Yea, it’s true the 2nd “Official snowfall” for the 2009 Fall/Winter has occured. It was pretty much looking like a powdered doughnut outside when I woke up this morning and pretty much melted by noon, but at 2:00 it hit like gangbusters.

Me and my wife were enjoying a good game of mafia wars and we looked outside and it looked like a blanket of whiteout had been dumped on the neighborhood. Driving thru this crud infested snow was horrible and I have to possibly drive thru it after work at midnight.
————————————————————————

Oh and to Phant I think with something you said earlier today that you’d apperciate this little Diddy…..

You’re not the only one that gets down and wit da funky.

Idén till min Rednex-artikel i vårnumret av Novell föddes när jag läste en notis om bandmedlemmarnas konflikter – att två olika uppsättningar av gruppen turnerade samtidigt, och att både utgav sig för att vara Rednex. Något så absurt måste undersökas närmare, tänkte jag.

Så här i efterhand har jag dock insett att situationen kanske inte var helt unik. Jag hört påstås att både Boney M och The Animals har turnerat i flera parallella konstellationer. Och nyss snubblade jag in på 2 Unlimiteds hemsida (av anledningar som jag inte kan gå in på just nu). Där hittade jag, under fliken “news”, följande välstavade rubriker:

7 oktober: New single, new album : a come back !?

10 oktober: Too Unlimited ? : another come back !?

Den holländska belgiska eurocombon gick ju till comebackhistorien redan med 1998 års “återförening”. Då släppte 2 Unlimited en ny skiva efter något års vila. Det märkliga var att ingen av de två gamla medlemmarna var med, utan hade bytts ut mot nya, helt okända sångerskor.

Nu gör alltså båda dessa grupper comeback – samtidigt. I januari släpper originalduon Ray och Anita sin första singel tillsammans på tretton år. Bara tre dagar efter att den nyheten kom avslöjades att 1998 års ersättare Romy och Marion också har en comebacksingel på gång. Om jag inte redan hade gjort något snarlikt så hade jag genast börjat skissa på Det Stora 2 Unlimited-Reportaget…

(Jag rekommenderar för övrigt ett besök på 2 Unlimited-sajten. Den ser ut vara byggd lagom till världssuccén med “No limit” 1993.)

Internet gaat alweer een tijdje mee. Volgens Wikipedia wordt de term ‘internet’ al sinds ‘74 gebruikt en bestaat het medium sinds 1983 in zijn huidige technische vorm. De gemiddelde Nederlander maakte ergens in de jaren negentig kennis met internet. 2-Unlimited knalde bij wijze van spreke uit je stereotoren terwijl je vijf minuten naar een pruttelende modem moest luisteren voor je éindelijk naar www.vindex.nl kon surfen om daar ‘Brad Pitt’ in te tikken. Daarna kon je onder de naam Girl1985 over Brad chatten in chatboxen (‘babbelbox’ noemden taalpuristen die). In die chatboxen kreeg je na één minuut van iemand de vraag of je iets vies over je poesje wilde typen.

Er ontstond (pre-hyves en CU2) wildgroei aan websites, waarvan vooral de persoonlijke aanleiding gaven tot hilarische nieuwsberichten (‘man krijgt duizenden huwelijksaanzoeken door website’) en felle discussies over fifteen minutes of meaningless fame. Want iedereen die zich er even over boog, kon met html of een kant-en-klaar programma een website bouwen. Als je slim was, deed je dat gratis bij Geocities.

Geocities is sinds vorige week niet meer. Volgens de Nederlandse programmeur Jacques Mattheij doodzonde: want met Geocities verdwijnt die schat uit de jaren negentig. Hij bedacht daarom dat je websites die al meer dan tien jaar verlaten of vergeten op het net liggen, net als oude kranten, kunt archiveren. En dat is ‘ie nu dus aan het doen. Een prachtinitiatief vind ik. Niet alleen omdat er nu een schat aan informatie over de jaren negentig & de ontwikkeling van het web als medium bewaard blijft, maar ook om de pure nostalgie die de door hem bewaarde websites oproepen bij de kijker. Wie had bijna twintig jaar geleden kunnen denken dat zijn html-meesterwerk (monofoon muziekje erachter, korrelige gifjes en als achtergrond een baksteenmotief) in 2009 net zo cult zou zijn als Bob Ross?

