last victoria show for dj ariz0na

i just posted this on the www.ravevictoria.com message board:
Hello all,
It is with quite a bit of emotion that I write this.
I am moving my home base to Vancouver in late September so I thought I’d better say as much, and a big thank you to all who have been supporting the scene here in Victoria — there are many and a lot of them post on this board.
I might as well get into a list here so I have an opportunity to forget someone. Haha, just kidding.. I don’t want to forget anyone. One name that keeps coming to mind is Brent Carmichael, one who I have told in the past has made a huge difference to the Victoria scene, without question. From the times at Rumours, The Limit and now Hush, he has given a venue to the music that we all love so much. And really I should say “they” — as humble as Brent is, he is probably getting annoyed reading this and not seeing the other staff being mentioned. And as much as people have slagged Hush in the past, I’d like them to think about what Victoria would be like without it. Thank you.
And the promoters that put on the 16+ parties. Awesome.
There are also the strictly community driven efforts, like VEMF (though I missed it this year, the goal is an admirable one), IslandKidz, ravevictoria.com, and Resonance/RGM.
With Resonance, we’re not totally certain what we’re are going to do with it. Nick is thinking of travelling, and I’ll obviously not be here anymore. The response to the show was not nearly as good as it was with RGM, but that 3 years that RGM had to get rolling with, in a bit more of a thriving party scene than what we are seeing today. That being said I believe our party scene has been traded for a really good music scene. Not a bad trade at all, if you ask me. And don’t tell me the parties are just as good as they used to be. Sorry, they’re not. NobleHouse/AMA is no longer putting in insane all-night shows at huge venues with Global Underground DJ’s before Global Underground ever happened. Those were NUTS! Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to put down the efforts of any of the current promoters. I am simply acknowledging how incredible the production value of these events have been — serious achievements. 50,000 watt sound systems, concert calibre lighting systems, 5000 people venue.. Thank you Nigel, thank you Damien, thank you Erik, and all the others that have been involved in these huge shows.
The record shops — Stylus of past, ISBOW of present, the power of Boomtown, the dedication of Whitebird. We’re lucky to have these shops to further fuel our scene. For over half a decade Victoria has been a better place to shop for electronica/techno records than Vancouver or Seattle. How do you like them apples?
I’ll still frequent the ravevictoria.com message board, perhaps more in Vancouver than I have here in Victoria. Who knows what my time will be like there.
I intend to work a lot more on music production under the alias of AFK, as I have really gotten a lot out of making music in the last few years. The label Pacific Front Recordings will be releasing its flagship release AFK – Magnetic with 3 remixes in the coming weeks. Here are a couple URLs:
afk.davin.ws – AFK – production website
www.pacificfront.ca – Pacific Front Recordings.
Pacific Front Recordings will continue to focus on artists from the Pacific Northwest — Vancouver, Victoria, and any talent we happen upon in Seattle. Obviously if you don’t live in a big city, then me and Justin wont listen to your tunes. Just kidding! We’re always accepting material, and we’ll need it to continue with our crazy and ambitious release schedule. Check out the website for contact information. All the artists on there have been central to my musical satisfaction here in Victoria, and will continue to be that in Vancouver. I look forward to the future that we have set out for ourselves.
And what of “ariz0na”? Well for a long time, I have been wanting to go under the alias of “davin” .. which isn’t an alias at all. Here’s the story.. the first night I was to play out, it was almost 7 years ago at tammie and gerry’s, there was this guy named Frank, and he was to play the only gig I ever saw him at. He said his DJ name was “DJ Davin” .. so I was like .. crap! I had never met another Davin before, and what bad luck it was to meet someone on the night of my first gig with the same DJ name as my real name, which I was going to use. So I used “ariz0na,” my online name, and never saw him again. So I’ll probably be known as “Davin” just like Braeden and Christoph and all those other weirdos that use their real name to DJ with.
My last DJing appearance in Victoria will be September 5th at Hush with none other than Hybrid.
It’s been a slice. See ya!

davinbow

oh yeah!!
while playing tennis last evening, i saw what i can only describe as a davinbow. or a raindavin.
it was not raining. it was hot and there were some clouds in the sky. i looked up and discovered a rainbow directly overhead, except that it was curving like an “S”! now i have seen rainbow-spots [“sun dogs”] in the clouds before (usually horizontal from the sun, refracting against clouds), and there were a couple in the sky, but this thing directly above was completely different.
it was long, and it featured two seperate curves in opposite directions (like an elongated “s”). i didn’t have my camera with me (of course, augh). but i don’t know what it is.
what is it?!

holy crap i forgot to post!

whoops, tuesday passed and i didn’t post! i’ve been a busy bee. i am working more on this new track, with a SECRET CODENAME. so i need to give the secret codename a codename. lets call it DotM. yes. i have been working on DotM and honestly it is going to blow my other stuff out of the water. okay well maybe it wont blow it all out of the water, but this is toooootally the kind of track i have been wanting to do for a while and just have not done.
word.

