Though I did a number of mixtapes in my time, this was the first mix I recorded in digital. Two turntables and a CD through a mixer directly to a borrowed audio CD burner deck (they were big at the time...). As you'll hopefully find out, at the time I was head-deep into Germanic sounds, part Clicks'n'Cuts part Koelnish techno; that still characterizes more than anything my DJ tastes, now that I think of it. Equally obvious here is my obsession with Vladislav Delay.
It was meant to be a personal thing, one take, to see if some beatless tracks worked together, etc., but it got derailed by the fourth track or so. Still it came out nice, there were even some key blends I didn't notice until later. Since at that time almost no one played that stuff here, it got some excellent response from friends and people around me and was totally ignored (=rejected) from everyone else, especially pro DJs (Athens was just discovering techno of the Bailey/Carola variety and speed that passed for cocaine). It was about the same time I was disillusioned on the matter of making a living out of music in Greece, due to certain circumstances I won't tire you with; I could move to Germany of course, but the idea of a gastarbeiter/ artist always struck me as a bit odd and also there were family issues.
I lost the 'master' CD immediately after I spread it around and hadn't heard it since then, until yesterday when I found it rolled in a hastily written tracklist, so here it is, unfortunately one track and no markers. Contains some good mixes, some awkward blends and a few of my favorite tracks. And 'Tessio', which I played almost every night back then (I think I was the one to break it here). Academic, retro or nice, you'll be the judge.
Nightlight - 2001-10-19 Deep mix
170MB, 320kbps, 1h 14' 28''
Tracklist:
01. Kid 606 - Sometimes
02. Vladislav Delay - Anima Part 1
03. Uusitalo - Notke
04. Fluxion - Oblique
05. Swayzak vs Theorem - 020100 (Swayzak mix)
06. Swayzak - Slave To The Hard Drive
07. Unai - Brave Star
08. Guns Of Venice - LA Requiem
09. SCSI-9 - Silkcome
10. D.Diggler - Lubricated
11. D.Diggler - Bongwater
12. Gabriel Ananda - Wild Cherry
13. Luomo - Tessio
(beats start on 'Oblique')
Retro lights
In Synch #2
So, Synch festival is over. Over all, a rather poor experience compared to the previous years' ones.
I caught Moritz von Oswald on the decks, playing some roots dub for about an hour and then launching into some crazy electro Bullwackies oddities, space crazy. These Hardwax guys are incredible, I always go to listen to them with the highest expectations and they surpass them every time. Later followed Pinch in a really good dubstep set with a lot of dub techno cuts, still it sounded artificial after the previously blasted dub experiments. The next day the Von Oswald Trio (with Vladislav Delay and Max Loderbauer) improv performance didn't impress me that much, still I was anxious to play and I couldn't sit still so maybe that was it... Juan Atkins canceled. And I missed I-F. BIG shame.
Despite not much promotion, the heat and the obvious fatigue on all faces (it was the last day) the set went rather great. People kept dancing and liked more the oldschool stuff so I played like the hardest I've ever done in years and we all nearly passed out from the heat. Sweat on the walls, for sure. Hope I find some pics to post. I can still hear people howling over Juergen Paape's 'Take This'. Yeah, I had a great time.
P.S. I managed to find a very short and rather crappy video in YouTube from the Moritz set, here. Plus the last track from the Rhythm & Sound gig in Synch 2007, a rather better performance than the Scion vs Tikiman one of 2004. We're talking Mark Ernestus as 'selector', beaten by the heat, staring at his screen still as a stoned mannequin, feeding everything into delay boxes, and, of course, the great Tikiman: infinitely gifted, unstoppable and even thinner than the last time.
This track was a stab of pure joy in my heart, a track I instantly fell in love with and later searched for. I found it in other concerts as well, but I still don't know its name. Here.
In Synch
So, through the S.A.E. sponsorship we managed to sneak into Synch Festival, undoubtedly the most valid electronic music gathering in Greece, held this year in an old gas factory's premises in downtown Athens (hence the name, Gazi). For info on Plasteline here and here.
The only thing worrying me is that probably I'll play at the same time as Juan Atkins, which is an honor and a pity at the same time (he's the last of Detroit legends I've not yet seen a gig of).
Performing on Friday are old friends: long time co-conspirator Dura and label owner Funkslut, while Thodoris Triantafillou aka one half of Novox and me will play on Sunday, as a closure.
For Athens residents or visitors, we'll be there. Fear & Loathing in Gazi.
Jitters
Last night I realized that the last time I made a mix CD was on December 2005. For referential and shameless self-promotion purposes I'll post it here now. I was deep into my mini-neu-rave phase and I needed a way to put down on tape a 'commercial' version of it and listen to it. I hope it came out nice, although certain names and labels keep popping up as you can see. The tracklist is:
01. in
02. PAUL KALKBRENNER - gebruenn gebruenn
03. ALTER EGO - daktari (ROBAG WRUHME rmx)
+ SOLVENT - think like us (acappella)
04. DELON & DALKAN - dunufus
05. JOHN TEJADA - voyager
06. REKORDER - 1.1
07. DJ T vs FREESTYLE MAN - beat the street
08. M.A.N.D.Y. - achaat
09. DIRT CREW - 808 lazerbeam
10. HOEL JAMES -maurris light (DIRT CREW rmx)
11. DJ T - rave d'amour
12. BOOKA SHADE - s.t.a.r.r.z. (catwalk rmx)
13. TRAFFIC SIGNS - effective
14. THE DRILL - the drill
15. EINMUSIK - jittery heritage (long version)
16. out
Recorded at Sparky T's place
Two turntables & a mixer
79 min, 192 Kbps
Nightlight - 2005, Jittery mix
Part 1 - Part 2
(You can find these beautiful tape pics and other interesting stuff here.)
