What Now? (Part 1)

What Now? (Part 1)

1 December 2023

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Today marks the third anniversary of my Mum's passing, so for that reason it seemed fitting to jump forward in the timeline of repopulating my blog with mixes I have put together.

This three part series of mixes were put together a few months after; the dust was settling and I was feeling quite lost, unsure what to focus on, given the fact my Mum and her care had been the centre of that focus for such a long time. At the same time, although she never complained, I also had a sense of relief that she was not living with the illness that deprived her of so much, and perhaps selfishly, that I didn't carry that weight of responsibility. I was looking for my path forward. I still feel surrounded by fog, I'm still looking for the path, it's a work in progress.

I tried to put together these mixes with a sense of what I was feeling, and when I listen back to them, I feel that I captured it reasonably well. To me there's a sense of loss, melancholy, connection to nature and also elements of light and hope within the music and mixes. As my friend Matthew put it in a comment - "There is a sense of calm reverie. There is hope".

You will find part two [HERE] & part three [HERE]

The tracklist is linked up for you to be able to pick up any of the music you might want for yourself.

Part 1

mixamorphosis · What Now? (Part 1)

 

Tracklist 

Kinder Scout - Interlude (Home Normal)
Charles Bukowski - Go All The Way (Read by Tom O' Bedlam)
David Cordero & Miguel Otero - Dolores (Archives)
Slow Meadow - We Can Only Love Through Suffering (Hammock Music)
Agnes Obel - Stretch Your Eyes (Ambient Acapella) (Late Night Tales)
Endless Melancholy - Lost (Hidden Vibes)
William Ryan Fitch - VII: In A Sense Of Ether (Lost Tribe Sound)
Sven Laux & Daniela Orvin - A Moment Of Silence (Dronarivm)
Luke Howard Trio - I Think It's Sinking In (Lukktone)
Yumiko Morioka - Moon Road (Métron Records)
Owl - Glimpse Of Decline (Silent Season)
Steven Kemner - Sleep Well (Facture)
Olga Wojciechowska - To Feel Much More Than Now (Self Released)
Daniela Orvin - Sudden Farewell (Dronarivm)
SiJ - Memories Lost In Time (Hidden Vibes)
A Veil Of Water - Frailty (Hidden Vibes)
Brambles - To Speak Of Solitude (Serein)
Warmth - You're Not Here (Archives)
Hania Rani - Today It Came (Gondwana Records)
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - All Farewells Are Sudden (Erased Tapes)
Walter D Wintle - State Of Mind (Read by Tom O' Bedlam)
Adrian Lane - An Occasional Hushed Word (Preserved Sound)

 

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What Now? (Part 2)

What Now? (Part 2)

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I am re-sharing the series of three 'What Now?' mixes today, 1st December, 2023, which is the third anniversary of my Mum's passing. I think that it's best to listen to these mixes in the order they were created and to read the previous post too.

You can find Part 1 [HERE] and you can find Part 3 [HERE].

As usual, I have linked up the tracklist as best as I can so that you can pick up any of the music you might want for your own collection.

mixamorphosis · What Now? (Part 2)

 

Tracklist 

Polaroid Notes - Close To Heaven (Whitelabrecs)
Mathieu Karsenti - Time To Go (Slowcraft Records)
Hector Plimmer - Joyfulness (Alexa Harley's Acapella Rework) (Albert's Favourites)
Abstract Aprils - Falling Falling Falling (Self Released)
One Million Eyes - Eustress (A Strangely Isolated Place)
Peter Broderick - A Year Without Summer (Erased Tapes)
Greg Foat - After The Storm (Strut Records)
Ben Lukas Boysen - Kenotaph (Erased Tapes)
Hania Rani - Leaving (Gondwana Records)
Andrew Wasylyk - A Further Look At Loss (Athens Of The North)
Julianna Barwick - Healing Is A Miracle (Ninja Tune)
Thinnen ft. Olga Wojciechowska - Memories (Self Released)
Nat Birchall - A Prayer For (Gondwana (CD) / Jazzman (LP))
Alice Coltrane - Prema (Antartica Starts Here)
Mammal Hands - Solitary Bee (Gondwana)
Katya Yonder - Mood (Méteron Records)
Hampshire & Foat - End Song (Athens Of The North) 

