DJ Bolivia - Live in Tokyo at Velours

The other day, I was looking for a blog post from 2007, trying to find a copy of my live show at Velours (and the track listings).  I couldn't find a copy of the set on my SoundCloud page for some reason, nor did I have the full unbroken set in Dropbox.  I found a copy of the set that was cut in half, to accommodate fans who typically had to burn mixes to CD to listen in their car.  Oh what a long way we've come in just fifteen years!  We really don't appreciate how lucky we are these days when it comes to the power of computers and technology.  A lot of the "hi-res graphics" from the early days of my website are only 340 pixels square, if that.  And a lot of my photos were only 450 pixels wide.

Anyway, as I was digging around, I also noticed that I didn't have a track listing that made sense.  I had a track listing in my "Complete Track History" spreadsheet, but as soon as I started to look at it, I realized it wasn't correct (having been listening to the set).

I had to dig deep to find it, but eventually I succeeded!  But what a challenge.  I had to go back into old data files on the Wayback Machine.  But I'm fairly OCD, so it was worth the hunt.

If you'd like to download a copy of the mix, go into my "Live Shows" folder at this link:

djbolivia.ca/mixes

You'll have to grab the 2+ hour long show as two separate segments for now, but I know that I have an original copy of the recording somewhere that I'll put into Dropbox eventually.

Here's a photo page from the trip:  Tokyo Photos, DJ Bolivia

And most importantly, here are the correct track listings:

01.  Project 54 feat. Jason Lord, "Brother" (Jesse Garcia Tribal Spain Remix).

02.  Gainer & Rogers, "Futurenature" (Original Mix).

03.  Minilogue, "In A Deeper Motion" (Original Mix).

04.  D-Formation, "Carry On" (Original Version).

05.  Robert Travis, "Seduction" (Avanti Mix).

06.  MV, "Come Back To Me" (Original Mix).

07.  Transducers, "See You Dance."

08.  Alma Matris, "Rapido" (Back In Town Edge Mix).

09.  Tilt, "Twelve" (Dousk Mix).

10.  Tone Depth & Soul Tan feat. Stephanie Vezina, "Broken" (G. Pal Safe Haven Mix).

11.  G. Pal vs. El Greco, "A Prayer Beneath."

12.  Bush People, "Nothing's Safe."

13.  Little Green Men feat. Eliza, "Through With You" (Thomas Penton Remix).

14.  Chris Cargo, "Saddle Funk" (Graeme L Remix).

15.  Piliavin & Zimbardo, "Just Once."

16.  D-Formation, "Signs And Portents" (Original BF's Version).

17.  Frank Pellegrino feat. Lauren Marie, "Pleasure" (Frank Pellegrino Original Mix).

18.  Dan Berkson, "The Other Side."

19.  Subtone Trio, "Load" (Chab Remix).

20.  North Atlantic, "Mind Filter" (Trendroid Croc Hunter Remix).

Enjoy!

 

 

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Change in Publication Format for Subterranean Homesick Grooves

I just sent the following letter out to all of my production liaisons at the various terrestrial and internet-based radio stations that host Subterranean Homesick Grooves:

Hi everyone,

I've just returned from a period of several months with extremely limited internet access.  As you're aware, during this time I found it impossible to keep up with regular production of Subterranean Homesick Grooves.

I regret to inform everyone that I will probably be dealing with similar problems over the next fifteen months or more.  I can't guarantee that I'll be able to do a proper job of producing the show on a timely basis, and I don't like to do a poor job if I'm working on a project that I really enjoy (or on any task, for that matter).

Therefore, effective immediately, I am unfortunately going to have to change the show to a monthly production schedule, rather than a weekly one.

I realize that most of the broadcasting entities that carry the show expect programming on a weekly basis, and that you'll probably have to drop the show from the lineup.  This is not my preference, but I understand that it will be inevitable.  This is an especially hard decision when I reflect upon entities such as CHMA FM in Sackville (the first station that carried the show), who have shown such strong support over the past seven years.

I know that the audience for the show in the upcoming months will now be reduced to mostly just my iTunes podcast audience, and my internet shares of the show through direct links and through SoundCloud.

I hope that starting probably in 2019, I might be able to commit to moving the show back to a weekly format.  If/when that happens, I'll let each of you know, in the event that you might consider reinstating the show into a regularly weekly slot.

Thanks so much for all of your support over the past several years.  I've truly appreciated everything that you do for the listening public.

Sincerely,
- Jonathan Clark (DJ Bolivia)
Executive Producer, Subterranean Homesick Grooves

The radio stations have already released broadcasts up to episode 360, which is about seven episodes ahead of what internet listeners have been able to see so far.  So even into September, any internet listeners will once again be getting new episodes frequently (every five or six days) until I catch up to the radio schedule.  After that point, the internet shows will go online monthly, to accompany radio release.

