Yellow Shoes

Photographic Memories

2009-02-20T00:04:00.005Z

This is a soundtrack I'm writing to a photography video a friend of mine in Barcelona is making, so it's not exactly dancefloor oriented! Having said that, I've really liked working to someone elses requirements, rather than my own - I hope you like it :)

I'll post the video when it's done :)

Do Your Own Adventure

2009-02-09T11:07:00.004Z

This is something I've been working on, I thought I'd share with you - I've been wanting to do a funky piano track for a while now, but I've been hindered by the fact that my piano playing is useless :s .

It's getting there though, a little bit of tightening up with the mastering and I think we'll be there :) Tell me what you think!

The original vocal was taken from Sue Teller (RIP) mashes it up.

I think I've had enough.

2009-01-16T13:11:00.002Z

I've been stuck in a needy relationship that's not going anywhere. It's just take take take, and I'll be honest, I've had enough. Yeah there's been some good times, but now things are stale. I'm sick of the promises, the glitches, the insensitivity, the assumptions, and the lies. It's not me, it's you. And before you ask, yes, there is someone else.

Traktor, I'm leaving you.

For so long, I've put up with your awkwardness, given you all my time, and hoped that one day, you and I would work in perfect harmony. But now, I've given up on that dream.

The final straw came when I realized that even though I'd put many hundreds of hours into organising my collection, setting cue points, loop points, and beatgridding all my tracks, that none of this could be transferred to Traktor Pro. Not only that, but I'm going to have to change my whole way of working. Again. Traktor 3 was almost perfect the way it was, just a couple of little tweaks here and there, a sampler, and it would have been there. But no, that's not good enough, apparently what we need is a complete overhaul. That in itself, I'd be fine with if it added something to my experience of DJing with it. But instead, things have actually been taken out, rather than extra features added. And that wouldn't be so bad if they weren't features that were actually nessessary to DJ with.

So now, I face a tough decision. Do I stay with Traktor 3, knowing that how I have it now is never going to progress any further, hoping that one day, Traktor Pro is going to emerge as something actually worth using - in the mean time updating 20k tracks to the new format, just because the developers didn't see the need for their loyal customers to be able to make a seamless transition between the two versions? Or do I head to Ableton, where I'd still have to put in the hours updating my collection, but be able to rest safe in the knowledge that the interface is going to stay familiar for the foreseeable future, and I'll likely not have to do all this work all over again? The reasons for staying with Traktor have been getting less and less clear for me, and with yesterday's announcement of Ableton Live 8, there's now very little that's keeping me using it. I've been toying with my DJ layout for Live for a while now, and every time I have a play with it, I discover new things I can do. With Traktor, I always feel like I'm fighting against the software, rather than working with it. If NI have a change of heart, and start listening to their users rather than dictating to them what they need, my Traktor collection will still be there, but as of today, I'm starting work on getting everything organized in Ableton.

But will it mix?

2009-01-05T12:28:00.004Z

So I finally got my new mixer, a Korg Zero 8, and this thing is amazing! For every person with one of these mixers, there seems to be differing opinions, so here's my little review...

I wanted a mixer that had audio channels, but had enough MIDI controls that I could control everything in Traktor from the same unit. Up until now I'd been using a Evolution UC33-e for MIDI control, and a Creative Audigy Notebook ExpressCard for outputting audio. This was a nice compact little setup, but there were a few problems with it - there were a lot of things to plug in, so setting up at a club could take a while. The UC33-e could be unreliable due to a dodgy USB port on the unit, and it kept disconnecting, leaving me with no MIDI control. Having only MIDI control over the mixer section meant there was inherent latency, which made doing quick chops with beats and samples almost impossible. Because I was only outputting 2 channels (master and monitor, with all the mixing handled by Traktor's internal mixer), I could only assign my Kaoss Pad 3 to the master output from Traktor - there was no way I could use it on just one individual channel.

So my requirements were:

A single unit that would handle both audio and MIDI.
Simple setup.
Ability to send individual channels to the KP3 for sampling and effecting.
Enough MIDI controls to handle Traktor's effects and other functions, so I have to touch the laptop as little as possible.

Given this, the Zero 8 really became the only choice. The other contenders were:

Korg Zero 4 had no effects sends, and not enough knobs for controlling Traktor.
Pioneer DJM800 is limited in it's MIDI controlling, and there's no built-in soundcard, so I'd have to plug a cable in for each channel I'd be using.
Ecler EVO5 looked nice, but again, not enough MIDI controls, and no effects sends.
Allen & Heath X:One 3D was the biggest contender, both in size and features, but a bit out of my league in terms of price.

I had a lot of problems when initially getting the mixer working with Traktor, first of all, there were no drivers for Vista. I was using the XP drivers in compatibility mode, which would work for a bit, then cut out with loud nasty squeaking coming from the speakers. I was ready to send the Zero back for a refund. Then luckily, a Vista driver came out that day on the Korg Japan site which, after a bit of fiddling, I got working reliably. You can download the Vista driver here.

A lot of people have reported hiss with this mixer. I'd heard there was no hiss on the digital SP/DIF output though, and since the mixer seemed right in every other way for me, I thought if worst came to the worst, I'd just buy a convertor, and hook it up to the digital output. As it turns out though, I've not experienced any hiss on any of the channels, so maybe Korg have sorted this problem out.

Sound quality is fantastic, I wasn't expecting anything phenomenal in this area, but to my ears it definitely sounds a lot less harsh than the Pioneer mixers I'm used to working on. For a digital mixer, it sounds surprisingly warm, with great punch in the lower end - for House music, this is perfect.

You can pretty much set this mixer up exactly how you want it - there's so many options available, it's incredible. First up, there's about a million inputs, and the rotary dials at the top of each channel let you put pretty much any input into any channel. All the faders have an adjustable curve (not just the crossfader). I use the upfaders for mixing as I use 4 decks, so this was brilliant for me, and something I've not had before in a mixer. I set them up with quite a harsh curve, which I found worked really well with my choppy, "just slam it in" mixing style. There's also a cut/solo switch for each channel, when set to cut it removes the channel from the mix instantly, and spings back to the middle position as soon as you let go, returning the track output to the mix. Pushed in the other direction it latches, and mutes all the other tracks. You can solo more than one track at a time by pushing more than one of these switches upwards. On channels set to MIDI control, these switches send MIDI information, in the neutral position, no data is sent, but different controllers can be selected depending on whether the switch is up or down (so pushing up could control one button in Traktor, whilst pushing down would work a different one. You'll have to make sure you don't need both buttons at the same time though when doing this). On my MIDI channels, I've set this switch to control the 'action' button in BeatMasher, and the Reverb 'Put' button. This allows me to quickly enable the BeatMasher (for short bursts) by pressing down on it, or push it upwards, and holding the effect on (for long mashes, or keeping the reverb turned on while I do something else).

