dance – Cubicgarden.com…

Isolation but not Inactive in Amsterdam mix

Amsterdam Nemo museum colourised with clouds — Nemo Amsterdam

Following on from my time in Berlin, came a number of conferences in Amsterdam. Between a number of excellent conferences, time in a theme park and lots of time on the Amsterdam metro system I caught Covid for the second time. Although not so bad as the first time, I isolated in a hotel room to avoid infecting others. I was very aware there was no need to self-isolate, I couldn’t bring myself to infect a number of people. Hence this mix a late entry into the locked down mixing out era of my mixes.

In between working, sleeping and watching a lot of media, I was able to craft and record this mix then redo it on the aggressive hour plane back to Manchester.

Recorded live and it leans on the Berlin Donnerwetter mix with another swift 136ish BPM plus a real interesting bag of old and new tunes. Originally longer but the hour flight set a better time of under a hour.

Enjoy here or on Peertube or in full quality on my mixgarden

Dark Side Of The Moon (RYDEX Extended remix) – Susana
Opium (Stan Kolev Remix) – Jerome Isma ae Alastor
Back to Earth (rave mix) – Yves Deruyter
Energy Crash (Extended Mix) – Maarten De Jong
Stealth bomber (Chris Schweizer remix) – Bryan Kearney
Erase – Brooks Alexsander
Silence (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended Remix) – D-Nox, Baya, LENN V
The Wave 2.0 (Extended Mix) – Cosmic Gate
Labyrinth (Paul Keyen Remix) – Lee Cassells
The Legacy 2.0 (Alphazone remix) – Funabashi pres. Saltwater
Headliner – Jorn Van Deynhoven
Home (Cosmic gate remix) – Paul van Dyk feat. Johnny McDaid

RD Xmas 2023 party remix

For Xmas, like many workplaces we have a staff party. I gatecrashed into my previous teams Manchester xmas party and put my name down for 30mins djing. However I didn’t record the mix but I did keep the playlist and so recreated it twice (2nd time for another work event).

I won’t lie, this is less trancy but is a killer mix or as others have said to me… its a banger!

I am moving my mixes to peertube rather than my mixgarden (1) & (2) for now.

Enjoy and remember to turn it up loud.

Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix) – Michael Jackson
Punk – Ferry Corsten
Rock Your Body Rock (Mat Zo Extended Remix) – Ferry Corsten
Echoes – Henrik B, Niklas Gustavsson & Peter Johansson
Cafe Del Mar At Night (Beat Service’s Out Of Office Mashup) – Energy 52 Vs Shakedown
Who Freaked Who (Electric Soulside Remix) – Dopefish
Beat (Da Boxx) – Laurent Garnier
Turn It Up (Extended Mix) – Armin van Buuren
Freedom (Extended mix) – ARTY v Muvy
Proper Education (club mix) – Eric Prydz vs. Floyd

A beat that seems out of time (with the one you feel in the metronome of your mind) mix

Another mix using the Pacemaker device. However this time I have been experimenting with the later beta versions of the Pacemaker device firmware, which includes beat aware looping. It’s great but I find the native digital recording of the Pacemaker device unreliable when using it. I thought I had found the solution. But in the end I recorded the output directly using the analogue output.

The result is a completely unedited mix. Not quite as smooth with the cross fading but its just such a raw mix, I had to put it out.

First put together in Barcelona but the digital recording was all over the place, later I re-did the mix. This mix moves at a heavy pace and is fully of lovely progressive/tech beats with little lyrics. Perfect for hitting the treadmill, scooting down the motorway or what ever you fancy doing at a pace. Look out for the my beat into Inferno long mix, simply can’t stop bouncing my head to that section.

As always you can listen to it on my mixgarden or via peertube.

Here is the complete tracks used.

[00:00] Fall to Pieces – Jonas Steur feat. Jennifer Rene
[03:40] M.I.L.F. – Laurent Garnier
[08:35] My Beat (Ambassador extended remix) – Blaze
[11:10] Inferno – Carl Cox
[16:18] Interlinked – Thomas Schumacher
[23:02] Predator – Predator
[26:40] Fiction (Extended Mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
[31:04] Shnorkel (Thankyou City Remix) – Ido Ophir, Miki Litvak
[35:42] Pǝsnɟuoɔ (Confused) – Laurent Garnier

Let the lyrics do the talking mix

Utopia's street art of a young woman with roses — Utopia’s street art of a young woman with roses (C) Utopia

A special anniversary mix for my partner, partly following the hearts in the clouds of Amsterdam mix. She loves vocals, while I tend to focus on the beats & rhythm. Looking through my collection of tunes, I was surprised how few had vocals.

