tracks for 2021

Tourist said:
So yeah 2021. "the great vinyl revival" the truth is I don't buy anything new. Can't afford it. No point. I only pick up old stuff. A few UK people I know who make music are also hesitant about putting things out right now cos the holy sinity [Sheeran, Adele and Coldsore] are hogging all the pressing plants for their er hordes of vinyl enthusiast fans, so the queues are long + brexit has fcked exports of UK vinyl... slow handclap all concerned. Ridiculous sums of money are expected to change hands at customs now. So I don't bother. Stick to flea markets and dusty shops and ignore hype of any kind.

....unless of course there is something new/amazing that catches my ear. For digi, I support bandcamp where/when I can, although I have to be selective because you can easily get completely swamped by instant, nice-sounding bits that age badly. Filling up unclassified folders on your computer never to be heard again. I prefer vinyl. It has value. It is tangible and sounds so much better. But hey ho. It is what it is.

At an estimate, I'd say 95% of all dance music I hear now is disposable crap. Maybe if I was addled in the dance, it might acquire new transcendental meaning, but I'm not out very much these days. If at all. That's the reality. The embers of prog, trance, "melodic", even most house now, whatever, it means nothing to me, some sonic masturbatory experimentation by some entry-level Ableton user in Warsaw clogging up mixcloud or some random (bot?) who follows me (driven by some strange algorithm or for other reasons unknown) with obviously no interest in the music I enjoy.

So in a way, finding the music I do like is that much more of a mission. More rewarding when I strike lucky. Luckily there are still people out there with the knowledge, commitment and passion. It's not easy doing anything original in music because thousands of new tracks are released each week and everything is in some way derivative. Of course, if you don't really care then it doesn't matter. If however you're like me and good music is necessary for your very mental and emotional wellbeing, then it kinda matters a lot.

I'd like to thank the music producers who I think made a difference and enhanced my 2021. I'm talking about Mushrooms Project, Alex Kassian, Residentes Balearicos, Auf Togo, The Two Mamarrachos, Jype & Renato, Coyote, Hardway Brothers, Craig Bratley, Woodleigh Research Facility amongst many others and of course the people playing the music: Sean's excellent EBS show, S/A/M and Andy Wilson in IBZ, Apiento on NTS, Steve on 1BTN, David and Gonzo on Barcelona's DubLab and Paramida On The Rocks.

Hopef 2022 will be better on all levels. And with that I'm checking out of here. Too much reality to deal with over xmas including an eye op in about 48 hours time. Yikes.

Have a good one #SupportGoodMusic

Hasta la pasta
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts!
Your point of finding music you like caught my attention:
I think I somehow can comprehend (I hope that's the correct word in English) what you mean about the quality of music. I wouldn't say about myself that I really know, what exactly "good" music is or means. I never really learned music theories nor an instrument, never worked in music production or so ... I just had a dad who was very much into music and a grandad who played many instruments. So probably kind of a family thing. However: I just think, the longer and more one listens to some certain type of music or even music in general, the more he learns what's interesting, the more he knows what sounds "new" and the more he estimates the value of "special" music. I think, producing music helps even more to understand what it takes to create something special, to create "new" sounds and so on (Actually some weeks ago I bought my first little midi controller, but didn't find time yet to learn more about Ableton, but that's another story).

I notice, that my taste of electronic music has changed a lot in the last few years. And if I compare past-me (even just one or two years ago) with present-me I would say, I'm listening to "better quality" music now. Btw, also thanks to you guys in this forum who extended and still extend my electronic music horizon with every track you post - thank you so much for that! 💙

Many (of course not all) songs that felt "good" to me in the past now sound pretty "cheap" or boring somehow. So I would say, we probably all are at a different point of "learning" what's good and keep being "hungry" for new stuff and new feelings when listening to music. Of course in my case I'm just able to compare it with my own "music knowledge" I have right now to judge if something's good or not ...

And sometimes it maybe isn't even just music itself, but also what's going on around us, our mid- or long-term-mood (if that even exists :D ), our private things going on ... that has impact on our music taste. So, in general and in my very subjective point of view I notice, my taste somehow improves. But sometimes there are still some very cheap sounding tracks that I "feel" somehow in that moment.

Also my appreciation for music and respect for all the musicians increased dramatically. I never bought as much music as this year - by far. To me it felt like a good year for music. Obviously not in terms of having many possibilities to dance to it during the last 2 years, but music still is an essential part of my life and will always have an impact on my well-being ...