Thanks for your support over the years!


Links:

   Blogger:  subterraneanhomesickgrooves.blogspot.ca
   Website:  www.subterraneanhomesickgrooves.ca
   SoundCloud:  www.soundcloud.com/djbolivia

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

The Tragically Hip, Essential Listening

Where do I begin?  Violins and Tambourines, and this is what I think it means ...

Last night was possibly the last public performance ever by one of Canada's favorite bands, The Tragically Hip.  There.  I've already pissed off 72% of Canadians reading this, who will quickly proclaim that there's no doubt whatsoever that they are THE favorite.  And judging from my Facebook feed last night during the concert, and judging also by the fact that nine of the top ten trending topics on Twitter at one point were directly related to The Hip, I'd find it hard to argue.  I just don't want to appear biased, because in fact, they're my own favorite band.  Click HERE to read a post I wrote about them close to a decade ago, which the Hip ended up featuring on the home page of their website, www.TheHip.com.

CBC live-streamed their final concert, a show in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario.  Let me throw out a quick comment to say that anyone who doesn't understand why Canada should have a national broadcaster may want to re-think their position after last night.  Also, kudos to CBC for ensuring that NO advertising was inserted into the entire broadcast, which lasted almost three hours.  That broadcast is not currently available online yet for replay, but should be soon.

The main reason that I started to write this post is because I promised a friend of mine, Nikki, that I would to try further her musical education about the band.  Like all Canadians, she knows a number of their more well-known commercially-successful songs.  But I said that I'd put together a playlist for her of what I considered to be Hip Essential Listening.

Let me preface by saying that this post will create all sorts of controversy among Hip afficionados.  Why?  Because I haven't included ANY songs in my "Twenty Classic Hip Songs" from anything other than their first four albums.  Somehow, I feel that this is going to create a firestorm of controversy among a number of my friends who are also huge Hip fans.  Admittedly, I'm going to mention a few tracks from [studio] albums five and six.  And don't think that I dislike albums after "Day For Night."  Take "Trouble At The Henhouse," for example.  I feel that this album is their most consistent in terms of flow, and it's best listened to in one sitting, start to finish.  Sadly, that's a concept that seems to have disappeared these days, in our digital work of being able to download individual tracks.  "Trouble At The Henhouse," is more of a musical voyage, although there are only a few songs on it that also want to be able to stand on their own.  That album also has my favorite production approach, with a very warm, crunchy-without-treble, analogue distortion sound on the guitars (except on Ahead By A Century).

Anyway, I'm going to break my recommended tracks down into three groups:  Twenty "Classic Hip," six classic slower songs, and eight other great songs that saw varying degrees of commercial success.

First, my twenty "Classic Hip."  As mentioned, these aren't always the most well-known fan favorites (and I put slower songs into a second group further down this page).  I'll be castigated by some fans due to some of my intentional omissions from this list.  My rationale?  For someone who is only starting to discover more than a smattering of Hip songs, I want to be able to introduce you to songs that show lyrical and musical craftsmanship.  You can click on each of the song titles to find YouTube versions of the songs, although most are not actual videos, just audio recordings.  To avoid the agony of trying to rank them in terms of my favorites, I'm going to list the twenty in chronological/album order:

01. She Didn’t Know [Up To Here]
02. Boots Or Hearts [Up To Here]
03. Every Time You Go [Up To Here]
04. Another Midnight [Up To Here]
05. Opiated [Up To Here]
06. Little Bones [Road Apples]
07. Born In The Water [Road Apples]
08. Three Pistols [Road Apples]
09. On The Verge [Road Apples]
10. Courage [Fully Completely]
11. Looking For A Place To Happen [Fully Completely]
12. At The Hundredth Meridian [Fully Completely]
13. Locked In The Trunk Of A Car [Fully Completely]
14. Fully Completely [Fully Completely]
15. Fifty Mission Cap [Fully Completely]
16. Eldorado [Fully Completely]
17. Grace, Too [Day For Night]
18. So Hard Done By [Day For Night]
19. Nautical Disaster [Day For Night]
20. Thugs [Day For Night]

Some of my personal favorites are definitely far off the beaten commercial track, songs like Eldorado, On The Verge, and Opiated.


Let me also throw out six songs with slower tempos, most of which (aside from #4) became Canadian classics:

01. 38 Years Old [Up To Here]
02. Long Time Running [Road Apples]
03. Fiddler’s Green [Road Apples]
04. Last Of The Unplucked Gems [Road Apples]
05. Wheat Kings [Fully Completely]
06. Scared [Day For Night]


Finally, if you really don't know The Hip's music at all, here are some other hits that you should check out.  Most of these saw more mainstream success than my Top Twenty.  Why didn't I include them in my Classic Hip list?  Well, I guess it's because these songs saw more mainstream success, and I didn't want a lot of the band's other early work to be overshadowed by these songs.

