How to : Prepare the perfect shisha

For a few years now smoking Shisha has been the ultimate all-round relaxation tool for me. If it is hanging around with a few friends, listening to music, sit outside in the sun or even just all on your own. It always brings me to my personal nirvana. There is only one condition, the Shisha has to  smoke like a soft cloud with a subtle taste, preferably a lot of smoke. In this blog article I would like to share my experience how I to prepare for the best Shisha experience.

What do we want ? We want a Shisha that smokes easy, soft, a lot of (not burned) taste and huge smoke plumes.

What do we need ? Good tobacco, enough aluminum foil and decent charcoals. All of these three accessories are fundamental for preparing the perfect Shisha. If you get the perfect combination of these three, you are ready to roll.

What is Shisha ? Is also known as hookah, waterpipe, sheesha, nargile, gudugudaa, chillam, huqqa, lulava or whatever. Google it or leave this page.

So what is the secret ? The secret lies in the perfect combination of your tobacco, aluminum foil and charcoal. That is all there is to it. Finding the perfect combination demands some trial and error. We want to warm up the tobacco to the perfect temperature. Don't ask me numbers, I never made a scientific experiment of it. The reason is obvious to everyone I guess. A low temperature level does not generate enough smoke and taste, too high will burn the tobacco and there won't be any taste left.

 Depending on how wet the tobacco is, you need more or less heat. Every charcoal type has another heating profile. With the right amount of tobacco and aluminum foil you can create the perfect conditions. The moisture of the tobacco is actually the part that holds all the taste. The more moisture the more taste you can have. Now enough talk, lets start preparing this thing. You got everything ?

We start off with preparing the Shisha itself. Remember to clean often the inside of the glass, hose and the tube with hot water. If possible, use a special Shisha brush for the glass and tube. Fill up the glass with enough cold (the colder the more smoke) water. Make sure the tube reaches maximum 2 - 3 cm under the water level. Some people suggest to add ice cubes to create more smoke. Just take in mind if you add any liquors to the water, use preferably 10 - 20 % liquor and 90 - 80% water. If you use too much liquor it will be really difficult to inhale.

Now we add the tobacco. Make sure you don't fill up the tobacco till the edge. Leave some mm's till a 0,5 cm margin between the tobacco and aluminum foil. Too close to the foil gives direct contact with the charcoals. This will make the top layer burn straight away. It will be hard to get some good taste even if there is good wet tobacco at the bottom.

 Now comes the challenge. Add enough layers of foil but not to much, so the tobacco can get warm. I do 6-8 layers with fast lightening charcoals depending on the thickness of the foil. If I have organic charcoals I don't do more than 4 layers. The thicker the foil the few layers you need. Experiment with the layers depending the charcoal type you have. Make a small holes in the foil. Not to big to avoid direct contact again with the tobacco. The purpose is to channel hot air trough the tobacco without burning the tobacco by direct contact.

Final stage, the charcoal. As previously mentioned we have 2 types of charcoals. The fast lighters and the organic ones. The fast lighters can be lighter with a single touch of a flame, the organic are almost like the once from a barbeque. They take a long time to light, but last longer and don't create too much heat. In next graph you can see the heating profile of both types.

Black : Fast charcoal
Red : Organic charcoal

The fast charcoals get warm very fast, for a moment too warm and then the heat plumits. The organic ones take a time to get on temperature but stay for a long time consistent.I prefere the organics because they create just enough heat for a long time and don't easily burn the tobacco.You should put the charcoal on the foil when the coal is almost totally white, including the bottom. You can blow on it to make heat it faster. The secret is to put the charcoal on the Shisha when it is generally white. Not before, this saves you also a lot of breath to start the Shisha.

What I do in general is move the charcoal in a circle over the foil. So every time another spot of the tobacco is heated and can cool down. Once smoking you can cover the charcoal to keep the heat locked up. If the tobacco starts to taste heavy, open the foil a little bit to cool down. With this strategy you can regulate the heat the entire session. Especially at the end when the charcoal looses energy to create enough heat.

