INSILICO, the virtual city – Electro mix

“INSILICO is a dark futuristic metropolis, slowly floating several thousand meters high above the clouds. It is one of many cities, serving as the last airborne asylums for the small extant human population that has been forced there.” It is the year 2478.

I’ve been exploring INSILICO for quite a while now and it’s one of the marvels of Second Life. It’s a highly immersive virtual city, beautifully constructed with lots of engaging details. Bars, medical labs, shops, apartments, skyscrapers, workshops, a mid-air swimming pool, sewers. It’s the kind of place with stories to tell, which is obviously how it was intended - roleplayers live in the city and breathe life into the INSILICO storyline.

This mix evokes the city of INSILICO and delves into some of its dark corners. Corporate control, high technology, dark warehouses, idle robots, glowing skyscrapers, cybernetics, burnt-out cars, escaped androids.

55 mins. 192 kbps MP3 (75MB).

Mixed by Olaf Quintessa.

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Tracklist
1. Untitled #5 – James White
2. The New World – Komarken Electronics
3. Future In Plastic – Claro Intelecto Dub – Vector Lovers
4. Slow Decay – Freezie Freekie
5. Voltaic – Urban Textures
6. Chemotron Worldwide – BMX
7. Cosmic Wonder – Kalson
8. Punished By Machines – MAS 2008
9. Ghost Wires – Silicon Scally
10. Evolucion – Umwelt Remix – Boris Divider
11. In Abyss – Gods of Technology Mix – Signal Type
12. Oscuros Intereses – Dark Vektor
13. The Virtual Place is the Future – Sbles3plex
14. Sonic Sound Of Bass – Dagobert
15. Unlimited Power – TRV
16. Future Visions – Blotnik Brothers

Click here for direct link to INSILICO in Second Life.

Also check out the INSILICO website for more info on roleplay, events, photos, storylines.

Asteroid Mining Colony Blues – Electro Mix

Electro music evocative of life in a mining colony in the asteroid belt – Machinery, claustrophobia and isolation, work, paranoia and drunken parties. Inspiration for this mix came from reading Phillip K Dick. I’d like to think this mix could form the soundtrack to one of his stories.

52 mins. 192 kbps MP3 (71 MB).

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Tracklist
1. Eutow – Autechre
2. Negative Flash – Transllusion
3. Flatblock 209 – Pal Secam Kids
4. Bridge Of Sighs – Cestrian
5. The Machine – Ra-X
6. I Do Because I Couldn’t Care Less – I-F
7. Dawn Over the City – Heuristic Audio
8. Abstract Orange – Mandroid
9. Science Cant Save You – Komarken Electronics
10. Mindprogramming – MAS 2008
11. Deep Dissolve – Silicon Scally
12. Energy Vampire – I-F
13. I’m your magic man – Luke Eargoggle
14. Get With It – Dynamik Bass System
15. Damnation – Will Web
16. Vidd – Octagon Man
17. Ikon Symbol – Mandroid

(Illustration above by Chris Moore)

Live at The Underground

Last week Second Life held its 6th birthday celebrations. As part of the festivities the Southern Cross shared a stage with The Underground and threw a few parties. Art and Mik organised a few of us DJs from New Zealand to play at an event called “Under the Cross” which I was very happy to be a part of.

This set is a mixture of old and new deep house, but all of it stirs the heart and the feet. My principle remains this: The music’s got to work on the imagination and take you somewhere, or else it’s got to be so rump-shakingly funky that no imagination is necessary!

Stand out tracks amongst the newer releases included in this set are Lovebirds – Louder and Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts 4. Lovely slices of modern deep house with great grooves and lots of heart. Of the older stuff, my fave here is DJ Assassin – Jazz Journey. I was really excited to give this track an airing – Swirling, jazzy deep house with lots of crunch. Enjoy!

95 mins. 192 kbps MP3 (131 MB).

 

Click here to download

Tracklist
1. Raw Cuts 4 – Motor City Drum Ensemble
2. Streamin – Andreas Bender
3. The Rat – Lovebirds
4. Gripper – Shur-I-Kan
5. Ebers Groove – Hot Toddy
6. Simply Yes – Shur-I-Kan
7. Alone – Grey
8. Get It On – Crazy Penis
9. Life – Jask
10. A Reconstruction of “Mess of Afros” by Q-Burn’s Abstract Message – Glenn Underground
11. Block Party – Bob Sinclar
12. Dusk Till Dawn – Basement Jaxx
13. Dim’s Jazz (Latin’s In the House) – Dimitri from Paris
14. Jazz Journey – DJ Assassin
15. 3 Note Jazz – Thomas Schumacher
16. Jazz Doubt – Capital Swing
17. Back In The Daze – Dimitri From Tokyo
18. Louder! – Lovebirds
19. Summer Daze – Nick Holder
20. Les Enfants Du Bled – Bob Sinclar
21. Lovelee Dae – Beloved Surge Mix – Blaze

Interview with Ionic Benton

Ionic Benton is a DJ/producer from Luxembourg and is one of the foremost names on the Second Life techno scene.

Ionic caught the wave of electronic music that washed over his native Luxembourg in the mid-eighties and has ridden it ever since. From organising acid house parties and DJing, to developing his own live act and touring Europe, Ionic has stayed right at the crest of that wave. His style of tribal-tinged, atmospheric minimal techno has won him a keen following – for several years he composed the official theme for Luxembourg’s e-Lake festival, and he has worked extensively on remixes for other artists.

Olaf Quintessa caught up with Ionic to talk about music, live performances, Second Life, and techno in the year 2109.

Click here to read the full article on the Fresh Static website