Richie Hawtin talks about how he uses Traktor live
Found this on Resident Advisor.
I saw Hawtin at Coachella in 2007 and he hadn’t quiet perfected his setup. His set was a bit off and some of his effect usage was off. I missed him in Houston but reports were that things were as tight and as clean as people have come to expect from him.
I agree with him when he talks about using the computer to free him up to do more creative things with his djing. Rather than looking for a track, searching for the start point and beat matching, he’s free to mix more tracks at once, loop, add in effects etc… Bottom line, beat matching is not djing. Creating a mood and building and releasing energy over the course of your set is the true art of djing.
Adam Freeland Interview - New Album coming
Brit Adam Freeland makes a new home on the West Coast
Duke Shin
And there he was, the superstar DJ standing before thousands of tent moppets dancing in the mid-day heat, mashing up Daft Punk’s “Aerodynamic” with a Speak & Spell’s disembodied voice spelling out “O-B-A-M-A. You are correct.” As the kids danced harder, one obvious question would be why a British DJ would be so interested in the potential future President of the United States. Course, it makes a bit more sense when said DJ is Adam Freeland, who absconded to sunny Los Angeles about eighteen months ago. So what prompted this move?
“A girl,” he sheepishly laughs into his phone as he cruises to LAX en route to weekend gigs in Austria, England and Portugal. Although his love-relocation might not have worked out in the end, Freeland decided to stick around. “I wasn’t expecting to like LA as much… [but] 360 days of sunshine a year is enough to win over an Englishman who’s used to rain and miserable-ness!”
It would be easy to paint Freeland’s apparent support of Barack Obama as simply playing to the festival masses, but there’s one element persistent throughout Freeland’s musical career that will sound familiar to anyone following the senator’s presidential campaign: change. Freeland’s meteoric rise to the jet-setting musical elite began with the successes of his “Coastal Breaks” mixes, leading to 1998’s “Tectonics,” which made Freeland the poster boy for nu skool breaks. But by the time it came for Freeland’s artist-album debut, it became apparent that instrumental dance tracks like those featured on his previous breakbeat mixes were not the next step in his career. 2003’s “Now and Them” (as Freeland) garnered big attention for its punkish attitude and breakout single “We Want Your Soul.” Since then, Freeland has become more visible remixing tracks from the likes of Silversun Pickups, Shiny Toy Guns and Marilyn Manson than relying on his former breakbeat persona. And following the release of his “Hate” EP (released December 2007), one wonders exactly how much of Los Angeles’ rock-to-electro scene has influenced his sound. The world will find out soon, as Freeland has been hard at work at his next artist LP.
“I’d say this album I just finished is definitely influenced by being in LA, just because the musicians I’ve worked with I couldn’t access from being anywhere else in the world. The [”Hate” EP] was actually just instrumental cuts that didn’t make the album. The album’s more song-based… [but] that EP is more influenced by the current Parisian sound than it is LA.”
Those Parisian influences could be seen taking hold in Freeland’s contribution to the venerable Global Underground mix series, with 2007’s “Mexico” installment featuring remixes and productions from Etienne De Crecy, Mr. Oizo and Justice. “To me a lot of the Ed Banger stuff is the attitude that kind of got me excited about early days of breaks, y’know, before it kind of, long voyage, went very generic,” Freeland explains. “I’ve always said I’m a rocker trapped in a DJ’s body, and… things come and go… [The French tracks] got that sort of fuck-off rock [and] punk-rock attitude to it. It’s not about tasteful minimal high hats—and it’s still tasteful, don’t get me wrong—but it’s maximal… I can’t play a whole set of that stuff, but I like it.”
“I can’t play a whole set of that stuff, but I like it” might be the only accurate description for Freeland’s evolving sets. Despite his ribbing on “tasteful minimal high hats,” his mixes often contain a few techno-leaning tracks, and he even had Brazilian techno visionary Gui Boratto remix 2007’s “Silverlake Pills.”
“The fundamental kind of glue that keeps it all consistent for me is my love of snare drums. I’ve always loved house music but, it’s like, I couldn’t ever stand the straight 4/4 kick drum… I look at producers like Todd Terry or LTJ Bukem, for example, and they’re people who’ve just got one sound and ran with it. That’s their sound,” he explains in reverence—before candidly admitting his own limitations. “My personality type couldn’t do that. I tire to quickly… I need to be constantly inspired by new stuff, and that obviously influences what I do… I sometimes see if I’d just taken one sound [and] really honed it in exactly and just totally [ran] with that, it would be a way bigger thing, but it’s just not me… I can’t do that!” he chuckles. Even Freeland’s speech pattern reflects this rapid-fire attitude, as he leaves sentence fragments hanging when a new idea bubbles forth. Like, for example, his new album that he’s hoping to release early next year.
“I literally finished it today… I’m really happy with it—it’s definitely my biggest, most ambitious project to date. I took almost three years making it, so I’m pretty keen to get it out there.”
Freeland’s admitted love of shoegazer, drone-rock, snare drums and rock sneers will be on full display, with contributors including Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson fame, punk hellcat Brody from the Distillers, Gerry from Devo, and most surprisingly, Joey Santiago of the Pixies.
Absurd Recordings
Got hit with this link today and have been jamming these sets. Start at the top and work your way down.
Politics and Music
Got a few videos dealing with the conventions and music. First up is Z-Trip rocking the show for Obama. Z-Trip is def one of my favorite party rocking djs.
