The Inflatable House

My Selection of Essential Albums

Martin Lucas — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:58:22 +0000

So, NME have just published a list of 100 albums compiled by a jury of industry types and musicians [www.nme.com/list/albums-of-the-decade]. Some seem to thing the list is pretty accurate - but I think there are a few albums missing. Yes, this is a selection of my personal favourites from the last 9 years 10 months and 3 weeks - but I also think they are rather essential.

So, here is my list - no particular order, no number 1, just 12 albums from my collection that all deserve equal placing.

BT - This Binary Universe
Burial - Untrue
Frou Frou - Details
Grand National - Kicking The National Habit
Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Royksopp - Melody AM
Sasha - Airdrawndagger
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Delay Sustain Release
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Trentemoller - The Last Resort
Zero 7 - Simple Things

So, that’s mine - do you have any suggestions that were [wrongfully] missed.

A Breakdown in Communication by Hu_Kares

Martin Lucas — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:10:25 +0000

Back to our residents for the next two podcasts - and first up Hu_Kares with another elongated tech house mix.

Dan Berkson & James What featuring Robert Owens - Keep On (Stimming Remix)
Orli Martie - Paris is Born (Green Mix)
Gus Gus - Iceland
Joris Voorn - Deep side of the Moog
Futureshock - Tiger Dust
Telefon Tel Aviv - You Are the Worst Thing In the World (Jay Haze Remix)
Rex the Dog - I can see you, Can you see me? (Oliver Huntemann Remix)
John Dahlback & F.A.T.Z - Godfather (Main Mix)
Kevin Saunderson - Rock To The Beat (Ben Sims Remix)
Lem Faki - Death By House (Adam Beyer & Jesper Dahlback Remix)
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch (Sasha Invol2ver Remix)
Will Saul & Tam Cooper - Tech Noir (Phonique Remix)
Underworld - Born Slippy (Joe K vs Beto Dias Remix)
BT - Flaming June (Randy Boyer Mix)

Martin Lucas November Chart

Martin Lucas — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:01:49 +0000

Loads of great deep house around at the moment - and lots of my favourite labels releasing material, Freerange, Buzzin’ Fly, Urban Torque and Compost.

DJ Yellow - Mindz Theme (DPlay Remix) [Freerange]
Sonogama - Wink Bias [Sounderground]
Zwicker - Dragon Fly (Soultourist Remix) [Compost]
Glimpse & Martin Eyerer (Jay Shepheard Remix) [Buzzin' Fly]
Paulo Olarte - Vivir Sonando (Garnica Remix) [Trenton]
Charles Webster - Together As One [Om]
Sebastian Davidson - Nightbird (Shur-I-Kan’s Sound of Summer Remix) [Meerkat Music]
M.A.D. - Brainwaves [Urban Torque]
Solomun - Don’t Cry [Compost]
Lovebirds - Operator [Om]

TIH October 2009 by Kevin Cutts

Martin Lucas — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:52:19 +0000

After enjoying most of the summer DJ’ing in Ibiza, Kevin Cutts returns to the UK and provides 60 minutes of house music for this month’s guest podcast mix.

“Picked from a collection of tracks whilst discovered in Ibiza this summer, most have been tried and tested, but there’s also a few newies in this mix, along with a slight twist at the end - a sublime piece of electronica in the form of Joy Orbison. En-joy!”

Stefan Gold - Yes To All
Lovebirds - N2Deep
Steve Bug - Swallowed Too Much Bass
Marcel Wave - Kiwi Sunrise
Rodriguez Jr - Lila (Kollektiv Turmstrasse)
Tiefschwarz - Trust
Paul Schal - A Summer Meldody (Remute Remix)
Edwin Oosterwal / Warren Fellow - Hotlips
DJ T - Shine On (Vinyl Mix)
Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo

Martin Lucas October Chart

Martin Lucas — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:34:18 +0000

Put simply, 10 fantastic deep and tech house tracks found over the last months worth of record shopping, all tried and tested on the dance floor for good measure!

