Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

Why iTunes pisses me off…

Posted by Matt on May 2nd, 2006

iTunes logo
I can summarise this fairly shortly with the following scenarios:

  1. I’ve just bought 3 minute long song from iTunes for 79p. I also buy a 6 minute long song for 79p. Which is better value for money?
  2. I’ve downloaded my track from iTunes and want to play it on the MP3 player my nan bought me from Woolworths at Christmas. Hold on? My MP3 player doesn’t support this MP4 malarky!? Infact only iPods support MP4! Apple is yet to licence the technology to other companies! Hows that for unfair competition?
  3. I’m a DJ and I need top quality (ie. CD quality) music. Considering if I bought a CD single for £3.99 with 3 tracks, how come when i buy from iTunes I get lower than CD quality & I pay £2.37. If I offered to pay a bit extra could I have CD quality? Nope, but you could just go down to HMV and buy the CD plus you get a hard copy of it!

All Of MP3 LogoOk, not everyone will notice how much Apple is ripping them off until they take a look at one of their competitors…. AllofMP3.com. Let’s take a brief look at what they offer to see where iTunes is going wrong:

  1. You want music you can play on MP3 player? Well how about you download an MP3! It sounds such a simple principle, but why can’t anyone blinded by Apple’s iPod/Tunes domination see that? Infact how about you prefer the quality of other formats like Ogg Vorbis, MPC or even the lossless quality of FLAC? Fine, just choose to download in that format when you purchase the music!
  2. Why should you pay 79p for a 3 minute song & a 6 minute song? Fine, don’t pay that much. How about you just pay for the size of the file? Sounds a bit fairer, but how much will a 3 minute song cost now? Oh, I don’t know say around 5p!!! Don’t believe me, then take a look!
  3. Ok, well fine, how about if I’m DJing want some top quality audio file? Say about 320kbps MP3? Fine just use their online encoding system and choose whatever format and bitrate you want! You’ll have to pay a bit more obviously because you’re gonna get a bigger file, but if thats what you need then you got it! And when I say a bit more, it’ll be about another 4-5p. Nothing that’ll break the bank!

Now doesn’t all that sound a bit fairer?? I think so!

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My Mixes

Posted by Matt on February 4th, 2006
In my spare time I like to DJ and have been doing so since 2000. My styles have been in a constant state of flux; I think you can plot my musical journey briefly via the following DJ’s and artists:
  1. Jamiroquai (Mid 90′s)
  2. Paul Oakenfold (late 90′s)
  3. Hybrid (2000-present)
  4. Plump DJs (2001-present)
  5. DJ Yoda (2003-present)
  6. Mr Scruff (2002-present)
  7. 2ManyDJs (2004-present)
I doubt that reflects my musical style very well because… well I don’t really have one! Perhaps you could say I just like music and if two tracks sound good together then I say “why not put them together!” (even if it’s 80′s cheese next to techno).
Nowadays I do the odd live gig. I mostly do mp3 sets because they allow for so much more freedom and creativity than vinyl, but I still love my vinyl though!

List of Mixes

May Day Electro – April Mix of the Month

This is one of the April Mix of the Month for 2006. It reflects what I’d been listening to a lot over the previous few months… Electro! It covers a wide range of electro styles. The bland bare melodic stuff, the funk-tinged stuff, the acid-tinged stuff, and the breakbeat side of electro. The last 10 minutes or so of the mix is one of my mini-mixes I’d been working on since Christmas 2005. I’d began experimenting more & more with Mixmeister; looping samples, overlaying 3 or 4 tracks at once and messing around with keys of the songs. I was trying to create stuff that when played out people would recognise parts of the separate tracks, but not put together with other recognisable tracks. For example we have Breathe by the Prodigy, with the 7 Nation Army bass line and a classic house vocal sample all at the same time. I know when I hear tracks i know in a club, I get excited, so I guess I’m doing what I think others may like.
  1. Disco 128 – Chritopher & Raphael Just
  2. Lately (Ges-E and Visionary Underground Mix) – Nitin Sawhney
  3. Rackrash (Bahamut Remix) – Bahamu
  4. Freestyle Disco (Wyvern Grill) – S.I. Futures
  5. Girls (Idiotech Remix) – The Prodigy
  6. Talks – Zombie Nation
  7. Happy Happy – Thomas Anderson
  8. Washing Up (Tiga’s Na Na Na Na Na Remix) – Thomas Anderson
  9. Walking Away (Tocadisco Remix) – The Egg
  10. Sugar Lips – Coburn vs. Dumb Blonde
  11. Do Not Break – Ellen Allein & Apparat
  12. What 2 Need 2 (Trentemoeller Remix) – Sharon Phillips
  13. I Feel Loved (Danny Tenaglia Labour Of Love Remix) – Depeche Mode
  14. Breathe (Like An Aphex Twin) – The Prodigy
  15. Seven Nation Army (Adam Freeland Remix) – White Stripes
  16. My House – Phil Keiran
  17. You Gonna Want Me – Tiga
  18. Rez – Underworld
  19. Technologic – Daft Punk
  20. Swastika Eyes (Chemical Brothers Remix) – Primal Scream
  21. Swastika Eyes – Primal Scream

