process: part 001...
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...:::...this is the beginning of something new...of something that i hope will reveal the idea of process a little bit further...

so much of the time there is a removal from the making part of art, of creativity in general...whether it be music or film or photography or drawing or design or...

things become so product oriented...

i have been asking fellow bloggers/artists/dj/critics to contribute to a new series that aims to touch on the space between the zero end of creation and the 'made'. that is: on what happens in the in-between (you know 'ma'?). as sets begin rolling into my inbox along with their makers words about construction (track selection, sequencing, context, technicalities, relationships, inspiarations, etc.), i have been starting to hear and read some of the ecclectic responses to a singular situation. it's lovely and fantastic. below: the first three...:::...

PATRICK RADDATZ

i agree to sol le witt that things should be described as simple as possible. this reminds me much of mark ernestus' and moritz von oswald's attitude to their music, basic channel, chain reaction, rhythm & sound (…), to not stand in front of the music but to let the music stand in front of you. my history of and attitude towards musical reception and beyond that, art, grew on the fundaments of the basic channel cd and autechre's amber. timeless pieces of an attitude that gains, again, importance to me...

(and from email excerpts from patrick raddatz to modyfier): i came across freund der familie on your site, you see, the laws of certain physics correspond to those of sociology to a great extent. i see mixing a set as an important form of curating. it creates an excitement that acts as a cleaning agent washing off the bricolage of sediments that add up in day time. exchange is very important to me. one day, the merging of realities, that jeff mills talks of on his the other day ep, creates one and that's a fascinating idea. just like music...:::...there are the pros and cons of mixing, and i prefer you saying "structuring" which makes so much more sense, when there is no imperative of clubs or dancefloors. we all know the soul thing, the spiritual thing and those things but when you look at your own sketch book, when I look at my sketch book, it is the manifestation of the amalgamation of all that moves you as a whole entity during that moment, when we do what we did. the impetus that lies within whatever kind of art I pursue, here at my university of arts, is an act of literally cutting out what lies within and shall not fade. some things just are not meant to be ephemeral. that's a big relief to me.

tracklist :: patrick raddatz's set

01. hasta cuando / christian dittmann / rrygular
02. lohn & brot / efdemin / liebe detail
03. i can take it / theo parrish / sound signature
04. transistor slugs / soulphiction / sonar kollektiv
05. m4 / maurizio / maurizio
06. above the skyline / mr james barth & alexi delano / svek
07. my answer / charley’s vault / twilight
08. soul in a bottle / jay haze feat. big bully & sven vt / kindisch
09. lycra (wishmountain’s tight fit) / alter ego / harthouse
10. ritual (stefan tretau remix) / freund der familie / broque
11. touch / pig & dan / cocoon recordings
12. black 1 ltd / danilo vgorito / white label

MY BEST FRIEND

i simply put together some tracks that i like right now. the order is somewhat pretty random, although i usually keep my sets in different parts. the "wild" part in this set is between track 3 and 8. the end is alot calmer than the middle, so is the beginning aswell. it's the technique of dj:ing i use right now. it's pretty hard for me recording a set, but it had to be done! i love to dj live, with a crowd and a mixer with two cd-players, but this is alright aswell. hope you enjoy it!

tracklist :: my best friend's set

01. alex smoke - never want to see you again (slam remix)
02. barem - looks
03. rekorder - 7.1
04. exercise one - debaya (daniel stefanik remix)
05. alexi delano & xpansul - bubble in a vacuum
06. marc houle - bay of figs
07. dustin zahn - the need for faith
08. friendly people - 99.9
09. grindvik - monuments
10. paul ritch - samba
11. marcel knopf - narain (dapayk remix)
12. agnès - underwater controverse
13. extrawelt - 8000
14. tadeo - aceite
15. gabriel ananda - doppelwhipper (live)

8BALL

when i play out, i tend to play to the floor and the tracks i select are generally based on the party vibe. when i'm putting together a mix like this, though, the process is totally different. i throw all sorts of stuff into the mix, because i'm fairly eclectic in my listening habits, and 75 minutes of one kind of vibe just won't make it on my iPod. the mix has to go somewhere, a lot of places actually, and it has to keep hold of my extremely poor attention span. this is the 4th volume in a series of ADD-friendly mixes (deckless wonder vol 1 – 3 are on spacecowboys.org), but this one has more of the tracks i'd play at a party, mainly because i've got breakfast of champions on the brain right now. some of the tracks are new, some are old, some are cheeky, some are cheesy, some are funky, some are techy, there's a bit of hip hop, a bit of rock, and a lot of farty basslines.

