It's been a while since I mixed some of the music that I've been getting my hands on recently. during my winter break, I finally had some time over the last few days to put together a nice mix to help keep you warm over the winter.

Wintermix 2009

Part 1
Part 2

More mixes available on my mix page.


I hope everyone has a great New Year!

I'm currently digging the guestlist/blacklist meme that's been floating about, so I thought I'd release my guestlist/blacklist for 2009:

Guest List:



• Mr. Obama - keep at it.


• Health care reform initiatives.


• Graphic Novel movie adaptations.


• Spectrasonics audio applications.


• Social Media integration apps for everthing.


• SoundCloud.com.


• Ableton Live 8.


• Miniature midi controllers.


• Small underground house nightclubs.


• High quality, compact synths (blofeld, Dave Smith, Doepfer).


• Producers who share their techniques.



Blacklist:



• Night clubs that charge you to sit down.


• Water that isn't free.


• Reality TV.


• Hipster Snarkiness.


• The Death of Vinyl.


• The Democratic party and their inability to pass ANY legislation with a super-majority.


• The TSA and its security theater.


• Promoters that make empty promises.


• ASCAP and the RIAA's efforts to squeeze consumers for profit that they don't share with artists.


• Tasers.


• ILok DRM.

My new year's plans are pretty sketchy early on... but will definitely end up in the belly of the beast late.

Holiday mixes are back on my mix page, www.djdrue.com.

I haven't really made a new one in a while... might work on one when I'm on vacation at home.

enjoy.

Well, November 2009 is finally in the books and this is one to remember by far.

My first remix was released on Beatport over the Thanksgiving weekend. This is a pretty significant milestone for me, and represents quite a long journey. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, getting a release (even a remix) on beatport is the new bar by which DJ's and producers are measured. I kinda took my time with this, because it took a while to develop a sound and a production quality that would be good enough to put my name on.  I was approached by the manager of a record label in Orange County, who mentioned that they had just signed a house music duo from Brazil called Fox 'N' Feel. When he asked me if I'd be interested in remixing their latest release, I jumped at the chance.

The rest is history:


What I'm finding out now is that the timeline between when you produce or remix something, and when it actually gets released is much longer than I originally thought. Despite what claims can be said about digital distribution and how it's freed the artist, it can still take weeks to get something on the market.

for those interested in buying it:



With a little luck, I'll have another remix coming out in December or January. In terms of production, all things are going quite well. I still have some bigger items in development, but there's not much I can say about them yet.
I've also posted the track on soundcloud, in the hopes that others might like it an embed it in other feeds.

I also wanted to congratulate _silent_star_ on the birth of her little one...I guess she can put this fear to rest.

One of my production partners, Brett Adams, just released his latest work "Be Free". It is free to download from soundcloud.com.

  Brett Adams - Be Free  by  brettadams

An amazing history of the amen break, along with its curious precedent and case for copyright reform. If you are a dj or producer, you should check this out.

YouTube - Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop:

My friend  _silent_star_ recently posted that there's not enough posts from her friends on LJ, and I heartily agree. So in reponse to her, I'm taking a little time out of what has really been a hectic couple of weeks.  If you have been posting recently, my thanks for keeping your friends in the loop, regardless of what you have been up to.

As for me, my time has been split between working at work and working at home...as it were, on some remix projects for a music label in Orange county.

Remixing projects have been a combination of fun and hard work. Nothing will teach you more about production than dealing with the issues that arise as a result of dealing with other people's music. That's not to say there's anything wrong with it, rather it's the process of dealing with issues related to timing or key of a piece, as opposed to it's artistic quality. And after a long day in the cube farm, the prospect of sitting in front of a mixing desk and starting at another monitor till the wee hours of the morning doesn't have a lot of appeal. Frankly, my health has been suffering a bit as a result. As I get deeper into various aspects of production, it's becoming apparent to me that I need to take some time and dedicate it to staying physically ok. The long hours slaving over groovy beats is definitely glamorous, but it comes with a price.

-- As a quick techincal aside, for those dj's and musicians that are interested, I'm using a combination of Ableton Live, with Logic as my main DAW.

In addition to the above, I was recently approached by someone to help them with some issues related to production. Said person shall remain nameless for now, but suffice it to say this is someone I hold in high regard, and I look forward to future developments more than ever.

Other Westside Record Crew members have finally broken into Beatport (which, incidentally, is a sign of success now - way to go RiSC!). This is a really exciting development. Brett Adams first single "Hear You" Seems to be doing well.
Please consider buying a track.

On the work front:
Life in the cube farm continues much this day as it always has, the little people scurrying to and fro, without so much as a a care for the outside world, for which I am extremely grateful. Watching my boss get pressured by his boss often makes me feel sorry, but hey that's life behind the corporate firewall, I guess.


Movie Reviews in One Sentence:

-- 9: I doubt that "Stitchpunk" will take off, but the animation is dazzling, and the story is charming.
-- Zombieland:  A must-see for fans of the zombie comedy schtick, optional for the rest of us.
-- Pandorum: Kind of an 'Aliens' meets 'Sphere' deal; space vampires meet the jittercam, good sci-fi if you are a fan.
-- Inglorious Bastards:  I don't know how 70's homage films became the rave, but an anti-nazi film about a pro-nazi film is avante garde (I guess.)
-- Surrogates: An interesting theme with a solid performance from Bruce Willis; great sci-fi, whether you're a fan or not.
-- Where the While Things Are - Spike Lee lives up to the hype by delivering a solid film with a lot of challenges.


