The best house tunes at the moment. Just enjoy.
😉
https://www.mixcloud.com/djmurda/summer-house-2015/
Sound and light bites fall into place
So far I’ve had two gigs this year and they have both been fantastic.
The first one was for Canon Sweden, who I worked for earlier, and their kick-off (which I also DJ’d for in 2011 and 2012). The venue was the newly built Stockholm Waterfront and there were some 600 people there. I did a two hour gig with mostly new music and there is a recording at Mixcloud. Some pics:
The second gig was at a private party with an eighties theme. Everyone, including me, were dressed in clothes and hair from that decade and I had a playlist of about 450 song.
Before the eighties party I invested in some more lights. One Chauvet Rotosphere and two KAM Moonglow DMX V2. With the development of the LED technology (well worth the Nobel prize) you get a lot of nice effects for your money. Here they are:
I also bought a nice sound card. Universal Audio’s Apollo Twin is a desktop interface that I can use to get the best D/A conversion direct from my Mac, through Thunderbolt.
I can run it with all my DJ software and other sound applications like Logic and Ableton as well as iTunes and Spotify. Its a great backup if the Traktor controller (the “mixer”) would malfunction. I can even bring a small USB-controller as backup and still have a compact set of equipment and great sound quality. The Apollo Twin also works for sound input, so for recordings I can plug in mics and instruments. The included software has a lot of filters, EQs, compressors, reverbs, and guitar amp plug-ins. Finally some professional recording of my daughter singing at home.
On top of all this we got a late Christmas present from my parents. The
Harman/Kardon Go + Play Wireless is a Bluetooth speaker with double woofers and double tweeters, all independently amplified for exceptional richness and clarity of sound. It has an incredibly dynamic, full range, full spectrum sound and is loud enough to fill the whole house from one single place. No need for SONOS or any such home system. This speaker is also battery powered and ready to take along outside. Thanks dad! 😉
So, for the rest of the year I have around ten more gigs booked so far. With experience from recent years I expect to get almost just as many more. So I’m looking at a busy year but I still enjoy doing this and with the new equipment I’m also well prepared technology wise. I have taken a closer look at the new Traktor kontrol S8 and see that the guys at Native instruments are taking another step away from the vinyl analogy which I think is healthy. The interface is really nice and I wouldn’t be surprised if I got myself one of those as well.
As usual I leave you with what’s best out there at the moment. Stuff you may have seen me recommend at Twitter. Make sure you follow me there, @murdarn, to see the best new stuff right away.
Keep it real! Give me a shout if you want to get on your dancing feet.
End of 2014
New year again!
2014 has been a great year in dance music and I think the one who made the most difference is Oliver Heldens. So much talent and productivity from this nineteen year old producer and DJ. Such great tunes have been released, like Gecco and Koala. His weekly podcast is just awesome. Make sure you subscribe to it, it’s become my absolute favorite one. His tag line “taking the underground to the main stage” says what it’s all about.
Another big discovery for me this year has been Tchami. His own tunes as well as his remixes has really been something else. Clear, distinct house beats with melodic synth pads. Best of all might be this one:
There were some 10-15 gigs for me during the year; a big company’s kickoff in January, some birthday parties and weddings. The last gig, two weeks ago was quite interesting. It was for my colleagues at work, after our traditional Christmas dinner. The average age is quite high but as always, a good mix of old and new music became successful. You can hear and see what I played here.
I didn’t make a year-mix now, but I did one for the first half of the year and also a mix of great house tunes some months ago. They’re also available at http://www.mixcloud.com/djmurda/
For 2015 I have two major gigs booked and they are with companies I’ve played for before. It feels great to get the opportunity to come back and be able to give an even better experience for the guests.
Regarding new music, I continuously publish tips on twitter.com/murdarn, make sure you follow.
At the moment there are some Swedish ones I listen to a lot, see below. All with minor chords, yet spiritual and just the kind of house music I really like.
Happy new year!
Gigs and Dans Dakar
What a summer! Great weather here in Sweden and just like the last few years there have been gigs on an average about once every week. Midsummer celebrations, birthday parties, sports events, weddings, kids parties… A whole lot of fun! Just a few bookings for the autumn so far. A couple of birthday parties and probably a corporate event around Christmas, but that’s alright.
