DJ – Page 7 – akadjblaze

BeFM Expat DJ Comp 2014

August 4, 2014August 4, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Events

Well that hapened! And now that I am over it, I can start to get to work on my next projects but I guess I should do a recap of the event first, this is trying to run it off while its still kinda in my head, but I am sleep deprived… so bear with me… hope I didn’t forget too much…

Well I arrived in Busan on Sat afternoon, and the weather, straight tropical storm blowing thru, rubbish!! Had a lot of the DJs worried abut the next day since obviously DJ equipment and rain don’t play well together. Anyways Sunday the weather somehow magically decided to hold off and play ball so we were treated to a night rain free! Also note, the photos I borrowed from someone, Im sure better ones will appear soon

Sound check was a crack up, all the other DJs are fun loving easy going guys so we enjoyed joking around and trying to keep our energy levels up as most of us had travelled and were runnning of little to no sleep which is pretty standard for the hard working DJ. After sound check we all parted ways for awhile before coming back together before the start of the evenings prcedings which saw Hanmin kick off the night with Krispy Crunch banging out a fusion of EDM and Hip Hop and finishing off with Hanmins smash hit Bsa Sae. Now with that out of the way, it was time for the 7 DJs to hit the stage and see who will come out on top.

First up was Paul Antoni, I have met him a couple of times and he is a nice dude, has some good tracks that he has produced, I have never heard him play before thou but I know he is a trance based DJ so was interested to see how he would handle a competition like this. He started off with a nice intro then proceded into his set which was nice, but as expected he struggled to really engage the crowd with his style. I did love his end throwback track thou

Next on the decks was last years winner DJ Ferry, a very good producer who has done a lot of dope K pop edm remixes but not what I would call a DJ (he reminds a lot of the top tier DJs, he is like a producer who plays his own music) anyways he started off with a mash up and then proceded into his set playing a lot of his own remixes but his set felt pre recorded, he did however dominate the crowd

Third on the decks having to follow up a good act was DJ Sir, I saw his entry video which was… ok… but he did do a nice little tone play at the end which I liked. Unfortunately he didnt drop any during his set, he tried to get the crowd on his side but came up a little short, painfully obvious when he transitioned into ‘this is how we do it’ he had obviosuly planned a bit of call and response but Koreans just dont know that song… which is a shame cause I love it. He hit the mark a couple of times with a few tracks but just couldnt keep it the whole way thru

4th up was Ecky Thump!, coming from a land down under, otherwise known as the west Island of New Zealand haha! He went into his routine without too much fanfare and proceded to do a nice solid mix of newer tracks, spending most of his set keeping his mixing tight with the occsiaonal crowd shout out, but he was keeping busy most of the time, since I was up next I didnt pay huge attention to details of his set but it sounded solid, not hugely crowd pleasing thou, propbably going over their heads with the music selection a litte but I enjoyed it

5th up was me… So kinda hard to talk about my set from an outside perspective but here is my take. Managed to start off ok then quickly progressed into some crowd bangers to get them going, then dropped it down and actually rapped on stage with the mic to Jay Z PSA, then it was just a mix of crowd calling with popular tracks, a couple of scratch breaks while jumping inbetween mixing and the mic was keeping me really busy, scratching wasnt as tight as I would have liked it and almost screwed up a mix but kept it inline, the 2pm and DJ Doc tracks were crowd killers, all I could see was people waving their hands, and then crooked at the end I had everyone screaming. I had a lot of fun on stage and managed to shake my normal competition seriousness away towards the end and just had fun with it like a normal set, so yeah, shit was mean as! Thou thanks Chad for the awkward question hahaha but all good, that just cracked me up!

6th on the deck having to follow up me was one of the DJs who I was keeping an eye out for because he has skills similar to me and also a mate of mine, Kiredmik, unfortunately he got off to a bad start not realising one of his channels was on thru mode, but he recovered well and got stuck into his set. He went down the play as many bangers as I can in 9mins route, which in theory wasnt a bad option, but track selection and lack of time to work the crowd or to let some tracks develop hurt his set and didnt really get a chance to show off any of his skills

Finally was DJ Rell, last is often the best time to jump on, if your set is right for it, Rell like a few others were at the disadvantage of not really knowing what to expect, and while being a good DJ in his own right, competition DJn and festival DJn is a lot different to normal club DJn, while he got up there and did his thing, he def fell into his comfort zone I think by playing a club style set, he was def enjoying himself up there and played some cool jams but not the kind to get the crowd really going