It feels like I get lost in very different thoughts, sorry :D I hope, some of it was understandable.

All the best for your eye op - hope it all goes well and as planned! 🍀
 
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Looks like santa brought me some good reads towards the year-end 🎅

To a certain level I would agree with you on the music quality. Music production and distribution never have been easier or cheaper than now (literaly speaking). You could blame labels and producers not living up to desired standards, or rally against absurd algorithms (AI unleashed on personal preferences is a tedious joke, I sent an e-mail to bandcamp earlier this week asking they would alter the algorithm so I no longer get harvey@rumors or that-steve-monite-track as top recommendations), but on the other hand the level playing field has certainly become more favorable for underground and experimental sounds as well, best embodied by Bandcamp these days. So much fantastic music from quirky producers I would never have got to know of otherwise, also older material. Just spent all day in the Archeo Recordings catalogue being amazed from one record to another. Shall do some coverage in the Balearic thread.

Also -again- looking back at the start of the digital era the music industry as a whole has recovered quite well from piracy which was basically grand public theft. Definitely something I didn't foresee mid 2000s.

@heros good to read you got yourself into midi territories. Curious to see where that is going. I also moved into the production side of things. Very interesting world that is. It comes with a strong learning curve but a lot of excellent tutorials on the internet these days, often for free (e.g. the Loopop youtube channel; arguably the best consumer product reviews on the web). I have a peculiar interest in compact dawless setups (excellent TB303 clones are selling for less than a night out these days). I intend to build something around the Akai MPC Live II groovebox. I'm halfway the MPC Bible tutorial (could recommend it, also for non-musicians); it's not going as smooth as I hoped for but should be able to finish it early 2022.

I can also see deejay shows moving more towards hybrid performances integrating more live elements besides playing records, which would be very appealing to me. As said a lot of affordable, portable, good sounding machines on the market these days, and it's not rocket science. It may be something that could revamp creativity and professional interaction behind the decks. Less hands-in-the-air-jokers / kids-playing-videogames, more ricky-tinez please (look at him go with that sirin 15:50):


If not I'm putting my hopes on more vinyl only events. Vinyl indeed does sound better on most occasions (love some good crackling), and the preceding selection process is definitely more thorough (more expensive, you're tied to physical limits, more personal history attached to dusty record collections, more focus on rare items,...). But I like it most because dj's tend to play lengthier pieces with vinyl and have to put more technical effort into performances. Beat matching and harmonic mixing is not even a thing in the digital era, it's all-out-of-the-box. These are definitely stunning technological achievements, but it basically degrades the profession to child's play. When everything is seamlessly programmed and quantized there's not much to do but fooling around with some effects, hopping from one track phrase to another and putting on a ridiculous show. Perfect ingredients to drain the energy out of a dance floor. I'm not opposed to the digital evolution, still a lot of decent deejays out there, but robotisation of the business definitely comes with a price.
Unfortunately the great vinyl revival is not coming to the clubs and I think we all know in some way vinyl is something of the past.

On a more philosophical level I would recommend the documentary I posted earlier this week on the other thread. Every. Word. True.


@Tourist take care of that eye and those ears

And keep the good music coming 🙏
 
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Tourist said:
So yeah 2021. "the great vinyl revival" the truth is I don't buy anything new. Can't afford it. No point. I only pick up old stuff. A few UK people I know who make music are also hesitant about putting things out right now cos the holy sinity [Sheeran, Adele and Coldsore] are hogging all the pressing plants for their er hordes of vinyl enthusiast fans, so the queues are long + brexit has fcked exports of UK vinyl... slow handclap all concerned. Ridiculous sums of money are expected to change hands at customs now. So I don't bother. Stick to flea markets and dusty shops and ignore hype of any kind.

....unless of course there is something new/amazing that catches my ear. For digi, I support bandcamp where/when I can, although I have to be selective because you can easily get completely swamped by instant, nice-sounding bits that age badly. Filling up unclassified folders on your computer never to be heard again. I prefer vinyl. It has value. It is tangible and sounds so much better. But hey ho. It is what it is.

