Tag: dance

Stem mixing, what you waiting for?

John-Digweed-Panama-6720

Joel alerted me to a interview with John Digweed, Mr Bedrock.

There’s been much talk recently about STEMS. Does Bedrock have any plans to release some of their catalogue this way?

Not at the moment just waiting to see how it works out.

To which I instantly thought…  Why the heck would you wait? Get in early…  I mean you can’t start the interview with…

Bedrock is always about pushing the music first and foremost?

…and say we’ll wait and see how it shakes out…!

Talked about stems so many times, its time now and Bedrock is one of those people who could pioneer this whole thing.

BBC Proms 2015 Season: Radio 1 Ibiza Prom

Prom 14: Prokofiev – the piano concertos

Anybody who loves dance music MUST watch this BBC Radio 1 special from the BBC Proms in the Albert Hall.

Who says electronic music and classical don’t mix? Well Dance music was elevated to one of the highest levels at the Proms.

Pete Tong takes charge of the BBC Radio 1 Prom and decides to employ the Heritage Orchestra to play a selection of Ibiza classics. The Royal Albert Hall has never seen anything like it!

Jules Buckley conducts the orchestra through dance masterpieces by Fatboy Slim, Eric Prydz, Shapeshifters, Robert Miles, ATB, Moby, Frankie Knuckles, Orbital, Inner City, Daft Punk, Faithless, Stardust and so many more, with the help of Ella Eyre and John Newman.

I had this playing out over BBC iPlayer with my Philips Hue lights dancing along side the music. My favourite part has to be Orbital’s Belfast which stokes up many memories for me, although I would have love it if they did Chime instead.

Amazing to watch and certainly another chapter in the continuing cultural domination of dance music.

The 2015 impossible wall of trance mix

Blue Sky with a dark blue on top

A long time ago (6 years ago) I did a mix called the impossible wall of trance mix. It was a good mix but was plagued by mix problems, which I couldn’t understand.

I have no idea what happened in the first 2 mixes. Honestly the mixes were dead on, I was playing it loud out of my amp and if it was that off trust me I would have heard it. Anyway, rather that try and fix it, I’ve left it in because the whole set is a excellent one. There seems to be a bug with the pacemaker or something because after those two mixes everything pans out perfect. Anyway let the mix do the talking, just remember to skip the first two mixes.

Now I understand a little more what could be going on thanks to me playing with the pacemaker beta firmwares. I rolled back my pacemaker firmware to the last known official version and lost some features including the beat aware looping (shame!) but now can record exactly what I hear.

Because of this, I redid the impossible wall of trance which one of the first mixes where I identified the problem/bug. As its a new mix, I threw some old tunes out and replaced them with new stuff. The bulk of the mix is still there however. I did have a better ending but I had to cut it short, as we were landing and things needed to be put away.

So anyway I present the 2015 impossible wall of trance, recorded on my flight back from Tokyo while on the Airbus A380.

  1. Big Sky (agnelli & nelson remix) – John O’Callaghan feat Audrey Gallagher
  2. So High (Martin Roth remix) – Starchaser feat LO FI Sugar
  3. Language (Santiago Nino Dub Tech Mix) – Hammer and Bennett
  4. Brush strokes – Simon Patterson
  5. Beautiful Thing (photon project remix) – Andain
  6. Grooveline (matt darey) – Blockster
  7. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  8. Smack – Simon Patterson
  9. Humming The Lights (Full Version) – Armin van Buuren presents Gaia
  10. 1999 (gouryella mix) – Binary Finary
  11. Beautiful Thing (photon project remix) – Andain
  12. Running up the hill (jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  13. Intution (Martin Roth remix) – Marninx Pres Ecco
  14. As the Amazon Rush Comes (Carl B remix) – Motorcycle vs Midway
  15. Rush Hour (no intro edit) – Armin Van Buuren
  16. The Evil ID – Max Graham
  17. The Expedition (Indecent Noise Remix) – Armin van Buuren and Markus Schulz
  18. Lizard (Solis & Sean Truby’s Ibiza Mix) – Mauro Picotto
  19. Headliner – Jornvan Deynhoven
  20. Ehren Stowers – Ascent
  21. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat

The 2015 impossible wall of trance mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

The eve of night mix

The eve of night mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

This is a mix I did over the holidays but just had the chance to upload it. Lots of new tunes mixed up in the usual fashion. Enjoy!

