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-- ::::::::. **** TA DJ Challenge Series - Theme Mix (completed) **** .::::::::
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No family passings (condolences, jonmitz) to deal with, but my busyness hasn't abated since the challenge ended. I have listened to most of the mixes - and found something to appreciate in all of them - but I'm going to have to replay a couple before laying down some reviews. The mental teacup can only store so much.

For what it's worth I haven't finished listening to all the mixes yet but I'll post my thoughts on them when I have.

I've got three more mixes to get through and I'll hopefully be doing that by the end of the week.

I found the first half of bierheld's mix to be alright but the second half was pretty nice. There was a nice variety of good tracks and it had an interesting flow. I'd love to hear some more mixes like the second half of his mix.

Interesting, I didn't think this was that two-faced of a mix. I made the second half a bit more relaxed and good-spirited to form a contrast with the moody and chaotic first half, but other then that I'm not quite sure what you liked about it so I can't really point you to any mixes. Thanks for the comment though.

Again, it's probably a matter of taste. Perhaps I just liked the styles of the tracks in the second half more. Thanks for participating and making a nice set.

I listened to lews mix just then, I liked it a fair bit. I felt the sci finess came accross well early on but kind've got lost later as in descended into various trance tracks. That said, I feel like having the mix evoke the theme strongly isn't that important and overall the mix flows pretty well. I'll probably listen to it again a few times.

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Originally posted by Psyshell That said, I feel like having the mix evoke the theme strongly isn't that important

So then, what exactly is the purpose of this challenge?

Well it did say your interpretation of the theme. Therefore if the theme heavily inspired your mix but it's moderately difficult to hear in the music it'd still be fitting in with the theme and purpose. I personally thought of the guidelines as the theme is meant to be a starting point for a mix and an overarching guide. Not necessarily a competition of who can have a mix that most strongly evokes the chosen theme within their chosen genre. Maybe I'm wrong though, but there certainly wasn't anything to suggest the way people have been treating the guidelines in the posts before the mixes started being posted.

You're right that it's not a competition as to who can most strongly evoke the chosen theme, but it's certainly not only a "starting point" for creating the mix. It should be the foundation with which your mix is built upon and your mix should reflect the chosen theme throughout its duration.

Agreed. Otherwise we'll just end up with extremely tenuous "themed" mixes from people who just want to gain attention for their mixes.

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Agreed. Otherwise we'll just end up with extremely tenuous "themed" mixes from people who just want to gain attention for their mixes.

Just wanted to drop in and say your set has been on repeat for the last few days. Fantastic flow.

Nice one, thanks a lot!

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Originally posted by ziptnf It should be the foundation with which your mix is built upon and your mix should reflect the chosen theme throughout its duration.

Yeh I agree.

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Originally posted by PivotTechno Tracklist: 1. Magnetic - Ben Sims � Primate 2. The Sign - The Exaltics - electronique.it 3. Surface Noise - Planetary Assault Systems - Peacefrog 4. Singularity - DJ Slip � Kanzleramt 5. Paul dB+ - Gigahertz � Cadeaux 6. Electric Mistress - Kamaflarge - Tortured Records 7. Tron - Electric Rescue aka D'Jedi - Aciiieeed! 8. Azimuth � Mateo Murphy � Default 9. Off Transmission � Crackdown � Space Factory 10. Funkineven � Mars � Broadwalk 11. Diphda � Michaelangelo � Labrynth 12. Stargate � Mad Mike � Underground Resistance 13. Signal 1 � Outbreak - Contrast 14. Space Sick - Mark The 909 King � Sex Trax 15. Alien Be-In � Psychic TV � Temple Records 16. The Outermaze � Steve Summers �L.I.E.S. 17. Cern � Monolake - Monolake / Imbalance Computer Music 18. Human (Vector Lovers Mix) � Slam - Soma Quality Recordings 19. Yam Um Sugli � Ben Pest � Don�t 20. Sleeper In Metropolis - Anne Clark With David Harrow � Ink 21. System (v.1.0.) � Force Legato � ZYX 22. Quantum Logic � DMX Krew - Rephlex

Like Bierheld said, I think this is the kind of mix that everyone thought everyone else in the challenge would make, with the result that no one did it apart from you. Considering your style of Detroit-rooted techno (which is sci-fi and futuristic by default), this challenge played right into your hand. Compared to how conceptual and planned out a lot of the mixes in this challenge were, I liked that this set felt very spontaneous and organic overall, while still providing subtle variations on the overall Motor City techno feel, without sacrificing adherence to the challenge's theme.

That said, since this is a dancefloor-related mix, I did miss some clearly defined peaks and valleys in the overall structure. I also think that since you had two hours, the idea of techno and sci fi could have been explored much further (the relentlessly minimal offerings from guys like Sleeparchive or the new wave of industrial stuff coming out of the UK would be examples of directions to go in). This is probably a symptom of underestimating how much time you had left before the deadline, though.

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Originally posted by ziptnf This was an extremely interesting set. You have a very artistic viewpoint on the theme at hand. This set goes through a lot of moods and feelings, time periods, and energy levels. I'm not gonna lie, the first 30 minutes nearly made my ears bleed and actually gave me a headache. That's the type of shit nightmares are made of. Making this mix the length you made it was a trademark of your attention to detail and storytelling. It was interesting how this was broken up: first 30 minutes was malfunctioning space equipment, second 30 minutes marked the arrival at some sort of intergalactic dance club, third 30 minutes you leave the club and pick up strange radio signals from songs that could be centuries old, and the last 30 minutes you're drifting into space. Nice way to finish the set btw, on somewhat of an epic orchestral track. Overall extremely eclectic and fantastically weird, even if the music didn't agree with my eardrums the whole time.

