FLATBROKE MOMENT

Bitch even drank my Vitaminwater.

(Flatbroke moment: Humor or positive reflection from an instance of desperation/pain attributed with the funk...see also: the blues)

Gear Review pt. 2 - 1985 Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak

I love buying used gear, you will meet the most interesting people ever (two men selling organic tomatos out of their house, failed superstar DJ who lives in the past with his magazine articles, and body builder industrial musicians are a few). This particular guy had his own record distribution company that dealt with local and over seas labels. He took me to his office/studio which looked like some carpentry shop on the first floor. I noodled around with the Multi-Trak amongst saws and wood shavings while talking with this man. I ended up taking it home even though I wasn't exactly thrilled with it. So what does it sound like? Super dark and cold. I soon began to embrace the stubborn character of the Multi-Trak, and realized it is the PERFECT synth for techno. It was made in San Jose, but it sounds like DETROIT. So what you get is a 6 voice VCO synth with some very unique functions that actually give it a broad sound palette for what it is. Sadly, the low end is rather shitty. Unless you stack all 6 voices, you really aren’t going to get a nice bass out of it. However, the stack function is not just an ordinary one, you can stack up to 6 completely different programs on top of each other! Now you can get some really unique timbres even though the polyphony will be quickly limited. The filter can also be modulated by the oscillator, a nice thing to have that can take you straight to robotic, powertrain motor city madness. But what the Multi-Trak does especially well are murky, haunting pads that are so perfect with those major/minor techno chords. Total bliss. There is a master chorus effect onboard that has pretty good range and can add some serious stereo field to the sound. The interface has mad buttons, and is actually a pretty logical matrix layout with one knob used for controlling parameters. Not only is it nice and compact, but it's damn good looking. I’v always appreciated the ever so fitting use of Stop typeface for the Sequential logo too. I guess the real marketing point of this synth was the 6 track sequencer, hence the name. Yes, it works but I just don’t find it practical. The arpeggiator on the other hand is tons of fun, but WHY can’t I edit while it’s engaged! Seriously?! The keyboard action is some of the worst I have encountered, but this thing is not meant to be comfortable. It’s a resentful, cold hearted machine that should have been born in Detroit.

DEMF 2010

The Detroit Movement Festival (its current of several names it went by) has come a long way under many different sponsers and directors. I still have the most fond memories of when the festival was free, and there were almost no major/mainstream names on the roster. It was pure Detroit electronic music. Part of the reason why you're paying such a high price for this festival is to see THOSE names...which is not so cool but cool too. Naturally, I am a little bitter when I see acts like Girl Talk perform at a festival that was meant to give techno credibility within its own city. This is not some highschool dry hump fest either. This years lineup, however, was a pretty good balance of underground artists, and the more upfront players. Lets face it, dance music is being exploited and shit is just never going to be the same (You can hear fucking HOOVERS in Lady GaGa songs now). Carl Craig is back as creative director, and he gets it (who remembers when he got fired?). It was nice seeing him early in the day on the move and being friendly. Great dude. So Friday was a good starting pace. the first thing that caught my eye as I walked in was...A MOOG TENT? That is so gnarly, now I can go tweak analog electronics if I have the sudden urge to. I never played a theremin either! There was a silver man who was kind of a dick. Green man is the OG, plus he is really nice and dances with you. The Red Bull stage was kinda wack. Dubstep is the musical equivalent of vomiting when you first start drinking...you might think it's cool if you're 13. Also, there were a bunch of teeny boppers throwing up the X sign during this one dudes set, don't you know that shit is reserved for the X-ecutioners!? Especially after Roc Raida passed. Ending the first day was Richie Hawtin performing as PLASTIKMAN. I think this was the best performance. He kept it raw, plenty of squelching 303, 909 and some really ill reoccurring 808 snare rolls that were ran through a flanger or something. I swear this one break down in the middle slapped me so hard in the fucking face that I don't remember dancing that hard EVER. And then the encore. He emerged from behind the screen and rocked, from what I could tell, just an 808 and 909 on a stand for 15 or so minutes. Beyond that, Inner city was super fun and energetic while some dudes named Kraak & Smaak laid down some seriously funky business. It was nice seeing The Martinez Brothers performing rather than dancing besides Dennis Ferrer like last year. They just might be my favorite djs with their fresh approach and energy mixed with solid knowledge and respect for house music. There is more to be said about this years festival, but I will cut it off here. Fun!

