:: James Zabiela Guest Mix ::

Next Tuesday will see me hand-over the decks to one of the most talented and sought after DJ's on the planet. James Zabiela will be spinning up a guest mix for Fire 107.6 at 9pm on my show next Tuesday 29th August 2006.

This is your one and only chance to here the turntable magic of Zabiela on Fire, as James only has a handful of UK gigs left this season before globe-trotting the world with his bag of tunes and hitting the studio for more production duties.


James will soon be pushing his new tune 'Weird Science', which we will feature on the show very, very soon. For more information, visit his brilliant website.

My thanks to James and Red Light Management for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

DJ Simon Sinfield on Fire 107.6FM

www.fireradio.co.uk

:: MySpace ::

Please be my friend?

I've finally been drawn into the world of MySpace. If you're not aware of the MySpace phenomenon then a quick explanation is required.

MySpace is a web-based social network, where users submit their profile and meet other MySpace-ians. Simple, fun and a great way to discover new music, mates and practice the fine art of time-wasting! It is one of the top five visited websites in the world and has become an established part of popular culture. More info here.

The trouble with my MySpace page is the lack of friends! Currently I have none! Yep, a big fat zero! Apart from some bloke called Tom, who apparently everyone gets as a default. Great! Now I don't really have any desire to be a social outcast, let alone Nobby No-Mates on MySpace, so if you have a spare five minutes, please sign-up, say hello and waste some time with the rest of us. www.myspace.com/simonsinfield

:: Pure Fire Tuesday's ::

As well as the Saturday 'Mixbuster' shows, I'm now live on air on Fire 107.6 every Tuesday evening from 8pm. My new 'Pure Fire' radio show highlights upfront house, electro and breaks, as well as featuring exclusive remixes and mash-ups.

Text the studio on 81800. Start your message with the word 'FIRE'.

Phone the studio: 293333

Listen online at: www.fireradio.co.uk

:: June Tunes ::

Here’s a quick list of some hot new dance tracks that are set for greatness this summer and that have already featured heavily in my own sets.

Supermode ‘Tell me Why’ – You’ve probably heard this track by now as every DJ I know has picked up on this release from leading dance label, Data Records (part of Ministry Of Sound). Sampling the 80’s iconic band Bronski Beat, this track builds into a real thumper and is a terrific sounding, simple piece of dance music from top DJ's Axwell & Angello. I've already sung their praises elsewhere on this blog, so I won't be too gushing about their genius skillz. Expect a gaggle of remixes to follow when this gets released. I wonder if Bronski will reform?

Dannii Minogue ‘So Under Pressure’ – I’ll admit that I groaned when this arrived, but I loved it as soon as I slapped it onto the platter. The Soul Seekerz are doing the knob-twiddling again for Dannii and this could well be another chart success for the partnership.

Teamsters ‘Feels Like Love’ – This has been floating around for a month and working brilliantly everytime I play it. In fact, it is now filed in the ‘floorfiller’ section within my record bag, as it seems to guarantee a good response and fill the dancefloor with a gaggle of happy chicks everytime it gets played.

Rogue Traders ‘Voodoo Child’ – Already a hit in their native Australia, the Rogue Traders get a UK release in time to cash in on our summer vibe. I’m in no doubt that this will go down a storm in Ibiza. This could possibly be one of the key tracks for this summer.

Andy Cato ‘La Luna’ – A bit more underground than the other tracks I’ve reviewed here, but still embedded deep within the world of house music. Andy Cato is from Groove Armada and he doesn’t normally do choons like this but he damn well should! It’s a slick piece of house music that shows how a dance track can be so much more than a 4/4 drum pattern. ‘La Luna’ builds and builds and builds into an accomplished creation and it’s gaining great audience reaction. This months top tune by a mile.

Tune in to my radio shows to hear more upfront music. That's all for now. Catch ya all later.

www.themix247.com
www.fireradio.co.uk

:: May The 4th Be With You ::

Another busy month of mixing and producing for me. I’m now on air four times a week and lovin’ every single second. Being able to share great music and interact with the listeners is terrific and its great to know that so many of you are loving the exclusive mixes and the shows.

