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BASIC SOUNDS & MINISYTEM

this is our third collaborative mix. i choose the tracks and the order and then submit them to minisystem to import into abelton. i'm drawn to melodic moody minimal techno with strong basslines and subtle whirling textures that sit uniquely somewhere between dancefloor stormers and beautiful, crystalline ambience. the tracks i chose for this set, i think, span the extremes of this spectrum, which makes it more interesting and challenging to assemble them into a mix. we met in minisystem's studio for two sessions where we beat matched and edited the tracks to our liking. one of the main advantages of mixing digitally is that tracks can be chopped up and looped to better fit the overall aesthetic, something we've done extensively in this mix.

i'd like to thank rayna for inviting minisystem and i to be apart of her process series. it's a great honour.

basic sounds & minisystem - process part 033 by modyfier

01. fairmont / hotel deauville / traum
02. anders ilar / a day ago / narita
03. gui boratto / the blessing / kompakt
04. sami koivikko / paajaasa / spectral
05. maetrik / access ebm / regular
06. niederflur / evtl / m_nus
07. efdemin / knocking at the grand / dial
08. minilogue / ahck (kab remix) / wir
09. sten / asami / dial
10. joerg burger / nova check / k2/kompakt
11. alex smoke / meany / soma
12. pantha du prince / saturn strobe / dial
13. lawrence / friday’s child / mule
14. eric delay / das kind liebte sehr wald / standard klik music
15. nils frahm / durton / pingipung
16. telefon tel aviv / komponent (apparat remix) / hefty

blending edge conditions...
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...:::...the morning jumps at my feet. i stumble. shift my center of gravity to realign to this new perpendicular. i am steady only in constant motion...finding micro-movements and adjustments...

i wonder what life would be like if i thought about it as a string of transitions rather than those describable moments in place and time. if i thought of it as a continuum of spatial perception...(i might wear it around my neck like pearls)...

and what would things sound like if you never actually heard a song itself (as a singularity), but only the blending of the two edge conditions instead. the beginning and the end. would that new sound have it's own identity? would it or could it hint at its origin? and would that even matter?

in 1970, tom phillips published a book called a humument in which the narrative is entirely constructed by graphically blocking out text from another book (william hurrell mallock's 1892 novel a human document) so that only selected words remained. he told a new story from stripping away the original source. a reductive approach to making...

i imagine much music i enjoy as being made in this way...songs made of mergers. songs that are built up and gutted out and re-interpreted...songs that are blended in passive listening...songs that are rooted in a history of sound. in a history of how i hear and experience (the here and now)...and if i concentrate hard enough, i can begin to see how all forms and uneven lines and broken patterns are capable of rearranging on their own accord...flexibly growing with an unwavering intention and so many endless possibilities unfold...:::...

download: -modyfier-part01

turbo crystal – another glass (fabrizio mammarella remix) : jul 2007 on tiny sticks
martin eyerer & oliver koletzki – get wasted part 1 : jul 2007 on stil vor talent
dk7 – killer (lopazz remix) : jul 2007 on dk7
alex-e – pornography : jul 2007 on beat maniacs
chaton – catch the beat (agnes remix) : jul 2007 on sthlmaudio recordings
luke hess – omnipotent (jesse somfay remix) : may 2007 on beretta grey
radio slave – screaming hands (cosmo vitelli radioaktivitat remix) : jul 2007 on rekids
herre & red kite – damals (shadi megallaa remix) : jun 2007 on product schallplatten
christian smith & john selway – transit time (dubfire remix) : jun 2007 on sino
superbass (paul harris & vern) – don’t be silent feat dominique (audiofly remix) : jul 2007 on toolroom
beroshima – horizon (pig & dan remix) : jul 2007 on cocoon recordings
andomat 3000 & jan – l delay : jul 2007 on cadenza
naughty – the world of a man : jun 2007 on mood music records
jorgensen – untitled (deadmau5 remix) : jul 2007 on toolroom