With this, I started thinking about a mix using them and following a holiday in Lisbon. Tweaked an initial mix a few times to make it a better listen overall. The result is a mix which moves along at a higher speed of about 138bpm, matching the higher vocal trance and is a gift to my loving partner.

Of course enjoyable by all those who love vocal trance…

Enjoy it on my mixgarden or via Peertube!

Only the faithless can jazz (like Maxi Jazz) mix

With the death of Maxi Jazz from the popular group Faithless, I had to do a mix in honour of his life & death. I mean what a voice and what incredible iconic songs. Who has not sung the lyrics of Insomnia at some point in the last 15 years? Its a song I have started with a few times and still find stunning when played nice and loud.

Although short and compact, I found the best 3 versions of Faithless songs in my collection and added tunes which fitted with the mode & tempo. Stress test made another show, as it is a tune!

You can listen to the whole mix here enjoy and here!

1. Insomnia – Faithless
2. Stresstest (John Askew Remix) – John O’Callaghan
3. God Is a DJ (Astral Projection remix) – Faithless
4. Seven Cities (V-One’s Living Cities remix) – Solar Stone
5. Salva Mea 2.0 X Insomnia Kayba Edition (Above & Beyond Remix) – Faithless
6. Shnorkel (Dousk gems remix) – Miki Litvak & Ido Ofir
7. Dalmatia – Estiva
8. Homeward – Ferry Corsten

RIP: Maxi Jazz

Everytime I hear Insomnia (Monster mix), I’m brought to near tears at how amazing and beautiful the tune is. I was deeply sadden to hear Maxi Jazz had died aged 66.

Rest in peace

I also saw this video which is Faithless Dance Group Leader Maxi Jazz’s Final Message 24 Hours Before He Died.

Follow me to the big trance sound of summer mix

During a recent holiday to Lisbon, I of course took my Pacemaker Device to create a brand new mix. This time, I went very trancey. Maybe it was the incredible sunshine, the fun of exploring Lisbon or just being in Europe again?

Whatever it was this mix is a much more pacey 135bpm and frankly kicks those tired legs with some force. I’d say this is a excellent mix and full of hands in the air moments. Its also full of new tracks alongside some old classics.

Blood Angels (Chris Liebing mix) – John Starlight
Catch (Martin Roth remix) – Blank & Jones
Humming the lights – Armin Van Buuren & Gaia
Venture (Nifra Extended remix) – Super8 & Tab
Music is more than mathematics (Extended mix) – Protoculture
Communication (Tomas Heredia remix) – Armin van Buuren
Megalodon – MaRLo
End transmission – ReDrive & Patrick Blanes
Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat
Wonder of Life (F&W remix) – Tukan
Stresstest (John Askew remix) – John O’Callaghan
Airtight (Extended mix) – Rafael Osmo
We are one (Instrumental mix) – Dave202
Arjan – Angelica S
Valhalla (After future remix) – OneBeat
Madagascar (Domi-Nation remix) – Art of Trance

Available in full on my webmix garden and mixcloud if you prefer…

Quantum entanglement in the null sector

I did the last DJ set of the night at EMF Camp 2022 in the null sector. It was an absolute pleasure and I really miss DJing live sometimes.

However one thing, I didn’t enable record on the Pacemaker device. It was kind of gutting because it was a good set and 90mins got extended to 2hrs, even with the mixer power supply getting overloaded half way through.

Because of the lack of recording, I remembered most of the tracks I played including the starting tune (Stella) and the last one (Anahera), I did a remix of the night also on the Pacemaker device.

Its good mix with some pace and sums up that amazing night after midnight in the laser & smoke filled null sector.

You can hear the whole mix on my webmix garden here or with restrictions on mixcloud.

Stella (original mix) – Jam & Spoon
The Day will come (8 wonders mix) – Arnej
Shnorkel (Thankyou City Remix) – Ido Ophir, Miki Litvak
Open up (full vocal mix) – Leftfield
Feels Like Home (marco v dub) – Meck feat. Dino
Sleeper in Metropolis (Club Mix) – Anne Clark
Go (Extended mix) – Protoculture
Opulence – Simon Patterson
Intruder (original mix) – Armin van Buuren vs. M.I.K.E.
My Beat (Ambassador extended remix) – Blaze
Whites Of Her Eyes (Original Mix) – Simon Patterson
Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat
Casino Fire – Matias Faint
Dolores – Indecent Noise
Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Dakota
Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Music Is More Than Mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella

The incidental contact high mix

NHS Nurse with mask and halo — Found on a wall in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, modified by me

My first new mix for 2022 and it comes at a time as Covid19 variant Omnicron has come, peaked and is likely going to move us things from Pandemic to Endemic? Who knows…? Lets hope!