Dus grijp de tissues, zet je stereotoren aan en surf naar de site van Mattheij (klik op ‘neighborhoods’). Ik heb zelf het eerst bakstenen behangetje al gevonden.

Naan who’s she !? i think you know her very well she did vocals for Benassi Bros, Favretto, Pochill & Benny Benassi.
Now is back with a new collaboration with Oral Tunez, the tune is called “Till you drop” and includes five versions (the Original and the Remixes made by Thomas Rich, Favretto & Battini, Monoloop and D- Bag).

2Unlimited Awesome news for all 2 Unlimited fans ! 14 years after they quitted the project, Ray and Anita from are working on some new songs, along with one of their former producers Phil Wilde. The album could be released in April of next year. The project name is unknown for the moment (thanks to 2 Unlimited official fansite).

TMF Awards 2009 Don’t miss the TMF Awards 2009 next saturday, you can watch them online from TMF website. And don’t forget to vote for your favorites. Milk inc are nominated in 3 categories (best video, best dance, best live), Lasgo in 1 category (best dance), Sylver in 2 categories (best dance, best album), Annagrace (former Ian van Dahl) in 1 category (best dance),Kate Ryan in 1 category (best pop) and Cascada in 1 category (best dance international).

Infos by Karine Sanche

S*E*X Appeal When 2 eurodance legends join, the result can’t be else than excellent. Discover SEX Appeal feat LayZee’s new single Gimme (Safer Sex). The single will be released soon on all digital megastores.

19:01 uur
NRJournaal/nationaal realisme

NRD STEMBUREAU 1  
Nationaal Realisties Parlementverkiezingen 
opiniepeiling 28 september – 4 oktober
uitslag 5 oktober 200g

Nationaal Realisties Parlementsverkiezingen; uitslag in zetels

Naam: uitslag Tweede Kamer 2006 – eerste peiling 5/10 Nationaal Realisties Parlement

Christen Democratisch Appèl: 41 -  25
Partij van de Arbeid: 33 - 0
Socialistische Partij:  25 - 25
Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie:  22 - 0
Partij Voor de Vrijheid - Geert Wilders 9 - 0 
Groen Links: 7 - 0
Christen Unie: 6 - 0
Democraten 1966: 3 - 0
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij: 2 - 50
Partij voor de Dieren: 2 – 0
Trots op Nederland: 0 – 0 
Nationaal Realistiese Partij: 0 - 50
Overige partijen: 0 - 0 – 0

De Nationaal Realistiese Parlementsverkiezingen vanaf 11 november a.s.

PREVIOUSLY ON HEY, DO YOU REMEMBER…

Sports. Charles Barkley. The song from Friends. Jock Jams (please reference below).

…

The Official Jock Jams, Volume 1 Complete Track Rundown (cont.)

6. Pump It Up, Go ‘Head, Go ‘Head–If memory serves, this is a cheerleader cheer. You know, in case you’re not pumped enough after the first five songs. I appreciate a soundtrack that looks out for the best interest of the listener’s cranked-ness.

7. Come Baby Come by K7 (1993)–I know that some self-respecting women don’t care for rap songs that tell them what to do, and even the title of K7’s Jock Jams entry is imperative, but how are you ladies going to resist a song that rhymes ‘innuendo’ with ‘Nintendo’?

8. It Takes Two by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock (1988)–Warning: NOT a cover of the Kim Weston/Marvin Gaye song. It may take two to make it outta site, but it only takes one to listen to this masterpiece on repeat in his bedroom until dinner time.

