The Pondering Blonde

Richly Hawtin and He Knows It

Richie Hawtin recently launched his own track-listing application for compatibility with social networking sites, and surprised the hell out of everyone when his twitter and Facebook pages suddenly started to stream updates of his track-dropping antics from his gigs around the world. The application has since come under interesting discussion and scrutiny and sure, it’s an interesting development but I find myself siding with the sceptics on this one!

I’ve checked it out and been witness to constant track-dropping that takes place every time he hits the decks and think its lacking a little personality and artistic flair to be honest! There’s no follow up of after-gig banter that lets followers know where he was, how it was and if the audience went nuts when he played that Nick Curly remix- possibly a really important element to making the whole thing worth all the hype!

And that’s before we have to question his open playlist concept- I’ll bet there’s a legion of dj’s mimicking his playlist like it’s the Christmas they never dreamed of come early! Considering some dj’s I know pride themselves on their collection, digging laboriously to find special remixes and bootlegs, and take immense joy from dropping these gems on an unsuspecting audience and refusing to dish the names to hagglers at the booth; it kind of feels like Richie is showing all his cards and taking away from the magic somewhat…

Richie just mixed the cement for his future as a style icon too with the launch of his clothing label Richly.Hawtin. The partnership with designer Isolde Richly was established in 2008 in Tokyo, inspired by a joint fascination with Japanese culture and design, and sees a range of minimalesque T-shirts on the flog. The design’s are polished and trendy but several reviews have already said, obvious minimal-driven concept aside, that their lacking in Hawtin-personality and ‘have-to-have that’ appeal?

Richly Hawtin Website

I suppose he’s in a position to do these sorts of thing, and is no doubt an underground dance music trendsetter; but there’s building an empire and beating a cash cow- and a very fine line in between! Let’s hope he keeps doing it in understated Richly.Hawtin style and doesn’t follow up with a fragrance in the next few months- then I might just have to hunt him down and beat him myself!

Little Lexi x

Twitter on the Dancefloor

It was only a matter of time before something stole the edge off Facebook’s social networking shine and this Twitter business that’s been bubbling under, somewhat nervously, the past few months has officially jumped forward as the next logical step in our networking evolution. Not least of all because Facebook is changing its interface almost daily and confusing the hell out of its technically pragmatic audience. While initially, knowing your second cousins best friend broke up with her boyfriend three times in one week might have seemed like good entertainment (she’s a silly cow after all) but now it’s now just plainly soul destroying, and that’s before we get to the every man and his dog, promoting their latest gig in the town barn.

Basically, as with all things Western, commercialized and supersized, the US has been Twittering some degree of hardcore for well over a year now, but, as per a very dedicated blogger documenting universal Twitter trends, there’s been a strong European shift in effect the past few months. In particular the UK’s Twittering had the biggest piece of ‘new interest’ pie on his chart, and the likes of Australia and Spain are in the mix closely behind.

The juiciest part about Twitter is that it’s not simply the ‘Send love to mom’ medium it first appears. In terms of the swinging discoball that serves as our all encompassing passage of time, for DJs, dance heads and the occult club culture, this is the new branding savvy realm in which to party and play! The biggest names in nightlife media, electronic music and club entertainment have all been quick to hop on board and get tweeting. Beatport, Mixmag, Buzzinfly, Defected; in short, all your favourite club nights, labels, festivals and more, are dropping blow by blow accounts of their hottest happenings, as they happen. It’s likely you will see it here first and hear it soon after.

A squadron of EDM’s most net savvy boys and girls (I must assume or they’ve hired people to manage their people managing their online profiles) are all a Twitter too. If you go deep you can find the new, slightly shy and not always music related musings of your favourite artists such as James Zabiela, Gilles Peterson and Jesse Rose to name a few! Jesse had a dentist appointment yesterday actually, and therein, I suppose, lies the full circle back to too much information. Although I’d probably rather hear about Jesse’s trip to the dentist than anyone else I know; he does have a rather nice set of teeth!