01. Blow at High Dough [Up To Here]
02. New Orleans Is Sinking [Up To Here]
03. Gift Shop [Trouble At The Henhouse]
04. Ahead By A Century [Trouble At The Henhouse]
05. Poets [Phantom Power]
06. Bobcaygeon [Phantom Power]
07. Fireworks [Phantom Power]
08. My Music At Work [Music @ Work]

Most importantly, if you like my choices, I've turned the whole series (34 songs, all three lists) into a giant "Essential Hip" playlist, which is accessible to the public.  Here you go if you want to bookmark it:

The "Essential Hip" playlist on YouTube

I currently have it sorted by default to the same play order as what I've listed in the three lists above.  However, once it starts playing, you can press shuffle (which I recommend) to vary the order of the songs.


So there you go.  I look forward to a stream of comments about my choices.  I'll close by saying that I did agonize for a bit about whether or not to include Ahead By A Century in my main Essential Hip list.  In the end, I didn't, for reasons that I'm not even certain of.  I think one of my goals for this winter will be to release a few cover versions of Hip Songs.  So to be fair, lest anyone think I'm hating on "Ahead By A Century," I'll make sure that I prioritize doing a recording of that song as a winter project.  Stay tuned.







Also, for anyone who wants to compare my picks with the set list from the final concert in Kingston on August 20th (which was amazingly watched by an estimated 11.7 million viewers), here's what they played:

Main Act

50 Mission Cap

Courage

Wheat Kings

At the Hundredth Meridian

In a World Possessed by the Human Mind

What Blue

Tired As F---

Machine

My Music at Work

Lake Fever

Toronto #4

Putting Down

Twist My Arm

Three Pistols

Fiddler's Green

Little Bones

The Last Of The Unplucked Gems

Something On

Poets

Bobcaygeon

Fireworks

Encore 1

New Orleans Is Sinking

Boots or Hearts

Blow at High Dough

Encore 2

Nautical Disaster

Scared

Grace, Too

Encore 3

Locked In The Trunk Of A Car

Gift Shop

Ahead By A Century

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Christmas with the Halifax Classics, 2015

I just discovered the recording of Ian Allen and I playing at the Halifax Classics Christmas event a couple months ago.  I should have put this online immediately after the event, but I guess it slipped my mind, and now I'm having a hard time piecing together the track listings.  This event was all about the house music.

All of the tracks that we played at this show were ones that I edited beforehand, so a lot of them were mashups between two different tracks simultaneously, along with a number of other classic house samples thrown in.  We played this set on a pair of CDJ-2000's.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/mixes

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

As I said, a number of these tracks were mashed up beforehand, so they may not quite be in perfect order, although I tried to piece together the correct order in which they appeared.  I didn't mention the dozen-odd extra tracks which I sampled or threw in over the top of the main programming.

      Alex Augello - Disco Fruit (Original Mix)

      Afrika Bambaataa - Funky Heroes (Original Orezero Remix)

      Rafha Madrid - Crazy Desire (Original Mix)

      Boris Dlugosch - Keep Pushin' (Purple Disco Maschine Vox Mix)

      Jerome Robins, MC Flipside, & Crazibiza - Like That (Slideback Your House Edit)

      Carol Jiani - Move Your Body (Original Mix)

      Sebastian Roter - Work Me (Roter & Lewis Mix)

      PME - It's Alright (Paperboy & Mike Even Club Mix)

      Garret & Ojelay - Love You Better (Original Mix)

      DJ Diogenes - Now (Original Mix)

      Jason Rivas & Asely Frankin - Bambadam (JR & Funkenhooker Back From Ibiza)

      Crazibiza - Back2House (Original Mix)

      Jay Frog & Dekoze - Uh Huh (Original Mix)

      Mike Newman & The Viron - My Love (Original Mix)

      Angelo Ferreri - Gimme Gimme (Original Mix)

      Crazibiza - My Lips (Original Mix)

      Slideback - Sick Of You (Original Mix)

      Rick Marshall - Fever (Rich B Enriched Dub Mix)

      Hoxton Whores & HXNT - Power (Original Mix)

      DJ Hightech & Khalisa Adila - Fly (Original Mix)

      Ivan Pica - Freak (eSquire Groove Mix)

I hope you enjoy it.  The mixing wasn't always the tightest, considering that it was on CD players instead of Ableton, but considering that we had some sound problems with one of the speakers and monitor, I'm pretty happy with the way this sounded.  This event is, without a doubt, my favorite event of the year ...

