Ibiza Parties Ratings!

We Love Opening Party @ Space 8/10 Nice crowd, Innervisions room started ok then went trancey, luckily Carl Craig and Derrick May smashed it. Not as busy as I thought it would be... Cocoon Opening Party @ Amnesia 5/10 Pretty lifeless, wish I had seen Vath instead of Villalobos now Womb @ Space ?/10 Can't remember much of it! La Troya Opening Party @ Amnesia 8/10 Had great fun at this, DJ wasn't prominent, it wasn't about the music, more about the show... Kekahuma @ Space 9/10 Back to space again! MK played a great set, mainly his own tracks, freakin you went down very well... Steve Lawler came on and actually didn't bore me so that was a bonus...

South West Four Festival DJ Competition

Hi all... been a while since I posted, a trip to ibiza and the regular radio slot got in the way!  Been sucked into entering another mix competition so it would be great if you could take a listen!

South West Four DJ Competition - Chris Wood by Chris Wood on Mixcloud

Every Friday afternoon - 2-4pm!

www.dhpradio.com

The archive can be found here:

http://dhpradio.com/chris-wood-the-houselogger-show.html

Stream or download!

A big thanks...

A big thanks to all those people that listen to my mixes :-)  I really must do another one soon - the live one from SEED has been getting a lot of love from all quarters, its really representative of how I like to mix things up genre wise so I'm really happy with it...

Thanks all!

Big London DJ Competition - this Friday!

I'm playing this Friday at the Egg on York Way behind Kings X Station, come on down :-)  Not sure what time i'm playing but it will be a good night - not only will you get to see me play but there are some other names as well!

Yousef
Technasia
Oliver Huntemann
Lewis Boardman

http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?354434

On the road again...

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1545

This article on Seth Troxler got me thinking - its a great article sure, but one that could be representative of just about any working DJ in the 'Premiership', Sasha must have been going through this kind of life for years.

It certainly makes me appreciate playing irregular gigs - making them special occasions to me, I can treat each one individually.  Playing every night and several places even on some nights I can see the temptation to repeat sets and mixes that work, fortunately, thanks to the plethora of dance music out there this rarely needs to happen.

I've always said I'd be unsure about turning DJing into a job if I ever had the chance (highly unlikely!), as much as I love doing it, the loneliness of the travelling, the brief interludes of highs then back to the grind again does not appeal that much - that said I'd certainly like to try it for a month!  Perhaps I could do project management as a hobby...

Producing...

Producing... Its something I don’t do, maybe i’m not creative enough, maybe I haven’t got the patience (definitely that), whatever it is, you can’t escape the fact that it is a good way of getting ahead of the game and can catapult a career if the work goes into it. 

I have seen several debates recently on the need to produce to promote a DJ career – why should this be?  Granted the promotion is easier – more record labels after ones name is a bonus, but I defy anyone to say that has anything to do with their DJing ability.  Several high profile producers have found out the hard way that producing and DJing are two entirely different things – knowing how sound works does not mean that they know how DJ sets are programmed!

This is by no means an attack on producers who also DJ – there are many out there who can string a set together, however they have a talent – why would they not want to show it through live sets?  There are some seriously diverse artists out there who can cover several genres and hours with their material without even thinking about it.  This is what I want to hear when I see someone who is well known for their producing skills on a bill – not 2 hours of music that anyone could string together!

So full respect to those who do produce – and make the most out of it, and also to those that don’t – and make the most out of it, I’m not feeling any pressure to get into it, and the world is probably better off without any crap I’d make anyway!

Apologies

For going awol, a new house and a crap internet connection does that...

Will report back fully after Berlin on Thursday!

Full circle

I feel like I am going to go a full circle when I relate to my first article on here - visiting clubs outside of London, I remember saying that the feeling of seeing a world class DJ in somewhere other than London is pretty good - special even...

Now I can appreciate it from the other side, I have been fortunate to live near to London for a while and hence my last few gigs have been in the centre, to be honest they were ok, nothing special, just ok.  I was lucky enough to be invited up to Leicester to play for Collo's night Seed at Sophbeck Sessions, regular readers will recognise the name, it is without doubt the best place in the city to go for a proper underground night.  As a consequence, I made sure that I enjoyed this night the best I could.  From the moment I stepped up to the booth - before anyone was there I might add I could tell that something was going to happen...

Well it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable gigs I've ever played, from Ibiza to London I've always felt I've been playing for other people, a subconscious pressure to play to the crowd, for some reason the venue (and maybe the alcohol) just made me say feck it, I'm playing what I want... And people seemed to enjoy it!

