Archive for April, 2006

MacBook Pro :: First Impressions

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

The MacBook Pro is great.

Delivery was a few days ealier than expected which was a nice surprise. Nothing like a shiny new laptop to cheer you up.

It runs warm, but not hot. It’s been ages since I’ve used a laptop for an extended period of time, so I have no idea how warm these things normally get. It’s quite cold in my bedroom at the moment and the MacBook is warming up my legs quite nicely. I suspect it was shipped with one of the revised motherboards?

Mac OS X 10.4 is nice, but not that much different from 10.3. The Dashboard seems a little gimmicky. I’m not sure how much use I will get out of it. Although, I’m dangerously close to becoming addicted to the poker widget.

The in-built speakers aren’t embarassingly-lame like I’d anticipated. Will have no problems listening to music on them while nerding away at home. They’re far from studio quality obviously. :)

The MagSafe connector for the power supply; such a simple idea, but it’s totally saved my arse about 7 times already. Love it!

Happy (but now poor) customer.

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Kiss FM Playlist :: 2006-04-29

Saturday, April 29th, 2006
  1. Infusion – Legacy (Junkie XL Mix) [Audio Therapy]
  2. Gift – Destination One [Mirror Image Recordings]
  3. Rai – U.EF.OU. [Solstice]
  4. Trafik – Surrender feat. Rachel Lamb (Trafik’s Breaking Willis Vocal) [Global Underground]
  5. Kaan Duzarat – Organic Intellectual (Bounder Mix) [Only Records]
  6. S Junkes – If You Stay (Breaked Up Mix) [Only Records]
  7. Micah Lukasewich – Terras [Segment Digital]
  8. Blue Room Project – Out Of Area (Afloteba’s Soma Holiday Mix) [Blueprint]
  9. Mortar & Pestle – Itsachickthing (Luke Chable Mix) [Heavy Rotation]
  10. Lega – Farewell [Offside Recordings]
  11. X-Cabs – Reeva [Propulsion Records]
  12. Manuel Neztic – Crepescular [Slanted House]
  13. Manipura – Tesseract [Only Records]
  14. Breezely Wakefield – Playing With Ants [The Aston Shuffle]
  15. JDK – Phantoms [Aurium Recordings]
  16. Ross McGrath – You Are My Star [The Aston Shuffle]
  17. Tronso – Take A Break [Looq]
  18. Khans – Circular [Hunya Hunya Records]
  19. Digital Witchcraft – Dangerous Music [Looq Records]
  20. Momu – The Dive [Looq Records]
  21. The Emissary – Anathema [Blueplasma Records]
  22. Digital Witchcraft – Fingerpaint [Proton Music]

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Melbourne Breaks Unite

Friday, April 28th, 2006

Melbourne Breaks Unite kicks off at 5pm tomorrow. All door proceeds and CD sales will be donated to the Starlight Foundation. Breaks, drum’n'bass, hip hop, funk and dancehall over 3 rooms. $10 entry ($15 with CD) and over 40 of Melbourne’s finest performing for free.

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Vinyl Fetish 1.1

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

Clearly it’s not just me. :)

Over the past few weeks I’ve attended a few gigs where the DJs/Artists were using CDJs or laptops, or a combination of the two. The most surprising was the small army of DJs that were performing with (and supporting) Snoop.

I wasn’t the only one it seemed. I overheard a few people in the crowd express some disbelief when the DJs pulled out their CD wallets. While the hip-hop crew is opening up their arms to the digital thing, the crowd still needed some convincing. I actually thought their use of this gear was fairly ho-hum. I’m sure they’ve got mad turntable skills but they could definitely learn a thing or two from Phil K or James Zabiela.

During the Easter break I had the chance to see Blockhead. Other people have given mixed reviews of his performance but I thought it was brilliant. Some were put off by the laptop thing, but a lot of his set seemed very improvised; kind of like he was jamming in his living room. It sounded wicked. Armed with Ableton Live he was dropping in all sorts of loops and really feeding-off and reacting to the crowds response (and quickly). I left the venue feeling completely inspired by what I saw. The thought of having (effectively) dozens of sound sources right in front of you instead of just 2 turntables is really compelling right now.

G’s gig was great. This time around he’s only touring with a CD wallet and some headphones.

My laptop arrives next week. :)

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A History of Violence

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006

This is definitely one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

I guess it’s supposed to be cool to like David Cronenberg and all that. But honestly, it’s not deep, it’s not meaningful, it’s not even bad art. It’s just a shit film.

Comical, lame, and extremely shame-inducing if you’re the one that was in charge of picking the film that you and your friend should see.