Dam Funk gave a free concert in the beginning of the summer. It was well worth visiting, with a limited number of people I was able to stand real close to the stage. I hadn’t been listening to him very much earlier but he’s developing the electronic funk Steve Arrington, Prince, Rick James, Zapp, Roger et al gave us in the 80s. He’s been working with great names like Madlib, Juan Atkins and recently Snoop Dogg. Great experience and some Twitter shouts between me, him and the organizer.
Some pics from the Stockholm Tens Rugby Tournament End Party which was held in club Nype in central Stockholm, Stureplan. The English got really warm to my mix of deep house like Disclosure, Duke Dumont etc and some great d’n’b and dubstep.
An old (well, not so old) friend had his birthday party at home and I played at a terrace just next to their pool. After beach house music was requested and delivered. A lot of staff was hired for the evening, for food, drinks etc. So great! One of my best gigs ever!
Dans Dakar
Me, sis, brother-in-law and some friends went to the festival Dans Dakar i Stockholm. We saw The Jillionaire, Carl Craig, Zedd, Basement Jaxx (I like the new album btw), The Glitch Mob, Claptone, Kygo and some great DJs like Sandra Mosh and Miss Dilemma. Such an amazing festival right in the middle of town. To finish it off Skrillex gave a show like nothing we’ve seen before. Just MAD! The guy’s a genius. Here’s a 7 minute film from his tour. It gives an idea about the show.
At the half-year-turn I got a request to do a “Best of the year so far mix”. I thought it was a great idea, picked the 26 best ones (one per week ;)) and you can hear the result here at Mixcloud. Look out for a new mix, this time with just dubstep tracks. I will have it done during September.
By the way, I got myself a new Mac. A 13″ MBP Retina since the 11″ MBA was too small to show all the graphics needed in Traktor. I usually bring another 13″ MBP Retina that I normally use for work, having it setup with everything needed in case of any failure. Which would never happen to a Mac right 😉 See the new one decorated below. 13″ vinyl that is!
Anyway, as I’ve said before, I tweet links to the latest greatest dance music on Twitter @murdarn almost every day. Genres span mainly between Hip hop, Soul, House (Deep, Progressive, Electro, Future, Tech), Electronica, Techno, Drum’n’bass and Dubstep. Avicii-like tunes I prefer to call just EDM though, since I think it has very little to do with house music. Avicii’s Lay me down is still great anyway. Links are generally from YouTube and SoundCloud. Follow me, why don’t you?!
Summer
Way too long since the last update, sorry!
A lot has happened the last few months, I break it down in categories.
Concerts and clubs
I saw Drake in Sweden in March. A great concert, though I missed most of The Weeknd who was the opening act and is an artist I appreciate just as much as Drake. They did Crew Love together though and it looked and sounded very much like in this video. I was in London just after and had the chance to see them again three(!) nights in a row but work stopped me, just like the concerts with Katy B, Grandmaster Flash and Ed Sheeran. What I did make it to (as prebooked) was a visit to The Fabric and a night with DJ Hype, Hazard, LTJ Bukem, Pascal, Calyx & TeeBee and many other d’n’b acts. It was a great experience and it’s nice to see that d’n’b is still big in the UK. Other concerts I’ve been to are Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus. Both may be considered lightweight for an older audience but I think both are great singers and entertainers.
Gigs
I haven’t had so many gigs the last few months but now when summer comes, things change. I played at a 50 yo celebration party two weeks ago and a 40 yo one last week. As I’ve written before I think new music is easier to play for older and older crowds and 40 is definitely the new 30. The gig last week was at the Swedish armed forces head quarters and the establishment was just great. Here are some pics:
Upcoming gigs are for a wedding, some more birthday celebrations, the Swedish Midsummer festivities (for the fourth year in a row for me DJing, though in different places) and actually also some pro bono stuff for kids. I really enjoy doing the gigs for the kids since I can play the very latest stuff, get requests for things I haven’t heard yet myself and see what’s popular with the next generation. Modern dubstep seems to be big with my own kids and I hope it stays that way for a while more. And remember, deep house still rules! 😉
Tracks
Since the beginning of the year I’ve tried to update my Twitter feed with the tracks I like the most daily. Please see and follow twitter.com/murdarn
I try to categorize each post with at least one hashtag for whatever genre it’s supposed to be.
