My humble apologies for not updating my journal half as much as I had at first intended to.

I'm about to move house. (In fact, I've been about to move out for about 2 months now as several attempts have been scuppered one way or another.) There's nothing quite like spending all your spare time (in rare good weather) with slimy estate agents!

I have for you a new DJ set. This one has an Electro-Swing (and everything 'roundabout') theme. It's a genre that I really hope develops further. There are plenty of godawful uninspired Doof-Doof-Doof remixes of great swing songs but there really aren't that many people out there doing it well!

Many of these tracks were part of the set I put together for White Mischief's Great Exhibition. (www.whitemischief.info) which was a wonderful steampunk event here in London.


Myself and aiko273 at White Mischief: The Great Exhibition


Enjoy!
As always feedback is very much appreciated.








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I first posted my DJ sets to Soundcloud primarily as a way for club promotors and the like to get an idea of the variety of musical styles I played. I shared the link to these quickly thrown together mixes with friends just as an aside and later on my recently resurrected Livejournal.

The response has been really quite surprising and flattering. In the last week my sets had over 1000 plays and i've received so many kind messages.

So, as a thankyou, this next mix is more for those people than club promotors I suppose.

This mix is far more conceptual than my previous mixes. At the risk of becoming a parody of myself, I wanted compile a collection of somber songs that evoked the image of a circus performer's wake at the beginning of the 20th century.

When I started compiling the tracks I started off with a far more cartoony approach but as it developed it matured a little. I've tried to keep a balance between the two and tried not to stray too far into score or ambient territory. In my opinion the songs I've chosen aren't depressingly gloomy either, just somber and reflective.

It's not intended to be time accurate nor for the lyrics to be directly related to the theme but I hope they all tie together and you enjoy it. There really are some beautiful songs to be found here.

To accompany the music, the beautiful aiko273 has thrown together a visual concoction of imagery gathered from her extensive collection.



( The Wirewalker's Wake )





Like I say, some of these are fairly cartoony choices for wake music, however, while it sounds a bit goth, I wouldn't mind having some of them at my own. It would be interesting to hear what songs anyone reading this would like at theirs. (I must warn you, however, if you say Robbie Williams - Angels you will be removed from my friends list forthwith)

This is a beautiful song by a Norwegian band called Katzenjammer (which is a German word literally meaning "cat's wail" and hence "discordant sound")

The song's name "Virginia Clemm" is a reference to the wife (and first cousin) of none other than Edgar Allen Poe. She was just 13 when Poe, then 27, married her. She contracted tuberculosis and died at the tender age of 24 after 5 years of illness.

In 1875, the cemetery in which she lay was destroyed and her remains were almost forgotten. An early Poe biographer gathered the bones and stored them in a box he hid under his bed. A decade later her remains were finally buried with her husband's.




and yes, that is a bass balalaika with a smiley face painted on it.

I've had this song on loop all day. I love it. With a name like that I think it should be my theme tune.

With the emphasis on the audio side of things here's the Zafira dance company performing to
CABARET MACABRE - by Raquy & the Cavemen

It's been a while no?





I think the last post I made on here was in around 2006 so I decided to wipe the whole thing and start with a clean slate. Reading through my old posts and interests was quite an odd experience I have to say. My tastes have certainly matured over the years and thank goodness I grew out of that terrible phase of (over)dressing like a fool.....*cough*

Now while I'm here why don't I shamelessly plug some of my stuff, all the cool kids are doing it...

I've been DJ-ing for the last few years on and off and have a rather eclectic taste. I've put together a few sets and uploaded them for your listening pleasure.

At the moment there are three sets (each about an hour long). Any feedback and, of course bookings, are much appreciated!





Latest tracks by Markabre