It's Getting Dark

Warning: This mix contains basslines that wobble more than your dad's jellyrolls.

The lack of dubstep on the last mix I made left a hole in me that I needed to fill, so I overcompensated and put together a dubstep mix last night.

Dubstep is a misunderstood genre - kinda like science fiction. Many people will lump anything with a wobbly bassline into the "dubstep" category, and though this is the defining feature (that and a speed of around 140bpm), its a bit like saying any book/movie set in outer space is a science fiction book. Not only does being a fan give you a bit of a rep, the bad habit that arises from this is that when you say you like dubstep people instantly assume you mean everything from the dark, hard stylings of Goth Trad, past the "clownstep" business that Jack Beats and Rusko love, out to the pop/electro dubstep remixes that have been making waves since Skream put out that La Roux remix.

I tend to prefer my dubstep without cheese nor minimal essence - and mostly without rap. MC Dynamite completely ruined Caspa's Rat-A-Tat Tat. My choices from the assorted menu tend to be dark bangers and those with emotional, melodic samples.
While I tried to keep any of the original, dated hits (which I still love) like Chase & Status's Saxon and Caspa's Remix of TC's Where's My Money?, I think this is a fairly good control sample of what I personally think makes dubstep worth listening to.

Enjoy! (mediafire)

Tracklisting
GTRONIC - Destroyer
Udachi - Jellyroll
Last Japan - Jungle Warrior (TEDD's "Eseya Huo" Remix)
Hostage - Badman Sound
DZ - Down
The Prodigy - Breathe (Numbernin6 Remix)
Datsik - Gizmo
Tek-One - Pressure
Mikey B. feat. Ill Bill Bachelor - Still Dre (Dubstep Fix)
Wachs Lyrical - Dark Entity VIP
Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Evol Intent Remix)
Mistabishi - Printer Jam (Barbarix Remix)
Reso - Beasts In The Basement
Emalkay - When I Look At You (Sduk Remix)
Reso - Onslaught
Deadmau5 - I Remember (Caspa Remix)
Teasers - Sooner Or Later (Jakwob Remix)
BONUS - Flight of The Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Kissy Klub DNB Version)

Megadrive

Warning: This post does not accept game cartridges.

DJ Sega played at Triangle last Friday, coming all the way from Pennsylvania to hit us with the East Coast ish that got the guy onto Diplo's Mad Decent label. The electro junkies at Triangle just didn't know what to do with it - is it hip-hop? is it dubstep? Are his decks skipping?

Baltimore beat (there's probably another term for it, but I'm not very genre-savvy) is indeed unique, but it's not hard to see where it came from. My guess is it's just a tangent of the East Coast hip-hop sound, where a few DJs decided they'd rather screw with samples of other tracks than just lay down a beat for an MC to spit on. The upside is in it's shock value - "hey I love this son-what the hell is he doing to it?!", where the downside is, to be frank, it's a bit repetitive. As soon as you pronounce the bassline, you've got to do more things with it than just boom, boom, b-b-boom. Still, if you can get past that, the key is in hearing Nirvana and Michael chopped to death. That, and wonderful moments like this one below.


The track did get a little bit more expansive with it's sampling, but hardly - so you get the repetition. But the fact that Timmy! is obviously having a brain explosion over a beat is extremely entertaining, to this patron, at least.

The crowd swelled at the start, but slowly dropped off til we had a lot of the dancefloor to ourselves. Shame, really - not often Osaka gets a change of pace like that.

Nice work Sega - now, if you wouldn't mind giving me back my girlfriend before you go...cheers.

Dilem-Mo

Warning: This post features unfashionable facial hair.

I'm currently tossing up whether to grow a moustache for Movember.

Any moustache I grow would be purely amusing and decorative, as sadly I don't really have the ability over here to collect any funds for charity.