Maybe all that expressionism bollocks about feeling the music was right after all...

Big ups to Collo and Sameed for playing great sets and having me down...  The mix is at the top of the page and the tracklist is here:


Gene Chandler - Does she have a friend for me?
Gil Scott Heron - The revolution will not be televised
Soulstice - The reason (DJ Spinna remix)
Morgan Geist - Skyblue pink
Tina Turner - I can't stand the rain (Rayko edit)
Kenneth Bager - Fragment Eleven - The day after yesterday pt.1
Aaliyah - Rock the boat (Collo 103 edit)
Chuck Norris - All that she wants
Gil Scott Heron - Angola Louisiana (Alkalino edit)
Fourtet - As serious as your life
Duff Disco - Just in time
Prinzhorn Dance School - You are the space invader
The Rolling Stones - Miss you
Soul Clap - Michael went to hell
Charlie Winston - In your hands
Ark - Old chariot
MCDE - Raw cuts #6
Mike Dunn - Freaky MF (Original mix)
Redshape - Unfinished symmetry - Part 1 & 2
Stacey Kidd - Freaky MF (Female mix)
SECT - Thieve skrilla
The Fab Four - Last night a DJ blew my mind
Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches (Alkalino edit)
Alex Dimitri South Soul - Heaven (Alex Dimitri Soul Mix remix)
Todd Terje - Bodies (Prins Thomas Orgasmatron)
Daniel Wang - Not feeling it
Kerri Chandler - Halleujah
Marcus Nikolai - Bushes
Stimming - Radar
Deetron - Starblazer
TWR72 - Paradox
Dr Kucho! - Patricia never leaves the house (Dr. Kucho! remix)

New years resolutions... NEW RADIO SHOW!

Getting on with my new year's resolutions, I've now got a weekly show on www.dhpradio.com - its from 2-4pm every Friday afternoon - starting tomorrow!

As usual theres no plans and no preparation - I haven't even got a name for the show yet... Either way its going to be great fun and i'll probably be looking for guest mixes in the near future!

Hope to see you in the chat room or in the stats listening :)

Buying and discovering music

Theres no excuse no when it comes to buying music and discovering new music, with so many mediums available to delve into the genres, its clear that music is more accessible than ever, and not only that - ALL music is as accessible.  The days of having to go to a certain club to hear certain tracks only played by a certain DJ are over in all but a few small cases (edits and self productions aside).

I am more than happy to share where I get my music from with whoever asks - be they friends, punters etc, what is the point of holding music back?  Soundcloud for alternative versions through edits, I listen to tracks on Beatport then buy them on Amazon or Play.com because they are often half the price.  We're talking about 99p here, not a huge amount.

I believe that if someone truly does like music then they will do their best to make the most of it - finding other tracks by the artists, listening to the recommendations of Youtube in the right hand side panel etc.  But it is clear just from listening to the radio that most people think of music as something in the background - this is true in multiple situations.  Take commercial nightclubs for an example - no-one goes to them wanting to hear the music, they will often play the same music in the same order on consecutive nights - and they can because no-one is listening, they are too busy getting drunk.

As much as I slag off the people and places involved with this non-music I must be grateful it exists - because if the mainstream didn't exist there would be no underground, there would be no rebels against this widespread crap.... So I salute the mainstream for giving us (in a roundabout way) the best music and experiences I can imagine!

Tracklisting for the mix above!

Finally got around to doing it...


Fever Ray - When I grow up
Clams Casino - Brainwash by London
When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
Boards Of Canada - Music is math
Phantogram - Mouthful of diamonds
Jesse Boykins III - B4 the night is thru
The Park - Belleville
Pillowtalk Vs. Mayer Hawthorne - The makings of a lover (Edit)
Todd Terje - Myggsommer
Essay - Morning mountain
Urulu - Untitled 03
MCDE - L.O.V.E
Yacht - I walked alone (Get a room mix)
Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
Tim Deluxe - Transformation
Donnie - Cloud 9 (QH remix)
Renaissance Man - What Do You Do When You Do What You Do (Sei A Remix)
Floetry - Superstar (Fresh Fruit dub)
Chicago Skyway - Fall down
Cosmin TRG - Izolat
Ben Damage & Doc Daneeka - Infamous
Lana Del Ray - Video games
Mosca - Jaeger
Boddika - Grand prix
Instra:mental - Vicodin (Skudge Warehouse mix)
Armand Van Helden - Witch doktor (Quentin Harris & HD mix)
The Fitzcarraldo Variations - Black cat (Alkalino edit)
Best Coast - Boyfriend (Lindstrom remix)
Mayer Hawthorne - Your easy lovin' ain't pleasin' nothing

Tonka

Hearing this track:

Just gets me ready for ANY night out... So I was doubly excited when I saw the legend that is Tonka had interviewed him here:

http://www.tonkawrdm.blogspot.com/2012/01/wrdm-massive-questions-to-ben-westbeech.html

If I could interview like this guy I might even be able to afford a house...

