Winter Music Conference (WMC): the annual pilgrimage to Miami to hear every DJ in the world spin. It’s like a little slice of Ibiza right here in the United States.

(that’s Cafe Del Mar in Ibiza, for those of you–including me–who have never been)

I love The List! I’ve been to WMC three times and it’s always amazing (in fact, I met my favorite girl in the entire world there). One of my favorite things is casually stopping by to catch an hour or two of a famous DJ’s set…and then moving on to the next famous DJ. And on. And on. And on.

So, in honor of WMC next month, here’s a taste of what you’ll hear.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

Way Out West – Future Perfect [Henry Saiz Remix]

(I encourage you to listen while you read the rest of this blog post…)

Manon sent me an article by Robin Sloan on snarkmarket.com that really hit home. It’s about creative and professional output:

There are two kinds of quan­ti­ties in the world. Stock is a sta­tic value: money in the bank, or trees in the for­est. Flow is a rate of change: fif­teen dol­lars an hour, or three-thousand tooth­picks a day. Easy. Too easy.

But I actu­ally think stock and flow is the mas­ter metaphor for media today. Here’s what I mean:

• Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind peo­ple that you exist.
• Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the con­tent you pro­duce that’s as inter­est­ing in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what peo­ple dis­cover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, build­ing fans over time.

I keep thinking about Robin’s point, and it’s a powerful way to think about what and how we create. I’m a DJ, so it’s important for me to record and post new mixes on a regular basis. I’m producing a track, and I’ll publish that too when it’s ready. In the meantime, however, it’s important for me to tweet and keep writing blog posts in order to stay connected with my audience.

Robin continues:

You can tell that I want you to stop and think about stock here. I feel like we all got really good at flow, really fast. But flow is ephemeral. Stock sticks around. Stock is cap­i­tal. Stock is protein.

And the real magic trick in 2010 is to put them both together. To keep the ball bounc­ing with your flow—to main­tain that open chan­nel of communication—while you work on some kick-ass stock in the back­ground. Sac­ri­fice nei­ther. It’s the hybrid strategy.

I think that flow has a benefit to me as an artist as well, and Robin doesn’t mention this. My flow allows me to bring my thoughts to the surface and examine them. Once brought to light, my ideas are available to me to refine over time. And then they feed into my creative work. So I’m able to make my stock stronger, better, richer, and more full because of my flow.

I had another thought yesterday about how it’s much easier to be an artist now: you have inexpensive, powerful tools at your disposal and it’s easier than ever to connect with your audience. I’ll save that for another post, though.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

Blake Jarrell Live @ Vision Chicago – July 4th 2009

I like it, although I find that he bounces back and forth between thumping tunes and more lush, cinematic soundscapes. He doesn’t really sit on a groove.

He does seem to have a great time, though. Check him out on New Years Eve here. He was in Dubai opening up for Armin Van Buuren. Nice gig!

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

One night we were standing in the VIP box and Gordon nudged me and told me to look to my right. Guess who was standing next to me? Sharam. Dubfire was on the decks and Sharam had wandered into the crowd to hear the set. So I started talking to him. He claimed that they also did anonymous underground hop hop parties. Go figure.

Anyway, Sharam and Dubfire started to drift apart and eventually only one of them would come spin. Crobar wasn’t doing so well either and it finally closed. Too bad, so sad.

Fast forward to tomorrow night, when my friend Niki McNally will be opening for Sharam at Love here in NYC. I haven’t been to Love yet, but I hear that the sound system is amazing and they’ve got the right attitude. I will be there. I recommend that you come too.

You can buy tickets here.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

George came to town this evening. His wife is about to have a baby and he came to town.

Don’t worry: she’s well-cared for tonight and it will be a week or two before anything happens.

Do you have friends who you look at and think, “You’ll be a great parent”? I look at George and I think that. Maybe because he’s someone I turn to for advice. Maybe it’s because he truly cares about every single person, even though his demeanor leads some people to believe he doesn’t (I know the truth, though, but don’t tell him

He’s wanted to hear Roger Sanchez play for a while now. So tonight we made it happen. Pre-game we sat at the bar at Aqua Grill–our favorite oysters in the city, not to mention the positive energy–and life was good. Our schedule has always been AG, massage, nap, night out. We skipped the massage tonight but kept the rest of it.

I’ve seen RS a few times. Once in Miami where I got to know my fantastic girlfriend. Once at Pacha in NYC where he tore the roof off the place. He played this one track at Pacha that has stuck with me for two years. I want to know what it is. I’ve sung it to countless house-heads and noone [sic: Maxwell] can tell me what it is. Roger was awesome tonight. He started off sloooooow and eased into it. When he got going, he was cranking like only a few DJs on the planet can crank. Stacey Pullen comes to mind, but that’s something for another night.

I will say, though, that Roger loses the plot sometimes. Consistency is not his strong suit, but he does keep it interesting. And when he cranks he’s one of the best there is.

We shut the place down. On my way out the door I stopped by the DJ booth to thank Roger. I mentioned that my friend Brendan is opening for him next week in SF. And then I asked him to ID that track for me. The one from two years ago at Pacha. I sang it for him.

And he brushed me off with, “That sounds like a lot of house tunes.” Ouch.

Two years of singing that friggin’ track to people and even the DJ can’t tell me what it is. Must I spend the rest of my life searching? Disappointed? Double ouch.

At least I had the time of my life tonight.

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