At an estimate, I'd say 95% of all dance music I hear now is disposable crap. Maybe if I was addled in the dance, it might acquire new transcendental meaning, but I'm not out very much these days. If at all. That's the reality. The embers of prog, trance, "melodic", even most house now, whatever, it means nothing to me, some sonic masturbatory experimentation by some entry-level Ableton user in Warsaw clogging up mixcloud or some random (bot?) who follows me (driven by some strange algorithm or for other reasons unknown) with obviously no interest in the music I enjoy.

So in a way, finding the music I do like is that much more of a mission. More rewarding when I strike lucky. Luckily there are still people out there with the knowledge, commitment and passion. It's not easy doing anything original in music because thousands of new tracks are released each week and everything is in some way derivative. Of course, if you don't really care then it doesn't matter. If however you're like me and good music is necessary for your very mental and emotional wellbeing, then it kinda matters a lot.

I'd like to thank the music producers who I think made a difference and enhanced my 2021. I'm talking about Mushrooms Project, Alex Kassian, Residentes Balearicos, Auf Togo, The Two Mamarrachos, Jype & Renato, Coyote, Hardway Brothers, Craig Bratley, Woodleigh Research Facility amongst many others and of course the people playing the music: Sean's excellent EBS show, S/A/M and Andy Wilson in IBZ, Apiento on NTS, Steve on 1BTN, David and Gonzo on Barcelona's DubLab and Paramida On The Rocks.

Hopef 2022 will be better on all levels. And with that I'm checking out of here. Too much reality to deal with over xmas including an eye op in about 48 hours time. Yikes.

Have a good one #SupportGoodMusic

Hasta la pasta
Click to expand...
I’ve bought a lot of charity shop vinyl this year; some of it on a whim, some by price.

Rarely buy new vinyl now and like you will go to Bandcamp as my first point of call. Juno I like too, mainly because they’re not Beatport

Lots of music [new] on my laptop, I’ve just not managed to get mixes out this year. Probably because I’m clinically fed up.
 
Bahamas said:
Looks like santa brought me some good reads towards the year-end 🎅

To a certain level I would agree with you on the music quality. Music production and distribution never has been easier or cheaper than now (literaly speaking). You could blame labels and producers not living up to desired standards, or rally against absurd algorithms (AI unleashed on personal preferences is a tedious joke, I sent an e-mail to bandcamp earlier this week asking they would alter the algorithm so I no longer get harvey@rumors or that-steve-monite-track as top recommendations), but on the other hand the level playing field has certainly become more favorable for underground and experimental sounds as well, best embodied by Bandcamp these days. So much fantastic music from quirky producers I would never got to know, also older material. Just spent all day in the Archeo Recordings catalogue being amazed from one record to another. Shall do some coverage in the Balearic thread later on.

Also -again- looking back at the start of the digital era the music industry as a whole has recovered quite well from piracy which was basically grand public theft. Definitely something I didn't foresaw mid 2000s.

@heros good to read you got yourself into midi territories. Curious to see where that is going. I also moved into the production side of things. Very interesting world that is. It comes with a strong learning curve but a lot of excellent tutorials on the internet these days, often for free (e.g. the Loopop youtube channel; arguably the best consumer product reviews on the web). I'm foremost interested in compact dawless setups (excellent TB303 clones are selling for less than a night out these days). I'm building (more like intend to build:)) something around the Akai MPC Live II groovebox. I'm halfway the MPC Bible tutorial (could recommend it, also for non-musicians); it's not going as smooth as I hoped for but should be able to finish it early 2022.

I can also see deejay shows moving more towards hybrid performances, which would be very appealing to me. As said a lot of affordable, portable, good sounding machines on the market these days, and it's not rocket science. This video served as a real eye-opener earlier this year when I was accummulating gear and lost the overview (look at him go with that sirin 15:50):


If not I'm putting my hopes on vinyl only events being a straight-up analogue guy (proud owner of a dusty vinyl collection), but I think we all know in some way vinyl is something of the past.

On a more philosophical level I would recommend the documentary I posted earlier this week on the other thread. Every. Word. True.


@Tourist take care of that eye and those ears

And keep the good music coming 🙏
Click to expand...

thank you for the vids and suggestions - will check them out. and: kink is a genius if it somes to live sets! i love his soundchecks on instagram ...
 
heros said:
thank you for the vids and suggestions - will check them out. and: kink is a genius if it somes to live sets! i love his soundchecks on instagram ...
Click to expand...