tracklist :: 8ball's set

01. nelly furtado / maneater / crookers rmx
02. fedde le grande / put your hands up for detroit / claude von stroke packard plant rmx
03. mekons / yes yes y'all feat. roxanne shante / glimmer's house arrest rmx
04. disco darlings / sweetness / dub
05. daftphunk / right there / original mix
06. jamie lidell / when i come back around / freeform reform rmx
07. thrustin' trousersnake / sexyback / fnd lalaland radio rmx
08. kid alex / loverboy / les visiteurs rmx
09. scandal inc. / that's a good look / original mix
10. 1gnition / planet 69 / williams rmx
11. plump djs / electric disco / d. ramirez rmx
12. david penn, dj chus, soulground / we play house / david vendetta rmx
13. missy elliot / bring the pain / stanton warriors rmx
14. mark knight, richard dinsdale / crunch / original mix
15. huntemann / sweet sensation
16. playgroup / make it happen / zongamin remix 2
17. spank rock / bump / pink skull rmx
18. the tricknologist / freak frequency / house rmx
19. mstrkrft / she's good for business
20. who made who / satisfaction
21. gods of blitz / greetings from flashbackville / who made who rmx
22. krafty kuts, tim deluxe / bass phenomenon
23. finger lickin' allstars / 2 da break
24. krafty kuts / bring back the funk
25. the ragga twins / everybody hype feat. aquasky, dj go mixologists / original mix
26. dada life / big time / linus love rmx
27. the knife / pass this on / dahlback & dahlb rmx
28. panthers / thank me with your hands / mstrkrft rmx
29. paul woolford / erotic discourse / audiojack rmx
30. bjork / hyperballad / lfo's disco sync rmx

transitional...
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...:::...i have been trying to remember how one moment connects to the next, joint-like: ball to socket...but there is limited rotation there...and i like full mobility...

i always seem to come back to synapses. to things barely touching...information crackling from a charged proximity...

exchange...

there has been an abrupt halt to an accustomed pace and i have been trying to fill the in-between with an intelligible caulking. these picnoleptic moments (where i find myself connecting "a" to "c" without ever deferring to "b") i like to let music carry. because sometimes i don't know what to do at all in these times: maybe i just watch the sunlight shift across the floor...:::...

download: 061226-modyfier

james figurine – 55566688833 (superpitcher & tobias tomas mix) : nov 2006 on monika enterprise
kenzo – workin it out (audiofly dub) : dec 2006 on music to die for
huggotron – supertron : dec 2006 on confused recordings
jupiter black – we like moroder (divider remix) : dec 2006 on clone records
the timewriter feat. cookie man – so much pain inside (terry lee brown junior pain on dub remix) : dec 2006 on plastic city
slope feat. desney bailey – keepin it up (henrik schwartz remix) : dec 2006 on sonar kollektiv
seymor bits – watskeburt (pres. de jeugd van tegenwoordig) (dexter remix) : dec 2006 on clone records
alterno79 – gti (groove rebels mix) : nov 2006 on hamarskjold
dj t – lucky bastard (desaster dub mix) : dec 2006 on get physical music
oliver koletzki & florian meindl – erferding berlin : dec 2006 on
kabale und liebe – it megahertz : dec 2006 on meerestief
machine city – rize (skyline mix) : dec 2006 on system recordings
bennson – oceans and whispers : nov 2006 on curl curl
deepchild feat andy b – for a reason : nov 2006 on curl curl
plasmik – eight to nine (anja’s tabledance mix) : nov 2006 on connaisseur recordings
robag wruhme – hamburg030706 : dec 2006 on musik krause

disproportionate...
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...:::... i am hoping these edges of mine that i have been finding frayed are unravelling so that they can be re-woven into something even more spectacular, brilliant and clear...i have been feeling disproportionate, and not in a way as though i were seeking symmetry...where one inch equals one inch equals one inch...

...but rather a way of shifting thought or feeling to create space for productivity. letting invention and practice co-exist in the same moment. not skeletal or muscular, vascular or neurological...not a systematic approach to making, but a way of being from which things flow...

