2009 Dear Diary
Here’s a nice mix to end off the year 2009. How was it? Nice, yeah had some crises, on the money side like every one else so no complaining. I like to think it brought me closer to the guy I am really wanting to be, what I would really like to be doing. What about you?
I hope my 2009 diary is a bit like yours, plus I hope you will enjoy this music compilation. Sorry, no mixtape this time but complete tracks! Some are a bit predictable, so I will not bother you with info on Mr. Smith and Mr. T from LND who blessed my beat, or the new tunes by that Manchester Monkey, the boys from Brixton, the funny Espanishman with the red pants and yellow sneakers or a cheesy reggae hit.
Best wishes,
elected
December 31, 2009
Dear Diary
The last days of 2009… already 10 years in to this new millennium. Ten years back, at the ending of the previous century there was a trendy music style called lounge. I think most of the listeners were heading for their 30th birthday back then. Hip, polished, loungy was all you needed to be to enjoy this boring tedious computer grooves, with no 2009 party smashing hipsters involved. Recently I felt the urge to listen to the K&D sessions (1) again, and I realized that as trends fade the beat stays. And that it is not too bad to be 30.
As we enter this new decennium there is some more modern stuff going on though, even in these older genres. I already had some of his remixes, and the long awaited 2009 album of Harmonic 313 (2) is even better if you like the sub low frequency experience and some side chaining on the side. Talking about modern, the vinyl came with a free cd!
Good, because it adds to my collection. I only bought one 2009 compact disc in 2009: Bliksemschicht (3) by the talented Dutch hiphop group Zwart Licht.
I did buy more then one mp3; they are so 2009! Who expected dubstep producer Skream would get a gold plate for selling some copies of the La Roux remix (5). Heavy, both the 300 initial vinyls and the weightless mp3s they had to push to reach the 400.000.
As you can hear in the Skream mix, dubstep nowadays has some roots in the old ravey tunes from years back, like this XL Recordings classic by Dance Conspiracy (6). Pity the label did not make any fuzz about their 20th anniversary and did not email me back about the idea I had for a mixtape ;-).
One of the XL heavyweights released a new album this year, and this wild bunch went back to where they came from. Liam stayed away from the dubstep ting like he should have done with in 2004 with Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. He then burned his fingers on a singing actress and grime beats… Warriors Dance (7) is not only my favorite tune of the album but also of the Notting Hill Carnival 2009. Yeah the last three minutes of this positive reggae vibe fest you could see me on the Pineapple Tribe corner where all the ravers are: ‘Oi mate, wont some charly?’. The little starting riots were a bit negative but did give me some extra adrenaline for my warrior whoos. More riots by the way during that ridiculous Movado sing a long song (15).
More whooos on this Oizo tune (8) that gave me the best smiles during the worst gigs. My best gigs with the most wooing crowds were with Nobody Beats The Drum (9). As a stand I played with them in the outskirts of our flat land. And in the BK land. And the North African.
Also, a lot of wobwobs in the 2009. As a DJ I tried to enjoy the fact that dubstep got so big, but not to jump on this wobbly wagon too much. Best plan for the 2010: keep it creative like this Tek Step tune (10), because it is simply impossible to rock harder then Rusko. Man, this one really blew me away and I was happy this 2008 tune finally got released on vinyl (11).
I produced some dubstep myself this year; I even recorded a song with digital dancehall legend Mikey Murka. Helas, we@sirkusrecordings.com decided not to release it… might get some better results in 2010 with Kenny Knots (16) who was here in Amsterdam to play with Mungo’s Hifi (12).
Next to my new plans about the music, there are serious plans on my upcoming website about books … and music. As a start I did an interview for readersdiscotheque.com with a writer who mentions many good tunes in his books. I finally got to listen some tunes I knew I should have gotten into way before 2009 (18).
Soundtracks to a novel, as a background in the elevator, whatever. This old Coltrane tune (19) was the perfect music to a fabulous day I had with my mom. Not only the birthday presents, nor the beef ‘n spinach, we simply had a great day discussing many things. Both ready for the 2010.
More jazz, from a different continent and hardly for sale in Holland nowadays. 2009 was the year of the big closing down of the good goods stores. My dad, being a specialist in a different trade, managed to keep on selling plates even crates. My favorite record store went down though, but I managed to buy a copy of the Mahmoud Ahmed record me and my girl had been looking for (20). His continent has more goods by the way. What is Tom Waits babbling about anyway (21)?
Anyway, Real romance in 2010… and the biggest WHOOOOOOOOOO!!! My girl proposed to me this past year! Date set, 7th of August 2010, all welcome to our little festival. Don’t know what to say… got me locked. She has, my mind has, my whole body. But I also feel I could explode while typing this. The melody of this last song got me locked as well. The lyrics are dark and dramatic, I think beautifully romantic (22).
Happy New Year!
