This is the music-related blog for Jonathan (Scooter) Clark, also known in the electronica world as DJ Bolivia, a producer and DJ from Atlantic Canada. I listen to (and produce) a lot of folk, indie, rock, and hip hop music too!
I also run a company (Replant.ca Environmental) through which you can sponsor the planting of trees to build forest reserves and community forests, which are protected from commercial logging. Please visit: www.replant.ca/environmental
I'm posting this page to share one of my techno tracks, which is called OCD. I'll have download links below.
Here's a link to the track on SoundCloud. You can also click on the down-arrow in the top right to download this track directly from SoundCloud:
In the realm of techno, where each track is itself a voyage into the unknown, "OCD" is a mystical odyssey, etched with vibrant hues of eastern oriental landscapes. It isn't just a song, it's a trip through the sonic landscapes of the mind, where the familiar repetition of techno beats meets the mystical allure of the East. The track unfolds as an amalgamation of digital and traditional, where the beats blend seamlessly with the melodic hints of eastern instrumentation. This fusion isn't just music - it's a journey. Think of it as a meditative loop that lures the listener into a state of relaxed tranquility, akin to those repetitive rituals that provide comfort to those with OCD. And I know about those rituals.
At the heart of this musical tapestry is a line that, at first glance, seems misplaced in the context of a techno track: "You broke my heart, my dreams are broken too. So why am I still thinking of you?" You may search for a deeper meaning to this lyric, and wonder what dissatisfied bewilderment is rooted deep in my soul. Well, the truth is, there's no meaning to it at all. It's just a sample that I found, and I certainly wasn't thinking about anyone that this could allude to.
Regardless, in the grand scheme of "OCD," this lyric transcends its apparent simplicity, perhaps becoming a metaphor for the relationship between the artist, the music, and the intricate dance of creation and obsession. It's not referring to a lost love - it's about the frequent frustration of the creative process, the relentless pursuit of perfection that terrorizes producers. I often advise other producers that, "You've got to draw a line somewhere. The track will never be perfect. At some point, you have to acknowledge that it's good enough and then move on to the next track." Just as a person with OCD can fixate on specific thoughts or actions, a producer can be drawn to a search for perfection that may never be reconciled. Nor should it be. We're human, and our tracks shouldn't be mathematically and sonically perfect. So basically, this lyric recognizes the paradoxical bond between creation and obsession, where the very act that creates can also destroy. In "OCD," I present to you not just a simple little track, but a reflection on the nature of art, the dark power of obsession, and the never-ending quest for creative acceptance.
I also put up a version of this track on YouTube. The visuals accompanying the track were done by an AI, although the music is my own of course:
To check out and/or download any of my other tracks, visit:
I'm posting this to share a track that I just shared publicly, called "Hacks" (techno):
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a DJ code-named Bolivia who decided to mix up some beats for his coder friends to listen to. A whole series of "Music To Code By" DJ mixes resulted. One day, a fine gentleman by the name of Dan Fernandez (at MicroSoft) shared a link to the mixes to his significant following of fellow coders, and the rest is history.
What is a hack? A hack, by itself, is neither good nor bad. It just is. But when it is freed by its creator to run in the wild, it may in fact cause problems. Hacks in general have a bad reputation due to this niche.
But there are a lot of hacks that are used for good. A hack can be a creative way of accomplishing something. It can be a physical manifestation. Sure, something can be "crudely hacked together," perhaps with baling wire and duct tape (or Perl). But a hack can also be a neat trick, a creative way of accomplishing something more efficiently.
I'll leave it to the listener to form their own opinion on what type of hacks I was thinking about when this song was being created. But in the meantime, hopefully my rambling here triggers the search engines to bring a few more hits to this post.
I'm frequently asked why I'm referred to as "DJ Bolivia." After all, I'm from Canada, not from Bolivia. Here's the full story, for those who are curious.
