d.J Presents: Rain+Shadows (Part II)

As promised, I have completed the second half of my Rain+Shadows electronic mix (the download link is below). While the general theme is the same as Part I of the Rain+Shadows installment, I attempted (note: attempted) to stitch together a broader range of styles, from the obligatory progressive house, to trance, to breaks -- my three most revered electronic genres. The challenge put forth by this endeavor may have triumphed my rather inchoate mixing talents, but alas, one has to push their limits if those limits are to be raised.

Rain+Shadows (Part II) offers an edgier, more unpredictable pulse compared to Part I, with key changes ("Logical Soul"), abrupt mixouts ("Runaway Reject"-->"Nirvana"-->"Always"), tempo increases (hopefully hidden throughout the mix), and more complicated post-production meddling ("Into Nothing"-->"Runaway Reject," "Nirvana" and "All Those Things"). If Part I is the placid, tempered child, Part II is its ADD, obstreperous sibling.

In all, I'm pleased with Part II. The mixing may pale a bit when compared to Part I, but the challenges put forth unifying the tracks on Part II were no small feat -- at least for me. That said, the transition from "Feel The Weight"-->"Envy" is probably my most accomplished mixout to date...I feel that one turned out nicely! But leaving all cerebral analyses aside, I simply hope you enjoy Part II for its music. Like Part I, the theme is an attempted reflection of "rain-shadowed" Portland, Oregon in spring time (yes, I know it's now July, but I do have a few other engagements that occupy my time). Furthermore, I think every track on Part II can stand independently as an accomplished work of music, something essential to any good electronic mix.

With the Rain+Shadows collection/experiment now complete, I look forward to temporarily leaving the digital realm of my musical dabbling and revisiting my true voice, the guitar. "d. v2.0" is nearing completion (because, like, Songs For Ghosts is, like, kind of bad) and will be posted on the AstroSite soon...

You can download Rain+Shadows (Part II) HERE

*Important: you must click the down arrow to the right to open the download folder...for some inexplicable reason; every track is downloaded independently. Also, remember to set your computer's media player (e.g. iTunes) to play Rain+Shadows as a "Gapless Album".

Flush It Down

From the NY Times (image acquired from Fox News):

An Honor That Bush Is Unlikely to Embrace

By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: June 25, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital (and a state, too). But President Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.

From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

The plan, naturally hatched in a bar, would place a vote on the November ballot to provide “an appropriate honor for a truly unique president.”

Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye.

“Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs,” said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. “So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history.”

Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea. Howard Epstein, chairman of the ever-outnumbered San Francisco Republican Party, called the initiative “an abuse of process.”

“You got a bunch of guys drunk who came up with an idea,” Mr. Epstein said, “and want to put on the ballot as a big joke without regard to the city’s governance or cost.”

The renaming would take effect on Jan. 20, when the new president is sworn in. And regardless of the measure’s outcome, supporters plan to commemorate the inaugural with a synchronized flush of hundreds of thousands of San Francisco toilets, an action that would send a flood of water toward the plant, now called the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant.

“It’s a way of doing something physical that’s mentally freeing,” said Stacey Reineccius, 45, a software consultant and entrepreneur who supports the plan. “It’s a weird thing, but it’s true.”

Just Who Is Barack Obama?

Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times. Even in the shower.

Barack Obama says the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE every time he sees an American flag. He quietly mouths the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in his sleep. He also ends every sentence by saying, "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL."

A tape exists of Michelle Obama saying the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE at a conference on PATRIOTISM.

Every weekend, Barack and Michelle take their daughters HUNTING.

Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.

Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It's upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.

There's only one artist on Barack Obama's iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.

Barack Obama goes to church every morning. He goes to church every afternoon. He goes to church every evening. He is IN CHURCH RIGHT NOW.

Barack Obama's new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH.

Barack Obama's skin is the color of AMERICAN SOIL.

Barack Obama buys AMERICAN STUFF. He owns a FORD, a BASEBALL TEAM, and a COMPUTER HE BUILT HIMSELF FROM AMERICAN PARTS. He travels mostly by FORKLIFT.

Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME

-Slate Magazine

Chocolate

_

Best Shittiest Beer Fest 2008!

BSBF 2008: Arriving a little later this year, but arriving nonetheless. For those of you new to the game, the goal is to find the BEST shittiest beer (not the worst) through two rounds of blind taste testing. We'll also just be enjoying a day in the park, rain or shine.

I encourage you to leave a comment below with a beer-to-bring of your choice. Doing so will help prevent people from bringing duplicates. But if you just want to show up, that's all dandy as well.

All necessary info should be in the above flier - just click the image to enlarge it.