Little Lexi x

The Brand New DJ

BPM MAGAZINE 2009

It goes without saying that we’ve been brought up in a brand new world. Never before has life been so fast, so convenient, so at your service, at your finger tips, at the push of a button -or the flick of a knob. And, whether you’re a proud member of Generation X or Generation Y or skip merrily on the blurred line between the two, (it’s somewhere in the 80’s and I’m blaming Madonna- can the women please stop behaving like an adolescent!) we’re all part of a society that wants it all, and in fact, we wanted it yesterday!

This very much goes for the influx- I’d rather call it spawn- (simply because it sounds like a spreading disease) of new musicians chasing instant fame and success, who so badly want to be the hottest thing since sliced Electro was dubbed ‘Fidget’, that they’re literally making up a whole realm to their musical empire before they’ve even produced the goods! Literally!

They’ve got the reasonably trendy band or performer name; if you need help selecting it, something with the words funk, groove, super or bass jammed in somewhere usually works. They bought the self-actualising set up; all you need is a DJ-In-A-Box! They’ve got the pimped out MySpace page- this pretty much makes it official; ‘Welcome! You are now a musician, you are number 1, 965 447 281 in the quest for superstardom and we’re going to help you get your big break!’ Well, there’s no time to wait around hoping to be discovered… So, they set up their own record label; you really just need to give it a ‘we’re serious about music’ sounding name and complimenting logo.

Then, it’s all about the biography: A musical genius from the age of 3, they were divinely influenced by the advancements of technology and were making mix tapes as birthday gifts for their cousins and friends at the age of 9. At 13 they were raving in some of the meanest underground clubs with their older brother who just happened to be big mates with DJ Whatwhat. Dj Whatwhat himself taught them how to play and gave them their first pair of decks at 16 and now, at the tender age of 21, they’re a musical sensation, with their own unique and distinguished sound. They’ve played with every almost famous DJ and their dog and watch this space; this is only the beginning!

WARNING: You have now entered DJ-By-Numbers territory; please ensure you’re shades are correctly positioned, you’re picture poses are down pat and that for the life of you, you actually can match a beat or two (For the latest edition of DJ’ing for Dummies, please visit Amazon.com). From here on out, it’s all about a bit of marketing savvy and Bam! Rob Riviera could soon be your DJ uncle!

And so there they were; standing in their bedrooms, strumming the jog wheel of their favourite tune on CD, headphones on, eyes closed, a vision of an elevated DJ box and 20 000 people running behind their eyelids… It was all going so well! They’d publically ‘gone underground’ and rumour had it they were working on ‘some serious shit’. The last thing they expected was this global outbreak of EverybodywantstobeaDJ Fever! The 2008 strain has been particularly serious- the 60’s equivalent of playing a guitar- it’s everywhere, it’s contagious! Their neighbour has it, their brother has it, even that science nerd down the road has it- oh wait, that was you!

They curse themselves, having spent too long mentally preparing slick answers to burning questions like, “Who do you consider the legendary DJ and producers of our time?” and “If you could take only 5 tracks to a deserted island, which would they be?” They’ve been put into a box (and not the one they were hoping for!) and are in somewhat of a panic. They’re wondering, “How can I stand out in this insipid DJ Generation?”, “How can I compete with this onslaught of mass music murderers?” Soon enough their webwhore girlfriends are on the networking sites, making groups, fan pages and start spamming the hell out of everyone about their plans for world domination! A little FYI; in this business it doesn’t say much, to be seen and not heard.

And that’s about where we’re at with that and it really is much ado about nothing. Many have already spun out of control and into oblivion. The others? Well, in time they will learn that less is more, they will see that slow and steady wins the race, and that there’s ‘always next year’. A real connection with and passion for music stands the test of time. If you’re life is music and music is life, then you may want to note- you’re already living the dream! The beat goes on in 2009!