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

George Martin Hall (STU) Set Playlist, Fredericton, February 8th

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:

djbolivia.ca/mixes 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Learn to DJ with Ableton Live (live real-time performances)

About a year ago, I made three videos to teach people how to produce DJ mixes using Ableton. About 250,000 views later between the three videos (and many more since then), I decided it was time to make more. After all, the original intent was that these were going to be part of a bigger series about how DJ's can use Ableton. You can see those first three videos (and many more related videos) here:  djbolivia.ca/ableton

Although those first three videos focused on studio-based aspects of DJ'ing and Ableton, I just finished up a second series which focuses specifically on live performance aspects of using Ableton. I hope that these are just as popular. Here are the links to those new videos. I



Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 1 of 4:

I start off with an overview of what you need to know about DJ'ing and what Ableton has to offer. We cover a review of beat-mixing and the need to understand "warping" in Ableton, a background on what you need to know/learn about audio mixers before you can go any further, and finally, a quick discussion of optional equipment and peripherals that can make your setup more powerful and flexible (ie. headphones, MIDI controllers, an audio mixer, and external soundcard).





Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 2 of 4:

This video covers basic navigation of the Ableton software, creating a project, importing tracks, adding effects, and doing simple DJ'ing without cue capabilities. If you know that your tracks are warped properly, and know your music well, the need to cue incoming tracks is minimized.





Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 3 of 4:

In this part of the series, we start getting into a proper setup. I cover external sound cards, audio mixers, and external MIDI controllers. I also start to talk about signal routing. Understanding proper signal routing is critical for using Ableton in a professional capacity.





Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 4 of 4:

This video covers advanced routing and signal flow ideas and examples, and also covers integrating Ableton with a professional piece of equipment, the Allen & Heath Xone 4D. I use the Xone 4D as an integrated component that contains an external sound card, an audio mixer, and a full-fledged MIDI controller all in one standalone unit.





Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Unofficial Part 5:

I really should have made the series a five-part series. Although technically speaking, I covered everything in the first four parts, this video definitely complements the rest of the series, especially the fourth part. In this video, I walk you through the steps of setting up a project with a slightly different approach than in part four, and then use that project to perform an hour-long set, which then became episode 155 of my weekly radio show, Subterranean Homesick Grooves. This video is produced completely from the DJ's perspective, ie. you'll hear the booth monitor output in your right channel, and the DJ's cue audio in your left channel, so you'll be able to understand exactly what I'm doing.





The Final Result, a Live Performance:

This is the companion video to the previous unofficial "part five" of the series. This shows the same view as the previous video, but this one only has audio for what the dance floor hears. So this is completely just an extra video that you can watch or listen to for fun. No learning here, this is just for relaxing after you've finished studying the other videos!





I have a lot more videos that help teach you about using Ableton Live for DJ'ing.  Find them at this link:

djbolivia.ca/ableton

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

STU Graffiti Party 2013

I played at the annual Graffiti party at St. Thomas University in Fredericton again last night. A fun crowd, as always. I didn't take any photos this year.

For anyone who was at the party and wanted to figure out any of the songs that I played, here's the set list:

01. The Lumineers, "Ho Hey"
02. Phillip Phillips, "Home"
03. Train, "Fifty Ways To Say Goodbye"
04. Demi Lovato, "Give Your Heart A Break"
05. Gold Fields, "Dark Again"
06. Fun, "We Are Young"
07. J Cole, "Work Out"
08. Imagine Dragons, "It’s Time"
09. Taylor Swift, "We Are Never"
10. Passion Pit, "Take A Walk"
11. Ellie Golding, "Lights"
12. Fun, "Some Nights"
13. Carrie Underwood, "Good Girl"
14. Maroon 5, "One More Night"
15. Griswolds, "Heart Of A Lion"
16. Sleeper Agent, "Get Burned"
17. Neon Trees, "Everybody Talks"
18. Atlas Genius, "Back Seat"
19. Gotye, "Somebody That I Used To Know"
20. Katy Perry, "Wide Awake"
21. Linkin Park, "Burn It Down"
22. Karmin, "Brokenhearted"
23. Ellie Goulding, "Anything Could Happen"
24. Maroon 5, "Pay Phone"
25. Selena Gomez, "Love You Like A Love Song"
26. Jjamz, "Heartbeat"
27. Christina Aguilera, "Your Body"
28. Yuna, "Live Your Life"
29. Gym Class Heroes, "Ass Back Home"
30. Justin Bieber & Nicki Minaj, "Beauty & A Beat"
31. Ke$ha, "Die Young"
32. Pink, "Blow Me One Last Kiss"
33. Pitbull, "Back In Time"
34. Flo Rida, "Whistle"
35. Calvin Harris & Flo, "Sweet Nothing"
36. Nicki Minaj, "Pound The Alarm"
37. Psy, "Gangnam Style"
38. Calvin Harris & Ne Yo, "Let Me Love You"
39. Katy Perry, "Part Of Me"
40. Pitbull & Chris Brown, "International Love"
41. Usher, "Scream"
42. Nicki Minaj, "Starships"
43. One Direction, "What Makes You Beautiful"
44. Icona Pop, "I Love It"
45. David Guetta & Sia, "Titanium"
46. Kylie Minogue, "Timebomb"
47. Swedish House Mafia, "Don’t You Worry Child"
48. Flo Rida & Sia, "Wild Ones"
49. J-Lo & Pitbull, "Dance Again"
50. David Guetta & Usher, "Without You"
51. One Direction, "Live While You’re Young"
52. Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"
53. Snow Patrol, "Chasing Cars"

