I have returned from the land of lazy bloggers, and I come bearing gifts for anyone who is still checking up on me despite my less than courteous online presence. I hope I never return to lazy blogger country. I apologize for not paying as much attention to this blog as I probably should have been, but I can honestly say that I am going to be able to keep it more current and exciting, because the gears are moving in all of the right directions to actually post some interesting stuff. I’m going to integrate my tumblelog into this website, at some point, in order to deliver more frequent posts about topics of interest rather than just posting about me, what I’ve made, and what I’m doing.

Songs

I’ve made some music for you and your ears. First off, I posted a new original track. Hope you dig it.

Hi by Pres
Download mp3 (Save As)

“Like a Prayer” remixed by LDPS

Like a Prayer (Lazerdisk Party Sex Remix) by Lazerdisk Party Sex
Download mp3 (Save As)

Here are two mashups, both older, and one unheard. I have been told my a lot of different people that the link to $hwagger Jagger was no good anymore, so I figured I’d repost it.
$hwagger Jagger (Ludacris vs. Ke$ha) by Pres
Download mp3 (Save As)

Cherries Forever (Drake & Eminem vs. Neil Diamond) by Pres
Download mp3 (Save As)

So there you go, one new track, 2 unposted tracks, and another one that people were having a hard time getting to the last time around. I hope you listen to them all and each one becomes a friend to your ears.

Planck v.1

On top of these tracks I’ve been working on a second song/level for the ongoing Planck project. We’ve been entering it in many different independent game competitions, and we’ve gained a lot of insight to guide us along the process more smoothly. It’s been one of the more challenging projects that I’ve been involved with, but it has definitely been rewarding. Last year around this time, we were getting prepared to submit our first iteration of Planck, which has been completely rehauled into what you see below. You can watch the video in the really tiny format posted, listen to the music, or maximize it to see it in its full glory. If you like what you see, please email me for a downloadable playtest demo of the first level.

Lazerdisk Party Sex Tour

Starting August 8th, ZJ and I will embark on the first leg of our Lazerdisk Partysex tour. We’re hitting up places all around Martha’s Vineyard for the second week of August. We’re doing a promotion through foursquare, where if you check into every one of the venues that we’re at, and show us that you’re there, we’ll give you a free T-shirt on Saturday. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and if you are in the area come to the Vineyard because we’re going to rock it upside down and inside out.

Check out Lazerdisk Party Sex’s site at: www.listn.to/LazerdiskPartySex

Until next time. Peace twice!

This past Saturday, April 24th, I teamed up with my friend and owner of The Lab, Zack Johnson to play at UVM’s Springfest. We donned our Stormtrooper helmets and tuxedos and proceeded to rock the denizens of Burlington the right way. All without being able to see or hear much at all. Those helmets don’t allow for much of anything as far as sight and sound go. Props to Josh Franklin on the dope photo.

Since before MSTRKRFT was event confirmed to play at Springfest, an annual one-day music festival event put on by the University of Vermont, we had been putting a bug in the ear of the people putting on the event that we needed to open for this event. Through much hard work and negotiating, we finally got the best slot that was available to us, and so began a new chapter in Springfest’s history. The event was packed full of acts. My friends DJ Dan and DJ cRAIG mITCHELL were both on the bill, and that was a blast. Theophilus London played the set before ZJ and I. After we went on, Ingrid Michaelson played, then MSTRKRFT held down the headline slot.

People have been asking me for the set that we put together for Springfest. Ask and ye shall receive kiddos. More pictures and videos as they come about. Thanks to everyone who came out! This is only the beginning.

Here’s the link to the set: MediaFire | mp3

Setlist:

Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand (O-GOD Remix)

Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Steve Aoki feat. [[[zuper blahq]]] – I’m in the House (Fatman Scoop Disco Fries Remix)

Nick Catchdubs – DRAKEOVER!