It all began in approximately 2001. It's hard to figure out exact dates, because most of the websites that I use now didn't exist at the time. Back then, even sites that we now think of as the OG's of the internet just didn't exist. In 2001, the internet was still a pretty wild place, without a lot of robust infrastructure. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter hadn't been invented yet. The only major sites that I can remember from back then were MySpace, AOL, eBay, and PayPal. Amazon existed, but for most of us, the thought of buying something on the internet was revolutionary (and dangerous). The popular apps that I can remember from back then were things like Usenet, ICQ, mIRC, WinAmp, and Napster.
One night, I was in my studio, having drinks with two of my good friends: Drew Dudley and Marc Carnes. We were listening to music, probably trying to sort out things that needed to be done for Conduct Becoming, and having some Jack Daniels & Corona on the side.
That particular night, we were talking about some potential upcoming shows for Marc. Marc was a well-known DJ in the Maritimes at that point, and had played at a number of parties in Halifax, Moncton, and Saint John. We were discussing how to get Marc booked at more shows, because it was very difficult at the time to get booked as a DJ. Marc was working full-time and was quite busy, so he wasn't sure that he had much of a future in DJ'ing. Trying to self-promote or stand out from the crowd was very challenging and time-consuming. He was a great DJ, but the promotional side of the equation was the problem. My suggestion was to build an online presence.
The next three hours turned into a free-wheeling discussion about how that could be done: The pros and cons of setting up a website, the technical challenges involved, and how to promote. I was saying it would be easy, Drew was looking at me with a raised eyebrow wondering exactly how I would go about everything, and Marc was playing the Devil's Advocate.
At some point in the argument, I said something along the lines of, "I bet that if you gave me five years, I could turn ANYONE with some basic talent into a world-famous international DJ and recognized name brand." This, of course, was a bold statement. Drew agreed to take on my bet, and we decided that it would basically be a gentleman's wager, but we'd put a bottle of Jack Daniels on the line for the winner.
Marc wasn't convinced that he wanted to be a guinea pig for this project, so I said that I would be the subject of the bet. I had already been DJ'ing for a number of years, but mostly at small parties around the university campus, or at the local campus Pub. I was able to beat-mix vinyl records, although my skills were only at a hobby level at that point. However, I had the equipment and records, and I knew how to hand-code websites in HTML. My tree planting website, Replant.ca, had already been online for a couple years at that point, so I was pretty confident that what I didn't know, I could figure out. I was the manager of the local campus nightclub at this point, and I also did all the updates and coding maintenance on that website.
Once the bet had been established, my first challenge was what to use as a stage name. I didn't want to use my own name. I'm not sure why. I think it was because I didn't want my name associated with this endeavour, in case it turned out to be a complete disaster. In retrospect, this was a terrible decision. I should have used my own name. Incidentally, I've considered changing my stage name to my real name at several points in the last few years, but it would be difficult to do that, since my web presence and online real estate is already so well established.
So I needed a stage name, and the bourbon & beer helped inspire me to take the process very seriously. When I had named my dog (Dakota) several years before, I had gone through the same sort of challenge. With Dakota, I had gone through several sets of lists, coming up with different ideas. For instance, I went through a number of international cities. Baghad was a strong choice for a while (thinking back to the Gulf War) but then I decided that it sounded too similar to "Bad Dog" and the dog might develop an inferiority complex. With Dakota, I eventually moved from city names to US states, and when I got to North Dakota, I realized that Dakota was a great name.
Using the same concept that I had taken to figure out the dog's name, we eventually started going through countries in South America. When we got to Bolivia, we thought, "Hey, this might work."
Before we had started considering various names, we had come up with a short list of qualifications. This was that list:
1. It had to be a name/word that was fairly well known to English speakers.
2. It should also be a name/word that would be recognizable to Spanish speakers, if possible, since I spoke basic Spanish. This requirement was designed to increase global marketability.
3. The stage name had to be a single word, not a pair or words or phrase. The logic behind this rule was that a lot of famous musicians were known by a single name: Prince, Madonna, Bono, Cher, Sting, etc.
4. The name had to roll off the tongue, and sound easy to produce. It had to sound relatively cool.
5. A good domain name had to be available, not a URL that was already taken.
6. Most importantly, it had to be a stage name that did not appear to be in use yet. I didn't want to be confused with an existing performer, nor to have an existing performer serve me a cease-and-desist order to stop using the name. I had to make sure that I'd be able to put enough information on the internet to establish a "first use" precedent, to protect my stage name.
