Yes there’s a new mix playing at Seattle Center August 30 - September 3, 2010.   It plays in the background of the Center House and in the International Fountain when the big show programs aren’t running.

Artists in the mix include:

Symbion Project, Ludovico Einaudi, Bonobo, Cocteau Twins, Manu Dibango, The Album Leaf, Groove Armada, Windsor for the Derby, Weathertunes, The Daktaris, Explosions in the Sky, Incredible Bongo Band, and Sigur Ros.

One track in the mix:

Sigur Ros “Svefn-G-Englar”

Link to a video with the music plus additional triply dance performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWiJWLiSKro&feature=related

I was mixing the Das Dhoom album “Poetry of Dhoom” last night!  I’m obsessed as 20 days remain until Dhoomsday, which is the clever name Sebastian Lange gave to the day of mastering.  Fingers crossed the opening track “Ending to Dhoom” is done, or at very least, precipitously close to finished.  That leaves two tracks: “Tiger of Dhoom,” and “Voyage of the Seven Dragons of Dhoom.”  That last one is, not surprisingly, an epic but I am feeling good about getting it all done and having tine for a last listen to check every track single one more time before mastering.

In fact I feel good enough to be able to indulge the classic production moment of going back and fixing a mix I completed earlier.  As you mix you often come up with better EQ, reverb, and compression settings for specific instruments.  So I last night I went back and added extra niceness to “Patience of Dhoom.” This is a track I finished in December 2009.  It’s the first mix I finished.  I ‘ve known for a couple months that I can clean it up and specifically make the sarod sound better.  And so I did and also upped the level of the bass some more, cleaned up the relationship between the drums and the bass, and made the violin a bit clearer too.  Once I get in working on a mix I discover more things I can fix! And so Das Dhoom takes time but it’s worth it you shall soon see!  More tales of Dhoom to come.

Si! There is a new mix playing in the Seattle Center.  It plays in the background of the Center House and in the International Fountain when the big shows aren’t going. It runs from August 23 - 27, 2010.

Artists in the mix include:

Bonobo, Cranes, General Fuzz, The Album Leaf, Múm, Felix Laband, Static, The Pool, Enders Room and Sleazy Mcqueen.

Here’s a link to one track in the mix “Jamaica Running” by The Pool:

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Pool/track/Jamaica+Running

Best musical regards,

James Whetzel

Yes I’ve got a new mix DJ playing at Seattle Center.  It plays in the background in the Center House in the International Fountain when the big shows aren’t running.

Artists in the mix include:

Joash, Kodomo, Weathertunes, Ernest Gonzales, Dakimh & Wu-Tang Clan, Jeff Martin Spoons, Nosaj Thing, Fingathing, Matematics, Jurassic 5, Casino vs Japan, Ample Mammal & El Trip Selector.

Here’s a link to a track in the mix, check “Cumbiacherita” by El Trip Selector on his  myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/eltripselector

Peace, cheers, and best musical regards,

James Whetzel

Yes I’ve got a new DJ Mix @ Seattle Center, a special mix running today in the background in the Center House and in the International Fountain when the big shows aren’t running.

It’s the Brasil Fest mix!

Artists include:

Astrud Gilbertrto, Male Debale, Antonio Carlos E Jocafi, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Bebel Gilberto, Marcos Valle, Friends From Rio, Tribo Nacao Ijexa, and King Frydai.

Here’s one track in the mix, a vintage one, “Que Pena” by Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbbUHagc-Xk

Best musical regards,

James Whetzel

Some good news for me! I am on Pandora as DJ Baba James (James Whetzel). Woo hoo!

For those of you who use Pandora already please create a station for me! Just go to create a new station and type in DJ Baba James, and hit “create” and voila you should be good to go.

The station is based on the characteristics of my “The House of Good Juju” disc, which is my most electronic oriented release. I’ve been checking out the station and I am pleased to say it’s a broad mix of artists of diverse styles running from medium to high energy. While you listen I humbly ask that you like all the DJ Baba James tracks, that you actuallly like of course.
If you have not used Pandora, it’s free! You just need to go to http://www.pandora.com and set up an account.

One of the cool things about Pandora is that you can create stations based on specific tracks. The DJ Baba James station is based on the 15 tracks of “The House of Good Juju,” so, of course–solely in the spirit of experimental curiousity–I created stations for all of them!

Here are my suggestions based on my preliminary research in comparatively BabaWhetzel Pandorology.

If you want something more chill and sweet sounding build a station from “Goodbye by DJ Baba James.”

Quieres algo chill and cool? Try “About Love by DJ Baba James.”

Nice mid tempo, cool mix of tracks: from Mum, to Bonobo etc try “Space Tekyuman by DJ Baba James.” [”Space Tekyuman is one of my favorite tracks on the album, so I was happy it gave me tracks I liked.]

More festive partytime vibes? Mais bien sur! Test “Washington State” and “Sympathy for the Sarod.” [Interestingly enough the “WA. State” station does not give you as much goofy music as I had hoped, but I sense that Pandora measures the vibe of the music better than the vibe of the song.]

And if you like high tempo insanity try making a station based upon “Mr. Whetzel’s Extraordinary Intergalactic Fuji.”

FYI: What you get on all those stations is mostly instrumental electronic based music, which makes sense given the album.

Thank you for listening! Best DJ Baba James wishes to you,

James Whetzel

Encore un fois!  I have a new mix playing at Seattle Center, a version of this ran a few months back but I have spiced and niced it up with new tracks.  This mix plays in the background of the Center House and in the International Fountain when the big show music isn’t running.  Big shows are the set pieces in which the fountain shoots off big jets of water; they typically run on the hour and half hour.