Challenge Complete

This was my first mix of 2006. It’s a mixture of hip hop, jazz, funk, drum & bass, electro. It’s kinda Scruff like i suppose. I tried re-editting certain songs so they’re not the original, like the DJ Shadow has samples from Drop It Like It’s Hot & Destiny’s Child in, and the Mr Scruff’s Bonce is bootleged with DJ Vadim.
  1. Beginning – Nostalgia 77
  2. What Does Your Soul Look Like [Peshay Remix] – DJ Shadow
  3. Proper Hoodidge – Amon Tobin
  4. Hardcore [Instrumental] Hip-Hop – DJ Shadow
  5. No No No Part 2 – Destiny’s Child
  6. Drop It Like It’s Hot [Live - Radio 1] – Roni Size
  7. Bonce – Mr Scruff
  8. Ghetto Rebels – DJ Vadim
  9. Organic – Othello
  10. That Sound (Quantic Soul Orchestra Remix) – Ohmega Watts
  11. Clean Living – RJD2
  12. Heaven and Hell – 20th Century Steel Band
  13. I Can’t Stop – Buckfunk 3000
  14. Bus Stop Bitties – RJD2
  15. The Boogie That Be – The Black Eyed Peas
  16. Lost in the K-Hole – The Chemical Brothers
  17. Krack – Soulwax
  18. Grind – Si Begg

How Am I Supposed To Know? (Unfinished)

Well heres a new mix I did in about 3 hours, just mucking around. It still needs some work, expecially the beastie boys bit. It’s not the most amazing thing Ive done, but it’s got lots of random stuff in it. I kinda started off wanting to do something floaty and light with Hybrid and Ils, but that went out of the window as I started to bring in other things. It’s a random mixture of electro, 80′s cheese, bit of brazillian/french jazz, rock. There’s a bit of Amon Tobin and Aphex Twin thrown in for good luck! (PS: The last track is awesome, thank Derek for discovering that gem!)
  1. Freeland – We Want Your Soul
  2. Duran Duran – Girls On Film
  3. h.a.b. – Feel For You
  4. Azzido Da Bass – Dooms Night (Timo Maas Remix)
  5. Beastie Boys – Ch-Check It Out (Acapella)
  6. Aphex Twin – Windowlicker
  7. Soulwax – NY Lipps
  8. Zuco 103 – Peregrino (Dave Walters Remix)
  9. Zuco 103 – Peregrino
  10. Phil Collins – Susudio
  11. Muse – Time Is Running Out
  12. Amon Tobin – Chronic Tonic
  13. Black Box – Ride On Time
  14. Richard X – You (Better Let Me Love You)
  15. Fingathing – Synergy
  16. UNKLE – Nursery Thyme
  17. Rachid Taha – Rock El Casbah

Tearfund Fair Trade Fashion Show

This is the music that me and Derek produced for the Tearfund fashion show. We were originally going to use loads of world music because we thought thats what the clothes were gonna be like. However, when we found out they were jus like normal western clothes, we changed it to western music too. We tried to avoid using well known cliched songs, but that went out of the window a few times. The intro was a brilliant idea by Derek to represent the fact that these clothes are from all over the world.

Intro – Radio scan of world music

Session 1

  • Mad Flava – Fatboy Slim
  • Tricka Technology – Krafty Kuts and A.Skillz

Session2

  • 1976 – RJD2
  • Cross The Tracks – Maceo And The Macks

Session 3

  • Watermelon Man
  • No Pollution – Beck
  • Don’t Phunk With My Heart – Black Eyed Peas
  • Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz

Session 4

  • Do Your Thing – Basement Jaxx
  • Jacques Your Body – Les Rhythmes Digitales

Session 5

  • Whole Lotta Love – Goldbug
  • Morzepellin (Go Home Productions) – Morcheeba & Led Zepellin