download: -modyfier-part02

dirt crew – big bad city : jun 2007 on dirt crew
kikiorix – plastic house feat georg levin (light house remix by phonique) : jul 2007 on ladies & gentlemen
mikael stavostrand – can you see through my eyes : jul 2007 on spectral sound
mogi – bronco kockica (presslaboys remix) : jul 2007 on wolkenfunken
alex under – extrapezlo : apr 2007 on trapez
tricksi – drakkar : jun 2007 on sonar kollektiv
jens bond – consequence (skoozbot remix) : jul 2007 on immigrant records
spencer parker – beautiful noise (tiger timing remix) : jul 2007 on rekids
tadeo – reflection nebula 056n : jun 2007 on apnea
elon – tamingo (rekleiner mix) : jul 2007 on infant records
dusty kid – the cat (crookers remix) : jul 2007 on southern fried records
arto mwambe – noh ngamebo : apr 2007 on brontosaurus
oscar – snugg (gennaro rossi remix) : jun 2007 on lordag records
worthy – bassquake (alland byallo remix) : jun 2007 on katabatic records
robag wruhme & wighnomy brothers – guppipeitsche : jun 2007 on freude am tanzen recordings

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RONAN FITZGERALD

Every week for over a year I've selected 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 new tracks to play on a radio show. I drive to the radio station and listen to as many of the tracks as I can, or just the ones I think might be good to open the show. I make a quick decision about the first 3 tracks to play by 21.00 and from there I just go with what feels right for 90 minutes. At the end I have a mix, which I listen to on the way home, which is a 30 minute drive always made in darkness.

The next day I upload the mix to my webspace and make it available for download. Sometimes people comment, sometimes nobody comments, sometimes I listen to the mix everyday the next week, sometimes I never listen to it again. In a way I let myself be controlled by the music, rather than controlling it. As a radio host I think this isn't a bad approach, you become a conduit for good music for others. In any case, I know I have my own style, which even if I wanted to, I couldn't subsume. Where my control ends is that, in playing an entirely new set every week, I never really know which values will be given more emphasis on a given week. I never know how I'll feel as I play the set, what direction I'll go or for how long.

Yet when I look at other mixes, around the net or on CD, I sometimes feel I'd love to just play whatever I wanted, to gather all the absolute best records from all the shows and present them in one really great mix. When I DJ in clubs, I get to try and do this, but there's pressure to fit whatever mould that the club fits. Sure, you can play with individuality and take risks, but even the timeslot of nightclubs dictates things like tempo.

So for this mix I've tried to just play some of my favourite records of the last few months in an order that feels right. It took me months (and then a day, and one take) to actually complete this, as Rayna will attest. I think this is because I had to readjust to life outside the prison of my usual format! I became insitutionalised from playing 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 tracks on a radio show, every week for almost a year. The way I created those mixes was a bit like a British TV show called Ready Steady Cook where chefs are given a surprise set of goods and have to make a meal (I think Americans have a similar show called Ironchef, interesting cultural differences in the names there). I gathered ingredients and made the best mix that came to mind.

Choosing some favourite tracks and trying to create something with no real rules or restrictions was actually much harder. Another analogy would be to compare me to that stereotypical military man that can't exist without rules. As such, entire record collection at my feet to choose from for every mix was far trickier than just 15 new tracks. But eventually I did a mix that I'm happy with, after lots of overplanning and writing lists. I wonder if casual listeners will be able to tell the difference between it and the radio shows.

These aren't necessarily my 14 favourite records, of the year, or of right now, but this is my favourite mix. Or at least, it should be!

ronan fitzgerald - process part 032 by modyfier

01. Luna City Express-Absent Minded (Aerobic Studio
02. Sten-Undercover (Lawrence Mix) (Dial Records)
03. Liebe Ist Cool-Gluhwurmchen (Cassy Mix) (Electric Avenue)
04. Daniela Stickroth/Walter Ercolino-Giant's Sleep (Ripperton Mix)(Meerestief)
05. H.O.S.H.-Themes, Rhythms and Harmonies (Diynamic)
06. Argy-The Storm (Deeply Rooted)
07. Chugga-Theme For The Buck Rogers Light Rope Danec (Shinedoe Mix) (Mule Electronic)
08. Deetron featuring DJ Bone-Life Soundtrack (Radioslave Mix) (Music Man)
09. Rejected-Lost (Rejected)
10. Simon Baker-Confused (Viva Music)
11. Mountan People-Mountain 003 (Mountain People)
12. Paolo Olarte-Solo Tu (Isolée Mix) (Fresh Fish)
13. Henrik Schwarz-Walk Music (Mood Music)
14. Roland Appel-Dark Soldier (Sonar Kollektiv)

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MONSIEUR P

Corazon de Verano 56'21" (77, 4 Mo)

Useless information: Made with a Powerbook on Traktor. Two decks. No mouse. No controller. No effects. No editing. Just cheap Apple iPod headphones.