Radio Schedule:
Wednesday 8 -10pm - Midweek Mash-up on THE MIX 24-7
Friday 8 -10pm – The Friday Hustle on THE MIX 24-7
Saturday 8-10pm – The Mixbuster on FIRE 107.6
Sunday 8-10pm – The Sunday House Session on THE MIX 24-7

You can tune in online if you’re not within range of the broadcast – just go to the individual websites to listen to the audio stream.

www.themix247.com
www.fireradio.co.uk

:: Lost In Music ::

As I'm just about to mark another year of age-ing, I thought I would celebrate by posting some new downloads into the Mixbuster mouse hole. Regular visitors will see that I've placed another segment from one of my radio shows in the downloads section, plus your first chance to grab part 1 of a monsterous 60 minute mix that I produced a little while ago.


'Lost In Music - Part 1' is the first in a three part mix, traversing the history of dance music. Most of this creation was worked out in my head, miles away from turntables and tape. When I eventually began the project it slotted together beautifully. I guess I had waited such a long time to have the time to record this, that the amount of preparation and ideas just exploded on to the tape in a mass download from my brain!

I'm proud of this musical jamboree and I really hope you like it. If you do, you'll freak out when you hear parts 2 & 3!

:: Dust Off & Mash-Up ::

My latest Mixbuster show on Fire 107.6 featured some great new tracks from Akubu 'Phuture Bound', La Griffe 'We Can Make It Shine' and Dero 'Dero's Illusion'. The latter is another 80's tune re-worked for the dance floors. I used this opportunity to dust off the mash-up of the original Imagination 'Just An Illusion', but with vocals from David Guetta 'The World Is Mine'. A simple match of tunes that hopefully create an entertaining 5 minutes of house music.

I'm still getting great feedback (thanks) for my mash-up of New Order's 'Blue Monday' with the main theme from War Of The Worlds. I keep meaning to extend it and tidy it up, but my other productions get in the way.

My favourite remix around at the moment is Mark Knight's reworking of Joey Negro 'Make A Move'. To shake up such a perfect track was obviously a challenge that Mark Knight relished in. It's well worth the download fee.

And finally, this months award for the Track That Is Mostly Likely To Grow On You is 'Changes' by Chris Lake. It's a sweeping and smoothly produced dance track that grabs you as soon as the synth bassline kicks in. It then sweeps in with the house piano and starts to swirl you around the dance floor. Give it three listens and then tell me that I'm wrong about this stonker of a house track from the Apollo/Island label!

:: Order New Order ::

I’ve just managed to download the Sander Kleinbergen remix of Mylo’s ‘Muscle Cars’. I ruined my 12” copy last night by accidentally dragging it across a butterfly catch on a flightcase. Doh! Sander’s full 8 min ‘Pace Car Mix’ is a genius piece of work (IMHO) and it is a great example of how a talented DJ/producer can turnaround the fortunes of a weak album track. Yep, I said it. Mylo isn’t Midas. Everything he does isn’t necessarily transformed into a gold disc! For me, ‘Muscle Cars’ is a weak album track and it’s only saving grace was the original reshaping by Freeform Five and this work of genius by Kleinbergen.

Incidentally, the two 12” releases of the Muscle Cars remixes get the award for best sleeve design so far this year. Brilliant! They’re right up there with the original New Order ‘Blue Monday’ 12” sleeve, and the artwork on The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s LHCB’.

On the subject of New Order, they’ve gone mad and are set to re-release an abundance of new and original 12" remixes this month. For my money, this is a far better prospect than the new whacko Jacko singles collection. Buy a £10 empty box and remember to purchase each of the singles to go into said box? Madness! MJ must be short of cash. Please don’t get sucked into this multi-purchasing trick. Download the MJ tracks from iTunes and make your own box from an empty cereal packet. Decorate said box by downloading MJ images via Google Images. Sorted

:: Hot Tracks ::

A few hot new tracks to check out: Faith Evans ‘Mesmerized’, remixed by industry favourites the Freemasons; Juno ft. Danni ‘My Pressure’; ATCFC ‘Reach Out’; and the awesome Troublesoup breaks remix of Todd Terry’s ‘Can You Party. I’ve been playing the latter with my breakbeat bootie of Coldplay ‘Clocks’ and the Jungle Brothers nod to Todd, ‘I’ll House You’. The response has been great. More and more house fans are getting into breakbeat, although mid-mix I was asked for R Kelly ‘Ignition’! Give me strength!

:: Small World ::

My radio shows on the worldwide station MIX 24-7 have been expanded. I’m now live in the mix on Wednesday’s from 7pm and Friday’s from 8pm. The MIX 24-7 is growing rapidly and is a very exciting venture to be involved in. It is really weird DJ'ing and receiving emails from people in other countries listening to your choice of music and rubbish chat. A listener in Jamaica recently emailed the MIX 24-7 studio in the middle of my show. For about 20 seconds I stared blankly at the screen, whilst my brain registered how small the planet becomes when you have access to the World Wide Web.