Ultra Music Festival Competition

As you can see above I've posted my entry to Mixcloud's Ultra music festival, usually a stomping ground for the 'large' names in 'dance' music - put in inverted commas because they are essentially trumped up pop stars...  Anyway I'm determined to not let this competition get run over by entries with fucking Swedish House Mafia tracks and that 'I'm sexy' track, god help anyone if they put a Black Eyed Peas track in their mix!!!!

I've included what I think are big tunes, mixed together at pace on two decks, tried not to let the energy drop without messing around with the tracks themselves - basically going back to what DJs used to do...

Give me a favourite if you like it!  If I win I promise to do my best to shave Skrillex's hair off...

When is a mix not a mix?

Odd question isn't it?  Or it would have been 10 years ago when things were so much simpler - take two turntables or early CDJs, press record on the computer or cd recorder and play whatever came to you mind for 80 minutes or so.  With technology moving on so fast now and the lines blurring between producer and disc jockey performances its time to examine the DJ mix again - so when is a performance a mix or something more?

The easy answer to this is a equipment query - a performance using records or CDs on CDJs and recorded live is a mix.  Provided it hasn't been retrospectively touched up using Ableton or any other program it can sit back and enjoy the title of a 'mix'.  An interesting thread on RA came up some time ago claiming that people were using the 'live' and 'physical media' excuses for bad performances - aka trainwrecking.  Using physical media does not give you any excuse for letting the basic skills of beatmatching and blending lax!  It may look more authentic - the frantic hand gestures and panicked face as opposed to the cool click of 'sync' but I know what I'd rather hear...

So what is not a mix?  This might be controversial but I believe any musical performance by a DJ that has NOT been recorded live - the act of stringing a chain of records together and recorded then and there is not a mix.  How can it be?  How can you describe hours and hours slaving over a computer using Ableton to get every blend perfect for a 70/80 minute CD a mix?  Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the effort put in, I even think its admirable, and yes I have Richie Hawtin's Transitions and its fantastic - I just don't believe it deserves the title of a DJ mix.  I am proposing we separate out the live mix CDs from the performance CDs that often contain multiple tracks layered on top of each other or elements of tracks extracted.

A person should have the right to know if it was recorded in one take live or it took days to put together on a computer, I'd feel kind of cheated if I found out my favourite DJ (who has the talent to do it live) used a computer to put the mix CD together.  Before anyone points out that all the tracks have to be licenced so it can't be a spontaneous performance can I point you towards this:



Mixed live in Sankey's for the 10th Anniversary this was released and is a great live mix from both Greg and Krysko, all tracks were cleared post mix.

So next time you listen to a mix CD just have a think - is this really a mix?  Or is it something else now?  Has the artist recorded it from the bottom of their heart, got in a mood and performed to the best of their abilities.  Or have they sat in front of a computer and clinically segued the tracks to achieve something else...?

My Story - Chris Wood

Thought I'd do a bit of shameless self promotion this week and do this feature myself:

Guilty Pleasure...

Talk Talk - Its my life

Back to the '80s with this one, memories of playing Grand Theft Auto on the PS2, singing along to this new music i'd never heard before.  Catchy as anything and it led me to see a different side to the '80s scene apart from classic house, some may say thats not a good thing as these kinds of tracks sometimes make an appearance during drunken moments!

A warm up track...

Black Joy - Untitled

Got this on an unmixed Jazz In The House compilation a long time ago, a fantastic deep cut that is pure house, some may put it into deep but its got enough oooomf to it to be energetic for the floor.

A peak time track...

Scuba - Feel it

This was the trickiest choice for me - how does one define peak time?  And which genre to choose from, most people will go for the faster energetic tracks but peak time could also mean a Stevie Wonder track... Anyway, sounds old but is from 2011, a pounding track and works everytime.

The no beats track...

Lana Del Ray - Video games

This wasn't a hard choice at all, only heard recently and only recently come out it blew me away, the vocals are stunning.  In the video above she actually stumbles over the first line and is clearly nervous but it adds to the charm.

