VIBIN' IN VILNIUS

At V 4 Vilnius Bar, with DJs Mantini, Mamania and Tomas.

MD AT RE-WINE'D, IPSWICH, SATURDAY 29TH MARCH

A rare excursion to Ipswich at the end of the month, joining the homie Karl Cross for an old-school session at The Wine Bar.

MD'S DIARY BLOG, FEBRUARY '14

Recent attempts to get to Macedonia haven't gone too well, making it feel like the Universe was trying to tell me something. My scheduled visit there in January 2012 had to be aborted when Wizzair's flight to Skopje was delayed by a marathon eight hours. By the time it got going it was pointless to fly as I was already too late for my gig in neighbouring Kosovo, so after an entire Saturday in shitty Luton Airport I went home. The next attempt, in December, also had to be aborted when I went down with a painful bout of tonsilitis.

Happily, fortunes fared better on Friday 7th February, as I made it out of Luton, braving the hazards of Wizzair once again. I hooked up with Skopje's DJ Boogieman for a chat and a bite to eat later in the day in the Macedonian capital, doing my best to brush up on the fascinating and chequered history of the Macedonian region and nation, and its sometimes stormy relationship to its neighbours. The following day, after much exploring and photo-taking of the many sombre-looking statues in the city centre, Boogieman drove us up the imposing and misty Vordur mountain, which overshadowed my hotel. The last part of the ascent was done by scarily high cable car. The top platform offers an amazing view of the whole of Skopje on one side, and barren wilderness on the other. Stunning stuff.

At 8pm on Saturday I was picked up by the manager/ owner of the Duplex venue in neighbouring Kosovo, for a road trip over the border to the capital city of Pristina. This replaced the gig I'd missed a couple of years earlier, and I was grateful to get the opportunity to see another of Europe's countries for the first time. The sparse Macedonian landscape gave way to a more American feel as we entered Kosovo - neon-signed motels, diners, gas stations, furniture warehouses and car showrooms all the way. A bunch of us enjoyed a late pizza meal before heading over to the Duplex bar. 

This acts as the sister venue to the much larger Duplex club, which had been closed for the season, and I heard many stories about how off-the-hook the place is for its open-air parties in the scorching Summer months. I hope to get the chance to witness it. Sadly, my DJing time was cut short by some over-zealous officers in the nearby police station taking it upon themselves to shut down the party, and before I knew it I was back on the road to Skope Airport, from where I stumbled on to my 5am flight home. I was back through my front door as early as 9.30am on Sunday morning, and headed straight to bed.

My first Good Vibrations podcast guest this month was Magnus Mulliner, a fascinating guy who I first encountered at a conference last year, blasting many myths regarding food, nutrition and the general wellbeing of the human body. We had a great chat which encompassed everything from statins and microwaved food, to vaccines, Big Pharma and electromagnetic pollution. You can hear the podcast here:

The Sound Of Freedom continued throughout the month on The People's Voice, bringing the weekly challenge of unearthing conscious music old and new, which addresses all kinds of subject matter from the geo-political to the esoteric. I featured a handful of guests in interview in recent shows, including Chicago's DISL Automatic, Toronto's Cale Sampson, the UK's MC Swayze, and a re-airing of my chat with M1 of Dead Prez, as well as dropping some of their more potent tunes. Each week's show is uploaded to my Soundcloud page straight after broadcast, which you'll find right here:

http://www.soundcloud.com/mark-devlin

No-one was more surprised than me when OX105FM in Oxford got itself back off the ground again this month, following its demise in October owing to assorted politics and managerial issues. A bunch of the original personnel resurrected it as Destiny FM with a largely reggae-based output, but I got invited back to continue doing my The Sound Of Now show in its original timeslot. I re-started on 22nd February, and this now puts me in the bizarre position of being on the radio twice on a Saturday evening, from 6 to 8pm live in Oxford, then with the Sound Of Freedom (which is pre-recorded) starting an hour later at 7pm. 

UK gig-wise, I spun a couple of times at Jak's in Chelsea, London, which seems completely impervious to any seasonal punter slowdowns. I was back in the Big Smoke during Half Term week, as we took the kids for their first taste of the capital city.

And that, pretty much, was February.

