new mix is uploaded, comments welcome



Kalifa

K,

Good job on this! I'm beginning to hear a stylistic focus from you that I've not heard in your sets before. There were extended periods within this set that were stylistically, musically, harmonically and rhythmically very consistent and exciting. If this is due to intentional focus on your part, that's great. If due to sudden inspiration, great, but if inspiration is the cause, listen carefully to what you've done here because it's really beginning to effect the overall flow of the set in a very positive manner.

I found the first 50-55 minutes of the set to be the most cohesive. Within this section (through "Brazil"), I felt that your harmonic progressions were very cohesive and stable, or appropriately contrasting with the harmonic distinctions falling squarely and nicely on the ear (most were firmly within "Circle of Fifths" modulation scheme that we are most used to hearing in traditional music including most pop, rock, house, etc.). Heard some very good achievements here in this regard. The overall House style of the selections also flowed quite well overall here, adding to the unity. There were transitional moments within this section that I would categorize as personally "thrilling" to my ear. Some very high quality work here.

I felt, though, that at the introduction of the Latin track, "Brazil," to the mix, that I was pulled away from the direction that your set was going. It was a sudden harmonic as well as stylistic departure from what had come before--a bit jolting in a "head-turning" way for me. However, I did not feel that it was inappropriate to the set, and at the time I first heard it I was thinking that it would work really well if you introduced it earlier, weaving it technically in and out of the outro track in a manner that would give the listener a more advanced notice of the coming change. When you transitioned back to "Elektro," I thought that you were returning to your original direction, albeit I also felt that transition could have been more seamlessly woven earlier into the outro of "Brazil."

However, after "Elektro," I felt that the cohesion of the set disintegrated somewhat and moved more into the general "varietal" manner of many of your previous submissions.

Overall, I think this was a big step forward for you, in terms of your artistry. What I would recommend at this juncture is that you avoid filling up the maximum 80 minutes of set time that you're allowed for your submissions here and instead focus on the cohesive unity that you achieved in the first hour or so. Sometimes I feel that DJs here watch the timeline in the software, trying to max out sets just so they can get the maximum amount of exposure. However, if that is the focus, then the artistry of the set is almost certainly going to suffer. If one shoots for exposure at the expense of quality, then the exposure becomes irrelevant. At a total time of 79:40 for your set, I'm wondering if that enters into the picture here, if even just a little bit.

Nonetheless, kudos to you for a greatly improved submission. Keep up the good (and hard) work!

Thanks!

OK,

So, I listened through this thoroughly again today to confirm my previous observations. I had taken a phone call for about 6 minutes at one point yesterday and wanted to make sure that I had heard everything adequately during the conversation. The first 54 minutes of the mix are solid per my observations, last 25 are weak. The last 25 minutes of the mix diverge into multiple unrelated keys and styles with weak harmonic transitions.

However, I'm definitely looking forward to your next submission because, at this point, I'm expecting you to throw a 100% solid set with the techniques you've acquired to date.

Excellent work!

Thanks!

I'm into the first 50 minutes, and I'm diggin it. Thanks!