Regardless of this all, I was thinking about the incredible people who helped us all through the pandemic and kind of been forgotten, while also flicking through the new book dictionary of obscure sorrows. I came across the incidental contact high, which is described as “a innocuous touch by someone just doing their job, that you find more meaningful that you’d like to admit.”

Anyway, its really good mix with lots of new tunes, a bit of pace (134bpm-ish) and a good feeling throughout. I’m loving Protoculture’s Music is more than mathematics and the unique remix of Shnorkel.

Enjoy the mix on mixcloud or on my own mixing site.

Here is the full playlist.

Love Technology – Protoculture
Orenida (extended mix) – Gouryella/Ferry Corsten
Collider (Jorn van Deynhoven remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
Music is more than mathematics (extended mix) – Protoculture
Feel it (extended mix) – Cosmic gate
Shnorkel (Thank you city remix) – Ido Ophir and Miki Litvak
Go (extended mix) – Protoculture
Tiger (extended remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Tears (protoculture remix) – Dakota
Alone (extended mix) – Maarten de jong
Headliner – Jorn van Deynhoven

The ravers ravenous retro revenge mix

With my thumb getting better, I’m doing more mixes again on the good old pacemaker device. This one was part of a much longer mix but the start was a bit crappy so cut it off and included the last 80%.

The ravers ravenous retro revenge came about after watching the Matrix Resurrections. There was lots of parts (seen it a few times now and still score it 8/10) but I found this line fascinating.

Morpheus: Nothing comforts anxiety like little nostalgia.

I have a lot to say about nostalgia but I decided to do a mix where it feels like the mix is being taken over by the rave. Does it work? I’ll leave it for you to decide. Maybe I should have called it R4 instead?

Listen to the Ravers ravenous retro revenge mix, on mixcloud and my own cloud.

Enjoy!

Electric Sunrise – Mental Overdrive
Air conditionné – Julian Jeweil
Silence (Jerome Isma-Ae Extended remix) – D-Nox, Baya, Lenn V
I want you (Forever) (Full on mix) – Carl Cox
Opium (Quivver remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Open up – Leftfield
Sleeper in metropolis (Club mix) – Anne Clark
Rewind (Makkas remix) – Emma Hewitt
Charly (Alley cat mix) – The Prodigy
Feel the beat (JS16 dark mix) – Darude
The storm – Interitus Dei
Back to earth (Rave mix) – Yves Deruyter
Unchainied – Diego Morrill
The sky – Summerland

Isolation in the fast lane mix

After a week or so in isolation although negative throughout, I turned to the Pacemaker device for a new mix. Something different from my usual progressive trance style. There’s some tunes I’ve been playing out recently mixed with some classic trance, all at a slightly uplifted 133-134 bpm. Listen out for the Armin van buuren mashup of Eat Sleep Rave repeat drumming through Grotesque.

Enjoy the mix, which is another entry in the locked down, mixing out album of mixes.

Mezzanine – Gareth Emery
Go Fast! – Organ Nilsen
Invasion (ASOT 550 Anthem) – W&W
Strange Bends (Kyau & Albert remix) – Sebastian Sand
Go (Extended mix) – Protoculture
Made of love (Extended mix) – Ferry Corsten feat Betsie Larkin
The system – Inertia
Take everything (Extended mix) – Emma Hewitt
Floyd (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Halcyon (Alex M.O.R.P.H remix) – Andy Moor
Eat sleep rave repeat vs Crushed vs No good (Armin van buuren mashup) – Cosmic gate & Mark Sixma vs. Fatboy slim
Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H

Weather is strange mix

What a pacemaker mix, quite mix of tunes from previous mixes with some new ones. All with a changeable pace throughout.

I do love this one which was done during a period during April in Manchester with snow, rain and hot sun over a period of days. Weather is strange just like the choppy nature of this mix.

Listen to it on my personal cloud or mixcloud here and enjoy!