Any channel can also be used set to send MIDI controller information for all the controls, or even just half the controls, which really gives you a lot of flexibility on how you have everything set up. I wanted to have 4 channels of actual audio for the 4 decks in traktor, rather than having everything controlled in MIDI - I wanted to have no latency whatsoever on the upfaders, and this method also meant by setting the EQs to filter instead of EQ, I can have a filter on every channel, meaning I can reduce my use of Traktor's Filter T2 effect, which was pretty much constantly turned on on all my decks. I then have decks 5-7 transmit MIDI control information. From these channels, I can choose the effect selected for each individual deck, operate the effects, and even control cue points using the A/B buttons above the upfader. Finally, on channel 8, I have the input for the Kaoss Pad. I could have routed this back into the return for EXT1, but this limited me in a couple of ways: There was no easy way to have a single wet/dry control for the KP3 effects - turning up the EXT1 send on the channel all the way to the top would not fade out the 'dry' signal after it got past half way, which was a bit disappointing, and meant that I'd have to work the channel upfader to take the dry signal out of the mix. To get over this, I assign the KP3 input channel to the right side of the crossfader, and any channels I want to wet/dry control to the left side, then moving the crossfader gives me an easy control over how much of the effected signal I have in the mix. Having it set up in this way also means that I can further effect the KP3 signal with the EQs and effects on the mixer itself. Whilst we're on the subject of effects, you should know that the Zero8 doesn't have a seperate effect for each channel like the Zero4 does - instead there's 3 buttons under the screen that let you switch between channel, send and master effects control:

Channel lets you apply the effect to any one channel, and is added post EQ.
Send is applied to any channels that have the "Zero FX Send" knob turned up - this allows you have one or more channels effected, to the level you choose from this knob, and the overall level of the effect is controlled from the knob in the returns section of the mixer. You can choose whether each channel is sent pre or post fader for the send effect, but it suffers from having no ability to remove the dry control of the mix (like the Kaoss pad effects return mentioned above) unless you choose to send pre-fader.
Master applies an effect to the master output, and so effects all channels (and effects returns) currently in the mix.

This, again, gives you a lot of possibilities, and all 3 options can be enabled at the same time, with different effects selected on each by using the hold button also under the screen. I'm thinking about using this to keep a compressor constantly on my master output (to keep the mixer levels at a more constant level), but I'm still experimenting finding settings that work well for this. It's a shame that there's no way to store favorite effects for instant recall, like you can with the KP3, as searching through the effects with the rotary is not the quickest way to find the effect you need with so many on offer. I would have thought this would be an ideal use for the rotary buttons, as they don't do anything while the screen is in the effects pages.

The mixer recieves a MIDI clock from Traktor with minimum of fuss (you can set it to recieve MIDI clock over firewire, or via a MIDI cable, make sure you select the right option on the mixer, or risk wondering why it's not working for days like I did), with the added benefit that it send this information on through the MIDI port to the KP3, meaning that the effects and samples on both units are kept in time perfectly with Traktor.

There's a bank of 8 rotary encoders to the right of the mixer, that can be set up with 4 banks of MIDI controller data. You can also press these encoders down, and they act as buttons. I have these set up to load tracks from the browser in Traktor, and control looping and cuing. One niggle I have with these buttons is that they disable when you select any of the effects on the touchscreen, so you have to select the controller bank above the buttons again to start sending MIDI information again. If you're thinking about using this mixer with Traktor Pro, you should know that these rotary encoders don't work very well with Pro yet, they work fine in one direction, but not the other (NI know about this problem though, so hopefully it will be fixed soon). This also happens under v3.4 for me, but it's fine in 3.2. When you have these controller banks selected, the touchscreen also sends MIDI information, so you could use this to further fuck with the effects in Traktor.

So on to the touch screen. You use this to choose most of the options on the mixer, and most of these were pretty self explanatory. It lets you set all the fader curves (individually for each fader), as well as things like MIDI clock, what inputs are sent over firewire, and change MIDI note data for the 4 controller banks. By pressing one of the 3 buttons below the screen, it switches into effects mode, and in most cases you use the screen itself to control the effects. This works well enough, but the touch screen is less responsive than the one on the KP3, and about 3/4 of the size, which can make getting predictable effects a fiddly business. Because it's not divided into a grid like the KP3, it can also make it hard to know where to touch the screen to get the desired effect - on the KP3, I have no problem knowing exactly the coordinates to touch in order to get the effect I want. Most of the effects on the KP3 are included, with the exception of the drum machines (which are crap anyway) and the synths (which can be useful in certain situations). You do gain about 20 effects that are knob controlled (using the rotary encoders) rather than screen controlled though, and these include things like delays and compressors, so you have finer control of these effects. The range of effects, covers pretty much everything you'd need, you've got the usual range of filters, delays, flangers, reverbs, some are fairly similar, and only the paramaters changed by moving your finger on the screen are different. You also have a load of effects that'll make things a bit more interesting, like decimators, and tape delays, along with a nice beat looper, that allows you to choose how many beats are looped by pressing the timing boxes on the screen. It's a shame with all this power, that they couldn't have included a proper sampler on board as well, but I have the KP3 for that, so it's not really a biggie for me.

The mixer itself feels solidly built, although the controls themselves feel a bit plasticy. The upfaders are nice and loose, almost to the point of being too loose, but they have a really smooth feel to them. One of people's biggest complaints with this mixer has been the fiddly knobs. The knobs are very thin, and closely positioned, but I can't see any other way of getting that many controls onto one mixer without making them that small. The knobs have a bit of resitance to them, which is good, but they also wiggle a bit, which makes it feel like they might not last long after a bit of abuse. We'll see how they hold up, as I abuse mixers more than most.

For the record, since this mixer is Traktor Skratch certified, I hooked up my CDJ and tried using it to control the decks in Traktor Pro. After choosing which channel to send the timecode information on it sprang to life - I was expecting some headaches, but it ran like a dream. Personally, I have no need for vinyl/CDJ control though, so this is not something I've tested extensively.

As reported by a lot of others, the headphone output is on the quiet side, but a headphone amplifier should sort that out.

Overall though, I'm fucking loving this mixer, it's opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for me, and every time I play with it, I discover something new I can do with it :) I haven't been this excited about DJing in a long time :) Yeah, there's niggles, but even after nearly 2 years of being on the market, this mixer is still the only one that does everything I want. Keep your ears open for a new Ruforia mix done with this mixer in the very near future :)

Future ex-wives.

2008-11-25T12:41:00.010Z

Everyone has a "list". Even people in relationships (although they might not admit it). Since I was thinking about getting myself an imaginary girlfriend anyway (and maybe one day we'll settle down, and she'll be my imaginary wife), I might as well make her an attractive imaginary girlfriend while I'm at it. Here's the imaginary options. Incidentally, if you are one of these women, and you're feeling at a bit of a loose end one day, and want to see if you're as good in real life as you are in my mind, drop me a line.

	Avril Lavigne I know, I know, and it almost hurts, but Avril's been on the list for a while. A long while. I don't even know why. I think it's because her music has that "so crap it's good" thing that you nostalgically yearn for after you leave school.
	Kiera Knightly I think would make a great imaginary girlfriend, with the added bonus that you wouldn't have to spend that much on (imaginary) groceries.
	Thirteen, from House I know she's a fictional character, but I'm just as good at imagining fictional girls as I am at imagining real life girls, if not better. Incidentally, Cameron from House used to fill this space, but she's sold out and gone blonde now. Her loss. Besides, ecstacy fueled, bisexual bed scenes are healthy for the imagination.
	Daphne, from Heroes For some reason, I keep imagining her in "She's all That" doing the Rockafella Skank at the end of the film. But really fast. Like when you're watching ~~porn~~ Youtube videos, and your computer skips a few frames, then goes really fast to catch up.
	Rachael McAdams But brunette Rachael McAdams. She makes me want to plan a heist. Just so I can pull out a big sheet of A0 paper with "HEIST PLANS" written in big letters at the top, really. A0 paper kicks ass.

