Underneath a bag of nails and crate full of wires/cables I noticed a stack of records. I pulled a couple out and saw a Lionel Ritchie and Pointer Sisters record, and thought I would comeback to it later. Maybe sample or two, Right? We swept up chicken poop, lots of dust,some old rat poop, threw out tons of garbage and hung up some divider curtains. My studio desk setup is less than ideal, but I think it will work. I/not I might need to rewire some electricity to a more acceptable outlet, but that is neither here nor there.

Between moving cans of paint and cardboard that stack of records caught my eye. I grabbed it, started peeling them apart. Wrinkled, water damaged covers.

Donna Summers – I will survive (w/accapella ), meh…

Some CeCe Peniston track with a possible hidden jem in the Steve Silk Hurley Dub… Meh

Some Motiv8 White… Meh.

But wait…. What is this Gem that has caught my attention? Glistening, something drawing me back to the cover. The cover is ripped but I can make out the words “Round Two”.

Round Two – “New Day”
Classic, amazingly sweet and a sad and lonely sound that sticks with you for weeks.

Andy Caine on vocals, and some random dudes on the 909, Jupiter 8 ect.
By random dudes, I of course mean Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald. Who?

You might know them as Rhythm and Sound, Basic Channel, Maurizio etc. The masters of that dubbed out spatial mess of noize and reverb that outlined, wrote, edited, proofread, published and fucking BURNT the book of dubby techno.

Round Two – New Day.

Rhythm & Sound w/Paul St. Hilaire Free For All
The embedding is disabled, but its a must click.

I played a similar set at Flammable last week. It was pretty good turnout wise, even remembering that it was Super Bowl that night. I got to laugh a lot with some friends and there were lots of people I hadn’t seen in months.. years even.

Nobody’s stomach exploded out of their ears while I was there, either.

Enjoy!

1. Delano Smith – Synergy
2. Nivek Tsoy – Feeling Loose – Graphic Instrumental
3. Not Boyfriend Material – Flammable -Accapella
4. Jimpster – Dangly Panther – Original Mix
5. Les Bijoux – Do It Again -Extended Mix
6. Rocco – Someday – Dub Mix
7. Jimpster -Got A Hold On Your Soul
8. Sleazy Mcqueen – Trains Over Broadway -Pezzner Mix
9. Mathew Anderson – We Hurt Each Other
10. Orbital – Chime – Shapeshifters Remix
11. Kevin Yost – Get The Horns
12. Round Two – New Day – Club Vocal Mix
13. Lisa Shaw – Music In you
14. Oriental Funk Stew – Sky High – Chuck Love Network Rework
15. Nick Waters & David Mateo Feat Nick Studer – Funky Experience

You were the first dog I ever loved, and when I realized that fact, and how much space you took up in my heart, I was so overjoyed it. I had made space for you, and that meant I was getting better, becoming well again. Proof that I was becoming less selfish.

When I first met you, I was quite annoyed at you. I was on a date, and you stood on the console between myself and the driver, looking at her. Not looking at me. It was obvious that I was being snubbed.

It took a year or two, but one day I realized that you were my dog. Or more accurately, you picked me to lead. Oh, you loved Summer (your best love) fiercely, and scrambled around when she came home and looked to her when I was busy, but you followed me everywhere.

You play a shitty game of fetch, but you were a mighty squirreler.You became a mind reader for bacon and streak, and could eat a shelf worth of books in an evening. I never though a dog could go through a pound of sugar and a case of cliff bars, soap and candy in an evening, and use the garbage a nightcap,

I admired your genius at enjoying life and its comforts. Early morning potty breaks that lasted 2 hours, and included a swim in the creek and a roll in rotten salmon.

I would crawl back to bed, and you would start at one side of the bed,rubbing you body around the edge, from my pillow down to the foot and around the corner to the head on the other side, turning and repeating until the comforter was in a pile on the floor. You had taken almost all the wet and mud off your legs, side and belly and you would look at us, sitting up, shivering and confused.

Then you would bark.

Things fell apart though at the farm though. Your people made choices and changes. You were left out in the decision making. I am sure your solutions would have been more logical than ours were. “Lets walk it out!!” “Lets play in the creek instead!!” “Why are you fighting when there is PERFECTLY GOOD steak in the pan?”

I left, moved to a place far away, and my visits shortened.

When I moved my things on that last trip you were very anxious. You would not part more than a foot from me.

