Friday 24 June 2011

DIRTY MIND MIX #132: Andrea Oliva (Cadenza)


This weeks DIRTY MIND MIX is coming from Swiss DJ & Producer Andrea Oliva. The Cadenza artist is taking us on a House Music journey! Tune in at www.dirtymindmusic.com

About the artist:
Straight out of Basel, Switzerland, Andrea Oliva packs a mixed bag of musical influences, a lifetime of DJ experience and infectious enthusiasm that lights up the clubs, whether he’s behind the decks, or sending ripples across the dancefloor with his deft, melodic, techno and house productions which are inspired by everything from Detroit techno to early German house. The multi-facted love of music took Andrea to Ibiza where he landed a residency at In Bed With Space, and encountered his future Cadenza mentor Luciano playing at DC10. He releases records on Be As One, Viva, Hive Audio, Saved and of course Cadenza & Cadenza Lab. Andrea has also his own night at Nordstern Club in Basel. As for him, though, he says: “I’m just happy to be doing what I love.”

More information:
www.andrea-oliva.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrea-Oliva-Official/159024334113153

More information about our DIRTY MIND MIX Internet Radio Show

Friday 17 June 2011

DIRTY MIND MIX #131: Sound Strangers (Latvia)


This weeks DIRTY MIND MIX is coming from Latvian DJ & Producer Sound Strangers. Tune in at www.dirtymindmusic.com

Tracklist:
01 Tom Flynn - Keep Listening (Original Mix) - Dirtybird
02 Tom Flynn - Budgie Smuggler (Original Mix) - Dirtybird
03 Los Pastores - Suma y Sigue (Original Mix) - Anhura Records
04 Los Pastores - El Lio Del Montepio (Darius Syrossian Remix) - Anhura Records
05 Villasti & Manuel De La Oz - Trampa (Original Mix) - Tools Freak
06 Mats Gulbrandsen - Dapp (Original Mix) - Latex Records
07 Villasti & Manuel De La Oz - This Enjoe (Original Mix) - Tools Freak
08 Anton Pieete - From The Hills (Original Mix) - Intacto
09 Rik Woldring - Disco Pussy (Specker Remix) - Klopfgeist
10 GusGus - Over (Veiran's Simple Housedrop) - Kompakt

About the artist:
Sound Strangers is a Latvian DJ, living in Riga. His real name is Pavels Prokofjevs. Sound Strangers was founded in 2000 together with a friend. After creating several tracks, Pavel went his own way, still under the same stage name. Since 2010 Pavel is focusing more on deejaying, presenting regularly his show “IDMS”, a tech house mix with the latest pumping tracks.

More information:
www.soundcloud.com/sound-strangers

More information about our DIRTY MIND MIX Internet Radio Show

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Social Media for DJs, Producers, Artists, Managements, Clubs and Labels

Today I want to start a new series here in our blog which combines my passion Electronic Music with my other passion: Social Media.

I will show you here the most important Social Media channels you have to have if you are a DJs, Producer, Artist, Manager, Club or Label owner.



Why Social Media?

It's easy: because it is free! In the past we all had to book expensive advertisement in different media, now we build up our own strong distribution channels and feed only the interested people with our content.

For the first time we can really interact with our fans and target group, we can learn from their comments, we can turn skeptical people into fans and fans into loyal fans.

Today everybody is a publisher. We have Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and we write about everyday things, especially when they are good or bad. Now you have the choice: let people write about you whatever they want - or do you participate and interact with them, even direct them. With free monitoring tools we can see, who writes about us and our brand. With posts, direct messages or comments we can communicate with these people. This we call dialogue!


What do I need for successful Social Media work?

1. You need time. And you need regularly time. Invest almost every day or every other day time in Social Media. Otherwise it's worthless.

2. You need to know where your target group is.

3. You need good and interesting content.

4. Every channel has its own purpose, you need to know which content to place where and how the other channels can support it.

