music

What to do and not to do in the DJ booth

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

dj_booth
The DJ booth is where the magic is made but sometimes a little bit of horror can be made there as well if you’re not quite sure what it the correct procedure when in that tiny space.

If you’re a budding DJ, there are a few dos and don’ts and we’ve got them run down right here in CircleMe for you.

Don’t ask the security to bring you drinks; Respect the last DJ’s collection and don’t throw his or her stuff on the ground. Don’t play longer than your allotted time. Don’t try to sabotage the next DJ’s set. Don’t diss your fellow DJ’s on social media whether Twitter or Facebook; Introduce yourself properly.

Don’t invite strangers into the booth; Don’t end your set with a strange sounding tune; Know who you are and your place and don’t disrespect the owners or manager’s space; don’t waste time while the other DJ is getting ready to do their set. Do offer words of encouragement to the DJ who will follow.

Music is great and if you follow these tips not only will you have a great set but it will also help you build a great rapport with the other DJs and that will go a long way long after the set ends.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Atkins and Von Oswald keeping the beat alive in Berlin

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

edm_culture
Electronic Dance Music or EDM is here to stay. House music developed in the black night clubs of Chicago and Detroit in the United States in the mid-1980’s and has evolved since taking a whole new generation and countries, especially in Europe by storm.

In Germany, the band Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have been helping to link the beats of Detroit with the capital Berlin.

According to Moritz Von Oswald, in an interview with Electronic Beats, the idea of playing electronic music in the German capital was a brain storm of Dimitri from Tresor who got the idea to link the music being played in the USA in Berlin.

“He really pushed things forward. He was really into getting Berlin and Detroit to connect. Tresor worked on getting [music] well spread, and over boundaries,” said Von Oswald.

Moritz doesn’t necessarily describe himself as a techno person but as a “rhythmically interested” person and he wants to put a lot of things into his music such chords and harmony into his rhythms.

Juan Atkins came onto the season in the 1980s and started the association with Von Oswald in the 1990s. One of their most important collaborations is the album Borderland.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Oneohtrix Point Never talks about Uncanny Valley

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

oneohtrixpoint

Oneohtrix Point Never has got a new album. The album came about with the use of a lyric sheet, scripts, and a text to speech programme and its being described as an “uncanny valley” of sound mixes.

The group sliced up the music and then put it together to make the album what it is.

“Whatever happened to be on whatever octave, or whatever note in the piano roll that correlated with MIDI from another track that was playing whatever melodic line would just happen,”OPN’s Steph Kretowicz told Electronic Beats in a new interview.

And he admitted that they work well with Nate Boyce because they have a similar style of using an art history undertone to their tracks.

“…Because we just see the world the same way. You can actually have both operating at the same time, in a way that is an honest appraisal”.

OPN says that the entire album was intended to have a creepy aura but a narcissistic feel in order to make it more authentic and more personal and a personal narrative.

For Kretowicz music is art and he sometimes finds that it becomes a bit confused as the form becomes blended and generic.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Win tickets to Scooter’s next concert

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

Scooter
German group Scooter will be performing in their hometown of Hamburg in Germany’s north at an exclusive launch concert come December 5 and fans will be given a chance to win tickets to the big event.

Electronic Beats magazine is offering its online readers the opportunity to win tickets to a concert performance by the techno hard dance group at Uebel & Gefährlich by just answering a simple question and sending it to them with your basic information.

The deadline for entries to the competition is November 11 at 6pm CET.

The question is simple: All you need to know is what floor the Uebel & Gefährlich club occupies.

Of course there are a few other conditions to enter such as granting the EB to use the submission on its website.

Scooter is considered to be one of the most successful German single record acts having released 23 top ten hits.

The group’s members include H.P. Baxter, Rick J. Jordan, and Michael Simon. Some of their most well-known tracks include “Hyper Hyper”, “Move Your Ass!”, “How Much is the Fish?”, “Nessaja”, and “Weekend”.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

New beats from Sub Bass

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

sub_bass

The East-London music academy Sub Bass has launched two new courses dealing specifically with how to use equipment made by German company Ableton.

The performance and production programme software by Ableton include includes Ableton Suite and Ableton Live.

The academy has launched a third course which will feature the use of Logic which will go a far way in helping aspirants in the field of deejaying and producing music.

An advanced Ableton course will be taught twice per week for two weeks and the students of the academy will get lessons in using drums, bass, melody, as well as arrangement, effects, and how to do field recordings.

There will also be an Advanced Logic course which will teach skills associated with the programme.

According to the Sub Bass founder, who was speaking to Electronic Beats, the academy wanted to expand their offerings for some time, but was waiting on the right time and right producers.

