Sexy and seventeen

Happy Halloween, my little droogies. Today we all pretend we're not really stealing pagan holidays and don our scariest attire. And what could be scarier than...

ADDITIONS TO THE DJ ABSTRACT WEBSITE!

MUHAHAHAHAHA!

Yes, I have now uploaded every DJ Abstract mix currently available. Seventeen in all! That's right. Seventeen.

Recoil in horror at the mellowness of the chillout mixes!
Be bewitched like St Vitus by the sinister dance mixes!
Flee in utter terror from the monstrous metal, devilish drum and bass, and blackhearted breakcore!
A world of bone chilling fear awaits you at the DJ Abstract website.

(also be terrified by the completely over-the-top self-promotion above)

Anyway, enjoy the day, y'all. Do your best to support your local dentist by chowin' down on as many bad sweets as you can hack. Remember, candy corn is your friend!

And so is the DJ Abstract website!

(Sorry. Had to push it too far just one more time.)



Ghoulies and goblins dance amongst the darkened glades to:

Hardfloor - 4 Out Of 5 Aliens Recommend This
(have a little acid with your Hersey miniatures)

Junkie XL - Radio JXL: A Broadcast From The Computer Hell Cabin
(tastes like Smarties, but dancier)

Hate Eternal - Conquering The Throne
(sounds like what you'd like to do to those annoying people who hand out healthy snacks instead of chocolate)

DJ Cam - Underground Live Act
(smooth as caramel)

DJ Vadim - USSR Repertoire - The Theory Of Verticality
(more semi-sweet than sweet)

Rent me

I'm fortunate in that I have a fairly robust social life. I've got some really great friends and I hang with a cool lady a lot of the time these days. Most nights I'm out doing fun stuff and that fun stuff usually involves music.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could get paid for that?

I mention this because I spent some of the weekend updating the official DJ Abstract website. I've added a bunch of mixes (nine at present, with more on the way), as well as links to my various other musical projects. It's my hope to use the site as a way to get my name more in the whisper stream for DJ gigs and perhaps, hope against hope, soundtrack work.

I really miss being behind the decks 'cause I love to play music for people. There is nothing like somebody running up to the booth yelling, "What is this track? I gotsta get it!" Then again, sometimes they're just running up to make a request. That's why I keep a can of mace with me at all times.

(Just kidding. If you want me to play something, just ask; better yet, bring the CD with you.)

Anyway, if you know anybody who's looking for a DJ for their next party, send 'em here. I spin a ton of different styles (dance, downtempo, jazz, blues, straight up evil, etc.) and I have my own gear. The website also has a completely list of all the CDs I own, so you can check that out as well.

Hook a brotha up!

Me, in my natural habitat.

(no, I don't have a headache, just small earphones)

Sugarplums dancing in my head:

Various - DTS Volume 12
(glitchy downy chillout...y)

Boymerang - Balance Of The Force
(on the lighter side of drum and bass)

Various - Misc DB 3
(on the darker side of drum and bass)

Belphegor - Necrodaemon Terrorsathan
(peeling back your scalp and looking inside)

Madvillain - Madvillainy
(MF Doom, MF!)

Schadenfreude

Bottom of the 9th.
Two outs.
Bases loaded.
Down 3 to 1.
And Carlos Beltran looks at a called third strike.

That's a beautiful thing.

I gloat simply because many of the folks I work with are Mets fan who have been continually rubbing my face in the Yankees' early exit from this year's MLB playoffs.

To them I say, "HAH!"

(I'm a bastard)

The 7th Inning Stretch will never feature:

Ministry - In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up
(Uncle Al and a cast of thousands aim to dislocate all your limbs)

The Haunted - The Haunted
(former members of At The Gates workin' you over)

DMX - It's Dark And Hell Is Hot
(holla at my dogs)

Various - Digging Down 01: An Exploration Into Mush Records
(mmmmm... mushy alt-hip-hoppy)

Various - DJ Abstract 17: Midnight At The Velvet Club
(the opposite of anger)

In praise of friends (again)

Once again, I have been remiss in my posting duties. Work has been extremely busy and I've either been too wiped out or too busy after work, so my little on-liner here suffers. Then again, not too many people care, as I can't imagine my audience is very big. Well, excuses and bitching aside...

