An Unbelievable DJ mix just in time for Halloween!

DJ Fantastik Spooky Halloween 2011 by djfantastik
I know it's shameless self-promotion, but here's the soundtrack you've been looking for to play at your next Halloween party, mixed by yours truly.  Happy Halloween!

Dom & Roland - Can't Punish Me

A classic Drum and Bass tune from 2000. That synth in the beginning appears to be a sample of "Let's Dance" by David Bowie.

High Contrast - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

One of my personal favorite Drum and Bass tracks of all time.

Bungle feat. Ayah Marar - The Siren

I heard this song this morning as I was on the treadmill for my morning jog. Some of the best Drum and Bass vocals I have heard in years. This is a beautiful song!

Siouxsie And The Banshees - Kiss Them For Me

One of my all-time favorite songs. Can you believe it's been 20 years since this was released?

Swell Session vs Mr Scruff feat Elsa Esmeralda / No No

Just discovered this song on the Hospital Records Podcast with London Elektricity. What a fantastic song! Enjoy!

Orbital - Halcyon (Full version - YouTube 10 min edit!)

One of the greatest electronica songs of all time. Orbital's Halcyon + On +On. I listened to this on my iPod this morning and had to mention it. Even 19 years after it's original release, the song stands up against so many that have followed after it. If you have ever seen either Hackers or Mortal Kombat, this song is featured in both movies and appears on both soundtracks.

Modern Rock's Most Distinctive Male Voices

Hey, it's been a few weeks since I last posted.  When you're writing a blog sometimes the inspiration doesn't come at you immediately and frequently.  I suppose if I made a million bucks a year doing this blog I would probably invest a lot more time into it.  Anyway, I digress.  Onto this week's blog post.

You know their voices.  You turn on the radio and you hear their song.  You may not know the song but you know the voice behind the microphone.  They have true style and uniqueness to their voice.  They can sound painful and melancholy and luscious all at the same time  They are modern rock's most distinct vocalists.

The List

Robert Smith in his 20's

Robert Smith - The original gothic hopeless romantic.  He was "emo" (I hate this word by the way) before it was even a word.  From the love struck melodies of "Close to Me" to "Friday I'm In Love" to the obsessive "Why Can't I Be You?" there were fewer artists that could capture the ecstacy of falling in love for the first time.  The excitement and raw emotion in his voice and the vulnerability were original and different for their time.  Robert Smith is arguably one of the greatest pop songwriters of his time. 

Robert Smith in his 50's (yeesh!)

Smith's vocal styling is bizarre but interesting at the same time.  The amazing thing is he can still sing as he did in his twenties.  Check out this collaboration with Crystal Castles released late last year and you'll see what I mean.  Unfortunately, his appearance has stayed the same (see the picture on the right).  It's weird seeing a 51 year-old man still dressing like a 21 year-old man (are you listening Green Day? This will be you in 10 years).  He now looks like an out of work Vegas drag-queen who stopped caring about his appearance 10 years ago.  Look at that picture!  He can't even put on lipstick very well!

To Robert Smith:  It's okay to dress your age and still be a rock star.  Your Friend, Billy Corgan.

Billy Corgan - The Obsessive Compulsive lead of the Smashing Pumpkins.  Billy Corgan could sing for a Kellogg's cereal commercial and people would recognize his voice.  His voice IS Smashing Pumpkins.  However Billy, I don't recommend TV commercial music as an upward career move.  Billy's nasally whine used to drive me crazy.  I took me a few times before I really liked the song 'Disarm' when I first heard it 17 years ago.  However I learned to love and appreciate his style and passion, and they became arguably my favorite band of the 90's.  Their uprising from the Chicago music scene in the early 90's drew more from the likes of Cheap Trick and Sonic Youth than their grunge counterparts from Seattle who were more influenced by the likes of Neil Young (Pearl Jam) and The Pixies (Nirvana).  Billy Corgan was a control freak, and it worked to their benefit with their breakthrough album Siamese Dream (produced by the legendary Butch Vig), released in 1993 and their follow up double album released in 1995 "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (co-produced with NIN producers Flood and Alan Moulder)."
After two good, although not as successful albums in released in 1998 and 2000, they broke up in late 2000 after the release of their free internet only release "Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music."  By this time bassist D'Arcy Wretsky had left and was replaced by then Hole bassist Melissa Arf De Meur.  However, the remaining members of the band followed shortly thereafter.  After a 5 year hiatus and experiencing a lack of success with the band Zwan (perhaps Corgan's attempt to match success of Chris Cornell with Audioslave?), Billy Corgan took out a full page ad in the Chicago Sun-Times asking the band to get back together.  Attempts were nearly unsuccessful, as drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was the only one who was willing to come back.  After the 2007 release of "Zeitgeist" (my favorite album of theirs since 'Mellon' strangely) Chamberlain left the band and now you have a nearly 44 year-old Corgan performing with kids nearly half his age. 

