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::::::::. **** TA DJ Challenge Series - Theme Mix (completed) **** .:::::::: (pg. 17)
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| ziptnf |
I want to apologize for taking so long to review everyone's mix. Work has been pretty hectic lately and it's been quite a task to check all of these out in my busy schedule. However, I got through them all and wrote reviews. Thank you all so much for participating, and I can't wait to get cracking on the next challenge mixes!
Dave King - Hypersleep Dreams
So this was a much different mix than what I'm used to from you. Perfectly executed, I can really tell you took the theme of this challenge seriously. The name is very apt to the mood of the mix, it's spacey, trippy, and definitely fits the theme of a suspended sleep in the deep reaches of space. I like how you programmed the mix to build up to a brief series of beats, before toning it back down and calling upon the hugely epic Alien track. You built back up to some more breaks and finaly ended with a flavor of DNB complete with vocals that fit the subject exactly. Excellent work, and probably one of the most science fictiony of the current submissions.
Jack Moss - Human Revolution
I listened to this a couple weeks ago when I was driving to Tennessee and I didn't get to review it properly, so I'm going back through it. I loved some of the storytelling you did here, where the first half seemed to be some kind of trippy psybreak-ish insight into futuristic human/robot life. Some of the tracks were fun and fantastic until the energy drops off and it starts getting really serious about halfway through. The first time I listened to this mix, this part caught me by surprise as I couldn't quite tell what you were doing when you dropped Orbital - Know Where To Run, but it made so much sense as you were building up the energy to a final showdown with some drum n bass. I loved this mix when I heard it, really interesting and exciting.
Lews - Journey Through the Wormhole
I put this on while I was cleaning my house last Friday. I appreciated the science fiction style prog that you had going, and I'm definitely going to cherry pick this set for some tunes of my own! Some people are pointing out rough transitions but I guess I just didn't notice any really bad ones. The only criticism I have is that I feel that you were very much in your comfort zone and I wish you would have broken outside of that boundary a little more. Other than that I enjoyed it and it helped me clean my house at lightning speed. :)
Sand Leaper - Erutufon
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 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.
Bierheld - Science Dysfunction
I'm gonna kinda ramble here... there's not much I can really say about this set. I enjoyed it. It was trippy and weird. You clearly know what you're doing, especially since I've listened to your mixes before. I guess I just didn't really fully grasp what you were trying to do. Like the ideas were a little too farfetched and over my head. I liked the set, the mixing was perfect and there were some pretty cool tunes. But other than that it just left me utterly confused. It was a little too unfocused. Maybe I need a little more structure in my mixes to fully appreciate them. You kept the theme pretty decently, but sometimes the connection to science fiction was hazy. Maybe a few too many bird and water noises. Great effort though.
Mr. Game+Watch (aka Luke Drelick) - Neo-Tokyo Outrun
Despite most people's comments, I really enjoyed this, and I feel like it definitely falls into a more obscure realm of science fiction, but I can definitely see why people think it's not quite futuristic enough. Transitions were mixtape style, and while some mixing was a little rough some was great! This mix has a vintage 80's, almost video game feel and I really dig that, but a futuristic setting might not be suited to this mix. Maybe if this mix was released in 1980 you'd have the futuristic vibe nailed down. So that's the way I'm gonna view it... vintage science fiction :)
Psyshell - Dancing is Active Meditation
I dunno. This mix was a lot better than your last one, despite a couple bad transitions. But I didn't get the science fiction connection. At all. Goa has always been a much more organic form of electronic music to me, drawing heavily from cultural and ethnic influences, and this was no different. To me it seems like you were going to do a Goa mix no matter what the theme was. I'm also not sure why you chose one time period to choose your tracks. Next time, I'd prefer you expand your genre options, but hey it's your choice.
Mitztronic - Fluctuations
Like the others who have posted about this mix before me, I found these tracks to be fine on their own but way too cluttered and unfocused in such a long mix. I really couldn't tell what you were trying to do. It seems like you just found some tracks that sorta fit the theme of science fiction and jumbled them together in kind of a half attempt to be pseudo-avant-garde. I really just didn't get it, at all. Like I said, the tracks were nice, but the mix itself made absolutely no sense to me. Sorry man! I really wanna listen to your latest mix tho, so I'll post feedback as soon as I can.