What does this tell us? Well, first of all, this shows that I have a severely overactive imagination. Boob size doesn't seem to be an issue when considering a prospective imaginary girlfriend, but cute face is definitely where it's at. Interestingly, none of them have red hair, apart from in my mind. The one thing that ties all of them together really is they all have quite big foreheads (Rachael McAdams technically has a fivehead). I'm kinda ok with that, because one of my dreams has always been to have a girlfriend who's forehead I could project IMAX movies onto.

I still have an issue with which one I should settle down with though - at the moment I'm imaginary dating all of them, I love them all so much but in different ways. I think I'll have to use my patented Bacon Buttie test to see which one I should pick - ie. whoever makes the best bacon buttie can have me exclusively (imaginarily).

'Leccy is hard to come by, round these parts.

2008-11-23T12:43:00.002Z

Some mad Argentinians have bought the bar next door to my house, and as only Argentinians can, they've been working 24/7 for the last couple of days to try and get the place open and money in the till for some time last year.

That in itself, I have no problem with, but they've just started using some crazy power tools that keep making my switch box do funny things, like turn all the electric in my house off. A lot.

I'd be formulating a battle plan right now, but you don't want to piss Argentinians off. Nooo nononono. I can live without electricity if it means actually living, although I'm not sure a life without the internet actually constitutes living.

Simply Rediculous

2008-11-22T13:45:00.002Z

I love it when you get guys in souped up cars driving past, with the gayest music possible blasting out of the windows. Just now the biggest, most baller Hummer in the world - blacked out windows, rims, the works - just drove past, blaring Simply Red - Stars out at an insane volume. My mind is still processing this. I'll get back to you when I've come up with a conclusion.

I'm seldom dead (yet).

2008-11-21T18:06:00.004Z

Ok, well, I had my eye test. The good news is that my eyes are still the same withered stumps at the end of my ocular nerves they were two years ago, they haven't got any worse.

The better news is that despite not speaking any english (perhaps for the better), the optemetrist wasn't a wrinkled pervy old hag-man, neither was she so hot that I nearly had her eye out (see previous post). In fact, she was just the right amount of cuteness for an optometrist. Cute enough that I felt comfortable telling her random letters from a board at the other end of the galaxy, but not so hot that I felt the need to rearrange the letters into haiku's about how shaggable she was. Not that it would have made any difference, what with the no hablar ingles situation that was going on. Even the chair was more Sloggi than Anne Summers. Every little bit helps.

I think she was actually quite into me - she said she was going to call me, and we had some great eye-contact going on.

Game on for cute Spanish Sloggi optometrists.

If I don't make it out alive, I'm probably dead.

2008-11-21T13:30:00.005Z

I'm scared. Well, I'm always scared. But today, I'm more scared. Today I have an eye test. In Ibiza.

For those fortunate enough to have perfect vision, I envy you. You'll never have had to endure the terror that is the eye test. An eye test is bad enough in english. There's 2 ways an eye test can go in England:

Some reeking old giffer will drag you into a broom closet, where he'll stick needles in your eyes and affront you physically and nasally. He'll deluge you with a million pictures, and then bring one single image to crystal clarity... and beyond. Usually, the perverted old fart will try and take advantage of the fact that you can't see anything, and are bewildered and confused in a darkened room by asking you to identify objects from across the room:
"Can you see what this is?"
"No."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! And what's this?"
"An.... egg?"
"I'll give you a clue, it's either a spoon, or the Gobi Desert."
"A spoon?"
"FOOL! I tricked you! It's a double-decker bus! Ok, this next one is either my penis, or a Cornish Pasty, which is it?"

You get the idea. This guy will end up suggesting a pair of gold-rimmed specs twice the size of your head look great on you.
On the other hand, you'll get some mega-hot-and-knows-it optomotrist. She'll lead you into a room that's hotter than the Sun, and sit you in a bondage chair. You have two choices: Leave your jacket on, and burn to death, or take it off and risk exposing the massive boner you're carrying around. She dims the lights to something more romantic. The conditions are perfect...

Just so you know, from my experience, these things never work out like porn, which is a shame, cos I could think of some great positions with that freaky chair. You leave with blue balls and the means to see them clearly.

Either way, you're going to end up pretty scarred for life. On top of this, the optometrist literally holds the keys to your life in their hand: On their whim, they can make you a social outcast for the next year by suggesting a pair of glasses that will make you look like Salman Rushdie having an allergic reaction to getting stung in the eye by a jellyfish. Or they can suggest something nicer, that pushes you to the outskirts of social acceptability. "But it's your choice, surely??" I hear you say. Oh no, these guys are totally skilled in mind manipulation techniques. They'll use phrases like "These ones make your nose look smaller" and "Have you ever thought about plastic surgery?" to make you choose the glasses they want you to wear. Trust me, don't get on the bad side of an optemetrist. You'll be broke and looking like an aged hooker going for the pity vote within a week. As you can see, somehow, I've managed to get on the bad side of several optometrists in my lifetime.

So as if that wasn't bad enough, I'll be having my eye test here in Spain. I booked an appointment at one of the Dr. Mari opticians in Ibiza town. There's over a billion Dr. Mari's in Ibiza town, and I'm not sure which one it is I booked myself in at now. All the glasses in there look a bit mental, and it looks like I'm going to have to revive my Dame Edna Everedge look in order to make it through the next year alive. But the biggest kick in the balls is going to be that the eye test is going to be in Spanish. I can see this being a bit hard, so I've swatted up on some key questions they might ask me, just so I can try and get through this ordeal in one piece:

¿Qué es más clara, un presente, un presente o?
¿Que es un astigmatismo en el bolsillo, o se acaba el placer de verme?
Esta es una de Pasty de Cornualles, o mi pene, lo que es?

Ruforia: Global Bag

2008-11-18T21:55:00.002Z

Well, another season here in Ibiza is well and truly at an end, and I thought it'd be good to make a mix of all the tracks I've been totally hammering (maybe a little bit too much lol) this season down at Coolture Cafe. I've been feeling really happy this year, because there's been so much good House Music around, unlike last year when everything seemed to sound exactly the same.

So this mix is there's absolutely no story behind this mix, it's just straight-up music I've been loving to pieces this Summer, strung together in a way that may or may not mean something to you. Whatever, who cares, just have a boogie :) There's a bit of everything thrown into this one, from the soulful mix of "What is Love?", to the downright deep and dirty grooves of "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine".

