djcev.com

2 hours and change until 2020 is over in my timezone. Surprised and glad that I'm awake to see it go.

MTT 201 / The Robot Is Your Friend https://djcev.com/2020/12/mtt-201-the-robot-is-your-friend/

Disco and synthpop for the New Years Eve party in my head. Features tracks by Daniel Wang, Freak Electrique, Giorgio Moroder, Legowelt, Polygamy Boys, and Twilight Ritual.

Posting early because I woke up at 8 PM last night, 12 hours ago. I might not be awake to see the number change, to see 20 become 21.

It's always a huge relief to listen to a fresh audio recording and find no major mistakes. That moment when you realize you didn't mess anything up too bad.

CW: Alcohol

My sober year is almost over so I just walked down to the convenience store and picked up beer. (Better to do it tonight instead of the 31st). I haven't been down there all year; it feels different. The beer is still too expensive though.

I'm tuning in tonight to the last Death Guild Monday @ DNA Lounge webcast of the year.

#goth #gothic #industrial #synthpop music played by expert DJ's: https://www.dnalounge.com/webcast/video.html

MTT 200 / New Note Action https://djcev.com/2020/12/mtt-200-new-note-action/

The fourth annual Movement Through Thought tracker music #djmix . Mostly late '90s XMs and ITs, features music from the labels Hellven, Kyoto Republik, Language Lab, and Milk. #breaks #idm and #dnb in the tracker style. There's even a stray juke track in there. Good tunes.

I'm trying my hand at writing dj mix show notes blogariddims style, track-by-track. Being way too verbose.

Caffeine is to blame.

Yay the new Stardew Valley update (1.5) runs fine under FreeBSD. I downloaded the Linux version and then used fnaify 2.2 to patch the game's launcher. Same procedure that I used for 1.4 and 1.3.

Happy winter solstice everybody.

I'm a little sad it doesn't fall on my birthday this year, the next time that'll happen is 2023. Won't stop me from having a good day though. Maybe I'll bake something.

H.Kyllönen / Qap19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztpT9X_Wxbw

Tracker #idm , AFX-like, beautiful pads set against distorted drums. 1999.

Ah dang I didn't finish going through the Milk netlabel earlier this year. There's like 40 releases I still need to filter through. Illusion, Daze, more Jean9... gonna have to listen to and catalog all of it tomorrow.

MTT 199 / The Right Size https://djcev.com/2020/12/17/mtt-199-the-right-size/

#djmix in my usual style, #electro and #idm around 120. Features a bunch of old favorites, a couple longs tracks by Carl FInlow and DJ R21, another new-ish track from Adam Jay's Inoperable Data, a couple of significantly slowed-down tracks... all my usual tricks.

"I'm just the right size for my bike and my chair".

CW: Self-indulgent self-reflection

I'm at a weird impasse now. Past a certain point the work of "DJing" is more performance and self-promotion. I'm not a very interesting performer to watch, and I don't like promoting myself.

So I don't know what I'll do with this skill going forward. I'll keep DJing of course, keep making mixes. Beyond that it feels like time to grow sideways. Maybe that means writing music again, maybe that means writing words - music criticism.

Something to think about.

CW: Self-indulgent self-reflection

I was pretty bad at it (DJing, mixing) for most of that time. I plateaued creatively and skill-wise some time in the early 2010s and then had to really work to improve.

It's a weird thing to have done, and a very weird thing to have taken seriously.

CW: Self-indulgent self-reflection

I think I've been a DJ for 20 years now. Give or take.

I can remember buying turntables and random sound FX records at Goodwill. Making trips into Portland to buy records at the shops (2nd Ave, 360, Everyday, Ozone, Platinum). Being really, really bad at mixing.

I got a couple gigs in 2007, one good, one disasterous. Then I got in playing at Ground Kontrol and started hanging out there; later I held a monthly there with a friend for 7 or 8 years.

Spent the evening building tomorrow's mix. Nothing too fancy, a couple old favorites, a couple new(ish) tunes.

