O.M.G its Rusko's debut album!

Alright guys. This album dropped yesterday, May 4th. It was quite hyped, as Rusko is known for a slew of massive productions and remixes. I had mixed thoughts about the album prior to its release. The first two tunes have been unveiled for quite a while, those being Woo Boost, and Hold On. I held Hold On in high regard, and it very well might turn into a summer anthem for me.

Now that I finally have it in my hands, I figured I'd do a little breakdown of the album. This is all opinion, and my personal thoughts on the production choices that Rusko made with this album.

O.M.G. starts off with

Woo Boost: Cmon... we've all heard this track for like 2 months now... I dont feel like their is much to be said about it. It does what it set out to do well. The little "woooos" put a smile on my face, but there are times when it definitely feels like the wobble is tripping over itself... (around 1 minute) which isn't a good thing. The remixes of this tune were pretty decent. I'm not really a fan of sirens... and the synth line is just... weird. I cant describe it any other way.

Hold On: The keys in this version are by far superior to those in the Sub Focus mix. It doesnt have a hint of happy hardcore. The drop is simple, and successful. I really like the vocals, which helps carry the otherwise bare song. Rusko did a good job of putting together a simple percussion line that is "good enough to listen to by itself", which is very important. The way he plays with energy by switching up his drum paterns is great. The drop at 1:50 is a little underwhelming/repetitive, but its good that there was a break from vocals, so I'm not complaining. I love the LFO on the synth during the breaks.

The best part of this song is OMG, he gives us something new at the end of the song!!!!! If you read the rest of the review, you will note that I was pretty angry with the lack of new material as the songs dragged on. The synth pattern after the drop at 3:12 may not seem like much, but damnit, I'm tired of listening to the same 3 patterns just arranged in different orders, give me more shit on top of those patterns man!

Rubadub Shakedown: In theory this song has great potential. Rusko lays down a smooth bassline, very reminiscent of the bass guitar used traditionally in many dub productions. The brass stabs on the upbeat fit in well with the rest of the production, however the brass lead synth its a beat on the cheese side.

Unfortunately, this track is covered with lyrics by Rod Azlan. If anything, Autotune has only served to make it more unintelligible. It takes a lot of effort to discern what he is saying.

At 2:10, we enter a nice breakdown, driven by the SLIGHTEST amount of wobble bass. The Brass lead works perfectly at this point, however, when it leaves, we are left with an extremely dry sounding piano line, accented by a few laser sounds, which leave me unsatisfied.

Dial My Number: First things first. I love the bubble percussion that is apparent from the very beginning of the intro. However @30 seconds we drop into a long chord pattern that can only be described as canned trance. When we finally drop out of this into the heavier sections of this song, Rusko introduces a horn line, which, like other horn lines on this album thus far, fails to sit well in the mix.

Thankfully the drop into the 4 on the floor section at 1:25 helps introduce both energy, and percussion variation to the track. We are back to what I can only describe as 80s synth fun, and its even apparent in his percussion.

2:52 introduces an instrument I can only describe as MIDI guitar? Whatever it is... I'm not a fan. Then we get to enjoy the sounds of a modem connecting, as we wait for the drop, which is exactly the same, as the first drop.

Final verdict = this track lacks variation. He has essentially 3 parts, which are repeated twice each, and an intro. I really wanted some variation at the second drop.

I Love You: Wow, trance much? We've got uplifting saw synths, which are accompanied by arpeggiated pads, and a weird vocoded/talk boxed vocal line (which doesn't fit the trancy feel of this intro). When we get to the drop, all semblance of the first track, other than the vocal line, is completely abandoned. Rusko feeds us a talking bass line, which is replaced by by a polysaw growl... neither of which are new sounds.

The saving grace of this tune is the breaks, even though I made fun of them earlier. The build ups to the drops are great, especially as they cascade down. They are pretty massive... and that could indeed carry this tune.

Kumon Kumon: As this tune starts, all I can think is "Oh God, its another Take Me to the Hospital" I can only mouth the little chiptune vocals over this. Then we get to the drop, and he lays down an amen break laden laser smooth thingy haha, which I was really digging. Of course it only takes him about 30 seconds to re introduce the annoying as balls "main synth line" which consists of 4 bars of material, repeated over and over.