Useful information: Sunday, July the 8th. Somewhere is Andalucia. 19 pm. Woke up late after a long "siesta". went to a pastry shop to eat a cream cake and a "café con leche". 19.30 pm: Went back to my hotel room. Selected and organized the tracks. 22 pm. Went to the restaurant. Ordered "ensalada verde", "fritura variada", "chopitos", "razon en adodo", "almejas en ajillo", "vino blanco". 23.30 pm: A last walk in the village. Back to the hotel. Went on the terrace roof. Opened the laptop. Launched Traktor. Pressed on record and here it is!

monsieur p - process part 031 (corazon de verano) by modyfier

01. Agnès - Drowning
02. Troy Pierce - Even If It's Alone (Black Acid) (Louderbach Remix)
03 .Water Lilly - Invisible Ink (Arnaud Rebotini's Black Strobe Mix)
04. Troy Pierce - Konrad Gets Lost On the Way to DC10 (Konrad Black Remix)
05. Siskid - The Architect (Will Saul Remix)
06. Minilogue- Seconds -(Moonbeam Remix)
07. [A]pendics.Shuffle & Mikael Stavoestrand - Take Me Higher (John Tejada Remix)
08. Minilogue - Inca (Original Mix)
09. Swayzak - Distress & Calling
10. Undo And Vicknoise - Onda Expansiva
11. Gui Boratto - Redroom

katachi...
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sometimes, maybe i don't like things because i don't understand them...this idea explodes into a million kaleidoscopic shards. here is one...

i watched hiroshi teshigahara's 1984 film on antonio gaudi last night...and throughout the sequences of buildings that were lovingly panned and zoomed over, i found myself absolutely awed by the craft and it's execution, but not drawn to the forms with the same force. i have been wondering since them if i am uncertain of them because i have not experienced the spaces they make...

i think to really be a part of an environment takes total immersion...abandoning preconceptions...falling into it bodily (feeling the degrees of change)...becoming part of the record (someone in the photograph)...participating rather than observing...for me, liking something involves knowing it...this takes time. there is a lot of historical (whether it be a day a month a year...) and contextual information to collect. things have meaning in different times and situations...

there is a re-active aesthetic that i think is always present. a personalized filter that makes me gravitate to one thing over another. i hone this with a practice of blind-sampling...looking at buildings without knowing who the architect is, listening to a song without knowing who the artist/producer is or what label it might be on, trying on a dress without knowing who the designer is...as i start to like things, i find i begin to pick out these similar forms in different contexts. they become part of my vocabulary...i think this disciplined sensibility overrides 'style' and with it i create an educated internal environment...a place i want to spend my time in because it has become familiar. from that vantage, i let myself be seduced by aspects of 'interesting' and follow curiosity...here are some songs that are a product of just that.

download: 070711-modyfier-part01

dino da cassino – don’t you (forget about me) (dino lenny orinial – loafer edit) : jun 2007 on audio therapy
justine electra – killalady (the tape remix) : feb 2007 on city slang
rqm & filewile – damn (jahcoozi remix) : apr 2007 on mouthwatering records
snax – honeymoon’s overdose feat. jamie lidell : jun 2007 on tnt
resin dogs – she’s gone (kraak & smaak remix) : may 2007 on quango
tiefschwarz – blow (radio slave remix) : jun 2007 on souvenir music
trabant – nasty boy : jun 2007 on southern fried records
baby oliver – primetime (uptown express) : may 2007 on environ
robosonic – kabala und liebe : jun 2007 on diskomafia
miss kittin & the hacker – dimanche : jun 2007 on goodlife
t.u.s.m.m. – fur immer (sweno n & pascal vert remix) : jun 2007 on catwalk records
gurtz – sum : jun 2007 on einmaleins musik

download: 070711-modyfier-part02

deetron – life soundtrack feat dj bone (rejected interpretation) : jun 2007 on music
let’s go outside – i’ll lick your spine (repeat repeat remix) : apr 2007 on pnuma
kramer – sonne ist da : jun 2007 on get physical music
pierce & twirdy – cuaba (babicz style in full efx) : jul 2007 on yellow tail
shonky – babel : jun 2007 on freak n chic
dusty kid – psika : jun 2007 on boxer recordings
stickroth & ercolino – the giant’s sleep (ripperton remix) : jun 2007 on meerestief ltd
arp aubert – gulden bull : apr 2007 on mirau musik
grindvik – silence below deck : apr 2007 on stockholm ltd
max cavalerra – luck’n’love : jun 2007 on karmarouge records
kelley polar – chrysanthemum : may 2007 on environ
the tape & rqm – innocent (estonji remix) : apr 2007 on kitty-yo
slam – no one left to follow (12 inch edit) : jul 2007 on soma recordings

asides:

...special thanks to cameron for the write-up in xlr8r's cosmic times
...check out midnight mike's promo video for a cover of sun ra's 'interplanetary music' with appearances from susumu mukai (zonagmin), bishi & suzy silver who all sing on the recording
...if you are in san francisco, my friend nick philip is opening an imaginary foundation show at stussy in upper haight. evening. thursday, july 19th. paintings, sculptures & streetwear. show him some love.

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PHILIP SHERBURNE

Every mix is different; every one has its own density, its own specific gravity. There are days when the music flows of its own accord from the very first downbeat; there are others when you restart the mix four, five, six times, with no real direction in mind, and only your fingertips and the aleatory to guide you. This mix was a bit like that. Normally I sweat each transition; today I was simply sweating, with the temperature in Barcelona running around 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and my studio doors latched tight to keep the sound from irking the neighbors. (A few mornings ago my housemate and I returned home from the Moog Club and launched into an extended tag-team DJ session lasting from six until eight in the morning; since then, I've been trying to keep a low profile on my block. Sorry, neighbors!) This mix came together like most of mine do, with no plan whatsoever, drawing from two slender crates sitting on the floor next to my decks. I try to organize my vinyl in batches: recent promos, recent purchases and old standbys. This mix draws entirely from the first two classifications; most of them are records I barely know. Strangely, it's often the unknown quantities that lead to the most serendipitous arrangements; my favorite mixes are generally those made immediately upon returning home from the record store. Unfortunately, those are also the mixes I so rarely record. (A month or so ago, I was playing records at a private party with only a dozen people in attendance at a house nestled between pines and dunes on the Oregon coast; somewhere around 5am, as mix after mix fell effortlessly into place, not just in terms of beat-matching but complementary key changes and virtually seamless breakdowns and dropouts fusing the music into a breathtakingly fluid whole, I looked at my friend and exclaimed, "The records are playing me!" Unfortunately, that period didn't make it into the five hours of recordings I made that night—live and learn.) As for the music itself, I have no grand stories to tell, but what the hell:

• Touane is a new discovery of mine and, coincidentally, a label-mate of mine on Berlin's Lan Muzic, which will release my debut single this September.
• The Gui Boratto is a promo I was given during Sonar after a beach party or three, the record sleeve is a little worse for the wear, but the vinyl's fine.
• Rekleiner is a recent promo from Hamburg's WordandSound distribution, who generously supply me with promo vinyl month after month. (In a digitizing world, they're one of the last sources of free wax, in fact.)
• I received the Laven & MSO track from Playhouse as an MP3 months ago; it was only after hearing it in Ewan Pearson's forthcoming Fabric mix that I realized how heavy it is, so I bought the vinyl last week.
• Alfonso Mango who? I have no idea, but I always love Radio Slave, so I snapped it up sound-unheard at Barcelona's CD Drome earlier this week.
• Switzerland's Agnés is quickly becoming one of my staples—I think I played three of his records at a recent Mobilee/Spectral rooftop pool party during Sonar week—and while his track here is a little weird even for him, I think it makes for a good bridge.
• Phage, aka Marco Resmann, is another recent favorite, especially his record on his own label Upon.You; this cut on Berlin's bananas Bar25 label is everything I want out of dance music: freaky, swirly and psychedelic, with metallic pings that dig deep into the cerebellum. One of the nicer emails I've received recently was a MySpace mail from Marco thanking me for playing one of his new Upon.You cuts at the Mobilee/Spectral party, and saying how nice it was to hear it out on a Funktion One soundsystem. Now that's class. (That's also one hell of a soundsystem.)
• The Chemical Brothers? Who knew? But I count Matthew Dear as both a friend and something of an idol, so buying this single was a no-brainer. I still haven't listened to the original version of the track, and I may never get around to it. This was one of three different Audion mixes I bought last week (along with his Black Strobe mix and a mix for DJ Koze that somehow I overlooked for the better part of a year.)
• Hamburg's Liebe Detail is probably my very favorite label at the moment; I don't think anyone has a higher hit ratio, which is rather astounding when you think about the fact that Liebe Detail releases almost exclusively split EPs. More restrained than some of his releases for his own label Diynamic, Solomun's "Jungle River Cruise" is as easygoing as its title suggests.
• Berlin's Mobilee label is another of my favorites; in contrast to some of their more attention-grabbing tracks, this one from Sleeper Thief kicks back, stretches out and goes quietly bonkers.
• Laps is one half of Cadenza's Digitaline, and this release for Hamburg's Smallville label offers more swirly, tweaky head-trip pleasures, underpinned by a stuttering beat that's just perfect for the early-morning hour when you're waiting for the second wind to kick in.
• Finally, there's Cobblestone Jazz: this record's a weird one, no mistake about it—oddly, it's also the third record I grabbed in this session to feature synthetic bird calls. I must have really, really wanted to open the door to my terrace.
  