5. You need to know what people write about you. You have to monitor it, then you can react.

You are responsible for point 1 and 3.
My blog series here will take care about point 2, 4 and 5!
Is that a deal? :-)


Which Social Media Channels do I need for my Music Biz?

There are a lot of different Social Media Channels online, take a look at the graphic above! But let us focus on the main channels, which are important for the Music Biz! These are:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. YouTube
4. Soundcloud
5. Linkedin
6. Your own Blog
7. Your Website

and in an extra chapter I will talk about:
8. Monitoring & Statistics

So, get ready for Social Media! Stay tuned!


For fresh news about Social Media follow Joe Landen on Twitter.
Webdesign & Social Media by Joe Landen on TWINPIX.
Joe is also Social Media Consultant at jaron - your digital marketing experts.

Written by Joe Landen

Thursday 9 June 2011

DIRTY MIND MIX #130: Daniel Sanchez (Netherlands)


This weeks DIRTY MIND MIX is coming from Dutch DJ & Producer Daniel Sanchez. The We Are E artist is presenting an amazing 90 min house music set! Tune in at www.dirtymindmusic.com

About the artist:
Without a doubt, greatness had to emerge from DJ/producer/labelboss Daniel Sanchez. The Amsterdam based artist with Spanish roots was always about thinking forward, creating a buzz with every project he started. From making waves in the early 21st century Amsterdam nightlife to headlining gigs at the biggest events and festivals around the world, Sanchez has grown out to be a familiar force in nowadays electronic music. Daniel performed at events like Awakenings, Nature One, Time Warp, A Day At The Park and Welcome To The Future, tours through Europe as well as North and South America, and of course had a hit record with 'Mumbling Yeah' which dominated clubs and festivals troughout '07 and '08. And then there was Bla Bla, at first an event, but soon also a record label and booking agency where same spirited artists were brought together.

More information:
www.danielsanchez.nl


More information about our DIRTY MIND MIX Internet Radio Show

Thursday 2 June 2011

Interview: Paul Hazendonk (Netherlands)


Today we present a new interview on our House Music blog. Paul Hazendonk, Dutch DJ & Producer, tells us more about his new album, his company "Manual Music" and Furrr & Hazendonk.

First, as always, describe yourself in 3 words:
Tall, Skinny, Funlovin'

You’ve just released your album “Sound Shifting: Versatility", we have listened and it makes us curious where you get your inspiration from and what was your goal to create a compilation album like this?
There are actually no deep thoughts behind creating this compilation album. It’s basically a collection of tracks and sounds that shows what you can expect when you see me perform as a DJ. So if you’ve never see me perform before, you will know how it sounds after listening to this double CD ☺

As the subtitle "Versatility" says your album is versatile. This is also clearly seen in the different styles of music per CD. You called CD 1 Body and CD 2 Mind, why did you choose for this? Does it have a special meaning for you? 
I’ve always been a little bit schizophrenic when it comes to music haha. A lot of people seem to enjoy categorizing music into boxes and put a label on it, I‘m not like that. For me there are only two kinds of music: the music I like and the music I dislike. For this compilation I could narrow it down to the music I’m playing during my DJ sets only, however it would still be a big problem to jam all the tracks on one CD without letting it sound messy. So I’ve decided to make it a double CD with ‘Body’ stands for as more easy going funk fuelled stuff, and ‘Mind’ stands for the more intelligent melodic stuff.

You have your own multi-faceted music company "Manual Music" with a few sublabels. Can you tell us more about it? 
I used to work at the Basic Beat record company (and record store) in Rotterdam, where I’ve run a techno label called ‘Technique’. At some point I’ve got some very interesting demos which I desperately wanted to release, but simply didn’t fit in the sound for Technique. So I decided to start a sublabel called Manual Music, this was back in 2005. The first release ‘Robotfood’ by Petter became an instant classic and soon after that Manual Music became the main label I’ve started to work on. After many years at Basic Beat I’ve left the company in 2009, taking Manual Music with me and next to that I adopted the name for my company, simply calling it ‘Manual Music’. Nowadays my company has six in-house labels, takes care of the distribution for dozens of other labels, we have our own publishing fund, managing some artists and we are hosting events (beach parties, areas). We also used to run our own bookings agency ‘Manual Bookings’ but decided to stop that part of the company, due to time pressure issues (you can’t do it all!)