The dilem-Mo I am facing is that
- I really don't look that great with a mo
- I'm not 100% certain about the above statement, as every time I try to grow one, they get to a point where they itch like a Mo-fo and I frustratedly shear them from my upper lip.
-Not many of my compatriots seem to care much for growing one themselves.

But what the hey. I figure there's no better a time to put aside my deMo-ns, Mo-ve past my irritation and put it all in Mo-tion.

I could organise a collection and send it to someone in NZ, but it seems a bit tough. If anyone knows anyone who I can send Mo-ney to, however, please let me know - I may change my Mo-ind.

I think this is all entirely because I like saying the word "Mo".

Revisited

Warning: Those of you with low tolerance for bad singing should NOT watch the below video.

I've had my 4th group of Kiwi visitors come and go last week, with Caroline & Edwina dragging along a couple of mates and camping out in my spare room for 6 days.
We took the girls along for a long-awaited sesh in the karaoke rooms, with the Energizer Bucky (he just keeps going when he's on the mike) and "Dios" Mio (who is indeed a vocal OMG).
We hit a point 2 hours in with 3 tracks - Bohemian Rhapsody, In The End and Wannabe (yes, we are shameless) where the energy was so high that...well, it's been a long time since karaoke like that. We should have sung "Like a Virgin", because that's how it felt. I even think there was bleeding.

Looking back on the videos, however, is a bit like seeing drunken photos. Did I really look that munted? Or, in this case, did we really sound that bad?
I had a feeling we did - well, that *I* did, as recently I lose my voice after an hour of the 'roke. But I didn't expect we'd sound like sick dogs going down a coal-chute.
Still, this video is very entertaining, if only for Mio's reaction to our stupidity.
Enjoy. At least, don't judge me. More than you already have.

Mixed Bag

Warning: Though it may be "Rock-tober", this mix only includes guitar in a sampled, heavy distorted format.

The 3rd instalment of my monthly "mixion" (a bad attempt at combining "mix" and "mission") contains a sole Fake Blood track and NO Boy 8-bit, and only one dubstep track. Madness, I know.

It's still quite stompy, but the midpart gets quite minimal, with lots of stuff from Sweden's Style Of Eye. This guy does minimal like I like it - not really very minimal, and fairly loopy (check out his track "The Big Kazoo" if you can hunt it down on youtube). The other major hat-tips this month are to Dexpistols, the up-and-coming banger-meisters of Japanese electro, and the new mix from Plump DJs on Global Underground.
With 80kidz and Lowbrows (and their Tokyo following) getting distinctly more pop lately, it's up to Osawa and Dexpistols to toe the line between success and good DJing with great care, which as yet I feel they have.
Meanwhile, Plump DJs are showing they're at their best in the mix (with Headthrash being a bit of an average album) on their newest release, chock-full of the bigbeat ish you just wish was dropped more often these days.

Anyway, track here (mediafire).

Tracklist
Mille - Ghost Dancer
Kid Sister - Get Fresh (Zombie Nation Remix)
Alex Metric - Shirley You Can't Be Serious?
Huoatron - $$ Troopers
Sharam Jey - In My Blood (Mom & Dad's Remix)
Style of Eye - Grounded
Fake Blood - Mars (Style of Eye Remix)
Drummatic Twins - Crazy Love (Peo De Pitte Remix)
Royksopp - This Must Be It (Rex The Dog K-DART Remix)
Lily Allen - It's Not Fair (Style of Eye Remix)
Boys Noize - Jeffer (Dexpistols)
Beat Assassins - Boom Style (Dub)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
Heartsrevolution - Dance Til Dawn (Dexpistols Remix Deux)
Atlantic Connection - Rocksteady (LA Riot's 'Shake it All Night' Mix)
Chase & Status - Saxon (Oh Snap!! Edit Stylee)
The Prodigy - Omen (Kilmar Remix)

Feedback? Dare I ask?

The innocence of youth

Warning: This video may have you smiling and causing your coworkers concern.

I do love my baby nephew. And my lovely sister. And their stupid games.