And now for a short message:

While I was recording River City Sunset I took a little footage of myself being a total dork. I've put it all together to make a three plus minute long commercial. Here it is:

Round 2

It's just my luck (if it could be viewed that way) that I have four days off of work. Being a little encouraged by my last recording session I've decided to tackle another EP. This time four songs for Notch 21. Just one of two EPs that I have planned and mostly recorded. This one will feature Industrial Acid, a remix for that track and two new songs. One song, Maximum Threshold, is mostly recorded, while the other is still bouncing around in my head.

If your interested in my progress I will be doing regular updates on my new Twitter account: @DJ_Straathof And while I plug that I might as well get my Facebook fanpage in there as well as my iLike page.

River City Sunset

The bakery I work at is undergoing some renovations and as a result I had an unprecedented 5 days off. Having plans for a five song EP I saw the opportunity to sit down and complete a song a day. Though I did need two extra days to complete the last song I consider the whole project a success as I actually completed something for once.

For this release I decided to put some new software to the test. A few months ago I purchased iZotope Ozone 4 which as a dedicated mastering suite. I decided it would be cheaper for me to spend the money on some proper software and do the work myself instead of having to drive local sound engineers to insanity. I went back and remastered Calahoo, Euphoria and Starlena. Though it took me many hours and was huge pain in the ass to do I am very pleased with the result.

I also recorded two new songs specifically for this release. One is Constellations (Epic Intro Mix) which is a remix of a song that I wasn't ready to release just yet. The other, Rogue Memories, is an ethereal number which is based off a piano track with delay effects, haunting samples and an easy but fat drum beat. Random factoid: at 3:33 (The number of the beasts little sister) this song is the shortest I have ever written without having to drastically scale it down.

The album has been submitted to Songcast and will take up to six weeks to appear on iTunes. Until then check out some of my work on MySpace.

I have also taken some footage of myself recording this record and generally looking like a total goof. I will use it in a short video to promote the EP when it comes out and embarrass myself in a rather cruel and unusual way. With any luck it will go viral and I will forever be known as that idiot with that video. One can dream.

Keep an eye out!

-John

Update

I've spent a lot of time on my music recently and yet never got around to working on the blog, so here is a quick update:

Notch 21: Notch 21 is my latest project. I've felt a need to seperate my djing and my original productions. The first song is called "The Gunslinger" named after the Stephen King character. Yeah its lame but the imagery I got from this track really took me back to that series. The song utilizes a new purchase of mine: A Yamaha NP-30 Portable Grand. I absolutely love the piano and this song was a result of my very first 10 minutes I spent with the thing.

Depeche Mode: In order to promote my new project I have submitted an entry for Beatportals Depeche Mode Remix Contest under Notch 21. The song "Peace" is off Depeche Modes new album and is absolutely amazing. My version of this song uses a heavy acid bassline, some unique percussion samples and a dreamy synth pad. I have had faith enough in this mix to have it mixed and mastered by Terry at BMI Digital Studios who did an awesome job with Calahoo.

Have a listen to my mix and if you like what you hear please give me a much needed vote. To vote click on the "Spin it!" link in the player window. The top ten artists with the most "Spins" are reviewed by the judges who will decide the winner. I'm afraid you will have to register with Beatportal in order to vote and I sure hope this doesn't discourage you from supporting me and any other mix you come across on that contest.
Thanks!
-John

My Submission:
http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/peace-the-notch-21-remix/

Shenanigans!

I recently rented Down & Dirty with Jim Norton, a short comedy series featuring a bunch of different comedians. I tried to get a screen capture of a scene in this movie that is so unbelievable my computer even denied it existed and refused to cooperate.

Between sets a DJ would throw down a few seconds of a rock track as the comedians changed up. Who was selected for this challenging role? None other then Lemmy from Motorhead. You read that right; Lemmy. This is not even the strange part as Lemmy wrote the shows theme.