9. Gridiron Groove–Not a real song. Next.

10. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C+C Music Factory (1990)–Wikipedia credits this jam with the initiation of the early 90s house movement. I’ll see if I can find an address to post up so you all can mail in your thank yous.

11. Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty by Nature (1993)–Still trying to find some of those Naughty by Nature bedsheets. Damn you, Santa.

12. Pump Up the Volume by M/A/R/R/S (1987)–How can a track that seems so simple also seem so repetitive? If all I need is a drum machine, some scratch effects, and an Eric B. & Rakim sample, then I will single-handedly resurrect the Jock Jams series! Who’s coming with me?

13. The Power by Snap! (1990)–If you listen to this one and DO NOT feel like you’ve got The Power, I personally owe you $12.99.

14. Uh, Ungawaa!–No idea.

15. Unbelievable by EMF (1990 [U.K.], 1991 [U.S.])–A little band called Queen proved that a group of scrawny, pale Englishmen could write songs that would rock American sports arenas for years and years. Then EMF proved that a group of scrawny, pale Englishmen could write a song that would advertise a Kraft Foods product around the year 2005. Crumbelievable? Believe it!

16. Y.M.C.A. by Village People (1978)–Whether you hear this classic at a Chuck-E-Cheese or The Bloke Stroke Bar & Night Club, you’re doing the dance. You know you’re doing the dance…

17. Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic (1989)–This song went triple platinum. Triple. Platinum. This song, Pump Up the Jam, it went triple platinum. 3X platinum.

Triple. Triple platinum.

18. Twilight Zone by 2 Unlimited (1992)– You unlock this door with the key of UNLIMITATION. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of SOUND, a dimension of SWEAT, a dimesion of BOOTY. You’re moving into a land of both BASS and RHYME CAPABILITY, of GRINDS and AROUSALS; you’ve just crossed over into the TWILIGHT ZONE BY 2 UNLIMITED.

19. The Old Ballgame by Ray Castoldi–Ray Castoldi tickles the organ keys for the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, and the New York Mets. I have to thank ESPN for presenting a compilation that includes a jazzed up breather track like this one right before the electrifying finale.

20. Rock and Roll Part 2 (The Hey Song) by Gary Glitter (1972)–This tune has been an institution of sports culture since it first played at a Colorado Rockies game in the late 70s. Hands down one of the most recognizable songs you’ve ever drunkenly swayed back and forth to. My friend Corey and I once double-handedly initiated the Wave at a hockey game to The Hey Song. We literally did the wave over and over again by ourselves until we finally got our entire section standing up. Then sitting down. Then standing up. Then BOOM! The Wave, son.

I won’t go into the details, but it turned out that Gary Glitter is a freak. You can look up the specifics elsewhere. Suffice it to say that many teams no longer play the song during their events and if they do then it’s usually a cover version. But, hey, don’t let that keep you from enjoying this live performances of Rock and Roll.

This video contains the fabled Rock and Roll Part 1 before Part 2. Part 1 is similar to Part 2, but there is one major difference. Can you spot it? (Hint: THERE’S LYRICS!)

I wrote in Part 1 of this post that Jock Jams was the greatest moment in the marriage of music and sports. I believe the runner-up deserves an honorable mention.

Ladies and gentlemen, John Tesh’s Roundball Rock! LIVE IN CONCERT!

Sports. I’m watching them right now. Is there a more effective avenue for sheilding our weak minds from the misery of life? Movies are cool, yes. Books? Sure. I like books. I’m an avid book-looker. Friendship? The company of a dear friend is assured relief probably. Does music help? That depends on how much Mariah you have. What about love? You didn’t read the question correctly.

But there’s something you just don’t get from the aforementioned answers: PURE ATHLETIC DOMINANCE.

Humans are competitive by nature. Show me someone who is completely uncompetive and I’ll show you the South American brown-throated sloth. Because that would be the same thing that you showed me. Get it?