 

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What Now? (Part 3)

What Now? (Part 3)

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I am re-sharing the series of three 'What Now?' mixes today, the 1st of December, 2023, which is the third anniversary of my Mum's passing. It seemed fitting to reshare these mixes today and I think that it's best to listen to these mixes in the order they were created and to read the initial post too. This mix was recorded live and unplanned on 29th December, 2021.

You can find Part 1 [HERE] and you can find Part 2 [HERE].

As usual, I have linked up the tracklist as best as I can so that you can pick up any of the music you might want for your own collection.

 

mixamorphosis · What Now? (Part 3)

 

Tracklist

D. Rothon - The Ghost We Bring (Clay Pipe Music)
Glacis - You Are Born (Preserved Sound)
Hania Rani - Ghosts - from Pradziady (Gondwana Records)
Cass. - Let's Keep Us Close Until We Die (ft. Altars Altars) (Home Normal)
Amanda Whiting - Gone (Jazzman)
Laraaji - Illusion Of Time (Ahead Of Our Time)
Greg Foat - Motherly Love (Strut)
Trigg & Gusset - Blue Shades (Preserved Sound)
Andrew Wasylyk - Avril Hydrangeas (Clay Pipe Music)
ambientsketchbook - Life's Greatest Questions (Self Released)
Good Weather For An Airstrike - All Is Lost (ft. Jamie Brett) (Hawkmoon Records)
Ezra Feinberg - Letter To My Mind (Related States)
Kryshe - Fragile (Serein)
José González - Head On (Imperial)
Leifur James - Time (Night Time Stories)
Phi-Psonics - Mama (Nightnote Records)
Slow Meadow - Tethered To The Earth (Self Released)
Luke Howard Trio - A Plane Of Becoming (Hobbledehoy)
Matthew Halsall - Reflections (Gondwana Records)
Penguin Cafe - Protection (Erased Tapes)
Portico Quartet - Gateway (Gondwana Records)
The Cinematic Orchestra - Wait For Now / Leave The World (Ninja Tune)
Thomas Méreur - Left Behind and Irretrievably Lost (Preserved Sound)
The Search Party - So Many Things Have Got Me Down (Ole Smokey Instrumental Edit)

 

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Off The Cuff

Off The Cuff

30 November 2023

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This mix from around 2012 was the first of a series of mixes I opted to call 'Off The Cuff'. They were exactly that, unplanned and spontaneous mixes that I recorded on the spur of the moment. Unfortunately I forgot to take note of the tracks I used, and although I've filled in the blanks fairly well, there are still a few missing... if anyone listens and recognises the missing tracks, please drop me a line and let me know! 

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · Off The Cuff

 

Tracklist

Mosca - Murderous (Hypercolour Records)
Borrowed Identity - Stimulation (Foul & Sunk)
KiNK - Express (Rush Hour)
Sons Between Guns - 9 Miles Down a Black Line (Silent Dust Remix) (R-Lo)
Unknown - Unknown
Nacho Marco - Game On (Ooft! Remix) (Lovemonk)
Unknown - Unknown
Last Mood - Warehouse (Elef Remix) (Dirt Crew Recordings)
PBR Streetgang - At Dez (20:20 Vision)
Unknown - Unknown
Motor City Drum Ensemble - Prayer (Faces Records)
Unknown - Unknown
Maricopa - Interstate (Tusk Wax)
Depth Charge - Sex, Sluts & Heaven (D.C. Recordings)

 

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Back To The Beats

Back To The Beats

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This mix is from 2012/13 or thereabouts. There's no back story to this, the title simply came from the fact that I hadn't been on my decks for a couple of months, I got the urge one evening, so I hit record and this was what came out the other end. The cover was pretty rushed and I've often thought about changing it, but I really love the text and the colour, so I've opted to leave it as it is.

