death magnetic..

Posted on September 18th, 2008 by Al'x.
Categories: AleXanga.


THIS is an awesome album.. by far my favorite album of the year. yea, im sure a lot of u guys think its random but go get it and listen- its the hotness. i guess ive been listening to way too much electronic music lately. house music by nature doesnt have any real instruments.. hiphop as well. so for me, id have to say metallica’s death magnetic is so good because of its organic sound.

organic? what? heavy metal is never organic. yea, but freaking listen to the album! its like stepping in on them in the middle of a jam session. which, as far as im concerned, is the only reason to see bands live. it doesnt sound like anything youd find on a commercial album. to me, its like they were rehearsing the songs on the album but recorded the jam sessions between the songs instead.

oh yea, and it was produced by god himself: rick rubin. i read somewhere that when they started the process of making the album, he told the members of metallica to imagine that they weren’t metallica and to imagine that they were preparing music for a battle of the bands competition. this vibe can definitely be felt all throughout the album. the average length of a song: 7 minutes. SEVEN! and its really heavy on the instrumentals. i love that part because they’re so on point- they level of instrumentation is ridiculous and they just work together so well.

hehe, did u catch that pun up there? anyway, seriously, this was the highlight of the album for me: it FEELS good. they took their time on the songs and they let each track fully breathe and become its own. its as if they didnt give a shit about commercial success with the album- they just took it back to 80’s-death-metal metallica and killed it.

so yea, i think its the best metallica album to come out in over a decade and i HIGHLY recommend ‘death magnetic’. consider it DJ NgaiNgai approved, hehe.. i think ill start doing album reviews/recommendations more often. what do u guys think?

0 comments.

dusting off..

Posted on August 21st, 2008 by Al'x.
Categories: AleXanga.

maaaaaan.. okay no excuses. i suck at blogging -_-..
positive note though- starting september, im switching my income from 50% teaching, 50% DJing to 30% teaching, 70% DJing. not only does this get me more paid, but strangely enough, ill have more free time. soooo theoretically, that means more blogging..

anyways, just got back to tokyo after 2 weeks in cali. it was fun n all- got to see family and ‘05ers (props for flying out, guys) but you know what i realized? when ur daily life is a whole bunch of fun, why the hell do u need vacations? cuz honestly, 2 weeks were a lil long and i just wanted to get back to business.

dont get me wrong, cali’s an awesome place and i def wouldnt mind living there for a bit.. but i just couldnt feel comfortable with the pace. analogy time.. think of living in tokyo as driving on a semi-crowded highway- its FAST and since ur weaving through everybody, you’re totally focused on the moment and you don’t even realize how far or how long you’ve driven. then you take the exit ramp and ur goin like 30 on a residential road stopping for old people and watching out for dogs. that’s cali life. its chill, relaxed, and nice. but goin from doin something every moment to just sitting on the beach everyday was a lil jarring to be honest.

but i didnt leave cali empty-handed, hehe..
here’s my purchase list:
- apple macbook pro 15″
- rane serato scratch live
- stanton uberstand
- seagate 1tb hd
- maxtor 160gb portable hd
- wireless keyboard
and a bookbag to carry it all.
so all you observant DJ’s out there will notice the obvious- im goin digital~

2 comments.

five!

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Al'x.
Categories: AleXanga.

man, a month passed already?!


so at odeon, we started adding some live percussion at the end of every month. i remember seeing this in some club back in ny and i thought it was the coolest shit ever. i love the improvization aspect of it. its like when i dance, i like to think that my body is highlighting and accenting the music- except this is real live accompaniment.

so the drummer dude, vargas, is a straight up cool musician kinda guy. we were talking about how i thought it was really hard for musicians to make it in the modern nightlife industry cuz u cant really compete against dj’s. but he responded that he doesnt even try to beat the dj’s, he just likes working WITH them. i totally agree with that, i love being able to add a heartbeat to the music i spin. especially when electro-house is so popular now, there’s no FUNK. so i really look forward to playing with the dude.

btw, he’s also utada hikaru’s drummer.. crazy.

anyways, ill be spinning all around roppongi this weekend..
- thursday: odeon
- friday: “hips don’t lie” @ AI, odeon afterhours
- saturday: hiphop event @ odeon, Blacklist @ grace, odeon

back to the states in 3 weeks!!

2 comments.

quickie..

Posted on June 5th, 2008 by Al'x.
Categories: AleXanga.

was digging around youtube today and stumbled across this:


some random dude named dj boris played for a little bit at odeon n brought a huge camera. i took some vid and apparently he edited it together n youtube’d it. so for anyone who hasn’t been, here’s a quick tour of odeon~

..never actually seen myself spin before, haha

2 comments.

101 thoughts on taipei

Posted on April 11th, 2008 by Al'x.
Categories: AleXanga.

ooookay, i really suck at blogging, haha.. my weak attempt at an excuse is that i’ve been traveling a lot. got back from 8 days in taipei last week and im about to jump on a plane again for thailand. fill up my passport before 25? i wish. before 27? no doubt.


anyway, here’s (approximately) 101 thoughts on my trip to taipei:
1- taipei’s got soul
2- wo hen xihuan xiao long bao
3- dividing everything by 30 into a familiar currency is a good math review
4- nobody speaks english
5- everyone speaks english if you force them
6- they drive on the same side as the US
7- modern art is EVERYwhere (including ‘cultural landmarks’)
8- in 10-15 years, taipei will look like tokyo
9- politics are a part of everyday life
10- spontaneous combustion is apparently a big issue (see pic)

11- its very much still a developing country
12- seeing progression happening everyday is a pretty cool thing
13- drink menu’s are the same in any bar in any city in the world
14- taipei beer is good
15- ximen ding = shibuya (almost)
16- indie rock exists in every language
17- asia loves cigarettes
18- fatman scoop is too popular
19- taiwanese people don’t like (can’t do) battles
20- apparently, i look more japanese than chinese

21- never goto parks with pagodas after sundown
22- i’m too used to 30+ minute train rides
23- there are lots of pregnant women in taipei
24- nobody knows what dancing on beat means
25- chinese families are all similar when they get together
26- ungar is hot
27- no laws against jay-walking is nice
28- i forgot how to jay-walk
29- japanese convenience stores are taking over the world
30- wed, fri, and sat are the big club nights

31- wednesday is a popular night to go out…?
32- nobody knows the souljah boy dance
33- not sure if that’s a good or bad thing
34- i can never sleep before 3am in any country
45- traveling alone is overrated
57- monuments aren’t really impressive when theyre less than 40 years old and all concrete
62- 4 days without ungar are the first time ive been alone in a REALLY long time
78- no internet access is a good way to feel like ur doing nothing
81- scooters rule the streets of taipei
89- mosquitos come out really early down there

90- there are over 1100 chinese missiles aimed at the island of taiwan
91- i can make ungar fall asleep by talking to him
92- you can see every famous site within 4 days [2 if ur hardcore]
93- no laws against public alcohol consuption = a really cool country
94- the seats at Luxy are as comfortable as a bed
95- night markets are a great place to eat pigs blood
96- i would totally rock the taipei clubs
97- at times i couldnt tell if i was in china or not
98- taiwan is not as far ahead as it thinks
99- the interpretation of the hiphop elements really varies the more i travel
100- clubbing is not clubbing for me anymore
101- great friends are just like family, for real

yea, i cant count but so what, haha.. taipei was cool. massive thanks to ungar for housing me and taking me out.. and for sharing the bed with me. off to thailand for a bit and i PROMISE to update when i get back..

4 comments.

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