And that was that, San E graced the stage with DJ Pandol to a very enthusiastic crowd, and they were a great crowd, they were there wanting to be entertained and they showed the DJs a lot of love, but they did have to be directed and lead most of the time which made it hard on a few of the DJs. As I said before, competition DJn is very different from club DJn, the calibre of expat DJs in Korea is very broad, there are a lot who claim to be DJs but are really just music players and then there are some who are the genuine article, then there is the level where everyone else is floating around, not ready for the big leagues but good enough to be out there in the scene. The other problem is Korean DJs are pretty good, not quite world class good, but the top DJs here are a big jump apart from most expats. Thre3style is an example, out of the DJs who entered in BeFM the last 2 years, I am the only one to have entered and done well, 1 other could have made it and 1 other might have made it depending how many of the good korean DJs decided to enter (there is only a handful of expat DJs in Korea who I think could legitimately enter and compete but if every good DJ in Korea entered, I would say only 1 or 2 might have a chance). So, basically what I am saying is while its great that there is a forum for expat DJs to shine, the calibre of the DJs is lacking (for this type of DJn) which is not surprising when you really think about it however I digress… (and this isnt a dig at expat DJs, just trying to point out some of the reality, most of us are over here teaching so its not like we are all DJn full time etc there are obvious issues we face, not to say Koreans dont have their own issues, it just is what it is)

So in the end, the results looked like this

3rd Place – Ecy Thump

2nd Place – DJ Blaze

1st Place – DJ Ferry

The competition overall was really well run, the hosts were great (except Chad, he sucks lol love you bro) and the crowd and venue were simply awesome… however, the result… while I should be happy with second, Im really not, nothing against Ferry who came first, he did his thing, so props to him and to all the others as well. My anger and frustration goes towards the result which means the poor judges, both friends of mine too, Im confused how a set like his won compared to my set which while showman ship was pretty much similar, I showed more variation in skill and technique. Thou my guess is he has the producer card, the fact that a lot of his tracks were his… but then that begs the question, is this a DJ competition? Do you need to actually show some DJ skills for a DJ competition or not (I had this same problem with last years result as well) Now without talking to the judges and getting reasons behind their decisions all I can do is speculate, which in reality doesnt help anyone and just makes me out to be a sore loser, Im an annoyed loser, ill admit that, Im competitive so of course I want to win, but I dont hold anything against the winner or the judges but this is an issue that I think needs highlighted, at what point does producer credits and showman ship outshine skill and technique. This question however as we all know can be directed at the world of DJn in general… which is sad to say but true. The other problem with a DJ competition is the winner is determined by opinion, its not like a race where there is a clear winner, each person has their own opinion and it may differ to others, its human nature and cant be avoided, but it makes the judges job a lot harder, as I said they are both friends and I have a lot of respect for them, so Im not having a go at them, but would love to sit down with them at some stage and understand how they saw things. But at the end of the day the result is in and there is nothing that can be done about it, just hope at some stage I can get to understand it. (and its not easy being a judge!)

Here is my set, its not what I did on the night but close to it, this was one of my practices that I decided to record

But hey, I did have a lot of fun, met some awesome people and got to rock the shit out of a beach full of party people and walked away 800$ in hand, not a bad days work really 🙂

DJ Blaze Set List Friday June 27th – Return to the Classic @ Venue

August 2, 2014August 2, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Set Lists

Ok, so its Saturday night, the night before BeFM comp, its pissing down with rain, like crazy stormy outside so Im sitting in my hotel room and thought I would post this up since I have been sitting on it for awhile. This is my set list from a party I did at Venue with Pinn and Dante. It was a mean ass night, I had a lot of fun, it was a really good crowd who were really getting into it, was a shame I had to run off after my set and go DJ at Bar Fly. But here is my set list, as you can see, this is vastly different from what I play week in and week out, and it is the kind of music I love. It was a 2 hour set, also I played quite a few MJ tracks as a bit of a tribute to the great one. I will be posting up D’s Horizon next week since I am still catching up on SDCC and I have been away on holiday. Anyways here it is

