CD review #5 - Visionquest Fabric mix

Well that didn't take long did it?  A short time after forming the Visionquest quartet; Shaun Reeves, Ryan Crosson, Lee Curtiss and most well know of all Seth Troxler, bag their first mix for the mighty Fabric.  The tracklist looked interesting with several releases coming from their own label and including the well played (to death) Cinelli remix of 'Sound of Violence'.  Having seen them close ADE at Trouw and knowing their bohemian take on things in life I was hoping for a random mix full of surprises and some great tracks...

...It was certainly surprised me how boring they managed to make this CD sound...

At first listen it sounded like an amateurish effort comprising of frankly average tracks (the best being the first and last [ironically called 'The song never ends'], the mix is a stop start mash of what I gather is considered to be cool.  The monotonous sections of just drums was nearly unbearable and unfortunately featured prolifically, the poppy nature of the middle section saved me from throwing the CD out of the window and cursing Fabric for subjecting me to it...

I cannot understand how 4 artists who are all great individually and I have supported by buying their tracks (no hating individuals here) can come together and create what is a complete non-event.  I've said it in the past - a Fabric mix is probably one of the heights of a career in dance music, it is a real chance to create something that will go down in history.  People who waste their chances are frankly idiots.  I really hope that Lee, Seth, Shaun or Ryan get a chance to do a CD on their own and show what they are capable of because it is a lot more than this...

Top Tracks of 2011

Everyones doing it so thought I'd join in... (p.s these are tracks i've found this year, they may not be from 2011!)

Virgo 4 - Its a crime (Caribou remix)
Junior Boys - You'll improve me
Kathy Diamond - All woman
AWOLNation - Sail
Fourtet - Pyramid
Guti & Dubshape - Every cow has a bird
Arandel - #1
Bocca Grande - Procedere
Jesper Ryom - Luna
Robag Wrhume - Pnom gobal
Steffi - Mine/Yours
2020Soundsystem - Ocean (Ray Mang remix)
Brandt Bauer Frick - Bop
John Talabot - La ninya (Afrodub version)
Timex Social Club - Rumours
The Main Stem - Bomma jack-it
Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons - The night
Scuba - Feel it
Death On The Balcony - We need passion

House Sessions

A new mix...


Gold Panda - An iceberg hurled northward through clouds
Ennio Morricone - Voce seconda (Haruomi Hosono Remix)
Junior Boys - You'll improve me
Sex Judas - Everything changes (Tim Paris' edit)
St. Vincent - Your lips are red
Archie Bell & The Drells - Here I go again
Smallpeople - Black ice
Dubble D - Rope trick
Death On The Balcony - We need passion
Wolfram - A thing called love (Legowelt remix)
The Warlord - The ultimate warlord
Silver Apples - Oscillations
Swayzak - They return
Ed Davenport - New Yorkshire
Agoria - Panta rei
T.Williams - Heartbeat (Paul Woolford rewurk)
Gingy & Bordello - Body acid (KiNK's On Acid remix)
Deetron - Starblazer
TWR72 - Paradox
The Model - Still in my heart (Ivan Smagghe remix)
Factory Floor - Two different ways
TWR72 - Paradox

Find it here:

http://soundcloud.com/chris-wood/house-session-house-logger

Get in contact if you want to hear this out :-)

Shuffle podcast

I've started a new podcast over on my Mixcloud site called 'Shuffle', celebrating a little blue button on the most widely used audio software ever made.  It has transformed the way people listen to music - retrieving memories through dragging up random tracks from the past.

The Shuffle podcast will go through my own library and others' and put together 20 tracks that people may have forgotten, never heard before, hate, love, throw out the window... etc...  I hope that people are introduced to music and it has heads turning in surprise!

Week 1:


Bocca Grande - Adlibitum


Only discovered these two guys from Japan recently through their 'Procedere' track that has a remix by Morgan Geist - they're currently preparing an album which will no doubt be piano laden but a real smooth listen...


Jazzanova - Behold these days (Berlin '74)


I always look for Jazzanova when I want to hear something different - and they really are - downtempo, broken beat, hip hop, straddling the lower bpms with style.  Having Danny Krivit mix one of their tracks however means they are no small time!


Kurtis Blow - If I ruled the world (original mix)


Always been interested in the electro movement that grew into hip hop later... can you ever see a modern rapper rhyming for 7 minutes however???


R. Dean Taylor - Theres a ghost in my house


The definitive northern soul sound - I remember reading that people were desperate to get their hands on this, they were even flying over to the USA to find it... Then someone found a copy in a newspaper in a petrol station  - it had been under their noses all the time...


