I've been a fan of the music for over a decade. And I continue to listen to the music, both new and old, almost all day long. I'm always finding some new tracks, or great new artists I hadn't heard of before. The Internet continues to bring the world of music together, and people can easily display their works, get feedback, and evolve fast.

I go out to local clubs fairly regularly, and watch how the local talent evolves. As well as make the trek to Minneapolis or Chicago to see some of the best DJs in the world evolve and shape the industry.

I have always had the fascination of DJing myself. Back in the day, this was impossible for me. At $10 a pop, records are not cheap. Plus, I needed to buy all the equipment, and there was no guarantee I'd be any good at it. Before DJs went digital, most local DJs either worked at, or spent all their free time in record stores. They'd be exposed to all the new tracks, and have the equipment available to them on a daily basis. I didn't have the knowledge, the skills, or the money to invest in doing any of that.

But in modern times all of that has changed. All the record stores are online, and you can fit DAYS worth of music in your pocket. Songs are a mere $1 or $2. And the only equipment you need to start off with is a laptop with the correct software. As time goes on, you'll probably pick up equipment to make it easier and more diverse.  The best local DJs end up spending all their time on the computer, whether it be on the Internet, or playing around with tracks.

With that in mind, my friends finally convinced me to give it a go. I already had collected a bunch of my favorite tracks I've heard over the years, and a whole bunch of new ones. I downloaded Traktor, and started mixing them together.

One of my friends throws his annual bonfire party towards the end of summer, and he let me in charge of the music.  Leading up to the party, I would collect a bunch of music during the day while listening at work. When I got home, I'd download them, and mix them all together for the rest of the night. Things sounded pretty decent.

I made a promo mix leading up to his party, so people would have an idea of the sound I was bringing. Or after the party, people could have something to listen to.

So that's this mix...

gdocs / Dyreschlock 001.mp3

It includes many favorites that I can't get enough of. :)

1. Guy J - Heliscope
2. Radiohead - Reckoner (Henry Saiz's Vocal Mantra Remix)
3. Exoplanet - Shepherd of Consciousness (Moonbeam Remix)
4. Booka Shade - Regenerate (Pan-Pot Remix)
5. Denis A - Ocean (Monaque Remix)
6. Christian Cambas - Fireball (Original Mix)
7. Omid 16B - Rain
8. John Digweed - Gridlock (Digweed & Miur's Stereo Club Mix)
9. Unkle - Heavy Drug (King Unique Smoke Nest Mix)
10. Orbital - Halcyon + On + On (Aaron Static 2011 Bootleg)
11. Rone - So So So

Though, it is heavy on the Bedrock artists: Guy J, Henry Saiz, Omid 16B, and John Digweed. Which explains why many of the songs mix together as well as they do. Orbital - Halcyon + On + On is one of my favorite songs, and Aaron Static's bootleg is an amazing cut of it.

Overall the party was quite a success. Gage lent me his mixing board and speakers, so things sounded excellent. I mixed tracks together for about 8 hours from mid-afternoon into the night.

After the party, I was busy with a bunch of other things and didn't really get back to mixing more tracks. I had another DJ mix lined up to record after the party, and I've heard some amazing music since then. I wanted to make another one before I got the Internet restored in my apartment, and start downloading a whole lot of new tracks. I wanted to capture some of arrangements I found while mixing stuff together for 8 hours.

After listening to what I had, a lot of it didn't really fit in a one hour time slot. There really wasn't a good starting point and ending point to include what I wanted. So, I basically cut it in half, and built up the first chunk with the following mix.

gdocs / Dyreschlock 002.mp3

1. Golan Globus - Blazer (Version 2)
2. Pezzner - Almost Here Pt 3
3. Caribou - Sun (Midland Re-Edit)
4. Nick Warren - Buenos Aires
5. King Unique - Sugarhigh (Dan Alcala Sweet Stuff Remix)
6. Hybrid - I Know (Keenan & Anderson Remix)
7. Underworld - Two Months Off (Grayarea's Four Year Off Remix)
8. Solarstatik - Waypoint
9. Daft Punk - C.L.U. (Paul Oakenfold Remix)
10. Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place (Oakenfold 2008 Remix)

I worked backwards piecing together some melodic sounds building up to the somewhat cheesy ending I started off with. That Pezzner track mixes perfectly with Blazer, and Dan Alcala's Sugarhigh remix is probably the highlight of this set for me. So smooth :)

This mix probably would have had a lot more Prog Trance if I had more sources of that type of music. Trying to keep this mix diverse was hard which is why it turned out so melodic and smooth to start with. I needed something leading up to Two Months Off, and I didn't want to start off dark.

But I'm happy with the result :) I love listening to this kind of music while traveling.

I have a selection of tracks picked out for my next mix, but I haven't arranged them in a cohesive way. So it's possible I'll end up with something completely different than I intended, much like this last mix.

Good Times :)