Koffee Brown Ft. B-12 – Weekend Thing
Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
Mary J Blige – Real Love
MJ – You Rock My World
T.I. – Why You Wanna
The Notorious BIG Ft 112 – Only You Remix
Shade Ft Nate Dogg & Kurupt – Where I Wanna Be
Brian McKnight Ft Nelly – All Night Long
Toni Braxton – Making Me High
Baby Bash – Short Doowoop
Blackstreet – Good Life
Color Me Bad – I wanna Sex You Up
Musiq Soulchild – Fortnight
Gerald LEvert – DJ Don’t
Ideal Ft. Lil Mo – Whatever
Craig David – Time To Play
Musiq Soulchild Ft. Swizz Beatz – Anything
Highland Place Mobsters – Let’s Get Naked
Joe Public – Live and Learn
Tony, Toni, Tone! – If I had no Loot
MJ – Remember the Time
Jagged Edge Ft. Run – Let’s Get Married Remix
Temptations – Treat Her Like a Lady
Cherl Lynn – To Be Real
De Barge – Rhythm of the Night
Nesian Mystik – It’s On
MJ – Black or White
MJ – Rock With You
MJ – Billie Jean
MJ – Thriller
MJ – Starting Something
Whitney Houston – How Will I Know
Earth Wind and Fire – September
MJ – PYT
Earth Wind and Fire – Let’s Groove
KC & the Sunshine Band – Baby Give it Up
Salt-N-Pepa – Push It
Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back
Run DMC – It’s Tricky
Tag Team – Whoomp! There it is
Freak Nasty – Da Dip
69 Boyz – Tootsee Roll
2 Live Crew – Hoochie Mama
Ghost Town DJ’s – My Boo
Quad City DJ’s – C’Mon & Ride It (The Train)
LA Snow & Pla Ya Poncho – Whatz Up, Whatz Up
Montell Jordan – This is How We Do It
Wrexx N Effect – Rumpshaker
ODB – Got Your Money
2 Pac Ft. Nate Dogg – All About You
To Be Continued – One On One
PM Dawn – Moving On Up
Naughty by Nature – Holiday
Heavy D & The Boyz – This is Your Night
Flava Flav – Shake Your Booty
Salt-N-Pepa – Lets Talk About Sex
LL Cool J – Phenomenon
K7 – Come Baby Come
Kid N Play – Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody
Bobby Brown – My Perogative
Kelly – She’s Got That Vibe
Bel Biv Devoe – Poison
Keith Sweat – I Want Her
Kurtis Blow – The Breaks
De La Soul – A Roller Skating Jam
C&C Music Factory – Do You Wana Get Funky
MJ – The Way You Make Me Feel

I really should start recording these one day, but in the mean time here is an old skool mix I did that you might enjoy

BeFM 2014 DJ Comp Entry – DJ Blaze

July 4, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in New DJ Content

Well here it is

Its a little rough, threw it together last week and didn’t really get a chance to properly decide how I wanted the finish product to sound, kept on changing things, this probably wasn’t my favorite edit but meh, here it is anyways

D’s Horizon: My new anime blog

June 25, 2014June 29, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Anime

I am reposting this on my page but the original post can be found here 🙂

http://theplanethustle.blogspot.kr/2014/06/ds-horizon-dj-blaze-on-anime.html

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Episode 1: It starts with an idea

What’s up everyone and welcome to the first of my weekly blog series focusing on one of my favourite subjects… Anime!! Yup, I have just more than a little inner geek/nerd inside of me and not ashamed to admit it, but you will be surprised thou at just how many DJ’s have that side of them, and honestly it is a good thing, we have to keep up to date with the latest technology but at the same time we need something to do in our spare time, and of course watching Anime and even building and collecting anime figures is something I like to do in my spare time as well.

So, the weekly format will go a little something like this

– news/upcoming releases

– show runner episode briefs

– throwback character

– Recomendation/Brief

– anything else worthy of note

While i’ll try and keep it soley anime based, dont be surprised if some gaming information slips in every now and then, its kinda hard these days since the two are often interconnected.

Now since this is my first post, it would be prudent to give you some back ground on my likes so first off here is my top 5 anime shows as well as my top 10 anime movies (a little harder to choose)

Anime Shows

1. One Piece

2. Log Horizon

3. Gundam Wing

4. Samurai Pizza Cats

5. Naruto

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Anime Movies

1. Ninja Scroll

2. Final Fantasy Advent Children

3. Howls Moving Castle

4. Titan AE

5. Transformers (G1 Movie)

6. Heavy Metal (2000)

7. Akira

8. Lion King

9. Hoodwinked

10. Can’t think of a 10th one, too many movies to choose from!

Not included in those lists but worthy of a mention are

– Transformers G1/Voltron/Thundercats/He Man purely because of the toys vs cartoon area and I had many of the toys as a kid

– Spirited away, not my favourtie but still one of the most recognizable Japanese anime movies that introduced their style of animation to the world

– Lady and the Tramp and the Aristocats, the first cartoon movies I saw as a kid in the movie theatre!