...music furnishes a room and strips it bare...i sometimes like to put tracks together to reveal the multiplicities in a single feeling...:::...

download: 061219-modyfier

loco dice – paradiso : dec 2006 on cadenza
martin buttrich – cloudy bay : dec 2006 on poker flat
audiofly x – 4 play : nov 2006 on get physical music
damian schwartz – primer verde : dec 2006 on cyclical tracks
pablo akaros – konnekt koln : nov 2006 on karmarouge noir
micah – mnemosyne (pig & dan remix) : dec 2006 on aurium recordings
seph – dash (hearthrob’s acid for bongo interpretation) : nov 2006 on stock5
da-roh – sommerkrausel of fortune : nov 2006 on karmarouge records
jean-paul bondy – something is not right (fukkeldibobb remake) : nov 2006 on compost
random play – just like that (alex under remix) : dec 2006 on puzzle traxx
jamie anderson – time is now (radio slave panorama garage remix) : dec 2006 on nrk
slick – segundo verde : dec 2006 on cyclical tracks
ndkj – gorgeous (mauro alpha remix) : nov 2006 on maschine
extrawelt – 8000 : dec 2006 on traum
slok – latin world : nov 2006 on electronic petz

patterning...
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...:::...i like thinking about how patterns decay. how a rhythmic line can be disturbed...creating a moment of confused abstraction...and then find its way back into alignment again...:::...

download: 061214-modyfier

pop-3 – i never sleep to sleep (jt sleepy edit) : nov 2006 on neoprene
sleeparchive – diagnosis : dec 2006 on sleeparchive
fuckpony – tiny slave : dec 2006 on get physical music
kiki – trust me (cowboy mix) : nov 2006 on bpitch control
joakim – drumtrax (radioslave remix) : dec 2006 on versatile records
deadbeat – random brown (monolake’s ne-555 mix) : dec 2006 on cynosure recordings
pier bucci – instinct : dec 2006 on crosstown rebels
endlos – vorsicht stufe : dec 2006 on 1 bit wonder (go check out their website...about endlos, they write: Since our start off, we have been looking for music that combines electronic with hand-made stuff. With Endlos, we finally found the perfect piece of the puzzle - just another amazing story of soul brothership written in our wonderful home city of Lipsia (Leipzig). This first Endlos EP is an excerpt of their 2004 album which was published as a very limited CD edition only. However, we think these songs are timeless: Enjoy seven epic pieces of deep electronica, fusing jazz with samplers, lo-fi drummachines embracing manipulated guitars and warm synths)
drumcell – brain reck ([a]pendics.shuffle remix) : nov 2006 on droid records
various – hater : jul 2006 on xl recordings
mr g & g flame – g’s d sound dub : nov 2006 on moods and grooves records
gabriel ananda – meine persoenliche gluecksmelodie (flekk remix) : nov 2006 on karmarouge records
cristian paduraru – sharing transparently (rekleiner mix) : dec 2006 on absurd recordings
sideshow – philly soundworks (jesse rose dub) : dec 2006 on aus music

salvaged....
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..:::...sometimes when you are looking for something new, it takes pausing and reflecting on where you are now to find it…and for me, it is often in the things that are familiar, that are tangible and right there before me. sometimes all it takes is re-interpretation…bringing an object out into the afternoon light reveals different moments than i am used to observing. not better than the morning shadow in which i am perhaps conditioned to seeing it…but ’oh’ i say. ‘there is a different shade of gray than i saw there before…a different texture across that plane…a different form appears when i move it around in my hands’. perhaps i am making something new by looking at it from a different point of view. i’m in love with this re-invention. and we all bring this with our own subjectivity. that is where collaboration gets interesting. let’s see whether my blue is really your green…

and so music challenges me to do the same…because in the end, that object i am talking about may just as well be a song…maybe i am hearing it in the morning through my headphones on the 9 o’clock train, packed into the car (i am holding my fingertips up to the ceiling to steady me because there is nowhere else to hold on to) it gives me space through it’s sounds…or maybe i am hearing that same song again as i am working, pacing me through an idea…i take it’s rhythm into consideration…and maybe i hear it one more time before going to sleep…letting it create the landscape into which i fall, dreaming…

yes, lately, i’ve been modifying. feeling the soreness of those emotional muscles as i try to break old habits…i am salvaging myself. and here are some salvaged tunes that I’ve been rocking out to…:::…