2 years of creative habit


august 7th marks two years of blogging on this server. first it was my IP address, then davin.dhs.org, now it’s davin.ws. right on! there’s a lack of photos lately, not because i have not been taking them, but because i have to rebuild my iPhoto library, and i am going to wait until i have my new hard drive (within the next week) to do that, because my photo library is around 15,000 pictures and weighs in around 26 gigs now. yeah! as the recent posts have displayed, i am having a bit of fun in illustrator and indesign to make up for it. my second monitor is running and this is so effing awesome i can’t begin to explain it. it’s such a nerd thing but basically the size of my digital desk just doubled! that equals more productivity in the music and graphic area. it’ll be nice to be able to have my photo library on one screen and document layout on another, and blog entry on one screen, and photo on another, and dreamweaver on one screen, and the browser on the other, and music sequencer on one screen, and instrument rack on the other.. etc etc. wooo!
here is some news: i am moving to vancouver in less than two months!! 🙂
gotta sleep. finished getting ready (i think) for my trip to vancouver and seattle which starts in 5 hours! byebye.

resonance mixset: leekee

Featured Track:

  • AFK – Magnetic [Formulate remix] (Pacific Front)
  • Dialectic – Funk You (CDr)

Featured Mix: leekee

  • Mauro M.B.S. – Philosphy of House [Club Mix] (Reshape)
  • DJ Fist – El Pájaro (Tumbata)
  • Jay Tripwire – Allnight (Nightshift)
  • Fries & Bridges – Inside Out (Nightshift)
  • Jay Tripwire – In Your Mind (Village)
  • Tony Thomas presents The Night Train – Night Train (Warbled)
  • Jay Tripwire – Living (Inversus)
  • Locodice – Phat Dope [bleep] (Four Twenty)
  • Jay J & Chris Lum – Freaks Like Us [Max Reich Remix] (Fluent)
  • Mazi & Chris Udoh – This Planet (Siesta)
  • Grant Dell and DJ Hogi – How Do You Feel (Pancake)
  • Grant Dell – Make Me Freak (Detour)
  • Bamboo – Sambafunk (Bamboo)
  • David Gausa – American XS (Sondos)
  • Sucker DJs – It’s Gotta Be (Azuli Silver)
  • DJ Ramirez – Freaque On [DJ Ramirez Twisted Vox] (Slave)
  • Infusion – Do To You [In ’82] (Audio Therapy)
  • Qualia – Qualia Nation (Minimal)
  • Echomen – Radar (Forensic)
  • Qualia – Phenomenology (Minimal)
  • Aferdark Inc – Come On (Nightshift)
  • Pair of Jacks – Funkin’ Dance [House Mix] (A-Trax)
  • Meat Katie meets Christian J – Turn Me Out (Kingsize)

starkid

starkid.gif
starkid passed away late last week after being hit by a truck on a highway near houston. i found out friday. i used to talk to him online, send him music, he gave me feedback, etc. that kind of thing. he was very funny online — he came into #proghouse as “jeyjeydig” and said totally wacky stuff. he was a brilliant producer, and a tribute remix disc is coming out on release records very soon.
he had a track on nick warren’s latest global underground, as well as a few other tracks on vinyl.. not bad for an 18 year old.
it is a strange age we live in. one where you can get to know someone without ever meeting them, one where the loss of their presence is felt without ever knowing what the person looked like or talked like.
it feels strange.
the following is a slightly modified bio of him, musically:
Starkid was Adam Spears.
Starkid hails from Nacogdoches, Texas. A small town in Texas most famous for its high consumption of beer and for being “where the space shuttle fell down at”. The music making began early in life with a natural attraction to Casio’s and mandolins. An accidental software download led him into the seedy world of hardcore electronic music production. A dire love for pretty sounds pushed him to the warmer side of things, the club influence coming from people like James Holden, Gwill Morris, and Sander Kleinenberg.
“Melodies are so important to me, I mean like, really important.” This attitude has kept him at the forefront of a genre drowned in congas. His music extends beyond club music, well beyond club music infact. He’s recently formed a fun band with his best friend and Steve Vai wannabe Zach Jones, and a crazy girl with a million dreams Evelyn Malinowski. They have formed a space-age emo-core group named Babylumalautaroonie and the Jerry Lewis Bone-A-Thons feat. Athena. Taking influence from a wide range of artists including Tortoise, Modest Mouse, 2-Pac, The Blood Brothers and Dream Theater, their sound was a mish-mash of crazy noise and precise musical calculation. “It’s like what happens if you were to like, you know, take a bunch of little kids and give them Fenders and force them to learn music theory, but also give them tons of pixie sticks and coffee. Thats sort of what we sound like.”
The electronic side of his production focuses on “wussed-out” pretty music, either in the downtempo or housey vein. His past work has been featured by both big dj’s and small, and on radio stations such as Proton Radio. His collaborations have included remixes for undiscovered gems like E-sin, and full on collaborations with full-time cigarette smoker Danny Moore. Their alias “Jey and Jordan” was a combination of their online monikers and personality’s which are far more attractive than their real life counterparts. A mutual love for beef jerky and Donnie Darko led them to come up with a few tracks and plans for even more down the line.
Not yet a man, no longer a child, like Britney Spears, Starkid continues to develop in musical style. Though their music and appearance may be different, they share the same last name and often times the same fashion choices. They also share a love of fun, which Starkid stressed was the most important thing ever.
“Girls just wanna have fun, but so do I, is that so wrong?”
* * *
R.I.P. starkid.