We ran "Bolivia" through that list of six rules, and it seemed to fit perfectly. I ran into some minor problems when I tried to check for domain availability. It's not possible to register any country's name as a domain name, so "bolivia.com" was not available. The builders of the internet were smart like that, thinking about preventing domain-squatting. After some discussion, we decided that "djbolivia.com" was adequate, because at least it clarified the purpose of the site.
Most importantly, at that time, there wasn't anybody using "DJ Bolivia" that I could find when I did searches on Google or Yahoo. Incidentally, a year or so later, I discovered a "DJ Bolivia" from California who had an account on MySpace before I did, but my main website was established before his MySpace account, so I didn't worry about this "imposter."
We tried to think of any other reason why Bolivia wouldn't be a good stage name. I realized that Bolivia was a country that I really wanted to visit, and that I probably wouldn't find a better choice. That decided it. I said, "It's official. I have five years, and I'm going to win this bet."
So basically, that's the entire story of where "DJ Bolivia" came from. I started working on a website almost immediately. I also started practicing more diligently, with at least 2-3 hours on the decks several nights each week. And I tried to figure out ways to distinguish myself from other DJ's.
My online presence really made a difference. All of this happened at a perfect time. The internet was just starting to explode in growth. I decided to record some demo mixes and try to share them online. At the time, there were literally NO websites or services that allowed a person to do this. I did some research about the legality of it all, and discovered that under Canadian law, it seemed to be legal to share mixes if three conditions were met:
1. The mix had to be free, non-commercial, and not creating any monetary gain for myself.
2. There could be no full and complete isolated commercial songs in the download. By mixing at least 60 seconds at the beginning or end of each song with another song, I was able to meet that rule.
3. Any online distribution was not allowed to have a negative impact upon the distribution or sale of the original work. This is a complicated one, but essentially, nobody was going to refrain from buying a vinyl copy of any of the individual tracks on my demo mixes simply because they had a digital copy of my mix available. Remember, at the time, it was pretty much impossible to even buy digital copies of music. The only service that I think was trying to go into legitimate digital music for online sales was MP3.com - which went bankrupt. They were ahead of their time, unfortunately.
Putting demo mixes on my site was a game-changer. At the time, almost nobody had "fast" internet. I had just gotten one of the very first ADSL lines in New Brunswick a couple years before that. Cable and ADSL were really only being introduced to a wider public in Atlantic Canada right around that time, and throughout the early years of my website, the vast majority of Canadians went online using dialup, if they were able to go online at all. To download one of my earlier mixes, encoded as an MP3 that was only about 56 megabytes in size (128 kbps bit rate) often took people an entire hour hour.
At that point, almost nobody in the world had a site where it was legally possible to download a DJ mix. My own site wasn't quite a pioneer in that respect, but it was definitely in the "very early adopter" category. I built an audience of fans from around the world, just because almost nobody else was doing what I was doing. Some of those early fans (people like Dan Fernandez at MicroSoft, tProphet from 2600/Defcon, and half a dozen others) are still friends today. They've all helped my hobby DJ'ing career in various and sometimes unintended ways.
So that's the full story about the origins of "DJ Bolivia" and of my website. Drew graciously conceded defeat in our gentleman's bet after some gigs that I played at the San Jose Game Developer's Conference and a couple venues in Japan, even though that was technically more like six years after I had built my website, not five.
I'll leave you with a graphic that shows what the main page of my website first looked like back in 2002. What's funny is that this is an image file that is just 70 kilobytes in size, but at the time, that took 15-20 seconds to display on a dialup connection!
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
I have a new deep house mix for fans, which you can download from this page. It's another volume of my "This Is Our Dream House" series of deep house mixes.