Finale

  • If Everybody Looked The Same – Groove Armada
  • A Little Less Conversation – Elvis Presley vs JXL

The Mul Mix

This was the birthday mix I made for my dear buddy Rick (aka Mul – hence the title). I know Rick’s musical tastes very well, it’s something that we have in common. I aimed to try and cram as much cool hip hop and other stuff in to the mix and add in a few special bootleg bits of my own. The only problem with it (as my flat mate pointed out) is that the Who isn’t on for long enough. If I’m honest I think this is my favourite mix ever. It’s just so damn funky!
  1. Ex-Factor – Lauryn Hill
  2. Don’t Believe The Hype – Public Enemy
  3. The Seeker – The Who
  4. The Game – Jurassic 5
  5. Electric Relaxation – A Tribe Called Quest
  6. Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang – Dr Dre feat. Snoop Dog
  7. The Message – Grandmaster Flash feat. The Furious Five
  8. Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
  9. Hot Breath – Solesides
  10. Are You On It? – Skitz feat. Covert & MK
  11. Buddy – De La Soul feat. Jungle Brothers
  12. Entropy Part A – DJ Shadow
  13. Break It Down – Jazzy Jeff feat. J-Live
  14. Concrete Schoolyard – Jurassic 5
  15. Unknown Track – Advertising The Invisible
  16. Countdown – Deckwrecka
  17. Jam Master Jay Tribute Medley – Hidden Beach Recordings
  18. Tripper Trouble – DJ BC and The Beastles
  19. Incudoubt Hellamania – Party Ben (Incubus, No Doubt and Devo)
  20. Lose My Freedom – Go Home Productions (Destinys Child and Devo)
  21. Another One Bites Da Funk – Daft Queen
  22. Bite – The Kleptones (Queen and ODB)
  23. Robot Rock – Daft Punk
  24. Take A Little Time – Les Rhythmes Digitales
  25. Apache – The Sugarhill Gang
  26. The 900 Number – 45 King
  27. Clonque Rock – Osymyso
  28. Nothing In Its Right Place – Radiohead and U-God
  29. The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash – Grandmaster Flash
  30. Guaglione – Perez Prado
  31. Crazy In Love – Beyonce
  32. Crazy!?!? – DJ Monkey boy and his Famous Friends
  33. Beautiful Crazy – Space Raiders

21st Birthday Set Part 1

This is the first half of the run through of the set I did at my 21st Birthday party. It’s full of bootlegs and I aimed to try and create a set which had a bit something for everyone. I actually got slated for trying to cater for too many tastes, but I think it is an cool set! The highlight of the night was the S-Club 7 into KRS One. some people stopped and tutted when I put on S-Club, others jumped for joy. Then, when it slipped into KRS One, the attitudes changed! Those that were tutting, put on a huge grin and those that were whooping just looked puzzled! *sigh* Made me laugh.
  1. Green Day – Imperial Death March
  2. LCD Soundsystem – Disco Infiltrator
  3. The Cantina Band – The Cantina Song
  4. Kylie – Slow
  5. Mark Ronson – Ooh Wee
  6. Nelly – Number #1
  7. The Mooney Suzuki – Alive And Magnified (+ excerpts from The Doors, Outkast, Mansun & Alicia Keys)
  8. Blueboy – Remember Me
  9. Destiny’s Child – Bug-a-boo
  10. S Club 7 – S Club Party
  11. KRS-One – Sound Of The Police
  12. Public Enemy & Moby – Make Love F*** War
  13. George Michael – Outside
  14. Can – I’m So Green
  15. Kool & the Gang – Jungle Boogie
  16. Royksopp – Eple
  17. House Of Pain – Jump Around
  18. Will Smith – Miami
  19. Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats
  20. Public Enemy – The Rebel
  21. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
  22. Country Mike – Country Delight
  23. Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Home
  24. Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble
  25. Beastie Boys – Sure Shot
  26. The Beatles – Oh Bla Di
  27. The Beatles – Unknown
  28. Jay-Z – Encore
  29. XTC – Love At First Sight
  30. Grandmaster Flash – The Message
  31. Pink – Get The Party Started
  32. ZZ-Top – Unknown

