It has been a while since I updated my blog. So here you go. A post about everything and nothing.

It’s probably to early to review this past year, it’s still 20 days to go. A lot can happen in that time. But I wanted to say that even though for quite a few people around me this has been a terrible year, for me it couldn’t have been better. And that might sound selfish to say, but I’m very grateful for it.

At the moment I’m moving to a new home. So I’m playing the time card for the lack of updates on this blog and GizMag. But I promise 2011 will bring some new awesomeness! I have some ideas to rebrand the GizMag website, and expand it with something new. It’s all very early, it only exists as a concept in my mind for now. But it is time for some changes.

At the moment I’m spending my last days at Alley, which is a bit sad, but it will also give me the opportunity to spend my time on new ideas. It was a fun ride, and I’m happy to have done it. And that’s the only advise I can give anyone. If you have an idea, dream or chance to do something you really like. Just go for it. It’s totally worth it!

I’ll leave you with some awesome music albums I’m listening to at the moment. Check them out.

It’s been a long time since I made a mixtape. So here is a brand new one! Been working/playing with it for a few weeks. The result is a acid/break/crash mix of some freaky and pumping beats.

I’m using my Dropbox account for sharing the mixtapes, it seems the easiest way to do so. At least now I’m sure the files won’t get deleted after a month, as I’m using my Dropbox all the time anyway. (Stupid Rapidshare…)

Freak Like I Do (41m06s – 75,5MB – 256kbps MP3):

1. Tenacious D – Cock Pushups
2. Rick James vs Birdy Nam Nam – Super Freak Boulogne Express
3. Freaks – The Creeps
4. Martin Solveig vs Les Rythmes Digitales – About One 2.3 Four
5. Autokratz – Kick
6. Yeah Yeah Yeah – Heads Will Clap ‘n’ Roll
7. Wham! vs Rex The Dog – Young Gecko Guns
8. Les Rythmes Digitales vs Cassius – Feeling Disco
9. Beastie Boys vs Aphex Twin vs Spiller – Triple Groovy Windowlicker
10. The Ting Tings vs The Crystal Method – Shut up True Grit
11. The Crystal Method vs Random (vs Daft Punk) – Born Too Short
12. A-Trak – We Don’t Want No Goblins (Cut)
13. Kid Sister – Life On TV (Cut)
14. Rinôçérôse – Cubicle
15. Amanda Blank - Might Like You Better
16. Tenacious D – Hard Fucking

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3049327/Mixtapes/FreakLikeIDo/FreakLikeIDo.mp3

Cover image taken from Tasastock.

Today some new names were revealed for my favourite festival, Pukkelpop. It’s only getting better, because The xx is coming! They were already lined up for another big festival here in Belgium, Rock Werchter. But lets face it. Rock Werchter is for pussies. Pukkelpop is what it’s all about. Anyway, so I was saying, the line-up for Pukkelpop is pretty good with names as The xx, Eels, Pendulum, Groove Armada (if they stay away for their latest album), Mumford & Sons, The National, Hot Chip, Beach House, … Do I really need to go on?

Lately I’ve been trying out some new bands. So let me give you a quick overview of what I’m listening to these last weeks. First of all (it’s playing in the background as I type), we have De Novo Dahl. To be honest, I have no idea how I stumbled on their Bandcamp. Oh wait, I do remember. I found a link on The Heavy Edition. The album cover looked pretty nice, so I clicked it. (And it said “Free Album”.) :) So head over to their Bandcamp page. At the moment you can download a lot of albums and EP’s for free, so hurry up, I don’t know how long that’s going to be.

I don’t really know much about the band, but I especially fell in love with the Bobby Thompson Reels, Vol. 1. So just take a listen to it, and decide for yourself.

Another great website I discovered not so long ago is We Are Hunted. They claim to have a list of the 99 most emerging songs in the world. It’s a rather bold statement, but I’m going to believe them for now. The website works pretty well, but it can use some more work (because in Google Chrome it still has some hick ups from time to time). What you can do is listen to the list of songs, or filter them out by genre or reference. You can also create your own chart. But I’m still working on mine.

Listening to these emerging songs, I discovered a band called Delorean. Okay, yes that name reminded me of an awesome film, but that’s not the reason why I like them. I hope I have this right, but they are supposed to be a band from Spain, playing melancholic pop music.

