and if you like video...

I got video. Blam

Flamboyant for life

So I was able to resurrect my laptop long enough to finish up my first dubstep/crunkstep/thugstep song, check it out

listen here:

http://www.myspace.com/wabberjocky

download here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?iem3iq2mm2q

so anyways I'm doing random projects right now, I've made a few dubstep tracks, listened to more dubstep, decided to not like said dubstep tracks so I'm back to making more, along with trying to make another 12-minute instrumental hip hop thing. Tempted to combine the two into one, dubstrumental hip hop? Also some Oberlin house parties have been most excellent so far, Halloween was crazy and this past Saturday across the street from Barrows felt good as well, Safety and Security being very quick this year at times.

Also check out this video

finally gettin to work

So I've become obsessed with Dubstep since the end of summer, so I'm starting to dabble in that direction. Last night I rekindled by love with the electrocomp, something straight out of the sci-fi 50's that's in the TIMARA lab at school.

blam! With fall break coming up and midterms ending I think I finally have a good opportunity to release some stuff. I plan to pull together some of my unused beats and make another 12-minute trip for instrumental hiphop and then start making some dubstep tracks to compliment the fact I've been DJing dubstep alot lately. I got a spot to open up for Flosstradamus when they come by Oberlin, but I'll be in the DJ booth so bringing all my equipment is impossible as I'm stuck with my mobile dj set up that consists of a controller (BCR2000, just a wall of knobs) and my laptop rather than my turntables =(

Also I do dubstep night at the 'Sco now cause I'm on a mission to get these sounds into peoples heads. I'm not kidding when I said I've been hardcore into the step lately, big fan of the direction that whole genre is going, mixing together elements of natural/old school sounds (like violins or dub beats) with hardcore electro sounds. Very cool, I'm excited to make what I hear i my head.

So I'm fearing that my blog is become less and less relevant as I don't really seek to update it that often anymore. I'm glad I was able to make so much original stuff over the summer as the busyness of the college life has certainly taken away from my time to experiment and create some more tunes, and instead I've just been seeking playing live. The best so far was playing the first TGIF at Oberlin, and be on the lookout for more in the future aside from the normal party DJ scene.

Also the turntable class is going awesome (field trip to Cleveland thursday to see Rusko = sick nasty) and I'm starting to see a strong DJ culture emerge out of here. For example check out these 2 beat CDs made by my dude Dan Oshima, awesome JDilla inspired shit.

check one

check two

Also as far as mini updates I just twitter these days (still mixed feelings on the whole thang) so say hey to me there

Cheers

Turntablism 101

So I finally found out today that my class (exco for those who know Oberlin speak) I plan on teaching next semester got approved! woohoo! Very very excited as I see this as a golden opportunity not only to have lots of fun but as a chance to put turntablism into the cultural limelight, the instrument of the futuuuuuuure [said in a Duck Dodgers kind of voice]. Check out my course description below.

Introduction to Turntablism:

Here is your chance to learn the basics behind the instrument of the future! In this class we will survey everything a beginning DJ needs to know; turntablism, sampling, beatmatching, laptop DJing and of course how to scratch. This course comes with a $35 entry fee. The catch? All the entry fees will be pooled together to buy two turntables and a mixer (a.k.a the DJ's set up) which will be the classes' set-up to practice on for the next 12 weeks. At the end of the semester we will have a party and DJ battle between everyone in the class, where the winner will walk away with the set-up to call their own. OH SNAP. Beginners only.

Weekend with Ben

So Ben came back from glass blowing in Kalamazoo this weekend,

and brought with him this $30 yamaha sound bank he bought off

craigslist,

so the weekend turned into a solid session of jamming out together.

We made lots, and I figured this is a good sample to share

since I didn't want to edit anything.

Very improvised, all in one take even though there are 3

"instruments" playing, but that's because I had the drum pad

hooked up to my drum kit and one of my sample kits (the violin

sounds) so I was playing both at the same time.

So enjoy our jam sesh.

Sessions by The Wabberjocky

hotttt

This year's jerseys for the Cleveland club ultimate team Lake Effect.

this is what I do at work

...chill on the internet for waaaay too long. Seriously.

Anyways I thought I'd share to the world what my set-up is, because I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of what I've developed over the years because a) It's different from anyone else's set up I've ever seen and b) since the beginning of 2009 it's finally reached the point of being what I've always wanted it to be, minus the fact I really really need a new computer. So BAM here's my set up:

Hidden are the stacks and stacks of vinyl I've accumulated from crate digging. Also my turntables (ie children) are also a testement to why I'm in love with craigslist.....$400 for the two tables (Technics MK1200s) + coffin case + mixer which has since died and been replaced by a much better one with a good effects rack which I abuse like Joseph Jackson abused the Jackson 5. Too soon........

Also I just recieved message that Petestock is cancelled. Fuck. Looks like my drought of playing live will only continue; I swear to make up for it once Oberlin starts.

Summer time, livin's easy...