– Pixar, because lets face it, their movies have been pretty dam good

Yes there is so many more and hopefully over time I will be able to mention a good majority of them as I continue with the blog

Now I have been watching anime a long time, obviously watching cartoons as a kid, however coming from New Zealand we were very limited in what shows we received and as far as Japanese anime goes, yeah we didn’t see none of that until DBZ in the late 90’s, early 00’s but after that I started watching a lot whenever I had free time. But the shows I was bought up on were the 80’s and 90’s classics, so while I will be reviewing and recommending mostly new stuff, I still need to give props to the stuff I was bought up on so thats where Ill be focusing my throw back character from some of the more classic cartoons. Also when I refer to Anime, I’m meaning both East and West, all Anime not just Japanese since there is a lot of good stuff out there these days that is worth mentioning.

So from now on, if there is a particular anime your interested in and want me to review or brief about or there is a particular throwback character you want me to mention then leave a message, this is also for you as much as it is for me as well

DJ Blaze Set List Saturday June 14th 2014

June 23, 2014 by akadjblaze, posted in Set Lists

Set List June 14^th 2014 (yes the photo is from a different night, but meh, does care lol)

New/Re-Up tracks

David Guetta & Kaz James – Blast off (original mix)
Psy Ft. Snoop Dogg – Hangover
Bingo Players – Knock You Out (Hardwell Remix)
Linkin Park Vs Twoloud Vs Shermanlogy – What I’ve Done (Arthur White)
2NE1/CL – CL Solo

Set List 11pm-1.30am

David Guetta & Kaz James – Blast Off (original mix)
Bombs Away – Better Luck Next Time
Static Revenger Ft. Kay – Back Off Bitch! (Taco Cat Remix)
Albert Kick – Evil Girl
DJ Kronic Ft. Bombs Away – Looking for some girls
J Lo Ft. Pitbull – Live it Up (Jumpsmokers)
Usher – DJ Got us Falling in Love (Hypercrush)
Redfoo – I’ll Award You with my Body
FEM – Bang it to the Curb (Sidney Roller Transition)
DJ Snake & Lil Jon – Turn Down for What
2NE1 – CL Solo
Nicki Minaj – Boss ass Bitch
Clayton Williams – Shut Down Vegas
DJ Scene – Damn
Major Lazer – Bubble Butt
Jason Derulo – Talk Dirty
DMX – Party Up
2Pac – California Love
Dr Dre – Next Episode
VIC – Wobble
Psy Feat Snoop Dogg – Hangover
Just Blaze – Higher
Wiz Khalifa Vs DJ Khaled – Black and Yellow Wins (transition)
Tae Yang – Ringa Linga
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
Asap Rocky – Wild for the Night
2 Chains Vs Afrojack – Birthday Song (trap mix)
Kanye West – Mercy (Trap mix)
Lil Wayne – Lollipop (Convince Trap Mix)
Swedish House Mafia – Don’t you Worry Child (Valid Trap Mix)
Steve Aoki – Rage the Night Away (Dopeztb Trap Edit)
Boom Man Ft. 2 Chainz Vs Calvin Harris – Drinking from the Bottle (Transition)
Makj & Lil Jon – Let’s Get Fucked Up
Bingo Players – Knock You Out (Hardwell Remix)
Joel Fletcher & Savage – Swing (Combo Remix)
R3hab & Nervo – Revolution
Swanky Tunes – Blood Rush
TJR – Feel It
Carl Tricks – Mad Dash (Bingo Players Edit)
D-Jastic – Up to no Good
MFBTY – Sweet Dream
Robin Thick – Blurred Lines (Justin Sane Remix)
Deeper (Morris Corti Remix)
Kid Massive – Yawn (Vandalism Remix)
Reece Low – Monk Funk
Scndl – Gypsy
TJR – Eat God See Acid
Syn Cole – Miami 82 (Avicii Edit)
Starjack & Collini – Smack Em, Catch Em
Don Omar – Danzo Kuduro
Daddy Yankee – Limbo
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger
Psy – Gentleman
X10 – 엑스텐‬
Hanmin – Show me your Bba Sae
TJR – Ode to TNT
Showtek – Booyah
Hardwell Vs Krewella – Apollo Alive
TJR – Come Back Down
Zedd – Spectrum (Getter Remix)
Jason Derulo – Whatcha Say (Afrojack Remix)
2NE1 – I am the Best
Floorfilla – Anthem 4 Remix
Public Service Announcement 2k13
Jason Derulo – Wiggle
Exo-K – Overdose

This month was a small change up, mainly because of UMF I switched my sets to be heavier EDM based for a bit of practice as well as trying out new combinations as I start working for towards developing my entry set for BeFM. Interestingly enough while I was looking for tracks I did come across a couple of better remixes of some Linkin Park tracks, definitely loving the rock/edm mashups (then again I have always loved a bit of good rock) and love smashing them out in my sets

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.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!