Watchlist updated

A warm welcome to four fresh recipients of a coveted space on my Watchlist. The three new artists — Vibrasphere, Magitman and Khainz — all earn their place for services to chunky progressive techno… while the label Disconekta has been pushing some rather tasty glitchy breaks and tech-prog from the likes of Sensient and Grouch; excepting those, I haven’t liked the majority of their releases so far tbh, but they all have a certain sensibility which strongly suggests it would be wise to keep an ear on them, so their presence on the Watchlist is deserved on that basis.

This month’s up and comers — artists that are on their way to joining the Watchlist if they keep up the good work (or if I dive into their backcats and am suitably impressed) — are Drugstore (mainly solid driving techno, but check out their track Gaia, which impressed me greatly…); Grouch (of Disconekta fame); Mad-Tek (deep, dubby and driving electrobreaks); and Opiuo (glitchy throbbing midtempo breakbeat, like a less over-the-top Tipper).

Two radio shows coming up: this Saturday (16th Jan) on NSB, and the following Tuesday (19th Jan) on PsyMusic, both kicking off at 19:00 GMT. Hope to see you in the chatrooms!

Categories: News // Tags: disconekta, drugstore, grouch, khainz, mad-tek, magitman, opiuo, site news, vibrasphere, watchlist

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Mix: Quexotic Adventures #004:
live on NSB 2nd Jan 2010
(speechless!)

NB: Because there’s no talking, I’ve filed this under Promo Mixes as well as Radio Archives – but unlike the other promo mixes, it won’t fit onto an audio CD.

An extra rare treat for the first show of 2010… I lost my voice on NYE, so there’s no mic/talkover, I just had to let the music speak for itself… 🙂 Also, as we were all still in the recovery zone from the New Year shenanigans, I pulled back the tempo and kept it deep, techy and rolling for the most part, gradually fattening up towards the end of course 8)

Download (165MB 192k MP3 120’17”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2010-01-02_no_talking.mp3)] downloads

Download (165MB 192k MP3 120’17”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2010-01-02_no_talking.mp3)] downloads

Link to generate podcast enclosure

Categories: Mixes, Promo Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: breaks, deep, nsbradio, progressive breaks, psybreaks, quexotic, rolling, techbreaks, techy

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live on NSB 2nd Jan 2010
(speechless!)

Mix: Live on NSB 23rd Dec 2009 (last minute cover)

A bonus 99-minute pre-Christmas cover session on NSB, laying down the progressive, twisted and convex psybreaks with a tasty side order of psytechno.

Download (136MB 192k MP3 99’04”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-23.mp3)] downloads

Download (136MB 192k MP3 99’04”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-23.mp3)] downloads

Categories: Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: breaks, nsbradio, psybreaks, psytechno, techno

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Mix: Quexotic Adventures #003:
live on NSB 19th Dec 2009

Another epic extended show… I carried on past the end of my allotted 2 hours as someone was supposed to be covering the next show but had said he might be a little bit late. In the end he didn’t turn up until nearly the end of that show, so I ended up doing the full 4 hour double feature. Download this mix, and the recent 5+ hour BrapFM marathon, onto your mp3 player, and you’re equipped with enough first-class choonage to survive almost any journey. Except maybe Eurostar.

Here we’ve got mostly my intoxicating special blend of the fortnight’s finest new releases and backcat discoveries in psybreaks, progressive breaks, neck-tingling nuskool, electrifying electro, twisted tech-breaks… and our first tentative foray on NSB into something that could be described as techno (but it’s Robosapiens so it must be ok). But just for shizzles, around the halfway mark as a kind of interlude we go on a brief tour of some classic oldskool hardcore and jungle techno from 1992-1994ish. This section doesn’t exactly fit with the flow to either side… hopefully this lump of strange-sounding foreign material is sufficiently colourful that you won’t find it too obtrusive…

Download (324MB 192k MP3 235’56”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-19.mp3)] downloads

Download (324MB 192k MP3 235’56”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-19.mp3)] downloads

Lots of hot promos and demos this week – thanks to all those labels and artists who sent them. In particular, thanks to unsigned artists Cannabinoid and Unconscious Mind(s) for allowing me to display their wares. I’m very interested in supporting other unsigned acts in this way… assuming I like your sound of course! Think you’ve got something I need to hear? Hit me up.

