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Classic Track with Thought-Provoking Lyrics

Musings | From the mind of Eddie | 01/30/2010

No matter how many blog posts I write, I will always have more to say about my ever deepening appreciation for electronic music…
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Just recently, I found myself listening to a classic track, Humate’s remix of the track “Ruhe,” originally by Schiller. I first heard this track nearly a decade ago — damn, where has the time gone! — on Danny Tenaglia’s Global Underground London CD. This track has always touched me. (If you haven’t heard it, press play below, close your eyes, and enjoy.)
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The lyrics are in German, so I never knew what they meant. But I always had the sense they were expressing something meaningful, and I recently received a translation (thanks to my man Ingo Vogelmann)…
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So what are the lyrics, and what do they mean? Well, the lyrics are as follows:
“Ruhe, das höchste Glück auf Erden…
Kommt oft nur durch Einsamkeit in das Herz.”
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The English translation for the lyrics is,
“Peace, the greatest joy on Earth…
Very often comes into heart through loneliness”
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What’s also quite interesting is that Ingo told me these lyrics are an excerpt from a beautiful poem, the words of which are as follows (with the English translation in bold): (more…)


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David Guetta’s “Sexy Chick” – Dance Music at My Gym?

Musings | From the mind of Eddie | 01/29/2010

At my gym (where I found myself pretty much everyday last year), they keep the radio set on a local station that plays a ceaseless stream of top-20 commercial tunes, on repeat. I usually bring my headphones to spare my ears the anguish of the full-frontal radio candy assault. However, I occasionally forget my headphones or don’t use them (because I failed to charge my iPod battery or something like that). On the occasions where I’m subjected to the “gym songs,” I have to fight against a small part of myself…a part of me that starts wondering, “Why do the masses spend their time listening to this rubbish when there’s an endless supply of incredible, original music coming out every week?” I actually told one of the guys who works at the gym that I was going to start wearing a t-shirt that says, “Why are the same whack-ass tunes always playing at this gym?” …of course, I realize these thoughts are not coming from a good place in me; it’s just hard to suppress them sometimes. Fortunately, I can vent about this to you, my fellow lovers of real, quality tunes ;)
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In addition to just wanting to vent a bit, I mention all of the above to describe the context in which I heard David Guetta’s song “Sexy Chick” (real title, “Sexy Bitch”), featuring Akon. I started hearing this song in the gym, and it struck me because it’s dance music (though the folks at my gym don’t realize it). (You can check out the video for the song below.)

My reaction to hearing this song was one of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was just another gym song in my mind. On the other hand, I was happy to hear dance music being foisted upon the masses. In writing this post, I ended up listening to the song a few times, and my final take on it is that I’m cool with it ;) I think it’s good overall to have dance music (in whatever form) reaching stations like the one my gym plays.
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On a slightly different note, I’ve always found it interesting to observe and study the evolution of musical forms…jazz, classical music, hip hop, and dance music. While hip hop and pop still seem to have a stronghold on the American psyche at the moment, dance music is certainly making an impact on these genres in interesting ways…often in subtle ways that the masses are missing.
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EB


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2009 Year in Review – Seth’s Favorite Mixes

Musings | From the mind of Seth | 01/12/2010

When I started down the 2009 recap path, I knew I wanted to do tracks and mixes. I thought about artists, labels, cover art, track titles, most obscure film stars used in track titles, best use of scantly clad women… you get the picture. At the end of the day, I spend the most time listening to tracks and mixes, and those are the areas on which I decided to focus. As with my 2009 tracks post, this isn’t a “best of” list. These are the mixes that knocked me out the most and spent the most time pushing that little bar across the top of iTunes. The mixes appear in no particular order.
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patrice_and_nunoI have to start with this one as I’ve yet to get my hands on a mix from Mr. Baumel that I haven’t liked. I usually like them a great deal. This is a live set from Patrice and Nuno (dos Santos) recorded in Amsterdam on the first of August, 2009. I asked Pat for a tracklist, to which he replied, “I don’t have a tracklist for the mix, it’s a live mix, some of the records are Nuno’s and i don’t know all of them.” The continuity of this mix is outrageous, and I can imagine mixes of similar quality (when you’re fortunate enough to find one) being scrutinized and prepared for weeks. The fact that half of the outfit isn’t even sure what records were played indicates that this was not gone over with a fine-tooth comb before hand, which makes it all the more impressive. I think these are two DJs who have a wide range of tastes, a depth of knowledge about music, and the ability to work together to the extent that real energy and improvisation are no strangers to their sets. As your attorney, I advise you to listen to anything these two have put out.