The strange part was the equipment he was using. Being a DJ myself I was obviously straining to see what they gave him to cue up his tracks. A few times an overhead camera gave me a clear shot and what I saw blew my mind. As it happens the shows producers have no clue what a DJ actually does. Lemmy is standing in front of multiple stacks of guitar amplifiers and in front of him he had not one, not two but three DJ mixers. Thats it. Just the mixers.

Let me explain to you (and the shows producers) how a typical DJ setup works and what a mixer does. A mixer allows you to control a number of different audio inputs, maybe from a pair of vinyl decks, cd turntables or even samplers. Something that plays music. My mixer has two inputs, one for each turntable. Each of Lemmys three mixers had 6 inputs. Thats a total of 18 audio inputs (i.e 18 turntables) to play 15 seconds of one whole song and NOTHING TO ACTUALLY PLAY THE SONG. Thats like having three game controllers and no console. The shows producers even gave Lemmy a token pair of headphones that he (obviously) doesn't even use once. I have to wonder which mixer the headphones were plugged into, if any at all.

The crowning moment was when Lemmy was busted on film standing around while the music mysteriously cued up all on its own.

I realize that this is a comedy show, but seriously, who is that joke on?

Before Craigslist

Community pin boards are essentially primitive internet forums. They have rules, lots of useless posts and of course the odd troublemaker. This is an actual picture I took at a local mall and it inspires me to make a few of my own posts.

iTunes!

It has been goal recently to get my music up on iTunes and thanks to SongCast it is finally happening. Songcast is a service that allows artists like me to bypass the need for a record label in order to make our music available to the general public. As you can see on their site my music will also be on Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and a few other online market places.

Get my music here:

Dub Fx

Dub Fx is a street artist operating out of the U.K. He is the latest artist to utilize a Loop Station in his work but seems to use it rather exclusively and with amazing results. Some other artists include Imogen Heap who also uses nothing but her voice to create a backing track, K.T. Tunstall who uses her guitar and what was until now my personal favorite David Ford who creates an entire band. Very creative stuff.

". . .?!"

Exec:"Okay people, we have some tough competition at this years car show. We need to make our display really stand out to give us the edge. Any ideas?"
Marketing:"Oh, I know! We could make a gigantic model of our car, so big it practically touches the ceiling!"
Exec:"Thats not quite . . ."
Marketing:"And instead of having wheels in the wheel wells, we'll have nothing. They'll be like tunnels."
Exec:"Why . . ."
Marketing:"And then we'll have the actual cars drive around in it!"
Exec:". . .?!"
Exec:". . .?!"
Exec:". . .?!"
Marketing:"And a hot babe."
Exec:"Do it."

Can We Fix it?

YES WE CAN!

Calahoo

I've posted a new song on my MySpace called Calahoo. This track marks a new beginning for me. I've always had trouble finalizing my work and making it sound good. To be honest its an infuriating and mind-numbing thing to have to do. So I've decided to invest the little bit of cash and have a professional do it for me at an actual studio. The result is amazing. I was so pleased with the end product that I decided to wait on posting it until its been released through a label and available for sale. A sort of new years surprise. As you can see, that didn't quite work out so well.

Either way, because I'm working on new material I decided to post Calahoo as a small example of things to come. The song itself was tailored specifically for the club and I can't wait to see the reaction it gets. The version I posted is the club mix (that I will use in my live sets) which is why there is such a long intro.

Kudos to Terry Bradstock at BEI Digital Studios for his amazing work mixing and mastering this track.

Hope you like it!
-John

myspace.com/djstraathof

Its not you, its me . . .

Dear Edmonton,

You and I have been together a long time now and as much as I enjoy spending time with you I feel that I have come to a point in my life where I need to move on. To greener pastures I guess you could say. Much, much greener.

