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I downloaded this mix, last week, but haven’t been able to get to listening to it until now. I read the reviews which weren’t as favorable as I was expecting given your sell on the mix – that it’s released without the track-list at effort to create an unknowable sense as to what was coming. In a weird way, I almost feel like this mix is somewhat custom tailored for me. I am a dilettante where DJ mixing is concerned, having dabbled in it for a while in the past, but being otherwise unfamiliar with current trends or the artist’s releases incorporated.
That said, I can hear the antiqueness of the productions. Some of it is in the mere recognition of old tracks; semi-familiar refrains lurking in hazy flashes from nights fueled by alcohol and/or Mary Jane mucked up in the fog of memory lane. These productions aren’t holding strictly to the current modernity of the more advanced tracks I hear in the Music Producer’s Promotion forum – to include your edit of Schmuel Flash’s “Chilling Moments” which is currently one of my favorite songs for casual listening when I’m screwing around on the weekends. That said, there seems to be a lineage of what inspires you between elements of these tracks and your remix of “Chilling Moments”. Not to gush too wildly about it, but “Chilling Moments” is one of the chief reasons I’m enjoying this mix, currently.
Your selection process, particularly in the beginning and middle, seems almost to be predicated for tracks with a root psychedelic aspect in which individual elements are subjected to a scientific degree of psycho-acoustic scouring. Some of the DJ mixes I’ve heard recently seemed to be almost flat in terms of elemental alignment. The acoustic milieu of those is more of a painting on a wall, where everything is apparent and, however complex, seems two-dimensional. Each song in this mix is bundled with nuance and, however old the music is, an attention to detail that modern producers would do well to emulate. In terms of this mix, it’s very three dimensional with reflections of elements echoing in multiple, delineating facets in some songs while others let rhythmic creatures lurk behind a façade of practical music.
Musically, the selections are simple, leaving most of the fireworks to the aforementioned mechanics of the mix. Still, there is a surprising amount of movement divulged in micro progression, alternating rhythm progressions, and purposeful hands for tweaking which never quite breach ridiculous thresholds. The producers seem to realize the value of static elements placed along-side ones which vary, sometimes wildly, but always within an ascertainable reason if not the perceptible groove.
Adding to the psychedelic dimension is the seemingly religious choice of music with voice samples spicing up the arrangements, albeit less nearer to the end. They seem almost rooted in echoing an otherwise suppressed sub-conscious inner-voice of the listener; a psychotic rumination listing paranoid anxieties which span the social fabric as they invariably intrude through various media and advertisements. They are introduced slowly and peak from behind the music which, in the beginning, seems intent to establish a groove milieu but, which, towards the end, works itself into an almost frenzied derangement.
It’s almost an exploration of Dissociative Identity Disorder reintegrating through a short series of abreactions. It peaks with acidic TB303 riffs; vortices percolating on the peak of the mixes and then back down into sedation and into another song contemplating a variation on the aforementioned leit motif. Differing interpretations interpolate like alters with their own unique perception of events common to all of them. By 133 minutes, the therapeutic process seems to be complete with a partial reintegration as the TB303 arpeggios seems to be taken over by a miasma of detuned percussive chimes descending into lush pads. The pads are detuned and the music seems to slow as Doppler artifacts pose the dilemma listed in the title.
Personally, having heard it, I won’t say I’m surprised by the diverse reactions between others and myself. I actually really got into this – in case that wasn’t evident. My only complaint is that, as the set was peeking, there was a notably harsh quality that, however intended, I thought could be better attenuated to more rational levels. That said, this is the sort of mix that is apt to receive the divergent reactions. I felt like I could relate to it, but it has a gamey quality to it that could easily spoil it for some.
Deer and duck aren’t for everyone and not everyone knows how to cook them. Personally, I think you nailed the recipe minus some pepper. Thanks for posting this.
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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012
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I really do appreciate it.
