Winamp v2 – Basic, like a crappy car stereo

Sonique media player was a funky upstart that was in development about the same time, which had a completely different approach to to the MP3 and media playing application.  It went outside the box, of what a normal application looked like with funky designs and skins that didn’t fit into the shape of a normal window, and if I remember correctly came standard with a host of plugins, visualisation and other addons.

Sonqiue’s interesting style

Now, to the point of my post!

I was talking to one of the guys at the office the other day, and it turns out he was one of the lead developers on the Sonique application and some of the plugins that came with it to produce oh so clear crystal sound.  He spoke of the hype surrounding the application, and the chance at millions when bought out by Lycos (I think??!), and subsequent downfall as the other competitors tried different/more successful things.

This proves basically nothing except that once again, the world is a tiny place, but oh well, I still think Winamp was the better player!

Off topic, but I still happen to have the original set of MP3′s I first managed to download all those years ago (digitally copied many times of course), but the tracks have managed to stay (embarrisingly) in the collection all these years and have kept their original script kiddie style filenames.  These include such greats as:

• John Denver’s, Thank God, I’m a country boy (aptly name Denv-ThankGod.mp3)
• various Smashing Pumpkins songs
• Paul Simon, You can call me Al
• Pink Floyd
• Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

and many more! Random!

Tracklisting:

1. John O’Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher – Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix) Armind Tune Of The Year
2. Armin Van Buuren vs. Rank 1 feat. Kush – This World Is Watching Me (Cosmic Gate Remix) Armind
3. Dash Berlin – Till The Sky Falls Down (Vocal Mix) Captivating
4. Above & Beyond – Home (Club Mix) Anjunabeats
5. The Blizzard – Kalopsia (Original Club Mix) Armind
6. Armin Van Buuren – Rush Hour Armind
7. First State feat. Anita Kelsey – Falling (Original Mix) Black Hole
8. Vincent De Moor – Fly Away (Cosmic Gate Remix) Combined Forces
9. Paul Van Dyk & Starkillers & Austin Leeds feat. Ashley Tomberlin – New York City Vandit
10. Armin Van Buuren – The Sound Of Goodbye (Nic Chagall Drumbeat Re-Edit) Armind
11. Filo & Peri feat. Eric Lumiere – Anthem (Original Vocal Mix) Vandit
12. Above & Beyond pres. Tranquility Base – Oceanic (Original Mix) Anjunabeats
13. Ilse DeLange – The Great Escape (Armin Van Buuren Remix) BMG
14. Jonas Steur feat. Jennifer Rene – Fall To Pieces Black Hole
15. DJ Shah feat. Adrina Thorpe – Who Will Find Me (Original Summer Sunrise Mix) A State Of Trance
16. Albert Vorne – Formentera What (Gareth Emery Remix) Club Elite
17. Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren – Light The Skies (Retrobyte Classic Electrobounce Mix) Baroque/Armind
18. Breakfast – The Sunlight (Original Mix) Flashover
19. Cosmic Gate feat. Denise Rivera – Body Of Conflict (Vocal Mix) Black Hole/Maelstrom
20. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston – Good For Me (Thomas Datt Bootleg Mix) Anjunabeats

It’s released, the results of everyones votes are in!

Why the hell can’t I afford to go and see him? He’s playing tonight!

Not often do I regret my actions enough that I think about it for longer than about five minutes, but when you’ve got 3 and a half hours sitting on benches, buses, tube stations, tube trains, normal trains, normal train stations all in about zero degree (celsius) temperature, it gives you some time to rethink the course of an evening.

Yes, what was supposed to be two drinks at the pub after work turned into an almost 15 hour journey of excessive drinking, expensive champagne, way too much public transport and pointless wandering and an insight into the horrible seedy underside of London. Well all except the seedy underside part, the only thing that was seedy (Yes, the slang word seedy is when you feel like s*&t from consumption, not a disgusting pervert) was me and the other revellers stupid enough to be out.

Course of evening:

I’ll stop here, as it started to become hazy after this point, but there were several more drinks including two glasses from two bottles of £200 champage (that I thankfully took no part in purchasing) and some white Sambuca shots (ech). At this time I came to the realisation (a mistake) that it was one oclock and and there was no way I was getting home without shelling out a substantial amount (£60-75+) for a black cab home, which I definitely wasn’t prepared to do. So I went with the flow, until the club (like the Ambar in Perth) closed at 3:00am.

From here we’d run out of options, and wandered around aimlessly in the code before getting on a bus, that interestingly enough went absolutely nowhere, and we ended up not far from where we started. So after a bit more fart-assing around and an interesting trip to King’s Cross and a huge waste of time at McDonalds, I’d had enough and decided to call it a night and head home. By this point (4:30am), I was completely over the evening, and after already yearning for my bed for well over 2 hours, I looked forward to making my way home, as quick as possible. And then the fun (and my stupidity started):

So, it was a bit of an adventure, and 4 hours to sober up and wish I was at home in bed was enough for me, I’m too old for this! That’s the biggest cop-out for a 24 year old ever I know, but next time Cath definitely has to be there, and there has to be an exit strategy, or at least a good way to get home.

