A Glimpse Inside The Mind of a Chameleon.

djchameleon · 07-07-2013, 02:48 AM

The Rise and Fall of Fo' Sho' Radio
Bump in the night productions
Presents
Fo' Sho' Radio
An eclectic online radio station.

DJChameleon and DJSlinky set off on a journey together after being exiled from their former kingdom. Along the way, they met up with a variety of characters from different walks of life. All of these characters joined up together to form their own kingdom and their intent was to rule over the airwaves while promoting local artists. The general idea behind their kingdom that was titled Fo’ Sho’ Radio was to play local artists for free and get them more attention while at the same time the bands/artists would be spreading the word of our radio station and one hand washes the other. The list of knights(djs) were DJ AngelBaby, DJ Corvain, DJ Inferno, DJ 2 Real, DJ A-Rizzle, DJ Kraut, DJ Metalgirl, DJ Quistis, DJ Jester.

I made sure that my kingdom got the most attention that it needed by being the local crier as well as being the leader of the knights. I made up their watch schedules and took care of any concerns they had. The main responsibility of DJ Slinky was to keep up and maintain the fortress(website) while on my side of things I was heavily promoting. I went out with my sack(backpack full of flyers) and would hand them out and talk to people. I was also collecting demos left and right. What I was doing, I actually instructed my other knights to do as well. We had so much traffic being directed to the fortress(website) and it was great but the only drawback is that DJ Slinky was being lazy about finishing up the fortress fortifications(website). He had the DJ schedule up and a link to the feed that we had going on but that was about it. He didn’t have the rest of the fortifications(site) functional. I had people coming back to me complaining about the fortress(website) and saying how incomplete it was. I was giving 110% to this kingdom(station) while DJ Slinky wasn’t taking it as seriously as I was. One of our knights offered to even help fix up the website but then DJ Slinky decided to start power tripping and drama ensued. Not too long after this conflict the whole operation just started to fall apart.

About two years later when I initially joined musicbanter, my intent was to recruit behind the scenes and see who was interested in doing some online dj’ing. I got a few people that were interested but their interest wasn’t serious enough for me so I decided not to go through with it. I also wanted to learn how to design websites so I would have control over it and then I’d be sole ruler(owner) of the station. I loved this kingdom(station) though while it lasted, it was my baby for two years. Each DJ had their specific genres that they liked to play. I would split up my night between having a chunk of rock music that I would play then taper off into hip hop. I had listeners that wouldn’t tune into me until I got to the hip hop section and my rock fans would tune out after the beginning rock section was over. I’m going to take some of the ideas that I had for my different blocks of programming and make them focused journal entries.

djchameleon · 07-11-2013, 08:39 AM

Razor’s Edge

One of my programming blocks was called Razor’s edge. I would basically stream a new release album in its entirety. I stayed away from leaks and would only play albums that were released in stores on that day. I’m going to attempt to review a new release album each Tuesday. Let’s see how well I can keep this up.

LetLive - The Blackest Beautiful

This week I’m going to give you a rundown of Letlive. This is my first time ever listening to this band. They are a post- hardcore band hailing from LA. I agree with a review of them that they have the technical fury of At The Drive In. My experience with this album has lead me to go back and check out their third album Fake History which is considered a breakthrough album for them. I bitch and moan about screaming but I can take it in small doses from time to time. My first time listening to this album was while I was working out so I tended to mostly focus on whether a track was catchy or not and was upbeat enough to keep me motivated while doing cardio. I will definitely be giving this album more plays it reminds me of my early 20s when I used to listen to The Blood Brothers and Thursday heavily. The percussion at the beginning of White America’s Beautiful Black Market is so infectious. When I heard that, I started to kick up the speed and my heart rate went up as I started going a bit faster on the elliptical. I know that if I was listening to this song at home, I would be doing a little dance in my chair. The Priest and Used Cars along with 27 Club ended up being standout tracks for me along with White America’s Beautiful Black Market. The subject matter for WABBM touches on American’s corporate culture and the money hungry healthcare system that we have. I went into this album not knowing what to expect and came out pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.

djchameleon · 07-19-2013, 07:42 PM

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again!

