You web old schoolers might remember a set of streaming radio stations I used to program about 10 years ago. There was the infamous P.Addict Radio playing all rarities from the P-Funk mob, Newzilla Radio that played unsigned funky stuff, and the flagship station WFNK RADIO that did a little bit of everything. It was a good listen and lots of fun managing those streams but they died out eventually.

I'm happy to announce that I just brought WFNK RADIO back in a new form, this time on Jango. It's free, sounds good, works in most browsers, doesn't leak memory, and if you sign up for an account you get all sorts of social-media features to add to your listening experience. Same things as before just 10 years of web advancement makes it that much better.

Tune in right here: play WFNK Radio. Old-school funk and soul, newer sounds, and the occasional rock track thrown in to keep the mix going... check out the new WFNK Radio! If you haven't tried streaming radio like Jango and Pandora lately give it a shot, it's come a long way. I find Pandora's library and playlists to be lacking, but Jango let's you really build a killer station.

-Ez

(sent via iiiPhone)

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

Looking good, feeling good. Celebrate yourself!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cleveland, Ohio - May 19, 2010 - Looking to support local artists and start a new community service, multi-media and genre-jumping DJ Raz is launching “Northside Nights - Cleveland Music Night” at The Duck Island Club on the first Thursday of every month.

The elusive DJ Raz has over 15 years experience spinning records at clubs, on the radio, opening for bands, and has logged time in just about every form of DJ’ing invented. The common theme, he claims, is the community building and artist promotion.

“Spinning records used to mean a bit more, pre-iTunes. Having millions of songs accessible to mere mortals does not make everyone a DJ. But it does spoil us and to a certain extent, makes us lazy, when it comes to how we consume our music. I hope to put all the tenets of DJ’ing into the Cleveland Music Night: promotion, spontaneity, and community. We want local bands to take part, to hand-deliver their latest tracks so we can give them a spin.”

There are no genre or year restrictions on Cleveland Music Night, so you can show up with requests or music of your own. If it ties to Cleveland we will celebrate it, promote it, and give it some spins.

“I’m hoping this will act as an incubator, or at least a sounding board, for local talent” says Raz. “Back in the day local DJ’s had a big part in local promotion, and in most genres that is now history. Plus, I’m hoping to expand my knowledge of the local scene. Not many DJ’s would take on an all-genre gig, but that’s just how I roll. There’s too much artistic talent in Cleveland to let this void go unfilled.”

Artists, fans and street teams are encouraged to bring their tracks to the Duck Island Club, located at 2102 Freeman Avenue (off West 20th) on the first Thursday of every month, or email materials to raz@wfnk.com.

WHAT: Northside Nights - Cleveland Music Night
WHERE: The Duck Island Club, 2102 Freeman Ave.
WHEN: 9-close; 1st Thursday of each month: June 3, July 1, August 5...
WHO: DJ Raz  http://wfnk.com  raz@wfnk.com

Event:

Hope to see you tonight, or post up your requests if you are not in the vicinity .

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

See, there's several ways for Joe Citizen to enjoy himself some music when he leaves the house in the evening. In what 'mode' he ends up consuming music that night depends partly on his tastes and partly on social constructs and venue requirements. But we know he probably won't catch a symphony at a loft party, a rock band on the corner, a solo sax in the dance club, or a performance art piece at the corner bar. And more than likely he won't even get out of his comfort zone at all.

To this end DJ's were created, and this was good. Any music you want anywhere you want it is the promise. Musical taste gatekeepers blah blah. Some musicians hold a confrontational attitude towards DJ's, and from a purely financial perspective, they are fighting over the same beer markups so it's understandable. But ultimately those that love the music are at least as important as those who make the music, so DJ's became important parts of the music ecology.

In our categorization of everything we have put musicians on one side and DJ's on the other, but this masks the fact that the best of each share many qualities. More on that in a minute.

Eventually our technology and transparency led us to this postmodern moment of 'so, what's new anymore?'. And if it's new and cool, I already downloaded that, wiki'ed that, googled that, and I feel like I know all about that... that thing you just told me about. Which I will then forget about quicker than I 'interlearned' it.

So where does Headtronics fit into this? Several angles (this is a rant after all!). DJ's do a set ultimately to keep people dancing / zoning out / losing their blues from their day. They change tempo if and when needed, leave no dead air, do not focus on a piece but on the whole. A great DJ does alot of things during a great set. Musicians do a set to play each piece to it's fullest, to perform their musical parts to their satisfaction, to connect with the audience, and keep their project's name and songs in the fan's memory forever.

Those are different yet complimentary goals, but no project to my knowledge has been able to successfully deliver the holy fusion of DJ'ing and playing live music, while improvising it all! Yes, melodies, textures, and even rhythms were improvised and explored during pieces within a set as a whole. Logic had full scratch and break moments. Steve had space for perfect textures and melody lines. And Freekbass put out flavor and variations while sitting in a big fat pocket. They achieved the perfect measure of success in both DJ'ing and live gigging: the nicely mixed crowd danced for two hours straight and good times were had by all.

I will wrap this up because you get the point -- go see Headtronics, see if you can dig what I'm talking about. I've seen DJ's in bands, and I've seen musicians play over a DJ, but this is both and neither. It's a whole new thang as they say, and it just feels right. It's about time.

ezraz

ps -- much respect to Urban Dance Squad and DJ DNA for blind ambition 23 years ago.

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX

So yeah, I have to see some Headtronics this weekend and also, as well, along with that, get myself a DJ set and rig together by Monday. I'm not posting the gig specifics yet because I'm not quite sure I'll make it -- Well I'll make it, I just don't know if I'll perform it this week or next.

Posted via email from 2M :: REAX