Cheers. This is very much the way I was hoping to kickstart the imaginations of people listening to the mix. In a way, I think it's kinda cool that you got a headache from the first 30 mins. Let's just say I didn't choose to go with that particular vibe because I wanted to make something that's pleasant to listen to.

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Originally posted by Bierheld Science Dysfunction by Bierheld on Mixcloud DL: http://speedy.sh/m5zDN/Science-Dysfunction.mp3 TL: 01. Fourcolor "Vignette" [12k, '06] - Jaava73 "Inside Spaceship" [freesound.org] - Simon Ho "5" [Sub Rosa, '09] 02. Free Babyronia ">>>" [AUN Mute, '13] - Nicholas Bullen "Element Configuration III (II. Commixture)" [Type, '13] 03. Histibe "In Parallel" [Histibe World, '13] - Nicholas Bullen "Element Configuration III (I. Of Three Elements)" [Type, '13] 04. David Inexacte "Europe In Rewind" [NOMOS Records, '13] 05. Tzolk'in "Toci" [Ant-Zen '13] - Noisecollector "Spacevirusextend" [freesound.org] - Andrew Thomson "scifi Computer 1" [freesound.org] 06. Meta "Ultraviolet" [Lifted Music, '13] 07. This Morn' Omina "Nev'im (God's Zoo)" [Ant-Zen, '11] 08. Marching Dynamics "Rival System" [Hymen Records, '09] 09. Mordant Music "Nothing In Here Of Any Value" [Mordant Music, '13] 10. Dave Aju, The Invisible Art Trio "Fall" [Nuearth Kitchen, '13] 11. Roman Naboka "Travel To A Life Source" [LW Recordings, '13] 12. Sine Weaver "poetess" [Steal My Oil, '11] 13. Vexkiddy "Gordon Bennitt" [Cock Rock Disco, '11] 14. Pinkcourtesyphone "All Made Up" [LINE (SEGMENTS), '12] 15. nsi "4." [S�hk� Recordings, '07] 16. Randweg "Droner" [Dock, '13] 17. Aiodine "02" [Aiodine, '13]

I finally got round to listening to this. Not exactly sci-fi, but I listened to it whilst reading The Naked Lunch, as I figured a self-confessed mix of chaos would be a fitting audio backdrop. With that in mind I wasn't paying close attention throughout.

My impression is that it actually made a lot of sense and developed into a promising sampledelic vision for the first 30 minutes or so. At this point I was feeling a kind of future-primitive juxtaposition going on with the spaceship sounds melding with the tribal industrial of This Morn' Omina and Tzolk'in. I can definitely appreciate the "where we've come from and where we might be going" concept here, it was vaguely evocative of the kind of themes Kubrick and Clarke hinted at in 2001, and what Ridley Scott rather lumpenly cave-drew in Prometheus. And although I always go back to this parallel with your mixes, a vibe not totally dissimilar to the last FSOL album.

Then things lost their way slightly. Really, the structure isn't a whole lot different from your Alae mix and is really very simple: slower-tempo, evocative and environmental music in the opening act, an acceleration into frenetic neo-rave material to create a peak and then a gentle outro. The problem is that these three sections didn't really have any thematic connection to each other, the mix doesn't build on what is suggested at the start, and the rave section towards the end just felt silly and flippant, especially when set against the rest of it. If you'd cut that shit out and perhaps replaced it with some experimental modern classical. or maybe some cinematic glitch a la Tinidae or Access To Arakasa, you'd have created a more fitting emotional peak to descend gently from with the last couple of tracks.

As it stands it made for a good soundtrack to Burroughs but not a hugely satisfying listening experience despite some obvious promise.

A spot on analysis as far as I'm concerned.
The similarities with my previous mix were bound to happen, as I had played my hand by that point and had forced myself to come up with a structure in one go. It's one of the major reasons why I was so disappointed. I had lots of cool ideas to follow up on the first section too, which were almost scarily close to what you are describing, but if I had attempted to implement them all in one go it would have gotten messy very quickly. It still takes me too much time to turn an idea into something that's listenable.

Really pretty much everything after the first twenty minutes just wasn't supposed to be there. The industrial section I would have probably kept, be it in a more worked out form. It worked out better then I had expected. Everything after that barring the ending was just plain wrong for this mix, really most of those tracks were just leftovers from the ala� project. Such a shame. It isn't even that far off either, I feel I could improve it massively with only a few more days of work.
Frustrating, but it is what it is. At least I have some better ideas on how to handle the process come next challenge. I was just a bit lost this time, not used to doing these things with a looming deadline in sight.

So I just finished listening to Sand Leaper's mix. First of all I've gotta say it wasn't very accessable for me. It starts off with some pretty harsh ambientish stuff although does get a bit more melodic later. I do think quite a few of the chosen tracks are good but for some reason just can't feel that much flow except for in certain parts. I dunno, maybe I just don't dig mixes with this much variety.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on all mixes done for me. Sorry about the delay. Since it's probably worth mentioning I'd definitely have to say djdk's mix was my favourite of the submissions. There were some cool other mixes too though, and I do feel like Mr Game+Watch's take on synthpop was a pretty solid mix for a style that's not necassarily going to have that much depth in it. Thanks everyone for the opportunity for to listen to their mixes and I really enjoyed taking part in this and am looking forward to participating in future ones. I feel like I'll need to branch out with styles though as house/techno/dnb/ambient (or maybe even melodic propgsy) are likely to be a lot more accessable to a lot of the listeners and it's a lot better to have more feedback from people that are into whatever style is being mixed.

Glad you bumped this because I had almost completely forgotten. Will try to get to the mixes over the next week and will post reviews~

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Right, here's my mix. One of the reasons I lobbied for Science Fiction as a theme is that this is natural territory for me:

You did the right thing! This is awesome! :]

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