I have explained the most major parts of smoking and preparing a Shisha. Play with these tips and experiment and you will get a hang of it. Enjoy and please share your experiences !

Trap music

A time ago a friend introduced me to Trap music. After he passed me next link he could only describe it like 'music with a high swag level'. This is what he send.
After the bass line drop at the climax I was sold ! Imagine Dub with brisk basslines that numb you from the start, not that loaded as Dubstep but pure swag! Put those 59Fifty high up the air, omit necessary backpacks and oversized cloathing and just start bouncing along with some more tracks like this, check it out...

• This is trap music
• TNGHT - Easy Easy
•  Hudson Mohawke - Lambo furnace
• Piu Piu - BMF (the more peacefull kind)
• Shlohmo - The way u do (RL Grime Remix)
• Louisiana Jones - Its a trap

If you do some further research with these artists and pages you can expand your collection easily. Is an excellent style to mix into Booty/Ghetto Tech and Ragga/Dancehall tracks !

Enjoy !

Rizzle Kicks

A few days ago I was going trough the music channels on the television and bumped into a awesome  track. First I thought it was a new track by the Audio Bullys who I really like. But no no no, it was the Rizzle Kicks with their song "Mama Do The Hump". I was already following these fellows on SoundCloud for a while but I lost eye on them, some people might remember them from the track "Down with the trumpets" which was a massive party track. A fresh breeze in the UK dance scene in my opinion.

An interesting details is that the "Mama Do The Hump" was produced by the master Fatboy fucking Slim himself. So imagine Audio Bully's flavored tracks, spiced with fatboy slim's funky vibe and you have some fresh style. Check their SoundCloud for sure, they have also some good remixes and make sure to follow them in the future... Excellent dance/party music for upcoming summer.

http://soundcloud.com/rizzlekicks/mama-do-the-hump

Urban Nightlife : Antwerp

 

-->As an inhabitant of the city, I have visited thousands of parties and clubs in Antwerp. In this post I want to discuss several clubs and locations for people who want to have a good night out. Before I start summarizing them I want to clarify something, in my opinion we have 3 types of clubs: 

• Commercial club: A club that plays the mainstream music. People don't really come for specific music. People just want to gather, dance, drink, be social, pick up a flirt and forget the night. The music itself is basically everything we hear on the radio as of dance music. By the time of writing most common is RnB and progressive house in general. Some examples: David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger, Britney Spears ... This type of club is perfect for the people who just go out once in a while and just don't give a fuck, beer, vodka, girls, guys, music, it's all there. Note that most people are more like standing, and listening to the music with minor movement.
• Subculture club: You could name it underground or alternative but when it comes to it, it attracts a more specific type of people. People go to these clubs for a specific type of music or atmosphere. The people who like theses types of clubs think twice before they'll enter a club. These people are more demanding (like me). Most people that are present here like to dance and wont be standing aside with their drink.
• All-round club: How should I describe this one? This is the club where they play everything! Mainstream, child songs, wrong music, oldies, rock, name it and they play it. This type of clubs attracts often the people from age 30-50. Actually it is a commercial club for the older people, older people means a wider range of mainstream from the past decennia's. Additional to that they play this wrong music, which is perfect for wasted party people.

Now with these types I can easily categorize each club and tell what you can expect from them. I must warn everyone that if you would like to party here in Antwerp, plans it on a Thursday or Saturday evening. Thursday is the night of the student. Almost everywhere you will have free entrance, some of them require a member card that costs not more than €5. Security guards are also less strict for dress code on Thursdays but avoid hats or anything on your head. Perfect day for cheap night out with young people from the age of 18 to 26.

Friday night is a calm evening. A few clubs have parties and most of them are organized by external organizations. There is even a chance there won't be any advertisement on the clubs webpage at all for Friday night events because the external organizers are responsible for the advertisement themselves. Good research, Facebook events and other event websites are the road to find something on Friday.