Pres – $hwagger Jagger (Ludacris vs. Ke$ha)

Eddie Johns – More Spell on You

Daft Punk – One More Time

Daft Punk – Around the World (Alive Re-Edit)

Duck Sauce – Anyway

Pitbull – Hotel Room Service

LDSP – OMG Money to Blow (Drake vs. Usher and Will.i.am)

Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You

K’naan – Wavin’ Flag (LDSP Remix)

Harry Belafonte – Jump in the Line

]]> http://www.presmusic.com/?feed=rss2&p=434 0 http://www.presmusic.com/?p=424 http://www.presmusic.com/?p=424#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:33:25 +0000 admin http://www.presmusic.com/?p=424

UVM Springfest 2010

Our set is secret. Our set is epic

I’d like to preface this blog post saying that I haven’t been slacking, I swear. I’ve just been really busy. A lot of this said busy-ness is from music, which is a good thing, but with my final year of undergraduate education wrapping up, it has left me little time to update this blog, and for that I deeply apologize.

At the beginning of March, I took a trip to Barcelona with my girlfriend Sarah, and it was a blast. I uploaded some of my pictures from the trip to flickr if there is an interest in the sights that I saw. I also got to see La Sagrada Familia, which I’ve been wanting to see ever since I was 13. That was quite awe-inspiring. Also, the stairs were really cool.

I’ve been DJing a lot in general. I’ve been DJing more for Red Bull, which is always good, and I’ve gotten more gigs through friends of friends and past gigs. This is all really cool for me considering that I only really started DJing around town in March, 2009. I’m really excited for things to continue the way they are going. I also deejayed for The Slam For Sudan for the second year in a row. It was a much better experience this time around, and I’m glad to see that it is continuing as an annual event. It’s always nice to see a good cause continue to do well.

Planck is also blowing my mind. I’m not sure what I can tell you aside from the fact that you should be excited.

I am working on the third installment of the College trilogy, entitled: colllege. I’m doing my best to get it together, but with school and work at The Lab picking up, I am struggling to utilize my free time in order to properly arrange and create the album. Don’t worry though, I’ll get it together and out into the internet.

I’ll try and keep these blog posts shorter and simpler from now on, but we’ll see how that goes.

Oh, and here’s a new track:

$hwagger Jagger (Ludacris vs. Ke$ha)

(right/control-click + Save As)

Enjoy.

Hey everybody. I’m back in the writer’s seat after a holiday break, a birthday, a new year, the last semester of my undergraduate education, and just a ton of tumultuous activity that has had me on my toes for the past month. I hope the new year has found everyone well, and that you haven’t abandoned all hope in my blogging practices. Also, my camera broke, so I don’t have a bunch of good pictures or anything like that. I should invest in one. I don’t even have any on my phone. However, other people have taken some pictures, so I’ll post those.

January was a pretty busy month for me. Some of you may know that I will begin teaching a course that I’ve developed on music production for DJs at The Lab. I’ve officially dropped the “-tern” from my position at The Lab and upgraded it to “-structor.” My boss Zack has been in Thailand for the past month, so little progress has been made as far as incorporating my teaching into The Lab, but when he gets back, expect big moves. More news on that as it comes about.

101 is still continuing at Rasputin’s. 101 started last September, and it’s been successful enough to where the club is staying open on Thursday nights for DJ Dan and my night downtown. I’m pretty proud of that. Whether it’s a testament to Dan’s or my skills as DJs or the fact that it started the 18+ night trend that’s going on in Burlington remains to be said. Regardless, I’m happy with the outcome, although I have been told by the club owner that my music selection doesn’t include enough top 40 tracks, and tends to linger around beats per minute that are a bit too fast for the crowd (Around 120ish). That’s fine though, I’m gonna have to think of something creative so that I can still improve as a DJ and please the crowd because without them, there’s no 101.

One unfortunate thing about this Spring is that I decided not to have a regular show on WRUV, and try to end my senior year of college on an academic high-note. So folks, there’s no more Beat Therapy presented by Pres, but there is still Beat Therapy presented by B-Fish, Conor McKeon, and Ben Hallowell on Champlain Wave Radio. Check it out Thursday’s from 7:30-9:30  http://radio.champlain.edu.