Join in the fun and log on to the MIX 24-7 as much as you can as Paul and the gang are doing a marvellous job in a web full of mediocre online audio streaming.

Email the studio: themix247@mac.com

Click here to tune in.

:: Don't Go ::

You may well have noticed the lack of new downloads available. This is mainly due to the trouble caused by a couple of Mixbuster bootlegs doin’ the rounds last year. Ooops! My remix of the White Stripes has ruffled a few feathers and has been pulled from the downloads section.

I’ve made amends for my crimes by getting support for my reworking of Yazoo's 'Don't Go'. The initial feedback has been good and it'll get an airing on the radio soon. It’s not available in the downloads section – for obvious reasons - but can be sourced by emailing: zonemedia@mac.com.

There’s going to be a pause on new Mixbuster material until March as I’m off for a few weeks of collecting deep vein thrombosis and chicken flu. Fortunately, my funky new UDG bag, an iPod full of new toons and some real-life Google Earth viewing should make the gig travelling more palatable.

:: Radio Gong ::

I get to post some v. exciting news this month. Fire 107.6 has won a Radio Academy award and is subsequently nominated for a gong at the Sony Awards later in 2006. This is wonderful news for the Fire Crew, who really deserve this nod from the industry pundits. I’m chuffed to be a part of what is a unique station amongst a back drop of commercial cheesiness.

Fire completes its remit to play dance and progressive music from 8pm each evening in its Pure Fire slot. The line up of jocks and genres on Pure Fire is fantastic including; Chris Bailey’s Hed Kandi sessions, headline sets from Daniel ‘Slinky’ Bailey, house and breaks with Luke Dubyah, R&B with the main man Jay Rachet, as well as the Aquasky d’n’b/breaks slot to name but a few. If you don’t know already, you can catch my efforts to ruin the programming on Saturday nights, 8 – 10 pm.

For more info hit the Fire website.

:: New Year - New Tunes ::

2006 has started with a mass of strong new releases landing on the Mixbuster mat. The pick of the bunch has to be the Freemasons new track called ‘Watchin’. What a corker! Both the dub mix and vocal mix are going down a storm and expect some remixes to follow. It has a release date of early March.

Another strong player is the re-working of ‘Thunder In My Heart’ by Meck. The original track was a miss-not-hit for Leo Sayer in the 70’s. Yep, you read that correctly. The short curly one is back! The new version has already made the Radio 1 playlist and has gained credibility from the more hardcore jocks and their respective audiences. The promo I received is a highly filtered remix with Shapeshifter-esque strings, which goes down a treat.

One to avoid, but is already doin’ well, is the re-working of the old Baywatch theme by Sunblock. I’m all for delving through the back catalogue for decent samples, but do we really have to sink so low!? The students are going wild for this track and will probably drag it into the top ten.

Some harder tunes doing the rounds are Haffi ft. Emerson ‘Afterlife’, Plump DJ’s ‘Dr Dub’ and the brilliant Suniba, ‘Call For Me’. The latter has been remixed by FotM (Friend of the Mixbuster) Ben Jones. Synth bleeps and deep beats make up this house-based tune, with great vocal samples from Angie Brown. Suniba are still unsigned but hopeful of a release in time for the summer clubbing season. I’m battering it on my shows, so you can check it out for yourselves.

Lots of DJ’ing means no web updates, no new Mixbuster productions and a serious lack of sleep. All will be rectified in February – hopefully.

:: Loopy Loops ::

So what does 2006 hold for the DJ and your night out? The time has come I reckon for the download war to really put the boot in to vinyl. More and more DJ’s are crossing over to the dark side of CD mixing. Some are even working solely from laptop. Creativity is the name of the game, so demand more from your night out. 2006 should see more in the way of visual DJ’ing and the use of technology to expand the experience of a good old fashioned boogie.

I’m a fan of both vinyl and CD mixing and can appreciate the skills of Sasha and Zabiela driving their fans wild with loop after loop mixed from their Apple Powerbooks! However, I’m scared that the technology will detract and distract from the core subject: the music! It’s about the music people. It always has been and always will be.

Saying that, if you haven’t got an iTunes account or an iPod yet, then you are well wide of the mark! I hope you’ve all been good little boys and girls, and you all got the 60gb iPods for Xmas that you all deserve!

Thank you to those who took time to email me about my mixes and the radio shows. Thanks for the positive vibe. You can expect more from me on 'air', both on Fire 107.6 and the Mix 24-7, as well as more mixes and compositions.