You see, I've met a place recently and I feel a real connection. In fact I think I'm in love. I really feel like this is a place I could spend the rest of my life with. Her name is Vancouver Island and she's wonderful. Green and warm in the winter, sunny and full of life in the summer. She's perfect.

It's not that there is anything wrong with you, its just that you've been so busy recently. You've grown so much and have been so occupied with road construction and such that it makes it terribly hard for us to spend any quality time together.

I will always have fond memories of the time we shared and I hope that if we can't be together then we can at least be friends.

Take care of yourself,

-John Straathof

Drivers these days

I found this sign posted on an electrical box on the south side. The original warning had been worn off and replaced with a far more urgent and pressing matter to aware of: Edmonton drivers.

"TSX index off more than 400 points"

Ok, one more quote. I stole this one right off the Google.

"There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers."

- Richard Feynman

Actually while I'm ripping off Quote of the Day I'll include this gem:

"Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck."

- George Carlin

Now I'm done.

Brilliant

From cracked.com:

"And what’s the presidency if not a glorified drive thru window? You take the orders of America, misinterpret them due to a broken and convoluted communications system, then give them what you thought they wanted and charge them for it anyway."

Awesome. Read the article here

End of Days

I'm not going to call myself a Christian as this can be misconstrued in all of the wrong ways. I do however have a great interest in the bible. I won't preach to you but I would like to highlight a few things concerning the end of the age:

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Sound familiar? I have made plans to leave Edmonton and that passage really explains one of the reasons I have decided to do so. All though there are great people here the general population shows these traits in great abundance.

A little further on:

"For the time will come when they will no longer endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires."

*cough* cough* SCIENTOLOGY *cough*cough*

What about our seemingly endless environmental issues?

"Lift up yours eyes to the sky, the look to the Earth beneath; for the sky will vanish like smoke, and the Earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants will die in a like manner."

Maybe I am preaching, whatever. These things really got me thinking and I thought I would share them. I'll go back to talk about other things when I'm a little less freaked out.

Viva La Vida

Though I had a lot of respect for Coldplay it wasn't until an ex's influence that I started to really get into their music and become a fan. It was the 2003 live DVD that eventually won me over and then the release of X&Y which sealed the deal. Therefore I just wanted to take this moment to declare my undying love for Viva La Vida, an absolutely brilliant album on every conceivable scale.

Book of Corporate Life

I don't usually like to post things that have been forwarded to me, however this one was too good to pass up. Plus I forwarded it to myself anyways (Off a friends computer)


Today's reading is from the Book of Corporate Life,
Chapter 11, verses 1-15:

1. In the beginning was the Plan.
2. And then came the Assumptions.
3. And the Assumptions were without form.
4. And the Plan was without Substance.
5. And darkness was upon the face of the Workers.
6. And the Workers spoke among themselves saying, "It is a crock of shit and it stinks."
7. And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said, "It is a crock of dung and we cannot live with the smell."
8. And the Supervisors went unto their Managers saying, "It is a container of organic waste, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."
9. And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying, "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
10. And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another; "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
11. And the directors went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful."
12. And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him "It has very powerful effects."
13. And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good.
14. And the Plan became Policy.
15. And that is how Shit Happens.


Thanks Dellbo!

Electric Nightmares

As with most of my inspirations, I was struck in middle of the night when I should have been sleeping. Thank God it wasn't a work night. It started with a deep bassline that soon had a melody and then an entire song structure before long. I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get out of bed and get some of it recorded. I'm glad I did.
I'm very pleased with how this song turned out and I can't wait to find out how it works live. Again I've disabled the downloads while I look for a label release.
Enjoy!
-John
myspace.com/djstraathof
youtube.com/djstraathof

Tay Zonday

Not only did Tay Zonday (of Chocolate Rain fame) write another incredible song but very graciously posted the vocal track for all to play with. How could I resist? Check it out:

The Original: (Explode)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca9GJ6mMxLw

My Remix: (J5 Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cEWIvh1GtM

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