akadjblaze – Page 16

I made it to UMF!

June 17, 2014June 18, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Events

So that happened, I got to play at UMF! Well technically speaking I did, in reality I was playing outside UMF next to the entry gate as people were walking in, so they would all walk past me as I was spinning from the Red Bull event jeep/truck, but hey, least I got to play, happy about that but of course it didn’t go completely smoothly, last min things never do…

So, UMF, firstly lets talk about that, it is arguably the biggest EDM festival going around the world, and it is relatively consistent, however the line up and quality of most of the headliners… yeah on the main stage this year they were rubbish! Above and Beyond I left because I was so bored, and Steve Angelo was all over the dam place till he finally found some rhythm towards the end of his set, honestly the smaller stages and gate keeper DJs were a hell of a lot better from what I saw but I think by now most people are starting to realize this trend, big name DJs are shit, they are just producers who play their crap while it seems like its the tier of DJs underneath them that are the real crowd pleasers and the ones that really work on their craft

So as you can see I am not a fan of UMF, the only reason I went was because I got to DJ there, have to give a shout out to Red Bull for hooking it up, being able to hang out and at least say I have been there is definitely something to go down on the winning at life list

So, as for my set, well playing for a big ass line of people constantly moving past you is an interesting DJ dilemma, people aren’t staying in one place long enough for you to properly engage them but at the same time you are their first impression as they are coming thru the gate into the festival, so trying to not play the same music every 5 minutes yet keep the level at pretty much 100% isn’t the easiest thing. I ended up playing a typical club set but just mostly electro based and did manage to keep people entertained as they were coming thru with people cheering etc, dancing around, snapping photos etc but I think the festival staff in the area were more appreciative of the whole thing instead of hearing just the droning bass coming from the stadium. Friday night was definitely the busiest, people coming from work late to try and catch the last few acts kept the line pretty packed up till 9.30-10, sucks for those people because they missed the majority of the day and best acts. Sat started off good, I got to go around, watch a few acts and relax before jumping into my set, it started off really well… until the speakers blew, one was totally gone, the other I managed to keep using but with reduced sound it killed the impact I was having, which was annoying because I was just starting to get into my groove but ah well, shit happens.

So, ill briefly go over what happened with the gear. Red Bull got the event truck delivered to them last week, so they had no time to actually go over it and check all the audio settings etc, the default setting I was using was messed up to say the least, everything was wrong and of course the speakers couldn’t handle it at all and nothing was being redlined either, the sub levels were all over the place and the echo feedback was a pain in the ass not to mention the turntables couldn’t be moved so I had to use them long ways instead of battle style which was annoying. No laptop stand and little room for Serato as well, who ever designed it obviously hadn’t thought it thru very well at all, the basics of what could have been an awesome set up are there but just stupid little things, they really should have consulted with a DJ…

Well that pretty much sums it up, UMF in Seoul 2014… while people might be singing its praises if they were being honest it would be a different story and the headliners just weren’t that great, but personally half a mission accomplished and I got to play so I am happy with that, next time thou I definitely want a stage!!

My Japan Excursion Pt.3 – Mugiwara

June 12, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in DJ on the Road

Well since I am a bit of a One Piece fan I decided to give it it’s own section, thou it will be kind of short. Anyways, OP is one of the most popular running manga’s maybe of all time, and its been around for years, the manga consistently sells strongly and the anime itself is up to episode 650 ish and it is unlikely that it will slow down with many fans all over the world, so what better for any fan than to check out the Mugiwara store located in Shibuya

The store is located on the top floor of Parco mall, it is easy enough to find if you have a map, the first time I went to japan I literally just stumbled upon it, lucky this time I knew where to go and it was actually my first point in call, since its pretty easy to get to from Shibuya station and from there its only a short walk across to Harajuku

The store itself is really like any other fan store, it has some life size figures, theme music blaring and of course all your little bits and pieces related to OP, but mainly things like souvenirs, a few clothes, stickers, key chains, cups, posters and things of this nature, they have a few toys but not that many, if you want to find OP related toys and figures your actually better off going either online or to Akihabara (or a big name store) as this store is really geared more towards the souvenir side of things (thou you can find a couple of limited edition toys there)

Anyways, it is still worth visiting, you will likely come away with something you like, prices seems reasonable enough and the location is good, there is also a few other stores related to anime in the same building too.