Of course you do. Furthermore, BOOYAH!

I apologize for being somewhat instigative there, but that’s how it goes in the Wide World of Sports. You talks da trash and then you brings da ruckus. That’s why the planet Earth loves sports. Who wants to button up their day with some adult contemporary when there’s a power forward out there eatin’ dem nutz?

If I haven’t convinced everybody on the internet to agree with me (which is always Objective #1), then surely you agree with me on this: A great game of sports is only as great as the music that pumps up the fans.

Not many sports fans are aware of the historically documented moment in which the marriage of music and sports surpassed the awesomeness levels of all other sports-related crowd-pumping techniques. This list includes cheerleaders, mascots, foam fingers, mini-helmet ice cream porringers, face paint, nachos, Charles Barkley, and even arduous high-fiving. Do you know what this moment was? If your answer contains the words “marching” and “band” in it, get the hell off my website.

Jock Jams, Volume 1 is my favorite loosely sports-themed album of 1995. It collects the hottest crowd-pumpin’ grooves of all time for God’s sake. If I was going to throw something on my boombox back then, it was usually a tough choice between JJ1, The Lion King soundtrack, and The Rembrandts‘ L.P. If I wanted the choreography of a stadium dance rapped to me, there was no choice.

Who knew almost all of these crowd-pleasers were actually love letters to casual sex? You know, besides adults.

The Official Jock Jams, Volume 1 Complete Track Rundown:

1. Lets Get Ready to Rumble by Michael Buffer–If you’ve never seen or heard this, you need to hook up cable to your igloo.

2. Get Ready for This by 2 Unlimited (1991)–Have you ever listened to a song that made you want to decapitate adversity more than this one?

3. Whoomp! (There It Is) by Tag Team (1993)–”Point blank gin and juice I drank, gettin’ bent and bent as a puff on a dankt. Rock a mic. Uh oh, I crave skin. Rip shit, find a honey to dip it in. Slam dunk it, stick it, flip it, and ride that B-O-DOUBLE T-Y. Oh my. Oh, that’s it. Come on, come on. Whoomp, there it is. I’m done.”–DC

4. Strike It Up by Black Box (1991)–Opening this box reveals gift of smoothness. To: White people. From: Italy.

5. Tootsee Roll by 69 Boyz (1994)–Directional moving and hip-dipping in the name of ASS. Also, turns out group name is more suggestive than impressive. It would be difficult to argue with that many dudes who all wanted to see it.

To be continued…

09:11 uur
Nationaal realisme

DIK DEKKER

 Groningen – De beslissing van Joseph Stabbels - politiek leider van de Nationaal Realistiese Partij – om de Nationaal Realistiese Parlementsverkiezingen van 1 januari 20!0 naar 11 november 200g te verplaatsen is met instemming begroet.

Een juiste beslissing volgens de R.A.H. *). De systeemcrash dendert voort en Nederland is reddeloos verloren. Het Nationaal Realisties Parlement is een eerste stap op weg naar de Nieuwe Gouden Eeuw. Niet voor niets predikt Stabbels nog altijd de eerste Nederlander op de maan. Het Nationaal Realisties Parlement biedt niet alleen totaaldemocratie, zij geeft gegarandeerd de winnaar de regeringszetel, iets wat het huidige, bijna tweehonderd jaar oude  semi-democratiese kiesstelsel , niet kan garanderen.

Hoe werkt het?

De verkiezingen zijn verdeeld over 12 maanden. Elke maand kiest één provincie. Groningen begint. De winnaar van de verkiezing krijgt het aantal zetels van de provincie. Alle provincies bijelkaar vertegenwoordigen 150 zetels. De zetelverdeling naar provincie gaat per inwoneraantal. Stemmen kunt U bij het NRD STEMBUREAU. Op 11 november 2010 zal het Nationaal Realisties Parlement voor het eerst voltallig en bevoegd zijn.