heidi_and_sethAs luck would have it, Heidi and Seth Troxler both put out some of my favorite mixes of the year so the picture to your right works perfectly for this post. As Heidi is on top, we’ll start with her In New DJs We Trust show from the first of May 2009. I’m a big fan of INDWT and I listen to the show each month, so this was not an easy decision to make. I knew one of her shows was going to be on the list, but which one??? Well, this one. The tracklist is great, and a guest mix from Damian Lazarus… Come on. This mix has Visionquest, Jamie Jones, the first track in Lazarus’ set is ridiculous, and he also throws in a song that has a little nod to Nick Cave. All in all, a great two hours of music.

And now, our friend Mr. Troxler, who, with a little help from Heidi, is putting a new spin on the concept of tenting. I’ve heard several of Seth’s shows from the past year, but my favorite is his set from NYC’s Electric Zoo. The recording I have is not of the best quality and there are a few obvious technical glitches, but none of it detracts from the fun, grooving feel of this set. He had a few hours early in the day, and he used them well. I still listen to this set at least once every week or so, and I would probably listen to it more often if I didn’t dedicate the majority of my listening time to things related to the site. The man can cover some sonic ground and keep the wheels on the cart. For those of you who haven’t heard the mix, I won’t ruin it for you. Know that there are great songs and one big surprise around the 1 hour 20 minute mark. I was surprised anyway. In an awesome “holy shit, that’s…!” kind of way.

gadiNext on the list, Gadi Mizrahi’s rooftop set from Bar 13 in Manhattan which turned into W+L Podcast 90. This one gets your attention from the start. I caught up with Gadi to talk about this set, but it turned into a full-blown interview, and I’ve decided to publish it soon as a separate post. For our purposes, I’ll just talk about the mix. It’s deep and sexy and full of soul. There you go.

“The music that inspires the visuals of Spectral designer, Michael Cina.  An all-vinyl mix of Spectral/Ghostly tracks.” This bit of information pulled from the mix description in iTunes is pretty much the only thing I can find about my next pick: GhostlyCast #25: Michael Cina – Waves of Seeing. I’ve found a wealth of information about Michael and his accomplishments as an artist and designer. However, I’ve turned up little (more…)

 
icon for podpress  Patrice Bäumel & Nuno dos Santos @ 360 Solo - Trouw - Amsterdam 08-01-2009: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
icon for podpress  Heidi with Damian Lazarus - In New DJs We Trust 05-01-09: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
icon for podpress  Seth Troxler Electric Zoo 09-05-2009: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
icon for podpress  WLP090 Gadi Mizrahi, Sunset, Bar 13 Rooftop: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
icon for podpress  GhostlyCast #25: Michael Cina - Waves of Seeing: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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2009 Year in Review – Seth’s Favorite Tracks

Musings | From the mind of Seth | 01/10/2010

2009_Favorites

This isn’t a “Best of 2009″ list. These are the tracks that I liked the most from last year. I didn’t want to try to make the perfect all-encompassing irrefutably correct list. I don’t think they exist. I decided to cut the mix in to two parts. The first is more laid back and has a fuller sound. The second; less going on and a bit more up tempo. Achtung! This post is longer than the others I write that include mixes. This isn’t a ploy to try to make you click to read the rest of it. I promise. Just trying to conserve real estate for my colleagues. Instead of clicking through to see the whole thing, I suggest you do whatever your OS requires to pop it out into another window so you can stream the mixes while going about your internet-based business, or download them so you don’t have to worry about keeping that window open. I hate accidentally closing a window that’s streaming music mid-mix.

Part 1:

1. Love In Looxor (Original Mix) – Kadebostan – Freude Am Tanzen. In the spirit of honesty (I’m not ready for full transparency yet, but I fear it is inevitable) the week this track was released, a few tracks were most likely bumped so I could make a halfway decent go at making a coherent mix. Turns out, I didn’t have time to do a mix. Sorry guys from that week. Looxor is all about the space – perfect use.

