sci-fi author, beatmaker

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New Progressive House/Deep House Jondi & Spesh Album

Just a quick post here to announce a new album: Jondi & Spesh – REFLECTIONS

This is my sixth full-length electronic album with my longest-term collaborator and one of my closest friends, DJ Spesh. Way back in the day we hopped on a young genre called “progressive house” and rode it a long way.

Spesh and I had a long moment of fame in the late nineties and early 2000’s when we were hosting the most popular electronic dance music party in San Francisco (Qoöl at 111 Minna), touring the world in support of our releases on Spundae Records and our own label Loöq, getting voted among the Top 10 DJ’s in San Francisco by the Nitevibe poll, getting ranked as one of the top albums of the year in Muzik Magazine (right next to Madonna), licensing music to prime time broadcast shows (CSI), and composing music for the most popular dance game of that time (Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution). I can’t really ask for any more musical success or fame than all of that, but Spesh and I–all these years later–still enjoy making music together and sharing it with the world.

It’s all gravy at this point. Gravy I hope your ears enjoy! Available on Beatport, Spotify, Apple Music, and most other music streaming services and stores. We’re also on Instagram.

#3 on Beatport, Work Update, Succeeding Like Water

Music

The new Momu release “Music Gets Me By” is charting on Beatport, currently #3 in Breakbeat releases and #9 on both the Melodic House and Tech House releases charts, while the various mixes have all broken into the Top 100 track charts for their respective genres. A great “big room” remix from our friend Jonathan Ojeda (artist name alias_j) is leading the charge in terms of sales.

It’s a blast to have any musical project get some traction, and the fact that this one is a collaboration with my good friends makes it that much sweeter. We’re this old, and still making electronic dance music, and some people still like the sounds we’re making? Amazing…I feel nothing but gratitude.

Check out the release, and if you like it, a purchase on Beatport would help us keep moving up the charts. It will also be available on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else next Friday.

Writing

After the recent acceptance of a novella to a magazine that I greatly admire (which I will announce as soon as the release date is set), I feel motivated to write more novellas. I’ve decided to write the sequel to my yet-to-be-published novel “Saint Arcology” (currently out for submission) as a set of three standalone novellas which can be read in any order, including either before or after the first book in the series.

How will this work in terms of eventually negotiating first publication rights? I have no idea, but I’m following my writing energy, and that’s where it’s leading me right now. I will probably need an agent at some point to advise me on such contractual issues, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Which leads into the point below…

Succeed Like Water

With each year of my life I become more aware of the reality that unknown, unexpected factors will always continue to surprise me and have an outsized influence on my life. Some will feel catastrophic (illnesses, market downturns, mental health issues) and others fabulous (new friendships, financial windfalls, lucky breaks). For me the best strategy is always to navigate life according to my core values (kindness, creativity, strong relationships, etc.) and try to achieve the things I want without getting too attached to outcomes which are unpredictable and often out of my control, partially or completely.

But even while taking a step back from the pursuit of goals at any cost, I like the idea of flowing towards my ideal outcomes. Water changes its shape and form to continue in a particular direction. Water rushes or seeps in, flows in tiny rivulets or great channels, changes its form to steam or ice depending on energetic conditions. So how can I emulate water, in terms of progressing towards my goals?

  • Follow my creative energy
  • Say yes to opportunities and collaborations where I feel a spark or connection (flow in the direction of gravity)
  • Show up to events (explore channels)
  • Don’t eliminate options because they don’t fit my preconceived plan

In summary, be willing to follow multiple convoluted paths, as long as they head in the general direction of where I want to be. Which is preferable to being stuck in a traffic jam on a straight road.

Music Update: Three New Releases, Still In The Game

Arturia V collection (emulated, in my Macbook)

I’ve always hesitated to call myself a musician, composer, or even music producer. I can find the keys on a keyboard the match the melody in my head, but mostly I make beats, basslines, and sculpt sound with digital waveform transformations and effects. Sometimes I work alone, sometimes with a friend next to me. I like working both ways, the former to dig in and get work done, the latter to get out of my own head and expand the canvas–two minds are usually better than one.

Career Advice I Wish I’d Received at Age 20

It’s possible to have a career without really thinking about it. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve had at least three-and-a-half accidental careers so far.

  • I started doing computer support and database design right out of college, just a few hours a week, at my dad’s friend’s company, learning as I went. Ten years later I was the Senior Database Administrator for the San Francisco Symphony, and I still do freelance db work to this day as my main source of income. But none of my friends ever remember this, because it’s so boring that I never talk about it.
  • My record label business partner wanted to start a weekly happy hour at an art gallery. I thought it was a terrible idea. The ayahuasca-snorting gentleman he initially partnered with to throw the event got a little squirrelly and they parted ways. I reluctantly stepped in, and under our management we had a decade-plus run as one of the biggest dance music events in San Francisco, lines around the block, written up in international guide books, DJs from around the world eager to play to our crowd.
  • I had no interest in DJing. But we needed to promote our album. So I learned to DJ at my own party, trainwrecking mix after mix. Spesh put me through DJ bootcamp and I got a little better. Soon we were headlining the biggest dance clubs in San Francisco, voted among SF’s Top DJs in the Nitevibe poll, on the cover of The SF Weekly, and touring in Europe. But eventually I quit because I don’t like travelling, or listening to hundreds of promo tracks to find the few good ones.
  • I started a blog in 2009. I can’t remember why. Probably to practice writing, to express myself, to share my ideas. Eventually some of my health posts (about sleep and artificial light, about the paleo diet) got popular. The blog hit a million views. CNN interviewed me. A TV show The Doctors flew me to Hollywood to be a guest. I experimented with advertising. Then I wrote a post about how I regrew some of my hair by intensively massaging my head, and things went crazy. Views through the roof, readers begging me to make instructional videos, asking for personalized advice. Should I take up hair regrowth coaching? I thought about it. Maybe I could help Tim Ferriss regrow his hair, or Prince William. But I’m not patient enough to be a coach, and I didn’t want to be the hair guy. Or another paleo guy. So I made it clear to my readers that though while I would still write the occasional health post, the content of this blog was much broader (systems for living well, self-experimentation, the creative life).

How I Broke Into the Music Business and Made $100K

Jackie at the old Loöq Records office on Brannan.

Jackie at the old Loöq Records office on Brannan.

As I’m trying to launch a new career (fiction writing), I’m also taking stock of an old one (producing electronic music). I signed my first track in 1992, at the age of 23, to Mega-Tech records (an offshoot of the famous San Francisco disco label Megatone). I released my latest record, a reggae/breaks hybrid track, a week ago.

Breaking in wasn’t easy. I remember vividly sending out cassette tape demos in padded mailers to record labels in New York City and Los Angeles, following up via phone, and getting shot down by arrogant label runners (I’ve made a point to never be mean, running my own record label, even though our signing bar is very high).

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