Take a listen to their album Subiza. The first song Stay Close is fantastic.

There is some more music I like to talk about, but it’s getting late. So that’s for another time.

So I’m back using Last.fm… after a 6-month-one-man-protest… I still think it’s discriminating to charge everyone but the UK, USA and Germany, for using their radio. But anyway… I’m back because I missed the recommendations.

I had Fink in my iTunes wish list for some time, but never got around to download it. This week it popped up in my recommendations, so I decided to give it a listen. At first his music sounds like your typical “guitar picking singer-songwriter”, but you can clearly hear it comes a long way. Fink used to make ambient trip-hop beats (which I totally recommend as well), but for some reason decided to chance course after 6 years. I think his music is fantastic, but I don’t expect any less from the Ninja Tune label. If you want to start somewhere, I would try his latest album Sort Of Revolution.

Next on in my recommendation list is Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I’ve actually heard their hit single, Heads Will Roll, on the radio a couple of times, but it never got stuck in my head. Until now. The band consists out of 3 people, where Karen Orzolek is responsible for the vocals, who I also heard singing on the soundtrack of Where The Wild Things Are.

Last one, for now, is Beach House. I don’t actually know them from Last.fm, but it was recommended by Marmushka. It’s an American band playing indie dream pop, whatever that means, but it sounds great. A good place to start is their latest album Teen Dream.

Update: Oh, in case you want to “friend” me on Last.fm, you can search for KiddoMono (dumb username I know, but I’m stuck with it now).

I should also make another mixtape, and I love making it for someone else, but… Well… Let’s just leave it with “I don’t have the time anyway”.

You see, I told you I wouldn’t wait too long for the next update. :P

Two weeks ago, I got a call from a friend who had an extra ticket for Grizzly Bear. I didn’t really know them, but the songs on their MySpace page sounded very good, and everyone I asked about it told me it was a great band. And they were right, their set here in Brussels was absolutely amazing! So thanks again, Gijs!

They are touring through Europe, together with St. Vincent. A one-woman-band which is definitely as good as Grizzly Bear. You should check out her album Marry Me.

Then, my friend started talking about The XX. Okay, never heard of them either. Yes I know, shame on me. Because they are the best! It’s one of those albums you can put on repeat the whole day. I you haven’t heard it yet, do it now!

Just discovered Fever Ray. It’s a solo project of the lead vocalist of The Knife. I never paid much attention to The Knife really. Starting to wonder why… But I guess Fever Ray is not completely the same. It seems a bit darker.

Take a look a this superb videoclip!

When I Grow Up from Fever Ray on Vimeo.

Dog interviews Little Idiot on bug planet from Moby on Vimeo.

Put on your dancing shoes! It’s online mixtape time again! So happy to find Muxtape-like open-source software. I’ve started a first mixtape with some unsorted songs I like at the moment. Need to convert some more to mp3 and upload them soon.

http://mixtape.geertbollen.be/

(When you have the Flash Debug Player 10 installed, it will throw an error. I hope to find a fix for this.)

Have one too? Share it!

The sun is out, the bear is cold, and the BBQ is all set up. Time to turn up the volume!

I finished a brand new mixtape with some of my favourite dance/electro/club tracks. I feel like I’m still searching for a perfect mix, but I don’t want to keep tweaking it until it breaks again.
So I this it. The second release from the GizMag Mixtapes: Feels Like Club!

Download the mixtape on Rapidshare (256kbps / 82,5MB):
http://rapidshare.com/files/244603233/GizMag_FeelsLikeClub.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3049327/Mixtapes/FeelsLikeClub/FeelsLikeClub.mp3

The playlist (45min):

1. Meck – Feels Like Home
2. Digikid84 – Bboy Underground
3. Justice – DVNO
4. Discobitch – C’est Beau La Bourgeoisie
5. Chromeo – Needy Girl (Lifelike Remix)
6. Moulinex – Break Chops
7. Blendbrank – Fortuna
8. Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler
9. Laston & Geo – Love Mode Or Hate Mode (Lady Sovereign vs Goose)
10. datA – Aerius Light
11. Étienne de Crécy – Fast Track
12. Teenage Bad Girl – Ghost House

Cover image taken from stock at saligia.deviantart.com.

Mcbess is super cool. Remember this awesome videoclip? Now you can download the song for free! Read his post, and download the song.