Saturday is THE night for going out in general. Every club opens his doors. It is obvious you will have to pay an entrance fee in 99% of the clubs on Saturdays. Dress code requirements are taken more serious. Best is to dress casual/chique if you would go to the more commercial clubs.

Age restrictions are pretty clear. For clubs it is mandatory to be 18 or above. But often youngsters get in without being checked, often younger girls. Especially on Thursdays this is the case. Make sure that the guys always have ID with them, girls are not being checked that easily or they should look really young.

Security can be a pain in the ass for male customers. Just follow their directions and when leaving the club give them 1 or 2 euros of fee that they don't deserve but in some clubs at certain nights they can be bitchy or be kind of annoying if you don't. If you enter and give them 5 of 10 euro, you are safe for the whole evening if something WOULD go wrong like a fight, but this rarely happens. By law they are not allowed to accept money, but often they are holding the doors closed at the exit and keep their hand ready. Nothing you can do about it. I am glad there is security in all the clubs, but they can be often assholes.

Commercial clubs

• Average price: 
• Saturday: €10 - €15 (some require membership card: €5)
• Thursday: €0 (some require membership card: €5)

• Dress code: 
• Saturday: Casual/chique, no sport shoes or hats allowed. Some clubs require a shirt (not T-shirts allowed), depends on the club, websites mention often the required dress code.
• Thursday: Avoid hats, less strict dress code.

Club Noxx (http://www.noxxantwerp.eu/)
This is the biggest club in Antwerp. You have 3 areas on the ground floor and an additional one (Sky Club) on the higher level. People from the Sky club can look down to the dance floors on the ground level. The ceiling of the club is full of LED's that create awesome effects.

On Thursdays there are beside the normal party crowd a bunch of youngsters (close to age of 18 that somehow get in). Often the youngsters are in large groups present there and want to prove themselves. This often creates annoying puberty aggressive atmosphere in my opinion. Thursdays are also free of entrance, only a member card of 3 euro is required.

On Saturdays there are often bigger performances from famous DJ's or hip-hop/RnB stars. Some performances can cost up to 25 €, this is also the most expensive club in Antwerp. Make sure to check the website before visiting on Saturdays.

This club offers often good commercial music but is more on the expensive side, paying €3 euros for a beer. But the down side is the younger crowd on Thursdays and the show-off by most people because the clubs has a prestigious reputation. To see and being seen is a prominent philosophy here on all days. Definitely not my favourite.

Club Local (http://www.cafelocal.be/, Saturdays: http://www.paradisesaturdays.be/)
Another famous club in Antwerp.

On Thursdays it’s free, and the dress code is relax. Beers are for the normal clubbing price of 2,5 euro. Make sure you buy your tokens for drinks at the entrance; you cannot pay cash at the bar. Good tip, don't buy too many of them immediately, you don’t make profit with it and otherwise you have left overs that you cannot exchange for money again. But the tokens are valid on every opening of the club, so not a total waste. On Thursdays the music is often the same, every week, again and again. Hearing the same song 4 times in an evening (ok ok, 3 times) are common.

On Saturdays there is a total other vibe. People are standing in line from 22u30 (at least) to enter the club that opens at 23u. Member card required of 5 euro, and an entrance fee of 10 euro. Dress code is more casual/chique, don’t put on any sportswear or hats. This is the typical commercial club with classy dressed people. Good atmosphere and good-looking ladies there to be honest, but can be very crowded in the beginning of the evening (00u00 - 03u00). I personally hate overcrowded clubs, so for me it’s a huge turn off. But if you don't mind and want a good night out in a commercial club. This is a good tip, but make sure to be in time or late on the night.

If you check the site for Saturdays you will see that every Saturday there is another theme. This gives a nicer touch to the evening, some days they give away free candy, other days free McFlurry stuff etc... Worth checking out.