Need to post about my chillits 2009 trip, will try to do that as soon as my photos are developed.

Workng working working... more to follow...keep posting people...

P.S. - henry rollins radio show on kcrw is like going to school (in a good way)

The festive atmosphere continued on into the night, even after the temple burned. I had planned for a morning departure, so I spent time packing up our camp before turning in. However, the never ending parade of drunken partiers and art cars, made us decide to leave when we couldn’t get any sleep. We left about 3 am on Monday, which turned out to be a really good idea.  In the dark, a slow dusty caravan of trucks, cars, and RV’s which formed a long line of red lights down the lonely two lane road out of the valley  There was a massive police presence as dozens of police perched on all the outbound freeways. Our timing was perfect, though, in that they were just coming on shift, finishing their donuts, and not yet on the prowl.


Burning Man 2009 – Evolution – by fotogamie
( more under the cut )

By now, the playa dust was everywhere. Everything I owned that was black had now turned a pale gray. After living off of jerky, cold cuts, fruit cups, and granola, I was starting to look forward to a hot meal and a shower like I had never done before. There was still so much to see and do, though, that I didn’t spend more than a passing thought on it.

Sifting through the ashes of the man - By James Pitman
( More After the Cut )

Now I had heard that the real hardcore burner types, who take this experience to heart, usually come early and then kind of hole up in their camps on Friday and Saturday night. I was to discover that this,  in many respects -- is quite true. The mood and vibe of the city became, to put it bluntly, surly. I saw words exchanged, some pretty rude and obnoxious behavior, and droves of brand new people, mostly twenty-somethings, on bikes that were not so dusty, with skin still fresh, clean, and glowing from the outside world.  After 5 days of being out there already, I could see how observing a group of frat boys strolling down the lane and drinking beers could drive any good dreadlocked libertarian back to their camp.
(  more under the cut )

By friday, I was still not used to the dust storms which came across the desert with some regularity. I was actually pretty annoyed that the weather couldn’t really make up its mind. Previous visitors had told me the weather was much better this year, so I don’t think I should complain about it. Nevertheless, I was annoyed with the condition of the weather…still getting used to it I think.

Dust storm sweeps over the city – by anjuli ayer
(  more under the cut )

Thursday brought a sharp increase in temperature across the playa, and most of the day was spent in camp. It did, however, give me an opportunity to get to know some of my camp mates better. One person stands out to me more than the others. His name was Larry and he was an underground comic artist from the 60’s. I had the chance to sit and talk with him about his life, his comics, his artistic and creative drive, and his view of the world. I would hope that burning man is a place where everyone gets the chance to meet and converse with interesting people.
(  more under the cut )

I had heard of the concept of “Playa Time” where people get distracted and miss connections and what not, and I was determined to see as much as I could.

Before I went to sleep the night before, I made a list of all the various events and things that I wanted to check out the following day. I would put down around 6-8 different events and would only be able to check out 3-4 every day, but after doing this for a while I felt like I got to see a lot of stuff. Checking in with seasoned burners who were surprised and how much ground I covered.  Wednesday was one of those days. Even with the weather being irregular, I managed to get around a big chunk of the city.
(  more under the cut )

The desert heat finally chased me from my bed, which was to become a bit of a regular thing for me out here. In the morning, we hopped on our bikes and headed out for another really good look at the playa. Admittedly, the view is truly mind boggling. The sheer magnitude and scale of the place really defies any verbal or written explanation. There were some truly amazing art pieces scattered around the desert, including an amazing metal butterfly sculpture.


Burning Man 2009 - by Tortuga Mer
(  more under the cut )

My companions and I headed out of LA on Sunday evening. We were only about two hours into our journey before things got interesting. We had just come down off the grapevine and were headed north to Bakersfield when the tread on the right front tire of our motor home sheared off. We appeared stuck in the middle of nowhere, but the universe was on our side as we discovered a 24 hour tire service a scant 12 miles from where we were in Coalinga, CA. After a quick pit stop, we were once again back on our way to Nevada.

As a quick aside, we were listening to Love Line on the radio, and I gotta say that Dr. Drew just gets through a ton more callers than Adam Carolla ever did. I find that I like the show much more now than I used to.

The miles rolled off pretty quickly as we made our way north… passed Sacramento without any traffic problems and headed east up into the mountains. I took the night shift while my friends were sleeping in back. I drove up and through the Yuba gap around 4:30 in the morning…which was fun. Slowly, the road became occupied with other motor homes and cars which shared our destination. I was headed down into Reno as the sun was coming up.
(  more under the cut )

quiet saturday at the rock store.

poolside at the standard hotel in downtown LA.

Movie Reviews in One Sentence:

-- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Still a little young to be sexy, but almost there; teen angst is the pallet du jour.
-- GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra: They got the color of the lasers right; I would love this if I was in 7th grade.
-- The Hurt Locker: Amazing war film on the addiction of men to conflict.
-- District-9: Finally an original quality science fiction film that delivers (and it's not an alien nation remake).

I just got this link from a friend. "DJ" by David Bowie.








I will admit to not having a full knowledge of Bowie's earlier work, so this may not be anything new to those in the know.

However, something like that can't be around for that long without getting a redux.

here's benny bennasi's take:



everything old is new again.