Anyway, I give you some of my absolute favorites from the last few weeks here.
https://soundcloud.com/juliobashmoremusic/peppermint
The greatest Kickoff
So, last Saturday I played at yet another company’s kickoff meeting. There were almost 500 guests there and most of them had taken the opportunity to make a request for a song in advance. That turned out to be just great, even though it gave me many hours of work in advance to get hold of all the songs and sort them into a working playlist. The dancefloor was packed from almost the first minute and until I stopped playing three hour later. Here’s a video that shows some of the athmosphere:
And some pics:
I had a lot of guests coming up to me during the gig as well as afterward, being thankful and supportive. I was also praised by the event company who claimed that they hadn’t seen anything like this before, with so many people dancing the whole evening. It was just amesome and I can only describe it as the greatest kickoff I’ve been to, ever.
During the night I got two more bookings and there are now discussions regarding a major event (possibly a whole week) for the summer. Of course I’ll be back with more info about that, when the negotiations are all done.
Here’s are some tunes I listen to right now:
Happy new year
2013 I had more gigs than I’ve had in many years. It feels great and it also made me afford some new equipment. So far for the new year I have only one booking, coming next Saturday. But it’s for a big company’s kick-off and some 500 people are expected to be there. The preparations are almost done and I’ll be back with a report from that one.
Like last year I took my favorite tracks from the whole year and put them into a mix. This time it was 50 tracks and the mix lasts for 72 minutes. You can hear it below. Further below is also a shorter mix I made for the Christmas party we had at work. The DJ there was Monica Bergmark who is claimed to be the first female Swedish DJ. It was nice to meet her, hear her play and she let me do this guest mix.
DJ Monica
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
DJ Murda’s Best of 2013 by Dj Murda on Mixcloud
A little Christmas party never killed nobody by Dj Murda on Mixcloud
The Hip Hop mix of the year
I don’t listen to hip hop as much as I used to. Just realized a few weeks ago that there is still a lot of new stuff in that genre that’s really good. So I decided to collect my favorite tracks from the last year and maybe some that are a few years older as well. Parts of it may be categorized as soul, rap, r’n’b and dubstep but I blame that on the development of the genre. Enjoy!
DJ Murda’s 2013 Hip Hop mix by Dj Murda on Mixcloud
Tracks:
| Goldie | ASAP Rocky |
| Started From The Bottom | Drake |
| House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls | The Weeknd |
| The Don | Nas |
| No Church in the Wild (feat. Frank Ocean) | Jay-Z and Kanye West |
| Fuckin Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz & K Lamar | ASAP Rocky |
| Beware | Big Sean and Lil Wayne |
| Bubble Butt (feat. Bruno Mars, Tyga & Mystic) | Major Lazer |
| Change Up | Problem & IamSu |
| Rack City | Tyga |
| Dedication to My Ex (Miss That) | Lloyd |
| Down South | Iggy Azalea |
| Bac 2 Tha Future (My Time) | Iggy Azalea |
| Golddust | Iggy Azalea |
| Pop That (feat. Rick Ross, Drake & Lil Wayne) | French Montana |
| All Of The Lights Feat. Rihanna | Kanye West |
| The Show Goes On | Lupe Fiasco |
| Bad Girls | M.I.A. |
| Swimming Pools (Drank) (Extended Version) | Kendrick Lamar |
| Higher | Just Blaze x Baauer |
| Power | Kanye West |
| I’m Coming Home | Diddy & Dirty Money |
| Drop It Low ft Chris Brown | Ester Dean |
Smart bar, Berghain and Jay Z!
Since my last update I’ve been to two of the best clubs in the world.
