beastmix 07


C.D. R.I.P.

I remember when the compact disc came out… I was 15 years old when I got my first player for Christmas – one of the super fancy portable ones which was more like a small handbag and less like a portable, personal electronic device.

Here it is 27 years later and it’s pretty safe to say the medium is dead.

I finished this set around my birthday with the intent to get the discs out around the holidays but shoulder surgery would foil my plans. Coming out of the narcotic pain meds and sleep depravation haze it occurred to me that this was all was still in the ole out-box.

The little production run of 40-only physical discs I usually do of these aren’t the cheapest thing and last time I looked, my credit card was still hiding under the desk growling at anyone who approaches thanks to Xmas shopping…. sooooo…  ok… fine – this one gets pushed out “download only” – which totally makes me feel like I’m cheating. (For me) – the packaging is equivalent in importance to and as fun to make as the contents.

Now – more than ever thanks to the immediate and impersonal nature of the web – the whole idea that I can send a “physical thing” ahead of time before posting here holds a LOT of meaning.  Peers have poo-poo’d this disposition. I dunno – maybe I do get too caught up with “form”.

/digress

Mixes must go on…. Besides, due to the retrospective nature of these – I’m utterly sick of the tracks by the time the set goes out… BM08 is already on the drawing board and will evolve over the winter and Spring. Hopefully I’ll come up with some other medium to physically put these in the hands of the handful of folks I like to send things to.

This one evolved between May and September last year while knee deep in esoteric study and experiencing several profound perspective shifts which left me questioning the very fabric from which we “think” reality is fashioned from. Through this my friendship with a gentleman in my honorary home-away-from-home San Fransisco blossomed into a deeply rewarding mentorship of sorts. A practicing Buddhist, he was the first to efectively explain and subsequently teach me how to meditate. The difference it’s made in my life has been significant and I’m continuing to practice and improve.

So here’s a little audio journey of the last six months – and a thanks to you, Papa, for introducing me to the observer within.

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track list:
Still The Mind
Tricky Sandman
Mad World
Professional Griefers
Don’t Bring Me Your Soul
The One That Breaks The Stand
Imagine & Believe
Lithium
Rehab
Sweet Monster of Mine

 

CREDITS:
dedication: Joe Browning
series inspiration: Ken “Beast” Colina
athro art: Dream & Nightmare
the hard stuff: MixMeister v. 7.0.9

 

aged cheddar


I distinctly remember making jokes 20 years ago about how in the future I’ll be going to 80’s parties and they’ll be as ridiculous as the 60’s parties of the day.

Despite my soothsaying smart ass, I didn’t take into consideration a little thing called “frame of reference”.

I had no context or emotional attachment to the 1960’s. It was just an abstract concept — my parents’ decade of social progress, bell bottoms, consciousness expanding drugs and relatively free-for-all fucking with few consequences – aside from maybe… Babies.

Enter Generation X.

Now here twenty three years after the close of the decade that largely formed my personality – I got my first invitation to…. Yup….

A “1980’s Dance Party”.

It wasn’t until a good couple of days after wringing my hands over outfits that my 21st Century consciousness weighed in and said – “wow – our fashion was ridiculous” – but the eye rolling I did about the 60’s parties never happened… Just a, (for lack of a better description), “sustained squee-buzz of warm fuzzy nostalgia” overtook me.

What do you bring the hostess of an 80’s dance party? Traditional dinner party flowers and a bottle of wine wouldn’t do. So in a Starbucks-fueled frenzy last night I threw together a 50 minute run of largely rebooted oldie-moldies from my youth.

My fascination with dance music started in high school while working for Radio Shack… The strip mall where it was located was anchored by (strangely now on retrospect) a night club called “Club 747”.

One evening just before close this guy barreled through the door with two speakers under his arms and panic across his face. It was the club’s DJ – and he’d blown out his monitor speakers.

Despite his profession – he wasn’t terribly technical. To the nerdy-birdy 17 year old behind the counter – this was gravy. All was needed was a philips screw driver and the ability to tell the difference between red and black wires.

Nonetheless I had his speakers repaired in 15 minutes and had became his hero for the night. He invited me to come down to the club after I closed the store and see the booth.

I did… And as I stood by wide eyed and watched him weave songs together a love of dance music and envy of DJs that would follow me to this very day was cemented.

I’d got a couple of (cheap) direct drive turntables and started DJing parties with a couple of friends. That was as about as occupational as it ever got. Once college got underway my practice just became a method of making mix tapes for friends. Then once life got underway the tables got sold and my vinyl crated and put into storage. I’d never stop collecting remixes though.

In 2011, one of my gal-pals Amy asked me for a disc which reignited the long shelved hobby – which spawned a series that’s still running called BEAsTmix.

I have zero aspirations of doing this in any professional capacity. I’m way better at taking pictures and moving type around. But it’s fun to make mixes for friends…. Every one has a story and theme for whomever they were crafted for.

And this one’s for Jill – and what I’m sure is going to be a blast tonight.

*squee-buzz*

XOXOX

DOWNLOAD:download the file

 

 

 

 

beastmix06


Had this one done around my birthday but then wound up fiddling with it on and off while hibernating through the winter.

Given the theme it seemed better to throw this up here at the break of Spring when everything comes back to life… Nature’s systems resume the process of creation and we’re reminded the ghost is still in the machine kicking… or is that dancing.

Today’s the birthday of a very special friend who has not only inspired my ghost to dance – but has taught me a few new steps as well… ( and God damn can he cha-cha.)

Happy Spring – and… Happy Birthday to my ghost dancing brother out West.

 

track list:

Satisfaction
Feel So Close 2U
Our Lips “our” Sealed
Stop
Glad You Came
Show Me Maybe
Jessie’s Girl
Seven Loca Rattle
Whathegethefuckout
Flex Gym Duck
Que Sera Mi Vida
I Love It
Wile One Two

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CREDITS:
dedication: Chris Head
series inspiration: Ken “Beast” Colina
the hard stuff: MixMeister v. 7.0.9

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