Tracklisting:

Greenpower - What is Love? (Licious K Mix)
No head-banging in a Night at the Roxbury stylee to this one, although I can't help but be reminded of that movie every time I hear this track now, this one's been a staple for starting the night off with some great grooves down at the Caf. Just imagine Haddaway took a load of hash browns and helium, and you'd be about there.
With: HCCR - I Go Back (Acapella)

Mike Dunn & MD XPress - God Made Me Phunky (HCCR Mix)

Soundbluntz Feat. Cheyne - (Maybe You'll Get) Lucky (Hatiras Mix)

Will & Grace

Laurent Wolf - No Stress (Original Mix)

DJ Nick - Summer Samba (Andy F Mix)

Macelo Castelli - Zion (Rastafari Mix)
Another track shamelessly pilfered from DJ Steveboy's GrooveElectric podcast, it's got evil and funk in equal combinations. Add in some Bob Marley, and, well, it's pretty much game over. Just remember to sing along: "Do you do druuuuugs?... I do druggs!"
With: Trendroid - Rastafari (Distorted Acapella)
Apparently his name is Rastafari. Who knew?
The BeatThiefs Feat. Shena - Why Did Ya? (Shenapella)

Juan Morgan & Marcos Rodriguez - Bora Bora (Original Mix)

Bucovina

Gypsy

Sia - The Girl You Lost to Cocaine (Sander Van Doorm Mix)

"Drink to Get Drunk"

Mark Knight, Adam K, Soha - From the Speaker (Original Mix)

that's

Axwell, Ron Carroll, Bob Sinclar - What a Wonderful World (Original Mix)

exactly

Dave Darrell - Children (Original Mix)
Play the Robert Miles version these days, and either a million candy kids will stick their glowsticks in the air, or you'll get kicked off the decks faster than you can say "Mauro Picotto". Dave Darrell has done a great job of mixing this epic track into something you can enjoy in the company of strangers without fear of getting laughed at. Amazing.
With: X-Press2 - Lazy (Acapella)

Steve Mac - Paddy's Revenge (Club Mix)
The original loop is taken from a Penguin Cafe Orchestra track called 'Music for a Found Harmonium'. I've loved The PCO ever since Telephone and Rubber Band was used on that 121 advert (now T-Mobile), and I've been wishing for a house mix of at least one of their tracks ever since. Steve Mac has really done a great job here, walking that tricky line between progressive and funky, which can easily go so terribly wrong.
With: Bongo Lovers Feat. An-Tonic - Power of Music (Acapella)
Dirty South - The End (Tocadisco Loves Techno Vocal Mix)

House Music United - Yes We Can (Original Mix)
If the hairs have not been standing up before this point, they will for this one. What's in store for us under and Obama leadership, who knows, but one thing's for sure, He's pretty inspiring.

Asian fantasy? Or just a little bit Asian creepy?

2008-11-18T01:18:00.007Z

This ad seems to have been following me around the internet for the last few weeks. Every time I see it, my brain does wierd things. I'm tempted to click it, but I'm not sure I want to find out how far this Asian rabbit hole goes (do they have rabbits in Asia?).

Let's say, hypothetically, I click it. I join this site. First of all, it's going to be a logistical nightmare, marrying 6000(+!) Asian girls, have the makers of this site thought that through? Also, 6000+ is a lot of Asian girls for anybody (even me), is there a returns policy in case I don't like some of them? Can I share the love and send some to friends and relatives as birthday and Christmas presents? I know a few guys who'd probably appreciate a couple, maybe a few Asians under the tree this Xmas.

But the other, far bigger problem, is this: The Asian girls might be ready for marriage, but what if I'm not? Can't we all get to know each other a bit before steaming forward into a whole great big pile of marriage? Are there no Asian girls looking to just fool around a bit, I mean, this is all going so fast isn't it? I have problems remembering what "Noodles special 3 delicious" is at my local Chinese (and I'm not even sure that's written in proper chinese), how am I supposed to remember 6000+ Chinese names?

On the other hand I could train them all up in Kung Fu (most of them probably know it already, from what I've seen in the movies), and have an almighty army of Kung Fu wives that look great in vinyl and schoolgirl outfits. Just remember to not get on their bad side.

The House That Jack Built

2008-10-18T02:48:00.006Z

The House That Jack Built (Fus's Big Room Mix) by RufusWhite

Just finished a new track - have a listen and tell me what you think! It's not levelled or mastered yet, but I'll keep you updated :)

The sample is taken from the Arethra Franklin track of the same name. Get those old skool organs in you, Arethra (ew).

Spain: Your (Electronic) Money Not Welcome Here

2008-07-11T15:47:00.002Z

Bills are an evil that we've all got to deal with, so when you get one, you'd think it would be in the issuing company's interests to make it as easy to pay them as possible.

In Spain, though, if they had their way, we'd be paying for bills using bushels of corn, with an enforced dress code. Not one company here (Water, Electric, Telephone, whatever...) seems to want to join the information age and let you pay your bills using a bank card. What the Fuck??! Every time I get a bill, they expect me to take time off work, walk into town, and pay with cash at the Post Office. I've just had another huge rant at Telephonica over a bill I'm disputing, in the end (because they're threatening to cut me off) I just said "look, can I just pay this now and we'll sort it out later"
"Oh no, you have to take the bill to the post office."
"So what you're saying is that instead of making it easier for both me and you, and letting me give you my money right here, right now, you want me to take this bill to the post office, and take a whole day off work in order to get this sorted out?"
"yes."
"You, the telephone company, the company that connects each and every bank in Spain, probably one of the biggest companies in Spain, is not able to take a bank card number from me and take the money out of my account"
"No sir." <puts phone down>

I couldn't believe it. Well, actually, I wouldn't believe it if it hadn't happened before, but this isn't even the first time this has happened. This is now the third time that Telefonica have put the phone down on me whilst trying to deal with a problem like this. It's like they don't want my business! If telefonica wasn't the only company that allowed me to connect my computer to the internet, I'd have switched long ago. I can't even ring a number and complain, because they don't have a complaints line. They literally don't care. And, I suppose, they don't have to. If you don't like their way of doing things, that's cool, but don't expect to get internet any time soon.

So Telefonica... here it is: I hate you. I think you're all a bunch of wankers. I'm using your line right now to tell you this. Wankers.

I broke my camera. Vive Espana.

2008-06-29T23:47:00.003Z

- It's a long way down and Spain hasn't invented grass yet.

Like many Britains under the age of 700, I've never been in a country when that country has won the World Cup. 4 hours later, and there's still cars going past my window, beeping their horns, everyone on the street, fireworks going off, and (randomly) a trombone playing.

What this means in real terms to me is that (being the sure-footed mountain goat that I am), I managed to trip over 2 flights of stairs filled with people cheering, nearly crush a 6 year-old (he'll live), and throw my camera (which I'd only gone up the stairs in the first place to collect) onto the hard, unrelenting ground. I rushed to pick it up, and it's poor LCD screen managed to show me it's dying mid-air moments before spluttering, and dying.

RIP Sony the Camera, you will be missed (at least until I get a new Casio).

Ruforia: Non-Distance Relationship

2008-06-29T15:29:00.002Z

The last mix I did (Chemically Unbalanced) I tried to keep my emotions out of it, as they were (and still are, for the most part) a bit all over the place. Ironically, as a few people pointed out, that's exactly how the mix ended up coming out - a bit all over the place. Perhaps that's a testament that you should never try to create art without emotion, maybe it's not even possible. Who knows, I'm a DJ, not a philosopher.