Video originally from URB.
DeadMau5’s spoof on the 08 Presidential election.
Next is Rage Against The Machine leading a protest during the RNC. I was one of 25 photographers lucky enough to photograph them at Lollapalooza and I can honestly say they are a force of nature.
Originally found on LATimes.com.
Peep a few of my pictures from Lolla.
What a great year….
I’ve had an amazing year thus far. Highlights have been
- Buying my first house, painting the walls, replacing the light fixtures and fans, moving in and getting settled
- Playing in Chihuahua, Mexico on Feb. 1st, hangning with Marcos Barrera and Jesus Prada
- My buddyTyler’s bachelor party in Los Angeles in March with Alex, Mike, Kenji, Tyler, and Jacob.
- Austin Electronic Music Festival - opening for Infected Mushroom and Deadmau5
- Opening for Adam Freeland @ SKY on April 17th
- Coachella in April, highlights were Justice, Modeslektor, Sia, Santogold, Autolux, Junkie XL, James Zabiela, Prince, etc…
- Bryan Krueger and his new wife Amy’s wedding in Ft. Lauderdale in May
- Tyler and Jessie’s wedding in Austin
- 5 year anniversary with my girlfriend Sedef
- Trip to San Francisco for my father’s 60th bday in June
- Chris Fortier @ SKY for my birthday on June 20th
- 6th Annual Semiaudiks Boat Party on Lake Travis with music and dancing by Paco, Tarek, eVL-E, Reverned Pain, Alex, Che, Angela Nations and myself on July 1st
- VIP and Photo pass at Lollapalooza, sightseeing in Chicago
- Marcos Barrera @ SKY on August 8th
- Steve Porter @ SKY on August 15th
- Roadtrip from Amarillo to Black Rock City - Burning Man with Justin, Dustin and Kenji. Krueger and Amy were there too.
Coming UP:
I’m taking a two month break from DJing, drugs, alcohol. I’m going to focus on working out, eating healthly, hitting the studio and building up ideas from next year in terms of music and art.
August RAW Proton Mix
2nd month of RAW and I’m feeling good about the direction I’ve chosen for this show. The mixes got picked up by Alldj.org and a few other sites and I had some people around the world hit me up on myspace with compliments and comments. DJ Qualia is my guest this month and I’m very impressed with his set. He’s a talented DJ and producer and also makes a killer application for laptop (Serator, Torq, etc..) djs , http://www.mixshare.com/software.html. Its just like Mixed in Key but WAY better.
My mix goes from downtempo funk to some minimal, almost atmospheric, tech house and then into prog and techno. Check out Lance Cashion’s newest track on Proton Limited. Word is, Digweed has been dropping this in his sets lately.
Jesse Brede - August RAW Mix
Qualia’s Mix
Tracklistings:
Brede:
01 Dousk - Dolly - Original Mix [Klik]
02 Benji Boko - The Jungle V.i.p. - Original Mix [Wax On Ltd.]
03 Toby Tobias - Who Dunnit? - Original Mix [Rekids]
04 Lulu Rouge - Bless You (Feat. Mikael Simpson)
05 Lulu Rouge - Lulu’s Theme (Feat. Trentemoller)
06 Shonky, Jennifer Cardini - Tuesday Paranoia - Jamie Jones’ Submerged House Mix [Crosstown Rebels]
07 Fps - Mist - Original Mix [Toolroom]
08 Jona - Antiplano - Original Mix [Planet E Communications]
09 Bagage Handlers - Tres’ (Cashion Remix) [Proton Limited]
10 Boris Brejcha - Die Maschinen Kontrollieren Uns - Original Mix [Harthouse]
11 Jabba - Xpress
12 Dorje Records - Your Material Body (Dorje Records Breaks Mix) [Dorje]
13 Quivver - 2 Notes ‘n’ A Beat - Original Mix [Boz Boz]
14 Rennie Foster - Devil’s Water - Original Mix
Qualia:
01. dj frane - 420247 02. dj shadow - what does your soul look like (blue sky revisit) 03. dj cam - underground vibes 04. jon kennedy - you're crazy 05. amon tobin - new york editor 06. the dining rooms - experiments in ambient soul 07. bonobo - days to come (instrumental) 08. fila brazillia - mother nature's spies 09. desmond williams - theme from a dream 10. gecko turner - limon en la cabeza (quantic dub mix) 11. greyboy - singles party 12. nightmares on wax - african pirates (troubleman remix) 13. the broken keys - slingshot (part 2) 14. quantic soul orchestra - assassin 15. fila brazillia - the bugs will bite 16. peace orchestra - meister petz (beanfield remix) 17. jazzanova - glow and glare 18. dzihan & kamien - 2 minutes 19. atjazz - slide it in (love from san francisco mucky barns remix) 20. fred everything - revolution 21. noiseshaper - the only redeemer (needs mix)
Pictures from SemiAudiks Boat Party
Brian Drain sent me a link to all the pictures he took from my boat party in July. Check em out.
Sept 13th - Lance Cashion, Jesse Brede and Toddy B @ Firehouse
Get ready for one hell of party. Lance returns to Austin and I guarantee this is gonna be one of the best nights of the year. Stay tuned for news on Lance’s Bday party on Halloween, Oct 31st.
Setp, 11th - DeadMau5 @ SKY
Looking forward to this show. DeadMau5 rocked SKY during AEF last year. Get your tickets early, I’m expecting it to sell out.