Sebastian Davidson - NightBird (Shur-I-Kan Remix)
Florian Kruse - Mind Games (Nils Nurnberg Remix)
Stel - The Burds (Kruse & Nurnberg Remix)
Office Gossip - Sirius A (Kruse & Nurnberg Remix)
Charles Webster - Together As One (Aquabassino Remix)
Matin - Io
Kollektiv Turmstrasse - Flaschenpost
Ribn - This Feeling
Paulo Olarte - Vivir Sonando (Garnica Remix)
MAD - Brainwaves

Yes, there is a lot of Kruse & Nurnberg in there this month, but I’ve just found them and they are very prolific - definitely worth hunting down.

Promote Your Music With SoundCloud

Martin Lucas — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:48:28 +0000

Promoting your music on the internet has grown up substantially since the old days of just having a website and email address. As a DJ or producer, you now have the chance to show off your output on a number of websites and social networks, but there are lots of them - so which ones do you choose, and how do you get the best out of them.

I’ll be starting off with SoundCloud with this series of posts, but will also be taking in Facebook and Twitter in future posts.

SoundCloud is basically Flickr for audio, which if you are familiar with the inner workings of Flickr then you’ll understand it all very quickly and will probably be able to sign up, start uploading and begin to get the most out of the site. If you’re not - then keep reading.

Signing up is very easy and allows you to create a profile page, adding all common bits of information like website address, age and location. You’ll also have to choose a photo to use as an avatar, as well as a user name that will form your SoundCloud address (such as SoundCloud.com/martinlucas).

Adding audio is easy - and probably one of the first things you’ll want to do. As a non pro-user (Pro accounts are priced from $99.00 to $599.00 per year) you’ll only be able to have 10 audio tracks stored on your account at anyone time - so make sure only your best tracks get on your cloud. Depending what you’re uploading (a lot of different file formats are allowed including mp3, wav, aiff, flac and more), how big the file is (there are no file size limits) and how quick your internet connection is will depend on how long the upload takes. While the upload is in progress you get the chance to fill in lots of information about the audio such as genre, keywords, description, artwork, key, bpm, and even links to where the track can be purchased if it’s been released.

Once your track has been uploaded it’s time to promote it within SoundCloud, as well as share it to the rest of the Internet. If you have a Twitter account it is definitely worth syncing up the two networks, this allows SoundCloud to tweet for you whenever you upload audio, it will also tweet when you add another users track to your favourites.

There are two main ways to get your track in front of other SoundCloud users, to either have them follow you, or to add it to a group. The first option takes time, if you want to be informed of someone’s activity on then follow them - any new uploads, or favourites they add will appear in your dashboard. Following someone doesn’t mean they will follow you back - but sometimes they do, and as you contribute more to the website, the more you’ll be discovered - and hopefully if your audio is something people like, you’ll be followed by other users.

Adding your tracks to groups is an easy way to promote your audio, but first you need to find some groups to join. Use the search box at the top of any page to find groups that compliment your music - so if you are a Deep House DJ for example, you’ll use groups such as DEEP, Deep House and Techno and maybe DJ Mixes. Adding tracks to a group is quick and easy - although some are moderated to filter out spam submissions, but even within those groups your tracks show up in the group within a day.

You can use the SoundCloud widget to promote your tracks outside of the website, you can place your track on your own website as well as embed the player on your MySpace page, there’s even a Facebook application which allows you to add selected tracks to your profile page. This is a good way of telling people outside of SoundCloud that you have an account - maybe they’re also on the site but haven’t found your profile yet.

As with all Social Networks, you only get out what you put in - and SoundCloud is no different. You’ve got to join the community to get your tracks and mixes listened to, take the time to listen to other peoples music (this isn’t hard work as there is a lot of really good music on there), if you like a track - add it to your favourites, it only takes one click. If you really like the track, tell the user by way of a comment. SoundCloud has a really nice solution for comments, timed ones - you can make a comment at a precise moment within the audio, this allows you to talk about a specific track in a mix, or for example the breakdown in a single track. You can also add non-timed comments about the whole piece.

Taking the time to join groups, listen to other users tracks, adding favourites and making comments is a great way to make yourself seen on the site - if you’re providing helpful or positive comments then there is a good chance the deed will be repaid.

Here’s 5 tips to get you started;

When signing up, fill in as much information as possible - don’t go over the top, but people want to know a little bit about you when visiting your profile, a blank profile isn’t the best welcome.
Upload only your best tracks and / or mixes.
Join groups and add your audio to them.
Promote your audio outside of SoundCloud, sync your Twitter account, add the widget to your MySpace or personal website, and add the application to your Facebook profile
Join the community, listen to other peoples tracks - especially those within the groups you’ve joined, add favourites and make comments to tracks you like.