For those of you who aren't normally into EDM (electronic dance music), you might be curious to know the differences between my regular style of progressive/tech-house and this deep house mix. Actually, there aren't always a lot of obvious differences, because I usually lean a bit more towards the techy side of deep house than the pure organic stuff. So at first, this might just sound a bit like my usual style, but slower. But that would be far from accurate - the deep house in this set can be identified by a few significant differences. First, on most of the tracks, the instrumentation is often jazzier, ie. there will be Rhodes or Wurli keyboards, more horns, brass, more clean guitar sounds, and more jazzy/bluesy vocals. Also, the tempo of this set is down around 120-121bpm, whereas my mainstream club sets and radio shows are usually around 126-130bpm.
Here are the track listings:
01. Francesco Rossi - Paper Aeroplane(MK Gone With the Wind Remix).
02. Groove Cartell - Waiting In Vain(Vincent Kwok Instrumental Mix).
03. Angel Rize - Back In Time(Andrew Chibale Remix).
04. Rob Makzem - Summertime(Original Mix).
05. Robert Es - So Good(Original Mix).
06. Jimmy & Fred - I See Lights(Karmon Remix).
07. Sam Critchley - Stronger(Original Mix).
08. Vinayak A - Set Her Free(Martin Buttrich Remix).
09. Maak Daddi - All I Need(Original Mix).
10. Shanghai Underground Crew - Back To The Future(Original Mix).
11. Moodymanc - Black Paint(Larry Heard's After Dark Mix).
12. Mangaka - Racoons Lair(Original Mix).
13. Nadja Lind - Limbus(Hernan Cattaneo & Soundexile Remix II).
14. Niko Charidis feat Simone Perla - Tonight(Original Mix).
15. Henrique Said - Time Mirror(Original Mix).
16. Helmut Dubnitzky - Indigo Sky(Original Mix).
17. Eric Volta, Sebastian Voigt, & Forrest - Words And Chance(Original Mix).
18. Finnebassen - You're Not Cool Enough(Original Mix).
19. Parra For Cuva & Anna Naklab - Wicked Games(Original Mix).
20. Howson Bros - Fall Together(Original Mix).
21. Kiano & Below Bangkok - 49 Steps(Original Mix).
22. Fabio Ricciuti & Qubiko - I Can't(Dub Mix).
23. Espen - Last Chance Revisited(Original Mix).
24. Ivo Kolev - Blue Deep House Pill(Original Mix).
25. Vintage Lounge Orchestra - Georgy Porgy(Larse Remix).
26. Maximilian Hofko - Control(Original Mix).
27. Saverio Celestri & Samuel Habykai - Great Time(Alex Arnout Remix).
28. Namito & Rummy Sharma - Wade In The Water(Kolombo feat Ashibah Remix).
29. Horak - Holding On(Original Mix).
30. Tripmann - A Bout De Souffle(Original Mix).
31. Boy Funktastic - Feel Love In Music(Original Mix).
32. Andre Crom & Martin Dawson - In The City(Original Mix).
33. Wasted People & Joseph Marciel - She's Playing Hard To Get(Original Mix).
34. Baunz - Out Of The Window(Walker & Royce Remix).
35. Dusky - Mr Man(Original Mix).
36. Kate Simko feat Jem Cooke - Go On Then(Original Mix).
37. Mojeaux - When I'm Alone(Original Mix).
38. Breaking Toys - Cold Rum(Vanilla Ace Remix).
39. 6th Borough Project - Miss World(Soultourist Remix).
40. Choir Of Young Believers - Hollow Talk(Lane8, Jody Wisternoff & James Grant Remix).
41. Meals, the - Anabiosis(Original Mix).
42. Thermeoniq - Sun Begins To Rise(Mark Walker Deepness Mix).
43. Sean Savage - Nocturne(Original Mix).
44. La Fleur - Stella(Original Mix).
45. Adana Twins feat Digitaria - Reaction(Original Mix).
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 199) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. Luigi Madonna, "Primo"(Original Mix).
02. Sam Paganini, "Shade"(Mattew Jay Remix).
03. Audioleptika, "I See You"(Original Mix).
04. James Delato, "UFO's Dancer"(CutBox Remix).
05. Christian Smith & Wehbba, "Someone Else"(Original Mix).
06. David Zor & Pablo DePrieto, "Great Skill"(Original Mix).
07. Tony Verdu, "Shark Women"(Original Mix).
08. Mr Costy, "We Go"(Original Mix).
09. Funky Monkey B, "Go"(Original Mix).
10. DJ Wady & Carlos Jimenez, "Machete"(Original Mix).
11. Staffy & Mark Grandel, "Advanced Age"(Original Mix).
12. Hot Since 82, "Planes & Trains"(Dosem Remix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 198) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. DJ Fronter, "Mind Shake"(Original Mix).
