Right, well, so much for 10 Days Off 2005. By popular demand, here’s the best day 10 roundup evar …
Mandrak: Has a … let’s say … weird way of mixing. I’m trying to avoid the term amateuristic. Oops, failed.
Filliz: Yyyyyaaaaawwwwwnnnnn. Mix a little faster, please. Even if you’re gonna do tech house. Or whatever that was. Well, the majority of it.
Tiefschwarz & DJ Hell: Pretty much as expected. Good tracks, but no real buildup, continuity or skill. So I guess 8 hours was a bit much, which is why we—Yoann and I—checked out …
Err … whoever played from 5 till 7 in the Ballroom. I thought it was Headman but they were in the White Room, apparently. I guess it was a Cosy Mozzy and Kiki collaboration. Sounded like it, anyway. Really nice minimal & groove, nicely mixed.
So we didn’t get to The Neon Judgement—bad timing, I guess. And around 7’ish, the atmosphere was somewhat gone, so, after a bit of chatting, we decided to call it a day. Incidentally, I’d heard “I Feel Space” no less than 3 times by then, so I’m sorta tired of it now. In other news, no less than 3 girls said they liked my “Smile if you’re gay!” T-shirt, yet only one guy—who was hot, nonetheless—actually smiled. Well, no, there was also this adorable straight boy who stared at it for a while, smiled after reading the “Smile if you” and then, after reading it all, looked kinda shocked and turned away. Bless his heart. Probably thought I was going to rape him.
Dominik Eulberg and Captain Comatose were definitely the best performances I heard and saw this year. Villalobos and Hawtin probably would’ve been pretty good too; I definitely regret going to see Black Strobe this year, but oh well.
Guess who’ll be wearing the coolest T-shirt ever to 8 hours of Tiefschwarz vs. DJ Hell tonight? Exactly, the same guy who’s having vodka and coke at 10:30 in the morning before going to bed. Whoever that guy is, I say he rocks.
In other news, I made a half-hour demo mix earlier today. I think it worked out really well so I’ll throw it online soon.
Comin’ atcha with 10 Days Off day 08. Oldskool.
Alex Smoke live: Supa groovy minimal goodness. They should’ve put him around 2, maybe 3 o’clock instead of midnight. He doesn’t deserve an empty floor at all.
Télépopmusik live: Though I only caught the last 15 minutes, hence pretty much just the hits “Breathe” and “Genetic World”, I’m convinced it was a great gig. Nice atmosphere too.
Phonique: As nice as expected, though I thought he’d be better at mixing—or at least more creative. Some tracks just went on and on.
Captain Comatose live: Sweet mother of Jesus, they do still rock. Kinda like the Märtini Brös. but more camp—yes, it’s possible. And equally great entertainers. A close second—after Dominik Eulberg—in this year’s preliminary 10 Days Off Top 10.
Riton: Loved it, much to my surprise. Groovy, sometimes breaky, but most importantly, shakin’.
Radioslave: A little too commercial and some mixes were just … well … experimental. I spent the majority of the set in the chill area chatting up straight guys with my knowledge of Tintin—but that’s an entirely different story.
Geoffroy: Not my style, but I knew that already. But I won’t judge people who liked it.
Okay, so I asked DJ Naughty and that track I was looking for is called “I Feel Space” by Lindstrøm. Not the most interesting post ever, but for the sake of completeness. You know. Meh.
10 Days Off day 05, anyone?
Optimo: The hell? Those were some sub par mixing skills. Nice tracks though.
DJ Naughty: I only stayed there for about 10 minutes, since it didn’t sound terribly good. However, he did play a track I’m looking for. I thought Dominik Eulberg had played it, so I e-mailed him about it—so we’re on a first name basis now—but I was wrong. Anyway, I have no idea why I don’t know the title, since it’s a freaking popular track. It’s the background music of summercamp.be too. Somebody tell me what it’s called so I can tell Dominik, because he likes it as well. But back to 10 Days Off …
Black Strobe: I think I prefer Ivan Smagghe solo. I do like some effects, but in the case of Ivan & co, it got a tad weary—to the extent that the crowd got agitated.