There is one place I did miss on my trip there and that’s Nakano Broadway, which in hindsight is a place I really should have gone to, it has tons of second hand anime stores in there as well as plenty of shops selling new stuff. But reading around it seems they don’t have much new exclusive stuff but if your looking for my retro stuff this is the place to go.

Well that’s it for my Tokyo excursion, pretty short I know, but hey, Tokyo is a big ass place and there are many different places where you will find all sorts of things, even when you have a good idea of where to go, there is always that random floor of some shopping mall that will have stuff you didn’t even know about, or that small side street store with boxes full of figures, if your short on time, hit up the places I have mentioned (and also maybe a jump store, they usually have anime related stuff too and are pretty common) but if you have more time… well good luck!

Ps. I had to borrow some photos from google since I didn’t end up taking many myself

My Japan Excursion Pt.2 – Akihabara

June 10, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in DJ on the Road

Akihabara is like every anime fans dream come true, what was once an electronic district is now arguably the central hub for most anime and manga related products in Japan and it still has a heap of electrics to buy from as well

The area of Akihabara stretch’s along from the station to the Main Street that has several blocks of stores and side streets filled with shops as well as a few malls, expo center and basically just a heap of stores lined up next to each other that span upwards on multiple floors

The area itself is relatively easy to navigate, all the streets are straight lines and everything is pretty close together, but the shops themselves are pretty small with a lot of stuff jam packed into them.

There are a few different types of stores that tend to get repeated over and over yet each one does have different things and often varying prices too compared to the other similar shops, while others will tend to specialize slightly in a certain product. There are the cheap electrical product stores selling pcs, camera, phones etc usually tax or duty free, there are the card stores, second hand stores, new toy stores, random toy stores, electrical parts stores, lighting stores, game stores and of course maid cafes!

Two things to note, firstly, One Piece is EVERYWHERE, almost every store you can find a One Piece toy, secondly and most annoyingly, there is little to no organization in most stores with the exception of the big brand stores. You will often find shops have stuff just randomly placed everywhere, some will have it slightly sectioned out but in reality trying to find specific things can be a very time consuming process, some stores (esp the second hand and smaller toy stores) just have everything jam packed into display cases or boxes randomly (least it appears random) so trying to find that one gem of an item can require extensive sifting thru a lot of stuff! Now for some people this can be fun, but be warned, it is time consuming, I didn’t cover the whole area, missed maybe a block or two worth of side street shops and skipped a lot of stores too and still managed to burn thru 4 hours, in the end giving up because I was carrying around too much stuff and the shops are very small. If you are looking at buying a few things, bring a big backpack!

I did decide to go to a maid cafe, I have always seen the girls around dressed up trying to entice people to come in, also it has become quite a popular activity and is worth doing at least once. They are basically a theme cafe where you go in, they treat you like a master, you can order really cutesy food, get things decorated, interact and play games with the maids and have a good laugh at them and at yourself for going along with some of the ridiculous things (going moi moi cue to envoke I think its a love spell on your food is the less tame of the options) The girls all seem light hearted and I guess it will have its ups and downs like any service job, it is prob even more difficult at times having to keep up appearances but then again Japanese sales people always seem to have a really bubbly/cheesy personality so maybe they enjoy it. For me it felt kind of awkward, trying not to laugh at some of the sillier things and also at some of the people who actually looked socially awkward trying to interact with the girls, thou this is probably a good way for them to break their bubble a bit, it was still interesting to just observe, could probably conduct a good psyc test there! I would also recommend going with a friend, alone is ok but still…

I didn’t get a chance to see it but there is a J-pop group known as AKB48 who performs in Akihabara I think everyday and is probably worth checking out as they are quite well known and even have their own café. Korakuen hall is also nearby as well as a Gundam cafe. Akihabara is really a place you can either whip thru quickly just to say you have been there, or spend hours sifting thru all the goods there looking for that one thing special from your childhood or that one toy from your favourite anime. I am sure there are more rare items floating around there, but finding them is a whole other story

