Splitting the DJ Bolivia Blog into Two Blogs

Starting effective immediately, DJ Bolivia will be splitting his blog into two separate blogs - one for music and one for personal thoughts.

Because of the popularity of DJ Bolivia's fan page, it makes sense to have one blog, Soporific Airs, feed to the Facebook page. That blog will deal exclusively with music-related posts.

Any personal posts will remain confined to the previous blog, From The Ridiculous To The Sublime, which will continue to be viewable to the general public and which will also feed specifically to Jonathan Clark's personal Facebook profile page.

DJ Bolivia Newsletter #7

[Voy a tratar a incluir traducciones en espanol después del inglés, abajo de esta página].

Hey everybody,

This is a very exciting time for me I’ve decided to pursue my music career (as a DJ & producer) more seriously in the near future. Right now, as many of you know, I have several jobs - bartending, restaurant, and silviculture. I’m going to try to separate myself from a couple of them over the next eight to twelve months, to give myself a lot more time to work on song-writing, DJ’ing, producing, and video projects. So here's a brief look at what's happening or about to happen:

First, I just set up a fan page on Facebook a few days ago. The initial response has been absolutely overwhelming, and I’d really like to thank my many friends who have signed up as fans. My challenge now will be to keep adding fresh content to that page.

For the next four weeks, I’m still working at my job on Canada’s West Coast, supervising a camp of tree planters. I love the job – it’s healthy, it’s good for the environment, and it gives me a good tan. I always feel like I’m incredibly good health at the end of every summer, thanks to this job. And as you can see from the photo below, which I took earlier this afternoon on a cut block that we were replanting, the scenery is absolutely beautiful. You'd never want to work in an office again. You can see another of our blocks at the base of the mountain across the valley.

During the next month, while I’m still planting, I can’t do a lot of music-related work. However, I plan to be doing some filming of DJ Dan and Dave Dresden on July 3rd in Calgary, for video projects that I’m working on for each of them. I'll have those videos available for the public in mid-August. I’ll also have photo galleries of that night’s show available in early July.

In August, I return to the studio, both to work on DJ mixes and self-produced tracks that I’ve written. To give you a sneak preview, I think that I might put up a blog post in a week or two about some of the tracks that I’m working on, with either lyrics or vocal samples as a teaser. I’m also planning to start a regular progressive house/trance radio show, which I’m going to call the "Five O’Clock Cock Block" show (I kid you not). I’ve also been asked to do guest mixes for a couple of other well-known radio shows, which I’ll tackle as soon as I get back home.

For upcoming shows this summer and fall, I’ve got confirmed dates in Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto and most Atlantic Canadian cities, and I am tentatively planning shows in Buenos Aires, Australia, and Japan this fall or winter, if time permits.

So that’s what you can expect from DJ Bolivia in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy your summer and keep checking my fan page and website, especially after August 1st.











Hola a todos,

Primero, permítanme a disculparme por mi español malo, tengo mucho que aprender.

Este es un momento que es muy importante para mi, porque he decidido dedicarme a mi carrera musical (como DJ y productor) mas seriamente en un futuro muy cercano. En este momento, como muchos de ustedes saben, tengo muchos trabajos – a el bar, el restaurante y la silvicultura. Voy a tratar de separarme de algunos de ellos durante los próximos ocho a doce meses, para poder tener mas tiempo para la composición de canciones, mezclando música, produciendo y proyectos de video. Entonces aquí esta una breve mirada a lo que esta pasando y lo que esta por pasar.

Primero, hace algunos días lance una fan page en facebook. Los resultados iníciales estan muy excelente, y yo quiero dar las gracias a todos mis amigos que se han registrado como fans. Mi meta ahora es seguir actualizando la página con nuevos contenidos.

Por las próximas cuatro semanas, seguiré en mi trabajo en la costa oeste de Canadá, supervisando el campamento y los sembradores de arboles. Me encanta mi trabajo – es sano, es bueno para el medioambiente, y me deja con un buen broceado. Gracias a esta trabajo, yo siempre siento que mi salud esta muy bien al final de cada verano. Y como pueden ver en la foto de abajo, que tome hace un rato en uno de las zonas de corte que estamos reforestando, la vista es absolutamente hermosa. Ustedes nunca querrían trabajar en una oficina nunca más. Se puede apreciar otra de las áreas de trabajo en la base de la montaña al otro lado del valle.

Durante el próximo mes, mientras sigo sembrando, no tengo mucho tiempo para hacer trabajo relacionado con la música. Sin embargo, tengo planeado filmar a DJ Dan y Dave Dresden el 3 de Julio en Calgary, para algunos video proyectos en los que estoy trabajando para cada uno de ellos. Los videos van a estar disponibles a mediados de Agosto. También voy a tener galerías de fotos de esa noche disponibles a principios de Julio.

En Agosto, vuelvo al estudio, para trabajar en mezclas y canciones producida que yo mismo escribí. Para darle un pequeño adelanto, creo que voy a publicar en el blog en una semana o dos algunas de las canciones en las que estoy trabajando, con sus respectivas palabras o ejemplos vocales. También estoy planeando empezar un programa de radio de house progresivo y trance, el cual voy a llamar el "Five O’Clock Cock Block" show (no se como se dice en espanol). También me han ofrecido hacer mezclas para algunas de programas de muy conocidos como invitado, de los cuales me encargare apenas vuelva a mi casa.