Party Time Volume 2 – The Dance Party

This is the second party time mix, this time with a dance competition voice over. I used more of a mixture of styles, taking elements of mixes from my very first mp3 mix (I lost that mix unfortunately – but I used Destiny’s Child with Jimi Hendrix and Chemical Brothers with Nirvana). Infact, I recently modified the destinys child over Tomoyasu Hotei (the Kill Bill theme) with an acapella I managed to get from a random French bloke so there isn’t a clash of tunes. Overall, it’s a wicked mix (if i do say so myself).
  1. Braille feat Rob Swift – Hip Hop Music
  2. Blake Knight – Not That Serious
  3. Mr Scruff – Vibrate
  4. Mase – What You Want
  5. John Reuben – Re-Record
  6. Tomoyasu Hotei – Battle Without Honor or Humanity
  7. Destiny’s Child – Independent Women Pt. 1
  8. Jimi Hendrix – Foxy Lady
  9. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Boom! Shake The Room
  10. Destiny’s Child vs Stevie Wonder – BootyStition (Sm@ash Mix)
  11. Blackstreet feat. Janet Jackson – Girlfriend/Boyfriend
  12. Flynn – Love Is Dead
  13. The Procussions – Down To One
  14. DJ Shadow – Six Days (Soulwax Mix)
  15. The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats
  16. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
  17. KJ-52 feat Pillar – Rock On
  18. Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
  19. The Beatles – Lady Madonna
  20. Led Zeppelin – Moby Dick
  21. Beastie Boys vs Herbie Hancock vs INXS vs AC/DC – Intergalactic (Soulwax Bootleg)
  22. Snap! – The Power
  23. The Herbaliser feat Blade – Time 2 Build
  24. Outkast – Church
  25. Pigeon John – Cry

Party Time Volume 1 – Musical Statues

This was the first mix in a series of (2) cheesey party mixes. It was heavily inspired by DJ Yoda & his whole How To Cut & Paste Mix Tape series. I thought I’d try my own style/homage/version (without the amazing scratching)! Throughout the mix there is a musical statues game going on (hence the title). So you can actually play along (although it’ll take over an hour).
  1. What’s Real? – BK feat. The Tunnel Rats
  2. Beautiful Sharp Little Chicks – Pigeon John
  3. Grange Hill (Monkey Boyed!) – Underground Rise
  4. Re-Record – John Reuben
  5. Dreamin’ – L.A. Symphony
  6. She’s Ms.Sin – Verbs feat. Lisa Kimmey
  7. WeGotta! – The Procussions
  8. Jammin John & Mixin’ Manny – John Reuben
  9. No Opinion? – John Reuben
  10. All That It Takes (Revisited) – The Procussions
  11. I Want You Back – Jackson 5
  12. Mr Chris.T.Ian – Ill Harmonics
  13. Comp USA – Freddie Bruno
  14. Next – L.A. Symphony
  15. All Around The World – BK feat. MG! The Visionary
  16. Can I Kick It? – A Tribe Called Quest
  17. Ring Ring Ring – De La Soul
  18. Jump Around – House Of Pain
  19. Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
  20. Come Alive – Krafty Kuts & A Skillz
  21. Rock The Casbah – The Clash
  22. U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer
  23. Praise You – Fatboy Slim
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Will & Matt make a flat pack shelving unit

Posted by Matt on January 23rd, 2006

The other day I had the pleasure of helping my flat mate, Will, put together his flat pack shelf which had been in his room since September. I decided to document our progress because in simple terms, we’re a bit crap at flat-pack stuff. Actually, Will is bit crap with flat pack stuff. He can’t follow instructions properly, he can’t screw, but he does everything with such wonderful energy and charisma that you can’t help but feel he knows what he’s doing!

The box of goodies

The box of goodies

So here we see the box of goodies, slightly dishevelled in our excitement, but fear not, we lost no parts!! Infact for some reason we had a few spare, so expect photo’s of a collapsed shelf in the near future!

So stage 1, build the frame.

Will attempts stage one

Will attempts stage one

Will begins inserting the wooden knobs into the outer frame. Unfortunately, Will sticks together the wrong bits of wood in stage one, but Matt is too slow to catch his shameful schoolboy error.

Will messes up stage one

Will messes up stage one

Following Will’s cock-up, we finally complete stage one, the frame. (Note the wooden spoon on the floor. A very useful alternative to a mallet)

Stage one complete

Stage one complete

So with stage one complete we can now attach the back to the unit. This requires screwing and provides me and Will with the perfect opportunity to test out those tiny screwdrivers I won in a christmas cracker. In what could be considered as a scary coincidence, Will also produces a set of screw drivers that he won from a christmas cracker! It’s as if it were destiny! (I should point out that me and Will are not gay nor in any kind of dodgy relationship together, we just happen to have the same screwdrivers, though mine look slightly better!)

