hibernation

As you may or may not have noticed I have been a bit absent this winter and did not feel the pull to post. However, today its above zero and I found a couple of unique sets so I feel strangely compelled to share.

But first I think a self-conscious word or two is in order.
In spite (or perhaps because) of its lofty ambitions, the future of this blog is uncertain at best. While this was never meant to be a social endeavor, at the moment I feel that one of the main reasons I am not so keen to post is because I cant sufficiently answer the question, 'why?'. I started this blog to create a space so that I may try my hand at some kind of amateur music journalism. While I admit there are only a few real examples of journalistic efforts in these pages, the experiment has yielded some results. The other reason I started was to create a of history of my mostly musical interests so that one day I may look back through these pages and laugh or cry or rediscover. The reason which I downplayed or simply omitted at the outset was this social dimension, wherein there is some kind of interaction with the audience - the former 2 reasons were simply enough. So as the first reason has been somewhat achieved and the second has been taken over by the combination of facebook and itunes, I feel the once moot third reason needs to rise up and be strong enough to entice motion. So... If you would like more music or thoughts or videos or links or anything from me on these pages, now is your time to say it.
I will listen.
Otherwise, the posts might get sparser and sparser.

Either way, lets see what happens. I could still imagine a world where I get back into it despite a continuation of the one-wayness of it all.

Cheers from Poland.

bottomless milkshake

Hola,

So I graduated! I had to streamline my life down to just the bare essentials this month to get through finals, but now finished I can redefine what goes into the new streamline. This means the blog is back on the agenda and I have had some new insights regarding it which I will roughly sketch for you now in a brief focus statement.

You see, as a DJ I have found myself in some sort of conflict of interest, wherein I hold back posting great tracks out of the fear that my DJ sets would seem less original because you had heard the songs before and because other DJ's who read the blog may play them more and water them down so to speak. This had me posting lots that I wouldn't play out and holding back from you all the (hopefully) great music that I do play out. I soon realized that this is a stinky scenario based on irrationality and fear and I am over it.

To use a famous analogy: Its as if my music collection is a milkshake, my milkshake. And I have a straw, which is my computer I guess. Now my blog is another straw that goes from your mouth all the way over to my milkshake. Now. You. Drink. My. Milkshake. You drink it up. The more music I post on my blog, the more milkshake of mine you drink. When I DJ I need some fresh milk to shake for people and if you drink my milkshake then I wont have any. So I need to limit the amount of access you have to my milkshake so that there will be enough to share when I play out.

This analogy is obviously weak. My milkshake is not finite, as almost every time I go online I get more milk to shake. Furthermore, most of you don't DJ, nor get to hear me DJ so it is just not obvious that the more milkshake of mine you drink the more watered down my milkshake gets. So I want to apologize for this previously unspoken wrinkle in our relationship and ensure you that the iron is warming up and will have things smooth in no time.

That said, I find alot of house music boring when not in a dance environment so don't expect a sudden influx of it here. There will just be more DJ-friendly house tracks popping up in the future alongside the usual bag of reworks, classics, randoms and psychedelic shit. You can leave a note in the comments if there is any particular kind of music you would like to see more of and I will try to post it.


So to celebrate this coming-out of sorts, here are some tracks from the past couple years that did it for me every time.

Lee Foss - U Got Me (Original Mix) by STm

thom yorke -Eraser xxxchange remix by xxxchange



...which samples my favourite Talking Heads song of the same name. This is taken from their excellent and highly recommended Stop Making Sense Live DVD.

Check out covers by the Arcade Fire and MGMT pre-fame.


Post-Script
A quick word about downloads. I haven't been linking to free downloads lately, not because I'm lazy, but because it's so damn easy to download anything these days. So if you really want any of these songs legally or illegally, I leave it up to you to find them. I may still link to the occasional mp3, but these days I am more inclined to dodge the whole gray zone that is filesharing and err on the side of the artists.

unfocus

As this blog is somewhat of a superfluous appendage to my life it is in prime position to be neglected. I apologize that it is not living up to its own promise of seeming to have more than mere appendage status in the life of the author. I suppose this asymmetry may be explained by the tension between the blogs original intent - being a casual experimental record book - and its potential future. Nevertheless, rest assured that regardless of its direction or history, it still exists and is in motion.

With apologies and excuses now out of the way, some words about expectations are in order. As I consider ideas for version 2.0 I keep returning to roughly the same format, modified only by the addition of more reality - meaning more personal anecdotes, politics and philosophy. This will take us into topics and ideas that exist outside the music world, as the outside world looks like it needs some serious attention right now. However, there is alot of music that speaks to that concern and I will try to collect the best of it here, perhaps as a new series. The blog will still remain a music blog at base though because the hard parts of reality can only be cogently handled when music is nearby, organized and ready.

So it could happen that other authors will contribute at times or that a podcast and/or interview series may emerge. I hope so and will try to make it so. But for now finishing my undergrad has got me pretty tied up so things are sluggish on the blog front. Yet I will still make time to post - kinda haphazardly - a bunch of stuff that I have been meaning to for months as well as a few new things (album review from you know who) and maybe even a few tardy end-of-year lists.