  1. Grotesque (Alex MORPH and RAM mix) – RAM
  2. 3rd Earth (Heatbeat Remix) – Solarstone vs Scott Bond
  3. Solarcoaster (Protoculture Remix) – Solarstone
  4. Running up the hill (jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placebo
  5. Tears (Protoculture Remix) – Markus Schulz pres. Dakota
  6. Take me away, into the night (purple haze remix) – 4 Strings
  7. Humming The Lights (Full Version) – Armin van Buuren presents Gaia
  8. Connected (Craig Connelly Remix) – John B feat Kirsty Hawkshaw
  9. Love Never Came (W&W vs Armin van Buuren More Intense remix) – Armin van Buuren
  10. Diss! – Ferry Corsten
  11. UFO – Shogun
  12. Refused – Mark Sixma & Jerome Isma-Ae
  13. For the moment – Solid state
  14. Alliance (Original Mix) – Andy Tau Pulstate
  15. Heal – Electrique Boutique
  16. Sundown (Sneijder Remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  17. The Ultimate desination – ARDI
  18. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat

Live pacemaker mix from Mozfest2014

I had the pleasure to play the Mozilla Festival again in October. It was meant to be 2 djs but only myself showed up. Here’s a good hour of dance music for you’re lovely ears to take in. Recorded live using the Pacemaker device’s build in recorder (now I’m using the old firmware). I did a longer mix but the Karaoke took over and to be fair I was pretty much messing around by that point.

Enjoy! And blog post about Mozfest is coming soon.

The Mozfest 2014 party live mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

We’ve all danced on a treadmill

Blame Herb and Laura. It kind of looks like me (same kind of build I guess?), but trust me its not! I use to be a slick dancer but no longer. However, I posed this comment,

“…although I have experimented on a trendmill me and Sarah bought many years ago. Mainly dancing on it rather than smooth moves… You tell me you’ve never tried moonwalking on a treadmill!?”

And as I thought, I can’t be the only one to try it… Quick dive into the vast ocean which is youtube…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you the not new concept of… Moon walking on a treadmill.

The Uhura Deathstrike mix

Uhura Deathstrike mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

This is a special mix… It was requested by Oli Wood the approachable geek, as he wanted something for his new car which he would be picking up from North Wales somewhere and driving back to Newcastle. I created a mix straight away but wasn’t happy with the overall tune selection, so created another one the night after. This is that mix. Enjoy it Oli, and make sure you have it nice and loud!

  1. Sinister – Airbase
  2. Smack – Simon Patterson
  3. Sister sister – Sister Bliss
  4. Peace – Yves Deruyter
  5. Take me away (into the night) – 4 Strings
  6. Megalodon – Dash Berlin
  7. GamesMaster (matt darey 2003 mix) – Lost Tribe
  8. Time (sean tyas remix) – Paul Webster feat. Angelic Amanda
  9. Everythings been written – 8 Wonders
  10. We are one – Dave 202
  11. Brush strokes – Simon Patterson
  12. Intuition – Marninx pres Ecco
  13. Beautiful thing (photon project remix) – Andain
  14. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat. Einat

#mixeverything, democratising mixing for everyone?

The all new pacemaker app for ipad

“DEMOCRATIZING DJING WAS SOMETHING WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN STRIVING FOR.“

Two things happened to today…

Those crazy pacemaker guys Jonas, Olof and Willem released a ipad app (one of the worst kept secrets to be honest) but they did some great things to make the whole thing much more simple and usable for the people who just want to play. Those guys have always been excellent at interface design, conveying complexity in quite a unique way. One of the reasons why I love the pacemaker device.

Si Lumb was the first to break it to me on Twitter via The Verge. The interface is different from the Pacemaker app which came on the Blackberry. But the massive difference is the Spotify access. Direct access to mix and screw around with any track on Spotify in real time? Thats almost worth buying a ipad for… Don’t worry I’ll be asking the guys when the Android version is coming. But to be fair I have (well my sister has it but its mine) a blackberry playbook for the sole reason of mixing, so why not a ipad too…?

What got me slightly choked up is the commitment to #mixeverything and ultimately the democratisation of mixing and djing. Yes its not virtualdj or Tracktor but its something you can easily pull out at a party and get people dancing.

It all reminds me of my slide (number 17) from the Dj Hackday  presentation… New rules, new blood, new ideas… I want my first born (male or female) to want to be a DJ not some pop idiot.

I remember the arguments about dedicated cameras vs camera phones. The best camera you have is the one in your pocket or even your hand at the time. Is this true of djing too? Yes if I had my records and decks, but you don’t… And with the app you can pull up virtually most songs, even those stupid request songs.

I’d still like to know how they are doing the twin output, I assume its using the audio out and the HDMI/Lightning port? If not I’m expecting it will change soon.

Secondly those crazy guys released a new firmware update for the Pacemaker device. Seems not many of the usual suspects know much about this, so I’ll be one of the first to give it a run. Which is great because I’ve been playing with the pacemaker device again. My next mix is going to be something special… But now I want to run home and get the firmware updated.

Trance tunes of 2012 super mix

A mix of the lovely trance tunes I’ve been listening of all the best trance tunes from 2012… Fantastic journey through another great year of Trance if I don’t say so myself.

There was a ton of tunes I could have put into the mix including storm by eco and surrender by full tilt.

The playlist is…

  1. Just a sound – Divini Warning
  2. Terrace 5 am (Klauss Goulart Remix edit) – Markus Schulz presents Dakota
  3. UFO – Shogun
  4. Rosegarden 2.0 – JS16
  5. Rewind (mikkas remix) – Emma Hewitt
  6. Intruder – Armin vs MIKE
  7. Hole in the Sky (arctic moon remix) – Tonny Nesse
  8. Uncommon World – Bryan Kearney
  9. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat Einat
  10. Arganda (Chris Schweizer rockin mix) – Heartbeat
  11. Nailed (James Dymond remix) – Paul Webster
  12. Lotus – Shogun
  13. Sand Theme (Chris Schweizer remix) – Aly & Fila vs Bjorn Akesson
  14. We are one (instrumental mix) – Dave 202
  15. Headliner – Jornvan Deynhoven
  16. Not coming down – Ferry Corsten featuring Betsie

Parody videos – the start of a remix

Hugh pointed at the importance of parody videos as the start of an important conversation.

I was speaking to a group of students at Salford University earlier this month about the cultural value of parody videos. Even the terrible ones. I made the arguement that the really terrible ones may be more important than the really good ones.

Let me explain.

As I pointed out yesterday most people are waiting for permission to make their moves. As social creatures we take our cues from those around us. We are a nation that needs nudging. We like to copy. Mark Earl talks about this in his book ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having‘.

I explained to the students that for every terrible parody video on Youtube there will be hundreds of super talented viewers saying to themselves “I can do better than that”. The terrible parody video is what it took to kickstart their creative career.

He’s right…

Growing up in cultural revolution of Acid, House and Rave. Not only were these forms of music demonised by the mainstream (can never forgive BBC Radio 1 for not playing Rave music). They claimed there was no talent involved and it was simply pressing buttons.

This may have been true in some cases but frankly it inspired a whole generation of other people to give it a try and write their own tunes. Some of them were successful and others just had fun.

So no matter how much I hate the gangnam style stupid dance. Hopefully it will encourage others to do there own thing instead of just jumping on the bandwagon.

The remix is one of the most important trends we have and it does fit with hugh’s people are waiting for permission too.

Travels with pacemaker is back…

Really good to know the pacemaker device (as its now called to make the difference from the pacemaker app) is back! For quite a while, the only way I could record mixes a level of reliability was to record the output on an external device like my computer. This problem only really started when I upgraded the pacemaker device to the new found firmware which was found in the wild. It wasn’t official and now looking back was the cause for all my on device recording woes. Yes hindsight is always 20/20!

This mix seems to confirm the new official firmware has not only new features but has fixed the recording problem. Meaning I can record while on my travels. Great news for Trance fans…

Out, back and beyond mixes

Its another one of those pacemaker mixes which I’m specially enjoyed doing…

There’s some real classic tunes and plenty of catchy anthems to get you up and dancing or deep into that code if your doing so.

This time it comes into versions, the standard and the extended version. The versions do have slight different bpm and is a little faster and heavier in the extended version, rather than just cut differently.

Out back and beyond mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

  1. The Truth (David West Remix) – Headstrong feat. Tiff Lacey
  2. Wonder of life (f & w remix) – tukan
  3. Grooveline (Matt Darey Remix) – Blockster
  4. Louder – Jose Amnesia feat Jennifer Rene
  5. Lotus – Shogun
  6. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi Feat. Einat
  7. Constellation (John’O Callaghan Remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  8. Surrender (Sneijder Vs John O’Callaghan Remix) – Full Tilt Feat Deirdre Mclaughlin
  9. Intution (Martin Roth mix) – Marninx vs Ecco
  10. Sinster – Airbase
  11. Shadow world – Thomas Bronzwaer
  12. Nothing else matters – Max Graham feat Ana Criado
  13. Breeze – Ferrin and Low
  14. Out of the blue (2010 remix) – System F
  15. Everything’s been written – 8 Wonders
    -<Extended mix>-
  16. Resurrection (Paul Oakenfold Full On Fluoro Remix) – Planet Perfecto Knights
  17. Skyfire – Shogun
  18. 1998 (Alex M.O.R.P.H remix) – Binary Finary

The Geometry set part 2

The geometry set part2 by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

  1. Unexpectation (Dengavs manus Mix) – Vengeance
  2. Solve the Cube (Sean Truby remix) – Elucidate
  3. Strange Bends (Kyau Vs Albert) – Sebastian Sand
  4. Intruder – Armin Vs MIKE
  5. Perfect Wave – peter martin pres anthanasia
  6. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat Einat
  7. Seven Cities (V-one’s living cities remix) – Solar Stone
  8. The string that binds us – Arnej
  9. Square one – Pulser
  10. Ultra Curve – Cosmic Gate
  11. Wonder of Life (F&W remix) – Tukan Light
  12. Circles – Robert Nickson
  13. Halo (Jorn Van Deynhoven mix) – Jorn Van Deynhoven & Temple One

Concept is simple, take a selection of tunes which are something to do with geometry in some way, then bust out a mix. If you think you can work out the link with geometry for each tune, feel free to comment below. Oh and part 1 is here.

Hope you enjoy…

New Mix: Summer is brewing a storm

Been a long time but I have decided not to upload every complete mix I do, just the good ones.

So here’s the Summer is brewing a storm mix, which is very true up here in Manchester right now

  1. Lotus – Shogun
  2. Constellation (John O’Callengham remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  3. Gouryella (extended mix) – Gouryella
  4. Never say never (Myon & Shane 54 remix) – Armin Van Buuren feat Jacqueline Govaert
  5. Nothing but you (Super8 & Tab remix) – Paul Van Dyk
  6. Shadow World – Thomas Bronzwaer
  7. Out of the Blue (2010 remix) – System F
  8. Turn it around – Alena
  9. Hold that Sucker down – Jerome Isma AE
  10. Shnorkel (dousk exclusive gems remix) – Miki Litvak & Ido Ophir
  11. First time (Funabashi remix) – Markus Schulz
  12. Wonders of Life (F&W remix) -Tukan Light
  13. Above the Cloud – Airwave