Next show: Sat 2nd Jan 2010, 19:00 GMT, NSB.

Happy Yule/Saturnalia/Hannukah/Christmas/Cashmas/WinterFest… and here’s to more odysseys in 2010 🙂

Categories: Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: classics, electro, electrobreaks, glitch, nsb, nuskoolbreaks, oldskool, progressive breaks, psybreaks, quexotic, techbreaks, techfunk, techno

Show Comments (1)

Mix: my last regular show for Void Radio:
live on BrapFM 7th Dec 2009

Super-Extended 5+ hour marathon!

So after about two years of doing Void Radio slots on BrapFM, I decided to draw it to a close so that I’m not juggling three shows. I’ve enjoyed the freedom that Brap gives to play any genre, and I’m grateful to them and Spoll/OutOfTheVoid for giving me a route in… but the number of listeners tuning in for live broadcasts has always been woeful. It provided me with a good, low pressure introduction to the world of net radio, helped me build my confidence on the mic, and garnered some enthusiastic fans like Mike and Angel, but now I have a show on NSB with regularly 200+ listeners, Brap’s single-figure listener counts seem pointless. I know many more of you enjoyed the archives, but hopefully by dropping the show I’ll have more time to produce promo mixes for the site instead.

So for my last show, I played a wide range of genres, and included plenty of classics and all-time personal favourite tunes. Since there was no show after mine, and I had support in the chatroom, I just kept going, and going… for over 5 hours. So bear in mind the archive is a lot larger than usual…

Download (431MB 192k MP3 313’51”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_brap_fm_2009-12-07.mp3)] downloads

Download (431MB 192k MP3 313’51”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_brap_fm_2009-12-07.mp3)] downloads

Next show: Sat 2nd Jan, 19:00 GMT, NSB

Categories: Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: brapfm, breaks, downtempo, Goa trance, hardhouse, hardtrance, progressive, progressive house, progressive trance, psybreaks, psytrance, techno, void radio

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live on BrapFM 7th Dec 2009

Mix: Quexotic Adventures #002:
live on NSB 5th Dec 2009

Yes, my new show has a name! Thanks to everyone who sent in their suggestions, there were some great ones, couldn’t decide between them so went for something completely different 😉

This week’s show featured some proper tripped out nuskool and epic progressive breaks of the style that got me hooked on it in the first place about 9 or 10 years ago (though these tunes are more recent!), some pslinkin psexy psybreaks, and for the final half hour, something that I hope to be exploring more in future, some twisting mind-expanding leftfield neurofunk-esque drum’n’bass. Oh yes indeed. Word.

Download (163MB 192k MP3 119’15”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-05.mp3)] downloads

Download (163MB 192k MP3 119’15”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-12-05.mp3)] downloads

Next shows:

• Tue 15th Dec, 7pm GMT, PsyMusic
• Sat 19th Dec, 7pm GMT, NSB (first and third Saturday of each month, plus the fifth Saturday in January 🙂 )

Various reminder services are available, but the most reliable one is the Facebook group and page. See you next time 😀

Categories: Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: breaks, deep, dirty, dnb, drum'n'bass, electrobreaks, nsb, nsbradio, nuskoolbreaks, progressive breaks, psybreaks, psychedelic, psydnb, quexotic, trippy

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live on NSB 5th Dec 2009

Last Void Radio show tonight!

This was supposed to be happening later this month but has been brought forward to tonight. After two years of playing regularly on Brap.FM I’m leaving so I can devote more time to my shows on other stations. Brap never took off audience-wise, although I did appreciate the musical freedom it gave me to hop around genres…

With that in mind, tonight’s show is going to be a complete free-for-all. I have nothing specific in mind to play, so it’s your chance to get in the chatroom and send in your requests during the show! I’ll be in there from 7.30pm, the show starts at 8pm.