All the instructors who have been chosen to lead the courses including Glimpse and Blind Minded have a track record of success.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Amir Alexander on the move

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

amir_alexander

Amir Alexander is one of the leading names in US house music in the last few years.

The Chicago-based house music producer has won for himself fans all across Europe with his Vanguard Sound label.

Alexander will play at ADE along with the likes of John Daly, Youandeman,Roman Flugel, Giles Smith, and James Preistley.

Alexander came onto the scene after starting an association with the Secretsundaze label which has backed Midwestern US artists such as Smith, Patrice Scott, and Chez Damier.

After spending many years as a starving artist, the now 40-year-old Alexander, who first became exposed to electronic music at age 7, is glad for the opportunity to ply his trade, develop his skills, and further his discipline.

And he says while his mentality hasn’t changed it has certainly evolved and being able to play out regularly enables him to see what works and what doesn’t and in what context.

He notes that his life changed forever after he heard the full version of ‘Planet Rock’ played on the radio for the first time.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Central Europe’s biggest things in Music

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

lutto_lento

Central Europe, in countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, is really getting into its own in the house and electronic music arena.

In Budapest, Hungary some of the more intriguing sounds include those by Imre Kiss – who happens to hail from Slovakia- Asio Otus and Stanley Maneuver.

Also making their mark is the Farbwechsel crew which plays at almost every party in the city. The crew has also been a major backer of the musicians that have made a name throughout the city’s underground within the last few years.

Poland boasts some of the most unique and diverse music in Central and Eastern Europe.

Sangoplasmo is one of the big electronic music labels from out of the largest country in central Europe.

One of the names that have emerged from the Polish label is Lubomir Grzelak who performs under the alias Lutto Lento.

Wroclaw resident Lento, who has been described as a “lone ranger” has mixes that include remixes of tracks from Irish artist Enya as well as other samples.

Aranos, Folja, and Tidal are a few of the others on the Sangoplasmo label.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Blondes Ambition

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

blondes
The house music pumping pair of Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, better known as Blondes has been creating a stir in the underground with their second album Swisher. The album has been talked about a lot lately with its A and B sides “Business” and “Pleasure” and “Hater “and “Lover”. The full-length album is a mixture of German sounds from the early 1980’s.

According to Steinman, who was speaking to Electronic Beats, the pair takes a conceptual art approach which goes back to their days in college when they were part of a band called Misty which was all percussion instruments.

Haar and Steinman both graduated from the Oberlin College over ten years ago.

And Steinman says he isn’t quite sure if they are a better live band or playing in the clubs because they get mixed reaction from fans. Some prefer them live; others prefer them in the club.

Haar does admit thought that he doesn’t know if the music works in the club scene as the pair started out with the intention of doing live electronic playing although it was also always intended to be dance music.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Pete Tong announces his new album

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

pet_tong
British born DJ Pete Tong is getting ready to release a new album. Tong, who works for BBC Radio 1 in the UK will be putting together a compiled sic of house music and classics in one disc, entitled The Pete Tong Collection.

The album will feature dance music from the last three decades with 60 of the leading tracks from that period being featured.

Tong, who hosts programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Collection on the BBC, says that this is the right time to be releasing an album such as this.

“And remember where we were when we first heard these life-changing anthems. The music hasn’t gone away and its influences have only spread further, with the sound crossing over into almost any genre you’ll hear in 2013,” he told Resident Advisor.

Tong has his own record label FFRR Records and also performs in nightclubs and at music festivals across Europe.

The former resident of the Pacha Club in Ibiza is one of the most recognized DJ’s in Europe.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL

Strut Records to release Dance Mania Records in 2014

/ CircleMe / Leave a comment

strut
Strut Records is set to release a new album early in 2014. The album, entitled Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997, will do just that, feature tracks from the 11 year period in the label’s history and will hit stands in January.

This is the latest news out of the long-sleeping Chicago label which is also set top re-launch some of its own issues. Artists such as DJ Funk and DJ Deeon were some of the major names that emerged from out of the Chicago ghetto house sound back in the 1990s.

The album will also feature some tracks from Hardcore Traxx’s foundation years in the late 1980s and will also feature a few tunes from Tyree, Rhtythm to Rhythm and Hercules.

Tracks on the album include Hercules – 7 Ways, Victor Romeo feat. Leatrice Brown – Love Will Find A Way, The House Master Boyz And The Rude Boy Of House – House Nation, Duane & Co – J.B. Traxx, Vincent Floyd – I Dream You, Da Posse feat. Martell – Searchin’ Hard, Club Style – Crazy Wild, Jammin’ The House Gerald – Black Women (Club), and Tyree – Nuthin’ Wrong.

DISCOVER OTHER INTEREST ON MUSIC: SIGNUP IN CIRCLEME SOCIAL