In 2009 you also started to produce and perform together with Raymond "Qbical" van Baal under the name Furrr & Hazendonk. How did you two come to the idea to work together? And where are you guys working on right now? 
We know each other for quite some years now, Raymond is also recording under the name ‘Qbical’ and is a regular artist for the Manual Music label. The sound of us both Qbical and my solo stuff stands on itself, but we both have big interest in other music too. So we decided to start a project together a little bit less serious, 100% focussed on the dancefloor and fully focussed on having fun. Getting a break from all the purists whining and moaning that’s going on. We’re having great fun playing together and our productions seems to find their way to the right labels and deejays too, as we are working with labels such as Diynamic, Neurotraxx, Einmusika, Little Mountain / This Is, SK Supreme, Witty Tunes etc.

You have been producing music for over 10 years now, what were the high and lowlights of your career so far?
I’ve been DJ-ing for over 10 years, but didn’t start producing until approx 7 years ago. I’m still mainly a DJ who started producing music because at a certain point you had to get your name out there to get more exposure and keep the number of gigs on a solid level. In the early years I’ve got gigs because people liked me as a DJ, nowadays you get them because they know your label and your productions. I do understand it from a marketing point of view, but still think that a good producer is not necessarily a good DJ and vice versa. I’ve had many gigs I consider highlights. Playing for infamous venues and organisations such as Awakenings, Dance Valley, Paradiso, Melkweg, Nighttown, Las Palmas, Studio 80 and Doornroosje in The Netherlands are things you can only dream about when you’re just starting out. I feel blessed to have been able to visit and play in many different countries and get the experience in the scenes and cultures there. Lowlights? Yeah of course there are always those gigs where there are hardly any people, or people that come and ask for R&B music... Then you know you are in the wrong place ☺

Can you tell us where you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope I’m still actively working in the music industry in some kind of form, maybe as a DJ/producer, but maybe behind the scenes. I’m not the kinda person who has a year-to-year planning to be honest. I used to plan ahead a lot, but when my father died one day without warning I realised that it’s better to capture the moment and don’t worry too much about what the future will bring...

What are you working on right now?
I’m currently working on a solo remix for a new Giorgos Gatzigristos release which will be released on Eelke Kleijn’s Outside The Box label. Just finished up on a new release I’m doing together with Luke Mandala on my Stolen Moments label + there are two releases coming up on big (German and Dutch) labels, but I can’t mention it yet (aaarrgggh!). On one of these releases I work together with Tundra. With Furrr & Hazendonk we are currently wrapping up remixes for Strom Recordings (James Nidecker’s label) and Jeroenski (for our own Melomane label). Our new single on Melomane is coming up too, which will include remixes by Love Girls and Leonardo Gonnelli. I’m doing a monthly solo show on Proton Radio called ‘Hazendonk FM’ + together with Robin (Cinematique) and Qbical/Furrr I’m hosting the monthly Manual Movement radio show on XT3 Radio. Next to that I’m running my Manual Music company on a day-to-day basis and looking forward to playing at numerous clubs, beach parties and festivals this summer, including my debut in Canada which I’m very much looking forward to!

Please write spontaneously a short comment for each of the following terms:
Rotterdam: great city, but the nightlife is not what is used to be
Berlin:
 Walhalla
Ibiza: Never been there, for some reason it doesn't really attract me (does that make me an outcast? :))
Best Club: Trouw Amsterdam
Best Festival: 5 Days Off + Awakenings Festival



More information about Paul Hazendonk:
www.paulhazendonk.nl


Interview by Joe Landen

More interviews here!