De kaai aka Hangar 26 (http://www.de-kaai.be/)
In daytime it is a classy restaurant and at night a nightclub. This is one of my favourite commercial clubs in Antwerp. It is only open on Saturdays but is free of entrance. Only need to dress classy/chique/casual like usual and you are guaranteed for a good evening. The customers are in general people in their later twenties and you thirties. Peaceful atmosphere, but keep in mind, in every club there might be a fight for some drunken reason. We all know the effects of alcohol. The music is commercial with a good touch of house to it, at the time of writing DJaxx & Neurotique play there records, and they sure know how to please the crowd with any type of music.

Red N Blue (http://www.redandblue.be/)
This is one of the most famous gay clubs in Belgium. But the parties on Thursdays are for all straight and gay people.

On Thursdays it is free entrance but a member card is required that can vary between 3 and 5 euro. Like I said, on Thursdays it is like any other commercial club with almost only students. It is a pretty big club and has lots of bars. Has a trendy and nice design. Often used for student parties by student unions. There is some more aggressive vibes on Thursdays but easily ignored if you are a calm person. Often the party does not start early; people come in later on the evening. The best thing is to come in on time so you experience the moment that the clubs gradually gets loaded. Then it feels less crowded then you would come in later on and get dropped in a full club. But it is often crowded on Thursdays.

On Saturdays it is the night for the gay and lesbian crow. I cannot give you more information then the website because I never entered the club on Saturday. No issues with the gay and lesbian crowd but obviously as a straight I don't enter easily a gay club. But anyway, it is a big club, and even has a cage hanging on the ceiling where I guess people dance in on Saturdays. So from the interior and size I guess there should be some good vibe going on, on Saturdays.

Roxy Club (http://www.velvetgroup.be/portal/ > Roxy)
By the time of writing Roxy club is still pretty new, it is a small but cosy club in the North Antwerp located in an abandoned building. You would never guess there is a club inside, till you enter. Cool interior, only somewhat aggressive security.

This one is somewhat different. You have on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday party. Sometimes 3th party organisations do some parties here.

On Tuesdays there is 'Mardi', this is derived from the Mardi parties that where located in Stantwerpen. A popup bar/club that is close by the location of the club in the summer months (see site > Strantwerpen). I only went to the Mardi parties in Strantwerpen, but they where fun. Didn’t stay for too long crowded and the typical commercial people came to have a good night. Drinks are not that cheap, I think a beer is about 3 euros. If you want a calm party, Mardi is perfect because it is not overloaded in the middle of the week.

On Fridays: New concept on time of writing, check site for more information

On Saturdays it is 'Nanno is back'. Nanno was a previous concept on a boat that was lying in the docks of Antwerp, now they moved to the Roxy club. I only went to Nanno when it was still on the boat. Best description is, that it has the Noxx crowd (lot of underage/youngsters somehow) but in a small version. The music is a good balance between hip-hop/RnB and mainstream house from what I remember. I had good evenings there but again a 'to see and being seen is a prominent philosophy' is present there. This annoyed me till I got drunk.

Prices are pretty unknown for me because I never entered on this new location, which was organised by an external organisation, but I guess it is going to be the typical 10 - 15 euro entrance fee with membership card.

Industria - Mansion (http://www.aec.be/ or http://www.mansionantwerp.com/)
This is one of the oldest clubbing locations in Antwerp. It had already thousands of different concepts and the current one is Mansion on Saturdays. On Thursdays this club is closed.

On Saturday it is 5 euro member card and 10 euro entrance fee. If you know one of the people that make publicity for Mansion, they can put you on the guest list so you only need to pay the member card fee. Typical commercial club and dress code. It has 1 (soon 2) dance floor(s), in the late hours the commercial music turns more to house. The location is far up north, has a beautiful and nice interior. Old industrial look with some wooden architecture. Really nice location, club gets filled up around 01u00. No urge to come too early, good environment and rarely overcrowded which is perfect.