Only David Byrne can pull off the Hoodie

David Byrne - I remember as a 10 year-old sitting in the back seat of my station wagon with my Dad driving listening to KBCO as "Burning Down the House" is piping through the stereo.  As an attempt to impress my musician father, I coolly asked if this was the Talking Heads on the radio as the song was pretty new at the time.  He said it was, and I felt awesome that I actually could tell.  David Byrne is the epitome of nerdy lead singers.  He was the original.  The Talking Heads long-time collaboration with legendary producer and audiophile Brian Eno (considered by many to be the father of Ambient music) cements his nerdiness.

I always thought it was impressive how a man with such an awkward presence on stage could pull it off.  His style physically is as herky-jerky as his voice.  "Once in a Lifetime" is a perfect example of this singing style as the lyrics take us through what sounds like a mid-life crisis.  A quick fact on this song also is it is the first to ever use a loop, which has become the staple of electronic, hip hop and pop music since.  Listen to the bass part of the song and you will hear it.

David Byrne is as busy now as he was as a member of the Talking Heads.  Since their breakup in 1992, Byrne has released several solo albums and collaborated with well-known DJ producers such as X-Press-2 and Fatboy Slim among others.


Thom Yorke - Many know him as the "Creep" guy.  In the last decade, Radiohead has become incredibly and trendy to like.  A lot of people seem to gravitate to Radiohead as if they're trying to make a statement about the music they listen to.  That is by no means a knock on the band itself, but rather people buying into hype.  The good thing is Radiohead is a great band and it's nice to see a band that isn't like Nickleback get some well deserved recognition.

Thom Yorke chilling with his homeboy David Byrne

Thom Yorke looks like he woke up one morning with a hangover, put his clothes on that were sitting on the floor from the night before and walked onto a stage or recording studio.
His voice is haunting and powerful, vulnerable and yet stoic.  I fell in love with Radiohead in 1995 the first time I heard "Fake Plastic Trees."  I was familiar with the band but this song made me a fan of their music.  The album "The Bends" is a roller coaster of personal discovery tethered throughout.  It's my favorite of there's.
Yorke has also released solo albums, including 2005's "The Eraser."  This was an album given to me by my sister who knew I was a Radiohead fan and not knowing what I wanted for Christmas.  She struck gold on that (Thank you Andrea).  The album has a dark Portishead-type feel to it without the trip-hop.  It's fantastic electronic music without being to dance or club oriented.  My favorite track is Harrowdown Hill (there is a tremendous bootleg remix of this song by Aussie DJ PQM I strongly recommend).  Apparently this album was nominated for a Grammy, which I had no idea until today.

So that's all I have the energy for.  I am sure there are artists I left off this list.  Tell me in the comments who has been omitted and I will create a second post.

Sorry Morrisey, I will add you to a second list.

If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

Here's one of my favorite songs from 1999. The Manic Street Preachers' "If you tolerate this (then your children will be next)." One of my favorite song titles.

Free Loops from PureMagnetik

I stumbled upon this earlier today.  Here's a great repository for some quality loops if you are into loop-based music production.  Over 100 loops 100% free.

http://soundcloud.com/puremagnetik

Here's the link to the company page.  This is my first time hearing about them.  It looks like some decent stuff.  Tell me what you think.

Portishead - Sour Times (HD Official Video)

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's this gem from Portishead from their 1994 album 'Dummy.' One of my all time favorite songs. It still gives me chills every time I listen to it.

The Mysterious DJ

Paul Oakenfold's back

The DJ.  Perhaps there are fewer musical positions that cause more confusion and intrigue in music.  In the last decade, the position has become more glamorous than a rock star and yet more misunderstood.  What does a DJ do exactly?