Ever part of this song that was devoid of the main synth line was pretty damn good. I could groove to it. However, somehow Rusko is making a 3 minute song seem like an 8 minute song, because a majority of the tunes after hold On are only made up of 3 different parts, which have been cut and pasted to fill in the dead air. The repetition is really getting to me. I keep expecting a new element to be introduced at the second drop, but all he does is play around with things he has already established in the tune.

Scareware: Going into the intro of this song, all I can say is that I can definitely see this getting popular with the commercial hip hop crowd. The "crew" vocals are definitely commercial feeling. The drop is not impressive, BUT the bass sweet at 1:01 is SICK which makes up for it.

As the tune progresses, I cant say I find anything particularly wrong with it, its just not my cup of tea. I think this will be one of the more successful tunes on the album in terms of radio and club play.

Raver's Special: Intro instrumentation is made up of happy hardcore piano, and commercial hip hop claps. Two pet peaves of mine haha. Rusko borrows an idea out of his touring partners Major Lazer's book, and throws in lots of Lazer sounds for good measure and build up purposes.

The drop is very Joker like, especially with the vocoded lyrics. with the Happy Hardcore reprise comes some four to the floor drum patterns, one of the things I have really liked about the album thus far, cause it definitely makes dubstep more club friendly from an energy perspective. The bass on this track is pretty flawless, but like just about any commercial diamond you could buy, there are millions out there just like it.

Build up at 2:45 is prettttty huge, and it really gets you excited for the second drop, but... instead you drop into happy hardcore piano break. Again. the second build up isn't as special, as its just a recycled portion of the song. 2nd drop is identical to the first. All I can say.

Feels So Real: Starts off with sort of a daft punky feel. This is one of the few non halftime tunes on the album, and overall its pretty good. I definitely feel like this one was inspired by the success of Sub Focus's tune "Could This be real". Its got a bouncy beat, and similar vocal styles. The main differences between the two is Rusko's complete abandonment of halftime (he has kicks on every beat, vs Sub Focus did every other beat).

I think this works pretty well, and I can definitely see this song being pretty big this summer, even if its just a pre-game tune that gets all its play on the way to the club.

You're On My Mind Baby: At this point, the amount of little vocoded vocal lines on this album is reaching an alarming point haha. This is another one of the more "trancy" songs on this album, Arpeggiated pads, and some pretty great white noise filter sweeps. The synth line at 36 seconds seems a little thin, but the pad line introduced at around 1 minute is quite atmospheric.

Overall, this song puts you in a pretty good mood. Its easy to jam out at either 140 OR 70 to this tune, which is nice, especially for people who are not really into the whole half time thing. The way he variates from claps on the 3 to claps on the 2 between percussion lines is a good touch.

I've given up on any sort of variation for the second drop. This would have been one of those tunes where I would have LOVED him to drop into some massive and growling..... Guess we will have to wait for the singles to be released... cause none of these tunes are dj friendly.

Got Da Groove: Probably my least favorite track on the album. Gucci Mane doesn't contribute anything to the mix, and this is the most Joker like song from a production standpoint. No thank you sir, Next Song Please.

Oy: This is the first song on this album since Hold On that I liked since the first time I heard it. The heavy bassline accompanied by bouncing kicks work very nicely together. The samples used at the end of each phrase remind me of a song, but I can pinpoint it exactly, ESPECIALLY the one at 1:07.

For some reason this song just seems to put me in a good mood. I cant pinpoint the production technique that does it for me, but its definitely got that "side to side shuffle" thing that Rusko talks about in his masterclass vids, and I realllly like it.

My Mouth: This track starts off, and It initially bring thoughts of Message in a bottle by The Police. The 80s pads are actually pretty nice. It adds some midrange meat to what would otherwise be your everyday dubstep tune. As we get into the middle of the tune, it starts to point more towards progressive house producers like the duo Michael Cassette, amongst others on the Anjunadeep label.

Again... the vocoded lyrics are not really necessary... and the only thing they add to the tracks, is the fact that rusko tried to fit that vocal effect onto every single track he could hahaha. As we reach the end of this track, it starts to drag on with build up after build up into a drop we've already heard before.