In this mix, I take the opposite approach - it's an unashamedly cathartic mix for me, a chance to air some emotions. I'm not really sure what the intention behind that is yet, apart from it feels the right thing to do, and because I'm of the firm belief that whilst a picture is worth a thousand words, a song can convey a thousand emotions. I was never good with words anyway.

So this is a mix with a story behind it. It's a story of distances too wide for a relationship to survive, of a breakdown in communication, of stubbornness, nostalgia, hope, love, regret, strained acceptance, of trying to make sense of a million things that just don't make sense and of an unhealthy obsession with House Music. It's a story fit for an opera, or at least a low budget straight-to-DVD Hollywood movie.

Tracklisting:

Deepsky Feat. Jes - Ghost (Trent Cantrelle & Redanka Mix)
If I were to pick one track from this mix that perfectly embodied how I feel right now, this would be it. So many amazing lyrics that reach deep to the core, whilst at the same time remaining completely ambiguous. Jes has a voice like Tracy Thorn and Bjork's lesbian love test-tube baby would have (in a good way), and sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

With: Db Boulevard - Point of View (Acapella Mix)
Aside from being an outstanding track in it's own right, it sets the scene for the rest of the mix: How it is and how it has to be and trying to show strength where none exists in an attempt to deal with the situation.

Tegan & Sara - Back in Your Head (Josh Harris Mix)
Born in the ancient fire-mines of Middle-Earth (otherwise known as Canada) as the illegitimate love-child of a dwarf and an elf, Tegan and Sara take the credit for being the only live musical event I've ever attended where a DJ wasn't involved. Shocking, I know. I think I was the only heterosexual in the room as well. Just be thankful I didn't use the Tiesto remix.

Soul Central - I Need You Now (Deep Josh Mix)
v.10:13 The DJ's Bible: "And lo, by thy third track in thy mix, thy will'st have achieved a level of energy so potent that Felix Da Housecat will have kittens"

So it is, and so it shall be. Felix was unavailable for comment after the birth of what are reported to be twins.

Kemal Feat. Foxxee - City Street Walkin' (Main Mix - Rufus's Re-edit)
Let's let that energy dip for a second, otherwise we'll burn ourselves out before the end of the mix. Ever since I first heard Graham Sahara drop this track over the Winter, it was destined to find its way into a Ruforia mix. That piano, that groove, that sentiment, I think we can all relate in one way, or another.

Everything But the Girl - Missing (CL McSpadden Unreleased Power House Mix)
I can't think of any other track off the top of my head that glorifies stalking using public transportation, so kudos for that Tracy. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

Hagenaar & Albrecht - What Would We Do (Original Mix)
The main ingredients are all here already: We've had the piano, the soul, the groove and the passion, all that's missing in this mix is some sista diva to tell us how it really is. You may have been told that Diva house died and left us in 2004. Who told you that? Did STEVE tell you that?

No Tone - Down Down Down (Matthias Mix)
1 minute and 12 seconds after I first heard this track, it was in my collection and begging to be included in this mix. After deliberating for a lengthy 0.5 seconds (I didn't want to seem too keen), I begrudgingly agreed to letting it take me out for an expensive meal. It was such an amazing track I put out on the first date. I feel so dirty.

Jason Rooney & Nello Simioli - Without Me (Original Mix)
I don't know if there's many tracks in the "Celtic House" genre, maybe there's a whole underground movement devoted to it, with clubs called things like "Henge". And if not, WHY not? I'd dig out my Afro Celt Sound System back-catalogue to play there, no bother.

Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso Vs Salem Al Fakir - It’s True (Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso Remix)
The mix has reached it's sentimental, nostalgic peak right here. If this track doesn't give you warm, fuzzy feelings, you're probably dead. You should get yourself to a doctor. I remember playing this track at a house party as the sun came up over Ibiza castle, and everyone hugging each other. It doesn't get better than that.

Stefan Gruenwald Vs Jerry Ropero - Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Jerry Ropero Remix)
Now we've got those fuzzy feelings out of the way, it's time to examine what else is in my big pot of emotions. Dark, sexual, dirty, and yet uplifting, this track is like naked bungie jumping while covered in chocolate body paint with the lights turned off..... I imagine. The original was one of the first tracks I ever bought on vinyl, read into that what you will.

Fragma - Toca Me (Deadmau5 Mix)
Stop dancing and close your eyes. Nothing more needs to be said. Mostly because you'll have a hard time reading it with your eyes closed.

With: Fatboy Slim - Song For Shelter (Acapella)
When I first heard this track, I found it annoying. What the fuck was this guy on about? The album ("Halfway Between the Gutter and The Stars") sat doing nothing for many months after I first heard it, until one day after my first experience with pills, I rediscovered it, and suddenly everything became crystal clear. In 11 minutes of musical genius, Mr. Norman Cook has single-handedly summed up the experience of that night, of being part of that community. Perhaps it should be required listening for politicians, I think the world would be a better place for it. I can't pretend to be able to do the original justice in any way, shape or form, so I'm not going to try, just enjoy the message for what it is.

Johan Gielen - Revelations (Original Mix)
Dutch sounding name? Check.
Ambiguous Title? Check.
Pulsing bass-line and synthy pads? Check.
Yes, all the signs add up, and I can see what you're thinking, and it's creating big, awkward silences between us all, so I'm just going to clear the air and put this out there. Yes, technically, this track is trance. I'm sorry. Now let's try and forget about that (and the fact that this is the same guy that produced the "Alice Dee-Jay" tracks, which I'm sure he wants to forget too... Actually, thinking about it, he probably doesn't, the Dutch have no shame when it comes to music), and get on with appreciating this track for what it really is: A beautiful track, that's full to bursting with emotion. I shamelessly pilfered this from Steve after hearing it on his GrooveElectric Podcast, and have not stopped playing it since. Sorry, Steve. Maybe we're even after the whole Diva house thing now.

Just so you know - never ever ever ever watch the video to this track. Your senses will disown you. From the visuals to the cringe-worthy vocals, it's an affront to everything good about this track. Trance has moved on a lot in the last few years, hey?

With: Fatboy Slim - Song For Shelter (Acapella)

DJ Dove - Memories of Love (Acapella)
You need something to sum up your mix, to finish it off, and this one does the job perfectly I think.

Encontrado

2008-04-08T10:07:00.003Z

Moby's back!! Woo Woo! I'm so happy :D He was a little bit mucky, but alive and well, and that's all I can ask for :) I went out and bought him Eroski "Experience" Tuna and Chicken cat food, and he liked it a lot.

Now I know what it feels like to be a parent that's lost their child. Man, that was totally stressful!

Perdido

2008-04-07T21:48:00.003Z

Aggh! Not only have I lost my girlfriend, but my cat has gone missing too! Moby Moby Moby, where are you??? The streets of Ghetto D'en Bossa have been ringing with his name as I've been hunting for his little cute features all day. I've got the whole street on Moby alert.

I thought I saw him earlier on the roof outside my flat in the semi-darkness, but no, it was his psychotic mother, taunting me with her stripyness.

Aida (the wee girl who lives in the block next door, who's been teaching me rude Spanish words) told me something in Spanish about him earlier, and pointed towards the hotel behind my house, but the only word I could understand was 'listo' (ready).