As per usual, time is flying by as the july 4th summer "checkpoint" (like from Cruisin USA or something) has come and gone. The 4th was sweet, after fireworks at Little Italy (they shoot them off in the middle of the street so its kind of like a warzone) me, Weston and Wan went to the Euclid Tavern and saw the Double Team do some mashup goodness and partied hard. Then aftewords we lured a sizeable crowd to our own house 2 minutes away and got to witness seemingly never ending freestyling amidst improv hip hop jamming; great times. I love Coventry Kids.

Anyways just because I release stuff doesn't mean I ever stop! I think I've made somewhere between 10-13 good beats since Hessler Haus, and I liked the idea of the dozen minute trip so I think I want to make another beat tape with 5-6 beats. I just need to pick and choose which ones to use and then start actually arranging and composing, since right now all my beats consist of either 8/16/32 bar riffs qued up with some vinyl experimentation. It takes an extra level of focus to get myself to stop making new stuff and to work with what I have and spend the time mixing it all. In Ableton Live speak, I spend almost all my time hanging out in session view and I'm always avoiding jumping into arrange view.

Also later this month I'll be driving over to New York to play with Ricky at a festival in upstate NY called Petestock. Looking forward to that, especially since I feel like its been forever since I played live.

and following the mantra "if you can't beat them, join them" since I always felt like it was a passing fad and I have my reservations on the internet making people more and more visible or transparent, I just decided 5 minutes ago to try twitter. Add me friends: http://twitter.com/thewabberjocky

I have a new myspace now, it's mad hot. Big thanks to designer/housemate Wan for putting it together, Cleveland with the artsyness!

http://www.myspace.com/wabberjocky

hit it up! Also add me as a friend if you do that.

PEACE

early bird special

so, because I'm done with the actual beat tape and I'm just awaiting the graphical design upgrade before I release it, I'm leaking myself on the blog so those who follow get a chance to listen before I promote.

I'm happy as can be with what I'm calling the dozen minute trip, and it contains a wide variety of styles in the hip hop realm, so listen and give me some love!

http://soundcloud.com/the-wabberjocky/hessler-haus-1

I'm more than 90% done with a summer mixtape/beat tape, which is 5 of the beats I've made over the summer mixed together into one song something along the lines of how The Avalanches are, and I'm really happy with it.  So be sure to check that out soon, along with a make over of my myspace which I'll try and start using kicking off with this tape.  Hells yea.

Also, its funny to look back at last week's post and try and figure what I meant by commercial venture.  It really started because the bottom line is me (and everyone else who makes music I'd guess) wants to figure out how one can economically sustain oneself just making music.  So I was going to try and create something from more of a hip hop productions standpoint and just sell beats.  So I tried to make beats that sounded viable for some MC looking to buy or something along those lines (who the hell buys beats anyways? I actually don't know) and I immediately felt weird, because I wasn't really sure what I was doing different other than just trying to create a more commercially-appealing face.  

Anyways, I'm just going to pimp up my myspace and throw out this mixtape to the world which is a good survey of the range of different stuff I've been making, and maybe somewhere along the way someone will give me money.  huzzah!

Summer Timeeee

...when the livin's easy

School is over, and I've already started just making beats en masse.  It's nifty because I can fit everything I use for production (my laptop and trigger finger) in a bag so I spend majority of the day wandering to interesting environments, sample hunting through music collections and the internet, and then cutting up and putting samples on the trigger finger where I just drum 'em out and make beats.  

Also I have a new project in store which should get off the ground (very?) soon.  It basically would be a commercial venture in production, so I'll let you know once that opens.  Be excited, because I am.  I'll also release a fair deal of the beats I've made coinciding with the start of this project, so soon you'll hear.  

crazy brits

So I've been following the basketball playoffs with joyful attention during this finals period, and I've been mostly doing it from my laptop.  Anyways the short side of it is whenever I'm catching a game it tends to come from some random worldwide channel, and tonight I just watched the rockets beat the lakers without a single announcer talking.  It was Sky Sports and instead the crowd was just miced to the point where I felt like I was a part of the game and participating.  

Basically watching the Premiership is the same experience, where you go and the crowd is the driving force of the game.  I was into it, and realized that's what everyone on the court experiences and hears.  Seriously intense, but I want to run into it again. 

Also come to Tappan Square tomorrow.  Badassery!

summer: so close, yet so far

look for awesome things to come this summer....

First a thank you to the weather for allowing us to have a much needed time of simply playing some music, as friday we got the chance to serenade the campus at TGIF amidst the clouds that looked like they wanted to rain, but refrained.  It's great being able to play for large crowds, so definitely was a highlight of the weekend.  Also we played a party last night that went well, but managed to get shut down too early in the night.  School's starting to wrap up as next week is the last week of classes, but we'll be sure to get in more shows before school's done.  

Also huge congrats to Daveed who's beats have caught the ears of a New York label, as he's currently looking forward to a summer as a producer internship.  More news on that once things become more clear.