As usual, I'll try and link the tracklist as best I can, but as with a lot of edit based/heavy mixes, a lot will have vanished over the years and might need a lot of digging to find, if they can be found at all.

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · Back To The Beats

 

Tracklist

Teslaboy – In Your Eyes (Volta Cab Mix) (Self Released)
Deadly Sins - I Can Feel It (Original Cuts)
Betty Wright - Slip & Do It (V Feels So Good Edit) (Vehicle)
Janefondas – Forbidden Love (Janefondas Edit)
Rocco Raimundo - Give Me Your Love (House Of Disco)
LTJ - Turn Me On (Hot Groovy)
KC & The Sunshine Band – I Get Lifted (Cilly Pilly Edit)
Craig Hamilton - Lay It Down (Flatpack Traxx)
Dynamicron - Never Ever (Dynamicron Romanticron Edit)
Session Victim - Time To Let You Down (Delusions Of Grandeur)
Leon - Nice To Meet You (Dave Allison Remix) (Timewarp)
Nicholas - Can You Understand? (No More Hits)
The Noodleman - Goin’ Down (Goin’ Down) (Editorial)
Frank Booker - Boss (Sleazy Beats)
Sirarcusa - Streap-Tease in The Stars (The Way I Do) (Leng Records)

 

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Built In Slow Motion

Built In Slow Motion

28 November 2023

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This mix is one of the earlier mixes I posted online, from around 2010  going by some release dates of the tracks, but I honestly thought it was earlier than that. Anyway, before the likes of Soundcloud and Mixcloud became big things and cornering the mix hosting market, it was posted on a website called Postbocks, which has long since disappeared.

I've never been very confident with my mixes, I feel uneasy posting them online really, I always have. I generally think they don't stand up well against ones others post, so I don't push them too much in case it attracts the wrong kind of attention, which has happened every now and then. Strangely, this one attracted a weird form of attention. Someone on the Postbocks website, downloaded my mix, chopped the first track off, then uploaded it to their own profile and claimed it as their own... on the same website I was hosting my mix on. I only stumbled across this by chance after searching for a link to one of the tracks to pass on to someone else. The track wasn't on very many websites or mixes so when I searched my mix and the copied mix came up next to each other in the search results. A strange turn of events, and oddly both annoying and flattering, though I don't think worthy of such attention.

This mix also opened the door to getting to know a few good people in music, including Appo who is behind the Kate Bush edit.

I have recently updated the mix cover for this mix. The original was a bit rubbish; it was of it's time and of my skillset at the time, so I felt it could do with a fresh one, though slightly linked via the red brick wall. As for the name, I really can't remember what that was about... perhaps alluding to the blog which I was trying to put together in 2009.

As usual, I'll link the tracklist as well as possible, some might need you to do some digging yourself... it's been a while.

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · Built In Slow Motion

 

Tracklist 

01. Kate Bush - Red Shoes (Appo Re-edit) (Self Released)
02. Gazeebo - Boob Holder (Gazeebo International)
03. DJ Agent 86 - Magic (Lightspeed Recordings)
04. Gary Tom's Empire - Sexy Lady (Lou's Handin' Out Bruises Beatdown) (Tigers On A Leash)
05. Loin Brothers - Garden Of Vargolf (Tornado Wallace Remix) (Future Classic)
06. Drop Out City Rockers - International Track (Drop Out)
07. Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That ( Unknown Remake)
08. Art Of Tones - The World As I Live It (Room With A View)
09. Bonar Bradberry - Turning Loose (Ron Basejam Remix) (Under The Shade)
10. Honesty - Bleep Me (Room With A View)
11. Tape To Tape - Pure + Easy (Future Disco)
12. Sean Brosnan - Sat Jam (Eddie C Remix) (NeedWant)
13. Matthew Dear - Little People (Black City) (Mark E Remix) (Ghostly International)
14. FETE - The Islands (Maelstrom's Solar Disco Mix) (NeedWant)
15. Massimiliano Pagliara - Keep On Dreaming (Mark E Remix) (NeedWant)

 

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In To The Deep

In To The Deep

27 November 2023

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No back story to this mix. It was just a mix I put together for fun, around about 2011 / 2012 in the realms of deep house.