Melted Turophobia by Martin Lucas

Martin Lucas — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:51:58 +0000

A deep house mix from the mind of DJ afraid of cheese. 11 tracks blend together in a melting pot of 65 minutes worth of ingredients by Solomun & Stimming, Kruse & Nurnberg, Jay Shepheard, Sebastian Davidson, and of course - Manuel Tur and Pezzner, the perennial mainstay ingredients.

Solomun & Stimming - Eiszauber (Lawrence Remix) [Diynamic]
Florian Kruse - Mind Games (Nils Nurnberg Remix) [Soundz]
Stel - The Burbs (Kruse & Nurnberg Remix) [Mood Music]
The Runners - Woman Pleaser (Jay Shepheard Remix) [Dirt Crew]
Roberto Rodriguez - Camera Obsrura Part II (Jay Shepheard Remix) [Laka Worldwide]
Sebastian Davidson - Boardlords [Just Deep Music]
Ferdy, Edwin Mulder & Sebastian Davidson - Night Shift [Deepology]
Manuel Tur - Golden Complexion (Live Dub) [Freerange]
Pezzner - Almost Here (Part 1) [Freerange]
Io - Matin [Diynamic]
Roberto Bosco - Dub Piano [Be As One Imprint]

Establishing A Line Of Communication by Hu_Kares

Hu_Kares — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:01:50 +0000

A long title and a long mix from The Inflatable House resident Hu_Kares, bringing you 1 hour, 47 minutes and 50 odd seconds of tech house. Featuring tracks by Nic Fancuilli, Josh Wink and Dubfire - this is one not to miss out on.

Matthew Dear & Seth Troxler - Hurt
Henry Saiz - From Empty Lands
Josh Wink - Stay Out All Night (Organ Mix)
Nic Fanciulli & Steve Mac - 10%
Shonky - Time zero (Paul Ritch Mix)
Josh Wink & Blakkat - Tweak & Roll (Mirus Mix)
Niko - It’s a Bad Dream (Sean Palm’s Bits and Pieces Remix)
Dubfire - Rabid
Orange - Deetron Zircon
Nic Fanciulli & Steve Mac - 20%
Soliquid - Piknic Bugz (Gone Wild Mix)
Two lone swordsmen - Shack 54 (Jet Project Mix)
Anton Pieete & Paul Ritch - The Opera
D ramierez, Mark knight & Underworld - Downpipe
DOP - The Genius of the Crowd
Radiohead - Everything in it’s Right Place (Gigamesh Remix)
Bob marley - Exodus (havocNdeeD Remix)

Stream from the player below or subscribe to the podcast.

The Coaster 2009 by Troy Carter

Martin Lucas — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:52:02 +0000

This weeks guest mix is by Canadian based Deep House DJ Troy Carter.

Karol XVII & MB Valence - Drooling Mouthpiece
Israel Perez - Mexico
Groove Armada - Love Sweet Sound (Mark Knight & Funkagendas R.H.B Remix)
Garnica - Sexy People (Gorge Remix)
Soul Minority - Plough Hand
Stel, Nils Nurnberg, Florian Kruse & Wiretappeur - I Want You
Cesar Merveille & Pablo Kahn-Speyer - La Yuca
Solan - Essence (Original Mix)
Karol XVII & MB Valence - Area
Jetlag - So Right
Doomwork - Lost In Memory (Aki Bergen Remix)

Troy Carter September Chart

Martin Lucas — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:48:27 +0000

10 superb tracks selected by this week’s guest DJ, Troy Carter - some of which can be found in the guest mix he supplied us for the Podcast.

Jimpster - Just The Kind Of Girl
Doomwork - Lost In Memory (Aki Bergen Remix)
Groove Armada - Love Sweet Sound (Mark Knight & Funkagendas R.H.B Remix)
Onur Ozman - Erotizm (Judea Stonez Mix)
Will Saul - 3000AD (I:cube Dub Mix)
Karol XVII & MB Valence - Drooling Mouthpiece
Israel Perez - Mexico
James Talk - The Beginning (Gorge Remix)
One51 - Together As One (The Flute Dub)
Carlos Cid & Greg Bahary ft Richie Cannata - The Conversation