Technical notes: the mix was made using two Technics SL1200MK2s and one Allen & Heath Xone32, recorded live into Amadeus Pro audio software running on a MacBook Pro. There are no edits, aside from the 32 bars of intro that I had to cut off of the Touane track, owing to the line noise that resulted when I was adjusting my monitors while recording. Oops.

philip sherburne - process part 030 by modyfier

01. Touane, "Action Painting" (Trenton)
02. Gui Boratto, "Mr. Decay (Robert Babicz Universum Disco Mix)" (Kompakt)
03. Rekleiner, "Shall We" (Catwash)
04. Laven & MSO, "Looking for God" (Klang)
05. Alfonso Mango, "Can U Feel (Radio Slave Remix)" (Made to Play)
06. Agnès, "Personal Dub" (Plak)
07. Phage & Daniel Dreier, "Elevator" (Bar 25/DNP Music)
08. The Chemical Brothers, "Do It Again (Audion's House Arrest Mix)" (Virgin)
09. Solomun, "Jungle River Cruise" (Liebe Detail)
10. Sleeper Thief, "Vaja Te Suba Te" (Mobilee)
11. Laps, "Jolie" (Smallville)
12. Cobblestone Jazz, "DMT" (Wagon Repair)

Special thanks to Rayna for the nagging-slash-encouragement.

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GET THE CURSE

All over the highest and wildest mountains of Kyrgyzstan and through thy holy winds of arctic transhumance blowing in the darkest forests of northern Sweden, unintelligible mumbles are heard, growing and gathering into a giant thumb of fear and despair eager to slap the strings of the big bass of life.

So rejoice, as Clems, Oli, Ed & Mikhail step beyond the decks to release the humungous cry of relief you weird and bizarre folks have been waiting for since the day Miss Kittin read the Bible on reverse on that 36-hour long Merzbow track which was supposed to be dubbed into a 73-days edit by Radio Slave weeks later, none of which actually ever happened because of a dramatic affair of sample clearance which remains unspoken to this day.

Still, you probably never heard of this peculiar foursome, so be in the know, punk : Clems, Oli, Ed & Mikhail are part of the wildest bunch you'll ever find on the jackin' side of blog-dome. Along with Lelo, another sassy Parisian sporting a decadent moniker, a very personal sense of elegance and mastering the most obscure codes of French art-de-vivre, they run Get The Curse, the only blog on earth where justice is just a word, a 24/7 hi-standard restroom for house criminals and electro fugitives, an hacienda of love for the unloved. Are you actually reading this shit ? Go check the boys at work on this exclusive mix and experience dignity, you uncivilized animals.

get the curse - process part 029 by modyfier

01. tiefschwarz - trouble man (ruede hagelstein remix)
02. jerk - disccoorgel
03. aquilina & venturi - 3 hours
04. final cut - take me away (troxler and curtis mix)
05. mark broom -wizz
06. chrisitan burkhardt - kreiskollaps rmx (federico molinari)
07. marc antona & anthony collins - sharks
08. hertz - astatine
09. maskio
10. kid dub - angry car
11. jd - anything groovin
12. ortzroka - bulb fuel
13. dusty kid - milk