Verkiezingsdata Nationaal Realisties Parlement

Groningen (5 zetels) 11 november 200g/10 december 200g
Friesland (6 zetels) 11 december 200g/10 januari 20!0
Drenthe (4 zetels) 11 januari 20!0/10 februari 20!0
Overijssel (11 zetels) 11 februari 20!0/10 maart 20!0
Flevoland (3 zetels) 11 maart 20!0/10 april 20!0
Gelderland (18 zetels) 11 april 20!0/10 mei 20!0
Utrecht (11 zetels) 11 mei 20!0/10 juni 20!0
Noord-Holland (24 zetels) 11 juni 20!0/10 juli 20!0
Zuid-Holland (32 zetels) 11 juli 20!0/10 augustus 20!0
Zeeland (3 zetels) 11 augustus 20!0.10 september 20!0
Noord-Brabant (23 zetels)11 september 20!0/10 oktober 20!0
Limburg (10 zetels) 11 oktober 20!0/10 november 20!0
enzovoorts

!! november 20!0
opening Nationaal Realisties Parlement

*) Rotterdam – Antwerpen – Hamburg

This morning Last.Fm sent me a gig recommendation to go to the other side of Belgium to visit Marbehan, as everyone’s favourite band with absolutely zero limits, 2 Unlimited are for some reason (presumably unlimited) playing.

Unfortunately the drive takes me into the French part of Belgium, of which I am still terrified of.

deux illimité? No.

Techno-making, no mistaking, never fakin’, always breaking it down, UH to a party’

Ray Slijngaard (‘Let My Beat Control Your Body’)

Possibly because through them the producers in the driving seat were fulfilling their stud-encrusted pleather fantasies but there was a bottomless pit full of female singer/black rapper duos in the heydays of Eurodance. It was the quintessential act: Cappella, La Bouche, Culture Beat, T-Spoon, Magic Affair, E-Rotic, Twenty 4 Seven, Pharao…this might be the longest list in the history of lists.

But no one rocked this format better than Ray and Anita of 2 Unlimited. Never pandering to the summer hits crowd with reggae-tinged jingle pop and a few easy-to-follow dance moves; they were technoheads right down the line. With Belgium producers John Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde behind them, this Dutch twosome with their ridiculous good looks presented rave as drug-free and child-friendly to the readers of Smash Hits and their European equivalents. And their second release No Limits! is undoubtedly the definitive album of the era.

Kicking off with the hits [no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no there’s] ‘No Limit’ and ‘Tribal Dance’ you might think they’d powered out. And certainly whoever owned the cassette version of the album I managed to get my hands on seemed to think so as those first tracks are distinctly woozy from stretched tape and repeated play. But then ‘Mysterious’ hits, Ray announces ‘it’s time to make the floor burn’ and so they light their BPMs on fire and throw them into the masses like a Hi-NRG Molotov cocktail. You are not allowed to take a break, and god forbid, you sit down.

The harder the beats the more soothing Anita’s voice is and once you throw in Ray’s oft-banal but brilliant rapping, it’s pure Eurodance genius. ‘Faces’, ‘The Power Age’, ‘Throw the Groove Down’, ‘R.U.OK.’ all putting in a combined effort to work your heart rate into a frenzy. But once ‘Let The Beat Control Your Body’ drops, pushing out the last droplets technojuice you know you’re over the hump and ‘Invite Me To Trance’ can lull you back down. Happy days.

[Originally reviewed for PUB.lication: The Eurodance Issue]

A short history regarding the influence of electronic music in my life.

Forward: This post has been published as much for myself as for you. For some reason I found it important to capture my feelings on this subject and publish them. Thus, it’s my great pleasure to document them in public for your consideration. As per the motivation for this blog, I enjoy the discretion and ultimate finality of subjecting my thoughts for criticism, therefore you are an important judge of my ideas, or a witness to my madness, however you choose to interpret your role. This post is over 2700 words long, so grab something to eat, a drink, and enjoy.