02. Mario Mijatovic, "The Performance"(Original Mix).
03. Stefano Noferini, "Stop This Na"(Original Mix).
04. Daniman, Javi Del Valle, & David Cold, "Mokintouch"(Original Mix).
05. Gaga, "Qilla"(Sisko Electrofanatik Remix).
06. Nikki Lee, "Kick This"(Original Mix).
07. Juan Ddd, "Boom Boom Room"(Original Mix).
08. Chris Di Stefano & Johnny Trotter, "Yucatan"(Tony Thomas Remix).
09. Innova, "Move On"(Original Mix).
10. Alex Sanchez, "A Ripple Of Hope"(Original Mix).
11. Sergio de Morales, "Bom Da De"(Original Mix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 197) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. Luigi Rocca, "She"(Original Mix).
02. Sinus Man & Mario Otero, "Around"(Original Mix).
03. Ambre, "Take Times"(Original Mix).
04. Stefano Noferini, "Body French"(Original Mix).
05. Ray Okpara, "Midnight Protein"(Andrea Oliva Remix).
06. Sergey Hypnosis, "Braked"(Original Mix).
07. Juan Diazo & Fhaken, "Ladies And Gentlemen"(Original Mix).
08. Joc House, "El Drogadicto"(Original Mix).
09. V Rodriguez, "Wetone"(Original Mix).
10. Nick Bertossi, "Gotta Have Love"(Original Mix).
11. Tomas Millan, "The Crazy Twilight"(Original).
12. Matt Minimal, "Break It"(Spartaque Remix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
After quite a lengthy break from putting together any more volumes in my Workout Mix series, I did one last week, and here's yet another: volume 12.
The mix is a continuous music mix which is an hour long, and anyone can download it (the link is near the bottom of this post). This mix is for demo purposes only, and commercial resale or redistribution is not permitted.
Here are Track Listings for Workout Mix #12:
01. Tegan & Sara, "Closer"(Edit).
02. Demi Lovato, "Heart Attack"(Edit).
03. Inna, "Be My Lover"(Edit).
04. Armin Van Buuren feat Trevor Guthrie, "This Is What It Feels Like"(Edit).
05. Sak Noel & Sito Rocks, "Party On My Level"(Edit).
06. Capital Cities, "Safe & Sound"(Edit).
07. Katy B, "5 AM"(Edit).
08. Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball"(Edit).
09. Pitbull & Ke$ha, "Timber"(Edit).
10. 3BallMTY, "Quiero Bailar, All Through the Night"(Edit).
11. Psy, "Gentleman"(Edit).
12. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse"(Edit).
13. Zedd, "Stay The Night"(Edit).
14. Krewella, "Live For The Night"(Edit).
15. Martin Garrix, "Animals"(Edit).
Note: I didn't list the specific remix versions that I used in this mix. That's because I do a lot of specific editing of my own to each track before I put the mix together, adding extra percussion or melodic elements, and sometimes I combine pieces from two or more remixes for any given track.
To download a 1.5 GB Zip file that includes all of the mixes in DJ Bolivia's workout series, right-click on this link and choose "save target" or "save link":
I have lots of other upbeat electronica mixes available on my DJ website. Admittedly, there aren't too many mixes there [yet] that are exclusively club dance tracks, but there are a lot of house/trance mixes that I find to be pretty good to listen to when I'm going running. Or driving. Or doing any sort of mindless task where I just want some energetic beats to listen to. Most of them are about an hour long, to fit onto a standard CD. Check them out, maybe you'd enjoy some of them? And click here if you're interested in one of my favorites, a massive four-hour mix that I made of classic dance tracks from the late 1990's and early 2000's.
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 196) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. Andreas Henneberg, "Daddy"(Original Mix).
