The End of Technics?

Yesterday Panasonic announced that it was going to stop production of the Technics 1200 turntable. It seems like a sad news day for djs and dance music in general. At the start of the last decade turntables (presumably mostly Technics, as they are the industry standard and most recognisable name) were outselling guitars. Well, it seems it may be a little premature to sound a death knell for turntables as a whole just yet - according to Gizmodo, the site that originally broke the story it is only the Technics 1200Mk6 that is going to stop being produced. And I hear nothing about the 1210 series, which is possible even more popular than the 1200s. Still, it's a shame and a sign of the times, but hey, in 10 years we will all be djing on touch screen displays anyway.

NORAVE Freshers Party / Mix

Well, there's been a bit of a change of plan to our proposed Art School NORAVE residency. The Arty now want us do it on a weekend night on a monthly basis. These details are being finalised as I write.

We will still be holding the Freshers Party in the Vic Bar on Wednesday September 15th, as previously advertised, with special guests (and Shallow Rave favourites) Ben Butler & Mouse Pad (live), Blood Of The Bull (live), Dam Mantle (dj set) and Team Little Rock djs. Doors open at 9pm and close at 2am, and entry is £3 or FREE if you are a student at the GSA. Huzzah!

We've just put up a facebook event page for the Freshers party - if you wanna come leave us a message: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144508418919002#!/event.php?eid=144508418919002

There will be free CDs for the first 50 folk in the door (as usual at Little Rock gigs) and I have put together a special promo mix for the night too, called "Bring The Noise". This is pretty different to what I normally DJ, with 10 tunes in 20 minutes, and showcases my more eclectic/noisy leanings. There's some metal in here btw - but you can still dance to it:

Bring The Noise Mix NORAVE PROMO by theniallist

Sepultura - Refuse/Resist
Dizzee Rascal - Pussyole (Old School)
Sleigh Bells v Busta Rhymes - Tell Em Busta (Flowmack)
Daft Punk - Technologic (Basement Jaxx Kontrol Mix)
Gold Blood - Hair
Tiga - What You Need
Dead Prez - Hip Hop
Doctor P & Flux Pavillion - Stinkfinger
The Prodigy - Everybody In The Place
Public Enemy / Anthrax - Bring The Noise

Touchscreen DJing

Our dreams of Minority Report-style fully virtual musical world are getting even closer. Wires begone!

Below you can see a clip of the Emulator touchscreen DJing programme, and here is another, developed by VectorForm for Microsoft. I prefer the Emulator to this, as it replcates the Traktor interface and seems more instinctual, but now these ideas are out there it's only a matter of time before bringing actual records to a club will seem totally redundant. Grandad.