Soundclouded

For some time I have been frustrated by the lack of upload/download options available to the semi-pro* DJ/producer. Sure, you can upload mixes and tracks to a third-party upload/download service like Megaupload or YouSendIt or ZShare, but their interfaces are annoyingly time-consuming, unless you happen to be a PREMIUM member, and are chock-a-block with Google adds for online poker and porn. Plus, by forcing you to enter authentication codes, these services preclude the use of embedded music players in you blog/forum/myspace. It’s hard to look like a professional when you’re distributing your promos at the internet equivalent of a road-side yard-sale.

Speaking of myspace, are they ever going to upgrade that crap-assed music player? How can you strut your stuff when your tracks sound like they’re playing on a tape-recorder you bought at the Dollar Store? Honestly, my myspace page is more of a placeholder than a real marketing tool.

So, with my new-found impetus for production, I began exploring other options. Along came Soundcloud. Soundcloud is to myspace what an art gallery is to a page of thumbnails. On Soundcloud you can upload full-length tracks AND mixes, while on myspace you’re stuck with limits on track length and file size. Soundcloud has coding for embeddable players; myspace only allows a link to you page. Soundcloud allows for comments on specific tracks and even comments linked to sections of a track or mix; myspace has a general comments section on the page.

Believe it or not, this is not an ad for Soundcloud, I’m just so excited by the prospects that I’m having difficulty containing my enthusiasm.

Anyway, my inaugural upload to Soundcloud is a remix I did for DJ Bolivia’s remix contest. The contest closed yesterday, so I think I’m safe posting it here. If you took the time to download the sample pack, what you heard was a spoken-word story about a Midwestern girl who discovered electronic music and subsequently moved to New York in an attempt to connect with the scene. The track is called “Global Underground” in honour of the seminal mix CD series that figures largely in the story. The inspiration for my remix came from a couple of different places. Firstly, I’ve been re-reading Simon Reynold’s “Generation Ecstasy” (aka “Energy Flash”), specifically the chapters on the dark side of rave culture. The cheese in the vocal sort of annoyed me anyway, and so I decided to focus on the grind of raving rather than the honeymoon. At the same time I was given two crates of Detroit Techno records, mostly Plus8. This remix is my attempt at a Detroit sound.

DJ Bolivia - Global Underground (Chef Napalm's 212 to 313 Dub) by Chef Napalm

I can’t let you download it until the winners have been announced, but please let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Keep watching, because there is much more to come.

*By “semi-pro” I mean that I have been paid for my work in the past, but have yet make a living off of it.