The Real Weald Tuesday - Still terminally ambivalent over you


Heard this on a Mud podcast, a group from Leicester promoting underground art, music and dancing which makes a real difference to those into real music in the city.


Gilles Peterson - La revolucion del Cuerpo (Auntie Flo remix)


A nice free present from the Huntley & Palmer's guys...


New Order - 586


Not sure why I bought this, sounds great though and real difference from hearing Blue Monday again!


Stone Poneys - Different drum


Yes alright its this one!  The one from the advert with the angels in it - the vocal stood out to me so went to find out what it was...


Fourtet & Rothko - Rivers become oceans


One of my friends recently described Fourtet's Fabric mix as 'Ricardo Villalobos playing garage', a recent discovery for me shamefully I'll be buying some more albums to find out more...


Wiley - Cash in my pocket


Cheesy... Haha - I really like this, energetic and the video is great! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bNKS8QAjM


Tiga - Far from here (Bascombe radio edit)


Nice catchy song this...


Sia - Where I belong


Used to get all my music from HMV - they used to do free cds with a purchase - bit like a promo cd with lots of genres on it - this was a great introduction to other artists such as Sia...


Lindstrom - Little drummer boy (Short edit)


Saw this come up and I thought OH NO!!!  Then saw it was the short edit and breathed a sigh of relief - I didn't want to sit through 42 minutes of little drummer boy this far from Xmas...


The Jam - Going underground


Great song, got it off one of those free cds that the newspapers give away at the weekends...


David K - Somewhere in my head (Original mix)


One of my newest house buys, eerie vocal which I'm a sucker for...


Blehorkestar Bakija Bakic - Fizheuer zieheuer (T2 Edit)


No idea how to pronounce this at all but I like it!  Quirky with an edit done by the mighty Todd Terje.


Brian Eno & David Byrne - Jezabel spirit


Pulled this out of the charts in the back of the book - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life


El_Txef_A - Rolling edit


Young Spanish guy making waves in the house world - keep an eye on him...


Kenneth Bager - Fragment 7 Les Fleurs (Album dub)


No idea where I got this from but its random as!


MGMT - Weekend wars


One of my favourite bands - love the whole album...

Friday 18th November review

Last Friday saw Jamie 3:26 make the trip over from the USA to London for the first time - and I hope not the last time!  Meeting people in The Griffin - nice little pub round the back of Great Eastern street with a cheeky little room upstairs.  We popped up where an older guy was DJing - playing some great disco - Slyvester, Salsoul Orchestra etc.  After introducing himself as Terry, Terry Farley (to which I nearly fainted) I gabbled a bit of small talk then ran away...

Jamie's event - Spacemachine was actually in Stoke Newington, a nice place but not one I would have thought of for something like this - and a little way out of the centre.  I was genuinely surprised however at the venue - really nice little place with a cool basement with nooks and cranies.  Both Johnny Hillier and Jamie played great sets with the venue closing a little early at 3.30am.

Thanks to Steve Reed for a lift back into town where I got to CAMP - there was still a queue outside at 4am or so to get into Silence - always a good sign!  Zip had just started when I got in at 4.15am and was pumping out the proper house, something I haven't heard in a while.  Great night but after getting up 24 hours earlier and a day of work I lost the battle against tiredness!

Bad set...

Recently I played a bad set and didn't take advantage of an opportunity which really irritated me afterwards - and I'm not above admitting it happened - clearly as I'm stating it here!  I was trying to be too clever and fit too much in when I should have been playing what I love - house.  Not sure what got me onto the whole mixed genres thing - I do think that any decent DJ worth their salt should be able to play the right song at the right time whatever the genre but recently this has been going overboard...

I think its started with disco edits - not necessarily 4x4 time either, but liking the tune and thinking how can I get this into a set - then it went wider, now I'm regretting that!  I'm one to learn from mistakes rather than keep them hanging around so my listening material this week has been focussed on the housier side of things and this will be reflected in my mixes!

CD review #4

Brodinski's mix came through the post the other day and landed upside down... Then it started bouncing around on its own all over the room, or it would have done if it could, this mix has bags of life in it.  Clearly influenced by the recent hipster trend but with a personal touch on it this mix is top notch.

Maybe its something I've been unknowingly craving for a while - something to come and slap me round the face, and I don't mean a hand.  Recently I think I've fallen into the lethargic trap and its showing in my mixes - I've got Brodinski to thank for waking me up.  An artistic person might compare this mix with a steam train - starting off slower huffing and puffing its way to get to a steady rhythm then picking up speak and finally becoming an unstoppable force... But I'd say it got me interested at first and then by 1/2 way through I was hooked and couldn't stop listening, this from someone that I thought played electro - I might start going on a Friday again if they're turning out people like this...