My Japan Excursion Pt.1 – Harajuku

June 9, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in DJ on the Road

Well back from Tokyo, I really do love that city, its clean, interesting, has good food and nice people, oh and the shopping is awesome! Thus the reason why I headed over there in the first place, to go stock up on clothes, the only downside was the fact it was raining the entire time, not the best thing when your trying to carry bags and stuff around the place, however Tokyo in all its efficiency even packs your bags with plastic over top to keep the rain out! Anyways here is a recap of my shopping experience just in case you feel like checking out the areas I hit up.

Firstly Tokyo like any other city has its main shopping districts, usually divided up roughly into your certain style of shopping, eg big department stores (Shibuya) electronic zone (Shinjuku/Akihabara), Souvenirs, local products etc etc and of course within each of those areas will be small sub areas as well

Now my interests usually lie within the Urban/Youth culture areas where I can find hip hop/b-boy styled clothing and kicks. Now while you can find bits and pieces all over the place in department stores or flag ship Nike stores etc the best place hands down is Harajuku.

Now you can probably divide Harajuku up into 3 areas, you have the Main Street/boulevard which has a couple of big shopping malls with various high end stores scattered in between various coffee shops and other stores, then you have Takeshita Dori, basically a side street running mostly parallel to the Main Street that has all your other stores and most definitely the place you want to hit up. This street I would divide up into 2 sections, the first section that runs from the station to the first major intersection is mostly your cheap tourist trap stores with a few gems littered in between, the second section after the intersection is mostly your ’boutique’ stores where you can really start to find some good popular urban labels ‘but more expensive’ clothes.

The first section can be a bit of a mine field, you have a lot of touristy type stores and lost of highly annoying (and shitty sales manner) Nigerians’?’ Who wander the street trying to get you to come to their stores (usually run in concert I believe with a local) Now these guys I avoid like the plague, firstly their sales manner just pisses me off, sure I call my friends bro etc but if I am running a store, use some proper fucking manners, this isn’t the ghetto, excuse me sir sounds a lot better than being yelled at ‘hey bruah’. Secondly the stores they run have over priced generic shitty clothing imported from the same place as all the other stores these guys run… all over Asia! You will see the same shit in Tokyo being sold by the guys who run similar stores in Seoul, so if you want to wear the same shit other people buy then by all means go there, just remember to bargin them down because their mark up is already ridiculously high, I had one store (which was actually all Japanese) quote me a hat price, they said normal price was 6000yen, by the time I walked out the door it was down to 4500yen (there was no way I was buying it but as you can see, you can haggle with these people if your that desperate, just don’t buy their shoes)
On the bright side, in between the annoying stores is a couple of really good places, my advice is just avoid the Nigerians and go for the local run places.

Moving on past this area is the more ’boutique’ fashion stores, places where you can find a Bape store, or Kicks Lab among other shops that sell the more popular and expensive labeled urban wear. These stores unfortunately don’t have any bargaining room but you can pick up the occasional sale. But this is the area where you can definitely find some nice gear and it is worth having a good look around as most of the stores have lots of different stock and its all in the one area (the Main Street with a couple of side streets varying off to the big street) Not much to tell about this area except happy shopping and credit card beware!

Depending on your shopping style you can either burn through this area in an hour ish or you can take your time to check out the wears of every place, I would tend to allow for an afternoon at least, I’m a very decisive shopper and browse thru things quickly and I was there for maybe 3-4 hours (with a drinks break) so you experience may vary, also be aware this isn’t the only area to shop and if you are looking for very specific things, you might have to look elsewhere. As for sizing, that is hit and miss again, most common sizes are M-L but you can find XL in most stores (but not always however the L might just fit you, most L and XL will fit me, I’m kind of in between the 2 sizes so my guess is the sizing is kind of similar to western sizes, maybe one size apart) At any rate, happy shopping!

