I’ve so much good stuff to write about and share today.

New website!

If you clicked though from my email (thanks for subscribing!), welcome to my newly redesigned site! After input from my good friend Louis, I decided to redesign ALL my social platforms with a unified look and feel – a ‘brand’ I guess.

For me, it’s more a part of my creative identity and expression – digital art, web development, blogging and electronic music.

I have always strived for the greatest creative control over how I (and what I create) is represented online.  Self-expression, I think is one of the most important things that we as humans possess.  It topples governments, makes us feel less alone, gives us sanity and helps us make SENSE of this vast, terrible beautiful world that ultimately (to my mind) is LOVEABLE.  So… I hope this site can offer at least a little bit of that.  It’s me.  It’s what I do and I hope you like it – or at least get inspired to get out there and CREATE.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s some stories I thought worth sharing with you:

REAL Story of a DJ

My good friend Louis Haiman (who I wrote about before) has been a long-time musical mentor and creative muse of mine.

He gave me my first *real* studio furniture and also two wonderful drum machines – one which traveled with me to Europe and got me some great gigs (and kept me sane when I didn’t have access to a more full setup for composition) and the other, which my friend Lily Ackerman now has in SF (check out her all-vinyl mix Cut Sessions Vinyl Mix 001 for some choice cuts), via my other good friend and fellow musician Brandon Coffee (Brandon – where’s your music online, man??)

Anyway, Louis recently posted this video below and I LOVE it.  The reason is because usually, the story that gets told about DJing and electronic music and techno feels like an uber-stylized, slick, loud and garish marketing campaign highlighting how a product or event will get you laid or make you a better DJ.  Puke.  The video below?  SO unglamorous.  But you know, I think it’s what a lot of musicians (and many creative people for that matter) experience as real people – who happen to have a passion for whatever it is they do, y’know?

Santiago’s Theme

Underground artists often lead double lives in order to make ends meet. L.A. native Santiago Salazar is an internationally respected producer and deejay with a day job far removed form the dance floors of the world. Co-Directors: Alvaro Parra and Heyjin Jun Cinematographer: Heyjin Jun Producer and Editor: Alvaro Parra Production Sound: Nathalia Morales-Evanks (SPEED!)

Whether you’re a nurse who makes beats on your break, a photographer who’s still gotta do carpentry to pay the bills (or new gear), a chemist who practices beat matching at night – I think the message is universal – KEEP AT IT.

Your life and what you make of it is important.

Side note: Louis told me not to tell anyone, but whatever – he’s got some new stuff here (Sorry Louis, but I fucking LOVE your new stuff).

My Rural Electronic Music Residency in an Italian Villa – progress

In case you didn’t know, I am developing an electronic music residency in an Italian villa that I am the Artistic Director of (since last October).  Working with the very awesome Renate Auzina (who leads as Creative Director), we’ve now had 3 residents!

While we initially started off thinking about electronic music, we’re branching out to other new media including sound, film, video, food, and web.  Renate and I LOVE adventurous, challenging art and the curious stories people tell.

I really hope I can return to Italy soon, to work in-person (as opposed to remotely) developing my various projects there.

Stay up to date on this residency, by liking this post below or leaving a comment.

Random tip: bookmarking things on Facebook.

I fucking hate how Facebook makes it next to IMPOSSIBLE to search or find anything you (or anyone) may have posted previously.  Sometimes, there’s stuff I might actually want to remember and share later.  And not just links, mind you, but previous conversation threads.

Anyway, here’s the tip.  Right below your name on a comment, you should see the date/time it was posted.  Click it.  You’ll than get the direct URL for the post.  Just save to your desktop, Evernote, bookmarks etc.  Done.

That’s enough for this Sunday’s post.  Stay tuned for next week (or sooner?) when I share some new stuff I’ve been working on.

In the meantime, here’s a playlist for you to enjoy your Sunday space.