2. Spice Market (Original Mix) - Joel Mull and Sean Palm – Railyard Recordings. I spent a good deal of time listening to this album when it came out. A lot of good material was there, but this was always my favorite.

3. Closer (Original Mix) – Nicolas Stefan – Kompakt Extra. Ahhh… Kompakt.

4. Landscapes (Tim Paris Remix) – Idioma – Marketing. Another instance of an album that made it hard to pick a favorite. Though I’m still trying to reconcile good music from “Shit Robot”… the Shit Robot remix is fantastic too.

5. Aaron (Original Mix) – Paul Kalkbrenner – BPitch Control. The first of many tracks from BPitch that I liked this year. The synths in this song…. Damn… I’m always happy when melodic is good and not cheesy. Melody gets a bum rap. Use it for good and not evil.

6. Rabbit Hole (Facundo Romano Dub) – Marcelo Vasami – Kansak Recordings. Again, use of melody. Rabbit Hole rolls along but keeps you honest with some funky synth stabs.

7. Colour Of Love (Derek Howell Remix) – Soulfinder – Outside the Box Music. Colour of Love took me to Bowie-land and I’m always ok with that, (more…)

 
icon for podpress  Favorite Tracks of 2009 Pt. 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 
icon for podpress  Favorite Tracks of 2009 Pt. 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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File Sharing and Bit Torrents

Musings | From the mind of Sam | 04/25/2009

picture-10I’m not an advocate of illegally downloading content regardless of format, but I think most people have done it at some point. Last week the worlds largest bit torrent tracker site “The Pirate Bay” saw it’s four founders sentenced to a year in jail along with some hefty fines because they were found guilty of profiting from piracy. Ironically on the day their sentence was announced the site was still up.
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The four-men were found guilty of having made 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site. After a 13-day trial, judge Tomas Norström, plus his assistant and three “namndeman” (essentially a jury with extended powers), found ample evidence for a guilty verdict, though no actual files are stored on the Web site.
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It now emerges that judge in the case has now been accused of a conflict of interest because he’s a member of two copyright organizations. If a conflict is proven, then the case will be tried again so I’m interested to see what happens.
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It’s worth pointing out that profiting from piracy and file sharing are two distinctly different things and in a recently conducted audit by the Bay it revealed that nearly 80 percent of tracked content was actually authorized and not copyrighted. Top operator Peter Sunde also noted that the Pirate Bay actually has less pirated content than YouTube which is probably a plausible claim.
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I encourage everyone to support their favorite artists and labels and to buy legal downloads, but I’m not sure how downloading a few Beetles tracks without paying for them is such a bad thing. I know that there’s plenty of underground electronic music being shared illegally too, but you’re not going to find much of it on the Bay.
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Ultimately, file-sharing is here to stay and there’s not much that can be done about it. The large copyright controllerslm and TV studios, and the major labels) will always be a step behind fighting a loosing battle. Like I already said, I don’t think it has too much impact on the niche of electronic music downloads so I’m not too worried about it. In an ideal world everyone would pay for everything they download, but alas, this isn’t an ideal world!
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2009 WMC Video Interviews | Why Go to Winter Music Conference?

General Interview Musings | From the mind of Sam | 04/02/2009

We talked to a lot of folks about why they made the trip to Miami for this years’ Winter Music Conference. Here are a few videos that give a pretty good summation of what we found brings folks from around the world each year.


Pat from San Francisco at the Winter Music Conference | Resonant Vibes from Resonant Vibes.


Lucas & Christine at the Winter Music Conference | Resonant Vibes from Resonant Vibes.


Bartender at the Winter Music Conference | Resonant Vibes from Resonant Vibes.


DJ Royale at the Winter Music Conference | Resonant Vibes from Resonant Vibes.


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Funny Video – Strong Bad Techno

Musings | From the mind of Eddie | 02/02/2009

I saw this video over the weekend. It’s funny stuff. Enjoy!