And how the hell did I manage to last without sleep until falling asleep on the train?

Yes, its that time of year again, not Thanksgiving, or Christmas, but then time when Armin Van Buuren fans from accross the globe make their vote heard, for the final show down. ArminVanBuuren.net is once again hosting the voting poll for the best tracks of 2007, in the lead up to the XXL end of year mix that is sure to once again bring joy to the new year.

All you have to do is jump on the website and pick the five tracks that you liked the most from this years A State of Trance radio mixes and then Armin plays a mega mix of the favourites.I won’t spill my vote (apart form the obvious – Das Berlin - Til’ the Sky Falls Down), but its always good to get a good mix of the best songs, and not the annoying favourites that are stuck in everyones head as of the last two months or so, so jump on and vote.

Voting closes sometime mid December so be (relatively) quick. And I might see someone, anyone?! at Turnmills in London on December 21st when the man himself plays.

Update (28/11): I was thinking today I should provide some suggestions to the undecided, so here they are:

• Ronski Speed (feat Julie Scott) – Love all the Pain Away
• Solar Stone – Seven Cities
• John O’Callaghan featuring Audrey Gallagher – Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix)
• Jose Amnesia feat. Jennifer Rene – Wouldn’t change a thing (Original mix)
• Cerf, Mitiska and Jaren – Saved Again (3rd Moon remix)
  
• Armin van Buuren pres. Perpetuous Dreamer – The Sound of Goodbye (Simon & Shaker remix)
• 4 Strings – Catch a Fall
• Agnelli & Nelson – Sleeping at Airports
• Forerunners – Lifecycle

…. To name a few!

Disclaimer: I must say, if you don’t agree with me, and have another suggestion then I’m all ears so please comment.

I’m not an ageist, my criteria for the choice of song means it didn’t have to be brand new. This one has been floating around for a while, and it really gets my Juices flowing.

Scan to 2:11 for the best bit

It’s Dash Berlin – Til the Sky Falls Down. I most recently heard this in Leon Boiler – Intuition Recordings @ Amsterdam Dance Event 18/10/2007.

It forms an elite group (of what must be about a thousand songs) which all rate in my BTMOAT listings, featuring such classics as:

• Bedrock – Heaven Scent
• Sarah McLachlan – Fear
• Sarah McLachlan – Fallen
• Karen Overton – Your Loving Arms
• Gustavo Santaolalla – The Wings
• Holden & Thompson – Come to Me
• 4 Strings – Sunrise
• John O’Callaghan – Big Sky

What’s your favourite song ever? Cut me down..

But alas, its not 1998 anymore, everyones got an iPod or MP3 player of some variety, wherther that be an iPod, Zune, some snazzy PDA or a run of the mill (but slightly above base-line) mobile phone. After all these years of sporadically (See the movie clueless, though I’ve been told this is actually a real world), managing to actually listen to Armin Van Buuren’s weekly radio show h on a weekly basis I finally find myself chucked in to the snake pit as regards to listening to music on a daily basis. And a lot of it, at that.

After being a sideliner for a number of months, occasionally listening to a week’s show, whenever it suited me, I’ve progressed straight to listening to each show multiple times in a week, plus have more than enough time to finally experiment with some other eargasm’s such as:

• A couple of different Drum ‘n Bass and Breaks Podcasts
• Blank and Jones’s weekely radio mix, titled The Mix oddly enough
• Marcus Shulz – Global DJ Broadcast another weekly mix
• Above and Beyonds Trance Around the World
• Intuition with Jonas Stuer
• Corsten’s Countdown, from Ferry Corsten
• Subculture, featuring John O’Callagahn
• Vonyc Sessions by Paul Van Dyk
• Perfecto Tour, Paul Oakenfold (Yes, that’s the same Oakenfold which I assumed had disappeared into obscurity years ago! He’s back, and just about as good as I remember him!)
• and some other stuff by Marco V, and others.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWvgchc1KHs]

As you can probably guess.. That’s some serious amount of time wasted to listen too, In fact I’ve probably managed 25-30 hours of music this week alone, which is a previous improvement on my previous attempts at listening to a fair chunk of music on a weekly basis since I finished Uni and started working full time… Course, I’ve got almost 2 hours of train time, and eight hours of work time in which to listen to my heart’s content, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2rUrwFXVYk]

I’m finding myself running out of orgasmic, work wasting, fit inducing music, which is quite obvioulsy a smal issue..

Someone should suggest something which is Shanpod worthy, and by worthy, I mean something decent that I’m not going to be feel like I’m wasting my time on. Big ask?? So be it.