Linux Conf Au is one of three major Linux conferences held every year. This year I was lucky enough that it was in my home city - Canberra - and therefore it was almost a foregone conclusion that I would attend. One of the things that the website advertised were "Birds Of a Feather" (or BOF) meetings - a chance for a group of like-minded people to get together informally and talk about ideas and projects. For people that often end up communicating by email and IRC and never getting to actually share a whiteboard or talk face to face, this is a pretty good opportunity.
Of course, from my perspective, it was a chance for people who liked Electronic Music of all kinds to get together and make some. I had originally thought of a night based around a nightclub, but I didn't have the contacts and didn't want to try and find them if there wasn't going to be much interest. I have enough on my plate without having to run events that I have little past experience in. Even a night like my friends' Spin & Jam night wasn't going to work - we had lecture theatres, not lounges. Bring your own amplifier.
So I asked for and received permission to run an Electronic Music BOF.
Then, two weeks before the event, I receive an email from someone organising a night at a nightclub where people could bring their computers and play their music for the crowd. There would be drinks, there would be comfy chairs, there would be pool, and there would be heaps of amplifiers.
Naturally, I was overjoyed, although a bit chagrined that I now seemed to be locked into running a night that was superfluous. I packed my mid-tower computer and requisite bits and pieces into a large suitcase - if I do this more often I'm getting a laptop - and set up at the Toast nightclub. It was pretty cool.
I eventually did three mixes; one slow and more clubby, more mid-tempo and trancey, and one psychedelic trance for the hardcore ravers who were there. In between, other people played their tracks - it was all great music. There was even a live performance guy who had rigged up sensor gloves to trigger sounds and control various aspects of his performance. That was pretty cool just from the technology alone. I'd still love to find the name of that guy who had the rearranged Sydney City Rail announcements in amongst high-energy techno. "The train on platform six is about to ... crash." It was freakin' hysterical at the time, OK?
You can find the other two mix pages here and here.
This track is available using BitTorrent in MP3 and OGG format.
|
Track |
Title |
Artist |
Mix |
BPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Painted Rock | William Orbit | 128.4 | |
| 2 | Algorhythm | Boxcar | 129.9 | |
| 3 | Intensify | Way Out West | Radio Edit | 132.0 |
| 4 | Born To Synthesize | Mona Lisa Overdrive | Solar Stone remix | 132.0 |
| 5 | Change Me | Paragliders |
133.0 |
|
| 6 | The Labyrinth | Moogwai | Oliver Klein's Mutteki remix | 134.0 |
| 7 | Think | Third Eye | 134.4 | |
| 8 | Dämmerung | Frontside | 135.0 | |
| 9 | X-Hale | DJs X-Cite and X-Cess | 150.0 | |
| 10 | Ajnuna | Experimental Fluxtuation | 150.0 |
These mixes are only available as complete files and I do not trade in the albums that these tracks are compiled from. On the other hand, I welcome feedback of any description about the mix, especially if you have recommendations of tracks I might like. My email address is at the bottom of the page.
I welcome any suggestions, criticisms and recommendations for new music to listen to. I will consider doing specific mixes for people, but this is only a hobby. Hope to hear from you!