Smart bar in Chicago, the original home of house music, is often listed as the club with the best sound system in the world. The Funktion One speakers sounded fantastic, the music and the atmosphere were good but unfortunatelly I missed the great Jay Lumen who played there the first night I came to Chicago. His set was just too late for me coming in from Europe and going to work the next day. But I’ve been listening a lot to him before and after the visit. He’s clearly one of the best DJs in the world today in the tech/progressive house genre.
I’ve also been to Berlin and the probably coolest techno club in the world, Berghain.
The reputation of always having a long queue and really tough bouncers were both right. I had to stand in line for about an hour and saw about nine out of ten being turned away at the door. My hopes for getting in were low but for some reason I made it! Being also in Berlin for work I couldn’t stay all night. But the DJ I got to hear was a nice surprise, as well as the establishment itself of course. DJ Zip is one of the residents at Berghain and he’s been around for many years. Truly an amazing techno DJ, still playing nothing but vinyl. Here’s a clip from a gig he had at the Factory Club in Barcelona recently:
Another night in Berlin I went to hear Gregor Tresher at the club Watergate.
Being sober and wearing almost exactly the same clothes as at Berghain I was bounced away at the door. My worn black shirt and old jeans were considered “too formal”. You never know what will happen in Berlin, that’s part of the charm.
I was fortunate to be invited to a VIP party when Jay Z came to Stockholm recently. He’s touring with another of my favorite R’n’B artists Timbaland and the concert was really good. Now I got tickets for Kraftwerk and Justin Timberlake coming here in the beginning of next year.
So, for myself there haven’t been any gigs. But lots of other work so it’s just as good. Here’s what I’ve been listening to.
Wedding
Tonight I’m DJing at one of the royal palaces in Sweden, Tullgarns slott. Actually the party will take place in one of the stables just outside, but it’s a very nice area. Below is more or less the whole playlist I have prepared. It’s based on some requests from the bridal couple, but most songs are chosen from my experience with what works best for people of different ages today. I’m sure it will be a great night!
| Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours | Stevie Wonder |
| I Wanna Hold Your Hand | Beatles |
| Crazy in love | Jill Johnson |
| I Don’t Feel Like Dancing | Scissor sisters |
| I Was Made to Love Her | Stevie Wonder |
| Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) | Mika |
| Raise Your Glass | Pink |
| Marry you | Bruno Mars |
| Thriller | Michael Jackson |
| Beds Are Burning | Midnight Oil |
| Don’t Stop Me Now | Queen |
| Dead Ringer For Love | Meatloaf |
| Get Lucky (Radio Edit) | Daft Punk |
| Bad Girl | Donna Summer |
| Blurred Lines | Robin Thicke |
| SexyBack | Justin Timberlake |
| Poker Face | Lady GaGa |
| Wake Me Up | Avicii |
| Händerna mot himlen | Petra Marklund |
| I Love It | Icona Pop |
| Det gör ont | Lena Philipsson |
| Feels Like A Prayer | Meck |
| Born To Be Alive | Patrick Hernandez |
| Lay All Your Love On Me | Abba |
| September | Earth Wind & Fire |
| Can You Feel It | The Jacksons |
| Hung up | Madonna |
| London Calling | The Clash |
| Gloria | Mando Diao |
| A Little Party Never Killed Nobody | Fergie |
| Play Hard [New Edit] | David Guetta |
| Scream & Shout | Britney Spears |
| #thatPOWER | Justin Bieber |
| My Feeling For You | Sebastien Drums |
| Tik Tok Monday (DJ Jeremy & DJ Vadim) | Ke$ha vs New Order |
| Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera) | Maroon 5 |
| Loca People (Radio Edit) | Sak Noel |
| One (Radio Edit) | Swedish House Mafia |
| Levels (Original Mix) | Avicii |
| Thinking About You (feat. Ayah Marar) | Calvin Harris |
| Party Rock Anthem | LMFAO |
| Boogie Wonderland | Earth Wind & Fire |
| Music Inferno | Madonna |
| Sexy Bitch [Ft. Akon] | David Guetta |
| One Love [Ft. Estelle] | David Guetta |
| C’mon | Ke$ha |
| Right Now (feat. David Guetta) | Rihanna |
| Barbra Streisand | Duck Sauce |
| Gangnam Style | PSY |
| Macarena | Los Del Rio |
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