Gear Review pt. 1: Korg Kaoss Mixer

So I have decided to write reviews on some of my music equipment. Yes, there are a lot of people doing this all over the Internet, but since music is such a subjective thing I believe the tools used to create it are as well. Enjoy!

KORG KAOSS MIXER (KM-2)

I got this as my second mixer after my four channel Gemini. So this makes the KM-2 one of the oldest pieces of gear I own (old as in the time I've had it, not in terms of production date), and I still adore it. Why? Because it's WEIRD. It's like Korg smashed the attitude and feel of the Electribes with a Kaoss pad that is somewhere between the first and second generation, and tied it all together with a surprisingly sick mixer with wacky functions. To begin with, the thing sounds like a Korg. Anything you run into it will have a sizzle. I once heard someone compare the sound to a car radio, and that is kind of true. It's exaggerated and boomy. So if you are after pristine sound reproduction then this is not for you, but if you want a box with character and attitude you will rather enjoy this brat. The actual effects are definitely not studio quality, but they have a certain performance charm to them. There are effect programs on here, to which my knowledge, don't even exist on the KP3. One group of functions allow you to crossfade between two sources using the pad and manipulating an effect at the same time! So you can do weird reverb crossfades or funky filter build ups between tracks. The effects can be applied to the master, right or left channel. This doesn't really seem like a big deal, but in use you can use this routing to monitor your effects before using them, or even use the faders to manipulate the source going into the effects, especially useful for the delay lines or internal synth programs! That alone is super cool for scratch dj's. And lets not forget the sampler now. It has four dedicated sample banks that are dead easy to use, and the sample/play section of the effects really lets you twist the samples around. The actual mixer portion has just about everything covered. The 3 band EQ is superb with full kill capabilities. There is a small knob at the top of the mixer called "Ultra Boost" that adds really tubby low end which can sound pretty massive. Something you would definitely find on a groovebox over a mixer. The gain/trim knobs are really fucking tiny and sensitive, my biggest gripe with this thing. The crossfader can have a sharper cut off than my Vestax. It isn't the most stable or smooth fader, but it's far better than most non scratch specific mixer faders. The upfaders have a nice resistance to them and are suitable for all styles of mixing. And before we wrap this up, just take a moment to look at this monster and how fucking crazy it is. Nobody knows what the hell it is when I take it out. The vented top section is so mean looking like it's a damn hot rod or something. And when you turn it on, all the glowing lights look like you're flying a jet. Korg stopped making these years ago, and they recently released a newer kaoss mixer which is a complete joke. The pad is like 1/3 the size and it has no sampler. Be more weird, Korg!

RANTS AND RAVES

There is way to much disrespect in dance music right now. The title "dj" is a joke. All this software, all this convenience, ALL THIS BAD MUSIC. A 13 year old once asked me if my turntable setup had a "beatmasher". The trends, the fads...it's all wack. Real skills are so hard to come by that it's sad. I have nothing against people who want to dj or make dance records, but PAY YOUR DUES. Shut your mouth for 3 years, learn where the shit comes from, and practice. You might think you're down cause you landed some 1200's and your friends might think you're good, but if you bring that garbage around real heads YOU WILL GET CLOWNED. So if you ever want to be successful, know the real battle. Be humble, and put your heart and soul into it. That's what music is all about.

I LIKE THIS KID

This dude makes youtube videos live from an APPLE store! How great is that? Little man has no problem getting loose in front of a crowd, I like that. I would always love to knock out huge beats at the Apple store in the mall when they had a midi controller hooked up. Then I would just leave it on loop and walk out.

Check out his page from more social observations http://www.youtube.com/user/nicholifavs

I guess it's worth mentioning that Apple has one of the coolest exchange policies ever. When I first got my Macbook about a year and a half ago, I exchanged it 3 times before I got one I was happy with. That might sound ridiculous, but if I'm spending close to 2 grand on some shit it better be FLAWLESS. No mushy mouse buttons and odd camera antics.

106.7 THE BEAT OF DETROIT

This new radio station is the business! Seriously, this is the closest thing to an electronic/dance music radio station Detroit has. All the big electro, eurodance and disco hits of the 80's/90's and even some house tunes. Yes, they throw in some top 40, but just the fact that they play Inner City BIG FUN completely smashes everything else. Oh yeah, did I mention they have practically no commercials?! I actually feel compelled to call in and say something corny about how great they are.

UPDATE: So it turns out they have shifted to a more standard pop station. Not as much fun :(

Fun fact: Apparently I went to high school with Kevn Saunderson's son.