Sunset (Bird of prey) – Fatboy Slim
Go (Extended mix) – Protoculture
Running up the hill (Jermone isma-ae bootleg mix) – Placebo
Prosac – Tomcraft
Wrist block (Joey Beltram remix) – Side four
Wilde (Extended mix) – Jermone isma-ae & Alastor
Follow me (Jermone isma-ae extended remix) – Jam Spoon
Ecstasy – Eddie Makrabi featuring Einat
Outlaw (Extended mix) – Fatum
Sequence (Extended mix) – Estiva
Tears (Protoculture remix) – Dakota
Alastor & Rue (Jerome Isma-Ae untethered remix) – Progressive Astronaut
Sunrise – Marninx pres Ecco
Tomahawk (Extended mix) – Maarten de Jong
The pride in your eyes (Martin Roth remix) – Tillmann Uhrmacher

Kubricks systematic percussive sequence mix

I have been loving a bunch of tech/progressive trance and decided its time for a nice mix using some of the tunes. I know there is some disagreement about the term, which I guess is closer to the techno category. Especially the tunes by Carlo Ruetz.

Either way its a good mix breaking into some classic trance by the end. The title of the mix is parts of the playlist, and the start is a long lost tune found after listening to one of the very first live mixes I did in Manchester. Roots is a killer start to a mix and sets the vibe perfectly. Reminds me how much I like Tomcraft actually.

Hosted again on Mixcloud but unlike the last one, hopefully it won’t fall foul of the mixcloud rules over using the same artist too many times. (note to say I have got a new self-hosted platform but anonymous web access isn’t ideal)

Enjoy the mix and here is the complete playlist.

Roots – Tomcraft
Trick – Carlo Ruetz
Percussive thinking (Meat Katie & Elite force remix) – Frome
Kubrick (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae
Rheninkraft – Oliver Klien
System hack – Carlo Ruetz
Running up the hill (Jerome Isma-Ae bootleg) – Placebo
Opium (Stan Kolev remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Sequence (Extended mix) – Estiva
Floyd (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Outlaw (Extended mix) – Fatum
Tears (Protoculture remix) – Dakota

Update: Feb 28th 2021

As I thought, without the Mixcloud restrictions mentioned above, this mix has made it to the 95th place in the Tech trance chart.
Very tempted to see what happens if I rename the playlist for Pattersons pandemic run.

The Secluded rave in my head mix

My latest mix is a strange one. While sitting on my sofa trying to stay cool in front of multiple fans during some of the hottest days in Manchester. I busted out the pacemaker device and started to mix. I wasn’t really feeling very happy about the heat, hence this is quite a heavy mix which shifts, although only running at 130-ish bpm. I was thinking about redoing it with a different ending but maybe thats for another day.

The cover art is a combination of Artem Bryzgalov and Reynier Carl‘s work put together using my fav photo editing tool PhotoGIMP.

Enjoy the mix, which is another entry in the locked down, mixing out album of mixes.

Anasthasia (Valentine boys rap mix) – T99
Opium (Stan Kolev remix) – Jerome Isma Ae Alastor
Orbion (Max Graham vs Protoculture remix) – Armin Van Buuren
Freedom (Extended mix) – ARTY vs Muvy
Grotesque – RAM & Alex M.O.R.P.H
Floyd (Extended mix) – Jerome Isma Ae Alastor
Reflection (Extended mix) – Ferry Corsten
Metro (US mix) – Oliver Lieb
Time to Burn (12 inch long version) – Storm
The wave 2.0 (Extended mix) – Cosmic Gate
Night in Motion – Cubic 22
Opium – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor

Stellar’s freedom mix

Looking into the universe — Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Not really had the time to do many mixes in the last few months. I did this one while wondering around the Manchester when the Covid19 lock down was lifted. Its not very long (less than a hour) but its a interesting quick blast through a few newer tunes.

I haven’t yet setup my funkwhale or airsonic instance, so its mixcloud for now. Although I am making cue files along side my nfo files.

Enjoy!

Stella – Jam & Spoon
Natural (extended mix) – KhoMha
The Dark night – KhoMha
Floyd (extended mix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Opium (quivver remix) – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
Open up – Leftfield
Follow me (Roger shah Extended deeper translation remix) – Jam Spoon
Running up the hill (Jerome Isma-Ae bootleg) – Placebo
Freedom (extended mix) – ARTY vs Muvy
Tears (protoculture remix) – Dakota

Update

Stellar’s Freedom made it to 78th in the global tech trance chart. Not bad as lots of DJs are now using Mixcloud in lockdown.

Update Monday 10th Aug

Another update to say Stellar’s Freedom is now at 47th in the global tech trance chart. I think its one of the highest rated mixes I have done. Going to need to do another one soon.