Stream this new mix. Relax. Repeat.

All this talk of mixes has gotten me pumped about getting back into making a few more of my own, it would seem. 

The other reason (as if I need one), besides creating another excuse to listen to this great music I love all over again, is that I would consider it an awful shame - a profligate waste perhaps - not to make mixes out of the albums I have so carefully curated over the years. I mean, if I'm actually able to produce full-resolution programs consisting of this type of material, then I would feel rather some sort of unbearable idiot if I didn't have a go at mixing occasionally -- possibly even including my own material. Maybe on a semi-regular basis...

Whoa, Dana. Gettin' a little ambitious in your "middle" middle age, eh? Is that a sign that your extended quasi-convalescence might be drawing to a close? Perhaps. Or does it mean, as I'm sure many family members and friends have long since concluded, that you've finally gone completely mental? Not at all. In many ways, nothing much has changed: I was the always the kid with the cassette recorder making stuff up in the corner while the rest of the world busied itself elsewhere. I think I like it that way, but of course the difference is that now there are so many more potential outlets for your particular brand of insanity. How to proceed in the fractured and lopsided media landscape we are now obliged to operate in? The answer can only be, "one mix at a time"!

See you in hyperspace... 

The greater the actual understanding, the less dependent on the thoughts, judgements, values, beliefs, attitudes, acts, etc. of others.

One thing that's great to do around the holidays is listen to old mixes. Now, to be fair, I do a bit of this anyway; after all, what a treasure trove of an archive the internet has become when it comes to long-form sets and live performances! What's truly incredible is that I keep coming across stuff I still haven't checked out yet from the 1990s... and so far all of it has been not just good, but great. 

Well, anything that starts off with Starethrough by Seefeel is pretty great already in my book, and that's only the first track on the above mix from DJ CC. Speaking of the devil, you just can't go wrong with any of the fantastic sets he's got archived on his channel, all meticulously catalogued by date, event, and DJ. Some of the best chill-out music played by actual humans anywhere at any time. A bit of essential history in addition to a genuine visual treat, as the visualizer videos have all been uploaded at 60 fps. Smooth one, mate!

Milestone

I have successfully lived in the Chicago area for slightly over two years without either owning or driving a car. No parking problems. No fuel purchases. No negotiating traffic. Sure, occasionally buses or trains have been behind schedule or populated by obnoxious riders, but no service is 100% perfect, and drivers certainly have their share of chronic issues. Actually on the whole I would say transit in the Chicagoland area is, if anything, better than average nationally - that's one of the reasons I moved here - and it remains a promising example of what is possible if leaders continue to prioritize regional transit funding. In the mean time, I am in better physical condition thanks to getting regular exercise, I pay less to get around and have acquired a better understanding of the history and geography of the area over the same period.

 

Buggin' out on Metra's UPN

 

Therefore it is extremely gratifying to see governor Pritzker sign into law SB2111: The new regional transit overhaul bill that eliminates looming funding gaps and removes what long seemed like a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the possibility of service cuts. Those cuts have thankfully been taken off the table, so let's hope the state of Illinois continues to reap the economic and social benefits of a healthy transit system with a high level of service. Cheers! See you out there on the rails, and stay safe!

Join the cause

All effects are overdetermined; viz, cause is manifold. Strictly speaking, nothing causes anything.

ain't no mercy

ain't no rest 

when the klaxon

bleats its sad 

song to the west

I have unfollowed Atom (TM)

After discovering an article about Uwe Schmidt's participation as headliner of a Russian electronic music festival sporting "Z" vehicles and a military recruitment tent, I felt I had no choice but to unfollow his Atom (TM) Archive on Bandcamp for the sake of my own personal integrity. I will say that this is not the first time there have been what appeared to be some warning signs about Schmidt's "extramusical" activities. The decision was difficult, as I have nothing but the greatest respect for him as an artist and a founding member of the electronic music community, but I feel that this rather cynical gesture on his part, in combination with various other statements he has made in public or online, has simply pushed things too far. His subsequent defense after appearing as a kind of "poster child" with the Consulate General has only confirmed what many of us in the community have likely long suspected, and I only regret that it took me this long to realize that I was essentially enabling a psychopath. So... sorry, everyone. In my own defense I can only offer that I've been pretty busy since moving to Chicago and into my new house last year. I'm also fairly isolated as a musician living in the United States. News of this sort takes a hot minute to percolate into my universe. I'm kind of off doing my own thing here in what is more or less the wilderness of northern Illinois by the standards of "global culture" (whatever that is), to be sure. Nevertheless, it's sad to see someone you formerly respected make sufficiently poor decisions to the point where you just can't stomach supporting them any more. I wish it didn't have to be that way.

We live in troubled times. It's fairly obvious humanity has to get itself straight pretty quickly or none of us realistically have a future worth anything. My basic point is this: You can't claim to be "anti-war" or "anti-political" and then accept a large fee for playing a festival essentially sponsored by the Russian war effort, or indeed any war effort, without being entirely disingenuous. It's totally contrary not just to the values of legions of artists and fans, but I might even argue to the interests of music and art in themselves. Atom (TM)'s very appearance at the festival was a nonmusical, political statement, in addition to the many nonmusical statements he has made in interviews over the years. It all adds up to a fairly clear picture. I just don't happen to agree with his calculus. And yeah, don't artists get to set their own rules anyway? Why do Schmidt and his defenders seem to think some artists should be faulted for sticking to theirs while they flirt with openly authoritarian regimes on the world stage? One certainly shouldn't be faulted for at least posing the question...

The past, though it traffics in facts, is neither a prescription nor an ultimatum. It is only a guide to the always unforseen possibilities of the future. Consequently those heavily invested in reductive or reactive ideologies can only declare victory by fiat, as the rest of the world is ultimately no more hospitable to such a fatalistic view of the world than it ever has been; arguably it is by now less hospitable among educated people than ever before.