For those of you who missed it the Radiohead DVD of really impressive versions of King of Limbs tracks has been out for a little while, and it comes complete with a cd of the session. Stream it and try before you buy, or as the Germans say don't buy a cat in the sack. (turn HD on if you have a fast connection).
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.
...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.
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.
A new Four Tet single on the A side of this Pinnacles by Four Tet ...The b-side is a jackin' track from Caribou as Daphni called Ye-Ye that I am still unsure about.
A surprise Thom Yorke DJ set at Low End Theory Club in LA, alongside Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer.
His DJ set included tracks from Burial, Modeselektor, Kraftwerk, Squarepusher, Madvillain, Major Lazer and lasted about 80 minutes. Check the LA Times report.
Post-Script I am absolutely loving that new Radiohead 'album'. Here are some extras.