Get Out of My FaceSpace

BPM MAGAZINE 2007

So there I was; standing in the sweet and chip aisle of my local Spar, deliberating, quiet seriously, the flavour of microwave popcorn to munch during my Grey’s Anatomy’s session that evening- when it happened: A girl I’d gone to high school with walked past me- she very clearly looked me in the eyeballs, recognised me, yet averted her gaze and kept walking. Now, I didn’t know her very well then and possibly hadn’t seen her since we’d all shed fake tears at our final assembly four years back, but only a mere week ago her face appeared in my virtual world pledging ‘facebook friendship’ and I had dually accepted.

And though it had occurred to me that this situation might one day come into play; the distraction of butter, cheddar and a prospective hour of McDreamy proved too much for me to react as I should have.

Regaling the story later in-between ad breaks and mouthfuls of deliciously processed cheddar flavoured popcorn, my good and usually level headed friend Toni and I indulged in some ridiculous ‘You should have…’ scenarios in response to this real world injustice: I could have A.) Sent packets of popcorn hurtling down the aisle with the speed and precision of ninja stars and condemned her to a life without a face to read any book in future. -A little morbid- not quite my style. B.) Yelled down the passage after her “You’re mother’s a pornstar on myspace too bitch- did you know that?” And raced home to vindictively renounce her friend status on my profile. Erm… and then a replay on Jerry Springer? No thanks! Although, I’m sure the “Get Out Of My Facespace” episode will air soon!- that definitely calls for butter- and maybe even home-popped corn at that! Or C.) Stopped her and asked, “Excuse me, you look familiar- did I see you vomiting outside Cubana a few weeks ago? And watched in glee as she squirmed to explain her likeness to me. That one would have been most fun, but I put the inner bitch away and chose D.) Abandon both myspace and facebook until this feeling of dementia subsides.

I lasted 2 days.

Now; you’re either laughing at this and thinking “Is this chick serious?” or you’re gasping and wondering how on earth I held off for so long and survived to tell the tale. If you’re the latter- it’s possible you, like me (though I hardly consider this a confessional) possess an addiction of the nastiest kind- one that affects you’re state of mind and wastes you’re time more than the dependency of any drug on earth- only it’s legal and costs just a monthly internet connection fee and bandwidth allowance. (Your mothers jewelry and you’re best friends dvd player are thus safe until further notice.) Yes, you my friend are a Facespace Addict!

And now, the Facespace debate:

Facebook was originally created to ‘bond students and alumni in universities in the US’- yea right, this bonding session has already seen teachers and students expelled from their respective campus’s for inappropriate behavior- don’t you love America? Facebook is mostly local networking- connecting you to people you don’t see often- and, unfortunately, people you were more than ok with never seeing again. Pros: Local is lekker and we can now follow the daily incest in our lives from the front row. Cons: Those ridiculous applications- I mean Vampires? Are you serious? Supposed links to the American government and CIA suggest we’re being watched. I don’t know which is worse? I’m going to go with the Vampires- the idea of being watched is kinda kinky… Facebook is most famed for introducing ‘The Poke’- a nudge greeting that says “I thought of you but couldn’t be bothered to say hi”.

Myspace was to be used as a platform for breakthrough musicians looking for exposure- but is now criticised for being too heavily associated with certain record labels. Myspace’s networking is more borderless but career oriented- creative entrepreneurs, exposure for musicians and labels and people that actually want to blog and have someone- anyone?- in the world read it. Pros: Personalising your profile. I don’t care what anyone says- I still think Myspace is cool. Con’s: There was some serious hacking and spamming a while back but it’s subsided! Myspace is most famed for: Making that slapper, Tila Tequila, famous for being a naked trashbag with a big mouth and America’s obsession with Tom- I don’t get it either!

Whichever stimulates your compulsion, their intent on improving our communication and quality of life has become the technological drain of our existence- we are officially living virtually and having manic depressions and public withdrawal from over-communicating as a result- or is it just me?

But, we’re loving every second of it- Facebook just informed me; a couple I’m friends with has broken up- again- they’re having it out on the Comment Walls… And the microwave just went ‘ping!’