There has been a bit of a gap in the posts of late, which i am sorry about. The Electrique Boutique night on the Monday came to an end to be replaced by The Black Tooth Lounge, a rock night which is going really well. They had The Deathset playing the other week which was an awesome gig.
Electrique Boutique will now be run on Fridays at Snafu, which is a much better slot for it. Upcoming guests confirmed so far are Duke Dumont, Sinden and Herve, Crookers and Jojo De Freq, Andrew Weatherall, Erol Alken, Felix Da Housecat, Slam, Percy X and a load more i will keep you up to date with.
To get back into the swing of the blogging malarkey i have a mix from Kid Bell. I have played with him a lot in the past and always enjoyed his dj style and banter. I remember once djing with him and singing 'Brazilian Rhyme' into the mic whilst he mixed the original into my horrendous warblings. He also ran the Goodfoot night at the Tunnels which i used to love going along to get down to some soulful flavours. Their guests included Mad Matts (owner of Gamm records) Zero Db, Quantic, Monk One, Benji B, Domu and a few others i cannot remember off the top of my head.
Tracklist: Detroit Experiment - Higher Maspyke - No big deal Viper Squad - Case closed Dj Day - A Place to go Soulphiction - Prison song Inohs Sivad Feat. Diamondancer - Somewhere Else Soultoursit - Side dish Mark E - Scared Linkwood -Piece of mind Waajeed - Tron Imagination - Just An Illusion (Lindstrom dub) O Boogie - Paper Chaser (Tom Trago & Maximillion's Big Business Remix) Metro Area - Pina Steve and I - 96 Patchworks - Celebration (Amp Fiddler instrumental) Christian Prommers Drumlesson - Rex Drums Alice Smith - Love Endeavour (Maurice Fulton remix) Trusme - Working nights Chic - I want your love (Todd Terje Mix) Mark Murphy - Love is what stays (Henrik Schwarz remix) Milton Jackson - Ghosts in my machine Deetron - I Cling Flying Lotus - Dance Floor Stalker Thom Yorke - Eraser (Dixon edit) Build an ark - You gotta have freedom (2 banks of 4 mix)
If you are out in Aberdeen this week, come check me out, i am playing at Snafu on Thursday (filling in for Steven Milne) and Friday, 99 on Saturday and i am Back in Snafu on Sunday djing for this bartending competition.
I have been a fan of Dj C since i heard his mental, jungle mash up of Shinehead's 'Billie Jean' which took the reggae cover of Micheal Jackson's classic warning about nailing skeezers and turned it into a dancefloor annihilator. He seems to shun the normal route of releasing a certain style of music, prefering to be release an ever evolving stream of bass heavy club rockers that range from breakbeat to dubstep to jungle and so on. His Mashit label is a home for similiarly minded producers such as Murderbot, Dj Flack, Aaron Spectre, Dj Sux and more. John Peel was even feeling his steez, choosing Mashit to be his 'Label of the month' in October 2004 and asking him to provide a dj mix for the show. He has also remixed M.I.A., Gregory Isaacs and more recently Dj Donna Summer.
He was kind enough to let me ask him some questions.
EB: The whole bass heavy breakbeat scene seems to be gathering steam again, were do you see yourself in the scene at the moment?
DJ C: I have absolutely no idea. I really don't ever fit into a scene. I'm always doing some shit that doesn't conform well enough to a particular movement.I do like bass-heavy beats though.
EB: What producers are doing it for you right now?
DJ C: I'm really liking Switch, Stereotyp, South Rakkas Crew, Buraka Som Sistema, The Bug, Diplo, Mark Ronson, Rod Lee, Starkey, Sosolimited, Toddla T.
EB: Your style does seem to touch base on a lot of different sounds, how do you go about finding out about new stuff? Does djing help with this?
DJ C: You mean touch 'bass'. ha ha... Yeah, my DJ style has always been eclectic,and was pushed even farther in that direction by inspiration from DJ /rupture back when we used to throw parties together in Boston. I used to find out about new stuff by reading magazines and listening to records at shops. These days it's all about music-blogs, social networking websites, and sharing stuff with other producers and DJs. It's a really exciting time in that sense. The emergence of digital DJing is also part of convergence with file sharing technologies.
EB: How did you get started? who inspired you to start making tunes? Is their a Jamaican link here? as it is a sound you seem to come to alot in your productions
DJ C: I started as a child. My parents are artists and exposed me to lots of culture. My father used to make percussion instruments and play them with me when I was an infant. I then began playing drums on pots and pans, and banging on a little guitar my parents gave me for my 5th birthday. My parents were also reggae fans so I grew up listening to it. I don't know why Jamaican music resonates with me so much, but I really love it.
EB: You got to present a mix for the late John Peel's show, how did this come about? Was he as respected overseas as he was here? (he was pretty much a national treasure over here)
DJ C: Yes, he was really respected over here too, but not as well known. Only music-nerds knew about him over here; mostly because of all the great Peel Sessions albums that were released. When I began the Mashit label I started sending him the records. He dug 'em and would play them on the show. Eventually he decided to feature Mashit as a "label of the month," and asked me to do a mix of Mashit tracks. It was obviously a huge honor. The complete shock was that he died that same month. It was really sad. He did huge things for music culture.
EB: Have you found your records are appreciated more in a certain country?
DJ C: Yes, as a matter of fact, I think they're most appreciated in your country. 7 out of the last 13 of my releases have been on UK-based labels, and probably most of the other 6 releases sold better there too. My recent album was released on a Japanese label but I don't have a report yet on how it's doing there. I think my stuff does OK in other parts of Europe and in the States too, but best in the UK.
EB: So what have you got in the pipeline for us djs to devour next?
DJC: Zulu and I have an upcoming record on the Community Library label called "Darling" with a remix by Ghislain Poirier. I also did a remix for Ghislain's tune "Blazin" that's being released on the first 12-inch for his new Ninja Tune record. The digital version of that is already out: Here it is.
I've got a mashup that's about to drop on the new Heatwave 12-inch seriesCheck it out.
I also recently did a raved-up remix for DJ Donna Summer that'll be coming out around the release of his new album.
There are more colabs with Zulu in the future too. Stay tuned to http://mashit.com for all the upcoming stuff. Folks should check that out anyway 'cause we've been releasing lots of free music on there.
I had to give up my Prince ticket tonight which was a bit of a bummer so i recorded this mix as a way not to think about how much fun my friends are going to be having singing along to "I would die for you" and "When doves cry".
Anyways this mix is more of a "stuff i maybe play at the start of the night" type of affair than "stuff i throw into the mix at peaktime" sort of thing. It has a lot of 80s tunes on it as well so be warned.
The Micronawts - Lets Smurf Across The Surf Crystal Castles - Air War Robyn - Crash And Burn Girl Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom - Rise (Dfa Mix) Metro Area - Miura Medium Medium - So Hungry So Angry Quando Quango - Love Tempo (New York Mix) Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker The Beat Club - Security Newcleus - Jam On It (Claude Von Stroke Mix) Grauzone - Eisbar Cybotron - Clear (Cobblestone Jazz Mix) Dj Unk - Unk's Theme (Dj Amaze Mix) Shonen Knife - Burning Farm The Rapture - Pieces Of The People We Love Battles - Atlas Implog - Holland Tunnel Dive
I'll be putting up more mixes that reflect modern music over the next few weeks, this is just to get me n the swing of making mixes really.