You tried to get into the truck, even though it was unfamiliar to you, because you knew I was leaving in it.

The next time I saw you was a couple months later, I think. I saw your best love in the parking lot and walked over to see you two. You saw me ran up, sniffed me and then walked away, climbing into the back of your best loves car, peering out. She laughed and said “I think she is angry at you.” I sat next to you,but you moved over, and rolled up, pushing your head as far away from me as you could.

“I think she is saying ‘fuck you’ to you”

“Yes.” I said.

The next time I saw you, I was working hard between shifts or something and asked if I could sleep at the farm for an hour, and you came home. You must have smelled me because you ran straight in and BURST through the door and jumped up on the bed just frantic, like it was old times, like it was all solved and everything was in it right place. After a minute you cooled off, like “Oh.. shit, that was embarrassing, I am mad at him you know.”

I asked if I could see you again. To say goodbye and slip you a treat or two. I think it will work out. Your best love and I still have to figure our people problems out, but I am sure I will get a chance to say “Thank you” to you.

Sobbing right now.

My favorite picture of you is this one. Sitting next the the creek, just enjoying the day with me. I think it was the day I was pulling the fence out of the creek to help with the salmon run. Remember that you flushed that massive Chinook at me, like a cannon ball of endangered species and you came crashing after barking at me like I was an idiot for not grabbing it.

I am pretty sure that dogs end up in the big park in the sky, with the chew toy that never quite gives up the squeaky box in it chest, a clear creek, tall grass and rabbits and fish and goats and deer for days and days and days.

This tape is deep as fuck. Doc at his peak. Heavy. Slamming drums, big vocals and nasty stomach twisting basslines. Snare rolls. Breaks, builds, tension and mother fucking drama in the club.

Extra points if you can tell me what the Energy Flash mix is at 21:00.

40 seconds later he starts teasing the tambourine from Green Velvets “Flash” in and you hear it: “FUCK YEA!”

FUCK YEA!

4 songs make up one E.P. The lean includes techno, ambient, experimental, dubstep. All recorded with broken dolby, tape-hiss real/faked, real pianos, faked horns, real/faked drums, faked talent, and no urgency to publish the damn thing.

Available exclusively today at www.dbtrx.com

and soon at itunes, amazon and everywhere else.

Just buy the damn thing so I can buy a new bike or fishing pole. Bling Bling.

Not saying this is some uptempo trance fest because, well, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Summer is over, and the clouds rolled in quickly to make that point. Some good ideas turned into bad ideas and I have never been less inspired to actually write music since… who knows. I have not played out less, dj or live since I started doing this over ten years ago. Just keeping below the radar,

I am not complaining, just marking the fact that this mix is cool colored. Not blue, not grey, just cool. Full of heart and feeling, but still sad and expecting.

Quality tunes though, both serious classics and some current classics in the making.

Take Dave Angel’s “Endless Motions”. Released in 1993, and full of everything that shows how important the British music scene was in pushing Techno farther and in different directions that America was going.

Jeff Samuel’s “Off the Mark” is stunner, showing off his talent for combining movement with heart. Listen and listen again. The synth work by itself is incredible, bringing that kind of emotion with something so superficially confining like Techno is work best left to the masters. The innovators. The Jeff’s.

Gregor Tresher has been catching my attention recently, taking a playful approach the the minimal and electro sound, while keeping it dance floor friendly. “A Thousand Nights” is melancholy, sexy, girls like it and clubbers love it. Chin scratchers hate it.

Orbital comes correct with “Fahrenheit 3d3″ Giving techno and acid a distinctively British lean. One of my favorite Orbital songs. 1992, yo. Seriously.

Leftfield’s “Swords” brings the whole thing down. Deep, dark and something I slept on till a few weeks ago. Not perfect, me.

1. Intro – Cliff Martinez -  Don’t Blow It
2. Carl Craig – Technoambient
3. Dave Angel – Endless Motions
4. Trentemoller – Snowflake
5. Mat Anderson – A Heart Like Thera
6. Isolee – Beau Mot Plage
7. Jeff Samuel – Off The Mark
8. Underworld – Beautiful Burnout – Mark Knight Mix
9. Gregor Tresher – A Thousand Nights
10. Orbital – Fahrenheit 3d3
11. Fatboy Slim – Next To Nothing
12. Moby – Go
13. Leftfield – Swords
14. Aphex Twin -Ageisopolis

The video is nothing short of amazing I think. Check it below. Swords, by Leftfield