Check out that tracksuit. This guy has his priorities set. Get the tracksuit, run anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Mad respect.
Fractal – Oceanography
Oceanography is a really unique atmospheric breaks track. Fractal brings together many different sounds, synths, pads into several melodies, bass-lines and time signatures, all of which flow effortlessly from eachother. Rennie Foster steps in to do some remix work, focussing on the twisted piano from the original track over top of a pretty deadly techno groove. I also get involved under my AFK name and make it a little more dance-floor friendly but keep true to the ethereal nature of the original while slapping in a breakbeat in the middle (as I like to do) and also weaving an Oliver Lieb-inspired arpeggiation in and out of the track. Good times. All innocent and fun times in fact, until Toby Emerson steps in to do his remix and completely knocks it out of the park. Massive electro-prog basslines and synths drive this remix until a really dark breakdown hits. It’s pretty hot stuff. Caution is advised while dropping this one. Overall I feel that this a really solid release – a year in the making – and I’m glad I took the extra time to see this release through to be what it is now. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did putting it together. As usual I did the sleeve art direction seen above etc.
Question for you now – what’s your favorite mix or remix of the bunch? I wont be offended if you don’t say me, so please have at ‘er!
Release tracklisting:
- Fractal – Oceanography (Original mix)
- Fractal – Oceanography (Rennie Foster’s Thousand Fathoms Deep remix)
- Fractal – Oceanography (AFK’s Ucluelet Detour remix)
- Fractal – Oceanography (Toby Emerson remix)
at interurban
It’s a pretty nice campus but it’s far away from town. I’ve got another update on the way tonight – Oceanography came out yesterday and I’m going to add some samples to the site.
AFK – Pacific Front Sessions: March 2009
March is the time of year where the days start to get longer, people spend a little more time outside and become a little more social overall as the overcast days start to break in favour of the sun. This mix reflects some of that mood – many of these tracks were ones I played recently at a sold out show where myself and Formulate shared the headline slot. We did a 2.5 hour set, playing 12:30 AM – 4:00 AM through a time change at 2 AM where it became 3 AM. Whenever you have an engaged audience, you find yourself making that little extra effort to connect with them in some way and many of the tracks I selected reflected this.
One bit of trivia here is that I was unsatisfied with the opening tracks at my disposal so I simply made one for this set. It’s called Lever but I doubt it’s going to live far outside of this set – maybe it will live only in this set. I’d be fine with that. After that is a track by the Chance Jumpers – there’s actually three remixes of this track that I really enjoy and this is one of them. It is likely you will hear another version on an upcoming mix. This song does a nice job of setting the mood without going over the top and sets up Kasey Taylor’s killer remix of Tim Davison’s “Patrol.” I know it’s not really an overtly energetic track but you just have to see what it does to the dancefloor, it’s something to take note of indeed. Reflekt’s classic “Need To Feel Loved” gets a newer treatment from Adam K and Soha and what a beauty it turned out to be – you may recognize this one from the movie “It’s All Gone Pete Tong.” Following this is an atmospheric progressive house gem from Elfsong and Aeron Aether called “Sylleptica.” Not sure what the word means, but like the song, it sounds cool. Fine Taste follow this up with something AIG will likely have to offer potential employees to entice them into the company – the song is called “My Golden Parachute.” The term refers to a payout to an employee should something happen to their job. It’s an agreement usually made on hiring for high-risk jobs. Fancy severance. The track itself actually reminds me a bit of Sonic the Hedgehog meets progressive house. There’s something about the mood that just reminds me of the game in a good way. Bright and festive, and just a little bit out there – definitely a party track. Not to be outdone, D-Nox and Beckers also bring the party with an energetic “Naked Punch,” which sets up one of my favorite tracks of the last year. Sudha hooked up with the unmistakable Zoe Johnston to make a song called “Leche” (not to be confused with “letchie”) and it gets a massive remix treatment from Thomas Schwartz and Fausto Fanizza. Stunning piece of vocal progressive, the kind that does not come along every day, let alone every month. The next track is by a fellow that is no stranger to my record bag, Steve Porter. I’ve got so many of his releases, and I was pleased to acquire this track recently, as it shows he’s in top producer form still. The track is called “Rizer” and it does what you suspect in Steve’s distinctive style. Ending the session is Planisphere with their epic “Spacetrash.” It’s really out there and I think it’s a fine way to end a mix. Enjoy!
Tracklisting:
- AFK – Lever (Introduction Edit) [Unreleased]
- Chance Jumpers – Korona (Ilya Malyuev Softtech Mix) [Morphosis]
- Tim Davison – Patrol (Kasey Taylor remix) [Vapour]
- Reflekt – Need To Feel Loved (Adam K and Soha Vocal mix) [Positiva]
- Elfsong and Aeron Aether – Sylleptica (Original mix) [Proton Music]
- Fine Taste – My Golden Parachute (Original mix) [Extrema Records]
- D-Nox and Beckers – Naked Punch (Original mix) [HOMmega Productions]
- Sudha featuring Zoe Johnston – Leche (Thomas Schwartz and Fausto Fanizza Vocal mix) [Bish Bash]
- Steve Porter – Rizer (Original mix) [PH Recordings]
- Planisphere – Spacetrash (Original mix) [Music Worx]
Download: AFK – Pacific Front Sessions: March 2009 (mp3)
Right click and Save As, or option-click the link on a Mac to automatically download
two tracks
This is in North Vancouver near the CN rail yards. There are no shortage of metaphors that one could use an image like this for. I could use it to lead explanations of different management techniques, DJing, producing, etc etc. Instead I am using it as my new desktop background.
queen of vancouver
On Sunday we were sailing back from Vancouver on the Queen of Vancouver, the Queen’s last sailing to Victoria as we were told over the announcement system. The Queen of Vancouver has been in service since 1962. You could always tell it was pretty old by the way it vibrates coming out of the dock – I’m sure this had a little to do with why they put the wooden rims on the tables in the cafeteria. After hearing the announcement, I decided I’d whip out the camera and gather some of the things that symbolized this boat to me over the years. Interestingly enough the camera was pointed at the ceiling most of the time – one of the signs that you’re on an old ferry is that it doesn’t really have a ceiling, but rather the bottom of the floor above. I always noticed that.