Part of my early morning ritual before work is, of course, the selection of music for the day. I'm fortunate in that my job lets me listen to tunes while I'm working. This is a very good thing because, trust me, when there's a lot of shit to get done, nothing motivates like a nice healthy slice of death metal or wicked techstep. So I was engaging in said selection ritual this morning when I hit the "DJ" section of my collection. I pulled out a disc of my own as well as one by a Chicago buddy of mine, DJ Pauly.

I also stumbled across a disc I'd forgotten I had...

The mighty Bianca Alexis spins under the super sweet moniker of DJ TTFuk. She'd gifted me with one of her first demo mixes (which I surprisingly dubbed DJ TTFuk Mix 1) and I'd filed it away after several tasty listens. Well, I'm pleased I came across it again 'cause it's pumping in my ears right now.

While there's a tune I don't know (amazing, isn't it), I do know that the mix includes tracks by Audion, Peaches, La Tour ("People Are Still Having Sex", baby!), Erasure, Lords Of Acid, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Sneaker Pimps, and, of course, Solar Quest's "Liquid Sky" (a beautifully cheesy and infinitely fun rave tune from the mid 90s that Bianca and I have a shared passion for; it's the key to heaven).

Great shit.

I don't know if Mighty B still has copies lying around, but if anybody wants one, I'll burn it for ya (with Bianca's permission, of course). Can't give you a complete track listing, but what the hell, it's mixed so nice it won't even matter, so suck it up, bitches. Here is a rough attempt, tho.

Lo Fidelity Allstars – Battle Flag
Audion – Titty Fuck
(don’t know this tune, but it vaguely sounds like DJ Assault)
The Knife – You Make Me Like Charity
Gold Chains & Sue Cie – Crowd Control
Deee-Lite - Runaway
Peaches – Hot Rod
La Tour – People Are Still Having Sex
Solar Quest – Liquid Sky
Erasure – Breath Of Life
Lords Of Acid – Rough Sex
Depeche Mode – Halo
Kraftwerk – Tour De France
Rah Band – Clouds Across The Moon (Remix)
Sneaker Pimps – 6 Underground

Going to pump YOU up:

Various - DJ TTFuk Mix 1
(the one and only dominator-ix)

Various - DJ Abstract 15: The Slipstream Mix
(and now for something completely different)

Various - DJ Pauly: Exit The Numark, Enter The Rane
(more on the mellow tip)

Various - DJ Rupture Mega Mix
(audio root canal; long, slow root canal...)

Abstract Audio Systems - The Gossamer EP
(catch another mellow vibe)

You're not my eater, I'm not your food

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, music-wise. From the good (Avenue Q), the bad (Wicked), to the ugly (Nitzer Ebb), not to mention Wynton Marsalis (not once, but twice!), my ears have been awash in live sound pretty much constantly.

(NOTE: I only listed Wicked as the bad because it fit the sentence construct. It's not bad. See here if you don't believe me.)

One would think that I was getting tired and, in fact, you'd be right. There are rare occasions when I get music-ed out, at least in terms of live shows. There is such a thing as too much. However, even though I'm reaching my breaking point, I managed to hang on and catch Massive Attack last night at the Roseland Ballroom.

What a great show.

They played all of my favorite tunes and also had the good sense to bring in as many of their usual guest vocalists as possible. Yes, Liz Frazier of the Cocteau Twins was there (and sang the tune from whence comes the title of this entry), as was Horace Andy (surprising, considering the man is damned near 60 and still lives in Jamaica, I believe).

Tunes included:
"One Love"
"Hymn Of The Big Wheel"
"Karmacoma"
"Angel"
"Teardrop"
"Inertia Creeps"
"Man Next Door"
"Black Milk"
...in fact almost all of Mezzanine
...and a bunch of stuff of 100th Window (including "Future Proof")

Roseland was also the perfect venue. Those of you who have been there know what I mean. Those who have not need know only this: it's huge. Cavernous is an apt description. Anyone who is familiar with Massive Attack's sound obviously understands how this type of place would add to their performance, given their penchant for booming bass and floating, ethereal keyboard work. Yes, the booming bass was there. As for the keys... well… therein lies my one complaint.

Too much guitar.