I will tell you from my own experience.  I started as a DJ when I was asked to provide music and entertainment at a church dance when I was 19.  Up to that point, I had a serious CD collection and a musician friend of mine had a bunch of PA equipment and a couple of standard CD players.  All we did was a simple cross-fade left to right and we made it work.  We had It was a great deal of fun and I could tell people really enjoyed it.  It was more of a mobile DJ gig, as I wasn't playing club music all night and I wasn't doing any beat matching.  But it stuck with me.  Even though I was around music a bunch growing up, and even though I had opportunities to learn the guitar from my father, I never felt a connection to that instrument like I did with a pair of turntables and a mixer.

Over the last several years, I have determined there are some misconceptions about what a DJ does and I will attempt to explain them.

#1 - DJ's are not real musicians

Brian Transeau, aka BT

This is partially true I have to admit.  Your typical mobile/wedding DJ isn't working on his own material and writing his own songs and isn't honing his craft as an artist.  However, I consider many DJ's as musicians in a non-traditional sense.  Ask any accomplished guitarist or pianist out there how much practice and commitment is involved, and I will find you a DJ who had to do the same thing.  The major difference with a DJ is instead of plucking cords and keys on a guitar or on a piano, they are orchestrating and creating music with existing recordings.  The ultimate goal of any musician is to manipulate recorded sound and create music with it.  However you do that, whether conventional or not, makes you a musician.  Many of the most prominent DJ's in the world are also some of the most sought after music producers.  Most of them are more technically musically trained than most traditional musicians.  David Guetta, for example turned the Black Eyed Peas into a Hip-House act in the past couple of years.  A decade ago Madonna enlisted the services of William Orbit to produce several of her most successful albums.  Brian Transeau (aka BT) was trained at a nationally renowned music school and has produced several albums including the likes of *NSYNC (I feel dirty typing that into my keyboard, I promise it won't happen again).

#2 - Those songs played by a DJ in a club are all the original material of that DJ

There are exceptions to every rule, but for the majority of most DJ's this is not true.  DJ stands for Disc Jockey, coming from the old days of radio stations that had a guy sitting in the studio playing records.  They play other people's music.  The DJ is a connoisseur of music and spends time finding the latest and greatest in music.  He hears things in songs others don't, and enjoys finding the obscure yet timeless songs.  What ends up happening is the uninformed fan of a particular DJ listens to a set performed at a concert or club and attributes a song he plays to that DJ, when in fact all he did ultimately was press play on the deck.  It's not as easy as pressing play, but ultimately that's what you're doing.

#3 - All DJ's can do the same stuff/only one type of DJ

Not all DJ's are created equally or perform the same way or style.  Often people see me behind my turntables and mixer and assume I'm going to scratch the heck out of a record.  Others see me and are surprised to see a turntable (didn't they stop making records 25 years ago?) and then ask me to play that classic Steve Miller Band tune they listen to while drinking their beer.  The type of DJ you are and style you play are a personal preference but they also depend on circumstance.  Allow me to explain some of the different types of DJ's

DJ QBert

The Turntablist/Scratch DJ

This is probably the hardest and yet coolest type DJ in my opinion.  Learning the art of scratching, cutting, and placing a needle on a record at the right place on the fly takes years to accomplish.  I am admittedly terrible at this as I have not spent enough hours on this particular art form.  Some phenomenal scratch DJ's are QBert, Mix Master Mike (of the Beastie Boys), Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow and Kid Koala.  The Turntablist/Scratch DJ is going to perform much like you would see Eric Clapton on the guitar.  Both have revolutionized the instrument they have mastered.  I would classify the Hip Hop DJ in this category although they play more tracks than cut up an old record.  They are hybrid of both the Club DJ and the Turntablist.

The Club DJ
This is where I fit in the most.   Club DJ's are usually focused on one genre of dance music.  They are the ultimate promoter.  And if you can become one of the biggest promoters out there, your notoriety precedes you.  Well-known DJ's of this variety are Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren and Deadmau5.  Young producers, DJ's and small dance labels will send records and songs to these DJ's, or the DJ's themselves will hunt them out on their own.  The key is when one of these DJ's likes and plays your song in his set, it can be a huge boost in your career.  BT's career took off in the early 1990's when Paul Oakenfold got a hold of one of his early tracks.  These DJ's are usually producers themselves as well, remixing tracks of other artists as well.  It's all about promotion with the Club DJ.