This ferry has taken me to gigs, friends, family, concerts, conferences, and I am sure a job or two. I’m sure I’ve made new friends on it, slept on it, ate on it, and a few other things as well. Although I’m sure that the amenities and capacities of the older ferry is statistically inferior to the newer ferries, there is a certain charm that is undeniable. Maybe it has to do with the old chairs, the exposed ceilings, or that ridiculous vibration that happens when the ferry backs out of Tsawwassen and heads into the Straight of Georgia. In any case I’m a little sad to see one of these go and it was pretty cool to be on the last sailing to Victoria.
More photos after the break.
Ion Design 20 Year Anniversary
Last night we attended Ion Design‘s 20th Year Anniversary party and it was a blast. It was great to meet folks that I’ve been talking to or working with for the last few years, or even last few weeks. Well attended, fun and lots to talk about during and afterwards. Thanks to Rod Roodenburg and Dave Coates (pictured above) for inviting us.
I’ve posted photos at Bergamot Studios’ website:
Ion Design’s 20th Year Anniversary.
strangescape
We’re in Vancouver this weekend for the Ion Design 20 year party, and we’ll also be getting some work done. Our business cards for Bergamot Studios came in, which is great since we’ll be able to hand some of them out tonight at the party. We’ll also be meeting up with Anand and Tara for dinner tomorrow night. Besides that, we’ve brought our computers and we’ll be doing some work while we’re here.
I’d like to take a second to update you on what happened on Wednesday to the Pacific Front Sessions show on Proton Radio. Basically the web streaming server got embedded on an adult entertainment website (without permission) and the traffic brought the whole station down. Thanks a lot, leXXXus. They have rectified the situation and the show will air this Sunday at 2 PM EST or 11 AM EST. You’ll also be able to download it for free by using their on-demand service, and I’ll be posting it here after it airs.
I’ve taken some time to put together some thumbnails and send them off to MetroCascade so look out for that. Basically I sent them some of my favorite shots and they’ll be linking them back to posts on this site.
That’s about it for now. I have the basis for a post regarding symmetrical versus asymmetrical communications models and there’s quite a bit to it. Soon I am going to get some of these thoughts out of my head and into a text file and let it all come together. Somewhat related – writing seems to be getting more and more important these days – interesting! I will elaborate later.
beware the ides of march!
Well now that the ides of march have actually passed, we can have a closer look to see if anything went horribly wrong. Hmm, just some snow in the middle of March. This photo was from Monday evening.
I have a few epic posts coming up, but what is most important right now is that I am on Proton Radio for the next two hours – tune in to proton here.
1:16 PM Update: there is a technical issue – the show should start momentarily. I spoke too soon! I may be done with the Ides of March, but the Ides of March is clearly not done with me.
1:39 PM Update: Show is rescheduled to start at 2:00 PM (21 minutes from now)
2:00 PM Update: Show is postponed until further notice. Sorry, I’ll post more information as it comes in from Jason @ Proton.
the bottles are back
Yes! I’ve done it. After a day of going to work, working, coming home, making dinner, then going to the Victoria Sketch Club’s 100 year anniversary Art Show, and writing a paper on investment strategy in the PC aggregate market, I actually have time for talking about this.
The Pop Shoppe is a company that has made pop for a long time. I think their deal was that you could buy a crate of pop in glass bottle form, take it home, drink it, and then bring the bottle back to be re-used. Ahead of their time maybe. My uncle always used to have a crate in the basement and he’d always let us raid it at family get-togethers while the grown ups would drink Adult Drinks. About 20 years has passed since I had seen these bottles around regularly and I hadn’t thought much of them, until I recently noticed them at the Market on Yates. I did do a double-take.
I don’t drink or crave pop at all, not the way I did when I was a kid. Tonight, I bought this pop as a reward for myself for doing some work I needed to do. Simple pleasure really, but it kept me motivated this evening. I wouldn’t have bought just any old pop though – this is a kick-back to some great memories and the brand is just so damn cool in a retro way. Yes there is an emotional attachment there.
The pop itself is actually flatter than I remember it. Maybe they’ve changed their formulas, maybe I’ve got a flat bottle, maybe some things are best left to memory. But let me have another sip – no, not best left to memory. Mmm this is good cream soda.
The bottles are different now than they used to be – taller, more normal. They used to be short and stout, at least in my memory. Also new: a URL on the back, thepopshoppe.com. Made in Burlington, Ontario.
Maybe they realized they had some brand equity but the refilling/crate business model wasn’t working out for them, or wasn’t profitable. Or maybe this was the only way to relaunch their brand, I don’t know. I did find them also in Wellburns at Pandora and Cook.
Aha, found it in their history:
1983
After a few years of slow sales, The Pop Shoppe shares stop being traded on February 3rd. It’s a sad day. Although head office is no longer, some Pop Shoppes stay around, but close over the next few years.
2002
An entrepreneur named Brian Alger resurrects The Pop Shoppe. Brian had grown up on The Pop Shoppe and was very keen on bringing it back, and getting into mainstream stores. Work began on formulating the same great tasting pop that the brand was known for.
Anyone else remember this pop?