Spoiler for Dooo the time warp agaaaaaain:

Time Warp was another programming block that I had. I would pick a year randomly and go back to that time by playing RHPS Time Warp song. Once I got to that time, I would read off the headline of a major event that occurred that year. I would then begin by playing an album from that year that was popular and the top 10 songs from that year. Translating this to journal form, I think I will still do the headline of a current event for the year but I will go a little further by posting a small excerpt from the event. My first few Time Warps are going to be back to the 90s/00s to give you a peek into the artists/genres from my past.

The year is 1994 and Columbia House has sent out their annoying mailings where you can get 8 cassettes for free for joining their album club promotion. They have these little stamp sized pictures of different albums and the first one that I tear off and place on the little number one is Dookie by Green Day. This ends up being technically the first album that I “bought”. The reason bought is quoted is because I ended up paying for it not anytime near when I received it but years later as it appeared on my credit report. I ended up playing this album to death. I remember unfolding the booklet that came in the cassette case and going through the lyrics as they played over and over again while singing along horribly which isn’t much of an improvement over Billy Joe’s vocals. “Welcome to Paradise” was the song that made me break out the air guitar while jumping on my bed and singing along. This album started off my interest in Alternative Rock and that's when I headed towards listening to an Alt Rock radio station to get caught up to speed with more tunes that I would end up loving.

Now we take a look at some of the events that happened during 1994:
U.S.

Tonya Harding wins the national Figure Skating championship title but is stripped of her title following an attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan.

UK

Channel Tunnel opened on May 6th between England and France

U.S.

First Genetically Engineered Tomatoes Available use of GM Foods in US approved

U.S.

Northridge Earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles

U.S.

OJ Simpson flees police in his white ford bronco

U.S.

Major League Baseball Players Association begin 232 day strike causing 1994 season to be cancelled

U.S.

Orange County, Calif. files for bankruptcy protection

UK

The New UK Lottery Introduced with an estimated jackpot of £7m

UK

New Sunday Trading Laws allows shops in Britain to open legally on Sundays

UK

Frederick West serial killer together with his wife Rosemary West, was responsible for the murder of at least twelve young women

U.S.

Tornado outbreak occurs in Southeastern United States

Northern Ireland

The Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations"

UN

The United Nations Peace Keeping Force Withdraws From Somalia following attacks by militia

U.S.

The Whitewater scandal investigation begins

U.S.

The North American Free Trade Agreement ( Making The Largest Trading Bloc of Countries In The World ) United States, Canada and Mexico.

U.S.

Violent wildfires destroy 286,000 acres in Montana.

UK

Eurostar rail service carrying passengers between London, Paris and Brussels is launched

The good old days of watching the white bronco speed chase. I remember it well because I was living with a family friend at the time and every tv in the house was set to the chase so you could go from eating dinner in the dining room while watching it to going to take a shit and watching it from a set in the bathroom then heading to the main living room to watch it on the bigger screen there. It was a lovely surreal experience that I’ll never forget.

djchameleon · 07-20-2013, 05:12 AM

Razor's Edge

This week’s Razor’s edge is a little behind schedule because I wanted to get the Time Warp post out but anyways here we go. This week I latched onto the album Believers by ¡Mayday!. Supposedly this band has been around since 2006 but only over the past two years or so they added another rapper Wreckonize. ¡Mayday! is an American hip hop group from Miami, Florida The group consists of rapper Bernbiz, rapper Ben Miller (aka Wrekonize), producer, keyboard player and guitarist Aaron Eckhart (aka Plex Luthor), percussionist Andrews Mujica (aka NonMS), drummer Terrel (aka L T Hopkins), and bassist Gianni Perocapi (aka Gianni Cash). The band is currently signed to Tech N9ne's Strange Music label. The only reason I found out about them is because of their connection to Tech N9ne and being on his label. When I listen to a new album especially a more mainstream one I can’t help but shuffle tracks into three categories. One “Is this hit/radio quality track”, two “this is a gem on the album but not radio worthy” and Three “this is just plain awful and filler for the album”. My first impression listen to this album lead me to believe that it was filled with fillers. They would have one good track then the next right after felt like a filler and this would go on for 18 tracks or so. I picked up the deluxe edition so it has 3 bonus tracks at the end totaling 18 tracks on this album.