Many of the tunes were revamped to include either new or extended guitar parts, while the sythns were pushed further back in the mix. This was a much more rockin' show than I expected. I'm a huge fan of Massive Attack mostly because of the cozy (and sometimes claustrophobic) sound that they create. This was a much louder, much more in-your-face act than I'd expected. Still, it was fantastic.

And very loud.

And very bright.

The rear of the stage was completely filled by a huge lighting array which contained what could only adequately be equated to the God Lights from Blade II. "Audience blinders" is what Susan calls them; extremely bright. However, unlike most high intensity lights I've seen, they weren't huge. In fact, it was as if the whole lighting rig was composed of a million tiny one-billion-watt bulbs. Because of this setup, it was possible to display complex patterns of cycling color. Envision a gigantic, multi-colored stock ticker, but faster. Pretty amazing.

And did I mention bright?

And loud?

Here a three brief clips from the show to illustrate what I'm talking about. Please excuse the crappy quality, but even my Razor, with all its ninja powers, couldn't handle the amount of sensory input we were experiencing.

One Potato
Two Potato
Three Potato

As you can see/hear... intense.

So this was a great show. Not the greatest show I've ever seen (Tom Waits will always be the supreme champion, for various reasons that I've neither the time nor the space to get into here), but pretty high ranking. They are playing two more nights at Roseland (tonight and tomorrow) and, if yesterday's crowd was any indication, I believe there are still tickets available. Go check it out.

Be blinded, deafened, and happy.

No protection from:

A Great White Bird - Collection 1
(amazing DIY eletronica from the wilds of Canada)

A Great White Bird - Collection 2
(second verse, same as the first)

A Great White Bird - Collection 3
(a whole lot of AGWB and a whole lots worse; but not really)

A Covenant Of Thorns - Hallowed & Hollow
(imagine Morrissey with a big penchant for keyboards)

A Covenant Of Thorns - If The Heavens Should Fall
(because I was really too lazy to think more this morning)

The wages of sin

I've only been peripherally following the Mark Foley scandal because, honestly, I'm not surprised. It's just another example of the typical hypocrisy of most politicians, particularly conservatives. However, I did stumble across this interesting piece of history in an article written by CNN's Jeff Greenfield.

In 1983, the House Ethics Committee revealed that two House members had been sexually involved with pages: liberal Massachusetts Democrat Gerry Studds and conservative Illinois Republican Daniel Crane. Crane was involved with a female, Studds a male; both pages were over the legal age of consent. Both Studds and Crane were censured by the House, but their responses -- and their political fates -- were very different.

Crane was repentant; tearfully apologized to his wife and family, asked for forgiveness.

As the rules require, he stood in the well of the House to receive his censure and faced his colleagues.

By contrast, Studds was unrepentant. He said the relationship was legal and consensual, talked about the difficulties of being a gay man in America, and when the House censured him, he turned his back on his colleagues, as if to reject their censure.

The next year, Crane, who had been an outspoken advocate of "family values," was soundly defeated by voters in his conservative district. Studds was re-elected handily, and served in the House for more than a dozen years, until his retirement.

This perfectly illustrates my point. Crane's hypocrisy cost him his career (rightfully so). Studds, conversely, committed what amounts only to a sin of omission and then stood by his convictions when his homosexuality was brought to light. I suppose that some would say that Studds should have proclaimed that he was gay before coming under investigation, but, in truth, how was his sexual orientation relevant to his career as a politician?

It is one thing to keep aspects of one's personal life to oneself. It is another thing entirely to aggressively campaign on an ideal, be it child pornography or "family values" (the latter expression being almost as revolting to me as the former industry), all the while pursuing a lifestyle contrary to that ideal. I'm not saying that he indulged in kiddie porn, but there's no denying that Foley, who is in his 50s, looks like an old letch sending teenage pages kinky emails. I mean, those boys have grass on the field (if you get my meaning), but it's still mad creepy.

I'm not saying people should be running about wearing


but they certainly should not be wearing



Making adult porn with:

Various - DJ Abstract 8: Black Eye Mix
(cure for what ails ya)

Various - DJ Abstract 9: The Gossamer Mix
(cause I'm a modest, mellow fellow)

Various - DJ Abstract 15: The Slipstream Mix
(reach into space)

John Coltrane - Lush Life
(comfy sex music)

Tom Waits - Bad News Out Of A Pretty Mouth
(can't wait for the new 3 disc set!)