GOOD VIBRATIONS PODCAST, VOL. 34: MARK GRANT

The fascinating subject area of synchronicity and number 'coincidences' are the subject of this volume, as Mark Devlin chats with Canadian author and researcher Mark Grant. Following a profound experience in 1982, Mark has devoted the past 30-plus years to examining the phenomenon of synchronicity, and considering the possible causal factors behind it.

Mark's book, which has just reached its third edition, is entitled 'A Tale Of Two Synchronicities', and refers to what he calls micronicities and macronicities. The first are events which have meaning and significance on a personal basis; the latter are events which hold relevance to large groups of people on a collective basis, and he gives examples of each. On the subject of numbers, Mark relates the influence of 'the fours' in his own life, and how 44 and various derivatives of it, have featured. We then get into some examples of synchronicity at work in the public domain and in popular culture which listeners will be able to relate to.

(A word of acknowledgement has to go towards the appalling sound quality of the interview, which was down to an outrageously bad Skype connection which didn't get any better despite multiple attempts. We're well aware that it sounds awful. Hopefully, the quality of the information contained, however, will outweigh the problems!)

THE SOUND OF NOW, DESTINY 105FM. PLAYLIST FOR 1/3/14

THE SOUND OF NOW, WITH MARK DEVLIN

DESTINY 105.1FM, OXFORD

PLAYLIST FOR SATURDAY 1ST MARCH 2014

LILY MCKENZIE: WHERE I BELONG (DANGLO BUBBLIN UKG MIX)

MISS COCO BROWN: DESTINY (YLLAVATION DEEP AND SOULFUL MIX) 

NINETEEN 96 FEAT. GIFT: TELL ME (EXTENDED MIX) (TSON GARAGE)

JENNIFER HUDSON FEAT. T.I: I CAN'T DESCRIBE THE WAY I FEEL (BAGGI'S HANDBAG HOUSE MIX)

BEYONCE: BLOW C JAY SWAYNE EXTENDED MIX / CLUB

FRABTZVAAG: WHAT YOU NEED (ORIGINAL MIX) 

SINCO: CIRCULATE

STREET BEAT OF THE WEEK:

EMILIA MAJELLO & GEMAN: REBEL IN HEAVEN (EXTENDED MIX) 

FEARCEVILL FEAT. DAVEY JONES: YVETTE GLOVER

FASHAWN: LADIES

KVBEATS FEAT. RASHAD & DJ ROB SWIFT: YOU KNOW THE RULES 

JS THE BEST: ON MY WAY TO WORK

MATT MADDOX FEAT. TRAGEDY KHADAFI: STREET ART

RUDIMENTAL: POWERLESS (MK REMIX) 

SUPERTONS FOX BOX: ON THE FLOOR (ORIGINAL MIX)

RAY FOXX & TOM PIPER FEAT.  AYAH MARAR: ONLY WAY (CAUSE AFFECT REMIX)

ZANDER HARDY FEAT. ASHA RAE: SPENDING TIME 

SECOND CITY: I WANNA FEEL (ORIGINAL) 

M SWIFT FEAT. ERIC ROBERSON: GAMES

BILLON: BROKEN (TSON HOUSE)

MARK DEVLIN DJ MIX:

PAPOOSE FEAT. DJ PREMIER: TURN IT UP

RAPSODY FEAT. DJ PREMIER: KINGSHIP

N.O.R.E. FEAT. LARGE PROFESSOR: BUILT PYRAMIDS

R.A THE RUGGED MAN FEAT. HOPSIN & JARREN BENTON: UNDERGROUND HITS

ILL BILL. THE TRUTH (PROD. DJ PREMIER)

BUMPY KNUCKLES & DJ WAYNE SKI: PEEP THE RESUME

THE LAST EIGHTH FEAT. HAVOC: RAGIN'

TALIB KWELI FEAT. BUSTA RHYMES: ROCKET SHIPS

14KT FEAT. BLU: PAID

TY: LIKE YOU NEVER

TY: KNOCK KNOCK

LITTLES: LISTEN

MARCO POLO FEAT. TALIB KWELI & DJ PREMIER: G.U.R.U

TALES FROM THE FLIPSIDE

I often forget that I actually wrote a book, but for my newer friends, here it is. Tales From The Flipside gives the good-humoured inside story of what life's really like for non-superstar DJs, ie, the 95 per cent of us that graft way every weekend and whose world is very far from that of Pete Tong and Carl Cox. More Ryanair and Travelodge than Emirates and Hilton!

