James Zabiela - Renaissance February 2009, 9.2.2009

El trabajo de los DJs sobre las pistas de bailes y clubs a lo largo y ancho del mundo es un fenómeno digno de estudio y reflexión. Pero son pocos quienes se asoman a lo que ellos hacen, y algo de razón no les falta. El asunto es separar el aspecto meramente comercial, de la producción de la llamada electronic dance music, y el asunto, más interesante y a veces asombroso, de las mezclas a partir de fragmentos musicales. Apenas, por ejemplo, Peter Szendi, en Escucha. Una historia del oído melómano, publicado por Paidós, aborda este asunto en este notable libro de obligada lectura. Y quizá también porque hay literalmente miles de horas de sets en vivo y en estudio de DJs en cientos o miles de páginas para descargar y que se actualizan diariamente, es por lo que no es usual que yo ponga sets de DJs aquí. Pero esta ocasión es distinto.

Este reciente set promocional del DJ inglés James Zabiela es en verdad excepcional, uno de los mejores que he escuchado en varios años de escuchar EDM, y sin duda el mejor de este año. Se trata de un set, es decir de un grupo de piezas de distintos orígenes puestas en un orden particular (generalmente decidido sobre la marcha, al momento de seleccionarlas, y no de manera anticipada) que muestra la impresionante capacidad de este DJ para mezclar distintos géneros y hacerlos entrar en consonancia: ambient, breakbeat, minimal, house, progressive, chill out, un ligero toque de jazz, es decir prácticamente puro downtempo. Se trata de un auténtico viaje musical que abarca desde remixes de grupos o cantantes de culto como Björk o Radiohead, hasta auténticos white label (que es el nombre para piezas que son promocionales de otros productores y DJs pero que no han salido al mercado abierto, y sólo circulan de manera limitada en los círculos cercanos a éstos) con múltiples ecos o referencias musicales que en verdad son una delicia para el oído (desde Brian Eno hasta Tangerine Dream, por mencionar dos extremos notables), incluso si no se es un abierto seguidor de este tipo de música (ya saben que no les recomendaría algo que no sea en verdad fuera de serie). Un disco para soñar y descansar, para dejar viajar la imaginación y alucinar lo que sea.

Aquí el tracklist del disco:

01 min: ID

04 min: ID

08 min: Modeselektor - Vote or Die

13 min: Ed Chamberlain - Styge (Ochre Remix)

18 min: Extrawelt - Added Planet

22 min: Deep Dish - Summers Over

28:25 min: Inxec & Matt Tolfrey - I Just Can't (Take
It)

32:45 min: ID

35 min: Joey Beltram - Striking Distance

37 min: Stephan Bodzin & Marc Romboy - Callisto

43 min: Radiohead - Reckoner (James Zabiela's Tweezers On A
Towel Rail Remix)

50 min: Bjork - Dull Flame of Desire (Zabiela's Everything But
The Boy Re Edit)

53 min: Apparat - Arcadia (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix)

60 min: Near The Parenthesis - Cerdas Plan

Aquí el texto escrito por el propio Zabiela que acompaña este disco promocional que no se encuentra a la venta en ninguna tienda, sólo en la web para descarga:

James Zabiela - Renaissance February 2009 Promo
Mix (Proton Radio) - 02-09-2009

65 mins long, 128 kbps quality

This is the story of my Renaissance Masters mix or, put another way, a few days in the life of me and my music. A random ramble that accompanies the mix should you, the listener, want a further angle into the depths of the music and sounds that can be heard throughout the CD.

I spent a month walking around with a microtrak recorder in order to make this CD a snapshot of life through my ears. I practically live in headphones, they’re permanently super glued to my head and I’m not often seen without them, whether it’s going to the shop to buy a pint of milk or flying to some far flung island, city or town for a gig, so the constant use of the microtrak wasn’t a massive change to my outward appearance - lol!

This first blog installment describes some of the samples, sounds and tunes that comprise the first 20 minutes of Disc 1, which in an unprecedented move, I am also making avail as a stream (link above) so you can marry words to music and hear what I am talking about. At a later date, before the full release of the album, I’m going to offer a free download of all the recorded samples (James Zabiela’s Field Recordings), which you can have fun with picking out of the mix, discovering where – and how – I used them.

The CD opens (00.00) with the sound of me walking along F Street in NW Washington DC, USA (they’re not my high heels you can hear at first BTW, I was wearing sneakers). You can hear three girls pass by, singing opera and then a ranting eccentric shouting something indecipherable, “In a place like this the magic is all around you” (00.39). It certainly is…

As I leave the first track by Michna, I depart Washington DC at the same time; the sound of me getting into a car (03.32) and heading to my next destination can be heard. My friend Joel’s words of wisdom (03.4 ring out like random internal thoughts we sometimes get whilst traveling about from place to place. Tell me I’m not alone here?!

On the plane now as Trentemoller’s ‘Always Something Better’ comes to an end and the female air steward from British Airways can be heard commanding all electronic devices to be turned off and headsets removed (08.4. As I obey and take off my ‘phones you can hear her words suddenly come into clarity (08.55) but then I mash up her voice with my internal plug-ins (you have to use your imagination whilst listening to this…)!

The flight is finally approaching its destination, Milan, which is signaled by a distant Italian voice making a landing announcement (09.06) although it’s muffled beneath the delays and reverbs going on inside my headphones. Her voice reminds me of the advertisements for the off-world colonies in Bladerunner. Back into a car (09.31), transferring from the airport, speeding down the express way to the sound of Kuriaki whose synth lines are, in my opinion, fittingly reminiscent of a certain Italian composer, Vangelis [No, Vangelis no es italiano, es griego].

A Hungarian scientist speaks about the possible distance that teleportation allows things to travel (13.30) and at the same time we’re transported musically in tempo and feeling. ‘The way of life can be free and beautiful’, now we’re somewhere else… these freethinking words aim to provoke as we continue our journey… Taken from the ‘Beautiful Place EP’ comes Boards of Canada’s ‘Amo Bishop Roden’ (18.32). I actually discovered this track when I was ill once, feeling kind of sorry for myself at 4am, not able to sleep.

I hung my head out of the window and rain was pouring onto my face. I’m not saying this is how anyone should listen to it, but I’ll never forget that feeling the track gave me the first time I heard it. Its tortured strings almost sound like they themselves are sick, but the bass notes lift the composition (much like the droplets of rain did on my feverish face). Does that sound too poetic?! We’re back into the film noir of Bladerunner here: ‘Lost in time like tears in the rain’, Roy Batty’s words that come near the end of the film and, sadly, his short lifespan. To capture and reflect this mood I made a field recording of rain from my bedroom window at 4am, which can be heard during the mix transition beneath the two tracks.There’s still a distance to travel….

Obviamente, los links de descarga no son míos, pero están donde siempre. De verdad, si no me creen, escuchen este set, sin prejuicios, y descubrirán un sutil mundo de ecos, reverberaciones, atmósferas y delicias inimaginables.