Daniel Muscas - Lake

Apologies for the lack of posting - I really should be trying to put a post up a day - whether that's musings on my lack of producing, my life - or tunes that I've come across randomly - like this one on Natura Viva Black. Lovely EP.

Chores, Fucking Chores!

As you have realised by now, I am finding constantly writing my thoughts up on here to be an complete and utter waste of my brain time, wanting to instead to waste my time trying to produce that track that opens a door, which is proving to be completely and utterly fruitless. I seem to start producing a track - try to make it good for two or three hours and then give up - though I do sometimes wonder whether watching too many videos on YouTube may be half the issue - trying to produce the sound I'm wanting following the tips ad tricks of said producers - when rules are there to be broken. An intriguing thought. You know the ones - the ones which give out tips and tricks - and in the main they are utterly superb - but my god they are depressing in just how easy they make it - and perhaps that's because they - themselves - have broken the rules of producing - finding their own way of producing that sound that they have wanted - perhaps that is where I am going wrong - less treating it as a process - and more of an adventure - hoping to hit the treasure. From a gigging point of view, I upgraded to the RX2 - and its ridiculous, as you know!

New Year, New Plans...

Many Happy returns for the new year. 2017 was for lots of people quite a difficult and troubling year, this was the same for myself, however towards the back end of the year, I seem to have started to make some substantial changes to my lifestyle. One of the main aspects of this, is moving out of the self-named 'Surgery' into what can be classed as a ensuite studio flat, with shared facilities for washing my gear - however I do have my own kitchenette and shower - which is a good thing. Just able to pop in there - with guaranteed heating and hot water - unlike the Surgery which towards the end of my time there, had no heating, no hot water and with respect a complete cunt of a landlord (amongst other descriptions of the cunt). This change in my circumstances has also coincided with my busiest period as a DJ, with some 10 gigs in a six week period and with all this change - I have been unwell and not been able to recover quickly. So, some decisions have had to be made, the fundamental one is that I'm stopping all bar gigs with immediate effect - purely because from a time and financial point of view, it's not worth my time to prep for hours for such gigs with little return, and with that time, it'll allow me to dedicate more time to producing which is my number one target for the next 12 months. With that in mind, I've been spending what spare time I've had on numerous YouTube videos looking for ways to carve out my sound, which although seems fun from the outset, is an fucking ball ache, but the end results are worth it. I've put a few tracks up on Soundcloud already, and I've got a few more tracks that are close for me to show to the world, so let's see what 2018 brings. B x

XDJ-RX2 Is A Reality...But Is It The Upgrade I expected?

In a word. No.



That is the immediate thought I have got from the video above from Pioneer this evening - there is no send/return - which would have allowed you the ability to use external controllers such as the Korg Kaossiator - or for that matter the Pioneer iPad app for the RMX-1000.



But perhaps I'm asking too much.



The touchscreen looks pretty - I was quite sceptical about these being on the XDJ range when they first came out - but people who own such as the XDJ-1000 tell me that they are very durable so perhaps something that I could warm to in the long term.



For me though, think my plan to get two XDJ 700s and an DJM 450 mixer continues to be the way to go. And as for those two usb sticks on the right hand side of the mixer instead of being in their respective separate decks - just looks a bit...meh.



B

Vicente Fox is Running for President of the United States

This is Magnificent.

Bicep - Glue

Majestic.

Robert Hood - The Bond We Formed (Slam Remix)

Part of Soma’s 25th anniversary comes probably the most sought after track from the compilation celebrating the milestone. Robert Hood’s seminal track, is given not one but two remixes by the Glasgow duo!

This one brings together Hoods original drums with Slams unique sequences.