Tomorrow I'm going to put some signs up around the place, and have another hunt for him, until then the smallest sound that might or might not be his little miow will continue to send me rushing to the window to see if he's back.

Moby, please come back! I know I told you the other day that that poo you did was quite possibly the stinkiest thing I've ever seen, but I'll let you off next time I promise!

Everywhere you go... there you are.

2008-03-31T22:25:00.005Z

How does something that on paper seems so right, simultaneously feel so wrong? Having said that, how, given 2 choices, do I always end up choosing the wrong one? Is it just me, or is the whole of mankind fatally doomed to make these same mistakes? Will there ever come a time when I can confidently delete David Gray from my music collection, knowing that I'll never need his services again?

Let me back up a bit. Last week, things seemed to be working out for me. I was finally back home in Ibiza, my flat is in the process of being plastered so it no longer looks like a backdrop for Armageddon, I've got a few gigs leading up to the start of the season, and there's design work flooding in thick and fast. The whole mess with Dad back home has finally been sorted out, with him now legally not allowed back in the house. In fact, the only thing that's not perfect in the world of Fus is that Marisa is 6000 miles away back in LA.

Having a long distance relationship is not easy at the best of times, and when you factor in 9 time zones worth of difference, and the fact that you've seen each other 24/7 for virtually the whole of the previous year, things start to get really hard.

Under these circumstances, I become crap. I mean really crap. Whereas when Marisa was with me, I could have a conversation and keep it up for a bit (I'll not profess to be the best conversationalist in the first place), when faced with astronomical distances, and an unknown time span before we'll next meet, I just seize up. All I can think is "I love you" and "I miss you", and before you know it, I'm avoiding her instant messaging conversations for fear of boring the tits off her.

So.. eventually it came. I had a feeling it would. And yet I did nothing to stop it. WHY??

The email saying that I've been crap at communicating, and that Marisa has no intention of coming back to Ibiza, and where is this relationship going? Is it a relationship if neither of us are prepared to live where the other does? She's right, of course, I have been crap at communicating, and we have barely spoken since she's been back home. For that, I'm sorry.

I end up staring at the email on screen for about 5 hours. I knew it was coming, and yet nothing could have prepared me for each and every word slicing through my heart like a dagger. Practically everything that was in that email, I agreed with, and yet my instinctive reaction was to fight it. Here in front of me, ASCII text was ending a chapter of my life, and all I can do is dumbly hit reply and seal my fate.

So is this it? Over a years relationship over just like that? A million conversations, a thousand "I Love You's", a billion thoughts of the other person culminated and encapsulated by 2Kb of text? And even though I still love her totally and without question, there's not a single thing I can say against it. If she doesn't want to live here in Ibiza, and I can't live there in LA, what are we going to do? What can you do other than the fair thing and let each other get on with their lives? Am I ready to get on with my life?

It's easy, retrospectively, to look back and think how stupid you'd been. I had this dream in my head that I'd get the flat ready before Marisa came back over, and we'd live happily with our wee cat round the corner from the beach. But really, thinking about it realistically, what is there for Marisa here? There's no Marisa music, no Marisa bars, no Marisa people, no Marisa food. No wonder she hated it.

So given the current situation, the only right thing seems to let it go. We helped each other through a lot of shit. We had a lot of good times, and not many bad. Seemingly, the only things stopping us having a perfect relationship are 6,000 miles and my inability to say anything of any remote interest to her ridiculously clever brain.

I can only hope that one day this island releases it's grip on me, and I'm able to function as a normal human being somewhere where she is too. Until then, everything I see and hear seems to continue to remind me of her... fragments of Tegan and Sara songs, every time one of her millions of pictures appears on my desktop, a memory of how I used to look into her eyes and feel her crazily brilliant mind ripping my soul bare... and thinking that's all I ever wanted.

On paper, the list of things in my life I always imagined would make me happy are nearly complete... House by the beach, an island full of free and easy people, house music, our cat, and Marisa. Now none of it means anything because I'm crap and she hates this place. How can you possibly have some kind of resolution from this situation? I never stopped loving her. She's not dead. She wasn't a bitch to me. Suddenly... she's just not there any more, except in a sepia memory of our relationship constantly looping in my head.. taking MDMA at Ben's house... a diagram showing the relationship of hot chocolate and.... something... a mattress on the floor of Moby's. Watching House... Walking to Bora Bora... A 90km taxi ride out of Granada. Chipping paint off the walls... Did I just make all that up? Where did it come from? Where did it go? I can only take heart from the fact that I don't regret a single moment of it, and I loved her for every single second we were together, and that I tried to be the best boyfriend I could be. I'm sorry that turned out to be not enough. I love you Marisa Prietto, x.

Happy New... oh... wait... umm..

2008-01-10T21:23:00.000Z

So it's been a while since I posted last, and I'm feeling a little guilty about it, because I've been doing so much, but just not had chance to write. I thought I'd start the new year with a quick run-down of some stuff I've been up to since my last post, after that I'll just ad-lib until I get bored. You'll be bored way before that, so by that point it won't matter. I'll litter this post with pictures to help those who can't read good (and maybe want to do other stuff good, too).

In my last post, I was back in Ibiza, and continuing to be an international menace to ugly dogs everywhere. Don't ask me why, these things are important to me. The sad thing was, for the whole 2 and a half months that me and Marisa were there, it pretty much pelted it down, and most of the time the weather was worse than if we'd have stayed in England.

Luckily the rain cleared up a bit while my Mum and Sister visited, which gave us and excuse to rent a car for the week, and get around the island a bit more than what I normally do.

Harriet (Chesty La Spew), Alice (Wee in Wonderland), Marisa (Yellow Pages), and the Mother Fus on Sant. Salinas Beach.

Es Vedra

The Church/Library at Sant. Miguel

The caves at Sant. Miguel

After they went home, it went back to pretty much business as usual, although of course things picked up for Krystle's birthday, which in Ibicencan circles is well known as a poor excuse to go to Ancient People (possibly one of the best curry houses on the face of the Earth, and that's coming from someone who was born in Bradistan) followed by a long bout of getting well and truly fucked up at Sid's new bar, Blu. It's not everyone who get's to have their own private party at an Ibiza club DJ'd by 3 internationally renowned DJ's. And me.

My story is that they warmed up for me, and I'm sticking to it.

"I've got the Key, I've got the Secret, I've got the key to some seriously cheesy old-skool anthems

Professional Argentinian bubble-blower.

Sharon encouraged us all to party responsibly. Presumably so there would be more for her.

Anton cooks up the old-skool, while Jimmy does something involving Glee, Scottishness and Shiftiness (some may argue that those two are much the same thing).

DJ Toga - one half of the Girls Skool dream team.

DJ B Fly. Reeeeeeewind selectah! Bo Bo Bo! And all that Jazz.

After playing at Krystle's party, Sid asked me to play at Blu every week, which has been really fun, and following this, the owner is trying to get me a regular slot on Spanish radio station, Sonica. Hopefully I won't have to speak too much Spanish, as this could make things a little tricky :s.