I had a ‘moment’ a couple of months ago. A defining moment of burgeoning reflection. I had been asked what drew me into the electronic music and DJ scene – a music and community that has carved a permanent niche in my psyche. It gave me pause when I was asked this, not because no one had ever asked me before, but because of the genuine interest, coming from a person who knew me before I got into it and knows me since.

I have asked myself this question before, because it has perplexed me at different points too. See, I’m not an enthusiast of any other kind of music whatsoever. Sure I “like” other music, but the sheer span of distance between my almost organic and intrinsic passion for electronica versus my modest-at-best enjoyment of any other genre is enormous. I don’t think they’ve built a bridge that long and tall yet. I also invested heavily into the music in every aspect, including, for a time, it’s culture. I have had my wonderful wife along for much of the ride, and she’s provided me balance and steadiness throughout. I’m forever grateful to her for our partnership.

So the story goes something like this:

My affinity for electronic music started before I even knew it. At the turn of the nineties I was a big fan of the likes of MC Hammer, Snow and Vanilla Ice (yes, I’ll admit it). I was just a young lad at the time, barely a teenager. I recall many nights staying up well past my bedtime, huddled under my sheets and listening to Calgary’s late night radio – AM106 and their nightly “Top Ten at Ten.” MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” was a hit then – it aired most nights and I loved that song and those like it. Being so young, I didn’t buy a lot of music, except for the odd cassette tape. Couple that with other priorities in life like school and friends and such, musical discovery took a serious back seat.

A year or two later, MC Hammer started being replaced on the Top Ten at Ten by Pearl Jam, Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins, all of whom I despised. Well not them, but their music. I’ve never liked rock n’ roll. I continued to buy the very odd tape and CD, including MuchMusic’s Dance Mix ‘94 and ‘95, which included tracks by the likes of Enigma, Reel 2 Real, 2 Unlimited, Technotronic and Haddaway. With the dissipation of my favorite tunes on the radio, however, and with music not being particularly important to me at the time, nor knowing what to look for in the music section of CD stores, I stopped listening to music nearly altogether between 1995 and 1996. I was music-less, and over this period I grew to understand and appreciate that something was lacking.

I was in my grade 11 year in 1996, and, like any other band student (I played tenor saxophone), was reliably found in the band room most often, especially for practices. One day, a fellow band student happened to play something on the band room stereo that caught my attention. It stopped a conversation I was having. It was nothing like I had ever heard before, and entirely perfect to my ears. The song had flowing melody, haunting synth, and huge, rolling bass lines. I asked him to play it again, and again, until the other students protested. Turns out the track – Consensual Worlds – was on a CD called Semantic Spaces by Canadian duo Delerium. What was this I was listening to? I was decisively and unquestionably enamored. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I bought that CD in short order.

My dad took an interest in Delerium as well – whether for his own enjoyment, to share in my enthusiasm or because we only had one stereo in our house, I do not know, but the two of us listened to their music quite a bit together. It certainly helped that my Dad had a kick-ass stereo system, including a PSB sub woofer the size of a coffee table in our living room. I can viscerally remember my Dad driving me to an early morning dentist appointment before school one day. Sitting in the chilly car in the parking lot of the shopping centre the dentist’s office was in and holding a brand new copy of Delerium’s second release – Karma. I remember peeling off the plastic wrap and inspecting its contents. This new album contained collaborative material with the likes of Sarah McLachlan and the famed original version of Silence.

You know, it’s hard to conceive of a time before the internet; before the likes of Google, iTunes and Discogs.com. Back then, if you found music you liked and wanted more, you were hard pressed to find it, unless you happened upon a music store employee who understood what you were looking for. It wasn’t entirely my fault that it was taking this long for me to fully understand the music I had always been growing in love with – there weren’t “electronic” sections in the music stores yet. Delerium, for example, was routinely found in the “alternative” section, amongst Weird Al Yankovic and books on tape. How archaic. And it was for this reason that I slid back into a fog of musical apathy and unknowing for another period of time.

