I've Been Away!

I've been feeling so bad lately about there being a distinct lack of blog posts here on The Disc Jockey Blog.

There is a good reason however. I started my new job in the middle of January, and have been so busy that there has been little time for blogging. In my previous job, I was able to stream music while I worked, which was great for finding new things and having my finger on the pulse.

When I was made redundant in mid-September, I was able to devote a lot more time to The Disc Jockey Blog, it's one of the few things that kept me sane during that time. In fact, the experience of writing and using HTML on this blog was the main reason I was hired for my new job!

I want to make more effort to bring you the latest in dubstep tracks and mixes, and will aim to publish posts every weekend. This is just a quick update to say hey, I'm not dead, and I'm still a massive dubstepper!

A New Dubstep Mix from Me!

It was about time I uploaded something of my own once again, and I am quite happy with how it panned out. I pretty much picked the records at random - which tracks felt right together, and which tracks I wanted to include in the mix. The mix itself went really well. I filmed the mix with my Nokia N8 that allows HD recording, and I recorded the audio with the usual Magix Audio Cleaner application on my laptop.

The problem came when I wanted to edit my video. My Windows Movie Maker has not been working very well lately so I decided to try something new - Cyberlink Power Direct. I thought this would have more capability add more quality to my video - I was wrong.

It was buggy, slow, and just didn't work very well. Processing took forever, and the output format was not recognised by my laptop, which made for a pointless video. I managed to process the video in a lower quality format that my laptop could work with, but as you can see above, the quality was severely comprimised. I must say thought to be fair, I think the age of my laptop may have had something to do with my problems.

So back to the mix, the tracklist is as follows:

Borgore - Birthday of the Black November
Trolley Snatcha - Circle K
Magnetic Man - Mad
Magnetic Man - I Need Air
Subscape - Hardcore Members
Subscape - Let Me Clear My Throat
Doctor P - Sweet Shop

Let me know what you think of the mix, and don't forget to subscribe to me on YouTube if you like any of my videos!

Chase & Status - No More Idols (First Impressions)

At the end of last month, Chase & Status released their latest album, No More Idols. Yesterday I bought the album, and here are my first impressions.

As expected, it's quite a diverse album, taking influences from dubstep, drum and bass and hip-hop to name a few. The album features the cream of British talent, with Tempa T, Tinie Tempah, Plan B, Dizzee Rascal and Liam Bailey all contributing their vocals to this album.

The main problem I have with this album is that I have already heard (and in some cases own) a lot of the tracklist. Hypest Hype was a free download at the end of last year, End Credits was the soundtrack to Harry Brown (which I promptly grabbed from iTunes), Let You Go was released as a single last summer, and Blind Faith has been played so much on the radio.

If I gave my views on those tracks they would be dated, and in some cases I have already reviewed them. So, I shall take a look at some of my favourite tracks from the album that I hadn't already heard.

The second track on the album, Fire In Your Eyes is one of my top tracks upon the first listen. The guitars remind me of Distance, or even Pendulum. If truth be told I've been neglecting dubstep lately, but a track like this is enough to get me back on track.



Flashing Lights is the next track I will talk about. This has a liquid feel that I've always loved from Chase and Status, a catchy sample with a clean beat - I really cannot get enough of this kind of music.




Finally, Fool Yourself. This track features Plan B, who has just blown up this year, he's now a household name and for good reason. His latest album The Defamation of Strickland Banks is fantastic, and showed a whole new side to his talents. When I first heard Fool Yourself I wasn't too sure, I really like the start, but I wasn't expecting the track to develop the way in which it does. I have picked this as a favourite though as I can see it growing on me in the same way that End Credits and Pieces.






These are my first impressions, and I'm sure my opinions will develop as I listen to the album more, so I will write a full album review in a few weeks.