Introducing: "d.J"

Those that know me well will know that I've long reserved a special place in my musical archive for electronic music, particularly of the "progressive house" and "IDM" genres. Ironically, it is the primal nature of this music that resonates so well with me, seducing my mind into a comfortable interregnum somewhere between hypnosis and concentration. Maybe it's the organic melodies juxtaposed to mathematical pulses, or the way in which a good deejay cajoles this music into a story complete with characters, plots, climaxes, and resolutions...

or maybe I just kinda like this music for some reason, whether I'm writing grants, dropping out of school, darting down 21st Street, biking, or falling asleep (and let's not forget the time when this girl was over and she thought I was trying to get some sort of "dance party" ploy going on with her or something...really? I honestly just listen to this stuff!).

Anyway, after years of mentally composing bad-ass mixes in my head, I finally acquired some deejay software, Ableton Live, that will allow the tangible emergence of an alter ego: "d.J" -- the "Batman" to my guitar-strumming Bruce Wayne. Together with the wave analysis program, Audacity, i have clumsily completed my first bona fide deejay mix, aptly titled Rain+Shadows (yes, the title is a pun, hence the "+"). The tracks and the track order were tediously selected to reflect the pensive, yet fecund mood of Portland, Oregon in early spring...and perhaps one too many late-night walkabouts along Skyline Drive. Rain+Shadows begins in the gloss of 12:00 AM moonlight and finales with the punch of a 7:00 AM sunrise. Further, I'm a sucker for sexy bass lines, and, well, this mix flatters that fancy. There are, however, some problems with the mix, namely that it's too quiet. I haven't yet figured out how to increase the volume without clipping, despite trying compression of all sorts and sizes. That said, there are a few mixouts that I'm very pleased with given my neophyte attempt, such as the transition between "Wuthering Heights" and "Itajai Vibes"...fun with the high pass filter!

Rain+Shadows (...which almost sounds like a deodorant or something...) is free for you to download by clicking below; all the tracks were properly purchased. And in case you're unfamiliar with the protocol, the tracks are to be played successively without interruption, so make sure you set iTunes (if that's what you use) to "Gapless Album" in the info settings for the album. The files are in AAC format; the artwork, including my "I can't believe that turned out with my shitty camera" photo of a lunar elcipse, is JPEG files.

You can download Rain+Shadows Part I HERE --> You have to click the arrow to the right to download properly!

Post Script: if you happen to like Rain+Shadows (Part I), Part II will be out soon.

For A Friend

"For" a friend more so than "to" a friend:

Of Ones & Heroes

As technology advances, so do the expectations from those technologies. A wheel is invented, and soon the expectations advance from moving a cart to lifting heavy objects through a pulley system; an automobile is invented and soon the expectations advance from pragmatism to luxury; MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, or “MP3,” compression format is invented and soon the expectation advances from playing music on the computer to playing music on the mobile listener. It is the latter example that is germane, as I have finally accepted the digital format with my first purchase of a downloaded album. Yes, my expectations have advanced.

Format changes are nothing new to our ever-advancing technological toolbox. We have been witness to numerous formatting advents and extinctions, all driven by our evolving demands for increased fidelity, mobility, capacity, or simple absurdity. Format changes have typically been a phenomenon for film and music media, although it may not be long before even the ink-blotted newspaper becomes a perception of memories past. Being an audiophile with a born-on date of 1980, I have come to love the compact disc. While it couldn’t match the 120 minutes of playtime showcased by its father, “The Tape,” the compact disc pushed the limits of human hearing fidelity, was more durable the tape, allowed for instant track skipping, and, obviously, was compact. The compact discs that I currently own approach seven hundred, making me a most neurotic curator of an alphabetically organized auditory gallery. Each disc is complete not only with the music in which it encodes, but also an art booklet that compliments the musical recording, thereby amalgamating a feat of synesthesic expressionism. Furthermore, the music and art booklet document memories like a storybook, reminding me of near-forgotten experiences, people, or places that surrounded my initial exposure to a particular album. The compact disc is indeed a vital canvass upon which I’ve encoded much of my life...until last week.

The invention of MP3 compression in the early 1990’s has become the bellwether of a revolution. The on-demand music experience is no longer relegated to the nearest 120-volt AC outlet; rather, a nearly unlimited playlist is available to your eighth cranial nerve at any location, at any time, and -- most importantly -- you are the deejay. Save for some hiccups while compact memory capacity catches up to allow for the preservation of high quality sound, the digital, intangible format is superior and it is here to stay; the tangible digital format is, well, like...soooo 2007. Why 2007? Because that is when the compact disc received its final knockout punch from five English blokes known as “Radiohead”.

