since my last mix, a lot of shit happened.

i started and quit a job.

i struggled to stay motivated as a starving artist, fighting off my mortifying suspicion that i was a fool for holding onto what little faith i had left in art and perseverance leading me to a fruitful and secure life.

i wrestled with the reality that my city is becoming Diet Portland™: a car-centric, Nike-sponsored destination for the moderately wealthy, no longer the underrated oasis of cheap rent and stable living for low-income hippies and burnouts that it was in my youth.

i dealt with squirrels and wasps entering my house through a hole in the roof.

i cried about a death for the first time in my life, mourning the passing of a distant but dear friend.

i purchased and fully embraced an electric scooter, whipping myself around town without the shackles of vehicle registration or insurance.

i questioned if raw talent and hard work could really be enough to ingratiate myself into the local dj scene, despite my timid aura and aversion to “networking”.

i drove myself to the brink of insanity manually adjusting the micro-timing of AI-extracted vocal stems.

i daydreamed about being miraculously taken under the wing of an exponentially more successful DJ.

i screamed obscenities when confronted with the inferior, clunky nature of Adobe Premiere (in comparison to my beloved FL Studio), sweat pouring down my brow, as i methodically edited video in a 96-degree sauna of a bedroom, wearing only boxer shorts.

i procrastinated writing this very writeup, worried that my candor may seem cringe or too personal in the modern social media landscape.

so as i emerge from the tangled rat’s nest of wires that make up this one-man DIY broadcast, i am proud of what I’ve created, thankful to everyone who listens, and cautiously hopeful for the future of dealership. as always, if you enjoy the mix, please share it with any fans of long-form content in your life.

-Will

a note on editing: while it is always my lofty aspiration to capture the unparalleled euphoric energy of hitting all my sickest DJ tricks in one continuous recording, I’ve come to realize that my best work is created with the assistance of editing. most of what you see in the video matches the audio you’re hearing, but there are quite a few splices to remove mistakes and get better results on a second (or 8th) attempt. it’s all real, just rearranged. I haven’t yet met anyone in person that has judged or discouraged this process, but i see the sentiment online against “fake DJs”, so i want to be upfront and honest about the nature of my content. to illustrate this, i have elected to include footage of myself wearing different shirts and headphones throughout the three-day recording process.

projector visuals from https://visbot.net