Here's the link to grab a copy (and help a dude out!) if you feel so inclined!

GOOD VIBRATIONS PODCAST, VOL. 34: MARK GRANT

The fascinating subject area of synchronicity and number 'coincidences' are the subject of this volume, as Mark Devlin chats with Canadian author and researcher Mark Grant. Following a profound experience in 1982, Mark has devoted the past 30-plus years to examining the phenomenon of synchronicity, and considering the possible causal factors behind it.

Mark's book, which has just reached its third edition, is entitled 'A Tale Of Two Synchronicities', and refers to what he calls micronicities and macronicities. The first are events which have meaning and significance on a personal basis; the latter are events which hold relevance to large groups of people on a collective basis, and he gives examples of each. On the subject of numbers, Mark relates the influence of 'the fours' in his own life, and how 44 and various derivatives of it, have featured. We then get into some examples of synchronicity at work in the public domain and in popular culture which listeners will be able to relate to.

(A word of acknowledgement has to go towards the appalling sound quality of the interview, which was down to an outrageously bad Skype connection which didn't get any better despite multiple attempts. We're well aware that it sounds awful. Hopefully, the quality of the information contained, however, will outweigh the problems!)

ALAIS CLAY: REVERSE HYPNOSIS - AS REAL AS IT GETS!

I'm late on this one, but I only recently got put on to Alais Clay's music. This, truly, is as real is it gets!  The subject matter runs the gamut of the truth/ consciousness fields, the lyrics articulate everything that so many of us think about, the production is tight, and the sounds are at times inspiring and rousing, and at times healing and reflective. I'll be featuring much of this on The Sound Of Freedom in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, you could do far worse than to grab yourself a copy on iTunes, like I did. That's an endorsement right there!

GOOD VIBRATIONS PODCAST, VOL. 34: MARK GRANT

The fascinating subject area of synchronicity and number 'coincidences' are the subject of this volume, as Mark Devlin chats with Canadian author and researcher Mark Grant. Following a profound experience in 1982, Mark has devoted the past 30-plus years to examining the phenomenon of synchronicity, and considering the possible causal factors behind it.

Mark's book, which has just reached its third edition, is entitled 'A Tale Of Two Synchronicities', and refers to what he calls micronicities and macronicities. The first are events which have meaning and significance on a personal basis; the latter are events which hold relevance to large groups of people on a collective basis, and he gives examples of each. On the subject of numbers, Mark relates the influence of 'the fours' in his own life, and how 44 and various derivatives of it, have featured. We then get into some examples of synchronicity at work in the public domain and in popular culture which listeners will be able to relate to.

(A word of acknowledgement has to go towards the appalling sound quality of the interview, which was down to an outrageously bad Skype connection which didn't get any better despite multiple attempts. We're well aware that it sounds awful. Hopefully, the quality of the information contained, however, will outweigh the problems!)

MD'S CLUB/ RADIO DATES, MARCH '14

Saturday 1st March

The Sound Of Now, Destiny 105, Oxford (6-8pm)

Saturday 1st March

The Sound Of Freedom, The People's Voice (7-9pm)

Thursday 6th March
Jak's, Chelsea, London

Saturday 8th March

The Sound Of Now, Destiny 105, Oxford (6-8pm)

Saturday 8th March

The Sound Of Freedom, The People's Voice (7-9pm)

Saturday 8th March

Mojitos Cubana Bar, Vilnius, LITHUANIA

Friday 14th March

Zefi, Chelsea, London

Saturday 15th March

The Sound Of Now, Destiny 105, Oxford (6-8pm)

Saturday 15th March

The Sound Of Freedom, The People's Voice (7-9pm)

Saturday 15th March

Zefi, Chelsea, London

Saturday 22nd March

The Sound Of Now, Destiny 105, Oxford (6-8pm)

Saturday 22nd March

The Sound Of Freedom, The People's Voice (7-9pm)

Saturday 29th March

The Sound Of Now, Destiny 105, Oxford (6-8pm)

Saturday 29th March

The Sound Of Freedom, The People's Voice (7-9pm)

Saturday 29th March

Re-Wined, The Wine Bar, Ipswich