I also attended my first lesbian wedding reception. Angie and Jo from the Queen Vic (next door to our flat in Ibiza) finally tied the knot, and had a fantastic party near Sant. Antonio. Luckily they chose not to have a DJ (or I think I would have killed someone - I've done far too many wedding receptions in my time), choosing instead to have an amazing singer while everyone got stoned on the roof of the villa.

Cutting the cake.

Scottish people and weed go together like Welsh people and sheep.

Krystle let the rooftop dancing all night, long after all the rest of us had caught pneumonia in the crazy-cold.

For Marisa's birthday at the end of November, Marisa's Dad was nice enough to send us to Granada for some much-needed R+R. He never mentioned that the place he was sending us to was halfway up a mountain 90 miles from anywhere though. Strangely, getting an internet connection halfway up a mountain is no problem compared to trying to get one in Ibiza, go figure. Casa Anna in Pituses (where we were staying) turned out to be absolutely beautiful though, and it was definitely nice to get out of the Moby's flat ;)

A double-decker bus. Just kidding, they're really mountains.

The view outside our window at Casa Ana.

Ana herself. She seemed strangely impressed by our culinary skills. Because of her remote location, little is known as to whether she survived my Chicken Curry.

Pituses. Population: 18.

There were cat-types everywhere, all with nothing better to do than pose for photos.

- See above.

Huge Carpenter Bee-types - I don't know if they stung, but I didn't really feel like sticking around to find out.

The scenery around Granada airport.

The scenery around Manchester airport. Welcome back to the UK.

So... back in Blighty. The only reason for coming back to the UK was really to do some gigs that I'd promised I would over December (all cheesy corporate stuff) - not what I'd really wanted to do, but I'd said I would before I knew any better. Besides, the money was good, and I was good for the money. I finally got my grubby mitts on a Kaoss Pad 3 (I've been working on a website for Maureen, and She wanted to pay me in Kaoss Pad... I tried not to argue too much in case she changed her mind), the only problem was that the power block was rated for US voltage of course, not UK, so as soon as I plugged the KP in, it fried. I nearly stabbed myself with it I was so annoyed with myself. Grrrr. I'm still working out how I can get it replaced without having to shell out too much money (customs already took £50 off me for the privilege of receiving it as a 'gift', bless their hearts, and Korg UK refuse to even let me send it to them, it being a US model).

To console myself, I bought myself a Wacom Bamboo tablet to replace my old Graphire, which lost its stylus many moons ago. The new one feels much nicer, and is twice the size, so I'm very happy about that :)

So... we're into 2008, what's next? Well, tomorrow my Dad will learn of the plot to have him forcibly removed from the family home. Everyone has asked him nicely to leave (for those not in the know, my dad is an alcoholic psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder - seriously, he's a psychiatrist's wet dream), so now Mum's asking for a restraining order from the courts. It's a shame it's come to this, but he won't listen to reason and he's making everyone's life a nightmare, so there's not really any other option any more. When he finds out about it we're predicting temper tantrums, so we're all going to stay with friends for the weekend, until the court hearing on Monday, when he will have to leave the house. We'll be having a huge party on Friday night to celebrate.

Then Saturday will be another weird one for me - I'm going to Scotland for the first time in my life (it's an old school-friend's wedding). The whole weekend is going to be a bit touch-and-go, as on Sunday I fly back home to Ibiza. Of course the wedding had to be not just in Scotland, but pretty much as far North in the UK as you can go without dying of hypothermia in the North Sea (not really my ideal way to die, and yes, I do have one).

Rinse, and repeat ;)

Simple like me...

2007-11-18T00:26:00.000Z

After my post about the new RSS capabilities in Mozilla Thunderbird, I started looking into the possibility of actually building a podcasting extension for Thunderbird. It turns out that both Thunderbird and Firefox are built on XUL, which is like XML for interfaces, and Javascript, which is pretty amazing, if you think about it.

What this means is that it's pretty easy (once you get your head round the actual programming side) for anyone to put together extensions to the Mozilla programs. Not only that, but using the just-announced Mozilla Prism, it will be very easy to turn any Firefox/Thunderbird extension into a standalone program, and make use of local file storage.

I've been having a play around with the XUL coding, and it seems immensely powerful, and more than enough for most basic data-driven desktop applications - I can't understand why more companies have not used this already to create programs and data-driven websites that act like programs on the users local machine, but from what I can see so far, for my podcasting app it should be more than enough for what I need, for playing MP3s and videos I can use flash, so it should be a pretty good all-round program.

Now to get back to re-learning Javascript!

Thunderbirds are go!

2007-11-15T00:25:00.000Z

After seeing the Zune software fall a bit short of the mark with podcasting, I've been playing about with the Pre-Alpha version of Thunderbird 3, Mozilla's email client. I respect Mozilla as a software company (if you can call them that, how much money do they actually make from selling software?) because they're innovative, but what they do works, and works well. Probably due to the fact that being an open-software company, each piece of software is like a forum of ideas, unlike Microsoft these days ;)

Even though this is a pre-alpha release, it's been working for me with no problems so far (more than can be said for some companies' final releases, not mentioning any names). One thing that is really looking good, even at this early stage in the game, is the RSS reader capability, which lets you see your RSS feeds alongside your inbox - why has nobody done this before now? (OK, I know you can get extensions for Outlook to do this, but the fact of the matter is that Microsoft should have added this functionality a long time ago). When you click a post, the actual link back to the site hosting the article is opened within a Thunderbird pane, which means no more clicking "read..." links! The really surprising thing though, was how well this all worked with podcasts - the audio/video file in the enclosure just shows up as an attachment to the post, allowing you to just save it where you want on your computer. Elegant, and all you really need from something not designed specifically for podcasting. I'm sure at some point Mozilla will add some basic mp3 player functionality so you can preview episodes and play them back once downloaded, or perhaps automatically generate a playlist within Media Player/iTunes with all the received episodes from a certain podcast. I'm just throwing ideas around. Of course because it's built by Mozilla, it has the Firefox rendering engine built into it, meaning that podcasts can take advantage of full HTML formatting in the description.

Now all somebody needs to do is build a podcast directory that bolts into Thunderbird, and there's the beginnings of some fairly decent podcasting software finally!

Microsoft FINALLY wakes up to podcasting...

2007-11-14T17:54:00.000Z

I read with interest yesterday that Microsoft have finally got round to adding podcast support to their new Zune players, so I thought I'd have a look into it to see how the support fared against that found in iTunes.

I have a very love/hate relationship with iTunes - it seems to be getting slower and clunkier with every new version (I use it on windows, I understand it works much faster on Macs, but go figure), it looks ugly, and for such a huge company, the visualizations are laughable to say this has come from a huge company with such a huge budget when compared to single-man programmed vis's like Milkdrop (Winamp) or Twisted Pixel (Windows Media Player), which I can watch for hours and not see the same effect twice, and they're silky smooth. On top of that, not only does iTunes act slow, but it also slows your entire system down to a crawl as well (and this is on a 2.4Ghz Dual-Core with 2Gb RAM)! On the other hand, iTunes has pretty much been the one piece of software that has made downloading and listening to podcasts a no-brainer, which is really what it needed. Finding a podcast you want to listen to in iTunes is almost simplicity itself, and the reviewing system is helpful for finding out if a podcast is a waste of time, or other similar podcasts. Whilst making podcasting nice and easy for users though, iTunes is still lacking a lot of developer-end features like the ability to see easily how many people have downloaded and listened to your podcast, as well as basic HTML formatting in the descriptions for the episodes.

