I first met DJ Vadim in late fall of 2006 at One Self's tour stop in Minneapolis, where I was living at the time. I had seen him DJ a few times on the west coast, but had yet to see him perform as part of a group. I was unsure of what to expect, especially because at that time all I'd heard of their album, "Children of Possibility," was the massive single "Be Your Own" –which I'd been hammering in original, instrumental, and Amp Fiddler remix versions all summer long.
They hadn't even opened the doors when my friend and I arrived at the Triple Rock, and when they finally did we milled around the venue a bit, soon ending up at the schwag table, which, I was pleased to see, had a good deal of vinyl on it. There was the 2LP Album, the "Bluebird" single, and an white-label EP I'd never seen before. I knew I could get the album from Groovedis, but I'd never seen the EP before. "What's on this?" I asked the attendant. "This?" he said. I said: "I mean, what's it sound like?" "Rubbish," he said. "Total rubbish."
I looked up: Mr. Peare himself. DJ Vadim—a man who seems so busy on the production and gig front that it's a wonder he ever gets any sleep—also sells schwag at stops along his seemingly non-stop tour route. We struck up a conversation: moving to England when he was young, the origin of the sample for "Be Your Own," where the tour had taken him and whatever destination he was off to next. I don't remember how exactly, but we got to speaking in Spanish for a while, then went back to English. I was struck by his good nature, good humor, dedication, and humility.
I figured it was a long shot, but I asked if Vadim if he wanted to do something for ODDIOFILE, any genre. He said, "Sure, no problem," but explained that it wouldn't be for a while— not until One Self finished touring. I took this for a polite no, and didn't think much about it until one day, many months later, when a CD mailer from the UK came in the mail. If this story has a moral it's this: show up early for concerts and head for the schwag table.
The mix debuted as episode 50 of the original ODDIOFILE Podcast, a few months before the "Soundcatcher" album dropped. It was one of the most popular episodes, with download counts reaching into the thousands in its first month alone. I'm happy to make it available once again, as a permanent fixture of the new webpage. File under dub and hip hop.
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