We spend seven days with Raiden as he plays gigs in Madrid, Amsterdam and Edinburgh and plans the launch of his new Voodoo Music label.

 

Saturday

Today my mission is play in Madrid. I went to the airport to discover my flight was delayed by an hour so I took advantage of the free wifi in Tallinn airport and got some extra tunage via AIM.

I started watching Generation Kill via my PSP on the plane. I'm a big David Simon and Ed Burns fan and Generation Kill did not disappoint. As a travelling DJ you become an expert in killing time whether it's books, TV shows / movies or games. You have to stay sane somehow as you spend half your time in airports and planes.

I barely made my connection in Copenhagen while getting mugged off by SAS airlines. Upon arrival in Madrid I waited 50 minutes for my bag; turns out the airline lost my bag for the second time this week!

I met up with the promoter Marko and my mate Tony outside the airport in a foul mood because of my bag (sorry guys!). We went to a tapas bar for some food and a few beers, I love Spanish food.

We went back to Madrid airport at 11:30pm to get my bag then headed to the dance. The club was packed and I played a good set with a lot of crusty breaks and 808s and I got to test some of my new tunes for my Hardware LP.

The Spanish crowd can be weird as they are more social so at times they are facing each other and paying no attention to the music, then a certain tune grabs them and they go off, but it's always like that there.

It was really cool to see some people come all the way from Puerto Rico for the show! After the party we went to a bar for a few drinks but we were beat and didn't stay long.

Sunday

I slept really late today as I didn't get to sleep until 9am. We went to get some more tapas and admire the fact the sky is actually blue. We had a few beers then took Tony to the airport. Once we were back at the flat I sorted out some web hosting and caught up on some emails.

I talked to Friske and Meth about their new collaboration as it smashed the dance the night before and I wanted to sign it for OffKey. Thankfully they said yes! I spent the rest the of night trading movies and TV shows with Marko.

Monday

Tonight I'm playing at Cheeky Mondays in Amsterdam. Before heading to the airport me and Marko went into the central of Madrid where I visited the Ham Museum for some tapas materials, then had lunch in the sun. I didn't have long to get my flight so I had to rush on the metro to get to the airport and just made my flight. This time the airline broke the handles on my bag.

Amsterdam is always a surreal experience with the neon lights, intoxicated tourists and hedonism. Amsterdam is always nostalgic for me as I used to live there. Upon arrival I met up with promoter Loz and headed to TH Seeds to see my good friend Adam who owns one of the world's best seed companies and other hemp enterprises. He has grown this impressive beard in the last year with its own brand of beard merchandise. We hung out for a a bit and he sorted me some T-shirts and a big bag of his finest green.

I headed to my hotel which is a very surreal place on the edge of the red light district. The hotel has themed rooms so you have no idea what it will be like - anything from a Rainforest to Tokyo! My room had a theme that could only be described as pornographic, the wallpaper was something else.

After having what can only be described as a 'near whitey experience' I headed to the club. It was packed full of English tourists and Dutch d&b regulars. It was a great party and to think it was a Monday night made it even better.

I played a deeper selection and it went down really well. I really miss living here as everyone you meet has a story to tell or is on some adventure. I said my goodbyes to Adam and Loz and headed to the hotel for what little sleep I can get before the early flight tomorrow.

Tuesday

7am the next morning Amsterdam city centre was deserted. I headed to Schiphol airport to my flight to Edinburgh. In the departure lounge I could barely keep my eyes open as I was so tired, a book on Charles Bronson was the only thing keeping me awake.

At Edinburgh airport I was greeted by Morphy who is the other member of my new Voodoo label. This is the first time we've met face to face so we had a lot to talk about.

We drove to Glasgow for a few days in the studio and planned the launch of Voodoo. I spent most of the day getting my head together due to lack of sleep, talking to my agent Sahra @ Timeless about the last few days, eating shortbread and catching up with Morphy. We went into Glasgow, had a few beers in the evening and came back to the studio and worked on a new tribal tune until 5am.

Wednesday

I spent the majority of the day going through admin for the forthcoming Voodoo label launch. I had a meeting with my web designer over Skype and added content to the website. Me and Morphy went for a walk around Glasgow for a bit of brainstorming about ideas for the launch of the label and to decide what the second release will be. This is important for a new label, even more so now vinyl is on its way out.

We decided what content we would use for the site and for a podcast. We spent the rest of the evening selecting music and recording the podcast and finishing off the track we started the previous night although at that stage it was mostly tiding up.

Thursday

Another day another email! I spent all afternoon sorting things out for the Voodoo launch. Updating artist biographies, writing up label bios and what felt like 1000 emails, this took most of the day.

Once I was done with that me and Morphy recorded our vocals on the podcast which clearly wasn't working. In the end we left it and headed down the pub to meet up with Jake who runs Tech Noir alongside Gremlinz. We called Gremlinz in Canada for a drunken pub call and headed back for a rant and rave for the rest of the night. It was well deserved as I'd done nothing but work for a week straight.

Friday

I'm playing in Edinburgh tonight then heading back home to Estonia so all unfinished business has to be wrapped up today. Most of my morning I was speaking to my agent about the travel arrangements to get home which included a nine hour layover in London so I had to sort out a hotel as I would not be sleeping after the show tonight.

Once that was sorted me and Morphy recorded our voice overs for the podcast which we nailed in pretty much one take. Over the next four hours we started a tune that will become a collab with Digital. Instantly this had the makings of something really good with a twisted hoover and jungle drums.

I got my things together and Jake picked us up. After getting lost leaving Glasgow and my many requests to see Rab C Nesbitt territory we headed to Edinburgh for Xplicit. I dropped off my bags, headed to a bar to kill some time and then headed to the club.

The Bongo Club was full and Paul Reset was playing. It was good to see the Xplicit crew again and it's always a pleasure being there - this is my third time playing Xplicit and I've never had a bad gig there. I really enjoyed playing tonight. I played a real varied selection starting quite deep and ending with some harder stuff as well as lots of old vinyl. The went crowd crazy when I dropped Kemal's Plan B.

I had a few hours to kill before another very early flight, which means no sleep, so I went back to an apartment with some friends for a cuppa. Before I knew it it was 5am and time to leave.

I got a taxi to the airport and finished off the last episode of Generation Kill which is amazing. I got my flight to London where I spent the afternoon sleeping in a hotel before catching my flight home to Tallinn, just in time for my girlfriend's birthday.

Next week: Launching Voodoo, making tunes for my Hardware LP, play God of War 3 and gigs in Belgium and Germany. Rinse and repeat!

 

Raiden - Danzon (Clip) VOODOO1 by Raiden

Raiden - Baptism of Fire (Clip) VOODOO1 by Raiden

• Raiden
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• A Week In The Life Of...
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• Offkey
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• Voodoo Music

Related Links:

• Temah Launches
• Raiden Launches Voodoo Music
• Looking Back Looking Forward: Raiden
• Top 10 DNB Twitterers
• Raiden Readies Béton Armé Album

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