For my main media player right now, I've been using Media Player 11, which looks pretty, I can control from my taskbar, has good visualizations (once you've installed Twisted Pixel or something similar), rips super-fast and at decent quality (very important for a DJ), and the search is nice and fast also. I used to like Winamp for all my tunage needs, but even this has got a bit slow on the old search function in recent versions - but I can forgive that with them having a team of developers smaller than Microsoft's cleaning staff. The only downside to Media Player is that it has absolutely no podcast support, which is a real shame, and I'm sure would stop a lot of podcasters/listeners having to rely on iTunes just for this function (and I know a lot that do).

I decided to give the Zune software a try, if only to see how it fared against iTunes and Media Player. Installing it was no problem, and the download was less than half the current size of iTunes. It took about the same time to install as iTunes, but was much quicker to load once all my tracks were loaded into it's library (currently around 20k tracks). Interestingly, there was no feature to just work with Media Player's library, meaning that you have to go through the import process again, and the 2 libraries have to be maintained separately, which was a bit of a bummer.

The interface, whilst a little confusing at first looks beautiful, and you can choose from about 8 themes if you don't like the girly default one. It seems strange to me that the Zune2 players look very masculine, yet the software looks very feminine. It also seems strange to me that Microsoft would not just bolt the Zune syncing, podcasting and picture features into Media Player, which people will probably be using already if they don't have iTunes (which, if they're buying a Zune, they probably won't). All the menus fade in and out smoothly, or slide around, and compared to the grey boredom inducing look of iTunes, it really is quite refreshing to behold. It will not only allow you to organize and play your music, but your videos and pictures as well. The pictures part is especially nice for showing off your pics, as the interface is there over the top of the pictures, but doesn't get in the way, so you can see your pictures take up the full screen (with all the fady wizzy slidy effects you could want, it's all very pretty). Finding how to get to the podcast directory took me a bit of time, as the Zune software separates what's currently on your computer from what's on the internet, so going to your 'collection', then clicking on podcasts only shows you your current subscriptions, and their episodes. To get to the directory you first have to click on the marketplace (which I didn't think I could as Microsoft wouldn't let me create an account because I was born in the wrong part of the world), then on podcasts. This is a little confusing, as the assumption is that anything in the Marketplace is something you have to pay for, which is something which is invariably not the case with podcasts.

Once you've found it, the podcast directory is nice to look at, but quite slow to load, even though it loads the podcast artwork after the page has loaded. At the moment, the directory is pretty sparse compared to Apple's huge directory, but it's early days yet. Apple are very good at keeping up with podcast additions to their directory, I've just submitted Ruforia to the Zune directory, so we'll see how long it takes to show up. Choosing a podcast to subscribe to is very similar to iTunes, although once you're on an individual podcast's page, it seems to take an age before you get a list of the actual episodes within that podcast. Clicking on an episode does show the description in place of the actual series description, which I think is much better in usability terms than the iTunes method of clicking the small grey 'i' next to the episode (which you'd be surprised how few people know how to use). Aside from the general lack of speed accessing the podcast details, the only other downer is that people can not review podcasts like in iTunes. What would have been one better for Microsoft would have been the ability to discuss in a forum-like manner podcasts and individual edpisodes (since they seem so hell bent on creating yet another social network... can't they have one social network that you can bolt extra components onto as you need/want rather than a million different ones... xbox live, MSN messenger, Zune, Live Spaces, it goes on...). Other minor gripes in what would have otherwise been a pretty decent media player:

Editing Track/Artist information in the library list view is a complete pain, and really slow.
What's with the girly pink/orange bar along the bottom of the window all about?
Why can't Microsoft program software that conforms to it's own UI guidelines? Every other program has a drop-shadow under Vista now, except the Zune software :s
On that note, why could they not have given it a full-size Vista icon?
Ok, I realize that this is primarily software designed for use if you have a Zune player, but could they not have all the 'device' options hidden until you register a Zune player with the software so that they don't get in the way. iTunes doesn't show any iPod options unless you actually have an iPod connected to it. Much less confusing for newbies.
It's actually harder in the Zune software than in Media Player to add album art to tracks. Can't someone invent a nice easy way to batch add album art to your tracks???
They've pretty much covered everything (almost) iTunes does in terms of podcasting and nothing more, how unimaginative.
Why do all the titles have to be in huge capitals? Most podcasts/tracks end up being cropped off the edge of the window. I can read you know, Microsoft.
No 'Users also liked...' function? Have we not established this is a Good Idea® if you want more business by now?
Only 3 levels of rating?? Every music software that uses the ratings system uses 5 stars! Oh and we've changed it to hearts/broken hearts to rate the tracks? I'm sorry, but just because I don't like a track doesn't mean that I've had my heart broken by it, I don't get all emotional just because a crappy Trance track has wormed it's way into my collection.
No visualizations??
Not only does it not tell me the title of the track currently playing in the task bar, but it doesn't allow me to control what's going on without maximising the application first. This wouldn't be so bad if it took any notice of the multimedia keys on my keyboard, but it doesn't.
Would it have been so hard to install a little sidebar gadget for Vista along with the software, so that you can see when new podcast episodes are available? It seems like it's just going to be another of those technologies that Microsoft heralds as the feature that will change the world, and then not make use of it in it's own programs.

One really thankful thing is that the Zune software actually reads the iTunes tags in the podcast definition file, instead of requiring it's own XML definitions. That could have been a lot more painful for everyone concerned. But apart from all that it could be a really good podcasting alternative to iTunes about 10 years down the line. By which time iTunes will have moved the goalposts again of course!

Moby the cat

2007-11-09T18:31:00.000Z

Today we welcomed another member to the family in the Moby's apartment, Moby the cat. Krystle found him last night, trying to get to his mum (who had got to that stage where enough was enough, and he was big enough to look after himself now, and couldn't get far enough away from him), and gave him a bowl of food outside the Posiedon hotel. When we went back to look for him today, his mum was around, but he was nowhere to be found. Just as we were about to go home, he jumped over the fence, and could not get enough attention. We took him back home, and he's been asleep on the sofa ever since, apart from when I brought him some kitty litter home, and he used it like a total pro (although he seemed a little disappointed that we had no cat literature for him to read while he went about his musings.

Burn, baby, Burn

2007-11-05T13:03:00.000Z

Once again, so many people are trying to download the Ruforia XML file that it's exceeded google's bandwidth limitations on my site, meaning that some people will not be able to get the podcast today. I've now moved the XML to another server that has more bandwidth, and set up a redirect in my old XML on Google. It will take a couple of days for everybody's iTunes to update, but I think this will be a lot better in the long run.

If you are having problems getting the new mix on the podcast, you can click advanced>subscribe to podcast... on the iTunes menubar, and copy/paste this address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ruforia - this should allow you to get the new episode and any future episodes no problem! (Your iTunes will do this automatically on it's own, but it may take a couple of days, and I know how desperate some people are to get their hands on the new mix!)

For anybody that subscribes to the podcast in any other podcast software, please update your subscriptions to this new address.

Thanks a lot for your patience!