District Line: This song is perhaps one of the most *complete* on the album. All aspects of it mesh well, which has been a major problem with the rest of the album. A return to the more Dubby side of Dubstep, its got a near wobbleless bassline (very Bass guitar sounding). The "distant Horn line" sound really works in this tune, as many of the aspects are washed into the background, which I mean in a good way.

The best part of this song, is the fact that Rusko made a decision to make a chill song, and didnt add anything that would basically make this unplayable in a chill set. It kind of reminds me of his live performances with bass and Microkorg/MPD at wmc a while back.


Random Thoughts: I was kinda ticked that nothing on this album was dj friendly. Most of the tunes just... end. District line has a terrible fade out.

Tracks I Thoroughly Enjoyed: Hold On, Oy, District Line.

Tracks that would make it on my Ipod: Woo Boost, Dial My Number, I Love You, Raver's Special, Feels So Real, My Mouth, You're on My mind

Songs that will see commercial play, but I didnt reallly enjoy: Scareware, Got Da Groove, Woo Boost,

Songs that I could have done without: Got Da Groove, Kumon Kumon (stupid main synth)Rubadub Shakedown, and he probably could have got rid of one of the following: Dial my Number, My Mouth, You're On My Mind Baby

You can pick this album up from Mad Decent HERE

New Mix: kinda

Hey guys, got a bit of a new trance mix here. Most of its original content, but there are a couple recycled transitions. This was intended as the ASOT 450 contest entry.

Nocturnal Trance Mix 2

Number	Title	Artist
1	Sandwriting (Intro Mix)	Vast Vision
2	Bastillon	Sander Van Doorn
3	Staring at The Sea (Masoud Remix)	DJ Eco
4	Nightfall	Jonas Stenberg
5	Lasting Light (Jorn van Deynhovan mix)	Ronksi Speed
6	Love Comes Again (Robert Vadney Mix)	Tiesto
7	Legacy (Para X Mix)	Mindstream
8	Tuvan (G emery mix)	Gaia
9	Fire	Ferry Corsten
10	Homeward (Nhato 2 moons mix)	Makotrax
11	If I could Fly On The surface	Oceanlab vs Mike Shiver
12	Irufushi (Ashley Wallbridge remix)	Super 8 & Tab
13	Helpless (Monster Mix)	Myon & Shane 54

Hope you enjoy, And I'd love to hear some feedback from you guys.

As of right now, I *THINK* I'll be spinning at the monthly event Family @ Vespa (on franklin street) this month. This event is this friday, and I'd really appreciate you listeners coming out.

I'll probably be spinning electro, with some nu disco and house thrown in.

Expect a live mash up.

New mix... and a general update

Hey guys. Its been a while, and I've been pretty bogged down with tests, but I have a new mix!!!

Last night was the first time I've used the new DJTT mapping for my VCI. I removed my old ghetto faceplate, and decided to just give it a go without any labels (I watched Ean's explanations vids to get my head around it). Overall, I really like it, but it has a couple glitches I'd like worked out (routing effects makes audio glitches bleh.... doesnt show up on the recording though)

I decided to give a go at a little bit of a varying genre mix. It spans Electro, Bmore, and Breaks, at an even 130 tempo (didnt feel like varying it like I should have). Choosing these songs was pretty fun, because I got to throw in some remixes of tracks I really love (I'm Not Alone, Strobe). I hope you enjoy it, and sorry for a few of the rough transitions, and bad FX case. Its tough to mix without labels, especially since I havnt memorized the mapping yet!

Track list is as follows.

