Clubbing In Boston for Resident Advisor*

It's hard to believe that I haven't visited Boston in nearly a year, though. I lived there from February 2006 - November 2008, and really grew into a new version of myself in New England. I discovered my undying love for the region, and a seed of desire to move back in my later years was planted. I miss many people who are still living there, and the most recent Clubbing In feature on Resident Advisor explores facets that were such an important part of my life during that time.

Grateful to have been a part of it, Forward Management is mentioned towards the end in conjunction with Lauren DeVain and her skilled efforts in Berlin with her own Carousel PR.

You can read the feature in its entirety, posted here: Clubbing in Boston
*Unlike most links posted on THD, I did not write this.

Simon Firth - Unknown Zone EP for Resident Advisor

This is actually the first not-so-positive review I've written for Resident Advisor. I was seeking out a release of an artist that I'd had no prior knowledge of, and this one immediately grabbed me. Over the course of the holidays, I let it digest and play alongside the other tracks that littered my iPod. Over time, I grew bored with it, and wasn't sure if I was disappointed more in the tracks' staminas to impress me or my faulty initial judgment. Is it a waste of time to review a record that isn't good? There's so much on the Internet that you may notice a large amount of blogs and online magazines (RA excluded) focusing solely on what they do like. I can't say that Basstown has ever written about anything it didn't favor.

I have to admit it was a challenge. If a record review is answering the question "Why?" (Why do is this record good/bad? Why do you like it? Why should anyone else like it?), then to do so for tracks that hardly reach out and grab you leaves you feeling stumped (Why are you stumped?). I think I'd embrace another record if it turned out to leave this bland taste in my mouth over time, but I can safely say that doesn't seem to happen all too often - phew!

You can read the review, posted here: Simon Firth - Unknown Zone

A New England Recharge + Upcoming Projects

I'm happy to announce that since the review of DJ Hell in Brooklyn went live on Resident Advisor, Hell himself released Teufelswerk on his own International Deejay Gigolos label as of this week. Furthermore, his website got a complete makeover, and the overall design moved away from the N. Y. Muscle theme to something more suited for the new record. The RA review is featured on the front page, and you can imagine the audible gasp of joy when I saw my own name in large font on his website. No matter how long I do this, that sort of recognition never gets old. The man is a legend, and this album just happens to be contending for my favorite of the year. Succinctly put, it's an honor.

In other news, I traveled to Boston last weekend for the first time in quite a while. I saw sQuare Production's Speaking In Code documentary in a proper theater, heard some of my favorite local DJs at Make It New, Solid!, Circus, Bassic and the Basstown monthly residency, which featured Lazer Sword. On the dubstep front, Clouds' DJ Tommy did a beautiful set on Sunday, but I was most impressed by Moldy - a Portland DJ I'd heard about in my time living with Pandai'a as one of the best East coast producers of the genre. It's absolutely true. His presence and his mixing and some of the original tracks he dropped were just perfect. All of the elements were in place, and with the Good Life's soundsystem I left with proper cerebral vibrations.

Being back in my old haunts encouraged all of us at Basstown to light a mighty flame under our collective asses with the website. For weeks, we've been doing a great job of keeping it up to date, but my personal goal is to have more community involvement, more mp3's & album reviews and more news that would be useful to both DJs and intrigued techno lovers. In three weeks, I'll be headed to Detroit with Volvox for our first foray into DEMF and all that Detroit - the closest I can get to Berlin - has to offer, and Resident Advisor will be the outlet for all of my reactions and musings.

Lastly, the wheels are picking up at NoiseCreep, where I'm thrilled to have joined on. You can expect to see more of my words there in the coming weeks, and I hope that everyone enjoys my rambles on metal as much as they do techno. Cheers!