Artists in this mix include:

Bernhard Fleischmann, Louiz Banks & Gary Bartz & Ron Carter & Ravi Chary & Jimmy Cobb & Rudresh Mahanthappa & Vikku Vinayakram (whew!), Bombay Dub Orchestra, Cepia, Incredible Bongo Band, Loscil, Manu Dibango, Four Tet, Bobby Matos, Architeq, Rainier Truby Trio, Deela, Massive Attack, Rockers Hi Fi, and Thievery Corporation.

Here’s a link to one track in the mix “As Serious as Your Life” by Four Tet.

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Four+Tet/track/As+Serious+As+Your+Life#

Check the video I tell you that Morris Dancing never ever seemed so funky!

Best musical wishes!

James Whetzel

It’s been a busy summer, which is good, but I am shocked by how quickly June & July have gone. Yet August remains and there are many good things afoot.

You may actually be able to catch me playing live this month. Below is my neat little list of what’s goin’ down.

1) Whetzel @ Cal Anderson Park, Every Tuesday in August from 12noon - 2pm (unless it rains!):

Every Tuesday this month, as part of the Seattle Parks & Recreation Busker Program I’ll be playing in Cal Anderson park from 12noon - 2pm.  I’ll be testing out some new Sarod & Beats material in preparation for recording the follow up album to “My Road to Somewhere: Sarod & Beats.” Which segues neatly into the next item . . .

Cal Anderson Park: http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/park_detail.asp?id=3102

2) Sarod, Violin & Beats Recording @ Jack Straw Studios:

This year I received a grant from Jack Straw Studios for recording time as part of their Artist Support Program.  In mid August  I’m going to record with violinist Sebastian Lange.   I actually have eight new beats already ready, and we’ll start by recording violin and sarod parts for four of them.  Thus the follow up to sarod & beats will be sarod, violin & beats.

3) Das Dhoom is 85% done!!!!!

OMD (Oh My Dhoom!) I have been working on this album for over a year.  I am a bit of an unrealistic optimist with regards to estimating the time it takes to finish things; I thought the Das Dhoom album would be done at the end of April, but I do honestly believe all the recording and all the mixing of the Das Dhoom album “Poetry of Dhoom, ” will be complete by the end of August.

After that we will get it mastered it and check in with two record labels to see if either wants to put it out and give us good enough of a record deal.  Otherwise we’ll be putting it out ourselves.

By the way, this album is completely kick ass. Imagine if you will that Depeche Mode was starting out today in 2010 and had grown up in India, lived in West Africa, and then settled in Seattle.  Or imagine the Shins with a much, much, much expanded rhythm section and more synthesizers and a sarod player and a violin player instead of guitarists.  Heh Heh.

I previewed parts of a couple tracks for my pal DJ Advent today and I must say he was blown away.  It will be even better in a couple weeks time and even better squared after it is mastered.  I am looking forward to it being finished intensely and remembering to breathe while I do so.

4) Solo Whetzel EP “Vibrance” also on the way . . .

As if  all that wasn’t enough I do have a Whetzel solo EP in the works.  Three tracks you should know already, “Days in Black Satin,” “Vibrance’s Edge,” and “Theme to the Rhythm,”  I have two more songs I am working on to make a five song EP.  I am doing some recordings in September with percussionists Yaw Amponsah & Viren Kamdar as part of the aforementioned Jack Straw grant  and a segment of those sessions will be devoted to recording acoustic versions of my solo material.  And perhaps an acoustic version of a Das Dhoom song or two.  You see I am already preparing the exclusive bonus tracks!

5) Color Me Projector Guy, Saturday Nights in August.

Also this month I am going to be running the projector at the Free Outdoor Movies in the Park series at Hing Hay Park in Chinatown/ID.

You can check info about the free movies series at the Parks website:

http://www.cityofseattle.net/Parks/downtown/

The movies will be shown at sunset, which is predicted to be around 8:30 - 9ish.  We’re be setting up a big inflatable “blimp” screen and showing movies in front of the Pagoda.

***Important: If it’s raining the movie showings will be cancelled****

Movies to be shown are:

1) Saturday, August 7th: “The Spy Next Door”  (in English with Spanish subtitles).

2) Saturday, August 14th: “Red Cliff” (in Chinese with English subtitles).

3) Saturday, August 21st: “Karate Kid II” (in English with Chinese subtitles).

4) Saturday, August 28th: “Up” (in English with Spanish subtitles).

6) Last thing, Seattle people, don’t forget the Volunteer Park Conservancy Luau Party tonight, Thursday August 5th.

http://www.volunteerparkconservatory.org/events.html

My best wishes to you for a beautiful August!

James Whetzel

Indeed it is true there are some new sounds coming from the International Fountain, when the big shows aren’t running, and likewise playing in the background of the Center House.

Artists in the mix include:

Múm, Manu Dibango, Morcheeba, Explosions in the Sky, Death Cab for Cutie, De Phazz, Cepia, Max Roach, Apocolyptica, J Dilla, Plan B, Nightmares on Wax, The Section Quartet, and Mogwai.

Here’s a link to one track in the mix, “Your Hand in Mine,” by Explosions in the Sky.

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Explosions+In+The+Sky/track/Your+Hand+In+Mine?src=onebox

Best musical wishes,

James Whetzel