Tag: new music

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Beautiful sunset @ Lost Creek Country Club

Had a fantastic Saturday night, pool-side set. Beautiful vibes all around. I am at my level best @ this kind of gig.

Actually hanging up the solo electronic/ acoustic spurs for a bit to concentrate on these DJ sets.

Gives me a greater opportunity to share music I love, keeps me so current — searching for new cuts, and I can mix in my own electronic stuff (that fits).
-jd

Playlist

Walking on the Moon – The Police
A classic, ushering in the right feel.

All I Want to Do – UB40
Deep cut from my favorite album of theirs. Such a great groove. Amazing drum machine and bass (machine) too.

Natty Dread – Bob Marley
All time favorite Bob track. So chill.

T’aint What You Do – Fun Boy 3
So weird and great.

Non Stop – Kraftwerk
One of the greats. This is a newer remix. Absolutely love the mood here.

Verona – Lastlings
Nice, close song. I think I heard it in passing on Apple Music.

Rat in Mi Kitchen – UB40
Couldn’t help myself. Had to go back to the well.

Fems Pay Douces – Raphael Toiné
Heard this via Paris’ Le Mellotron. Shows up in a lot of folks sets. How could you not love this guy?

I Fell it Coming – The Weekend/ Daft Punk 
Such a jam. Chorus is repeated a lot. Not sure the kids know what he’s talking about, luckily.

Sentimental Street – Night Ranger
Again, I can not help myself sometimes with the 80’s.

Paradise (live) – Sade
Thee deepest of grooves. Love this whole record too.

Wouldn’t it Be Good – Danny Hutton Hitters
A classic. Good break-the-sounds-up song. A bit cheesy, version-wise.

A Message to You Rudy – The Specials
Perfect pool-side music. Drunken horns on a Saturday after noon are perfection.

Down Under – Men at Work
Always sounds great loud. You wouldn’t think, but it’s true.

Brother’s Cup – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Wasn’t sure about this one. Kept waiting for an errant blue word. Never came!

Matadjem Yinmixan – Tinarwian
I love this song so much. Perfect chill afternoon vibe.

Cruel Summer – Bananarama
Ditto. Love this too. Sounds so wooly and perfectly of its time.

Where Angels Fear to Tread – Disclosure 
Amazing. The whole thing; every facet. Made me a fan of these guys.

Meditate – INXS
Weird, but it worked. Forget how it even got on the playlist.

Oguo – Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray
I almost misted-up when this started. Such amazing work here combining the rural, very real island life with the modern. Breathtaking. Watch the video. Reminds you what an amazing world we live in.

Secrets – The Weekend
The most modern way to cover songs ever. Genius.

Adventure of a Lifetime – Coldplay
No apologies for loving theses guys. This record changed the course of my life.

Crazy – Gnarls Barkley 
Classic. Everybody loves it. Period.

Bad Dream – Cannons
How cool is this? Love these guys.

Love is Not Enough – Above & Beyond ft. Zoë Johnson
Beautiful remix. And that voice. Wow.

Chameleon – Panu
Happiest song ever? I could listen to it over-and-over-and-over.

Warning Signs – Alan Fitzpatrick & Lawrence Hart
This has been playing in the car a lot. Like a lot.

One More Time – Daft Punk
I can still remember the first time I heard this. Fell right in love.

Sailing – Chicane
Cool idea and execution. Prefect for the Country Club afternoon set. Tailor made.

Beyond Beliefs – Ben Böhmer
The summer song of 2021. For sure.

+[encore]

The Telephone Call – Kraftwerk
Yes! Current favorite Kraftwerk song.

SuperJumper – MadMixMustang
So ridiculous.

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Doing any kind of official Towns Van Zandt tribute in Austin is like earning an entire Merit Badge en route to Eagle Scout. Truthfully most folks have never heard much of his music outside of “Pancho and Lefty,” but his legend looms large. And for good reason.

It’s a big deal to be asked, so thank you Chicken Ranch Records for asking. 

The Event is THIS WEDNESDAY, and yes, it’s old school to promote via a Website or Blog, but we here at Alpha Juno only have Instagram, this blog, and word-of-mouth.  

YouTube Streaming link incoming ASAP.

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This box has been in my car for years.

You need something physical to sell at shows, to give to record stores, to impress your granny, or to prove to yourself (or your wife) that you are a real-live musician.

Coffee mug? Too nerdy.
Maybe a ‘pocket’ koozie? Please no.
Cassettes are a bit niche.

It’s really down to CD’s, even though plenty of folks have no CD player at home. Actually many folks have cars with no CD player. Worst of all, most folks have no phone w/ a CD player. Everybody streams. Everybody.

Maybe this is a phone that streams!?

Today’s question is: what’s the right thing to do? Do you load up your hands with something that’s going in s**t drawer #11, or do you do you ting and sell? And what are you selling?

This brings up nothing but more questions: What are you in it for? Legitimacy? Money? Job? Are you down with by-any-means-necessary? Are you pumping an old model?

Before you sell CD’s to fans you have to ask yourself: why would they want one? If that answer is no, is there then something that I have that’s of value to my current and future fans. And today, that seems like a tough question to answer. But the solution is poking it’s head out. Finally. (Especially in a current world where there are few-to-no live shows.)

What works and connects? The oldest of schools method: patronage.

People are giving to musicians with no expectation of anything physically in return. As a matter of fact they’ve already taken a partial share of whatever it is you do. If you have their attention you have them. All you have to do is show them the way. 1,000 people paying $1.50 a-month moves the needle. A lot.

The new-olde way seems like a lot more fun than the old way. I’m going to try some new-olde ways.

Stick with the blog to follow my journey.

-jd

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The mighty Zoom L-12! Thoughts below.

  1. All the Sub mixes.
    Send the drummer a click? Yes. Hear my vocals dry and in all their pitchy glory but with plenty of reverb out front? Yes (I guess.😬). 
  2. Save a bunch of mixes.
    I have a playing-solo mix, an in-the-studio mix, a playing-with-a -drummer-only mix … 
    If you use tracks or loops live you need to be looking at this mixer.
  3. It’s a really great DAW interface.
    Seriously. I was not expecting this. Real convenient. I actually just put my UA Apollo in the drawer/ to-maybe-sell pile. I use it with Ableton.
  4. Sounds great.
    It is very transparent, and it will only sound great IF you spend some time with it. And not even that much time. 
  5. It’s light.
    If you are a gig’ing pro or you rearrange your home set-up a lot (daily?), which should be everyone reading, this is huge. Real livable.
    Easy-to-manage wall wart. Etc.
  6. Bonus:
    Record every show and roll tape the next morning. How was the the gig really?
    Great for practice too. 8 gig cards hold a lot, and how many of those do you have sitting around? 
    **Also, you can go semi-old-school and occasionally step away from the DAW.**

I shopped around for a year. Real satisfied. Please ask questions etc. 

-jd