DJ Blaze Set List Friday May 5th 2014

June 2, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Set Lists

New/Re-Up tracks

2ne1 – Gotta Be You
Zedd – Spectrum (Trap Remix)
Remy Ma – Whuteva
I Need you love (Trap Remix)
Clayton Williams – Shut Down Vegas

Set List 11pm-1.30am

1. Gangnam Style _ 2 Legit 2 Quit Mashup (feat. MC Hammer)

2. DJ Gollum – The Bad Touch (Gordon & Doyle Edit)

3. DJ Kronic feat. Bombs Away – Looking For Some Girls

4. Albert Kick – Evil Girl (Club Mix)

5. Jennifer Lopez – Papi (R3hab Remix)

6. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell, T.I. – Blurred Lines (Justin Sane Rmx) Intro)

7. Usher – Scream (Seamus & Haji Edit)Rick Kraft

8. DJ SCOOTER – Give Me Everything (90s Throwback ReFix)

9. GD&TOP – HIGH HIGH

10. Maroon 5 Ft. Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger (Intro) Club)

11. Beyoncé – Run The World (Girls)

12. Rihanna – S&M

13. 2NE1 – CAN’T NOBODY

14. GD & TOP – OH YEAH

15. DJ Got Us Falling In Love (Hypercrush)

16. Play Hard ft. Akon & Ne-Yo (Super Redrum)

17. Wisin Y Yandel ft Chris Brown n T-Pain – Algo Me Gusta De Ti [Xtendz]

18. Don Omar Ft. Lucenzo – Danza Kuduro (Intro) Club)

19. Daddy Yankee – Limbo [Xtendz]

20. DJ Snake & Lil Jon – Turn Down For What (Digital Dave Transition Down 128-100)

21. Far East Movement ft. Sidney Samson – Bang It To The Curb

22. Nicki Minaj – Boss Ass Bitch (Clayton William & DJ Fresh Remix)

23. Cali Swag District Ft. Problem, Tiffany Foxx – Shake Somethin (Intro)

24. Major Lazer ft 2 Chainz & Lil Jon – Bubble Butt (Deville Twerk RMX) (DIRTY)

25. 2NE1 – Clap Your Hands (Intro)