Spoiler for Unplug:

The first track that really stood out to me was one called “Unplug” they were talking about unplugging from society and even drug culture of not taking substances and also not being connected all the time to everyone through new technology. I related to this song so much because I ended up “unplugging” for a little under a year last year. I wanted to get a grasp on all the free flowing information that I was constantly feeding into my head and at times made me feel like I was ADD or had ADHD. I felt like it was extremely hard for me to concentrate and focus on certain things.

Spoiler for High Ride Official Video:

Two tracks later “High Ride” begins and when it gets to the chorus they start to mention flashing lights. Just having the words flashing lights makes this radio quality because of the association that it makes with other songs that have flashing lights in its chorus but this is a catchy little ditty. Two more tracks later we come across “My Life” any song that tends to have the word life in it usually catches my attention and is introspective. This song is no different and follows that formula. This song is a little lighter fare though but yes it’s catchy and it is telling its listeners that he’s “just living his life” which talks about his carefree life and how he came from nothing and now he’s just living it the way he wants all extravagantly. There is also the message of live your life the way you want and don’t worry about how someone else is living their life.

Spoiler for Mortuary Mary:

After repeated listenings I ended up liking 13 tracks out of 18 which is really good imo.

djchameleon · 08-01-2013, 04:10 AM

Razor's Edge

The Razor’s Edge is a bit dull because the releases that I’m talking about in this entry were released last week. I just had a weird busy week and even though I might have had time to do a write up. I just never got around to it. I had a really hard time deciding between two great albums I heard this week on which one I would feature on Razor’s edge so I decided to cover them both. Hands Like Houses and Gogol Bordello.

Hands Like Houses - Unimagine

This is my first time hearing Hands Like Houses and they remind me so much of bands like Trapt and Taking Back Sunday. Hands Like Houses is an Australian rock band from Canberra. Formed in 2008, the group is currently signed to Rise Records. This is pretty much another radio alt rock band so they aren’t too spectacular or breaking any molds but I still love them nonetheless. I even went to FYE to pick up their album so I could have a physical copy and I ended up finding their album from last year which I didn’t know about. I asked the clerk if they had any copies and he’s like “yeah no, we won’t be ordering that or getting any copies in.” If you have been in plug with me lately, I pretty damn sure you’ve heard at least one of their songs but I’ll put two here for you to listen to.

Spoiler for A Fire On A Hill:

Spoiler for Introduced Species:

This song triggers happy memories for me when I was in my late teens and listened to alt rock heavily. My teen years weren't all sunshine and golden but I did have some good memories and this song takes me back.
Another bonus to this album is that it’s only 11 tracks so you don’t have to drown in too much mediocrity but I’ve listened to this album repeatedly all last week and into this week.

Gogol Bordello - Pura Vida Conspiracy

I’m late on catching onto Gogol Bordello apparently. Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music. The band incorporates accordion and violin (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with punk and dub. I went into this album not knowing what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound gracing my ears. This is their 6th album and I will most definitely look into earlier albums based on how much play I gave this album over the span of a week. My favorite track Dig Deep Enough has a mariachi playing and some flamenco that gives it an excellent latin flair.

Spoiler for Dig Deep Enough:

I should go to misspoptart and get some more gypsy music recs from her. I really enjoyed this album that much that it turned me onto gypsy music.

djchameleon · 08-01-2013, 03:59 PM

Razor's Edge

Selena Gomez - Stars Dance

I’m going to have to give this week’s edge to Selena “Babyface” Gomez. She helped me out in a time of need. I was at the halfway mark in my cardio session and just finished up listening to Jay Sean’s latest release when her album started with a song called Birthday which just gave me a jolt of energy to press on and continue my 60 min. workout routine.

