Progressive Obsessive #2 - January 2004

Well it's been a little while longer than I would have liked since my last column, however I promise I haven't been slacking off - there has been so much happening this Southern Summer that it's been hard for me to find the time to put it all down into words! Firstly, it was such a massive Christmas and New Years (at least in Melbourne) with Phil K and Scrambler lifting the roof off Private Function on Christmas night. Phil yet again showed why he is regarded as Australia's greatest DJing asset and Scrambler, in his first live show with vocalist Amarevious, debuted some awesome new material that will hopefully see the light of day later on this year. New Melbournite PQM played a fantastic set at Sunny's Christmas party the Saturday afterwards with a very unique set incorporating many of his own re-edits and DJ tools. Going back a few days to Christmas Eve, Sasha unleashed PQM and Phil K's new production They Just Won't Let Me Be on an exclusive mix for John Digweed's Kiss100 show. Subsequently, it was picked up by Institution Recordings to be released in the next few months. I suggest you try and get hold of that set (or at least have a listen by streaming it from Diggers' own website) as not only are there some absolute bombs on it (look out also for Invisible Inc - Stars forthcoming on Sumsonic) but Sasha's mixing is something to behold this time. Glad to see him back on form.

Institution Recordings has been causing quite a buzz around the place, not only from the anticipation of their first full release—Digital Witchcraft's Snowday EP which I mentioned in the last column—but also from their website which went online in December. The website offers a glimpse of future releases as well as a digital download store where they will be releasing many an exclusive tune and remix.

In the last few months there has been an exponential growth in the number of digital download stores popping up all over cycberspace. Not only are many labels now embracing the possibilities of this technology (Hooj.com have been selling digital downloads for quite a while now, and recently Fade Recordings started to do the same), but there have also been a few digital record store begin to surface such as beatport.net as well as a new joint venture between Destra Music and Tranzfusion.net (www.tranzfusion.destramusic.com). This joint venture will be selling much more than dance music, however Zero Tolerance Recordings have shown some initiative by releasing some of their back catalogue to be sold and downloaded as very high quality 320kbs files (virtually CD quality) which is, as far as I am aware, a world first. The trade of for this extra quality is a premium price (around AU$8 rather than the usual AU$3) which I personally think is reasonable, however the jury still seems to be out so it will be an interesting six months to watch and see how each different retailer positions themselves. Unless you're a vinyl purist this can only be a positive thing as music becomes more accessible to anyone with the ability to pay and download. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait three months for a big tune to finally see the light of day on Vinyl. While there are obvious reasons for this—the high cost of setting up and producing each pressing—I have often wondered when the labels would wise up to the fact that unless they are able to offer their consumer the product that they want when they want it, then the unfortunate fact is that they are going to go an get it through other means—which in this case is downloading the tune illegally via one of the various P2P applications widely available over the internet. Whatever your opinion on this it's an undeniable truth.

In more website news, Texan producer Smight has relaunched his own website — www.

Tags

• Progressive Obsessive
• Dean Millson