la decadanse: New Year, Slow Start

New Year, Slow Start
10 January 2007

Photo courtesy of Grace Hahn
You'd think moving to the lower east side of Manhattan from the suburbs of Long Island would've made life a bit more interesting but on the contrary, I rarely leave home and when I do it's either to grab groceries or to go on long walks with the intent of burning consumed calories. Further contributing to this sluggish bumfest, my boyfriend, roommate and I just got digital cable and are completely fascinated by it. The entertainment value quickly reached it's expiration date, however, and so I decided to give this blog one final shot, but not before going through some unnecessary internal dialogue about MP3 blogging and it's pitfalls.

I'm on the fence about its importance and/or legitimacy. At face value, self-promotion has taken over artist promotion, and "first to post" status has taken precedence over track quality (and I'm not talking about bitrate). And if we're not the first to post, then we're crediting the original poster for "the find", as if they went on some arduous expedition akin to an archaelogical dig when in fact artist-to-blogger MP3 unloading via email, blogger-to-blogger sharing, P2P programs and invite only torrent sites have made it painfully easy to grab an exclusive, provided you don't rely on someone to spoonfeed you your music. The middleman then winds up on par with the artist of the track posted, if not more valuable. Some blogs turn into franchises, some bloggers turn into DJs, others wax philosophical over it on the sidelines while going through a list of recently DVR'd programs in their new apartment. Cough.

Where does that leave me? Eh, nowhere in particular I suppose. If I would've made a New Years resolution, it would've been to stop taking things so seriously and just go with it, drop the criticism that lingers in the consciousness of sensitive folk like myself, quit the hateful cynicism towards things I can't change and do my own thing with absolute disregard for responses like "it's been posted already" or "that's not new" or "I've heard that artist before". But better late than never, I say. Quite frankly, I don't give a flying fuck about checking my blogger stats, mutual links, "Hype-Machining" (if we can make it a verb now) or the like anymore! Ha! HA! Onto the music that I unequivocally and unapologetically love!

♫ Eric Prydz vs. Pink Floyd - Proper Education (Daft Mix)

Eric Prydz drifts from the commercial success of his "Call on Me" remix to the relative obscurity of Pink Floyd samples. Hmm. Right. Was this sample even properly cleared? If not, expect a 404 on this post very soon. Still at his fighting best, Prydz delivers a quality hit. Not necessarily guaranteed to set your shoes ablaze, but if you found yourself a fan of material released under his Cirez D moniker than this would be up your alley. The official remixes done by Sébastien Léger and Sebastian Ingrosso, the usual suspect greasing the wheels behind the scenes of Swedish dance music, were released on Data Records but this 12" is an unofficial white label promo. Ignore the wrong ID3 tags on this one which credits the remix to Daft Punk. You'd be hard pressed to find any discography that links the acclaimed French duo to this track. Shame, shame on you DJs that've incorrectly listed this on your playlists.

♫ Lindstrøm - I Feel Space (Freeform Reform Pts. 1 & 2)

Remember that childhood game "7 minutes in heaven"? This track would be the adult version except for the fact that its 11 minutes 32 seconds of heaven with Hans-Peter Lindstrøm and Freeform Five. Most of Lindstrøm's releases, particularly the compilation of his most beloved 12"s, It's a Feedelity Affair have been in heavy rotation around these parts in addition to his 2005 split with Riton, Monsteer/Young Girl. Both recommended purchases. You still have time to brush up on your favorite tunes in preparation for the Norwegian producer's scheduled live performance in New York City at the next FIXED party on February 10th. La Decadanse loves FIXED/JDH/Dave P. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that they're making me their assistant in the '07. Shhhh.

♫ Duoteque - Duoteque
Duoteque is the Italian tech-(power)house of Andrea Fearlin and Dusty Kid. They've been casually releasing material on Germany's Boxer Recordings label for the last year or so. It's hard to believe I slept on this release the first time around and passed on posting it in favor of a MFA remix of their "Daki Theta" track which had 1/8th the energy and kick of this one. I suppose I was more in favor of the minimal sound over electro last year thanks to Colin Nagy of Devil in the Details, my uber mentor, who it turns out, sent me this EP originally. If you're in the mood for something a bit more recent, check out My My's remix of Duoteque's "Amarcord" out on Playhouse.

Posted by La Decadanse @ 22:47 | |

10 Comments:

At 1:21 AM EST, GSB said...: you keep it quality like you have been and i'll keep reading it like i have been. quality is waaaay more important to *readers* than having something first. i get too many mp3s from blogs as it is and have been deleting lots from my rss reader lately if they're not consistent.

i'd rather have 1 great 5-star track than 40 bad remixes.
At 2:23 PM EST, discodust said...: i've secretly been listening to that daft mix as well. although i think i would prefer a dub.

and just go on. 'tis the way to go. i also like to focus mainly on tracks that work well on the dancefloor instead of just satisfying the 'this is so last week' leechers.
At 8:44 AM EST, Lynton said...: keep on keeping on mary ann.
profile be damned - just get your POV out there!
At 6:47 PM EST, cjn said...: it is nice to see you back. coffee soon...
At 12:45 PM EST, manalogue. said...: The reason music (as well as every other art) is so important is because of the emotion and memory associated with it. Your posts, including the post modern philosophical ones about blogging, are great.
At 1:38 AM EST, acid girls said...: if you quit, your voice will be sincerely missed. i think a lot of people actually read your blog. i have my own mixed feelings re: the self-promotional aspect of the whole endeavor, but then i have mixed feelings about a lot of other things too. just consider that you're not obligated to blog when you don't feel like it, and there's a lot more to write about than music. hope you're still dj'ing though!-
At 10:24 AM EST, Poo Juice said...: Came in from the city, walked into the door

I turned around when I heard the sound of footsteps on the floor

Love just like addiction, now I'm hooked on you

I need some time to get it right, your love's gonna see me through

Can't stop now, don't you know
I ain't never gonna let you go, don't go
At 11:36 PM EST, Daniel Cardona said...: I'm in Vancouver BC, ditched my friends and now I'm delighted to see you are blogging once again.

Take Care
At 5:18 PM EST, Morgan Louis said...: I love this track and have been playing it in my headphones for months. Never found the right place out to play it yet...
At 8:55 PM EST, ride said...: Hi, thanks for linking to ON-OFF and a peculiar time to do so, given that we are guilty of, I would say, most of the bullshit associated with blogs. The other day I put up a track strictly because it was sent to me, and, like you, I was musing about quality vs. novelty, and how a shitty track from Jan 07 will be a shitty track forever, where as Lindstrom - I Feel Space will never die, even though it came out in '05.

I find that blogging is either a thankless labour (no one reads) or everyone reads and you have to play along, which is gross. Not checking stats is my belated '07 resolution.