You'll find the tracklist below the Soundloud player, linked up as best as I can for various sources where you can pick up the tracks for yourself.

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · In To The Deep

 

Tracklist

1. Nils Penner - You Need To Know (Wazi Wazi)
2. Blondes - Water (Bicep Remix) (RVNG INTL)
3. Mic Newman - Knickerbocker (Tsuba)
4. Nicholas - All Night Long [Gerds Old School Remix] (4 Lux Recordings)
5. Chaos In the CBD - I’m Losing You (YounGunZ)
6. Claro Intelecto - Voyeurism (Delsin)
7. TJ Kong & Nuno dos Santos - Emerald Bay (Compost)
8. Vanessa Daou - Once In A While (Roberto Rodriguez aka Manolo Every Now And Then Mix) (KID Recordings)
9. Kyodai - Mi Rumba (Genius Of Time Remix) (Freerange)
10. Tiger Stripes - Crossroads (My Favourite Robot)
11. Finn Bell - Liike (Assembly)
12. Hard Ton - Not Again (Toy Tonics)
13. Bicep - Darwin (Retro & Grade Remix) (Throne Of Blood)
14. Flying White Dots - Little Fluffy Clouds
15. Bruce Springsteen - Missing (The Starkiller Remix) (Self Released)

 

Hearthis (D/L Available)

 

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Smoking (No Smoking)

Smoking (No Smoking)

26 November 2023

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During this process of re-populating the blog with music and mixes I expect I'll want to provide a little back story to some of the mixes. Not all of them have a story, some of them do, this one kind of follows on from the previous post.

I started smoking at around 14 years old. One of the worst decisions I ever made, and made even more ridiculous by the fact that growing up I really hated smoking. My entire family were smokers, being stuck in smoke filled spaces growing up was not a pleasant place, and sadly not that uncommon for people in the 70's & 80's, and before of course. 

I was always on the periphery of things as a kid, certainly never in amongst the cool kids, and the cool kids all smoked. My cousin was more intent on trying to fit in to that crowd, I was more intent on just fitting in with my cousin, we were like brothers growing up. He started smoking, and one day encouraged me to, I did and that was that. 

When I stopped smoking pot, my cigarette intake increased, it was probably one of the things that helped me, bizarrely, but I knew stopping smoking was in my plans. Between the pot, and cigarettes, I hadn't ever played decks without one or the other, and much like the previous post where that was my first mix without pot in the background, this was my first mix after stopping smoking... hence the title. Smoking (No Smoking).

If anyone should stumble across this post be thinking about stopping smoking themselves, I say do it, 100%. Stopping is without the best thing you can do. My method of  stopping was around Christmas of 2010 I set myself a date of March 1st, that was my stop date. I thought about it often in between times, and I think that was an important part because it reinforced the idea over a period of time. Come the morning of March 1st, I was worried about trying to stop, it had been almost 20 years, and I was almost talking myself out of even trying, but I felt that if I didn't at least try, it'd be a regret I'd carry and a situation I'd ultimately find myself in again. So, try I did. I threw out all cigarettes and smoking paraphernalia like lighters and ashtrays that morning, and that was it. The first few days were very difficult, but over time it became easier, I thought about it less and I've not touched them since. So, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Just don't let your brain trick you into thinking otherwise. 

Onto the music. I'll link the tracklist up below as well as I can, but a lot of these edits will be hard to find now, so expect to dig around for things yourself if you are after something...

