DE9:Transitions - Something big is going on

I have bought DE9:Transitions today. I have listened to it only once so I don't feel qualified yet to say if I like it or not. I listened to the full 96 minutes mix and every second of it caught my attention. However, it is really more difficult music than DE9:Closer-to-the-edit so I prefer to listen to it another 5-6 times or so before writing a review. In any case, something big has happened. Hawtin has opened a lot of doors with this (instant classic?) release:
- From now on, say farewell to (manual) beat matching.
- Say farewell to two-track mixing. Go for 4, 5 or 6 tracks at the same time.
- Complexity of track selection will grow exponentially. Think about hundreds of tracks...
- No more transitions between tracks. Not even tracks between transitions. The transition is the track. The role of a track is to help make a transition.
- Finally, the leitmotif has arrived to electronic mixes. Despite the above innovations, coherence will not suffer.
- In traditional DJing the granularity is gross, measured in minutes. Say farewell to traditional DJing. Say welcome to micro-DJing, measured in seconds. The lower limit has been reached. Below this level the only option is to mix separate notes, but that would be composition, not DJing.
So now, I don't know what a track, a transition or a session is. Hawtin has put all those concepts upside down...
Tags: dance, DE9, detroit, dj, djing, electronic, Hawtin, mix, music, techno

Carl Craig's "Landcruising" updated to 2.0

If electronic music is software, let's treat it like software. Carl Craig seems to be doing that. Today I received an e-mail from the iTunes music store about the new album by Carl Craig, titled "The album formerly known as...". Of course, the title makes reference to the album formerly knows as "Landcruising", only upgraded ("Landcruising 2.0"?), as most of the tracks in this album are new versions of tracks already published in "Landcruising".
Nice move, Carl, on the artistic side at least. However, I don't find reasons powerful enough to buy it... The new features and bug fixes are not groundbreaking, and I think registered customers should get this upgrade for free...

Update: If you like Carl Craig do yourself a favor and get this 2-hour mix at brokenloop.
Tags: ambient, dance, detroit, dj, electronic, music, techno

Jeff Mills' vision of future dance

The dance-floor as a transformative experience. The DJ as a hierophant of some sacred misteries. Quoted from a post in Jeff Mills blog:
"Some people may say, that maybe just "old school" music might be enough to satisfy -- I say, WAKE UP!. The world-wide dance music scene can go much further than just satisfy. I strongly believe that with a little effort and planning, the parties people pay to get into every weekend can bring more ideas and experiences in a way that could affect them for the rest of their lives."
Tags: dance, detroit, dj, electronic, jeffmills, music, techno

Dj mixes from net labels, under Creative Commons

This is great news for all electronic aficionados out there. Dj Mitch, the guy behind a site called deepindub.org release mixes made from tracks from different net labels (with their permission) and release them for download, under a Creative Commons license. Each mix focuses on one particular label, and main styles are deep house and minimal.
Something like this was strongly needed, given the proliferation of net labels and the lack of time we all have for listening to all. Now, instead of spending a looooot of time checking each label, track by track, you can go to deepindub and listen, in one shot, a nice mix that gives an overview of a particular label's music and spirit.
I posted some time ago about the role of DJs as artistic RSS aggregators. This is just another take on that. Thanks to deepindub.org, and I hope more initiatives like this will follow!
Tags: music, house, electronic, creativecommons, cc, mixes, mix, dj, techno, minimal