Eddie B

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Bringing the Party To Your House

Industry Stuff Musings | From the mind of Sam | 01/22/2009

Well, my brain is fried. Not because I’ve just come out the other side of a marathon session with lots of over indulgence, but because I just spent the several hours filling in paperwork. Paperwork is one of the necessary annoyances of being a company based in the US, where all the healthcare is private, and you have to go through two trees worth of forms just to find out how much the insurance companies intend to rip you off by.

What I need is a bit of light listening… and perhaps a bit more than that. So, I’ve decided to log onto Dancetrippin.tv, and now I’m watching and listening to a live set by ex-Shaman front man, turned nightclub owner — Mr C. My brain is already well on the way to being rejuvenated!

Dancetrippin.tv was recommended to me by a friend at the weekend, and features a large selection of videos of live sets, some interviews, bonus videos and audio-only DJ mixes. I’m currently through about half of episode number 81, which was recorded at one of the the Zoo Project parties in Ibiza this summer. It’s the sunset set, and Mr C. is dropping a fine selection of tweaked out tech-house, acid-house and techno tracks.

I’ve downloaded a few sets from C. over the past couple of years, and although the bloke comes in for some serious grief on certain message boards—which he typically takes on the chin really well—I’ve come to find myself on the lookout for any sets by him. His track selections are nearly always spot on—for the sort of stuff I’m into at least—and he understands the way to program a set to get you engaged. His mixing tends to be seamless most of the time, and as a result his mixes are usually some of the few that make it onto my iPod and end up getting played to death – which is the measure of a quality set in my opinion.

The great thing about this set is that it’s not just audio, it video with high quality audio. Dancetrippin.tv have a multi-camera crew capturing the essence of a good party in episode 81. The sun is setting, the crowd is a European and British blend of novelty sunglasses wearers, with a fair share of dayglo wigs to be seen, lots of cute girls in bikinis, sweaty topless blokes with trendy haircuts from expensive salons in Berlin, fancy dress wearing party-goers and a good helping of random weirdness. Pretty standard for a decent techno party really.

The high production quality of the video is obvious – the editing and camera work is well executed, and the end result is a video that goes a long way to accurately capture the atmosphere of a good party. People are really up for it when it comes to techno, probably more so than any other type of party night that I can think of (all my best nights have been at techno parties). There’s no pretense at this sort of party, just good people (if a little eccentric), good music, and good times to be had.

Dancetrippin.tv is well worth spending some time on, especially if you have a sweet spot for house, tech house, and techno from the likes of Carl Cox, Chris Liebling, Sven Väth, Ritchie Hawtin, M.A.N.D.Y. Tiefschwarz and many others. If that doesn’t float your boat, then there’s still lots of other episodes that might, like ones from Armin Van Buuren, Roger Sanchez, Benny Bennasi, and Bob Sinclair to name only a few. The locations are a rolodex of international clubbing-locales, from places in Goa to the superclubs of Ibiza, from Cocoon in Germany to Space in Miami, all brought to the comfort of your home by your high-speed internet connection.

The Dancetripppin tag line is "Bringing the Party To Your House" and with the large selection of episodes for you to check out they certainly don’t disappoint, so the next time you’re looking to get away without actually getting away – check them out!


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Money Isn’t Everything

Musings | From the mind of Eddie | 01/10/2009

These last few weeks of life have been pretty remarkable for me. RV is doing well, and we’re poised to do some very exciting things in 2009 – like launching our new site (…more on that later). I hadn’t really spent too much time reflecting on our progress or reflecting on life in general because I’ve been so busy…but last night I had a conversation with a friend that made me do a little thinking……and I found myself ruminating on some ideas that seemed worthy of sharing….hence this blog post.

All of our blog readers may not know my history. I’m actually a lawyer and finance guy by training. My work experiences are in fields like investment banking, management consulting, and corporate law — all industries that can be quite financially rewarding. Back in October 2005, I left a comfortable job as a corporate lawyer to work on RV full-time — which was one of the tougher decisions I’ve had to make in life.

I won’t say that I did it all for the love of the music. The truth is I was first and foremost following my passion, but I am also unabashedly focused on reaching certain financial goals I’ve set for myself. I’m not the kind of person who will say money is useless. Money is important…it buys food, shelter, and it can be required for things like sending your kids to good schools or taking your family on a vacation (…not that I have kids or a family yet).