26. Memphis Bleek – Like That(Intro)

27. T.I. – Bring Em Out (Intro)

28. Remy Ma – Whuteva [Xtendz]

29. Macklemore Ryan Lewis Ft Wanz – Thrift Shop (AnthemKingz Ultimate Party Break Intro)

30. TI ft Lil Wayne – Ball (Intro – Dirty)

31. Far East Movement – So What (Clean) (M Class Extend)

32. Jason Dee – Im Different (Party Mix Intro)

33. Jason Derulo Ft. 2 Chainz – Talk Dirty (Club)

34. Sean Kingston ft. Chris Brown & Wiz Khalifa – Beat It (Uniq Edit)

35. Drake – Hold On We’re Going Home (Clean)

36. Jonn Hart – Who Booty ft. IamSu

37. Discotech – Kiss Kiss (100-70)

38. Soulja Boy – Crank Dat

39. JayZ_DJ_Deville_Niggas_In_Paris_Club

40. Asap Rocky – Wild For The Night (Intro – Dirty)

41. Anthem Kingz – Birthday Song (Afrojack vs 2 Chains Big Booty Trap Mix)

42. Kanye West – Mercyyyy trap

43. Skrillex ft. Krewella – Breathe (Vocal Edit)

44. DJ Allan – Lock Out Of Heaven (DJ Intro Hype)

45. MACKLEMORE – CANT HOLD US (STARJACK HYPE RE-DRUM)

46. Skrillex – Dirty Vibe

47. Just Blaze ft Baauer – Higher (Clean)

48. Wiz Khalifa Vs DJ Khaled – Black and Yellow Wins (Transition)

49. TaeYang – RINGA LINGA

50. EXO – Growl

51. V.I.C. – Wobble

52. DMX – Party Up (Up In Here)

53. Lil’ Jon Ft. Lmfao – Outta Your Mind (Dirty South Intro)

54. Major Lazer – Watch Out For This (Bumaye)

55. Skrillex – Bangarang

56. Ready To Jump (Transition)

57. I Love It [Cobra Starship Remix]

58. G-Dragon – Crooked

59. Chris Brown – Yeah 3X (Synth Intro)

60. Daddy Yankee – Limbo [Xtendz]

61. Anthem Kingz – Public Service Announcement 2K13 (Jay Z vs Knife Party Hybrid Banger)

62. Okay B Boys – Bomfunk Mc’s vs Will Sparks (Chris Royal BANGA Mash)

63. 2NE1 – I Am The Best

64. Apollo Alive [Simo Bootleg]

65. Showtek ft We Are Loud, Sonny Wilson – Booyah (Orignal Mix)

66. Justice Crew – Everybody

67. PSY – Gentleman [Xtendz]

68. TJR vs ACDC – Ode To TNT (TJR Mash)

69. DJ Deville – I Need Your Love (R3hab Vs. Deville Epic Vocal Trap Intro)

70. Lil Wayne – Lollipop (Convince Trap Remix)

71. Zedd – Spectrum (Getter Remix)

72. Jason Derulo – Whatcha Say (Afrojack Remix)

Set Overview:

My usual 2hr 30min set, so 72 tracks over 150mins keeps me busy, May (and even further back to probably March) was actually an experimental month for me as I actually started to incorporate some Trap into my sets as is clear here. Also added in a few new tracks, as well as some older tracks that I didn’t really play much (usually because the other DJ’s played them so I purposely avoided them) and yes, I did repeat a song, I absolutely hate doing so, but it is a favourite song of a lot of our regulars and also our staff so occasionally I do indulge their requests to double up on a song… not often but this was one of those exception nights

Update… June is here!

May 31, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Monthly Reviews

So, I know I haven’t been updating that frequently, and to be honest there hasn’t been much to tell, that is what tends to happen when you lay low and work on other things rather than focus fully on DJn, in saying that of course I still have my residency every weekend so its not like I’m not doing anything, its just not much worthy of posting up about. But now that summer is here I have a few things that are worth mentioning but ill talk about those fully in future posts, the major one being that BeFM DJ comp is happening again this year, so I thought I would document my experience this year, so I will be keeping notes etc but I won’t post them up till after the comp has finished (for various reasons which you will find out) Other smaller things will be hopefully my lead up towards WDJ Festival and a couple of smaller gigs that are also in the works. Ill also do a start to finish blog on a video mix.

Speaking of blog topics, I am about to undertake a new weekly blog (more details to come) but it has got me thinking of how I can make my blog and page appeal to a wider audience, while DJn in what most people would think of as exciting, I am not exactly touring around the world so my stories are on that level yet, and DJn in the clubs… well stories from there are just your usual typical drunken night out stories, not exactly something that is blog worthy on a regular basis, so, I have been giving it some thought and have decided on a couple of ideas I will try and do…

The first is to once a month post up my set list from my residency, the purpose is to let people get an idea for the kind of music I play, but also for myself to hold to a bit of accountability when selecting my music and to try and not play the same shit over and over (which can be hard when your playing to a club that wants to hear the same shit over and over) Along with this list Ill include a list of 5 tracks that I decided to include in that months sets (either new or old) that I haven’t played before or that I haven’t played in a very long time, again just sharing a sniper into my DJ life but to also try and better myself as well

The second idea was to start doing some sort of reviewing, now there are 2 things that I thought I might try here, one is reviewing music videos, being a DJ who also uses video, this makes sense, so ill try and review a few music videos each month, give a low down of what they are about and if I like them or thing they are shit etc. The second is to review DJ controllers, I always get a few questions regarding these, and I know there is a lot of information out there regarding controllers, but having another DJ giving opinions from my perspective can never hurt (also I will keep them short and precise)

So for now that is it, first playlist will go up tomorrow, first of the month so seems like a fitting place to start, reviews to follow shortly afterwards. Till then have a good Saturday night! Chur!

Olympic Park and Apujeong Graffiti walls

May 6, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Graffiti

So again more bombs to check out, this time I managed to go back out to Olympic park to see the new pieces on the wall there (was annoying because cars were parked in the way, fail), but on the way back I stumbled on the tunnel in I think near apujeong which is also full of pieces so here they are (respect the elements, hip hop and a fad, it’s a way of life!)