All-round clubs
In Antwerp you will have to look outside the city centre in smaller villages to find real all-round clubs, the best you can do is look for small bars with a dance floor in Antwerp. I might post some update about that in the future. But a good location is the big market (Grote Markt) in Antwerp, also a lot of karaoke bars can be found there. Often free (or small) entrance fee.


Subculture clubs
The subculture clubs are often versatile in their types of events. For concerts you can go to Petrol, Kavka or Trix. But for real parties with djs you can to the same locations but on other evenings. With subculture clubs it is important to check their website before you enter to know what to expect. Public and Cafe d'anvers are pretty consistent with their days of opening and music style but make sure to check their site in advance. The people that go to these clubs are people that come in general for that certain music style of the evening. They will be dressed related to the type of music. You know, typically to subcultures.

Now I have been writing for an hour or 2 straight, going to prepare a shisha and a track and I am ready to continue. 
 
Petrol (http://www.petrolclub.be/)

Petrol is located in an old industrial warehouse at the south of Antwerp close to the Schelde. This location is used for concerts and clubbing. The club has this underground vibe because of its location and interior. Minimalistic and dark. Excellent for a rave-, techno-, reggae party or any concert. Maximum capacity is about 1000 people, and the drinks are paid with tokens that you can buy for 2,5 euro each or 9 euro for 4. So basically if you pay per four tokens you get a 0,25 euro discount on each token.

This exotic location provides 2 dance floors. One big main dance floor as you enter the club and one small one in the back beside the small stage. The main dance floor always starts with a small surface barricaded with curtains. If enough people enter the curtains are being removed to create more space when necessary. When there are not sufficient people the atmosphere is being preserved.

On Thursdays this club is in general closed, often (but not always) open on Saturdays and rarely on Fridays. One reason to know is by checking the webpage. It is hard to predict when the club is going to be full or almost empty. But if you go for the music that they provide that evening there is no need to feat. You will have a cosy evening. Acoustics are fine in my opinion for concerts. This club is one of my favourites. Only the entrance fee can go up to 15 euro and even more with concerts. But the site always displays the entrance fee for given date.

Kavka (http://www.kavka.be/)
Kavka is a small version of Petrol. Parties or concerts for about 300 people are perfect here. This is a cosy location for everyone that likes music of any kinds. Some examples techno, drum n bass, dubstep, reggae, hip-hop, hardcore and metal, it all depends on the evening and the party. I guess the drinks are often around 2 – 2,5 euro and is in the middle of Antwerp.
The entrance fee is cheaper than petrol and often less then 10 euro. This is also one of my favourites and close where I live. Again same as Petrol, check the webpage to check if something is going on the day you would like to party.

Trix (http://www.trixonline.be/)
Trix is not really a club. It is a centre for people who have a passion for music. You can rent there a room for your band, do some post-production or rent a studio (from what I understood). Beside these facilities they also have a big hall or two where external organisations do parties. One of them is Stealth Bombers, a party well known for its big names from the drum n bass scene. Parties here will be announced with flyers, websites, posters and Facebook. The reason why I mention Trix in this overview is actually for the people that are busy with music of their own can gather here or rent facilities. 

Publik (http://www.decinema.be/)
Former name was ‘De Cinema’ and the webpage still refers tot that. This club is close by the University of Antwerp. Some people might call this a commercial club but it isn’t actually. This club plays hip-hop/RnB/Latin and almost no mainstream house/hits (if its not hip-hop/RnB).
On Fridays and Saturdays the club is open and has an entrance fee of about 10 euro. There is a slight chance that you need to have a membership card, but not when I was visiting. 

The male customers need to wear shirts since last year, and girls can of course do whatever they like to dress themselves. In this club you will find a lot of African, Latin or other ethnic visitors. They all come to enjoy the music and just dance. You won’t pick up a fight easily here in my opinion, what most people would actually suspect with all this ethnic groups in a club (Reality check, no racism). The party here really starts late, no need to enter before 01u00 or you would like to sit down first and get into the mood. Check the page for more details but if you like this music you will have a good evening.