 

 

As you can see, the music that I played at this event was mostly mainstream club dance hits, and top40. It's the same sort of music that I put on all my Workout Mixes. If you'd like to check out any of my Workout Mixes, you can download them from this page:

www.djbolivia.ca/workout.html

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

DJ Bolivia - Live Set from Dada Bar in Beijing

I spent the last several weeks travelling in China. During that time, I was given an opportunity to play at a Psy-Trance event at the Dada Club in Beijing. It's only been open for three or four months, but apparently the parties that they've thrown there for the last month or two have been quite solid (Dada has other franchises in Asia). The party that I played at, Psyfidelity, was put on by GOA Productions.




This particular event was definitely popular. It started around 10pm, and the dance floor was pretty much packed solid by 11pm (a mix of about half locals and half expats). I started my set around 2:30am, and the crowd was still going strong when the next DJ came on after me. I was really impressed with that, since they were up against Paul van Dyk at Tango that night. The club's website said that they closed at 5am, but the promoter I was staying with said that GOA production parties often last until lunch-time the following day. They were well organized with the advertising and logistics, and the venue was well-decorated compared to how I'd seen it earlier in the week.

I got added to the original lineup by Pete and Redi just a few days before the event, after getting introduced the crew by a mutual friend (tProphet). But the guys rearranged their lineup to give me a prime spot, which I definitely appreciated. Anyone that I heard that night could have taken a headlining spot though ... I heard a lot of great tracks and no glitches from any of the other DJ's.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/mixes

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

And here’s a link so you can listen to the show or download it from SoundCloud:


Obviously, psy-trance is not quite my normal style for DJ'ing, since I usually play progressive-house or tech-house in EDM-focused venues, or more mainstream dance tracks at some other clubs. But it was definitely a very nice change of pace! For this set, I started out with a group of slightly subdued tracks. The dance floor had been going hard for several hours, so I figured that a few tracks with several breakdowns wouldn't hurt to let them catch their breath. After about half an hour, I started to bump up the energy again. Here are track listings from the set:

01. Aiodaya, "Psychedelic Pyramide" (Original Mix).
02. Hi Profile, "Free Progressive Lessons" (Original Mix).
03. Kingpink, "Shine Like A Star" (Original Mix).
04. Kingpink, "Right And Wrong" (Original Mix).
05. Meller, "Beach" (Original Mix).
06. Neelix, "String Theory" (Original Mix).
07. Invisible Reality, Space Hypnose, "Dance Of Shadows" (Original Mix).
08. Comatic, "Neutralizer" (Comatic & Asarualim Rework).
09. System E, "Armageddon" (Original Mix).
10. System E, "Blue Moon" (Original Mix).
11. ManMadeMan, "Halt Production" (Martian Arts Remix).

Unfortunately, this recording was made from my laptop feed rather than from the "record out" signal line on the mixer, so the various DJM-800 mixer effects that I used during the show (flanger, trans, echo, reverb, filter, etc.) are not captured in this recording.

For more information about GOA Productions, check out the following web links:

https://www.facebook.com/GoaProductions
https://www.facebook.com/groups/58329503444/
http://site.douban.com/GoaProductions
http://weibo.com/goaproductions
http://www.tudou.com/home/_103219449
http://u.youku.com/GoaProductions
http://www.reverbnation.com/label/goaproductions
http://www.goaproductions.com














(Photographs by Redi Sivan)

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Using Ableton Live to create Studio DJ Mixes

I recently put together three YouTube videos to teach people the basics of using Ableton Live software for DJ'ing. There are two separate approaches to DJ'ing with Ableton. Some people are interested in using it for live performance. Others are interested in using it to put together podcasts or radio shows.

The three videos that I have online right now are related to the second approach, putting together podcasts or radio shows. If you're interested in using Ableton for live performance, I'll have a few more videos coming in another month or so, although this first set of three videos for creating mixes will still be useful.

