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)

Name check

Good afternoon,

No mix (I'll do it tonight I promise). Been thinking that a good name might involve "____ the King" or "Duke____". This most likely has to do with listening to this song by Emmy the Great: Canopies and Grapes

Sample lyrics (Nb, it's about a break-up):

"Later on, me and a bottle will hook up to have some fun,
and I'll call your house at twelve to let you know that I'm drunk."

"It took a while to come around to David Bowie's new CD,

and it's much too late to give back your Magnetic Fields EP."

Peace-out.

Sorry

Wow. I actually listened to the mix yesterday and it sounds pretty bad. For some reason, the left deck comes through the left channel but the right deck comes through both. This is the reason why some songs sound twice as loud. I almost had a heart attack on the train when James Murphy goes "OW OW!" at the end of Blue Monday. I'll try and get it sorted and get a better recorded version out by next week.

Have a good weekend.

PS Why can't I be in a double-act? We could be called Sons of Guns... actually, that sounds lame. I looked at November Criminals but apart from Nazi connotations, the names taken. This is tough.

First Mix

I'm back. Sorry for the delay in posting but I've been away. Managed to pick up a cable to aid my recording which I tried out last night (it worked.) The mix below is the one which I planned to do a month ago. I have to say in my defence that I haven't had chance to use my decks in over a fortnight and this was a one-take sort of thing Nb don't be too scared when LCD Soundsystem comes in at one million decibels (levels were wrong).

Anyhoo, the track listing is:

JSBX - Calvin (0:00)
Daft Punk - Robot Rock (1:15)
Klaxons - Bouncer (South Central Remix) (4:16)
Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun (6:03)
New Order - Blue Monday (7:25)
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at my House (12:14)
Nelly Furtardo - promiscuous (16:12)

Follow the link to listen and download the mix, whack it on your MP3 player and enjoy...

http://www.zshare.net/audio/mini-mix-1-mp3.html