Mo (no Benoelie): While The Glimmer Twins are becoming the new 2manydjs—which I don’t like—this was definitely tonight’s best set. Some nice technical stuff and, most importantly, fine tracks.
So I didn’t go to Kaos, which is a little silly because I really wanted to, but I guess I was too busy perving over some guy again. No, I didn’t talk to him. Life goes on.
Also, there was a card in the mail from the postman, saying he’d been at the door with a package—addressed to my mom—and no one had answered. Surely it’s a little early for the T-shirts Tommy, Pinky and I ordered last Thursday, since it was going to take 1 to 2 weeks. However, I’m curious. But the card says I can’t pick up the package at the post office until Saturday, and it’s closed until Monday then, and even then, I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to receive it, since I might need my mom’s identity card. If it does contain the T-shirts, I hope I can collect them on Monday, since I’d like to wear one of them to the last evening of 10 Days Off. Yeah, shopping online rules.
10 Days Off day 03:
Rob ’n Zoopsie: Rob can’t mix, Zoopsie can. Their selection is allright but they need much better timing. And beatsyncing skills.
Dominik Eulberg: Whoa. Just delicious. Everyone was begging to turn all the speakers on—since the biggest ones weren’t working for some reason—so Dominik just quit playing and joined the crowd. Incidentally, he was right next to me and I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a compliment. Ooooh. After that, he got back on stage, put one of the monitor speakers towards the crowd—which made little difference, but meh—and played an awesome set. And I already adored his album. Definitely one to remember.
Abe Duque & Blake Baxter: Not my style anymore, but pretty cool nonetheless. Though I didn’t stick around long; the White Room was the place to be today.
Nathan Fake (live): Definitely nice. Created a great atmosphere. Though I think I prefer his studio jobs.
Tiga: Disappointing. No, really. He’s become such a crowdpleaser. Not that it was a bad set, but I prefer a technical challenge or a long smooth mix once in a while over 2 hours of morning radio-like mixes.
Starski & Tonic: Not bad at all, but nothing shocking either.
Also, there were a hell of a lot of gay guys in the main room Bacardi Batbeats Room. At least one was hawt, but as usual, I “didn’t get around” to talking to him. Maybe I’ll see him again—there are 7 more days, after all—but I’ll probably chicken out again anyway. Oh well, going 2 years without a boyfriend isn’t that bad, is it?
And finally, I read up on Cobblestone Jazz from day 00 and it turns out the band member I thought I recognized was actually Mathew Jonson. I had no idea that he’d been in that band long before having a solo career. And I can’t decide which of the two I like better.
Wow, that Optimus keyboard must look pretty hi-tech’ish.
10 Days Off day 00 (featuring Bo Bicé) roundup:
PR Soundsystem: Good for a warm-up. Not much real mixing though.
Spacid: One of the best sets I’ve heard the guy play—and I’d heard some wicked ones already. Very breaky jungle’y scratchy sort of mayhem. The guy sure can mix. Whee!
Cobblestone Jazz: See, now, that’s cool. 3 guys playing live, one of which playing the piano and ruling at it. Very groovy. Definitely today’s #1 discovery.
Cristian Vogel: Ooh, well, bless him for trying, but not really my style.
Akufen: Freaking brilliant as ever. I knew what to expect and he still made me shiver at times.
Jamie Lidell: Meh, honestly, they should’ve kept Mathew Jonson in the ballroom. I don’t know why people like that guy with his hiphop-like noise. Or maybe he’s just too hip for me.
Agoria: As expected, but pleasing indeed. Inspired techno.
Crisp: It seemed as though he would’ve played a great set if the vinyls hadn’t skipped on him half the time. I felt sorry for him, though I don’t approve of letting a record that skips all the freaking time—like every 5 seconds—play for a couple more minutes and still trying to do a good mix. You gotta know when to quit. Personally, I’d have done some funky scratching or so. But the stuff he played was nice.