Heading to university in the fall of 1997, music had once again taken a back seat in my life. I was going away to school – to the University of Victoria. I was legally still a minor in my first year, only 18 in a province where bars admitted 19 or older. I hung around with friends who were fans of all sorts of music, but not dance music. My next door neighbor in residence was trying hard to be seen as a hardcore snowboard fanatic, and therefore had punk and hard rock playing constantly. I can’t tell you how many times I heard Pennywise’s Bro Hymn get played. I even learned how to play it on guitar.

In second year I became more cognisant of my musical tastes, yet still unaware that Delerium represented an entire genre of music that I would come to enjoy. While one friend constantly belted out U2, whom I enjoyed most of the time, another friend named Cliff introduced me to trance – a style of electronica that could be labeled dance music. He had big and horribly commercial box sets called something like Best Ever Trance 1, 2, 3 and 4. In my ignorance I rather enjoyed these, or at least a few songs on each CD. I wasn’t sure what I was listening to, but I do recall borrowing them from him on several occasions. Around this point I was somehow introduced to Robert Miles, who had recently released his famous album, Dreamland. I soon bought it.

On a fateful evening, after one of the most calamitous days of my life, Cliff and his friends took me to the bar to decompress. The bar was Evolution and a DJ from Seattle named Donald Glaude happened to be spinning. This was the first time I’d ever seen a real DJ mixing records. Despite really enjoying the music, I couldn’t understand what he was doing. He was frantically turning knobs, moving needles and changing records, but none of his actions seemed to correspond in time with the music. And what were his headphones for? I didn’t get up and dance, rather I sat back and watched from a relative distance.

In my 3rd year, circa 1999 turned 2000, I could often be found at Vertigo, the campus nightclub, each Thursday night, if not more often. Vertigo had a great sound system and was an altogether great club – one of the best in Victoria at the time. Meeting friends, hanging out and struggling to improve my consumption tolerance was the order of the day each time out, and I was having a blast. It was a relatively drunken stupor, one evening, that drew me up to the DJ booth to introduce myself to the guy on the decks, DJ Mischiff, aka Adrian. I wrestled my way through the girls to tell him how much I liked what he was playing and to buy him a drink. I really did enjoy what he was playing and told him as much: his top 40 club tunes were way better than the other bar’s top 40 (this is where you insert tongue into cheek). Jason Nevins’ and Run DMC’s “It’s Like That” was a favorite, as was Daft Punk’s “Around the World,” and Mischiff served them up tactfully and liberally to the masses every night. I asked Adrian if I could hang out on occasion and watch what he was doing. Truth be told, this was more of a strategy to beat the line-ups and avoid cover charge than pure Catholic interest, but I can only say this aloud now because the results superseded the motives (sorry none the less, Adrian). He said sure, and not long after, I was hanging out with him three nights a week. Adrian was, and probably continues to be, a genuinely nice guy and eventually he mentioned that I ought to show up at the beginning of the night, because that’s when I would maybe get a chance to try my hands on the CD decks. So I did.

I began routinely arriving at about 8:30 pm on Thursdays. This was when Adrian was provided the freedom to play what he really liked – all sorts of deep, dark and moody atmospheric tracks that didn’t have club vibes or lyrics, but shook the foundations of the building. The rhythms were reminiscent of African tribal beats. Reminiscent, in fact, of one of my Dad’s old albums – Paul Simon’s Graceland, which I remember enjoying a lot in my early years. Adrian would tell me that this was the sort of thing that he enjoyed listening to the most, but that he could only play at the beginning of the night. When people started to file in, he had been told several times by the manager to switch to club tunes because that’s what people wanted and that’s what people were drinking to. A couple of fortuitous club nights later in the year, and having discovered this new taste in music with friends and roommates, I became compelled by this music that satisfied every bone in my body.