Rewrote a bit of that post. On a second look it was missing some cohesion (had a few beers that night :)) and elaborated a bit on the vinyl thing.
 
Bahamas said:
Looks like santa brought me some good reads towards the year-end 🎅

To a certain level I would agree with you on the music quality. Music production and distribution never have been easier or cheaper than now (literaly speaking). You could blame labels and producers not living up to desired standards, or rally against absurd algorithms (AI unleashed on personal preferences is a tedious joke, I sent an e-mail to bandcamp earlier this week asking they would alter the algorithm so I no longer get harvey@rumors or that-steve-monite-track as top recommendations), but on the other hand the level playing field has certainly become more favorable for underground and experimental sounds as well, best embodied by Bandcamp these days. So much fantastic music from quirky producers I would never have got to know of otherwise, also older material. Just spent all day in the Archeo Recordings catalogue being amazed from one record to another. Shall do some coverage in the Balearic thread.

Also -again- looking back at the start of the digital era the music industry as a whole has recovered quite well from piracy which was basically grand public theft. Definitely something I didn't foresee mid 2000s.

@heros good to read you got yourself into midi territories. Curious to see where that is going. I also moved into the production side of things. Very interesting world that is. It comes with a strong learning curve but a lot of excellent tutorials on the internet these days, often for free (e.g. the Loopop youtube channel; arguably the best consumer product reviews on the web). I have a peculiar interest in compact dawless setups (excellent TB303 clones are selling for less than a night out these days). I intend to build something around the Akai MPC Live II groovebox. I'm halfway the MPC Bible tutorial (could recommend it, also for non-musicians); it's not going as smooth as I hoped for but should be able to finish it early 2022.

I can also see deejay shows moving more towards hybrid performances integrating more live elements besides playing records, which would be very appealing to me. As said a lot of affordable, portable, good sounding machines on the market these days, and it's not rocket science. It may be something that could revamp creativity and professional interaction behind the decks. Less hands-in-the-air-jokers / kids-playing-videogames, more ricky-tinez please (look at him go with that sirin 15:50):


If not I'm putting my hopes on more vinyl only events. Vinyl indeed does sound better on most occasions (love some good crackling), and the preceding selection process is definitely more thorough (more expensive, you're tied to physical limits, more personal history attached to dusty record collections, more focus on rare items,...). But I like it most because dj's tend to play lengthier pieces with vinyl and have to put more technical effort into performances. Beat matching and harmonic mixing is not even a thing in the digital era, it's all-out-of-the-box. These are definitely stunning technological achievements, but it basically degrades the profession to child's play. When everything is seamlessly programmed and quantized there's not much to do but fooling around with some effects, hopping from one track phrase to another and putting on a ridiculous show. Perfect ingredients to drain the energy out of a dance floor. I'm not opposed to the digital evolution, still a lot of decent deejays out there, but robotisation of the business definitely comes with a price.
Unfortunately the great vinyl revival is not coming to the clubs and I think we all know in some way vinyl is something of the past.

On a more philosophical level I would recommend the documentary I posted earlier this week on the other thread. Every. Word. True.


@Tourist take care of that eye and those ears

And keep the good music coming 🙏
Click to expand...

just watched the ted talk - was wonderful, thank you!
 
Spent the christmas bonus on some new discs 🎄

Psychemagik - Triumph Of The Gods Remixes
Prins Thomas did a great job with a funky rework, but that Richard Norris remix on the flipside is solid gold.
www.juno.co.uk

PSYCHEMAGIK - Triumph Of The Gods Remixes Vinyl at Juno Records.

Buy Triumph Of The Gods Remixes at Juno Records. In stock now for same-day shipping.
www.juno.co.uk

Alexander Robotnick – Computer Sourire
Top drawer reissue, A side is out of this world 🤖🤖🤖
www.juno.co.uk

Alexander ROBOTNICK - Computer Sourire Vinyl at Juno Records.

Buy Computer Sourire at Juno Records. In stock now for same-day shipping.
www.juno.co.uk

Pressing quality of both releases is excellent.
 
On the digital side, something from Bill Brewster's personal chart which caught my attention:

Anastasia Zems - Karabhah
The track was already featured in one of his shows early February, but I had my doubts as it's kinda flat. When listening it again (and again, and again) it really is an outstanding track imo. The throbbing 100 BPM bassline, combined with enticing percussive elements, makes it perfect for early clubbing hours.

 
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