Aside from the many Thursdays that there were at Rasputin’s this past month, there were also a couple of new buddies that I made through old buddies. One of which is the Broke In Burlington team. They promote a bunch of parties and events for people that live in Burlington, VT, but might not necessarily have a ton of money to fully enjoy the town. They originally hired Miles Ewell (of Principal Dean Productions) to DJ the gig, but since he doesn’t DJ, he kindly passed it on to me. As a result of this kind gesture, I had my Nectar’s debut through Broke In Burlington (albeit I was DJ iPod Replacement, but a gig’s a gig). I would go on in between sets, nothing too stressful or huge, but it was still a lot of fun. The Broke in Burlington people are definitely all good in my book, and the showcase event was very cool. The idea was to get a bunch of different acts from the many different aspects of the music scene. The acts that played during the showcase included: Meek Sol, The Fever Breakers, and The Mathematicians. I only really got to hang out with The Mathematicians, but all of the bands were different from each other and are worth checking out.

The day after the Nectar’s gig with Broke In Burlington, I hopped in the car and drove to Maine to DJ The Downtown Showdown for Red Bull. It was in Monument Square, right in the heart of Portland. They built a 30-or-so foot in-ramp, and the skiers and riders could hit one of three different rails or boxes. The event was as big as it was cold, and it was freezing. Regardless of the many layers I was wearing, I was still freezing. Coldness aside, the event was a ton of fun, and everyone who entered the event shredded. It was awesome. After the rail jam, I got to DJ at The Stadium in Portland, which is now owned by Bingas. Bingas has expanded since I moved away. Big ups to them. The space was brand new and I had a great time DJing there. Many thanks to Seth and Stacy from Red Bull for hooking it up. I had a blast. Here’s a video from the event:

In addition to the gigging in and out of town, I have been busy making music for myself and others. I have talked about how I have been producing music for the game Planck for Matthew Burns, and the second version of Planck is underway. With Planck v.1 came some modifications to the team, and with feedback from judges from the various game conferences that it was submitted to, it is turning into something completely new and awesome. We have made changes to the game engine, art direction, musical style, and level design. Everyone is on the same page, and everyone is really excited to get it out and into your hands. The development progress is being documented HERE, and if you have any questions that you’d like to ask the planck development team, you can hit us up on twitter.

My musical focus hasn’t strictly been on videogames, however. DJ cRAIG mITCHELL has asked me to remix the track “I Wanna Live.” I have been working on that for him, and I’m totally pumped to get that out of my computer and onto the dancefloor. It’s shaping up rather nicely, if I do say so myself. I’ll post it as soon as I can.

Last but not least, College III (tentatively titled), is going to start production rather shortly. I am finishing up a video for one of the tracks on College II, and once I make the announcement of the beginning of the end of the College trilogy, I’ll post it up for you all to enjoy. It’s hard to believe that a year has just about gone by since the release of College II.

Time flies.

Mr. Mikes Pizza

Mr. Mikes is located on the corner of Main St. and South Winooski St., and I absolutely love their buffalo chicken pizza. I think that they have perfected the art. If anyone knows where I can get a better buffalo chicken pizza, let me know, and I will travel there (Side note: Grace Spain has informed me of a buffalo chicken pizza even better than Mr. Mikes. It’s called Mimmo’s and it’s in essex and they have the “best buffchick pizza she’s ever had.” I gotta make a side trip and make the call, myself. Good looks Grace. So pumped.) So, the buff chick is the good/greatest thing about Mr. Mikes. In general, they’ve got good ‘za and they’re open mad late for all you kids who tend to indulge in the later hours of the night.

As much as I love their buffalo chicken pizza, I had the unfortunate urge to use the restroom. Lawdy lawd the place was absolutely disgusting. Let’s follow up with some pictures and descriptions. Side note: This is the men’s bathroom, if anyone would like to evaluate the women’s bathroom please let me know at: chad@presmusic.com

If you click the pictures, they give a bigger and better image of what was photographed. Definitely check it out.

Mr. Mike’s Pizza gets 1/2 out off 5.