I'm trying to be more relaxed about DJing and making mixes in general, trying to enjoy the process more.

CW: Flashing lights, YT video, tracker DnB

One more. This video has some unnecessary flashing / strobing lights at the beginning, don't watch if that'll bother you.

RJV / Danny Saved My Life
DANNY.IT, 2001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8HX3emx8AM

Tyree / Soul Circle
CIRCLE.XM, 1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9vcbdg3D2U

(I've run across this youtube channel before, it looks like the product of a script that renders mods to youtube videos. Linking to it anyway...)

Went through Language Lab ll-001 to ll-062 today, renaming and sorting files. Rendered 24 of the releases to .flac with OpenMPT. There's some very good drum & bass and downtempo in here.

Found another old tracker group / netlabel to dig through and research. Noticed it while reading comments on some of Nagz's mods.

Language Lab: https://files.scene.org/browse/music/groups/language_lab/

Sorting through a directory of over a hundred Nagz mods today. Some duplicates, some I've already rendered to .wav.

It's a lot of music.

Ah nice there's some Quake on today.

GetQuad #quakeworld Nations Cup 2020 Semifinals, Sweden vs. Russia, streamed by Suddendeath TV:
https://www.twitch.tv/suddendeathtv

MTT 198 / Small Pieces https://djcev.com/2020/12/mtt-198-small-pieces/

#electro and #idm #mix up around 128. This one's short by a few minutes, I ended up mixing fast and ignoring the clock. Features tracks by Brothomstates, Dark Matrix, Metamatics, Mrs Jynx, Pathic, Stratowerx, and more.

Oh wow, Losonofono put the old Dark Matrix Techelectro LP up on bandcamp: https://losonofono.bandcamp.com/album/dark-matrix-techelectro-lsf007

Techelectro is a really good, weirdly slept-on #techno #electro (what else?) LP from the early 2000s. I'll play a track from it in tonight's mix.

I really do not like Beatport. I think their interface is terrible (nearly unusable) and their prices are too high. I could complain about them for hours. So a correct "electro" genre there won't get me to use their service.

Woke up to the news that Beatport finally added an "electro" genre that sort-of represents what the word means. "Electro: Classic / Detroit / Modern".

They have never had a browseable "electro" genre tag as far as I'm aware. Wikipedia says Beatport went up in 2004; that means it took them 16 years to recognize a fundamental genre of electronic club music.

I really love those fake LED candles. I know they're hokey little things, plastic and wax and a simple circuit driving an LED. But they make me happy.

I can remember when I first saw one in a bar around 2006 or 2007, it seemed like magic.

I feel like I'm spinning my wheels right now, like I'm not getting much done. That's OK I guess, December is usually a less productive time for me. Just have to be patient, keep plugging away.

Goal for today: organize, render, and catalog all the old Noldus Rabiatus mods I've got.

There's a #quake3 CPMA 2v2 TDM cup going into the grand finals now over at:

https://www.twitch.tv/playmorepromode

Been watching off and on this morning, games have been good so far.

It's Thursday, that means a new mix:

MTT 197 / After A Fashion https://djcev.com/2020/12/mtt-197-after-a-fashion/

#breaks and #electro up around 133; good tunes, a little mushy mixing. Features tracks by Absolute Fiction, Bushwaka!, Eon, ERP, Scape One, some old favorites by Gosub and Luke Eargoggle, and more.

I went through about half the old Kyoto Republik netlabel today. From what I've heard so far Jean Nine's "Shina Melanti" is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMRodPzVVRQ

.xm file available at scene.org: https://files.scene.org/view/music/groups/kyoto/kyoto005.zip

My poor old Razer Deathadder RZ01-0015 mouse has developed an intermittent connection issue. I suspect a break in the cable. No more Quake until I can fix it.

Haven't felt like talking here much this past month.

I'm currently digging into late '90s early 2000s tracker mod netlabels. Doing "Kyoto Republik" (which appears to be Jean Nine's label) right now.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010517003145/http://kyoto.scene.org/