Sorry. :(

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Kiss FM Playlist :: 2006-04-22

Monday, April 24th, 2006
  1. Infusion – Dead Souls [Marine Parade]
  2. Infusion – Legacy (Junkie XL Mix) [Audio Therapy]
  3. WJ Henze – Hidden [Zenit]
  4. MV – Hide (Brad Copeland’s 7 AM in the Y Office Remix) [Tao Recordings]
  5. Gift – Destination One [Mirror Image Recordings]
  6. Rai – U.EF.OU. [Solstice]
  7. Siberian Son – Secret Sins [1shot Recordings]
  8. Darkarma – Exit Body Map [Labotomy Records]
  9. Digital Witchcraft – Brindavan (Momu Remix) [Proton Music]
  10. Jacob Todd – Malta (Momu Remix) [Parabolic Records]
  11. Momu – The Dive [Looq Records]
  12. Momu – One [M Theory]
  13. Digital Witchcraft – Dangerous Music [Looq Records]
  14. Francis Blaid – If I Want You [Tilth Music]
  15. Habersham & Numinous – Leaving Tifton (Digital Witchcraft’s Miles From Melbourne Mix) [Blueprint Recordings]
  16. Pat Foosheen – Chi-Town Queens Feat. Winterfresh [Twenty40]
  17. Darkarma – Genetic Memory [Proton Music]
  18. Mercurio – In The Sky [Inaspace Records]
  19. UNKLE – What Are You To Me? [Global Underground]
  20. Digital Witchcraft – Fingerpaint [Proton Music]
  21. Bedrock – Forge [Bedrock Breaks]
  22. Orchid – The Moonflow [Source of Gravity]

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Dead Wood Falls

Saturday, April 8th, 2006

Jen Cloher’s new album; Dead Wood Falls, has been released. A must have for everyone’s record collection. Honest. Buy online now. Upcoming remix shizzle in the works.

I went to see Snoop last night. Very good. :)

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Kiss FM Playlist :: 2006-04-08

Saturday, April 8th, 2006
  1. Lucas Chan – Just Let Go: Stage 3 [Evergreen Recordings]
  2. Lamb – Gorecki (Global Communication Mix) [Fontana]
  3. Lucas Chan – Mass Distraction (Epilogue) [CDR]
  4. Lucas Chan – Quietly Disconnecting [CDR]
  5. Lucas Chan – Kenny Rez [CDR]
  6. Beber – Juvenile Delinquent [Marine Parade]
  7. Apex – Bangin’ [Marine Parade]
  8. Apex – Our Nation [Marine Parade]
  9. Apex – Jump Funk [Marine Parade]
  10. Apex – Symmetry [Marine Parade]
  11. Ils – Music [Marine Parade]
  12. Infusion – Starwater (It’s Alright) (Pluse Mix) [Marine Parade]
  13. Forme – Kick A Hole [Marine Parade]
  14. Forme – Percussive Thinking [Marine Parade]
  15. Shiloh – Baby [Electrofly]
  16. Womack & Womack – Teardrops [Spectrum]
  17. Prince – When Doves Cry [Warner]
  18. Ashtrax – Something To Get Through [Global Underground]
  19. UNKLE – Reign (False Prophet Mix) [Global Underground]
  20. Bedrock – Forge [Bedrock Breaks]
  21. Jiva – Strange Dimensions (Dub-Dimensions Mix) [Bedrock Breaks]
  22. UNKLE – What Are You To Me? [Global Underground]
  23. Digital Witchcraft – Fingerpaint [Proton Music]
  24. Jordan Daniel – Plastic Revolution [Blueplasma Recordings]
  25. Orchid – The Moonflow [Source of Gravity]

Posted in Kiss FM Playlists | 1 Comment »

Four Years

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Tonight Karl and I celebrated 4 years of playing records at Black Cat. Doesn’t really seem like it’s been that long, but I suspect it’s the longest running weekly breakbeat night in Melbourne (apart from Revolver perhaps?).

The evening started out well until the Galaga machine caught on fire and the place got smoked out. A minor set back really. Lots of people came down to say hello and congrats. Including G which was a nice surprise. It’s always nice to see him when he’s in town.

I wonder what my Thursday nights will be like in 4 years time?

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Kiss FM Playlist :: 2006-04-01

Saturday, April 1st, 2006
  1. Petter – These Days (Sasha Involver Mix) [Global Underground]
  2. Ashtrax – Something To Get Through [Global Underground]
  3. Shiloh – I Really Want You [Nascent]
  4. Bedrock – Forge (Fretwell Mix) [Bedrock Breaks]
  5. Trafik – Surrender Feat. Rachel Lamb (Trafik’s Breaking Willis Vocal) [Global Underground]
  6. UNKLE – Reign (False Prophet Mix) [Global Underground]
  7. Quivver – Space Manoeuvres Part 3 (Breaks Mix) [Boz Boz]
  8. Shiloh – Mana [Electrofly]
  9. CPM – Mellow [Proton Music]
  10. Joel Armstrong – Serenity [Proton Music]
  11. Shiloh – Baby (Brutalized Mix) [Electrofly]
  12. Blake Jarrell – Okojobi (His Boy Elroy’s ‘Westward Expansion’ Mix) [Proton Music]
  13. 214 – May 20th [Proton Music]
  14. Ashtrax – Play It Rosa (Instrumental) [Global Underground]
  15. Digital Witchcraft – Fingerpaint [Proton Music]
  16. Jiva – Strange Dimensions (Dub-dimensions Mix) [Bedrock Breaks]
  17. The Emissary – Anathema [Blueplasma Recordings]
  18. The Emissary – Ghostwalker [Blueplasma Recordings]
  19. Jordan Daniel – Plastic Revolution [Blueplasma Recordings]
  20. Stefan Anion – Forward Motion [Blueplasma Recordings]
  21. Orchid – The Moonflow [Source of Gravity]

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