WestsideWax - Chicago and Detroit [Classic Techno, House and Electro]

[WestsideWax]

We've finally attained what we've sought since giving our notice at the apartment from hell. Packing up the day before we departed this soul-sucking abode, I was privy to the sounds of cracking hinges and splintering wood as our neighbour drunkenly smashed in his own door after a friend of his locked him out as a joke - said friend was still in the apartment at the time, by the way. Having witnessed this hilariously disturbing dearth of patience, I can express some gratitude for our capacity to have put up with 5 months of said shenanigans, seeing as they inevitably led us to our new home; with mention also due to the sheer luxury of simply having a roof over our heads, running water and healthy food on a daily basis...

Now that most of the boxes have been cleared (4 to go, at last count), the new Casa Westside has a small, very functional basement, with walls o' solid concrete. This means no neighbours to disturb or be disturbed by, and the sound from the DJ setup and the 700-and-some-odd-watts the Behringer 2.1 delivers is FANTASTIC. It has that lovely big-room-in-a-small-room reverberation and the bass is physically tangible. It's going to be a real treat to set it up for production.

I dropped this mix yesterday afternoon - the first I've recorded in the new space, with the chill basement a stark contrast to the 40C+ degree summer sweatbox looming on the other side of the door. It's also a response mix to my mate Rents' Detroit-influenced D&B retrospective - Rents - RETROSPECTIVE V1 by Rents08 - topshelf Techno, House, Electro and various acid cuts, I just branched it off to include the lovely and captivating Chi-town. My motivation for doing this came from having recently spent some time mulling over the rivalries that exist between House and Techno DJs and producers from different U.S. cities - the main three culprits being Detroit, Chicago and New York, the centres from which most modern dance music originated. One Chicago DJ and producer I know became really irate when I offered to review his new album on my old blog, because he didn't want his music to be associated with the word "Techno" in any way, shape or form. He actually refused to let me review it, and thinking about it a year or so later, I couldn't help but put one of his traxx in this mix, where surprisingly enough, House and Techno seem to get along just fine.

Lots of analogue goodness in this one, 303s aplenty, light and airy funky mechanical deep and dark stompers, drums, drums and more drums, the late, great Aaron-Carl and gradually increasing excitement at the thought of raising the bar in a room that seems to be made-to-measure for good music.

Thanks for playing along...

60:19, 320kbps mp3, all wax, improv'd from start to end on 2.5 x 1200 (2.5 = running three decks, but not at full-throttle )

Tracklist:

1. 8088 - The Waiting - Sidereal Records
2. Gemini - Kiva Song - Cyclo
3. Rennie Foster feat. Aaron Carl - Savior - Rebirth
4. Aphrodisiac - Pressure Drop (altitude mix) - Fragile
5. Dj Bone - Ritual Mask - Subject Detroit
6. Ryan Hines - One Good Reason - Premier Records
7. Santiago Salazar - Your Club Went Hollywood - Wallshaker
8. Track Head Steve - Music - Dust Traxx
9. Virgo Four - Take Me Higher - Trax Records
10. Dopplereffekt - Voice Activated - Dataphysix Engineering
11. Saturn V - Locomotion - Nation
12. Two Of A Kind - Like This - Soul Jazz
13. DJ Hyperactive - S.O.S. - Contact
14. Robert Hood - A1 - M-Plant
15. Jay Denham - The Myth - Cosmic
16. Claude Young - Dark 3 - Djax Up-Beats
17. Andy Toth - Murder Scene - Intuit-Solar
18. Suburban Knight - The Art of Stalking - Transmat
19. Kosmic Messenger - Flashed - Plink Plonk
20. The Vision - Explain The Style - Metroplex
21. ?? - Hiccup Track (Original It's House) - White Label
22. Fresh - Dum Dum - Trax Records

[Awesomer]

I listened to your mix while driving from Lebanon, NH to my home town. I listened on subsonic + phone + cassette adapter. Here's my feedback.

- As usual, I like your taste in house and techno tracks. Your mixing was lively if occasionally a bit rough. Harmonic progession was good. Phrasing was also solid. Phasing was fine, any issues were swiftly corrected.

- Levels were good except for a tendency to mix the new record in at full volume. The total result is that you ended up noticably louder when blending then when playing one track alone.

- This mix sorta stayed at one energy level throughout. I like a bit more progression in an hour long mix.

- Thanks for the tracklisting and download and proper soundcloud embed on DJTT!

Thanks for posting, and keep at it!

[WestsideWax]

Thanks for taking the time to give this a listen and the wonderfully constructive review - always appreciated!