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · Smoking No Smoking Mix

 

Tracklist

01. Joseph Terruel – Hot Pants! (Self Released)
02. Matthew Kyle – Vaguely Vogue (Self Released)
03. Duff Disco – Just In (Duff Disco)
04. Erdbeerschnitzel – To An End (Mirau Music)
05. Mark E – White Skyway (Under The Shade)
06. Shit Robot – Take Em Up (Mark E Black Country Dub) (DFA)
07. Ooft! – Mazin (House Of Disco)
08. The Owl – Street Man (Self Released)
09. James Brown – The Boss (The Owl Edit) (Self Released)
10. 78 Edits – Easy To Love
11. Eric Clapton & Sting – It’s Probably Me (Rayko Edit)
12. Unknown - Unknown
13. The Features – Lions (bydesign Rework)
14. Tim Zawada – Summertime Strut (Self Released)

 

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Is Anybody Listening?

Is Anybody Listening?

23 November 2023

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I have looked back at the posts I recently deleted, and can't quite believe I had not shared this mix on the blog!

 

In my previous 'reset' post, I made a point of saying I wasn't going to share personal info going forward, but this one has a back story that is perhaps worthy of sharing, and might help someone with a similar issue that I found myself in many years ago.

 

I'm not going to go into the details too deeply here. My teenage years and early 20's were challenging. Family breakdown, lack of support, lack of direction, difficulty finding a path in life and employment. I smoked pot, recreationally to begin with, but it ended up becoming a bit of a mental health crutch and from around '99 to '09, smoked quite heavily. At the time, I thought it was helping me by slowing down my thoughts and helping me keep them in check. Looking back I know it was doing me more harm than good and I wish I realised sooner. In 2009 I realised that it was actually triggering panic attacks, so I stopped. It wasn't easy, but it was the right thing to do and I'm glad that I did.

 

You might wonder why I'm sharing this. Well, until this mix, I had only every played my decks whilst I was smoking pot. Until this moment, I don't think I could imagine myself mixing without having that as a part of the process. Yet, to this day, I think this is one of my best mixes. That might be down to the story behind it as much as the mix itself, but I remember feeling really proud with it and to this day I still feel that way.

 

The second part of the back story is that in 2010 I came across a mix from James Lavelle (Mo Wax founder / Unkle member) on the Dazed Digital website and completely fell in love with it. I felt inspired to create a mix myself that had a similar vibe to it. I spent a couple of months finding tracks I felt I could use and this was the outcome, at the time using 2 x CDJ 1000 turntables and a DJM 600 mixer.

As I have always done, the tracklist is below which will link to various places you should find the music available to purchase. There are a few that are really hard to track down now, so you might need to do a bit more digging.

Soundcloud

mixamorphosis · Is Anybody Listening?

 

Tracklist 

01. The Black Dog - M1 (Soma)
02. We Fell To Earth - The Double (Instereo)
03. Clint Mansell - Two Weeks & Counting... (Black Records)
04. Trentemoller - Sycamore Feeling (Trentemoller Remix) (In My Room)
05. Max Cooper - Enveloped (Traum)
06. Kevin Swain - A Dark Mood (Global Underground)
07. Tiefschwarz - Legends (Souvenir)
08. Nathan Fake - You Are Here (Four Tet Remix) (Border Community)
09. Future Beat Alliance - Dark Passenger (Rush Hour)
10. Luis Junior - Colache (Bedrock Digital)
11. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (Mute)
12. Agoria ft. Neneh Cherry - Million Miles (Different)
13. UNKLE - Twilight (Layo & Bushwacka! Mix) (Surrender All)
14. DJ Koze - Mariposa (Kompakt)
15. Radiohead - Everything In It's Right Place (Andi Muller's Loooong Mix) (Unofficial D/L)
16. James Teej - B4 Spring (Rekids)
17. OK Corral - Pink Shue (Shades Of Grey Remix) (Beef Records)
18. Royksopp - The Drug (Wall Of Sound)
19. Efdemin - Acid Bells (Martyn's Bittersweet Mix) (Curle Recordings)
20. Massive Attack - Protection (The Eno Mix) (Feat. Tracey Thorn) (Wild Bunch)
21. UNKLE - Heaven (Redux) (Surrender All)
22. David Lynch - I Know (Skream's Not So Ravey Remix) (Sunday Best Recordings)
23. Biosphere - Phantasm (Biophon)
24. Sasha - Park In The Shade (Audion Deep Steeple Remix) (emFire)
25. Agoria - Libellules (Infine)
26. Gus Gus - Add This Song (Patrick Chardronnet Remix) (Kompakt)
27. Bomb The Bass - Black River (Gui Boratto Remix) (!K7)
28. Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill (Eleventhirtyeight Edit) (Unofficial D/L)
29. DJ Shadow vs Carly Simon - Vanity (Flying White Dots Mash Up)
30. Alexander Daf - Lost In Flames (Bloodsugar)
31. Gold Panda - Snow & Taxis (Glitterbug's Pink Snow) (Notown / Ghostly)
32. Lost Idol - In Time & Space (Cookshop)
33. Top Drawer - Song Of A Sinner (Now Again)