Well this is a bit odd...

Damian Lazarus - Diamond in the dark

Quirky and a bit fun to play in a middle of a house set and see people think wtf???  I actually wanted to find Vildensky - 3 but it wasn't on Youtube!

Never leaves the box

Hot 8 Brass Band - Sexual healing

One of the most interesting covers i've ever heard, managed to get it into every set i've ever played since hearing it as well!  

Most influenced by...

Kaskade - Its you, its me

Now turned to the darkside Kaskade once produced soulful house, this track opened up Defected's In The House cd (blue cover, think it was number 4 in the series), this was the first 'proper' dance cd I bought and I'm so glad I did!

Would have been proud to make...

Marshall Jefferson - Move your body (House music anthem)

Yes its obvious but this is what set it all off - reputed to have been played at half tempo then speeded up Marshall showed everyone it was possible to create a legend with a few instruments, a drum machine and passion.

Last track of the night...

Jamie Woon - In the night air

It probably won't be night when most people walk out of a club but this is a tantilising end to the night walking into crisp air... 

N.B - I could have chosen at least 5 tracks per category!  This was a tricky task!

New feature! My Story...

I've decided to add a new feature to the blog that tries to prise people's favourites out of them through a series of cleverly worded questions (alright probably not so clever) and hence we'll learn a bit about their story - geddit??. First up is Roberto, up and coming techno star based in the UK, with releases on a variety of labels including Jamie Anderson's Artform Records. His profile is growing larger by the week with artists such as Steve Rachmad and Samuel L Sessions queuing up to remix his tracks and DJ gigs in Fabric, Public Life and during the Amsterdam Dance Event...

Check out his facebook page here which contains all the links to his work:

http://www.facebook.com/RobertoUK

His Beatport page is here:

http://www.beatport.com/artist/roberto/100625

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A Guilty pleasure...

Sade - Smooth Operator

A great pop track from the 80's. It walks the fine line between quality and cheese but I love it!

A warm up track...

Stephen Brown - Speak

Great dubby/Detroit sounding tune which has a cool jacking groove to get the floor moving. I have just finished a remix of a new track called 'Chopping Board' by Stephen Brown. He is a great producer so I felt honoured to be able to rework one of his tracks.

A peak time track...

Phase - Subtext

Another great track by the super nice London based producer Phase on Token Recs. I am a big supporter of Phase's music and this track does serious damage on the floor.

The no beats track...

Stephen Brown - Stress Free

Another classic Stephen Brown on Music Man recs. The track has some percussion in it, so it is not strictly beat-less, but I think it is truly beautiful track.

[I'll let him get away with this because its a great track!]

Well this is a bit odd track... (something that made you go wtf?)

Area Forty_One - Raindrop Prelude

I love how weird this track is. It is really different from a lot of other techno out there. Area Forty_One is one to watch!

http://www.beatport.com/track/raindrop-prelude-original-mix/2079438

[Not available on Youtube I'm afraid!]

Never leaves the box...

EQD - Equalized 002 A

Great release by Shed on the EDQ series. I love the analogue sounding production in this track. The track is quite simple but works really well on the dancefloor. I remember Luke Slater dropping it in Room 2 at Fabric back in 2009 and it sounded epic!

Candle lit dinner track...

Roy Ayers - Everybody loves the sunshine

I am a big fan of Roy Ayers and this is one of my favourites by him. Perfect for a romantic night in.

Most influenced by...

Mike Dehnert - Dico B1

This track has had a huge influence on my music. I've lost count the number of times I have played it. I love the grainy production, as well as the groove. This never leaves my box!

Most proud of... (if a producer)

Roberto - Logical Progression

I made this track not long after I met Jamie Anderson when we were playing together in Liverpool a few years ago. I sent it to Jamie and he signed it instantly. This paved the way for me working more closely with Jamie and his Artform label. Even though I had been making and releasing tracks before, this track was one that emulated the more deep dubby/detroit sound I was striving to create. This is what I am more well known for now. After the original came out, remixes of the track by three legendary producers Steve Rachmad, Jerome Krom and Jamie Anderson followed, for which I am really proud.

Last track of the night...

Carl Craig - At Les (Christian Smith Remix)

Simply epic! The mixdown is huge and it sounds really warm. I finished my set in Room 2 at Fabric back in December with this, and it sounded fantastic.

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Thanks to Roberto for these excellent choices, I'm going to try and make this a weekly thing so you might see myself filling in the topics next week.