download: 061211-modyfier

minilogue – city boy : nov 2006 on crosstown rebels
mr kemi & amox – something behind that door : nov 2006 on opossum recordings
paper – motor city : nov 2006 on dpress industries
ambivalent – white tea deciple : nov 2006 on clink
jamie jones – the capsule : nov 2006 on freak n’chic
jacob london – i love pressure washing : nov 2006 on titbit music
square one – vesuvius (justin martin’s hope it doesn’t blow) : nov 2006 on freerange
records
adam proll – tanz der teufel : nov 2006 on cocoon recordings
david squillace – make me what? : oct 2006 on minisketch
mike shannon – voir dire : nov 2006 on num records
luciano & serafin - voodo’s n blue : jan 2006 on cadenza

bad company...
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...:::...tided by the moon, i am flooding...:::...

download: 061206-modyfier

ruocho ruotsi – tants doll (klmn’s ghostrider mix) : jun 2006 on defchild
kane roth – cooling : nov 2006 on neoprene
adam proll – hummel : nov 2006 on cocoon recordings
audio werner – just wanna get down (guido schneider mix) : nov 2006 on trapez ltd
jorge savoretti – space juice (lucas mari remix) : nov 2006 on esperenza
mlle caro & franck garcia – far away (mathew jonson mix) : nov 2006 on crostown rebels
jamie jones – its scary down here : nov 2006 on freak n’chic
ambivalent – boite diabolique (heartthrob mix) : nov 2006 on clink
moritz piske – bestuecker (sweet n candy remix) : nov 2006 on schieber productions
naucca – avenue funk : nov 2006 on dirty noise records
s linzatti – monikers : nov 2006 on stockholm ltd
unkle – burn my shadow (junkie xl remix) : nov 2006 on surrender all

when process is product...
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talking about music can sometimes tip the scales to weigh more heavily on thoughts about space and less about time…to the extent that the product is valued over the process. this is not unusual in the design world, where so much of what is thoughtfully constructed is eventually let loose to the users and generally perceived in some kind of “locational, categorical, associational, reflective or evaluative[1]” mode of interpretation.

the architect, sejima, has one of the more lucid solutions to this: she will design her buildings to eighty-five percent completion and let the occupants finish the rest through their engagements (both social and physical) with the spaces. this allows them to also take partial ownership over the building, over the environment that they are inhabiting, working, or moving through...they allow the building to exist...they allow it to grow and change through the activities that happen there...

musical reception can be thought about in the same way. the audience is a critical part of how the sounds take form. context and experience has so much to do with the way in which one hears...meaning and interpretation. if i recognize a sound that i know i have heard before, i relate it either to an object or to an event that took place. it becomes associative. or if i hear something for the first time, it is either abstracted and affected by the feeling that i have at the time or i try to relate it something that is familiar…to give it form and meaning. external and internal. struggling to communicate…

in a fantastic essay sent to me by wayne marshall, steven feld tackles this very conundrum in an essay titled communication, music, and speech about music. i recommend visiting wayne’s site here and buying steven feld’s and charles keil’s book here...and then reading it...:::...

[1] steven feld – music grooves: essays and dialogues (fenestra books; 2nd ed edition, 2005)

download: 061130-modyfier

minilogue – small town beauty : nov 2006 on crosstown rebels
marcel knopf – narain (dapayk mix) : nov 2006 on rrygular
kritical audio – krupp (minilogue remix) : nov 2006 on chillosophy music
mike shannon – espirit d’escalier : nov 2006 on num records
paper – transmissions : nov 2006 on dpress industries
jorge savoretti – 150 reasons to bite you (ryan crosson remix) : nov 2006 on esperenza
agoria – baboul hair cutting (radio slave remix) : nov 2006 on different
tolga fidon – ilsa (alex smoke remix) : nov 2006 on vacant
ruocho ruotsi – tants doll (suz & layborn’s 43 seconds late mix) : jun 2006 on defchild
mlle caro & franck garcia – far away (jennifer cardini & shonky remix) : nov 2006 on crostown rebels
adam marshall – naked (heartthrob remix) : nov 2006 on new kanada
mr kemi & amox – darkstar : nov 2006 on opossum recordings
king roc – welcome to zion (sebo k remix) : nov 2006 on simple records
luke solomon – bad brains and black flags (black flags dub) : nov 2006 on icon recordings
sleazy pelvis – let the beat (dj pietro berti mix) : nov 2006 on do it yourself