02. Christian Smith, "The Exchange"(Original Mix).
03. Gonzalez & Gonzalo, & Javier Sequera, "Watch Your Back"(Original Mix).
04. Loko & Vlada Asanin, "Molotov"(Original Mix).
05. Pirupa, "Distressing Dreams"(Danny Serrano Remix).
06. Alan Fitzpatrick, "We Are Forever Young"(Original Mix).
07. Drumcomplex & Roel Salemink, "Fusion"(Original Mix).
08. David Penn, "A Different Story"(Simon Doty Remix).
09. DJ Victor Montero, "Caipirinha"(Original Mix).
10. Joe Red, "Ajoeb"(Original Mix).
11. Julio Leal, "I Like"(Original Mix).
12. J Verner, "Airequece"(Original Mix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
It's been quite a few months since I've had time to put together another volume in my Workout Mix series, but the wait is over. I have volume 11 ready here today (and volume 12 will be coming out next week).
The mix is a continuous music mix which is an hour long, and anyone can download it (the link is near the bottom of this post). This mix is for demo purposes only, and commercial resale or redistribution is not permitted.
Here are Track Listings for Workout Mix #11:
01. Daft Punk, "Instant Crush."(Edit).
02. Robin Thicke, "Blurred Lines"(Edit).
03. Selena Gomez, "Come & Get It"(Edit).
04. Inna & Yandel, "In Your Eyes"(Edit).
05. Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen, "Good Time"(Edit).
06. Demi Lovato, "Something That We're Not."(Edit).
07. Calvin Harris feat Ne Yo, "Let Me Love You"(Edit).
08. Ylvis, "The Fox, What The Fox Say"(Edit).
09. Icona Pop, "Girlfriend"(Edit).
10. Wanted, the, "Chasing The Sun"(Edit).
11. Bruno Mars, "Treasure."(Edit).
12. Eminem & Rihanna, "The Monster"(Edit).
13. Nicky Romero & Krewella, "Legacy"(Edit).
14. Madeon vs Empire Of The Sun, "Technicolor Alive."(Edit).
15. Bastille, "Pompeii"(Edit).
Note: I didn't list the specific remix versions that I used in this mix. That's because I do a lot of specific editing of my own to each track before I put the mix together, adding extra percussion or melodic elements, and sometimes I combine pieces from two or more remixes for any given track.
To download a 1.5 GB Zip file that includes all of the mixes in DJ Bolivia's workout series, right-click on this link and choose "save target" or "save link":
I have lots of other upbeat electronica mixes available on my DJ website. Admittedly, there aren't too many mixes there [yet] that are exclusively club dance tracks, but there are a lot of house/trance mixes that I find to be pretty good to listen to when I'm going running. Or driving. Or doing any sort of mindless task where I just want some energetic beats to listen to. Most of them are about an hour long, to fit onto a standard CD. Check them out, maybe you'd enjoy some of them? And click here if you're interested in one of my favorites, a massive four-hour mix that I made of classic dance tracks from the late 1990's and early 2000's.
If you like this mix, please post this link on your Facebook walls, or to Twitter! If you're a member of any sort of workout or fitness website or message board, feel free to post a link to this post there. I appreciate your help sharing this around!
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
Here's a collection of some additional Ableton Live tutorial videos that I've put together for people doing DJ'ing and studio work, based on YouTube viewer questions and feedback. You can find a complete collection of my Ableton tutorials here:
Most of the tracks that I warped in my initial "Warping Tracks in Ableton Live" video were pretty simple to warp. In this video, I picked five EDM tracks of intermediate difficulty to warp, and gave some extra tips and tricks.
Using the Loop, Start, and End Indicators
Looping sections of existing tracks during a real-time DJ performance can add a lot of strength to your performance, and gives you the ability to be more versatile than simply playing other peoples' tracks back from start to finish. This video covers the Loop Indicators and when they can be useful, and also touches on the Start and End Indicators. The practice of looping through the use of the loop indicators should not be confused with a separate but similar-sounding practice in Ableton, namely that of importing and using "looped" audio clips.