After leaving my corporate law job, I went through some really difficult times financially; we were working like slaves to make our company grow, but we weren’t yet seeing the fruits of our labors. During this period, it became clearer to me than ever, that I do not want to go through life without having enough money to protect myself and my loved ones from all of the stresses that the system imposes on us when we’re broke.

Having acknowledged that money is important, I should now say the main point I want to convey here: Money isn’t everything. I know we’ve all said this and heard this a thousand times, so I’m not telling you anything new here. It’s almost a trite point to make, but I think it’s worthy of making because I have renewed appreciation for it at this stage in my life.

I don’t earn as much money today as I did when I was practicing corporate law, but I wouldn’t – not for one second – trade my professional life today for my professional life as a lawyer. …and don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed being a lawyer…but what I do today fulfills me in a way no other job has, and it’s because I followed my passion. I can honestly say I look forward to coming to work everyday. I never dread Monday morning when it’s Sunday night, and I’m never watching the clock to see when it’ll be time to leave the office. It’s almost easy to take these things for granted at this point, but they’re priceless.

So why am I writing this post…well, it certainly not to brag about how cool my job is – though it is pretty cool :) – it’s more to make a point…a point that I think is particularly relevant to the types of folks who are reading our blog. Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to a number of our customers who are trying to balance their passion for electronic music with their everyday need for money…I’ve heard a number of stories from people who dread their day jobs and just want to focus on music. I’m not here to say that if you’re one of these people, you should leave your day job. I know it’s Really Tough to support yourself as an electronic music artist. But, I am here to encourage you to not give up on your passion. I believe that if you work hard enough at following your passion, you’ll find that doors will open that lead to a more fulfilling life. …at least that’s what seems to be happening for me.

Eddie B


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Me & Creativity

Musings | From the mind of Storyteller | 10/23/2008

There a lot of -ations that are part of music. Creation, imagination and sometimes co-operation or even frustration. For me it’s the latter. I’ve been terribly busy last year with tons of things and haven’t finished a single music production in the past 12 months. As a result there’s only one track waiting to be released right now, and that will take some time because the label and I agreed to make it at least a 2 track release. Ouch…

I love music and everything about it. I invested a couple of thousand Euro in my personal home studio this year and I don’t have a single thing to show. I have some concepts (unfinished tracks with potential) which do sound better than ever quality wise but I haven’t finished anything. I took on a couple of remix offers and didn’t even finish those. Those are considered to be easy, you don’t have to figure out any chords. Just create the beats and sounds and you’re done. Well, not me! An absolute Writersblock, that’s right, capital W!

I’ve been trying everything. I spent some time without making music, I tried forcing some music, dj-ed less and more over periods of time, I spent time on other things I felt where important. I spent some more time on programming websites for my own little company as well, I revamped my own website quite recently and still, no music.

Right now I’m in the process of painting the house my girlfriend and I bought. Tomorrow we will actually be moving in there. Due to some problems technical problems the floor of the living room is only halfway done. When I’m not painting I am cleaning or just making a mess (which I’m very good at). When I’m not doing that I’m working on my study. Right now I really need to find an internship, preferably in something in music production, like a recording studio. Unfortunately my school has just scraped audio out of the bachelor study programs. They know call in broadcasting, I hope it is the same in the end, otherwise there’s no other reason for my doing this other than getting my bachelor (without actually learning what I want to learn about). Maybe it’s a bad choice of words saying I have a writersblock, could it be I’m just doing too much?

I’m glad there are some good things coming my way though. Resonant Vibes just released Thomas Pention sample cd has proven to be spot on. I’ve been fiddling around with it because Resonant Vibes asked me to. I was fan of the earlier parts of Thomas Pentons sample series so this was kind of an offer I couldn’t refuse. Furthermore I’ll be decorating my own new little home studio next week and in a couple of weeks I’ll be off to Finland seeing friends I made during my earlier visit. I hope I can make someone’s evening special by spinning some tunes there in this club in Turku.

No time for a chill pill yet it seems, way too much to live for and wat too many things to do! Now let’s get back to the music… Any ideas?


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