Para próximos eventos en el verano y el otoño, tengo fechas confirmadas en Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto y la mayoría de las ciudades de la costa Atlántica de Canadá, y estoy planeado algunos proyectos tentativos con una amiga en Buenos Aires, Australia y Japón para el otoño y el invierno, mientras el tiempo lo permita.

Entonces esto es lo que pueden esperar de DJ Bolivia en un futuro muy cercano. Mientras tanto disfruten de su verano y sigan visitando mi fan page y mi pagina web, especialmente después del primero de agosto.

Me disculpo por mi malo español, y le agradezco por escuchar mí. Hasta pronto ...

www.djbolivia.ca

May 2009 Record Pool Picks

My top picks from this month's Richmond Record Pool are as follows:

Live Progressive Sets:
- Creamer & K, "Forget The World" (Zoltan Kontes & Jerome Robins Mix)

Mainstream Club Sets:
- Rhythm & Michelle Weeks, "Peace" (Orienta-Rhythm Resound Mix)
- Szloboda, "Listen To Your Faith" (Mineral Walter vs D-System Remix)

Studio Mixes:
- Sami Dee, "Just Believe" (Sami Dee’s Club Mix)
- Szloboda, "Listen To Your Faith" (Norman Crack Remix)

Warmup Tracks:
- DJ Observer & Daniel Heatcliff, "Fake Call" (3am Ocean Drive Remix)
- Eclectica, "O’ Spectra" (Original Mix)
- Federico Giust, "Bicicleta" (Roca & Lewinger Remix)
- Human8, "Fetish" (Original Mix)
- Human8, "Irish Dragon" (Original Mix)
- Stereo K, "Plug Me In" (Original Mix)

This was a smaller shipment again, hence the reason that the number of "best tracks" is pretty low. Rather than picking out a single track that I like, I’ll just comment that some of the productions by Hungarian progressive house producer Human8 have been catching my attention lately.

April 2009 Record Pool Picks

Here, only slightly late, are my April picks from the Richmond Record Pool shipment.

Live Progressive Sets:
No suitable tracks in this shipment.

Mainstream Club Sets:
- Matt Samuels & Abigail Bailey, "Killer" (Original Vocal Mix)

Studio Mixes:
- Audiowhores & Haze, "Stay" (Audiowhores Club Mix)
- Kenneth Thomas feat Colleen Riley, "Wish You Were Here" (Zoltan Kontes Remix)
- Vibrasphere, "Isolation" (Hidra Remix)

Warmup Tracks:
- Alex Rellic, "Take Me Higher" (David Ackerman’s Dubbed Out Mix)
- Audiowhores & Haze, "Stay" (Audiowhores Dub Instrumental)
- Austin Leeds & Etienne Ozborne, "Do It With Me" (Dub Mix)
- Benny Maze, "Lucid Dream" (Original)
- Freekers, "Lost Sandy Beach"
- John Orbiter, "Leck Mich Ich Brauch" (Elektro Mechanic Freakz Remix)
- Kimito Lopez, "Unicorn"
- LS Project, "Finally"
- LS Project, "Sunshine"
- Minilogue, "Animals" (Beat Pharmacy Six Feet Under Mix)
- Roddy Reynaert, "Jetstream"
- Shoreliners, "Handelskai" (Human8 Remix)

The April Pool shipment, as you can see above, had a lot of tracks that I’d play in a warmup set – generally non-vocal progressive house tracks with decent drums and production, but not necessarily good in a club during a peak-hour set. Maybe I’ll try to record a ten or twelve-hour set in August when I have some free time. I could call it something ridiculous like, “Bolivia’s Best Beach Background Beats.” Nothing that really catches your ear – just a lot of great non-stop tracks.

This shipment also had some cuts of some classic tracks. However, my pick of the month for April would be the Vibrasphere track, "Isolation."

February 2009 Record Pool Picks

As I write this, it’s early May and I’m sitting on the side of a logging road, on top of a mountain in British Columbia. My internet connectivity in camp is pretty spotty, but I hope I’ll be able to post this to my blog at some point in the next week or so. No matter – these ratings are already three months late. However, now that I’m working on the West Coast again, I usually spend several hours of each day driving around, so I finally have a lot of time to listen to music and to start getting caught up on my monthly record ratings.