Lastly, I will be routinely encouraging feedback and comments from you, for shyness behind a veil of anonymity simply will not fly in 2.0.

Ok. That's all for now.

Hugs,
Ryan


Odetta - Hit or Miss

This track famously appeared in DJ Shadow and Cut Chemists' Brainfreeze live mix in 1999 (thanks Andrew ;) Download the track or mix









RIP Odetta (1930 - 2008)

(taken from the Bob Dylan documentary 'No Direction Home')

focus pt. 2

Hello. Not sure if any of you noticed, but the Wild Beasts post below was removed the other day. It was moved into my drafts folder because it, via linking to some filesharing sites, violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). I removed the links and reposted it finding it interesting that only one of my posts caught the attention of someone or something, as most of my posts link to filesharing sites. Regardless, I decided that I would not be so obvious with my linking to filesharing sites. Instead what I will do is put {FS} next to the tracks, EP's or albums that can be found and downloaded through filesharing search engines, like filestube for example. Bit torrents also work if you know how to use them and the file(s) you search is popular enough, which is admittedly rare. If you don't know how to use Bit torrents just ask google. Its all very easy.

I recommend using elbo.ws instead of the hype machine when looking for specific singles because with elbo.ws you can usually see the bitrate of the song before going to the blog and downloading it (higher is better). Mp3's found via these blog search engines are usually legally-free promos from labels and bands and so can range in quality.

Ok. So thats it basically. I guess just remember to actually see the artists when they come around and tell your friends about them so that they can still become full time musicians who get to travel for free. Although I am not making the argument here, there seems to be grounds for the position that filesharing music (free mp3s) could have the upshot of both saving musicians from self-destruction and saving the industry from the slimy fat-cats and middle-men sucking the blood out of and pumping the puss into the music industry. Fame with moderate money could be a much healthier environment for both artists and 'consumers'. As you can tell I'm moved by just the sketch of this theory. What we need now are some facts to confirm or deny it. Anyone want a research project?


Closing the focus meeting is a forward-looking thought. In no particular order expect more classic rock and funk edits, the premier of a new series with the working title of Too Disco?, some very intelligent psychedelic rock, and a full, or at least reasoned discussion of the ideas in and around this video:

PS. Above is a pic of Vancouver I stole from someone's facebook album. I forget who, but you rock.

Hugs,
Ryan

focus

at this moment in time i am at cross-roads with this blog... one in which more than two roads cross. it seems there are 4, with varying degrees of importance.
so, in no particular order, the first, is about content; should i stick to weekly lengthy posts or should i post regularly and mostly (but not always) briefly?
the second is about the artist; should i link to uploaded music?
the third is about the name; should i change it?
the fourth is about my callous disuse and inconsistent use of capital letters, and poor grammar in general.... should i follow the Proper Rules of English?

regarding the first, content, it seems i have started a trend toward more lengthy and personal posts. after thinking about it, i decided to try to write one of those once a week and post shortly and randomly more often. this will mean more variety, but that is not always a good thing. i will, of course, try to maintain the highest standard of quality, but when posting brand new stuff, that sounds good after 2 listens, this may slip a little. i mean, we all know what its like to get excited about a new song and then go back to it a week later and wonder whats up. so this just serves as a note of caution. but i will try to make every song count.

regarding the second, the artists, i feel i am not informed enough to make a sound moral judgment on this issue. the music world and its economics is just too overwhelming. i feel a years worth of lectures from many social, technical and legal specialists would be needed. what i see is that online file sharing is the cd-burner, or napster of today. the law, it seems, cant keep up with technology. but ever since you or your friends could rip (at no, or very little, loss of quality) music, it has been free and the law has been sketchy, for seemingly sketchy reasons. and today the law still seems sketchy, fighting what seems to be an impossible battle. so with this situation we are hit in the face with the questions, what is music worth? and what is the appropriate place for musicians in society?
there are as many answers to these questions as people. in short, mine would be a version of the i keep forgettin blog: i didnt post the music, i just found it and linked it. i link to it for 'evaluation purposes only' - to promote great music so that people can discover and enjoy it and so that the artist can become more well known and liked. what the artist does with that notoriety is up to him or her. i would hope they would tour and play in the same room as the people who like them, and basically live off that. the better you are, the more people come, the more money you make. we cant control for equal advertising budget and skills, but these advantages are both widely available and luck dependent, so there's no sense getting worked up about them.

regarding the third, the name, i had wanted to start posting for a while but was held back by lack of name. so hastily, i took a street where some nice music gets played and added 'sessions'. but i know if i thought about it more i could come up with something better... anyway, if i do, i will change it without being too obvious and showy about it. (UPDATE:: the name will remain for no reason other than the fact that reasons aren't always, or even usually, motivating).

regarding the fourth, use of english, it was brought to my attention that having inconsistent use of capitals and (...)'s everywhere looks juvenile and unpolished. i kinda agree. so i will be better at capitalizing appropriately. as for the triple dot ... i will continue to use it/them more sparingly. but there is a time and place for it... right?

ok. now that that's all cleared up, i feel better.
Lets Celebrate!