Spoiler for Birthday:

Spoiler for SlowDown:

I want to take this time to give the producers all the credit in the world for this great album. I didn’t expect to like a Selena Gomez album as much as I did and it had enough infectious pop to push me through my workout which was a plus. The Cataracs, Rock Mafia, Dreamlab, Stargate, The Monsters and Strangerz along with a few others but her production is what really sold me on this album. This is her debut album solo while it’s her 4th record overall. The other albums she had were with her band The Scene. I don’t know if this album has less personality than her other records. I will have to check it out for myself but I can’t stop gushing over how much I loved the production and the influences that were being used. The only gripe I had was when she’s doing reggae-ish type songs. The voice that she was using for them sounded pretty awful. She sounded like someone pretending to be West Indian and that’s the worst sound in the world to my ears because my family is West Indian and I know what it should sound like properly. Actually that’s not even my only gripe, a major problem I have that I know Selena and other former Disney singers are doing lately is cultural appropriation and it’s hard to stand by and watch them let this happen like nothing is going on. It’s kind of weird that Selena does it because she was in fucking Spring Breakers! Spring Breakers wasn’t only about showcasing the hedonistic culture of young people these days but there was also a perception of the characters trying to adapt this black ghetto mentality or what they thought this mentality was and how they should act. I guess she didn’t watch her own movie that she starred in or she just didn’t take away the lesson she was supposed to get from it. The more I talk about issues I have with Selena more are popping up but I swear this is the last one in my rant. She looks like a 12 year old, they really need to stop trying to make her look sexy. I don’t care how old she really is. She has a baby face and gyrating in music videos is going to make me over look that face of hers so just they just need to stop and give it a rest with giving her a sexual phase.

djchameleon · 08-03-2013, 07:34 AM

Random Thoughts

I was outside waiting for my taxi when this thought just flew through my head. If I had a sit down with President Obama, what would I talk to him about? All the politic type of topics and issues that I have started to flow through my head but I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t want to talk about anything of the sort with him. I would want to tap into my inner Howard the Duck and ask him the most asinine questions that I can come up with. I’m sure some of the information would be readily available out there but I’d love to hear them come from his mouth in conversation.

First and foremost I would want to know if he had time to play video games which system would he play and if he was interested in them at all whatsoever. I would probably hear him respond about casual games like Angry Birds or some other mobile game because maybe that’s all he has time for but it would be interesting to hear his answer to that question. I would pick his brain about recent music releases that he was into but dig a bit deeper to find out his favorite artist of the 1980s and also today but with today he would have to name album and favorite track. He needs to tell me what movie he watched recently that touched his heart. It would probably be some Oscar bait drama movie but I need to know. Last but not least if he was in the middle of any books and what’s his favorite genre to read. It would most likely be some non-fiction dribble but I would want to hear about his taste in fiction material.

misspoptart · 08-03-2013, 08:24 AM

I will totally listen to her whole album at work soon. Right after I finish listening to Channel Orange for Manky.

Great little review DJ! My interest is officially piqued!

djchameleon · 08-03-2013, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misspoptart

I will totally listen to her whole album at work soon. Right after I finish listening to Channel Orange for Manky.

Great little review DJ! My interest is officially piqued!

For Manky? I'm the one that told you to listen to it lol.

Also, I need some gypsy music recs from you. After listening to Gogol Bordello, I'm all about it.

misspoptart · 08-06-2013, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

For Manky? I'm the one that told you to listen to it lol.

Also, I need some gypsy music recs from you. After listening to Gogol Bordello, I'm all about it.

Ahhhh!! Really? Omg I'm so sorry. It was that long ago that I forgot.

Sorry brahh. OKAY. TODAY IS THE DAY.

08-03-2013, 08:24 AM	#18 (permalink)
misspoptart gimme gimme Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: istanbul Posts: 897	I will totally listen to her whole album at work soon. Right after I finish listening to Channel Orange for Manky. Great little review DJ! My interest is officially piqued!