a Maplin on the way home.

On the plus side when I was messing about I tried putting my laptop through my mixer and it worked! I can now mix songs from my laptop with a vinyl deck. Imagine if I had a three channel mixer. I could mix two decks and a laptop. All in good time.

Just think of all the sound-bites I can download and put into mixes...

Pinky & Brain
An odd song about London Bridge

Or I could just use the samples to make a killer record like this.
Hip-Hop and horror = yes, please. Demonique clip (from Halloween)