PivotTechno (aka Westside Wax) - Last Night Marty McFly Showed Up At My Place In A Hazmat Suit
This was pretty cool. And yeah, I definitely appreciate you showing up in the clutch before the deadline so you could get your mix in on time. It would have been unfortunate if you were the only one left out. The content of this mix was great, worked perfectly for your particular style. I could definitely get the Weird Science type of vibe you had going on here with kind of a spacey and strange techno flow. I wasn't a fan of the last couple of tracks, but I will mark that to you semi-rushing this. Beside that, this mix was a fine submission. Thanks for participating! |
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| Psyshell |
| quote: | Originally posted by ziptnf
To me it seems like you were going to do a Goa mix no matter what the theme was. I'm also not sure why you chose one time period to choose your tracks. |
I originally suggested the theme because I thought it was something I could do well with there being lots of tracks I know that strongly evoke it. After I chose goa I decided upon a specific time period because practically anything made before or after that period would've sounded extremely out of place. I've noticed a few goa mixes that were posted here in the past couple of months include newschool goa with a majority of old and it tends to sound very out of place IMO. Newer stuff is either psy focused (more bass focused, focused on fx, less melody overload, differeny dynamics etc) or newschool goa style (more fluffy, far less dark, different style of melody, different dynamics etc). |
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| ziptnf |
| Okay, that's fine, but I don't think your mix accomplished what the theme challenge implied. That was my point. |
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| Psyshell |
| Fair enough, well there's always the next one. |
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| jonmitz |
i feel like such a dick for not posting any reviews yet, but i've had two deaths in my family in the past couple weeks and it's taken up all my time.... i'll try to get to posting them later this month
e: cheers guys, i didnt want to be *that guy*, i'll make sure to get my reviews in before the next mix  |
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| Bierheld |
| quote: | Originally posted by ziptnf
Bierheld - Science Dysfunction
I'm gonna kinda ramble here... there's not much I can really say about this set. I enjoyed it. It was trippy and weird. You clearly know what you're doing, especially since I've listened to your mixes before. I guess I just didn't really fully grasp what you were trying to do. Like the ideas were a little too farfetched and over my head. I liked the set, the mixing was perfect and there were some pretty cool tunes. But other than that it just left me utterly confused. It was a little too unfocused. Maybe I need a little more structure in my mixes to fully appreciate them. You kept the theme pretty decently, but sometimes the connection to science fiction was hazy. Maybe a few too many bird and water noises. Great effort though.
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Thanks for the review and as always I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am going to ramble back now, so I hope you don't mind.
Firstly I urge you not to overestimate how much this set was thought through or worked out. There are some major problems with the structure, although I don't think it was far off either.
To sketch my case here, at the start of the day where this mix was posted only the first twenty minutes of this mix were set in place, it's all I had to work with. I had music prepared and some loose ideas that were faintly worked out, but that was it. No idea what to do with the structure.
This is very much a work in progress in that sense. I had to instinctively find some resemblance of structure, like doing a live mix without actually being in there enough to get a feel for the flow. This is very much in line with how I usually work on my mixes, I try to actively pull the mix in different directions so that when I listen to it I get a feel for how to structure the mix by identifying areas that are worth expanding on as well as finding the things that need to either be relocated somewhere else or ejected from the mix entirely. I really didn't spend much time or effort in the transitions themselves, functional is good enough for this purpose. It's something I only work on after I have the basic structure in place, as I can then construct them to help with continuity and improving the timing as well as create moments and layers that help crystallize the theme and narrative.
In this case I just ran out of time for that, and had to just go with whatever came out.
When I posted this I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be like, which is why I just assumed the worst given how painfully rushed this was. Having listened to it now though, it turns out that it actually sounds like a real mix, and I am clueless as to how some of the transitions turned out so well. There's some ghastly errors as well although chances are most folk won't really notice em that much unless they really look for them or have some very sensitive equipment.