Number	Title	Artist
1	WTF (Deekline and Healey Mix	Tittsworth
2	Strobe (Plump Djs Mix)	Deadmau5
3	Baggy Bottome Boys	JOTS
4	Fire Power	Wolfgang Gartner
5	Mars (Herve Re-fix)	Fake Blood
6	Bang (Stanton Warriors Mix)	Rye Rye
7	Fun Punch (JOTS remix)	Bag Raiders
8	Rave!	Aspin and Dispace
9	Jeffer(Para One Remix)	Boys Noize
10	I'm Not Alone (DJ Dipal Breaks Mix)	Calvin Harris
11	I'm Not Alone (Burns Remix)	Calvin Harris
12	Brains...Off	Dirty Disco Youth
13	Pon De Floor	Major Lazer
14	Brains...Off (Fukkk Offf Remix)	Dirty Disco Youth
15	Heartbreaker (Wolfgang Gartner Remix)	MSTRKRFT

You can stream this mix from my soundcloud, or download it at 320 kb/s here
As for Events in the triangle, I figure I'll throw up what I know about:

Feb. 17, Wednesday
Jeremy Granger & DJ Rousseau @ 606 Lounge, Raleigh *21+*
Live Hip Hop Band Showcase @ Cats Cradle, Carrboro
Feb. 18, Thursday
Vinyl Rules w/ K-Rox, Nick, and Aldo @ Fuse, Chapel Hill
Feb. 19, Friday
BUSTED Tropical Bass edition w/ DJ Ripley @ Fuse, Chapel Hill *21+*
DARBUKA - Arabian-Turkish-Persian Night @ Talullas, Chapel Hill
Carnaval Party & JUGO’S (AKA DR. JUICE) @ Mosaic, Raleigh *21+*
Feb. 20, Saturday
Prime Time of Your Life w/ George Brazil @ Talullas, Chapel Hill
Tempation w/ DJ Drees, Queen April, Stowy, Lyria, AssassiNathan @
Volume 11 Tavern, Raleigh
Feb. 23, Tuesday
Flavour w/ Rang, Nyt and Climax @ Mosaic, Raleigh *21+*
Feb. 24, Wednesday
Severe & Kino @ 606 Lounge, Raleigh *21+*
SkyBlew Feels Like Home LP Release Party @ Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh
Feb. 26, Friday
Family @ Vespa, Chapel Hill
PeregriNation @ Volume 11, Raleigh
Mar. 3, Wednesday
DJ Rap @ 606 Lounge, Raleigh *21+*
Mar. 6, Saturday
Re-Release w/ Hydrosphere, Yanni Ehm + Clmntl + Goldfinger @
Talullas, Chapel Hill
Mar. 9, Tuesday
DJ Odi w/ Laurence Anthony, Shy Guy & Rigorous Intuition @ Katmandu, Raleigh
Aug. 14, Saturday
PLUR Tour, Raleigh

Radio Shows***************************************
Mondays through Thursdays
--WKNC 88.1FM - Afterhours, Raleigh, 8pm-10pm.
Thursdays
--919 House Podcast - 1pm @ ShoutDRIVE.com
--The Knight Train - 9pm @ DanceGruv.com
Friday
--919 House Podcast - 6pm @ ShoutDRIVE.com
Saturdays
--WXDU 88.7FM - The Music Lab, Durham, 10pm-12am.
Sundays
--WXYC 89.3FM - New Science Experiment, Chapel Hill, 10pm-12am

Weeklies******************************************
Every Monday - Rumble Sessions @ The Big Easy, Raleigh
Every Tuesday
Dub-A-Nation @ Katmandu, Raleigh
Flavour @ Mosaic, Raleigh *21+*
Every Wednesday - My House @ 606 Lounge, Raleigh *21+*
Every 3rd Thursday - Vinyl Rules @ Fuse, Chapel Hill *21+*
Every Friday - Discotheque @ Mosaic, Raleigh *21+*

The event list is courtesy of V2k. If you want more info on events in the triangle, Check out Triangle Beats on Twitter.

Its Been A While: Updates and events

Yeah guys, Sorry that this has been inactive. Its been a crazy last couple weeks/months. I'm kinda all over the place with mixes at the moment. I've got a couple different genres in mind, amongst them are: Dubstep, Drum n Bass, Bmore/electro/breaks, and Hard Trance. I've kinda gotten a little bit of the dubstep mix recorded, and you can listen to that over on Soundcloud (I will probably be moving over here from mediafire, cause it has sweet streaming possibilities). I hope to get many mixes up in the next month, as well as a couple covers and HOPEFULLY (yeah right) some original tunes, both acoustic, and electronic, thrown up here. Check back.... well weekly not daily haha, and there might be some good stuff.

