Having secured IDA Germany for the third consecutive time, I went to the IDA World Championships to compete in the show category. While I didn’t make it onto the podium, just standing on one stage with all those people who are literally MADE of skill is nothing short of an honour.

Love & respect to everyone at Zooteka, who once again managed to pull off a flawless event. Truly world league level! Kraków was cold, but it’s a small price to pay considering how beautiful it is this time of year, all covered in snow. For once, I arrived on time and had the chance to join the legendary IDA family dinner. It’s really wonderful to see and feel how there is NO hostility at all among the competitors, everyone had a good time and we were all cheering for one another. This is how it should be!

Before you watch the video, I’ll break down the vocals for you – you won’t get it unless you’re Polish. I used quotes from two movies, for the intro I edited them a little for the sake of context.

The intro (0:30) goes: “the most important thing is to answer one very, VERY f*ing important question: what is the one thing I like doing? and then start doing it. I’m Polish (this is the part where the Tweaker lights up, showing the Polish flag). I shall travel the world as an ambassador to our country… smoking blunts.” The crowd’s response to this was overwhelming :)

The second line, right before I start playing the Theremin (5:32), goes: “the silence grows… ever more silent… it seems almost imperceptible by the ears. and then… from the silence of the heart…”.

A few words regarding the performance… I never really counted on winning Germany this year, so my first routine was little more than a proof of concept (it may not look like it, but there’s SERIOUS business going on under the hood here that cost me a lot of time to get to work). I knew I had to change it up for the world finals, but I ended up still working on the last bits of audio and MIDI in the hotel room and never rehearsed the set once in full, resulting in the tone cuts being horribly lame because I was messing with those samples for the first time. I really REALLY need to break this stupid habit next year. I also got a dead turntable during warm-up, we had to swap it out right before I started and that kicked me out of the flow a bit. But I mostly managed to get hold of myself by the trap-ish needledrop part. The “Bazinga” sample is from the one and only Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory.

Anyway, this is what I can currently pull off after spending just one week on a routine; I have already decided to give it another shot next year, and you can bet your ass I will start working on it MUCH sooner. I may have said the same thing last year, but let’s just say life had other plans. It’s my ambition to go up there just once with a showcase I have made and rehearsed to death weeks before the actual event, and I will do that in 2013. But nonetheless, I’m really proud of getting the Theremin to do just what I wanted.

Now, please show the IDA family some love: get on Facebook and like the IDA World fan page. They’ve got videos of all the routines on their youtube channel, and you really should take the time to watch them all because very single set was dope.

Thanks to everyone who supported me!