2008/07/17

bloggariddims # 45 - dj zhao

honored to be a part of such a great series: the badman droid at the fear has been running the bloggariddims podcast for a long long time, and i just now managed to get one in. better late than never though INNIT.



this is made with material i prepared for Fusion Festival, and is also an attempt to communicate new conceptions of hybridity by fusing sounds from disparate locations and eras into new musical entities, with focus on traditional and regional music framed by urban bass and beats, or is it the other way around?

01_00:00 Deadbeat - Lost Luggage // Indonesia - Spring Water
02_03:20 itoa - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart's Dub Band D1 // Indonesia - Morning Sun
03_05:50 The Mahotella Queens - Muntu Wesilisa // Wiley - Bang Bang Instrumental
04_08:12 African Headcharge - Belinda // Blir - 19_4_04
05_09:28 IndonesiaTraditional - Sanda Kandung // Unknown Grime instrumental
06_11:24 Benga - Half Ounce // [Burundi: Music from the Heart of Africa] bernadette ii
07_14:52 Indonesia Traditional - Ngantosan // Mark One - Slang
08_17:28 Danny Weed - Dirty Den // Huseyin Ali Riza Albayrak - Ey Zahid
09_19:02 Ragga Twins - Spliffhead
10_20:35 Burial - Unite
11_22:14 Dub Terror [ft. Echo Ranks] - Technology
12_25:07 Hiripsime - ces femmes qui me ressemblent // Cyrus - Random Trio - Bounty
13_28:33 African Headcharge - Run Come Saw // DQ1 - Wear The Crown
14_32:00 Indonesia Traditional - Padang Magek // Omen - Rebellion
15_35:05 L-Wiz - Sub // Armenia Traditional - Boulbouli Hid (Le Chant du Rossignol)
16_38:54 Vex'd - Destruction // from 2046 soundtrack
17_40:05 Hijak - Nightmares // ø - Toisaalia
18_41:54 Shackleton - Blood On My Hands / I Want to Eat You // Dashti - Abdoinaghi Afsharnia
19_47:54 Kode 9 - Magnetic City // Akhenation - 361 Degrees
20_50:24 Mulatu Astatge - Kulunmanqueleshi // Dj Hatcha - Just a Rift
21_52:53 Loka - Fire Shepherds - Freda Mae // Dubwoofa - Devoliz
22_56:00 The Mahotella Queens - Ndodana Yolahleko // Skream - Skunkstep

Mashups: a cheap one liner trend collapsing all narratives into a heap of meaningless garish post modern rubbish, or a new way of interacting with cultures, of thinking about the world, of experiencing and creating music? of course they can be both, but i've always been excited, if not by most of what i have heard, by what i imagined was possible.

and what i imagined was Digital Gamelan, Ethiopian Grime, Afro-Arabian Dubstep -- sounds from far away and/or long ago fused in ways that are both surprising but also intuitive... i wanted to make a particular kind of mashup, producing results that people would want to listen to, maybe over and over. is it possible to make the fusion, the bastard frankenstein assemblage, sound better than the original sources? a tall order for sure, especially when the original sources sometimes are master musicians, but one that i nonetheless hope to have achieved in some of the mashups included in this mix. judge for yourself -- admittedly a little difficult since you can not hear the originals next to them -- so i suppose just go by how well the hybrids work...

i am always hearing the same beat patterns, the same compositional devices, the same dynamics, the same arrangements, in music made both spatially and temporally far apart from eachother: ultimately i absolutely believe that all music have the same roots, and the newest electroic music is, perhaps indirectly, but absolutely, deeply connected to old music from other places.

DIRECT LINK TO THIS VOLUME MP3

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OH and Fusion Festival pictures are HERE

13 comments:

billygomberg said...

AW SHIT YES BWOY

zhao said...

honestly bills this shit is my most original work as a dj so far. after you've heard it, would love to hear your thoughts...

Anonymous said...

HEAVY!

After hearing Shackleton's African music sampling dubstep, I was thinking along these very lines. Previously I'd made a couple of roots reggae / dubstep mixes (example) .. this is the the next frontier .. although you were a lot bolder than I was planning in the range of material. You've inspired me to be a bit more adventurous!

Good points about the potential for levelling (at its worst) and the creation of something unique by combination (at its best). I think we have grounds to be optimistic. Cross pollination has given us jazz, reggae, and pretty much the entire electronic underground (if you go back far enough there's always a blend of influences / origins).

Excellent stuff, keep it up!
Micapam

Anonymous said...

beautiful, inspired, wow

zhao said...

thanks very much for the kind words. makes it all worth while.

if anyone has any ideas where else i should post this mix, please drop a note.

stay tuned for Part 2... it's going to be like, seizure inducing.

Anonymous said...

Amazing! you've joined together very disparate worlds in a way that highlights the cross-cultutural commonalities over time and creates something that transcends each. Mind-expanding...I can't wait for the next one.

droid said...

Give us back the words you tease!

Ive been rinsing this mix. very accomplished technically and the sequencing is fantastic. Must've taken a lot of time and patience.

zhao said...

thanks Mr. Droid.

Re: how long it took -- i believe in lots of ground work built over time, so the actual construction, while certainly quite a bit of arrange and tweek, actually did not take like forEVER.

Unknown said...

i really like this post... and i'm listening to your mix now. i was already taken by the first five minutes... those are gongs right? (it sounds like an instrument from the philippines called a kulintang)... and then the awesome bass that grabs. awesome stuff. just wanted to thank you! will listen to it more now :)

Anonymous said...

I've not yet the don's lads mix but i feel a kind of sincere affinity with 2 DJ brothers from china and Moçambique.

pollywog said...

joined together very disparate worlds in a way that highlights the cross-cultural commonalities over time and creates something that transcends each.

isnt it great when that happens. I did it with a random trio remixed loefah rekkid and a native american flute tune a couple of years ago...

...and thats what got me too. How non local time and space become when fused in just the right way

http://pollywannacracka.blogspot.com/
2006_12_01_archive.html

then i chopped and screwed burial to another beat and whaddaya know that worked too...heh

http://www.myspace.com/pollywogga

...maybe zhao you could do that next. Ever chopped and screwed stuff before ???

mean mix by the way, can't wait for the next one...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. Thank you very much. It sounds superb AND perfect for moving to. An accomplishment indeed. And it has intergenerational appeal (so my 10 year says "cool music. what is it?)I am taking it to run a dance class today, hope thats ok! Can't wait for the next one.

Anonymous said...

Some Arabian influenced dubstep (and more) available for free download from here: www.brokendrumrecords.com

or find us on MySpace: www.myspace.com/secretarchives