That was a disgusting bathroom. If you decide to poop, you must prepare with paper towels, make sure no one else is going to use it (possibly by having a friend watch the door), situate yourself above the toilet because there is no toilet set, and do your uncomfortable business. Bottom line is: step yo game up, Mr. Mike’s. People are noticing.

I have high hopes, though. If you applied the same hard work that you apply to the dedication of the creation of your buffalo chicken pizza to the dedication towards cleanliness bathroom, that bathroom would be the talk of the town. However who am I? Just a DJ from town with clean habits. More to come with music news, but I just figured that I’d inform the masses of Burlington of where you should, and where you shouldn’t do your business.

Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Pres.

P.S.: Keep in mind that Beat Therapy and 101 are happening tomorrow. You can catch my version of Beat Therapy from 2-4 on WRUV which is 90.1 FM if you’re in Burlington, but you can visit wruv.org and stream the show from 2-4. Call in to the station at 802-656-4399  If you miss it, you can always download the archives through the same site.

]]> http://www.presmusic.com/?feed=rss2&p=322 0 http://www.presmusic.com/?p=307 http://www.presmusic.com/?p=307#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:10:35 +0000 admin http://www.presmusic.com/?p=307

Yo everyone! My Three 6 Mafia remix was posted on the popular music blog First Up! I’m so pumped that it’s getting promoted. As a result of the remix being on firstup.se, the Feel It remix is now on The Hype Machine. This is really cool for me. It’s my first time being on hypem. It was posted on Sunday night, and it’s already in the top 50 most tweeted songs on the twitter charts. In order to tweet about the track you can go to THIS LINK. In order to put it on your facebook wall you can click THIS LINK.

Firstup.se was the first to post my remix, but other blogs have posted it as well. Visit Room-Noise to see it featured on remix Fridays. Big thanks to Felicia and Constance Chan for posting my remix. It’s positive encouragement for me to keep doing what I’m doing. New music and material coming soon. I’ve got a couple more remixes and possibly an original coming your way. Maybe I’ll finally post one of my music videos. What? I made music videos? For what song? I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for all of the awesome support you guys! Keep it coming, and I’ll keep working hard to get you the tracks that you deserve. You’re the best. On an unrelated note, here’s an awesome movie mashup I found (via Buzzfeed):

Well folks, I’m back. In case you’re wondering who that handsome buffalo is with the snappy shades, he is the apartment beer fund bank, Wilford Brimley, and that’s just him chillin’ out, maxin’, and relaxin’ all cool. It has been some time since my last post, but I come bearing gifts and a wealth of knowledge about the goings on both with music production and DJing. I have been a busy bee.

First off, I recently finished a remix of a new track by Three 6 Mafia featuring Sean Kingston, Flo Rida, and Tiesto. I premiered it last night at Rasputin’s, where DJ Dan and I rock Burlington the right way, every Thursday night. That’s not what you’re interested in, though. So, here you go (right/control click + Save As):

Hope you like it.

In addition to that, I’m working on another remix, and I have one original in the works. Recently though, most of my music has been dedicated to producing music for the videogame Planck for the company Shadegrown games. Props to Brenton Woodrow for hooking that up. It’s been really fun making music for them, and I will post updates of our progress as they come up. Right now you can check out a video of a someone playing our first level/first song mental breakdown and get a brief description of the game here.

I’m still interning at the The Lab, and that’s always a good time. I’m shadowing lessons now, and just trying to learn as much as I can. The Lab might also start their own Internet radio which has potential to be pretty illin’. While I’m on the topic of radio, you can check me out on WRUV for the funk, soul, disco, and hip-hop show Beat Therapy. If you don’t live in Vermont, you can listen to it here.

I’m gonna post pictures and stuff from past events so that you all can see yourselves ballin’ out of control. Keep checking back. I’m busy, but that just means I’m gonna keep giving you free music. Feels good to be back.

PEACE TWICE

I’ve been wanting to update this site for a long time, but I’ve been so busy y’all. For having no official job title for the summer, I have been hustlin’ hard to get things done musically. I’ve been interning at The Lab on Church St. in Burlington, and the whole experience has been really dope. It’s great to see a group of people not only doing what they love, but passing on their knowledge to people who need it. I wish I had some sort of way to get DJ lessons when I was a kid. It’s crazy how much a teacher can help, plus they have a ton of records there so I wouldn’t have to listen to “scratchin, what is it, ahhhhh” or “this stuff is really freeeesshhh” over and over.

