Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Choice is Yours

I don't really have much of a choice anymore. If I want to make a livable income someday I have to do it through music. Go ahead and laugh. I know underground dance music producers and djs don't make shit. But they can.

I look at it like this:
What am I more likely to do...?
Meet all the qualifications for some job at Sony Pictures, authoring dvds...
Or release some records and get paid to play music?

It has to be the latter. I've spent all my 20s buying and learning dance music. My stacks are deep deep deep now. Unlike my peers, who were busy getting "job experience" I educated myself on the history of dance music. I went to a Chicago warehouse party and all the North American techno festivals that matter. I went to a shitty rave in the basement of a church and had a great time; I wasn't even rolling.

I don't have a choice because I already made my choice. I probably made my choice when I was nine, taping songs from my clock radio into the crappy built-in mic of my boombox because I wanted compilations of my favorite songs. Luckily, there were good radio stations in Baltimore. I was soaking in the rays of Orb's "Perpetual Dawn", enjoying the fresh beats of Black Sheep, moving in new ways to a continuous mix of alien-futurist-machine-music called "techno" on Saturday nights, giggling to Doctor Demento on Sunday nights, and digging the fact that there was a dj personality who referred to himself as "Zoltar, brotha from another planet". No joke. That dj was a fucking badass.

I've given so much of my life to music that I've become useless in other areas where I actually had some skill. And you know what? I don't care. I don't care because I was tired of being that 'jack of all trades and master of none'. That was aimless and getting me nowhere. Am I somewhere now? I don't know. Maybe I am. And maybe I'm heading to an even better place. What I do know is that I've become a lethal record buyer, and I have one of the best techno/house collections in the Midwest. The only djs who can compete with my collection are already well-known. Like I'm sure Daniel Bell, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Kenny Dixon Jr., and Derrick Carter have incredible collections. Anyone else who isn't a well-known professional, good luck. You won't beat what I have. Maybe your house selection will edge out my house selection. Maybe you have more boring drum'n'bass records. Maybe you paid way too much for some Italo Disco 'gems'. But overall, looking at the entirity of the collection, you can't fucking touch this. You can't beat what I have because you don't devote your entire life to digging for techno, and if you do, please get in touch with me because I'd love to meet you. Dabble after work? Laptop dj on the weekends? Fuck you. I only want to know my equals. I want the hardest of the hardcore. You have to eat, sleep, fuck, and shit dance music to step up to my plate.
Bitch.

Monday, March 9, 2009

KDJ 20

Sometimes it's real fucking funny what sellers write in their discogs seller comments. To sell his copy of Andrés - Untitled [KDJ 20] seller housemusicandhockeydontmix wrote: "This is andres best by far. don't think it isn't."
Well, actually, no it isn't his "best by far". That's a ridiculous exaggeration considering DJ Dez's entire output via his Andrés alias is solid. And besides, no track on KDJ 20 is better than "Trues" [KDJ 13]. "Trues" is an absolutely astounding track and (don't get me wrong) KDJ 20 is a healthy slab of Detroit glorification but it doesn't top "Trues". No way. Forget the market prices; that's a matter of supply versus demand. You want a soulful, deep house bargain? Buy KDJ 13.
Oh, and housemusicandhockeydontmix's seller feedback is awful. How can you trust his opinion?