CD Player

I just got word that the CD player I ordered in June will ship today or tomorrow, after months of backorder! W00t!

Hopefully Customs will still honor my claim for unaccompanied exempt goods. *crosses fingers*

And, it looks like it'll arrive in time for Sunday's gig! Schweet!

New Music

A few loads, mashed together for your inconvenience:

• (Various Artists)--Electroburn and Electrochill: A pair of collections of assorted chilled and semi-chilled tracks. Good selection, unmixed (nice for us DJ-type people), a little heavy on the Röyksopp though (not that I don't like them, but 3 tracks from the same album is a bit much). Quite a bit of overlap with stuff I already have, but there's still enough good news stuff to warrant buying. Favorite new track: Heather Nova's Gloomy Sunday.


• Garbage--Version 2.0: Every now and then, I wander through the rock/pop section to see what I'm missing. This turned up. I quite like their style of kinda-grungy electro-rock, especially in their early years, so I picked this up. Almost, but not quite, mainstream... and thus unusual for me!


• Dum Dum Project--Desi Vibes: Electro-indo-rock. Fun fusion stuff, not inaccessible in the least but totally unheard.


• Crystal Method--Tweekend: Hard electro. Some years ago, I found this, and got a copy for a friend; since then, I've broadened my tastes a bit (or even a lot) and wanted a copy for myself. ms_danson, you might like this.


• Nightmares on Wax--Mind Elevation: Trippy chillout. Melody, check; beat, check; loops, check, check, and check. This is the third of their albums that I've gotten, so I must like something about them. Listen for them on Sunday at the Capital Slam Benefit.


• React Records--Real Ibiza³: Chilling you softly: Ambient chillout. Hey, there's even a Nightmares on Wax track on here that I don't have! This is a collection from the people who brought you the famed Cafe del Mar series, compiled by José Padilla (not the one who's incarcerated in the US), but has stuff licensed from various other labels. Again, tracks are unmixed for DJ'ing pleasure.


• Deep Forest--Deep Forest: World Mix: This is a limited edition version replacing a CD I already owned. It includes 4 or 5 extra mixes of tracks, including a couple of remixes by Apollo 440. Overall, the album is kinda new-age (okay, "world beat"), but the remixes take it solidly into electronica. I like the original; I like the remixes, and will trot them out when you're least expecting them.


• DJ Mark Farina--Mushroom Jazz 2: Downtempo acid jazzy house. Fantastic mixing work, integrating tracks very tightly with samples and callbacks everywhere. Again, listen for bits from this on Sunday. Some of the first bits of house music I liked were from this album, so it's great to find a copy for my very own.


• Six Degrees Records--Traveller '01: Another collection from what may be my favorite label overall. This is an annual from a few years ago, and has some tracks I already have elsewhere, but again, too good to pass up. Highly varied styles, very international. Most surprising track: Another Fine Day's version of Scarborough Fair.


• Platipus Records--The Ultimate Dream Collection: Trance, including ambient trance and psy-trance. Old stuff, but excellent. Plus, it has a good mix of Robert Miles' Children, and after more than 10 years, it might be time to dust that one off again.