When the "live performance" videos are available, there will be three separate videos to teach you the overall process:
- Warping your tracks, to prepare for a live show (similar to the existing warping video)
- Using Ableton as a live DJ (mixers, controllers, sound card interfaces, dj booth hookup, performance)
- Actually doing a live performance

For the current approach, making a DJ mix, we have three videos online now:
- Warping your tracks
- Putting together your DJ Mix
- Mastering and marketing your mix


Warping Your Tracks in Ableton:

This video teaches you the basics of using Ableton, ie. how the software is laid out, and how to prep for a mix by importing and "warping" your tracks. Warping a track properly and accurately can usually be done in about a minute, once you know how, but you MUST warp your tracks before you play, if you expect to be able to beat-mix. If you're planning a "radio-style" mix format, ie. just fading in and out of songs without worrying about beat-mixing, then warping isn't critical.






Putting Together Your DJ Mix:

This video explains the process of bringing each individual track into the "arrangement view" and then using cross-fades on volume and other effects parameters, through the use of drawn automation, to make a great-sounding continuous DJ Mix.





Mastering & Marketing Your DJ Mix:

Once you have a mix exported from Ableton, you're not quite done. You want your final mix to sound as good as possible for listeners. This video teaches you how to do simple edits like removing leading and trailing silence from your mix file, adjusting the overall volumes through amplification or normalizing, the basics of compression, various encoding options, and more. At the end of the video, there is a short discussion about marketing your mix, such as choosing distribution methods, adding graphics files and "ID3" tag data.





I have a second series of videos that complement this series, and which focus on actual live performances using Ableton, ie. in front of a crowd. Those videos also talk about related aspects of being a performance DJ, including the use of external sound cards, MIDI controllers, and integrating your set with a DJ mixer, as well as tips that might help when you're playing in front of a crowd. Here's a link to learn more:

djbolivia.ca/ableton

I have an additional series of shorter "Ableton Q&A" videos that I produced to answer viewer questions from the above videos. You can see a list of these videos if you go here:  djbolivia.ca/videos


If you find that these videos are useful in helping you learn about how Ableton can be useful to you as a DJ, I'd really appreciate if you could share them! Post links to the videos (or to this blog post) on your facebook walls, or on music/production message boards, or tweet the URL. Thanks for your help in sharing these tutorials.


And finally, these particular three videos used the creation of episode 100 of my weekly radio show as the example mix. If you want to listen to that mix, here is the SoundCloud link to the show:

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Christmas Night Party at Club 981

I played the annual Christmas night party at Club 981 in Neguac (near Miramichi) again the other night. What a party. I did this last year too. I would have expected that not a lot of people would come out to party on a Christmas night, but that was a mistaken assumption.

I've got a set list below, for anyone who was at the event and is trying to figure out some of the songs that I was playing. I assume that people would have known all the tracks from the last hour and a half, but maybe not some of the songs in the first half of the evening. I started out with a bit of rock & even a couple country songs, then moved into current pop music. However, when I started getting into dance music, everyone started requesting "classic" mainstream hits, so after the Lady Gaga track that I played, I gave up trying to play newer music and just went with songs that were a couple years old. As a DJ, it's good to play what the crowd wants to here.

 

For anyone in Halifax, I'll be playing a show with David Anthony on Thursday evening. This should be fun ... we used to DJ together pretty frequently about ten years ago, back in the days of vinyl, but we haven't played together in a decade. That show will not be mainstream/pop - look for a classic house set on Thursday evening.

Anyway, here's the set list from Christmas Eve:

Aerosmith, “St. John”
Blink 182, “All The Small Things”
Collective Soul, “Where The River Flows”
Don Henley, “Boys Of Summer”
Fishbone, “Ma & Pa”
George Thorogood, “Memphis Marie”
I Mother Earth, “One More Astronaut”
Johnny Cash, “Cocaine Blues”
Kid Rock, “Cowboy”
Toby Keith, “Red Solo Cup”
We The Kings, “Say You Like Me”
Young The Giant, “Cough Syrup”
Demi Lovato, “All Night Long”
The Fray, “Heartbeat”
The Script, “Nothing”
Knux & Kid Cudi, “Run”
Kelly Rowland & Big Sean, “Lay It On Me”
Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Brunco Mars, “Young, Wild, and Free”
Chiddy Bang, “Ray Charles”
Colbie Caillat, “Brighter Than The Sun”
Hot Chelle Ray, “I Like It Like That”
Gym Class Heroes, “Stereo Heart”
Patrick Stump & Lupe Fiasco, “This City”
Nicki Minaj & Rihanna, “Fly”
Outasight, “Tonight Is The Night”
Childish Gambino, “Heartbeat”
KDrew, “Body & Soul”
Cobra Starship, “Fool Like Me”
Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”
Pitbull & Chris Brown, “International Love”
Flo Rida, “Good Feeling” (Extended Mix)
David Guetta & Usher, “Without You” (Nicky Romero Remix)
LMFAO, “Sexy & I Know It” (Mord Fustang Remix)
Black Eyed Peas, “Just Can’t Get Enough” (Damon Paul Remix)
Alexandra Stan, “Mr. Saxobeat” (Extended Mix)
Milk & Sugar, “Hey Nah Nah” (Milk & Sugar Club Mix)
Biboulakis & Nina Zeitlin, “If Only Alarms Didn’t Ring” (David Jones Remix)
Maroon 5, “Moves Like Jagger” (Sex Ray Vision Remix)
Rihanna & Calvin Harris, “We Found Love” (Matt Nevin Extended Mix)
Ke$ha, “We R Who We R” (James Rendon Club Mix)
David Guetta, “Sexy Bitch”
LMFAO, “Shots” (Dirty Version)
Crookers & Kid Cudi, “Day & Night”
Nicki Minaj, “Super Bass” (Liam Keegan Explicit Extended)
Pink, “Raise Your Glass” (Jump Smokers Extension)
Rihanna, “S&M”
Taio Cruz, “Dynamite” (Mixin’ Marc Club Mix)
Rihanna, “Only Girl In The World” (Liam Keegan Remix)
Katy Perry, “The One That Got Away” (Liam Keegan Extended Remix)
Martin Solveig feat Kele, “Ready To Go” (Arno Cost Club Mix)
Tiesto & Diplo, “C’Mon” (Original)
David Guetta, “Who’s That Chick” (Martin Sauza Extended Edit)
Stromae, “Alors En Danse” (DJ’s From Mars Club Mix)
Yolanda Be Cool, “We No Speak Americano” (Jarleen Bootleg)
Milk & Sugar, “Hi Mi Pata Pata” (Milk & Sugar Club Mix)
Usher & Pitbull, “DJ’s Got Us Fallin’ In Love”
LMFAO, “Party Rock Anthem”
David Guetta & FloRida, “Club Can’t Handle Me”
Avicii & Sebastien Drums, “My Feelings” (Original)
Enrique Iglesia & Pitbull, “I Like It” (Cahill Club Mix)
Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night” (Almighty Club Mix)
Coldplay, “Paradise” (Fedde Le Grand Remix)

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

 

 

Gabriel & Dresden

Yesterday was the birthday of one of my old roommates, and a former DJ at the club that I ran, so I ended up taking him out to a Gabriel & Dresden show in Las Vegas. It was at the Lavo club at the Palazzo. Nice place.




Gabriel & Dresden took a slight break from touring together in 2009/2010, but they've been pretty busy the last eight or ten months, with appearances in more than a dozen countries. I've seen six or seven of their shows in the past. I was even supposed to see them and do some filming at a show in New York that turned out to be their "last" show before their break, but I missed a flight connection by ten minutes due to snow in Canada, and lost that opportunity. That was one of my most disappointing moments in a long time.

Last night's show at Lavo was the best one that I've seen. They are definitely on their game these days. They've got a pretty versatile set-up - Josh works predominantly on Ableton Live (where he can create unique remixes on-the-fly), and Dave occasionally uses Ableton but is completely at home with CDJ's. The only thing that I thought was odd last night was that they shared the same pair of headphones. Dave usually had them on, but Josh occasionally borrowed them. I would think that they'd use a headphone splitter cord and each have a set of their own. Anyway, I saw the entire set (about three hours) and it was tight. I especially enjoyed the remix or layering of the Eleanor Rigby vocals in their set. The only regret about the show for me is that I didn't think to write down a set list, since I recognized just about every song they played.


G&D are so influential that two of their productions are in the top ten of the 2010 edition of the Trance Top 1000 tracks of all time ("As The Rush Comes" at position #3, and their remix of Above & Beyond's "No One On Earth"). They were also voted as America's best DJ's a couple of times. If you want to learn a bit more about the duo, check out this article on wikipedia, which also has a pretty impressive discography.

Here are YouTube videos for a few of their more well-known songs that have real videos (many of their other hits don't). You'll notice that Dave and Josh sometimes work with other vocalists under different names such as Motorcycle, Andain, etc.






















If you're interested in checking out some of their other music, look for classic tracks such as "Zocalo," "Arcadia," "Summer Calling," "Around You," and more. Or check out some of their many remixes of other artists' tracks, which you can find on their discography page on Discogs (or in the list below).

Also, Dave has a popular SoundCloud page that sometimes has G&D sets on it, such as this one:

Gabriel & Dresden Live at Nocturnal Wonderland 09-24-11 by Davedresden




If you get a chance to see them anywhere, I really recommend that you check out their show!