My boss ZJ from The Lab has been helping me get around the Burlington Club/Bar scene so I can get more gigs around town. He’s been doing it for years around here so his help is really appreciated and totally dope. I’m rotating into sets at the Red Square on Mondays for the rest of the summer. The event has only happened 2 or 3 times so far, and I’ve been included once. It was really fun, and I’m pumped to do it again this Monday. If you’re in town on June 20th, come to the Red Square and I will high five you and thank you for being a rad human being. I’m not sure what else is planned for the rest of the summer, but hopefully I get to make my way around town so I can show people what’s up.

In addition to Monday nights at the Red Square, I am DJing early Monday mornings on 90.1FM WRUV. It’s a graveyard slot from 4-6AM, but it’s still fun as long as I can wake up and get into the station. I still haven’t gotten my UVM ID so that I can hook it up. If there’s an interest I can upload the radio shows after I’ve done them in case you can’t wake up and listen so early in the morning. The show is sort of a tribute to hip-hop and who people in hip-hop sample. I’m not sure the total direction that I’m going in, though. Originally, the plan was to play a track, find the samples used to make the track, and play the original songs, but that can get redundant. We’ll see what happens. I can bring Serato into the studio, so I think I’m gonna start doing that. It’s easier for me to just use the turntables rather than using the big mixing board and rack-mounted CD players with no jog wheels. If anyone wants to stream WRUV’s radio you can do so here: http://www.uvm.edu/~wruv/

We moved my turntables into the living room so all of my roommates can learn how to scratch and mix. It’s been good. Having the tables in the living room has helped me improve my techniques and just DJ more in my free time. I haven’t just been DJing, though. I’ve been hard at work making original music for a project that I think I can talk about now, but I won’t be able to talk about it later because or contractual restrictions and all that jazz. I’m working on something that I think is really cool and totally new. It’s too bad that I can’t talk about it because I totally want to. I’ve made 2 tracks so far and I’m working on another one right now. It’s super deadline heavy, so it’s been a source of some stress, but I think it’s helping me become a better composer, and it’s opening me up to different production techniques.

In addition to the project I just mentioned, I am making a mashup mix for my friend, and she’s going to use it for cheerleading. I’ve never done anything like make a cheerleading mix. I suppose it’s a lot like making mashups, but cheerleading mixes are sort of like mashups with too much amphetamines. There are like explosions and lasers at like 150 BPM in just about every mix that I’ve listened to. Here’s what my new beat lab looks like. I’m going to move my tables back into my room once I find a nice setup with cheap tables and a cheap but decent mixer.

That’s where I’m at. I would have taken more pictures of stuff like Red Square events and a Manhattan Pizza gig that I had in June, but my camera’s LCD screen is totally busted so I can’t see what I’m taking a picture of. I’m trying to find a cheap point and shoot that’ll do the job so that I can keep flickr more current along with this site.

Peace. Peace.

Michael Joseph Jackson (1958-2009)

As I’m sure you all well know, Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. While you may not be able to hear it in all of my music, he is a huge influence in what I put into the whole music making process. As a lot of you know, I made Iller Thriller, but that’s not really what I meant by being an influence. When I make original music I am usually listening to Michael Jackson, both new and old songs, in order to get in the correct mindset. I found a map of all of the people who sampled Mr. Jackson on flickr and it really shows how much of an influence he was on the music community as a whole.

Saturday June 27th update:

I found that the same guy, Ethan Hein, had to split up two sample maps because if he combined the work he did with the Jackson Five, the sample map would have just been out of control. A further testament to the fact that this man was a legend. Here’s the Jackson 5 sample map.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding him in his later years, he’s without a doubt a cutural and musical icon, and he will be deeply missed by everyone.

Here’s a reissue of Iller Thriller without the “Buy my shirts” line. Play it at parties, and celebrate his life. Rest in peace Mike.