Pitchfork's 'The People's List' Top Albums 1996-2011

After 27,981 votes here is the top 5:

1. Radiohead - OK Computer

2. Radiohead - Kid A

3. Arcade Fire - Funeral

4. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

5. The Strokes - Is This It

Some notable placements:

11. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

26. Daft Punk - Discovery

29. DJ Shadow - ...Entroducing

87. Air - Moon Safari

The only thing that I'm a little surprised about was that Kid A ranked so high at #2.

Looking at this list was a fantastic trip across memory lane as I've spent a lot of time listening and loving many of these albums throughout the years.

(Source: Pitchfork)

Comprehensive guide on how to succeed as a new DJ

DJ Tech Tools created one of the most comprehensive guides on how to get started as a new DJ in your own locale. Here are the relevant headlines:

YOU HAVEN’T DEFINED YOURSELF AS A DJ
YOU’RE NOT PRACTICING ON A REGULAR BASIS
NOT SUPPORTING EVENTS YOU SOMEDAY HOPE TO PLAY AT
YOU’RE AFRAID OF THE WORD “NO”
YOU’RE NOT SEEKING FEEDBACK FROM STRANGERS
YOU’RE TRYING TO GET FOLLOWERS INSTEAD OF FANS
YOU AREN’T THROWING PARTIES OR PRODUCING MUSIC
YOU THINK DJ IS A HOBBY

A lot of sound advice in this article, do you agree? Read the entire article and let me know what you think.

Quote of the day from Eric Prydz

From Dancing Astronaut:

“I just make music. — The music I make, I make for myself,” he continued, “I’m the number one guy for me to please.” He is not one to force a track into a specific genre and would never create a record with the intentions of critical reception. “Sometimes 10 million people love what I do, sometimes 500 do… I have massive hits with some tracks, and some other tracks have stayed in the underground.”

Such a refreshing perspective, I wish all of the producers had this kind of attitude and then maybe we'll start pushing the creative boundaries a little further.

The American EDM Gold Rush

From inthemix:

“It might appear like it happened overnight, but it’s been a very long process,” King said. “The frustrating aspect is it’s running so fast now; it’s hard to build the infrastructure out as quickly as we need it to happen. Everyone struggles with the infrastructure of building a company as quickly as it can go. From the agents, to the promoters, to the managers, it’s a new world for all of us out there, and we’re trying to maintain and grow it at a proper rate.”

I just hope that the organizers never forget the fans in this boom because if you start hiking up prices without giving the proper value in return then you risk killing the entire echo system. 

(Source: inthemix)