Quality Hardware

Quality Hardware

As you can see, they are an incredible present to receive along with the customary joke and paper hat. Unfortunately, Will has a lot of trouble screwing with his. He blames it on greasy palms and wraps a tea towel around his hands in an effort to reduce the slip-tion (new word!!) he is experiencing. I pity him, it doesn’t help and I end up screwing everything!

The completed back

The completed back

Finally, after about an hour and 16 screws later (i think that averages to a screw every 4 minutes), we have the beautifully finished back panel! Once again the wooden spoon makes an appearance in the above photo.

Will's hairy arms attach the last piece

Will's hairy arms attach the last piece

The last stage is for Will (and his hairy arms) to attach the roof to the unit which I think he did brilliantly and without any help from the wooden spoon! Now that it’s finished, all that was left was to put in the shelves and stock it with CD’s and DVD’s!!

Me pointing to the masterpiece of a shelving unit

Me pointing to the masterpiece of a shelving unit

And here we have the finished masterpiece! Beautiful flat-pack-craftmanship!!!

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Advent Calendar 2005 *SPECIAL NEWS*

Posted by Matt on November 25th, 2005

Once Again, I shall be putting up another exciting advent calendar. However, this year there is brand new feature that some people may wanna take advantage off!! This year I’m offering people the chance to recieve the doors on their phones via picture messages. This only open to people in the U.K. and who have phones that can recieve MMS messages, but it will be completely free!!!! (I get unlimited text and picture messages free so it doesn’t cost me anything). If you do wanna recieve them then send me an email with your phone number in to matt_goldspink@hotmail.com. I shall endevour to do my best to get them to everyone on time. They shall also be appearing online and this year they are themed!!! (Wooooo!!!) So watch this space!!!

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I Am Still Alive

Posted by Matt on January 7th, 2005

Since the 12th day of advent has been and gone I thought I’d best take down my christmas decorations. Also, I haven’t posted in ages because I’m stressed out with exams, job applications, project work and general doom!!!
I hope everyone is well and my heart goes out to all affected by the Tsunami!

Matt (*slightly depressed now christmas is over*)

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An Interlude

Posted by Matt on December 5th, 2004

Just a quick check up! I hope none of you tried to open the doors early while I was away!!! I’d be very disappointed if any of you did!!!

I just needed to publicly congratulate myself for becoming the Uno champion as well now!!! After a mammoth Uno session with Marie (lasting until 1.30am), I had won pretty much every game which I think conclussively proves that I am champion! I think you need to come up with a new game where I won’t kick ass!!! I would also like to congratulate Thanh Mai on getting her Kung Fu grades. I won’t be teasing her anymore!

I hope everyone is having a merry christmas so far!!! Look out for door number 6 tomorrow!!!

Matt
3 times Animal Game Champion 2004
Uno Champion 2004

PS I’m not competitive, honestly!

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Ta-Da!!!

Posted by Matt on December 1st, 2004

Well here it is!! My new blog template!!! As you can see, I’ve sexed it up a bit for christmas. There’s a picture of my dog, Chloe, getting into the christmas spirit and the “ho-ho-homie” is reference to DJ Santa. Anyway, as I said before things are going to change and since it’s christmas I’ve decided to turn my blog into an… (drum roll please)

ADVENT
CALENDAR

So everyday (hopefully), there’ll be a new door and you can have look whats behind it!!!

So enjoy and have a very, merry christmas!!!!

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The Day I Saw Shrek

Posted by Matt on November 15th, 2004

On Friday night, a few lucky people got to see Shrek! I don’t mean the film Shrek, but the guy Shrek, the fat ugly green thingy with celery for ears! Yes for those who don’t believe in fairy tales here’s the proof (click on the pic to see it full size):

Shrek Live on stage in Manchester

OK, so it’s a picture of him on the screen there, but we couldn’t see the stage, so i did my best! Anyway, it was great he turned up in a turnip carriage, Derek’s got some photo’s of that I’ll get them off him at some point. But YEY!!! Shrek lives!!! And he turned on the christmas lights!!! Check out the fireworks too!!!

Fireworks!

On a bum note, i’ve got a huge project presentation for wed morning to do, the dentist straight after that for a fillin & X-ray & my new phone is busted & it’s getting picked up 2moro between 9am & 5.30 & I have to be in uni for 10am to get my presentation slides printed up properly and i have to buy a £40 txt book i only need for one exam. Poo-chew

PS: To Marie, Thanh Mai, Derek, Chris and all those others who doubted the existence of the X-ray fish try any of the following links for proof:

Conclusive evidence I win the Animal Game!!! Bring on round two!!! Mwww-haha!!!

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