Partial List of Their Remixes:

2001 - New Order, "Someone Like You"
2001 - Way Out West, "Mindcircus"
2001 - Groove Armada, "Superstylin'"
2002 - 4 Strings, "(Take Me Away) Into The Night"
2002 - Medicine8, "Capital Rocka"
2002 - Balligomingo, "Purify"
2002 - Andain, "Summer Calling"
2002 - Paul Oakenfold, "Southern Sun"
2002 - Tiësto, "In My Memory"
2002 - Weekend Players, "I'll Be There"
2002 - Roger Goode, "In The Beginning..."
2002 - Ils, "Music"
2002 - Jewel, "Serve The Ego"
2002 - Beber & Tamra, "Travelling On"
2003 - Annie Lennox, "A Thousand Beautiful Things"
2003 - Lili Haydn, "Anything"
2003 - Motorcycle, "As the Rush Comes"
2003 - Nalin & Kane, "Beachball"
2003 - Andain, "Beautiful Things"
2003 - Three Drives, "Carrera 2"
2003 - Sarah McLachlan, "Fallen"
2003 - G&D vs. Coldplay, "Clocks"
2003 - G&D vs. Depeche Mode, "Here Is The House"
2003 - Dave Gahan, "I Need You"
2003 - Deborah Cox, "Play Your Part"
2003 - Evanescence, "Hello"
2003 - Jewel, "Intuition"
2003 - Britney Spears feat Madonna, "Me Against The Music"
2003 - Duncan Sheik, "On A High"
2003 - Annie Lennox, "Pavement Cracks"
2003 - Grayarea, "One For The Road"
2004 - Above & Beyond, "No One On Earth"
2004 - Nelly Furtado, "Try"
2004 - Kristine W, "Save My Soul"
2004 - The Engine Room, "A Perfect Lie"
2004 - Dido, "Don't Leave Home"
2005 - Rachael Starr, "Till There Was You"
2005 - Perasma, "Swing 2 Harmony"
2005 - Motorcycle, "Around You"
2005 - Özgür Can, "Changed"
2005 - Nicol Sponberg, "Resurrection"
2006 - Gustavo Santaolalla, "The Wings"
2006 - Robbie Rivera, "Float Away"
2006 - Markus Schulz & Departure with G&D, "Without You Near"
2007 - D. Ramirez & Mark Knight, "Colombian Soul"
2007 - Monochrome, "Pearl"
2007 - 68 Beats, "Replay The Night"
2007 - The Killers, "Read My Mind"
2007 - Shiny Toy Guns, "You Are The One"
2008 - Faithless, "A Kind of Peace"
2011 - Enrique Iglesias, "Tonight I'm Loving You" (D&J)
2011 - Andain, "Promises"

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

 

Upbeat Workout Music, Mix #07

I didn't really expect to be putting another Workout Music mix together this quickly after the last one, but I woke up early this morning and I was looking at some of the music charts, and I just felt like I was in the mood to make this mix. A few of the songs are the left-overs from the summer, tracks which I didn't use on Mix #06, but most of these are pretty well-known now, or just coming up the charts.

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 #07:

01. Dev, "In The Dark" (Matt Nevin Extended Mix).
02. Inna, "Sun Is Up" (Play & Win Radio Mix).
03. Sylvia Tosun vs David Vendetta, "World Keeps Turning" (David Vendetta Remix).
04. Cobra Starship feat Sabi, "You Make Me Feel" (Disco Fries Extended Mix).
05. Rihanna & Calvin Harris, "We Found Love" (Matt Nevin Extended Mix).
06. Coldplay, "Paradise" (Fedde Le Grand Remix).
07. Nicki Minaj, "Super Bass" (Liam Keegan Explicit Extended Mix).
08. Flo Rida, "Good Feeling" (Albert Tee Remix).
09. September, "Me And My Microphone."
10. Wynter Gordon, "Til Death" (Original Mix).
11. Katy Perry, "The One That Got Away" (Liam Keegan Extended Mix).
12. Rihanna, "Cheers" (It's The DJ Kue Vocal Mix).
13. LMFAO, "Sexy And I Know It" (Mord Fustang Remix).
14. Pitbull feat NeYo, Afrojack & Nayer, "Give Me Everything."
15. Grace, "When The Lights Go Down" (Wideboys Full Club Remix).
16. David Guetta feat Usher, "Without You" (Nicky Romero Remix).
17. Bruno Mars, "Just The Way You Are" (Manufactured Superstars & J Quintal Remix).


Note: If you're trying to track down remixes listed above and they sound different than what you're hearing in this mix, it's because I do a lot of specific editing of my own to each track before I put the mix together, and there is a lot of extra percussion added.


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":

chma.fm/Workout_Mixes_1-12.zip

For links to the blog posts about the other mixes in this series, visit:

www.djbolivia.ca/workout

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?

Finally, 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.

To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:

djbolivia.ca/dropbox 

Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"

Thanks for your support!

Follow Jonathan Clark on other sites:
        SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/djbolivia

        YouTube: youtube.com/djbolivia
        Facebook: facebook.com/djbolivia
        Main Site: www.djbolivia.ca
        Music Blog: djbolivia.blogspot.ca