Tales of a trip (part 1)
Paris was quite blurry and rainy this morning, nothing very cheering for a Spring day. Even the taxi driver didn’t feel like speaking to his passengers, he’d rather talk to his girlfriend on his phone while watching the road with the corner of his eye. I luckily arrived early to avoid waiting in the drop off line to deposit my luggage then waited in the Duty Free zone, roaming around between the coffee stand and the end of the terminal. There I watched 3 planes getting prepped for an eventual flight, one for Tunis, one for Sofia and the other for a European country of which I forgot the name.
Sitting on the free chairs in the lounge area, I watched the passengers on my flight gathering around the small waiting area, there were 3 rows of seats for 400 passengers. People were standing and getting anxious to see the “boarding” sign turn red on the display panel. When the crew announced it was time for the last rows of the boeing to board, it wasn’t a surprise to see a mass of people hurdling towards the counter. It’s a majority of Lebanese getting on board and Lebanese people will never change. They want to be the first on the plane and the first off the plane. They are anxious by nature, excited, over hyped on small things maybe. Who knows. I feel already in Lebanon since boarding in the plane.
Take off was quite cool as usual, I love take offs. We were parked over the F74 area, we ran across the de-icing zone and you could read a SPAN vignette. Then we arrived on the landing and take offs runways, R26L08, we took off from the Left one, since the Right one was already used for the aircraft that landed at the same time as we were doing the opposite.
My playlist was mainly techno, DJ Lin, DJ Fady Ferraye and Heartthrobe & Magda. Dark, Deep, Inner music.
I power napped after take off on the sound of Fady. Then worked on my next to-be-released production, the first of a series, adjusting the levels and making sure there was no sound clipping anywhere. The track is ready for Microlove records.
I am writing this post while passengers are having their brunch, I didn’t take my platter since I wasn’t that hungry, only hungry for music actually. I am enjoying Heartthrobe and Magda live in London on this year’s NYE. Heatthrob is throwing his “Baby Kate” track with a french/english accent voice over. Loooove 
To be continued …
Logorama
Check this animation out.
One of the best I’ve seen and it’s made by locals
Logorama from Marc Altshuler – Human Music on Vimeo.
Gui Boratto, Renaissance the mix collection- Review
[Rating:4.0/5]
I’ve had Gui’s album running since a couple of weeks now. I might have heard it a dozens of times under many conditions: At home, in the car and in the subway. 3 atmospheres, 3 different feelings and I couldn’t get my mind in writing a review. Now that I am trying to, I guess, the mix is, well incomplete.
It’s true that this album isn’t a 100% Gui production, yet his tracks and remixes ROCK solid. This guy never failed in delivering sexy beats to every piece of music he does and that since the first track I heard on Hernan Cattaneo’s Sequential album, “Arquipelago”.
Back to this mix collection; there’s an overall sexy feeling to it and a more intimate look into Gui’s taste as in, “what would he mix if it weren’t his productions”. I never saw Gui on a live act, so it was kind of new. Verdict : I found it to be interesting.
CD1 comes with a “Home” like mood, to be enjoyed laid back on a sunny afternoon. CD2 brings the beats and synths a bit closer with a more present vibe, yet the Club feeling was never crossed. So it’s more recommended for an after after party, laid back on a sunny afternoon There’s this threshold where you just give in, in the set that wasn’t, sadly, crossed. But that doesn’t mean that the album was dull, it was Déjà vu and unexpected for me. Ending the mix with Tricky’s low tempo track was genious and a total surprise. The transition was perfectly handled and it totally caught my attention on what was happening. So props to that.
Highlights of the album:
- “Mathew Jonson – When Love Feels Like Crying” : What a track, full of emotions and minor built drama. A musician’s heaven.
- Gui Boratto – Azurra (It’s Not The Same Mix) : A classic now
- Gui Boratto – The Glam : I love Gui’s distorted sound. His lead synths are just exquisite, the vibe is close to his Chromophobia album
Overall, it’s a good mix to listen to. I know it will be my companion on my next trip. The beats are fresh and Gui delivers good remixes and productions as always.
You can buy Gui’s album on iTunes and in your local record store.
Making Contakt, the documentary
Making Contakt is a documentary DVD starring Richie Hawtin and his M-NUS crew throughout a series of concept gigs that happened in 2009. The idea behind the “Contakt” shows was to create a yet unseen experience out of a gig. The experience was 3 dimensional : One visual, second musical and third physical since the crowd interacted before and after every party.
The musical experience in Contakt showcased all the M-NUS crew live on stage. That is, Richie, Magdra, Troy Pierce with live supports from Marc Houle, Heartthrob & Gaiser. This was made possible with the creation of a unique (and complex) DJ setup that first surprised the hell out of me. It took me 5 minutes to emerge from the setup presentation and was thinking, damn that can open up so many possibilities while bringing up many questions on how can this be real ?
Multitasking as a DJ is a bit of a hassle, even with advanced gears and “Richie’s oh-so-famous sync macros ”. Yet concentration is a must to play a logical track’s progression and keep up with the transitions. Details weren’t given on that part. All we know is that the team worked hard to be on the same page and a huge respect goes to them. Who said computer assisted DJing was an easy task ?
Another interesting aspect was the visual one. Richie wanted it to be a Web2.0 like gig, live SMS messages written on the LCD screens, live webcam feeds to the audience, to sum it up, a live experience on and off stage.
The documentary narrates the unique experience of this crazy adventure. The concept’s risks were way too high, Richie’s ambitions were extremely high (As usual right ? ) but in the end it worked. There were flaws and there were successes and this is the beauty of it all.
I loved seeing all the sides of the production, it’s a melting pot between a behind the scenes, a movie and a documentary. You just don’t want it to end and once its over, you just want to replay the DVD.
The DVD comes with a CD of the soundtrack, most of the tracks are the M-NUS classics that you might have heard over a Richie or Contakt set if you attended any (Lucky you if you did).
The world needs people like Richie Hawtin, audacious, experimental and willing to take the experience further from what it is today. Some might not like him, for his personality or for his music style. But it’s undeniable how his presence affected the scene and how we mix music today. Digital DJing is good because it opens up possibilities, it opens up creativity, it makes you concentrate on more essential things and who knows, tomorrow you’ll be 3 on stage rocking the place down
You can buy the DVD from Amazon or M-NUS’ website.
Cheerz
Artist of the week – Download link
Hello to all,
You can download the latest mix by clicking here and on soundcloud
Enjoy the set and the weekend coming ahead