DJ'ing with Songs in Non-Electronic Genres
I've had lots of questions about how to include tracks of significantly diverse tempos in your sets, such as hip hop, indie pop, and classic rock. This video explains my own approach to tracks in these genres.
Inserting a New Track in the Middle of Arrangement View
This one is pretty simple, to be honest. How do you insert a new track into the middle of an already-complete production in the arrangement view? This video is pretty short.
Automating Global Tempo in a Studio Production
Here's another short one, based on numerous viewer questions. Once you have a studio-produced DJ Mix set up in the arrangement view, you may want to vary the tempo as the mix plays back. This video shows you how.
Cutting Breakdowns out of Dance Music Tracks
Another very short video. If you've got a track with a quiet breakdown and you don't want your dance floor to lose energy and interest, it might be smart to use Ableton to just remove that breakdown from the song. It's very easy. However, having said that, you should also watch the next video in this post which shows you an alternative to cutting out a breakdown, namely, to keep it and enhance it.
Enhancing EDM Breakdowns with Simple Editing Techniques
As you probably expect, this video teaches you how to spice up an existing track by adding things like extra drums, extra bass notes, etc. This is a medium-length video, but I hope it opens your eyes to all sorts of production capabilities that you might want to start digging into.
Clarifying Warping and Global Tempo:
Many people didn't entirely understand how warped tracks would synchronize together, so this is a short video that aims simply to clarify how warped tracks are treated by Ableton, and how they are tied to the global tempo.
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
For anyone who was at this party last night and wondering about my setlist, here you go. As you can see from the track listings below, this was a mainstream/top40 event. I started out with an hour or so of hip hop, then moved into indie/pop, and then to upbeat dance tracks for the rest of the evening:
01. Migos & Drake, "Versace"
02. Pusha T, "Numbers On The Boards"
03. Big Sean, "Control"
04. Jay Z, "Picasso Baby"
05. Kanye West, "Blood On The Leaves"
06. Future & Lil Wayne, "Karate Chop"
07. 2 Chainz feat Pharrell, "Feds Watching"
08. Kevin Gates, "Wylin"
09. Rich Homie Quan, "Some Type Of Way"
10. Major Lazer, "Bubble Butt"
11. Jay Z, "Tom Ford"
12. Chance The Rapper, "Chain Smoker"
13. Drake, "Wu Tang Forever"
14. Ace Hood, "Bugatti"
15. J Cole, "Crooked Smile"
16. Lorde, "White Teeth Teens"
17. Blood Orange, "Chamakay"
18. Jay Z & Justin Timberlake, "Holy Grail"
19. Cali Swag District, "Teach Me How To Dougie"
20. Daft Punk feat Panda Bear, "Doin' It Right"
21. Parquet Courts, "Stoned & Starving"
22. Arctic Monkeys, "Do I Wanna Know"
23. Laura Marling, "Master Hunter"
24. Justin Timberlake, "Mirrors"
25. Elvis Costello & The Roots, "Walk Us Uptown"
26. Franz Ferdinand, "Treasons, Animals"
27. Betty Who, "You're In Love"
28. Haim, "The Wire"
29. One Direction, "Little Black Dress"
30. Thundercat, "Oh Sheit It's X"
31. Miley Cyrus, "Maybe You're Right"
32. Lorde, "Royals"
33. Snoop Lion & Miley Cyrus, "Ashtrays & Heartbreaks"
34. Kelly Rowland, "Freak"
35. Superchunk, "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo"
36. Eleanor Friedberger, "Stare At The Sun"
37. Paramore, "Still Into You"
38. Macklemore, "Can't Hold Us"
39. One Direction, "Best Song Ever"
40. Fall Out Boy, "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark"
41. Lonely Island, "Yolo"
42. Katy Perry, "Roar"
43. Avril Lavigne, "Here's To Never Growing Up"
44. Daft Punk, "Get Lucky"
45. Disclosure, "When A Fire Starts To Burn"
46. Taio Cruz, "Dynamite"
47. Robin Thicke, "Blurred Lines"
48. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse"
49. Bruno Mars, "Treasure"
50. Selena Gomez, "Come And Get It"
51. Sak Noel & Sito Rocks, "Party On My Level"
52. Demi Lovato, "Heart Attack"
53. Inna, "Be My Lover"
54. Psy, "Gentleman"
55. Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball"
56. Eminem & Rihanna, "Monster"
57. Ylvis, "What Does The Fox Say"
58. Martin Garrix, "Animals"
59. Avicii, "Wake Me Up"
60. Darius Rucker, "Wagon Wheel"
I didn't list the remixes that I used for any of the dance tracks (starting around track 40 onward) because I've edited a lot of them to make them unique. So in other words, you wouldn't be able to find them on the internet.
