djcev.com

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

Edit: this one's missing from youtube also. You can find it on archive.org though.

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.

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

Edit: that youtube video above is now missing. You can find the original .it here at files.scene.org.

Tyree / Soul Circle
CIRCLE.XM, 1999

(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.