By the time my third year ended, I moved home to Calgary and informed my parents that I was saving up for a mixer and turntables over the summer, despite literally never having touched a turntable before (club and radio DJs traditionally used push-button cd decks, while electronica DJs used vinyl and turntables, until turntables moved to digital beginning about 2002). And, as many people know about me, for better or worse, I followed through. The rest, I suppose you could say, is history (or at least another post for another time).

I’ve always thought of electronica as a beautiful collision and symbiotic relationship between rhythm and melody. Some sub-genres, specifically house, but also techno, drum and bass, and electro skew more towards rhythm, while others such as trance, ambient and chill tangent more towards melody. I find that progressive house and the now nearly-evaporated sub-genre of progressive trance are more down the middle. So what does this music do for me that is so consuming? I’ve tried to figure that out, and here’s what I have concluded so far:

The repetitive principle of electronica, the methodical progressions in tempo and the gaining and receding layers of complexity are the most compelling elements. They allow me to melt within each song and consider its environment, rather than pay attention to a lyric or a musician. Similarly, the 4:4 rhythms of both 4:4 beats and breakbeats provide an exotic, if not ancient foundation upon which the tapestry of this futuristic music is woven. And despite the similar tempo and drum beats incumbent on nearly every electronica track, the variations and variability of each track is nearly unlimited. It’s a juxtaposition – the entire genre of electronic music shares commonality across its spectrum, and yet the opportunity to be wildly different is perhaps unparalleled versus other genres in music. Why? Partly because electronica is entirely that – electronic. Instruments and drums are actually sampled sounds which are then placed into a music program from which a song is built. The lack of live instrumentation or performance confounds some people, including my dad, who enjoys music as a performance art. I, on the other hand, see the electronic and artificial aspect of the music as offering a limitlessness in its possible composition.

With pop music, for example, the formula has become almost predictable. I would suggest this is because there are far greater limitations in how pop music songs and those of other live performance genres can be written, played and scored based on the reality of the limitations and imperfections of its musicians and those faced in real-time performance and recording. This isn’t meant to knock live music; live performance is an art in itself that I appreciate. The thing about electronic music is that the final product can be written and assembled with flawless execution over countless hours, involving any degree of complexity or simplicity. In no other type of music are composers so scrutinizing.

The attribute of electronica that I appreciate the most is that it provides the most direct path to the genius of the composer, being that there are minimal instrument and live recording limitations. I think it’s a luxurious position to be in for an electronica composer to know their kick-drum will be perfectly timed and produced each and every beat. I should note that I fully respect both live instrument performance and electronica (and the hybrid – no pun intended – of live performance electronica); it’s just that I enjoy one more.

I also have a great respect for the DJ (to clarify, ‘underground’ or performance DJs, not radio, wedding or bar DJs) – he or she who combines tracks of their choosing to provide a different performance art aspect to the electronic genre. Consider someone who can compose their own concert based on other peoples’ music, or their own, and deliver an experience that is entirely different and unique than if one had listened to the same music in a different order or as songs by themselves, qualified by their skill and measured by your real-time perception. Not unlike a painting: every piece of art is derived from the same palate of colors, but the end results are so completely different. The canvas of music is unending, and the entire musical experience incorporates layers and fluctuations of tempo, intensity, and volume over a short or very long period.

Long after I’ve stopped DJing, my love for this music remains unwavering. That said, the direction many of my favorite producers and DJs have gone in recent years (since about 2005) has disappointed me quite a lot. Many of my idols are now playing musical styles unrepresentative of their earlier years, to an audience who I am not sure truly appreciates it. To me at least, today’s electronica for the most part does not carry the same meaning as it did at the turn of the century. Whether or not this is symbolic of the direction of the genre as a whole, I don’t know, but my enthusiasm for finding new artists is lacking and that’s having an impact on finding new music to enjoy. Fortunately I have many great friends who continue to toil their trade and provide me with just that little bit of kick to get me through my days. Thanks to each of them and all of my influences along the way.