Radiohead were the first major band to release an album, In Rainbows, solely as a download without contemporaneously releasing a tangible compact disc or vinyl format. And it has been reported to have been downloaded by the millions (not to mention the probable million(s) that downloaded from peers). Radiohead wasn’t necessarily looking to be innovative mavericks, rather, the move made marketing sense. With a digital album, there is minimal production and distribution costs, thereby obviating numerous middlemen and even reducing their carbon footprint -- something more sacred to the British industrial psyche. Furthermore, this digital release allowed another unprecedented maneuver: pay what you want for the music. “Buyers” of In Rainbows literally entered online what they wanted to pay for the music, be it $50 or $0 (well, technically it had to be at least $0.01). This not only empowered Radiohead, but empowered music listeners to demand better music and live shows from the industry. And all the while, happy listeners can mosey about our blue planet, enjoying every pensive note of In Rainbows via a discarnate digital terrain. The expectations have indeed advanced.

Consequently, I’ve recently been pondering how long I would keep alphabetizing corporeal music discs among my picturesque musical gallery. The answer, I knew, was not much longer. I had one lingering caveat though, which was to surrender the art booklet. Buying digital music, at least as far as I know, usually does not come with a digital version of the art booklet. The days of shaking off that cellophane static and smelling the sterile vapors of freshly pressed art would be over (as would the DNA damage in my lung epithelial cells, I suppose). But alas, the art booklet was usually viewed upon the initial listens to the accompanying music, and then shelved until some random moment when I had to know if that really is Maynard James Keenan singing the backup vocals on Rage Against The Machine’s “Know Your Enemy”. My ultimate acceptance of the digital download format came with my recent and enthusiastic discovery of the dubstep artist and British recluse, “Burial”. This somewhat obscure, yet brilliant artist released an album late last year titled Untrue, and after obsessing over this masterpiece I wanted more. I knew the first, even less-known self-titled album would be hard to find. So I could scurry about Portland’s local record stores, lock my bike up in the rain, discover that they don’t have it, have them order it, return to the store (probably also in the rain) a week later, and pay $16 for it....or I could push a couple buttons on Amazon.com, pay $8, and have it in about 60 seconds. Done.

Since this decision, I haven’t, and probably won’t, look back; in fact, I’ve looked forward. After tolerating the clinical schizophrenia of my aging car CD player, as well as the lengthy process of deciding which discs to bring along for my war-powered automobile adventures, I have upgraded to an “iPOD-ready” car stereo deck. Wow. Why did I wait so long?! All week I’ve actually been looking for ways to support Saudi Arabia and drive around listening to anything, all the while controlling my iPOD vicariously through my dashboard -- the iPOD itself reclines invisibly in the glove compartment.

So as I sit among the dancing shadows of Bink’s fireplace in Northeast Portland and type this blog entry, a coincidence has just occurred. A familiar song that I haven’t heard in a while just blessed the house jukebox. The song is “No Surprises” from Radiohead’s magnum opus, OK Computer. The memories this song stirs are of a cherished summer trip in 1997 to the Black Hills of South Dakota. I was new to Radiohead at the time and picked up their latest release, OK Computer, to provide a soundtrack for my camping vacation. The trip, for reasons inapposite here, will never be forgotten. Over 10 years later from a rain-shadowed pub on NE Alberta Street in Portland, Oregon, I muse upon how the sunset looked after that mountain storm, and how from that jettisoned boulder in Custer State Park the stars looked like God’s thoughts revealed across the sky... ”KLDU#E*EJKdjds9!!!!?!!!!?????”...and now some thrash punk song just started playing. At Bink’s, I’m not the deejay; but as soon as I step outside these doors, I am the deejay. And I just happen to have OK Computer nestled in my glove compartment for the ride home.

In Bloom

After nearly 15 months of songs that make even the night sky seem bright, I've finally attempted to make a brighter "happy" song. Not that I'm a morose person, sulking about melancholy mood swings day after day, but there's an organic duende in minor chords that just isn't captured elsewhere. And such is my penchant for musicians like Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith, and Tori Amos, among others, that seem to publicly bleed themselves of all human vulnerability. Nonetheless, even I need a space bar among my woeful run-on sentences -- there's only so much I can tolerate, not to mention an audience.

And so cheesy lyrics aside, which this song certainly celebrates, I'm happy with my first (and possibly last) "happy" song.

...but after all, it is spring time!

The Aeon of Ignorance

The "Truth." It is the most exotic of strangers; a stranger that, like all pariahs to our social-bound human DNA, invoke fear and, most importantly, rejection as a result of a potent insult to our most tenacious evolutionary baggage, the feeling of comfort. However, it's not my right to impeach comfort as a human traitor -- I savor the feeling as much as anyone else. But when presented with a conscious choice, I would rather take comfort in the Truth than find the Truth in comfort. Hence, Zeitgeist (embedded below) provides a rare, albeit small glimpse of the truth's ugly physique. While the film should not be mistaken as an unequivocal dossier of the "Truth," it certainly isn't any more fiction than the "reality" in which our societal ignorance embraces day after day. Now THAT is a conspiracy.