Roaming around Seoul

April 18, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Graffiti

So just on a random walk from the subway I found these graffiti walls just sitting there

I’m always a fan of good graf so thought I would share these

Mar 2014 Review

April 9, 2014September 16, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Monthly Reviews

Well its that time again so here is an update of the last month which was a quieter one (kinda). So first up, the gigs…

1. Double gig weekend at Bar Fly and BrandNu with Pinnacle, see the write up about it but it was a wild ass weekend

2. Stopped by Part Time Cooks gig at Somos, didn’t get to see them perform but it was almost a full house when I left and I heard good reviews overall

3. Normal Bar Fly madness every weekend

4. Special (and early) April fools party at M-Cube in Apugjeong.

So this gig was a little interesting. The venue first, well its in the CGV building, its actually a pretty cool set up, big room and they have all the equipment etc needed to host live acts or shows and pretty decent equipment at that (its the same building as the beats by dre theatre) so as you can see in the photos it works well. Now the party itself, well it was more of a show than a party, having multiple acts and singers come up and perform, so people were sitting and watching. At the end of the show I was meant to come on and the show was to turn into a ‘club’ style party which was a fail. Multiple reasons why, firstly a show turning into a party, so getting people to get in the club mood after sitting down is difficult, location, it is not in a normal club area so people might have wanted to go to other areas, also the bar was kinda small and the drinks were on the normal to high side price wise, the tech crew packing down the main speakers and equipment as well didn’t help (giving the illusion that the night was about to finish) And then I only had a shitty controller (I wasn’t getting paid enough to bring in tables etc lol) so as you can imagine, once the party left people were headed straight for the door, it looked like everyone had already made up their minds to leave after the performances, so yeah, fail! On the bright side I finished early but still go paid the original amount! But yeah, playing music after people are performing live when you are not in a club… doesn’t tend to go down so well (I had similar experiences before)

This month I also started doing recordings for people as well, here is the final production from one of my first recordings (I just helped him record the vocals, mastering and beat were done by others)

Next month I will try to start on another project I have been messing with as well, so keep an eye out for that

Lastly, I have been a little quieter this month because I have taken on a 12 week challenge with some friends, its a loose challenge thou, more on your own accountability, anyways for me its a chance to focus on myself and wellbeing a little bit more since its been a long time since I have done that and with DJn hours its always a difficult thing (esp mixing that up with normal jobs) but finally this year I have a bit of normality within my weekly routine, the change from weekday to weekend isn’t as drastic, and now I’m finally getting back into regular training and also tidying up my eating habits, so this month has been a lot of adjusting to this, its not a diet I’m doing but a full on change/adjustment to what I have been doing which Im happy to say I am making good progress on and should hopefully be ready to hit summer at full speed!

Thats all for now, have a good week!

Every DJ has their own Obsession

April 2, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in A day in the Life

So if you have ever met a DJ, you know they tend to be a ‘special’ kind of person or at least a little different (then again these days everyone is a dam DJ so that statement tends to loose its power) Anyways, you will probably find most DJs have obsessions, hobbies or other quirky things they do outside of DJn and music. A popular one is often video games which is definitely one of mine, others can range from strange collections to shoes or anything you can imagine really. Thou a lot of the time you will find they are based on technology and DJs tend to have more than just a little inner nerd/geek about them which is something you really need if you are to keep up with the new technology! As for myself I have a few things I am in to, but a big one has always been anime and since moving to Korea it is much easier to find things related to anime especially figures and toys. One of my favourite anime programs was Gundam Wing (the older one with the 5 Gundams etc) and since moving to Korea its been really easy to find Gundams to build, so this post is actually directed towards building one of my Gundams. I have been working on the main gun dams from the Endless Waltz Series and finally have them all, just need to build one more and put stickers on 2 more but for now here is my recent build (yeah this is about toys, get over it lol)

So this Gundam is Zero One piloted by Hiro Yui, its slightly different from the original Zero One from the original series with its colours and some slightly different structure of the wings, buster rifle and shield but overall its still pretty cool