Tech.House Mix [Room26 inspired]

I'm very disappointed in their logo. But maybe this is not even the correct photo? I dunno, but here's a mix I did while I was spinning in the Kasbah the other night. It was inspired by my experience at Room26 in Roma, Italy. This was the type of music they were playing the whole night til about 5 in the morning. I wanted to test my 2 minute blending skills with some Tech House (Techno House). Here's a small mix. Eh, could be better, but it's a pretty fun mix non the less. Listen to this shit loud.

Tech.House Mix

I would have posted the track listing but unfortunately, I was just mixing aimlessly. Distinguishing the names of tracks/sounds of tracks is like trying to distinguish on person from another in the streets of Tokyo. Give me your thoughts on the sound...

McNightlife

Before I start with the blog, I just want to say that you will see various signs like this throughout Rome and yer like, "ok, there's a [in my case] McDonalds around the corner" but as I walk... and keep walking in the direction that anyone with a lil bit of common sense walks, I only find my self walking some more to only find myself looking at a similar sign that points in a different direction! I seriously walked around for about 1.5 hours only to end up at a Burger King by accident. Your probably thinking, why would I go to a Mcdonald's when there's so much "good food" in Rome. First, most places to eat are tourist traps. Second, I was walking alone and did not have the luxury of in's for delicious dining. Besides, I was looking for some place quick and comforting. And what better place is there then the comforting childhood memories of my dining experiences at McDonalds, which would make me feel better being alone in these unfamiliar territories. But alas, Burger King it was.

Now, with McDonald's Big Macs, Double Cheese Burgers and the McRoyale [1/4 Pounder; they use the metric system] on the mind, it brings me back to the Topic of my blog.

You try to do everything you can to escape the Top40, Hiphop/RnB McMusic in Philadelphia only to find yourself engulfed in Commercial House and Top40 Hiphop from 2001. Now these are only a few clubs. In fact, most of the HUGE clubs here in Rome spin Tech House/Minimal, which has no lyrics what so ever and may sound monotonous, but will keep you dancing until 7 in the morning. That in itself is fuqn awesome.

But, what I have found is that there is really no difference with the hustle of nightlife here in Europe, except for the music, obviously. Same hustle, same concept for the nightlife; Putting asses in the club. It's a game of numbers. And a stressful game. I just want to find a comfortable place to make music that I like.

Don't get me wrong. There is a SHIT TON of music out here. Not to say that there isn't any back home. But here, it seems like it handles the loads of mini sub genres better. Not to mention, this place is built for partying; One of the reasons that brought me here. It's my job, to party. To better my own career I must throw myself into the center of the Colosseum with the Lions and fight myself to victory.

But as much as it seems right to be out here DJing, there is something that I feel is missing. It's not the women, or the alcohol or music or even the English language. I think it's the comfort of being in a familiar place, with people you know and can communicate with. People who think like you. Maybe I need time to understand the way things work here. Maybe I need to get a car or scooter!! Hmmm, that could be it. Actually, that is it. I need transportation whenever I want to go somewhere.

Anyway, it's dinner time and lucky for me, I don't need a car to eat. No it's not McDonalds. It's pasta and something...

As of right now, I'm editing video for my next blog and try to throw a couple of tracks that are popular over here, for all you music heads. "fino a quando la prossima volta"

Reflections of My First Week in "Rome"

First off, this is not a terrorist. It is me Skyping at 5am one of these past days. The communication and technology that exists today makes it so much easier to be thousands of miles away from loved ones and makes it easier to focus at the situation at hand. This blog is a reflection of stuff that I came to realize so far.

It is my first week here on the outskirts of Rome. I've been really busy. I have to be. I live in a place that's like a campground and I have to base my schedule around everything else. It's tough going from basically no intense routine schedule to something more intricately detailed, watching out for those siestas in the mid afternoon, that shuts down everything that you thought you had planned. Its whipping my ass in shape... physically and organizationally?

For the last week, I've been at the local Pub on their Wi-fi talking to family and friends, designing some web shit that I didn't get the chance to finish while I was back in the US and trying to get a good recording for my new demo.

It's tough. It seems nothing I produce is good enough and its eating me alive. The crowd right now is thin and only wants pop music and it's taking away from what I came here to play and the direction I want to play. But because of this, I finally realized the "direction" i will go/what will make me happy and at the same time make the crowd happy.

