phew! after six months, the Medium Pimpin mixtape is finally pressed up. it's available for download for my Myspace cats (check my profile for the link) and as a real live cd at any of my gigs. (MA cats, keep your eyes peeled for a cd release party.)

Q: So is this your music?
A: The concept behind Medium Pimpin was to layer records in such a way that at no point could you confuse the mix with the work of another DJ. This meant holding on to the feel of the Stinkfoot series, but upping the ante: I wanted to have at least two records rocking at all times. The result is a multi-layered, seamless mixtape that I think is more than the sum of its parts. So, while I didn't produce the original sources, the product is something I consider my own work.

Q: How did you make it?
A: I used Tracktion as a glorified 8-track, and recorded one track at a time using my Technics, Pioneer mixer, and a Griffin iMic. As far as process goes, if a mix made me laugh out loud, I kept it.

Q: Who's the kid on the cover?
A: That's me. I know, it's hard to believe, but I once had hair.

Q: That's you tripping out on the intro and outro, right?
A: No, that's Wild Man Fischer.

Q: What's next?
A: For starters, more mixtapes! I'm planning on pumping out a total of four in 2007. If you missed the Eminently Employable mix, holla - it's free. Another free mix will follow this summer with a Medium Pimpin-style full-length following by the end of the year. After that, I'm getting into production - this work has started to open my ears up to the beats I could be making.

and now, a full list of the 57 vinyl music sources that went into the mix:

Revolution Compared to What - Go to Work (Alternate Version)
Project Pat – Googly Moogly
The Nite-Liters – Afro Strut
Dem Franchize Boyz – Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It
Lil Wayne – Go DJ
Outkast – So Fresh So Clean
Pharcyde – Passin Me By
Felt – Dirty Girl
Jeru the Damaja – Come Clean
Kanye West – School Spirit
De La Soul – Potholes in My Lawn
Pavlov & Mishkin – Re-Detroit
Mos Def – Universal Magnetic
Nas – Can't Forget About You
Taana Gardner – Heartbeat
Gorillaz – Dirty Harry
Nump – I Got Grapes
50 Cent – Disco Inferno
Nina Hagen – New York, New York
Busta Rhymes – New York Shit
Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance
Whodini – Freaks Come out at Night
Too $hort – Keep Bouncin
Pitbull – Bojangles
Joe Budden – Wait a Minute
Joe Budden – Pump It Up
Kurtis Blow – Nervous
Indeep – Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
Prince – D.M.S.R.
Missy Elliott – Pass that Dutch
Hydroponic Sound System – Disco Illumination
Public Enemy – Feel the Noise
Vaughan Mason & Crew – Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll
Earth, Wind & Fire – Brazilian Rhyme
Pitbull – Ay Chico (Lengua Afuera)
The Disco Four – Do It, Do It
DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip – Rhythm Is the Master
Silver City – Down Till 7
George Kranz – Din Da Da
Ying Yang Twins – Shake
Yaz – Situation
Jesse Rose & Sinden – Me Mobile
Trick Daddy feat. Cee-Lo – Sugar (Gimme Some)
Spank Rock – Sweet Talk
Missy Elliott f. Ludacris – Gossip Talk
Beatmaster Clay D & the Get Funky Crew – Do Your Duty
Zongamin – Bongo Song
The Cars – Just What I Needed
Sabo & Zeb – NYC
Ciara – Oh
DJ Ayres – Move on up
Tag Team – Whoomp!
Outkast – The Way You Move
Michael Jackson – P.Y.T.
The Flaming Lips – It Overtakes Me
Sly & The Family Stone – Music Is Alive
Harold Alexander – Mama Soul
Sleepy Brown – Me, My Baby & My Cadillac

as my friends in massachusetts know, the friday night gig at union bar & grill was shut down recently after nearly two years. this was a gig that was close to my heart - it started strong two summers ago, and to my surprise kept on going through the winters...largely due to the fact that there ain't a damn thing else going on in those parts on friday nights.

at union, i was able to grapple with all the implications of having a residency. for those unfamiliar with a dj's gripes, this meant coming to terms with the enthusiastic and persistent requests that spinning hip-hop entails, and building up a set of crates that held a hell of a lot more pop music than i ever thought i'd enjoy playing.

it was touch and go for a while, but in the end the demands of the dance floor shaped what i do. yeah, when laffy taffy came out i almost threw it in - i was getting that sick of the direction commercial hip-hop was heading.

then, one fateful night, i went out with the boys to bogies, and after a number of henny-and-cokes i noticed that my own, somewhat inebriated body was moving to music i spun when asked to but professed to hate. it struck me that the setting made the music - that, in fact, every song has utility somewhere. for a dj, it's all a matter of playing the right platter at the right time.

i took that back to union, and decided to treat all my records in terms of their utility - not to spend so much energy judging what was 'good', but to try to play music that would consistently move the night forward. for me, that meant hitting the crowd with enough of what they knew to keep them engaged, and push them to move to the unfamiliar whenever i could drop the needle on it without sacrificing the groove that all of us - dancefloor, dj, and the omnipresent lurkers-over-the-mirror - were building together.

it was a good training ground. now, i've got a saturday gig with no dance floor, which has its own uses in my development - without the physical response of a crowd, it's an intense challenge to match the music to the mood, which is in constant flux. this thursday, i'll be starting up at bogies myself, putting the thesis that even exceptionally cheesy hip-pop can be presented creatively to the test.

if all this seems a little hifalutin for a guy who pays his bills playing songs about booty, i guess you don't take booty as seriously as i do.

til next time-
bfg