My helper, Amanda, playing some music early in the evening.
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 195) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. Stefano Noferini, "Vegas"(Ron Costa Remix).
02. Mihalis Safras, "Arabic"(Original Mix).
03. Marco Bailey, "The Fox"(Mattew Jay Remix).
04. Tini Garcia, "Communication"(Original Mix).
05. Djose Elenko, "New Year"(Original Mix).
06. Ismael Dewler, "Schizophrenic"(Original Mix).
07. Miguel Bastida & DJ Fronter, "Stimmen"(Original Mix).
08. DJ Boris, "Give Yourself"(Danny Serrano Remix).
09. Vlada Asanin, Juan Ddd, & Johan Dresser, "Mexicana"(Original Mix).
10. Eric Sneo, "Access E"(Original Mix).
11. DJ PP, "Just Nina"(Jerome Robins Remix).
12. Toni Carrillo, "Oh Yeah"(Original Mix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
Welcome to this week's edition of Subterranean Homesick Grooves™, a weekly electronica-based radio show presented originally on CHMA FM 106.9 at Mount Allison University in Atlantic Canada (but expanded to a distribution on other terrestrial radio stations), and also distributed as a global podcast through iTunes and numerous other sites. The show is normally programmed and mixed by Jonathan Clark (as DJ Bolivia), although some weeks feature guest mixes by other Canadian DJ's. The show encompasses many sub-genres within the realm of electronic dance music, but the main focus is definitely on tech-house and techno, and a small amount of progressive, trance, & minimal. Liner notes for this episode (SHG 194) can be seen below.
Here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:
In addition to being able to download each episode from SoundCloud, you can also visit our DJ Mixes folder on Dropbox (which allows for bulk downloads). That folder hosts hundreds of episodes and other DJ mixes. Here's the link:
01. Cesar Martinez & Robert Guerrero, "Premio De Menrita"(Original Mix).
02. Mar-T, "Punker"(Original Mix).
03. Irregular Synth & Andrea Frisina, "Dub City"(Original Mix).
04. Marco Bailey & The Falcon, "The Advent"(Industrialyzer Remix).
05. Gaga & Hellomonkey, "Red Code"(Original Club Mix).
06. Mr Jefferson, "Uncle Jack"(Original Mix).
07. Ozgur Uzar, "King Of Groove"(Original Mix).
08. KStyle, "Overload"(Original Mix).
09. Baramuda & Martin Dhamen, "MaBa"(Jop & Wout Remix).
10. Victor Juan, "El Baile Oscuro"(TecHouzer & DJahir Miranda Remix).
11. Josu Freire, "Nore"(Original Mix).
12. Tom Hades, "True Moments"(Filterheadz Remix).
Here are links to either personal websites, Facebook pages, or [usually] the SoundCloud pages for a few of the original artists and remixers/producers listed above.
Subterranean Homesick Grooves is a weekly specialty EDM music show with a basic weekly audience base of about 1500 listeners per week through podcasting and direct downloads, another hundred or so listeners through SoundCloud, and an unknown number of listeners through terrestrial FM broadcast. If you're a radio station programming director, and would like to add Subterranean Homesick Grooves to your regular programming lineup, contact djbolivia@gmail.com for details. We currently release SHG as an advance download to a number of stations globally on a weekly basis (at no charge), and we welcome inquiries from additional outlets.
We also have a file containing complete track listings from all of DJ Bolivia's radio shows, studio mixes, and live sets. The PDF version can be viewed from within your browser by clicking directly. Both the PDF and the Excel versions can be downloaded by right-clicking and choosing the "save link as" option:
