John Brier » Music

Fisher Price: My First DJ set

John — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:28:10 +0000

Well I finally did it. Friends had been asking me to start DJing in the past and after Uzoma started DJing at our local watering hole Ba-Da Wings, I asked if I could DJ with him. So I did a set of Indie, electro, house and tech house (kind of in order). I forgot to record it the actual night of, but here is a set I recorded as practice a few days before. The mixes aren’t amazing.. but I had fun and will probably keep doing this whenever given the opportunity. Thanks to all my friends at Red Hat and outside of Red Hat who came out. Thanks to Uzoma for letting me spin with him. Thanks to Tanner for letting me use his Kontrol DJ MIDI controller and his Firebox soundcard.

Pinback – Non Photo-blue [150 bpm]
Passion Pit – Little Secrets [99 bpm]
Tori Amos – Professional Widow (Armand’s Star Trunk Funkin’ Mix) (128 bpm)
Animal Collective – Brother Sport [133 bpm]
Phoenix – 1901 (Build Remix) [130 bpm]
Luna City Express – Met Harvey in a Bar [125 bpm]
The Tough Alliance – Neo Violence [130 bpm]
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead (Streetlab mix) [115 bpm]
Delorean – Stay Close [131 bpm]
INOJ – Time After Time [131 bpm]
Cut Copy – Feel The Love [125 bpm]
Royksopp – What Else Is There (Thin White Duke Mix) [123 bpm]
Forteba – Dizoxin (original) [123 bpm]
Tojami Sessions – Jazzbox (Music) (124 bpm) (loop at 1:16:06)
DJ Yellow – Ending of Time (I’ve been watching you) (125 bpm)
Lukas Greenberg – Prisoner In a Club (Attention Musiqe) (125 bpm)
Orbital – Halcyon & On (Dom Kane 2007 remix) (128 bpm)
(length 1:18:45)

OGG Download
MP3 Download

Liquid Drum n Bass set by Greg Benz

John — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:34:45 +0000

I cannot recommend this Liquid Drum n Bass mix too highly. I have been loving it for the past week or two. Part 1 is tech/prog and it is good too, but part 2, the DnB mix is just soo uplifting. I love it. Go get it:

http://www.hybridized.org/sets/845

Ultraviolet – Kites and Simon Dupree and The Big Sound – Kites

John — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:08:00 +0000

I first heard heard the Kites song on Sasha and John Digweed – Northern Exposure which includes the cover by Ultraviolet – Kites (Fantasy Flite Part One). On Northern Exposure it is the seventh track on the first CD, North. Earlier today I got an email from my good friend Phillip Zucchino with the message

Thought you might find this interesting =)

There was an mp3 attached as well 612 Simon Dupree & The Big Sound_Kites.mp3

It was Simon Dupree & the Big Sound – Kites which is apparently the most well known version of this song, originally written by Hal Hackaday and Lee Pockriss. I didn’t make the connection yet that this was the same song as on Northern Exposure. Back when Phil and I were living together in college I had shared a copy of all my favorite Sasha & John Digweed mix CDs from the 90s, so he was very familiar with the track too.. I’m still not sure how he came across this but it’s cool so I thought I’d share it with others. Maybe you know the Simon Dupree & The Big Sound version but not the Ultraviolet cover, or maybe the other way around.

Chris Liberator – Acid Techno Mix

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:03:35 +0000

I have been on a hard techno/acid/trance/NRG kick lately and wanted to share the first mix I found during this kick.

After doing a little research searching out techno and acid I learned about Chris Liberator who has been doing hard techno and acid over in Europe forever, or so it seems.

One of the things I find about hard techno is that it can easily get too monotonous. Apparently it is just too irresistible for techno DJs to spin an unrelenting percussive bang out session which makes me think they must only be spinning to people on amphetamines or worse. I try to stay away from that (the percussive monotony, not the amphetamines). Anyway this first mix by Chris Liberator is not like that. It has ups and downs and it has small building melodies on top of the banging beats. As a bonus it includes a couple of tracks ready for use in your next DJ set. Check it out:

http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/112219445/

soundsurfer – fading echoes

John — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:16:33 +0000

Ahh such a nice chill Drum n Bass mix I found wile listening to evolved.fm

Orange n Blue – Clockwork Orange [CIN003]
Mykra – Chimes [FOKUZ013]
PBK – Marslayers [CAMINOCD001]
Tidal – Gemini Force [ADV001]
Pariah – Re-United [SDDB104]
Pacific Heights – The Sorcerer [FRRCD03]
Big Bud – A way Of Life [GLRMA001LP]
Matizz – Soul Spectrum [CAMINODIGITAL001]
Soultec & Joey – In to you [dub]
JCB – Embracing Solitude [CIN003]
Tidal – The Abyss [dub]
Lamb – Gorecki (Global Communications rmx) [LGGC1]
Drum Origins – Mystical Fields [FOKUZ001]
Seba – Your Deepest Love [SECOPS008]

192kbps, 1:04:33
http://pillock.net/soundsurfer/soundsurfer-fading_echoes.mp3

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=29367179&blogID=315150509

Post Rock

John — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:44:54 +0000

I was first introduced to this genre of music on WKNC 88.1 FM here in Raleigh on the Post Rock Block (Sundays 6-8pm). The things I notice and am attracted to in the genre are the long tracks with a strong emphasis on melodies with tension, release and progression. It doesn’t hurt that some of the bands that get tagged with this label also incorporate a lot of electronic instrumentation (Metavari). Also, these bands do not use any vocals which is appealing when you just want to get lost in the melody and not distracted by an over powerful singer.

If you’re a fan of Progressive house or trance and also a fan of rock music like me you may find that this is an incredible combination for your tastes. Definitely check out Metavari if the last sentence applied to you.

I distinctly remember being a passenger in my roommate’s car driving by Snoopy’s on Hillsborough street turning left onto Gorman and hearing “Railroad Cancelation” by Don Caballero. Since then I’ve been tuning in most Sunday’s. Here are some videos from some of the tracks I’m currently enjoying..

Lykke Li – Let It Fall

John — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:34:36 +0000

I kept hearing this song on Sears commercials on TV so the last time I heard it I payed attention to the lyrics “let it fall” repeating over and over and googled it.

Turns out she is from Sweeden. Ha, good pop music from Sweeden what a surprise heh. I am going to take the album for a spin from what.cd and if I like it I will be getting it on amazon mp3.

Commercial Radio sucks

John — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:31:26 +0000

A friend on Facebook mentioned that a local college radio station was the only station around that didn’t have a 5 song playlist. Which started the following rant:

Non-Commercial/Educational radio is the only thing worth listening to with few exceptions. and WKNC is the best station I’ve ever heard. Indie rock in the day, Electronic and underground hip hop at night, what more could you ask for?

The reason commercial radio sucks is that it doesn’t serve the listener, it serves advertisers. The music is just an attraction used to pull in listeners for advertisers. So the music is just catchy and generic enough to appeal to the largest amount of people while not being off putting to anyone. It really isn’t about the music, it’s about getting the most people listening to commercials.

On the other hand Non-commercial/educational stations that already have funding, or are listener supported really do serve the listener, and they have more original and interesting music/programming. PERIOD. F commercial radio.

Happy Hardcore Mix – My personal favorite

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:00:36 +0000

This mix is part of a 4 CD net release that was initially offered for free download from a web site. The site has since been taken down, probably due to bandwidth costs but the set can still be found online easily. Even though there are 4 CDs in the set it is only one that is my favorite Happy Hardcore mix. CD 3 Mixed by Entity.

I think my favorite part about this mix are the first five tracks. They just go together so well and really setup up an incredible hardcore mix. The mix starts out with some really good Drum n Bass in the first track and breakbeat based hardcore shortly after that. In the fourth track, “Absolution,” the 4/4 commences and it doesn’t let up for most of the mix. Next “Move as One” produced by Entity himself comes on. Out of the transition of Absolution and into “Move as One” we hear “Tonight, we come together as one.” Silence then leads to warm floating synths. Suddenly a totally uncheesey(seriously) piano solo comes on. This all builds incredible tension and then it just blows up into a trancesplosion. Super stabby trance synths are what make up this trancesplosion. Shortly after the stabby synths come the 4/4 kick drum. It cycles up and down for a few iterations and the goose bumps come and go. During the warm floating synth based builds there are even some breakbeats. I love this track. From here on out in the mix the energy is maintained at the same level. There are vocals and there are female vocals but somehow to me they aren’t cheesey. Some mixes (Happy 2B hardcore series) use female vocals in almost every track and it just gets to be a bit much. This mix has a lot of good melody and that is important to me. It also has variety.

CD 3 - MIXED BY ENTITY
Mastered by Colin Meon at CLSM.net (www.CLSM.net)

1. Entity 'Fallout (The Acolyte's Slamming Remix)'
2. Kid Hattrixx 'Crazy Mental Bonkin' Future'
3. SMS 'Another Nite (Breakbeat Mix)'
4. Frequential 'Absolution (Ionosphere Remix)'
5. Entity 'Move As One'
6. Entity 'Touch The Stars (Album Mix)'
7. Chwhynny 'My Love (Darwin Remix)'
8. Mark Brown featuring Sarah Cracknell 'The Journey Continues (DeejayBee & D-ice Remix)'
9. SMS vs Entity 'Lost in Balham'
10. Himbo & Deanne 'Looking Into Your Eyes (The BIG Mix)'
11. DJ Cruze & DJ Breaks 'Phatt Track'
12. Brain Blessed featuring Kelly C 'Unrequited (Ponder Remix)'
13. CLSM 'Hardscape'
14. Entity featuring Hattrixx 'Parasite (VIP Mix)'
15. Firefly 'Transmission (Exclusive COH Mix)'
16. Lost Soul 'Artificial Universe'
17. Lee UHF & Devastate 'Warped Disturbance'
18. Tabz 'Turntable Destruction'

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Crush-On-Hardcore-3-A-New-Era/release/128498
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4327372/Crush_On_Hardcore_3_-_A_New_Era_%5B4CD%5D_%5B2008%5D