The Mobile DJ
It's a cool Friday evening in July, you're at a wedding reception, Tim McGraw is piping through a pair of speakers while a bride and groom dance under a sparkling mirror ball.  That moment was brought to you courtesy of a mobile DJ.  Most DJ's start out doing this.  DJ equipment is expensive and being a good mobile DJ can get you a lot of money.  I have many friends and I personally do several of these a year.  There is some skill involved with this.  Knowing you crowd is the most important.  Remember the Dr Pepper commercial when some DJ is playing sped up Trance music and Dr. Dre come in and puts the soda on the turntable to slow down the music?  If you don't, there it is.  It's crucial as a Mobile DJ to know your crowd and play to them, even if you don't like what you're playing.  Great DJ's are masters of this.

 

Okay, I think I'm done.  Hopefully this has been enlightening to you.  And to those who are uninformed, I hope you now are informed.

Danny Byrd - Tonight (Feat. Netsky) (Official Video)

I'm a huge Drum and Bass fan and have been for many years. I saw this video in a podcast from Hospital Records. The video is entertaining, even if you have no interest in the song. Check it out!

The first post

What do you do for an intro?  I suppose I could waste your time telling you a little about myself and where these strange ideas come from.  So here it goes.  I promise to make it enlightening and humorous.

I've been a music buff for many years.  I think it started as a small child growing up listening to my mother and father.  My mom performed in plays, sang in musicals from the time she was small until this day.  My dad also performed on stage, but fell in love with the guitar at age 12 and played it every day, performing live in bands and as a soloist, as well as recording in the studio and writing over 80 songs in his life until his passing in 2010.

For me, I did a little of all the above, however, I always saw myself as more of an Alan Freed/Dick Clark than an Elvis Presley or Buddy Holly.  I spent inordinate amounts of time as a teenager listening to radio stations, familiarizing myself with personalities on the radio and following trends in music.  My initial interests in music revolved around top 40 radio, but as my drive and hunger to find new and interesting music eventually drove me away from the small sliver of mainstream radio to more obscure but still profound music.  I fell in love with former Denver area radio stations KNRX - Castle Rock (92X) KTCL - Fort Collins and KXPK (The Peak).  I was particularly fond of KNRX.  I loved how in a few short months that station ripped away listeners from incumbent corporate rocker KBPI by playing the next wave of 90's era rock without having to listen to worn out Mötley Crüe hits first.  Perhaps it was a combination of what was happening in music at the time and my impressionable teenage mind in 1995 but 92X had an affect on me.  On February 27, 1996, 92X was turned into an R & B station and one year after that into a Hispanic pop station. 

I immediately flocked to KTCL 93.3 who was in the process of being purchased by Clear Channel predecessor Jacor.  The station was moved from Fort Collins to South Denver and the signal was boosted.  I was no longer having to attach a wire hanger to my antenna to pick up the station in stereo anymore.  It was about this time I decided I needed to get into radio for a career.  I began attending college in 2000, 4 years removed from high school and 1 year removed from serving a 2 year mission for the LDS Church in Southern California (where radio listening was prohibited).  I learned about the massive consolidation of the radio industry and how large corporations (particularly Clear Channel) had cut staff, and consolidated formats in an attempt to make radio profitable.  What ended up happening was limited play lists, prerecorded broadcasts and independent radio promoters who profited from selling pay-for-play.  A music nerd like myself would not be able to flourish in such an environment.

I trashed my career plans in radio and decided go on the attack for a few years.  I ran a website called denverradiosucks.com until about 2006.  The site got the attention of radio listeners and insiders alike.  I found out I was not the only one who disliked the majority of FM radio.  I received the support of thousands of Denverrites who felt the same way.  After a Best of Westword Award in 2003 and mentions in all of the Denver daily newspapers (Westword, Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News), I got bored with the site and decided to call it quits.  I had become a father, finished college and started a business in that time period and it became low on my list of thing to work on. 

So now that brings me to 5 years later.  My slant on this blog is to give me my soap box back.  My mother suggested recently I should do something like this and I often find myself needing to blog about music again.  So here it goes, bear with me.  I dedicate this venture to both my parents, who always encouraged me to be creative and open-minded.