Stereo Six (http://www.velvetgroup.be/portal/ > Stereo Six)
Previously had the name Stereo Sushi because in daytime the club was a Sushi bar and at night a club. The average visitor here is 25+ and the music differs from the concept there is. But often you will find here house, soul, old-school RnB or even deep house. The ‘Love below’ concept is primary soul, old-school RnB/hip-hop and 80’s. Another concept is BED (Beautiful Exotic Dancing) which is more focused on (old)house, deep house and some minor mainstream. 

The average commercial club visitor is not guaranteed to have a crazy evening here that is why I moved this club to the subculture division. It has its own type of music and cosy vibe. The club is really close to Club Local and the entrance fee is about 10 euros often. No membership cards here but the drinks are pretty expensive, starting from 3 euro for a beer.

I personally like to visit the place when Joris Voorn plays here or when the Love Below is having its party here. Hard to describe here, it really has a soul mentality this club but sometimes there are almost no visitors and when it is full it won’t be before 01u00 because of all the pubs and lounge bars that are close by.

Cafe d'Anvers (http://www.cafe-d-anvers.com/)
This is THE club for the house, techhouse and minimal crowd. This are the main styles which are played on Fridays and Saturdays. The real house/minimal crowd comes here to have a good party on a real seventies dance floor that lights up. Often not really crowded and good music ensures a good evening. Entrance fee often around 10 euros and a beer for about 3 euro doesn’t make this a cheap club. But when you are in for the music this location in the red light district won’t let you down.

On Thursdays it is free entrance here and often a lot of students. Not too crowded but sufficient. The music is not just mainstream; they will play more the drum n bass, dubstep and house hits. I would say they play mainly (tech)house spiced with a few (less mainstream) commercial hits.
On most evenings the balcony is open where they play RnB and hip-hop to please the ladies, always nice to relax a little bit. From the balcony you have a perfect overview of the lower main dance floor.

 I hope this guide is useful to have a good night out. And next blog something unrelated to music but the perfect way to relax > Preparing the perfect Shisha !

Introducing Vinyltage

Hi there folks!

I am Ian and I am a DJ (BitchMixer) and Vinyl collector in my spare time. Music is really my kind a thing to keep myself busy. My main preference is electronic music, other styles like Ska, Latin, Rock and Soul are also much appreciated. This blog will be my spot to share experiences, talk about music, review new stuff and Vinyl. 

Currently I live in Antwerp, Belgium. Yes that’s right! An excellent location surrounded with the best dance scenes. We have the harder styles and “Dutch/Dirty house” from the Netherlands, Techno and Minimal from Germany, the French house scene from France and the Dubstep/DnB scene from the UK. This results in an interesting mix of styles and influences in one small country. 

I have been playing records in my bedroom since I am 14 years old. Bought myself back then my first turntables and started spinning records. When I reached the age of 21 I started using Serato scratch live. When I go out to play I drag along my laptop and my Serato scratch.  My Vinyl records stay safe at home.  Scratch live was a good invention for me because it satisfies my need for “Vinyl Feeling” but also makes my collection “Portable” to drag along.

Despite my switch from vinyl to the digital world I still keep on expanding my collection.  These days a lot of people switched to the digital solution for DJ’ing, this creates a big amount of second hand records that are unused. The result? Golden second hand deals! For me there is nothing better than being able to play with real vinyl records. It has this special feeling and has a vintage touch.

So, you collect vinyl records but actually you only play them at home? Yes indeed! It is a hobby like any other. There is nothing more charming then having a vinyl collection and play those records on a turntable compared to the hard disk which hold all music.

For the fellow Vinyl collectors, I guess you people know Discogs – if not, please take a look at it – the most complete music database supported by a big community of music freaks. You guys can find me there as the user PunkDudez. This is also my main platform to find second hand records.

This was a small introduction of me and my interests. I hope you enjoy reading my posts in the future and if any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me on my email or Facebook.

Email: Iansegers@gmail.com
Facebook: Use email