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Hitting The Reset (Again!)

Hitting The Reset (Again!)

22 November 2023

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We've been here before. Quite a few times now. It is almost 15 years since I first published a post on this blog. I started with no grand plan, no blog title, no domain and no idea what the hell I was doing. So not much has changed, though I do have a title and domain, so that's something. It was actually a friend of friend that suggested I take up blogging, I think perhaps because they were tired of my flooding my Facebook with music talk, links and mixes.

In the time I've had this blog I've had big ideas and grand plans; spent time, effort and money and always ended up feeling like it does not reflect my thinking. I've learned a lot about the internet and even more about the people who populate it. I've encountered some really kind, warm, generous and caring people but many more who are none of these things. I've met people who love music in a similar way that I do and who love to explore the rich and diverse world of music and also share the delights they find, but I have encountered many more who operate in music circles for inflating their ego and for financial and status gains. I've gone through multiple redesigns, I've lost years of content to a hacking event, changed from being purely a blog for music I find and mixes I make to also using it as a platform to talk into the void about life experiences that are personal to me, and in 2022 posted a new 'mix' every week in an attempt to raise funds for a charity that was close to my heart.

The world is a different place, the internet has shifted beyond recognition, the music scene and the websites and publications that serve it are beyond my understanding, as is the scale and variety of ways that people consume music. Music blogging has been on life support for many years, yet I'm not ready to give up my little corner of the web. I like having my space and having the freedom to hit the reset button and change whatever I want, whenever I want, even if the internet now is mostly about a handful of websites controlled by unscrupulous billionaires and barely anybody will ever find this place as a result.

On the topic of changing whatever I want, I'm going to throw in something at this point. I deleted all my Facebook/Meta related accounts following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. I even put together a mix to highlight the issue and edited music and videos for the mix too. I've never been big on social media really, so it wasn't difficult to cut it all out and just focus on Twitter, which was never without it's own share of serious problems, but it at least felt a better source for music news, bands/artists/dj's would post info regularly and I could also get news on other interests in amongst it all. Since Musk has taken over, that site has become a bigger mess than I could have imagined. It's more toxic, there's more fake accounts and bots, the algorithms provide less of the content I'm looking for and the man at the top of the tree has the most bizarre cult following, celebrating their "free speech"; freedom to be racist, freedom to celebrate the evils one party carries out on another and vice versa, freedom to propagate false and damaging information, freedom to scam and harm other people.... all while paying for it and giving your data for free to boot. Anyway, the long story short is that I am not going to be bothering with Twitter so much from now, I'll keep my account for reading but don't think I'll post much, if ever. Very reluctantly, I've opened a Mixamorphosis page on Facebook, really as a way to keep up better with music artists and labels that interest me. I'm really not bothered if people follow my page or not. I'll share my mixes / some posts from time to time so I've got a footprint, but I'm not interested in pushing that... I gave up on the idea of chasing follower numbers many, many years ago. 

As for here, I think I'm going to drip feed content and re-share my mixes, re-brand and re-share some of the ones I put together in 2022 for the charity effort and leave the personal blogging in the past. I thought it was cathartic at the time to have somewhere to share thoughts and feelings, but looking back I think it didn't do me any good and I've unpublished all my previous posts. For now, I'll just keep it minimal and linked to the music I post.

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