Categories: News, Radio Shows // Tags: brapfm, void radio

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Quextal recommends: Morning Coffee vol 29
mixed by BETA

I download a lot of other DJ’s mixes. Most of them warrant no more than a cursory scrub before being discarded as Not My Kind Of Music. Some get a more detailed scan, with a couple of interesting tracks noted down to check later. A few get played in full, chugging along in the background while I work, a good track interrupting me every so often demanding to be ID’d.

But once in a while, a mix comes along which, gently but firmly, grabs hold of me, takes me over. A mix that cannot be a background to any other activity, but draws in more and more attention, and rewards it.

Such mixes are very rare.

But it should be no great surprise that BETA should come up with one, because he is a man of very rare talent. He’s repeatedly blown me away with his productions over the last two years. And while others may jostle to be flavour of the month, BETA’s sheer consistency, razor sharp production, and the way that each new release nudges the sound of progressive breaks forward, have earned him a place at the very top of my personal league table of producers.

Somehow, in all of the time I’ve been buying his music, I’ve never heard him mix. It was worth the wait. This is what progressive breaks is supposed to be like. The mix traces out a beautiful curving flow, through bigger and ever more epic tunes, until the last track, which goes way beyond merely “huge”, shoots straight through “immense” and breaks off the top of the chart. Shock Theropy[sic] – Void is the first breaks tune to really knock me flat in a long while – I hope it’s getting released soon, cos I can’t wait to play it out and watch it knock other people flat…

In the meantime, I so wanted you to hear this mix, that I started a new section of my website for it. Only a very few selected mixes and tracks will earn a place in Recommendations. By starting with this mix, the benchmark has been set pretty high.

Download MP3 from bbz.ru

Morning Coffee vol.29 mixed by BETA (blog entry / tracklist / cuefile) (if you want to download the MP3 from that page, you have to click on the link that’s a Russian word. The one that says Download will just give you a cuefile.)

Categories: Recommendations // Tags: beta, epic, mix, progressive breaks

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mixed by BETA

Quexotic Adventures on NSB Radio

Yes I’ve finally decided on a name for the new show… I wanted something that gave an idea of the principle without constraining me to specific genres. And unfortunately, once I’d come up with the pun on “quixotic”, it wouldn’t let go…

So, Quexotic Adventures continues this Saturday 5th December, 7-9pm GMT, on NSB Radio!

Here’s the (typically hyperbolic) show description…

Quextal leads you on an epic journey, flowing through space and time,
shapes and textures, landscapes and creatures, organic and alien – all
synaesthetically engineered from the finest quality
progressive/psychedelic breaks and other mutated electronic
soundforms.

So in the end I didn’t choose any of the names suggested by listeners, but one person in particular contributed many excellent suggestions and so has earned a prize anyway. Congratulations to BooMboxx… get in touch to claim 🙂

Categories: News, Radio Shows // Tags: nsb, nsbradio, quexotic

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Mix: Quexotic Adventures #001:
live on NSB 21st Nov 2009

Still haven’t quite found a name for this show yet, but there were some excellent suggestions in the chatroom, especially from BooMboxx, so thanks for those — I definitely like the idea of getting some obscure Mayan references in there… but the competition is still open, so if you have an idea for what to call the show, get in touch and you could win a prize!

Anyway, many thanks to all who tuned in, and stayed tuned in despite glitches (trunk network maintenance which I had been warned about by my ISP, so hopefully this was a one-off).

Download (162MB 192k MP3 118’15”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-11-21.mp3)] downloads

Download (162MB 192k MP3 118’15”) [downloadcounter(quextal_live_on_nsb_2009-11-21.mp3)] downloads

Next show is an extra appearance this coming Mon 23rd Nov at 8pm GMT on BrapFM, which is going to be an oldskool special, and then 5th Dec on NSB…

Categories: Mixes, Radio Archives // Tags: electrobreaks, nsbradio, progressive breaks, psybreaks, quexotic, techbreaks

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live on NSB 21st Nov 2009