Soundcloud

Theres the dubstep track, I hope to expand it out to a 2 hour set.

On a side note, ABOVE AND BEYOND are coming to NC. They'll be at the Forum in march. Other notable acts are Wolfgang Gartner, Andy Moor, Morgan Page, and Armin Van Buuren.

On a more local level, its looking like there are a ton of .great night events going down in the triangle area.

Theres loads of weekly's

Weeklies
Every Monday - Rumble Sessions @ The Big Easy, Raleigh
Every Tuesday
Dub-A-Nation @ Katmandu, Raleigh
Flavour @ Mosaic, Raleigh (21+)
Every 2nd Thursday - Bump @ Mosaic, Raleigh (21+)
Every Friday - Discotheque @ Mosaic, Raleigh (21+)
Every Saturday - Boite @ Mosaic, Raleigh (21+)

and tons of other events coming up:

Jan. 29, Friday
Family @ Vespa, Chapel Hill
ReFresh @ Tallullas, Chapel Hill
Jan. 30, Saturday
Release @ Vespa, Chapel Hill
Soulidified @ Tallulas, Chapel Hill
Lady DJ Nite @ Fuse, Chapel Hill
Feb. 3, Wednesday
Technoiz @ The Pour House, Raleigh
Feb. 5, Friday
RISE @ Talullas, Chapel Hill
Feb. 10, Wednesday
DJ Dan @ 606 Lounge, Raleigh
Feb. 13, Saturday
Mingle:Valentines Day @ Six Plates, Durham
Feb. 26, Friday
PeregriNation @ Volume 11, Raleigh

check em out if you are interested.

Eclectic house mix

Hey, its been a while, but I've finally got something new for you listeners (if there are any of you left haha). This mix started out as a fairly melodic/progressive house mix, but I quickly abandoned that and started to incorporate some other sounds. It ranges from prog/melodic to tech to nu disco, to a little bit of electroish sounds. this was a good diversion from studying calculus.

Nocturnal House

Track list is as follows

Number	Title	Artist
1	Pong	Wippenberg
2	Melo	Pryda
3	DNA	Solarity
4	Electro House Is Dead	Komytea
5	Ghosts N' Stuff	DeadMau5
6	The Reward Is More Kids (Hennessey Bootleg)	Deadmau5 vs MGMT
7	How Soon Is NOw	David Guetta et al
8	So Strong (Inpetto Remix)	Meck Ft Dino
9	Alcoholic (Albin Myers Remix)	Tim Berg
10	No Reasons	Alex Armes.
11	Signals (andy Tertio Rewerk)	Andy Duguid
12	2 Million Ways (Fizz K bootleg)	Axwell vs C-mos
13	Flashback	Calvin Harris
14	Put Your Hands UP	Mark Knight
15	I Think I Like It	Fake Blood
16	Everything Changes (Tv Rock & Luke Chabel Mix	Dominik De Leon

UPDATE

Yeahhhhh, I know I went mad crazy with the effects, and they only worked like half the time... but I'm still trying to get my head around them (stupid gater is too enticing, sorry for owning you Ghosts N Stuff)

Nocturnal Trance Promo

So, finally got around to recording my first full length mix, which also happens to be my first real Mix with the VCI 100. Its an hour long Trance mix, which I hope to maybe possibly kind of use as a promo mix, although I dont think there is much of a trance scene here in raleigh... =(. You may recognize the first part from my last 10ish minute mix, as this is just an extended revamped version of that. If you've got a spare hour (can be split up during the day via the pause button) give it a download, a listen, and hand me some feedback. There are a couple parts which I'm definitely no happy with, and some rough transitions that I'll have to iron out, but this was only the second full run throuh, and all that will come with time.

Hope you can download and enjoy.
Nocturnal Trance Mix

Track list is as follows.