For the longest time I've played music that people wanted to hear. I've made them happy, and making them happy made me happy. But it's come to the point where I want more out of DJing. I want new sounds. I want shit that doesnt even have a rhythm. I'm being sarcastic to a certain degree with that last statement, but it's kinda true. My friends can vouch that I am the type of person who will go in a club and purposely dance off beat because I'm bored with dancing. Sure I may look retarded, but it gives me sanity.

Things aren't too different out here. I guess they say "same shit different day." The clubs may be bigger, music different with more sub genres, and people speak a different language. But the overall structure of how everything works is the same. Duh, right?!

But because everything is bigger. Like 2000 people bigger, it takes a lot more work.

I don't know where my train of thought is taking me right now, but its definately going off on a tangent.

I guess, the main thing I want to say is that for the first week I was like I am going to fucking be here for 4 months?! I didnt know if I could handle it... to tell you the truth, I still don't know. But do any of us really know anything? As the dust settles after my landing here in foreign soil, I realized that not knowing is a part of life and that we must DO OUR BEST in whatever we do, STAY TRUE TO OURSELVES and HELP OTHERS along the way. Hopefully things will set itself in a direction we can see. I mean we see ourselves somewhere and have the direction, but the path is unclear. One of the most important things is to know the path to take, but it takes time, organization and meditation.

I'm trying to do my best.

ASIDE from everything, the weather is getting better, I'm feeling alot better about everything. I'm about to DJ at the Kasbah and try to get a decent recording! NO, I am going to get a great recording. I will make sure to post it up on my side as well as some new tunes that are poppin off around here.

CHOW!

When [arrived] in Rome...

This is something new to me...blogging because I am usually a person who never journals my feelings/thoughts but I decided it would be good to document this new adventure. So please bare with me if I go off on a tangent or talk about something that is really not interesting. If anything, just comment about it under my posting and I will try to stay more focused on things more interesting.

Another thing is that, not only do I have random, I want to say "fans," but I'm nothing special, so I will say random people, BUT I also have family and friends that are following me. So, what this means is that I might ramble on about things that arent DJ related, but I will try to re-organize my blog so that you can easily find what you want.

With my "disclaimer" written I will start my blog with this:

My Flight was excellent. I think more people were scared of me, than the Swine Flu Virus. But I tried to keep it Virally Gangsta until I got to the UK. Before then, it wasn't so much the protection against a deadly virus as it was a quick fashion statement. I figured these people are pretty clean. It was more for protecting myself from JFK.

Just landed around 10:30am in Rome but didn't get leave the airport til 12:00pm because the shuttle was waiting for a group of people who arrived for "wine tasting." It wasn't a big deal. I exchanged some chicken: $1480(american) for $1008(euro), shit, in the hole already. After this exchange, I know that I'm gonna have to do some strict budgeting.

I arrived at Country Club Castelfusano and got myself situated. Got my internet which was mad important, and I'm excited that within the ext 2 weeks I will be able to access wi-fi from my bungalo. Right now I'm at a local cafe writing this up. The weather is pretty chilly. I should have brought a long sleeve or a hoodie. Big difference in weather from Philly.

I don't start djing until May 4th, so the manager asked if I wanted to go up to Rimini, which is in northern Italy about 4 hours away from Rome on the east coast. Supposedly it's suppose to be the hottest spot to party in Italy during the summer, which means that it should be an excellent place to DJ, right??

Well, I just spent about an hour writing this small thought. Make sure to keep up with me on Twitter. Right now I'm going to run some small errands and find a place to buy a prepaid SIM and check if my unlocking of my iPhone was successful!! Prolly venture out into the city pretty soon. Ciao, lots more bloggin to come!

Mario = Me, Gumba = Europe.

This image was copped off of Rob Sheridan's blog site. I found this while referencing how to construct my blog site. Unfortunately mine is not as cool as his...YET!

This is my blog site. It will not go in effect until April 28th, when I go to Europe for the summer. This will be a documentary of my travels. Mainly videos, photos, music that I find, music that I make, as well as my thoughts on random shit. You will have access to it before then. I may post up random stuff before, but prolly nothing constructive. I'll be living in Rome, Italy but will also be traveling the rest of Europe. My main targeted cities are London, Berlin and Ibiza.

I'm new to this, but I'm pretty sure you can subscribe to my blog, which will notify you when I update my blog. There should be something on the right side bar allowing you to do this.

More updates on my blog will be made before Europe, but the updates will be structural.

blog.blog.blog.

blog.blog.blog.