Although the shipments from the Pool haven’t been too outstanding for several of the past months, I was extremely happy with this month’s shipment. There were quite a few tracks that I really liked, which I’ll be playing frequently. So here we go with this month’s picks:

Live Progressive Sets:
- Noel Sanger, "One More Time" (Michael Harrington Remix)
- Oko Tek, "Futuro" (Original)
- Starkillers, "Able & Uneasy" (The Unreal Mix)
- Anthony Grant, "Through The Light" (Progressive Mind Remix)

Mainstream Club Sets:
- Reead, "Nobody’s Innocent" (Vertical Smile Remix)
- Shontelle, "T-Shirt" (Bimbo Jones Remix)

Studio Mixes:
- George Acosta feat. John Sindoni, "Manifest" (Chris Domingo Remix)
- James Nelson, "Relax" (David AK Remix)
- P Lion, "Happy Children" (KJ Remix)
- Roy Davis Jr., "I Have A Vision" (The Juan Remix)
- Roy Davis Jr., "I Have A Vision" (Fred Falk Remix)
- Toro Y Moi, "Left Alone At Night" (Pink Skull Remix)
- Anthony Grant, "Through The Light" (Beautiful Remix)

Warmup Tracks:
- DJ Filip, "One Day" (Original)
- P Lion, "Happy Children" (Demy Shine Dub Remix)
- Add 2 Basket, "Budapest" (Snake Sedrick Happy Times)
- Austin Leeds, "I Can’t Get Away" (Dennis D & Patrick M Remix)

There were several tracks this month which could have qualified for my favorite of the month. You can see that P Lion’s "Happy Children" and Anthony Grant’s "Through The Light" both got listed in a couple of categories, but I’ll have to take the Fred Falk Remix of "I Have A Vision" by Roy Davis Jr. as February’s top pick. It’s not a dance floor killer by any means, but it’s the sort of track that I’ll definitely want to throw into a relaxing studio mix sometime, when I get a chance to get back into the studio. I don’t know off-hand who the vocalist is, although I’m sure that I could figure it out pretty quickly if I had an internet connection. However, if I could describe the style right now, it sounds (to me) sort of like the vocalist from Girl Nobody, singing in a style reminiscent of early 1990’s Stone Roses tracks. In other words, pretty unique.

There was no March shipment from the Pool, so I’ll be releasing my April picks in a few more days. In the meantime, I'll just sit on a mountain top, wishing that I had my DJ equipment here.

Armin van Buuren Photos

This past Sunday night, I got a chance to see Armin van Buuren in Halifax, Nova Scotia, courtesy of Underdog Productions. I wasn’t actually playing on the bill that night, I just went to relax and take some photos. It was my first night using a new camera (a basic Canon XSi digital SLR), but I managed to get a few decent shots. Here's the link:

http://www.djbolivia.ca/photos_armin2009a.html

I owe a big thanks to Armin for being so accommodating with the photography.



Armin has been ranked by DJ Mag as the #1 DJ in the world for the past couple of years. To lend credence to this assessment, consider this: his signature A State Of Trance radio show is listened to by thirty million fans - every single week. Wow. I’ve had my website online for about seven years and I’ve only had around fifteen thousand mixes directly distributed during that time (although I’m sure with pass-alongs, the number is probably a lot higher).

Armin is Dutch. He’s got a law degree, but wanted to give up that career to pursue his love of music. He’s a producer, who has a number of huge hits, both as singles and from the several albums that he has self-produced. He doesn’t use an engineer – he does all of his own production work. He loves his fans, and is always happy to sign autographs and shake hands at the end of his shows.

Some of Armin's well-known hits include Love You More, Blue Fear, Exhale, This World Is Watching Me, Communication, In And Out Of Love, Burned With Desire, Serenity, and Yet Another Day (and a few of the older tracks in this list have only been officially released on YouTube very recently, so they haven't had a lot of views yet). But that's only a very short list of tracks that I could quickly find videos for. For a full look at his portfolio, check out Discogs. The list of work that he has produced is simply staggering.

Check out his website at www.arminvanbuuren.com

Record Pool Picks, January 2009

Here are my picks from the smaller Richmond Record Pool shipment in January. Now that Christmas is over, I hope that we'll start seeing a flood of new music in the coming months.

Live Progressive Sets:
- Elsewhere, “Stay Tuned” (Original Mix)

Mainstream Club Sets:
- AFTC, “Give Me Love” (Ocean Trench Mix)
- Pussycat Dolls, “Bottle Pop” (Dave Aude Club Mix)
- U2, “Where The Streets Have No Name” (DJ Preach Remix)

Studio Mixes:
No suitable tracks in this shipment

Warmup Tracks:
- AFTC, “Give Me Love” (Ocean Trench Instrumental Mix)
- Expected Reaction, “Feeling” (Carlos Lopez & Luigi Rodriguez Mix)
- K-Scope, “Star Kissed”


It’s hard for me to pick a favorite track for this month’s shipment. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the shipment this month. There was a lot of techy, glitchy, minimalistic stuff, which I don’t really play. There were several good trance tracks, but I don’t really include those in my lists because trance does not go over well in Atlantic Canada, unlike most of the rest of the world. There certainly wasn’t a lot of normal progressive house of the type that I prefer.

Anyway, despite that, there were a few good tracks. For instance, it’s really hard to do a good remix of a conventional rock song, but Preach did an admirable job with the old U2 track. And I’m impressed with the Pussycat Dolls remixes, because there were several other remixes in the shipment that crossed into radio/urban formats, and which were well done. I find that it isn’t often you find a track that translates successfully across several formats, especially when they are at significantly different tempos.