Just counting down the days 'till summer, as I've been itching for time to just sit down and make beats like crazy.  It'll be here soon enough.

'till then........

epic fail

So, to make a long story short, we never made it to HOWBOUT.  We were on the road in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania (Lamar to be precise) when we got detained by the police and our car impounded because of marijuana.  Stranded, we unfortunately failed in trying to find a way to make it to the festival, and ended up having to take a greyhound back to Oberlin in defeat.

Yes this trip was suppose to be our big break and exposure, but shit happens.  It's tempting to let this defeat lead us to give up, but we don't do that.  Anyways we'll try and make it up by playing near future around Oberlin/Cleveland, but yea this weekend sucked hardcore.  

HOWBOWT that?

If you're around New England this weekend you should come to this awesome dual festival happening between Vassar and Wesleyan.  it's like 6 bands from each school plus 6 other touring bands are switching between the 2 campuses, and plus we'll be around both.  Vassar on thursday night plus playing over the weekend at both colleges.  Hell.  Yes.  

also go Cavs.  today rocks.

Spring on the horizon...

So now that Ohio weather is starting to cooperate a bit more, things should be a bit more condusive now to copious ammounts of music.  While dorm jamming has been great, it is time to leave these walls and play.  Right now, possibilities for JiggaWatt performances are:

-TGiF at Oberlin (possibly tomorrow, but rain is suppose to happen again so it's been a bitch trying to find a friday where it doesn't rain these days)

-WOBC Music Festival 

-Some dual music festival at Vassar and another East Coast school 

-Hessler St (aka my home for Summer 09 OH SNAP)

anyways we're just looking to play as much as we can and I'll be sure to post when things get interesting.  If you have anything, ranging from a festival to a house party, let us know and we'd be down to play.  If you're a band in a similar situation, I'd be more than happy to try and set you up with a show here, so contact me if you'd like to trade shows or anything of that nature @ jshorey@oberlin.edu

Other than that, I'm also now scheduled to teach Introduction to Turntablism next semester at Oberlin, which will be a sick class.  The catch: there's a $35 entry fee, where all the entry fees are pooled together and go towards buying 2 turntables and a mixer for the class which everyone learns on.  At the end of the year the entire class enters in a DJ Battle against themselves, where the winner walks away with the set up to call their own.  I'm excited.

Good weekend

It seems really true that when you're in the moment for long periods of time, the time goes by very fast so I'm sitting here in the dorm on Sunday realizing it's been an action-packed few days since RJD2 came Thursday.  It was a sweet show.  

There was the electrohouse show Saturday, featuring Bastille's set that brings a good vibe for a dance party.  Then Daveed and I hopped on around midnight, a kind of sloppy entrance but then we finally got flowing and we had a real great time.  

Then today we had a live set on The Live-Box with the Oberlin radio station.  The show started late because of difficulties with the mixers, so it was a repeat of the night before with a shaky start smoothing out into a solid jam.  awesome weekend overall, and enjoi

JiggaWatt live on The Live Box WOBC (3/15) :

http://soundcloud.com/the-wabberjocky/jiggawatt-live-on-the-live-box

http://www.zshare.net/download/57094049486fa2a6/

Confirmation

So both shows are down, fuck yeeeehhhhh

for those of you far away and wanting to listen to the radio show this Sunday 1 - 2 pm EST, go to http://wobc.org/ to stream from the radio waves into your brainwaves.  

Busy Week Ahoy!

So JiggaWatt has taken off in a very good way as me and Daveed have been jamming virtually every other day for the past two weeks, and this weekend we'll get to showcase what progress we've made so far.  We potentially have two shows, one being a Saturday night house electroshow with Bastille which will rock the house, and then Sunday we'll being on your radiowaves at 1pm doing a live show on WOBC, Oberlin College Radio.  So if you're a fan from afar, definitely tune in and I'll give more details once that whole thing becomes more concrete.  I'm mostly excited to play live on the radio because it's an opportunity for us to play our more trippy Flying Lotus/JDilla inspired instrumental hiphop that party drunks aren't so down with.  

woot

Fresh Punjab

So much stuff is happening at once right now - Studio B, Keep party last night, winter term - that I believe my resolution to be as musical as possible during the rest of my time at Oberlin won't be too hard.  Mucho potential.  Also, one of my favorite things I've seen happen this semester is a real emergence of different musicans around campus now being more networked, so its a good time to be alive.   

Also, more stuff on the way, get ready for a a semi-steady stream of stuff.

but for now, enjoy one of my tracks where I start using the electric drums with turntablism.  

Fresh Punjab mp3

link:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/5563503815a51a05/

put that in your pipe and smoke it

It's Business Time...

things and....things

So some people have alerted me that the album download is being a bitch, so if you're looking to listen and/or download any of it, I'd just redirect you to the last.fm page below

listen and download here

also recording is going well, I'm not about to release another album any time soon, but I'll throw out a single once it's ready.  huzzah