Up Above the World So High
The first song I really remember was Snowbird by Anne Murray. This subliminal blueprint was my map to my future love of music. There's something so campy, yet melancholy about this song. Some of my favorite genres growing up were Soul and Disco. TSOP, Sly and the Family Stone, and Love Unlimited Orchestra were records my folks bought, but I was the kid wearing them out. When the '80s came around, camp was King (Queen?). Breakthrough hits were hitting the airwaves, and every week was a trip to the record shops to seek out the sound of emotional synths (A Flock of Seagulls, New Order), quirky three-minute pop gems ( M'sPop Muzik, Men Without Hats, and Missing Persons). Teen-angst reared its gel-spike head in the form of Soft Cell, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Depeche Mode. Serious stuff for a fourteen-year-old! So yeah, a lot of heavy themes but fun as hell at the same time. I wish there was such a thing as Camp Melancholy - I would have gone every summer!
By the time the 90's came out, I was into College Rock, and deep into labels. 4AD and Factory were my mainstays because of their sensational album sleeves. I still maintained my lush, melancholy aesthetic. I was dipping my toes into industrial, rave, and British pop but my favorite was the unintelligible wash of Shoegaze and Dream Pop. The genre was surely the most picked on by the music press, but I loved it. For me, most of the '90s were really unimpressive- at some point, it wasn't fun, everyone seemed so serious. Lighten Up, Trent Reznor! I had my 90' moments now and again and being able to say I've seen Pulp, Suede, and My Bloody Valentine multiple times makes for good conversation. So at least live music was growing faster than ever.
The Oughts started with the unusual Electroclash genre. Like a paper cup, the genre came and went pretty quickly, and very few acts hung around. I have to say though, Electroclash was very much a blueprint, a possibility of future music. Blog and Festival culture took hold rather quickly, and I found that even though there were a lot of disposable bands, I was still finding new music every week, and for once, wasn't all from the UK. I had a music blog but DJing was the way I wanted to share information with others.
For the last 25 years, I've been DJing anywhere I could get a gig. Weddings, boat parties, gaybars- you name it, I adapted. Now that I've been asked to be a part of X-ray.fm, I'm trying my chops at broadcasting. X-ray.fm is helping me to find my voice and engage with an audience. If you've read this far, sorry for the typos, and THANK YOU for your interest and support. Welcome to Up Above The World So High! Let's do this!
THE VAULT /// RECENT BROADCASTS
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