Number	Title	Artist
1	Waiting	Dash Berlin
2	Sunrise at Palamos	M.I.K.E.
3	Tuvan (G. Emery Remix)	Armin Van Buuren
4	Fire (Flashover Remix)	Ferry Corsten
5	Stadium Four	Lange & Andy Moor
6	Homeward (Nhato 2 Moons Remix)	Makotrax
7	On the Beach (Andy Duguid mix)	Oceanlab
8	This Moment (prog mix)	Nic Chagall
9	Brave	First State
10	Photograph	Alex M.O.R.P.H.
11	Primitus	Cataracta
12	Air Guitar	Breakfast
13	Callista (Stoneface & Terminal mix)	Adam Nickey
14	Lonely Girl (Ronski Speed mix)	OceanLab
15	Beggin You	Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren
16	Bastillon	Sander Van Doorn
17	Brain Box (Schulz Remix)	Ferry Corsten
18	Irufushi (Sean Tyas Mix)	Super8 & Tab

Soo bored this weekend

yeah... I'm stranded at my apartment, so I've decided that I must do something productive... as in, I should ignore all my work, and make some music

I can either

A: Actually record my 1 hour trance promo that I've been skirting around for some time
B: Record and acoustic cover... probably some elliott smith song
C: Put together an electro set, but probably not get around to recording it
D: Eat pizza.

Help a kid out.

Acoustic Covers: re edits

I've done a little bit of work to some of the songs I uploaded a while ago, and I figured I might as well put them up as well. I've also done a quick recording of Lack of Color.

Lack of Color (1st edit)

Soco Amaretto Lime (1st edit)

The Reward Is More Kids: A mashup story

Alright, this is my first recorded mix with the VCI. Technically... I guess it isnt a mix, but a pseudo mashup inspired by the most badass name ever.

Heres the firs run through of The Reward Is More Kids (Deadmau5 vs MGMT), concieved and recorded by a one William Stoy and myself

The Reward Is More Kids.mp3

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Mad World Acoustic Cover

I did this one a couple years back with limited recording resources, and I've recently gone over it again... in the course of like, 2-3 hours. It still needs a lot of work, but I figured I would put it up anyways

http://www.mediafire.com/?kotjtxmnzgw

another acoustic cover - Soco Amaretto Lime

just messing around with vocal layering.... it's pretty horrible, cause I can't do the yelling voice for my life. But yeah, here it is, this is the first run through

http://www.mediafire.com/?mqmlwzjmthr

Monday Mix 9

Alright. I finally got around to doing another mix, because I've been sick all week and pretty much stuck in bed. I went back to the beginning, and put together another trance mix. It's a pretty good combo of vocal and non, as well as new and old tracks., and I'm pretty satisfied with the selection. I made this one a bit longer, cause I feel kind of bad about slacking off for the last month. I hope all of you enjoy it, and as you can see, there is a little star rating thing down at the bottom, and I'd really appreciate it if you gave me some feedback on this mix, as well as my others. The mixing is still rough... and unfortunatly, I don't think it will get much better until I get my hands on some hardware... its just too difficult to x-fade and eq with only a mouse.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmmwzztovz2

Hope you enjoy it =)

Monday mix... in a state of turmoil?

Alright, So I haven't done a mix yet for today, and I was planning on doing glitch hop, but instead I got to do a sweet distance formula calculator for my Fortran lab... (useless). I may or may not get to one by monday night/tuesday morning, but either way, I promise that you will have another acoustic track from me, as well as a mash up that will include Benassi's Satisfaction.

Bear with me here. Thanks.

No Monday Mix this week

Sorry guys and girls, I was at the beach all weekend with no internet, so I didnt get to scrounge around for music, and devout the customary 5 hours to recording/nailing down transitions that I usually do.

I'm currently looking at doing Glitch Hop for next week.

Also, I'm currently working on a Pretty sick mashup. I think you may like it.

Monday Mix 8

Alright, so I plunged into the realm of commercial dubstep today, after listen to a remix I thought was pretty crunchy (first song on the mix). Realistically, I know absolutely nothing about this genre, so, if any of you who download this do (although there are only like 15 of you haha), hook me up with some tips, because it seems pretty interesting, and with enough bass, I could see myself getting into a groove. This isn't really music I would love to play at a mixer, but it is undoubtedly catchy once you start to feel the low frequencies in your chest. Give it a listen, tell me what ya think, and link your friends over here: The more the merrier.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mny3zzdjyz2