Thanks for your support and good luck for 06.

Cheers, Si.

:: Teamplayers ::

That immensely talented trio Aquasky have re-launched their website in readiness for the February 2006 release of their new album ‘Teamplayers’. The project sees Dave, Brent and Kieron join forces with a select group of producers, DJ’s and singers to create a diverse and eclectic album of breakbeats. The boys have placed their drum and bass hat firmly onto a shelf in the backroom for the moment and are concentrating on Teamplayers, DJ’ing and running their record labels Passenger/777! The first single from Teamplayers is called ‘Overneath’. It is a collaboration between Aquasky and Meat Katie, which has blasted into the UK dance chart at number 3. Good work fellas!


The next single will be a link up with Elhornet on a track called ‘Girls and Boys’, and will be out in January 2006. Expect remixes from Dylan Rhymes and High Contrast, plus a remix version of the album later in 2006.

If you want some upfront quality music, then expand your mind and your record collection the Aquasky way. It really is worth the journey.

You can buy all things Aquasky via their new website. You can also download their stuff on iTunes.

www.aquasky.co.uk

December Schedule

December looks set to be a very busy month. The student nights and 'Mash Mayhem' gigs around the UK will no doubt all culminate in an end of year frenzy and a rather large sticky mess! I'm also gonna represent Fire 107.6 at Club 176 in Bournemouth, for a WKD promotion night. Cool!

The next few radio shows are going to feature a few mixes dedicated to one artist. This run of 'Megamixes' begins with a selection of massive choons by Basement Jaxx. There will also be an edited version of my 30 track Kylie Megamix hitting the airwaves. Perhaps we'll get the full 30 minute version out there one day?

Some new downloads will also be available in the next few weeks so keep checking.

I'll post more next week when I've a little more time to breathe!

Cheers,

Si

90's Weekend!

This weekend is '90's weekend' on Fire 107.6, with all of the DJ's rummaging through their record boxes for those classic tunes from over a decade ago. Where has the time gone?

Once you start to explore the 90's back catologue you soon realise that there were some mighty fine songs released throughout that decade. Monster tunes like; Black Box 'Ride On Time', The Bucketheads 'The Bomb',and Robert Miles 'Children' to mention three from a choice of hundreds!

However, my show for this week pushes forward a few new tracks for your consideration, as well as chucking in some underground classics. Anyone remember Two Men A Drum Machine & Trumpet and the Xpansion classic 'Move Ya Body'?

This week's monster mash-up features Goldtrixx, Eurythmics and Mory Kante as well as my re-working of the White Stripes '7 Nation Army' (which I will play after the 9pm watershed*).

White Stripes vs. Mixbuster

A slightly harder edge to the show this week, which I hope you'll enjoy. Not many studio mash-up's, but some choice remixes and hopefully some smooth mixing.

Thanks for tuning in.

Cheers,

Si

*The Watershed: Hopefully the time where record company executives aren't listening and won't send the heavies around to confiscate my SL1210's!

Bye Bye Boom!

After a long stint ruling the booty highway, the Boom Selection crew have called time on their stirling effort to promote the mash-up and bootleg genre. Gaining worldwide recognition and providing a stepping stone to greater things for DJ's such as; Osymyso, The Freelance Hellraiser, GHP, and (the commercial crossover) Richard X, Boom also inspired the record companies to jump on the bandwagon and boosted the takings for established names such as Ben Liebrand and 2 Many DJ's/Soulwax.

Boosted by their Boom nights in London and with strong support from XFM DJ's James Hyman and Eddy Temple-Morris, the Boom boys feel that they've done their bit and have closed the doors. Nice one lads. You did a cracking job and will be missed by all.

Boom is dead - long live boom!

Download Update

The download section is now growing. The most recent update includes a mash-up of Tears For Fears 'Shout' vs. Gorillaz 'Dare' and a twenty minute excerpt from one of my radio shows originally broadcast in August.

This mix opens with a brilliant remix by breakz guruz 'Bugz In The Attic', before I go a bit more mainstream with a mash-up of Basement Jaxx versus Liberty X! This is another mix that features 007 movie samples. I'll mail a free mix CD to anyone who can name the bond film the samples are from!

email me: simonsinfield@mac.com

The Wall

You've probably already seen it, but 'The Wall' is now online and all visitors to www.mixbuster.com will pay a visit before navigating to the blog. A brilliant piece of Flash animation and graphic design from top bloke James Radford @ Cookie Dude Web Design.