The direction and structure however never turned into what they were supposed to be.
What was it supposed to be then? Well, when the theme was decided upon I was juggling the thought for a while. I didn't feel like doing any of the deeper spacier type mixes, nor did I want to sketch any sort of fictional socio-political portrait. This was just supposed to be about life, humanity and the desire to explore and satisfy our curiosity. We have proven to be absolutely terrible at predicting the way our societies develop, but what we can do is look and build upon the things that define us in the first place.
This was why I wanted to go for familiar musical concepts that were just a bit queer and out of our grasp. In other words: It's life Jim but not as we know it!
This justifies some of the content in this mix, as there is no reason for the sci-fi world to be devoid of birds or running water. But there was just no time for me to create the whole thing with any coherence. I had to fall back on what I knew, rather then exploring something different altogether which would have clearly been more appropriate.
As for the confusion, I have no clue man. It's true that my mixes generally don't follow rigid structures, I like to find a balance. I don't want to steer the music were it doesn't want to go, preferring to have the tracks carry themselves wherever they want to go. It's really the only thing I can do with music like this, many of the tracks are not really made to be in a DJ-mix, so I try to play to their strengths by properly contextualizing them and looking elsewhere for continuity.
The result is always a very personal interpretation, so much so that I often wonder what other people are supposed to see in it. Some people will have no trouble instinctively finding their way through them, others will be left confused. I am actually trying to work on that problem, but I often find myself guessing as to what works for people or not as it's hard for people to really pinpoint what it is that confuses them or makes them loose touch.
In any case, a major part of my resentment towards this mix has little to do with the actual product itself, which I actually find quite enjoyable apart from having to hear how seriously botched up the ending and some other crucial areas in the mix are.
It's just that I didn't get to settle my urge to create things. It's a massive drain on my enjoyment and creativity which will always hurt the result in some way.
edit - My utmost condolences Jonmitz. Don't worry about us, you can take as long as you want for this. |
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| ziptnf |
Psyshell - There's always the next one, and hey not everyone loved everyone else's mix with a 100% rate either. Especially mine. This challenge is all about interpretation.
Jonmitz - Please don't feel obligated to review all of these mixes. Not just one death in the family, but two, absolutely and positively absolves you from all responsibility to need to review these mixes in a timely manner. My sincere condolences.
Bierheld - You definitely did a fantastic job of showcasing your creativity skills, and I totally see what you're saying about how this music doesn't exactly contain the structure necessary for a DJ mix. I think that's why I was able to appreciate the music itself but not understand quite what your approach was or what "story" you were trying to tell, per-se. I think Sand Leaper was relatively successful in creating more obvious atmospheres and environments with his mix structure, even when he wasn't playing dance music. I think this mix could have certainly done something similar, but if you spent a little more time constructing a story like this music is itching to do, you would have made a little more sense to me ;) Excellent work either way though. |
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| Bierheld |
I think sand leaper really nailed that journey concept by taking rigid control of the direction in all the sections and shaping a more slow moving, roomier structure with easily interpretable music.
I don't know if I could skip over so many hurdles in a challenge-length of time, it really depends on my mindset.
Thing is I'm always a bit split on how I want my mixes to be.
I really like a more directed artistic approach such as sand leaper's mix, It's basically to what I was trying to do in my AOTSE mix, and there's another project I've been working on for a while now that is shaping up to carry that stick as well. It takes me a long time to accomplish that though.
Other times I also have a thing for just putting things together and letting the music run loose a bit. The daftness will amuse me for a while but I always feel guilty afterwards because I'm wasting musical potential. My entry here falls under this category, although not voluntarily, but I've made mixes like that before as well.
In my last mix before this, alaé, I tried to marry both concepts which is why it turned into a personal favourite for me. |
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| PivotTechno |
| 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. |
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| Psyshell |
| 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. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| I've got three more mixes to get through and I'll hopefully be doing that by the end of the week. |
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| Psyshell |
| 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. |
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