Count Zer0 is one of my boys from back in the pb-cle-raves heyday, we even deejayed 2-step and related shit together for a while back in 00-02. We link to his blog and you may recognize him from the comments section here at ISM as well. Now he is throwing his hat in the ring with a guest mix. I’ll let him do the talking about the mix….
This is a mix of house and techno that I recorded back in mid May, coincidentally on the 12th anniversary of one of my other mixes Absolute Zero, a personal favorite. I’ve come a long way from those early days of fade mixing ambient cuts between two standard cd players and one turntable. I used to have to plan everything to the minute. I did this most recent mix totally on the fly, with many tracks I was playing for the first time. It got a little bumpy at points, and I tried redoing it a couple times, but it never came out having quite the same urgency and energy that the original did. I’m just sticking with the first take. As James Joyce famously said after discovering that Samuel Beckett had accidentally inserted unintended text during the dication of Finnegan’s Wake, “Let it stand”.
Tracklist:
Track # - Artist - Title - Label - Release Date (links to discogs entries for each track)
1 - kammerton - flowing in the seamind - instabil - (04-11-2008)
2 - robert owens - now i know - compost - (01-01-2008)
4 - art bleek - all night (zed bias mix) - sick trumpet - (04-19-2008)
5 - move d feat fragment - untitled - workshop 04 - (04-07-2008)
6 - charles webster - i’m falling (pepe braddock mix) - defected - (04-28-2008)
7 - dance dance maniac - cowbellboy - rz records - (12-10-2007)
8 - gene farris - visions of thefuture (roy davis jr. rmx) - force inc. music works - (1996)
9 - gescom - A2 - skam - (10-22-2007)
10 - tama sumo & prosumer - brothers, sisters - ostgut tonträger - (04-07-2008)
11 - alex cortex - huyendo part 2 - klang elektronik - (05-05-2003)
12 - richie hawtin - call it what you want - plus 8 - (1995)
13 - dance dance maniac - message from martha - rz records - (12-10-2007)
14 - robert hood - and then we planned our escape - music man - (12-17-2007)
15 - dj 3000 feat diametric - safe house (vocal) - motech - (04-25-2008)
16 - los hermanos - festival parade - submerge - (01-01-2008)
17 - tampopo - helicopters got cameras (tobias. remix) - curle - (02-28-2008)
jammin’ mix, I’m about 10 minutes in and it’s brightening my chicago monday. thanks.
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cz reply on August 19, 2008 10:27 am:
Thanks very much for the kind words!
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nice selection man, enjoying very much!
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cz reply on August 21, 2008 11:49 pm:
word up!
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The pepe bradock mix of “I’m fallin” is so dope!
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cz reply on August 21, 2008 11:49 pm:
It’s criminal how good it is.
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This was top notch.
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selection so right, mixing oh so wrong.
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cz reply on October 16, 2008 8:22 pm:
You’re right, this is one of the sloppiest mixing jobs I’ve ever done. The trainwreck going into the last track almost made me scrap the mix entirely, but I figured the selection was strong enough to keep. After all, part of the whole ISM theory is that track selection is infinitely more important than mixing. Besides, I’m sure you’ll find the mixes on most of my other dj set recordings to be nearly flawless.
Curious, where are the spots that are particularly hurtful to your ears?
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to tell the truth, i listened continuously probably the first 4/5 tracks, but transitions and a major trainwreck did not convince me and i just skipped through the whole thing to check the overall vibe.
i totally recognize the good taste selection wise, but the key thing to understand is that smooth transitions create that nice flow necessary when you’re a “passive” listener. if you´re working or reading on the computer, trainwrecks just pull you out of that concentration state, and after one or two it’s just annoying.
i’ll check some of the others, thanks for the tip & keep it up.
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cz reply on October 17, 2008 3:35 pm:
Ok since you didn’t even listen to the whole mix, let me break it down for you
mix 1 no errors
mix 2 no errors
mix 3 slight bumpiness at 12:25
mix 4 no errors
mix 5 no errors
mix 6 no errors
mix 7 no errors
mix 8 no errors
mix 9 no errors
mix 10 no errors
mix 11 no errors
mix 12 no errors
mix 13 no errors
mix 14 no errors
mix 15 no errors
mix 16 no errors
mix 17 trainwreck
So, considering I did this mix completely off the cuff without planning anything at all and without even knowing some of the tracks and that I was mixing without the aid of any artificial beatmatching nonsense, I think I did pretty good. AND I could have easily edited out the problem areas after the fact, but I didn’t, because I’m not a punk.
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wow, take it easy pal.
no need to list it, i know what i hear…and it just didn´t do it for me in the first 20 mins, and that usually means “skip”.
honestly, it’s not that big a deal if someone doesn´t enjoy your mixtape/style.
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cz reply on October 21, 2008 9:29 pm:
I think i have a right to defend myself when you attack.
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lovely attitude, thanks for the laughing minute.
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