Facebook and ScreamQueen

Now you are here, make sure you join our group on networking site Facebook, http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=96540615424&ref=ts/, where you will receive up to the minute notifications of our posts here. Plus, log onto microblooging site ScreamQueen, http://screamqueen.co.uk/, the clubbers version of Twitter, to get news on all our goings on. As they say " why tweet? when you can scream! "

Monday 28 June 2010

Music Is The Answer" - "Fresh Faced & Funky"








Hey Folks,

All too often we take the easy route in life, stay within our comfort zone or stick to a pattern and it can definitely be said for our devotions to D.J.’s & their music, but what is also true is that nothing pleases us more than promoting new & rising stars, our protégé list having included Danny Verde in the past, Andre 1 more recently, and our latest entrant to the Disco Matt circle of devotion being Norbert M, So, whilst scene favourites & established stars are still firmly within our radar, we have once again opted to focus on two names, both new to our posts here and possibly new to you.

First up is talent whose name has been floating on the surface of the scene here in the capital for quite a few months and was, after a couple of brief mentions in sister posts of ours, has been elevated to full focus status and deservedly so, as he is most definitely a rising star and a name for the future. Chris Brogan first grabbed our attention when he was plucked from relative obscurity by club promoter Steve Elliot, the main man responsible for running the current successful string of international parties for globally renowned club brand Salvation, Mr Brogan playing a big part in the rapturous reception the club enjoyed in the carnival capital of the world, Rio de Janiero, played alongside our favourite “foxy lady” Mis-White at the brands auspicious showing in Athens in December and followed it up with a superb set for Salvation at their Swedish spectacular at Malmo’s “Wonk” club. Indeed his connections with Salvation have also seen Chris star on their behalf at Laurence Malice’s (of Trade fame) “Naked Zoo” event at the end of last year and we know that Steve has plans to continue to involve this talented young individual in future parties across the globe. Away from Salvation and Mr Brogan has been noted for visiting the more sexy side of clubbing, appearances at Tim Jones’s “Tonker” and for Recon’s massive “Full Fetish” party on New Year’s day career catalogues, as well as strutting his stuff on the lighter side of clubbing for Love Muscle’s fifteenth birthday earlier this year at The Fridge and popping up at promoter Laurent Chaumet’s Thursday nighter “Hola” at The Shadow Lounge in Soho, the variety of events he has played at, testament to his skills at balancing his electro, funky, yet uplifting sounds to suit the audience he plays to, Chris always very keen to exercise his passion for musical vision.

It was that vision that saw a young fresh faced U.K. based Mr Brogan kick off his career behind the decks in 2002, having been given a huge break to play at the renowned clubbing venue Fabric in London, this getting him spotted and opening doors right across Europe, countries lapping up the Brogan style of light & funky house including France, Belgium & Germany, but like many budding D.J.’s, Chris found it quite tough to break into the big time, with many of the circuit parties & club events relying on established talents and not many promoters having the vision to showcase new talent. However, as has generally proven to be the best route to breaking out on the scene, Chris dived into the recording studio and began to produced promo’s of his mixing work, eventually leading to full on compilations, his first release entitled “Bounce” achieving that all important breakthrough with Salvation, thus leading to a floodgate of collections, an increasingly confident Chris exploring new genre’s of sound, including trance, minimal & future disco, inspiration coming his way from one of the great pioneer’s of the nu-disco sound, Guy Williams. Other compilations in his collections reveal his anglo French origin, in fact his aptly titled “Obey the Frenchie” is a serious nod to his patriotic roots, showcasing some of the country’s best musical talents, although it is his latest work that gets our attention, “Foreplay” demonstrating that amazing ability in Chris to delve into the depths of his musical production to come up with 74 minutes of music that touches on virtually every element of his genre exploration, highlights for us being Marcel Woods’ “Music Is The Answer” (of course!!), David Guetta’s extended mix of Kelis’ “Acapella”, but what looks like, for us, being at worst in the top ten of our records of 2010, Mark Knight’s “Devil Walking” (brilliant!!). Chris explains of his latest work, “...here is yet another inspired mix and one which allows me to showcase my passion for production...” he going on to say of his inspiration “...I’ll leave you to guess who this one is for...”, his latest beau we think (ah bless), “Foreplay” getting better & better as you dive into its delights and, for us is Mr Brogan at his best. So, what are you waiting for? Go add this amazing mix to your collection, which you can grab now at http://djchrisbrogan.podomatic.com/.

Our second devotion goes to a man who resides in our favourite European city, one that will play host to the massive Circuit Festival in August and is a hotbed of D.J. activity with many internationally renowned names choosing it as their ideal base to springboard themselves across Europe, over to Ibiza, & across the globe. The city? Barcelona of course, but the D.J.? well in this case it is the latest addition to our very select list of talents we are touting as future bright stars, but one that has already carved a career in his home city as well as across Spain, France & Germany, but is yet to break into London, although we expect that to change very soon. Javier Medina, like all the other protégé’s in our small camp of collectables, hit our radar while we were innocently sitting connected to our favourite social network site and the subsequent conversation uncovered this talented man’s passion for his D.J’ing & for the music game he finds himself bound within, immediately striking resonance with our own passions for D.J.’s & their work. So with further research in our inimitable style, we found that not only has Javier been mixing in very distinguished circles, but he has been making a name for himself, not just in Barcelona, where he has played at events that have included “Cafe Ole” outings & “Devotion” parties at the city’s Razzmatazz club, as well as the venues “WE” events, for which Mr Medina is a resident jock, not to mention playing his own “Raw Sessions” at the swish G-Star clothes retailer store in the city’s fashionable shopping centre “L’illa Diagonal”, but he hopes over the border into France, playing in Toulouse, Nantes & up in Paris where he has played for “Beardrop”, as well as tripping across to Cologne for their “Xtreme” events, he even making out to Australia for the Mardi Gras season this year, playing at Sydney’s “Extra Dirty” event back in March.

And of those distinguished circles, Javier has rubbed shoulders with the likes of D.J. Luque, Juanjo Martin, Oscar De La Gala & Wayne G, as well as the likes of Carl Cox, & Danny Teneglia, although his closest associations remain with dear D.J. friends Steven Redant & another of our protégé’s, “French fancy” Leomeo, indeed Javier just last weekend shared the stage with Mr Redant at Barcelona’s Pride event and he toured down under for Mardi Gras, in the glorious company of our man Leomeo, Mr Medina also connecting with his French friend whenever he trips across to Paris. So, given all of that & reading the tea leaves in Mr Javier’s cup, the future is definitely looking bright for this bearded beaut behind the decks, although he accomplishes himself in the studio too, laying down dedicated compilations marking his various D.J. gigs, whether it be his Australian escapades or closer to home his “WE” & “Devotion” mixes, very much a-typical of his tech, progressive & tribal slanted genre direction which seems to go down a storm whenever he plays. But he also gets his hands dirty, remixing tracks, pieces including his “Devotion” labelled re-works of D.J. Chus’s “That Feeling & Guy Scheiman’s “My Life”, a tribal triumph being his latest release, a remix of “Bring Back the Drums” by Kobbe vs Hugo Rizzo, all which you can savour (along with his recent compilations – we love them all) at http://soundcloud.com/javier-medina. Plus, with more classic Mr Javier available through http://javiermedina.podomatic.com/, we having well & truly fallen for the tech house trance of “My Sonar”, all this makes Javier Medina our Spanish answer to Nick Tcherniak, that’s how talented we think he is, especially within his music genre band.

Right, while we are in European mode, we want to give a big shout to a new track release by Eduardo de La Torre (yes you guessed it, another man on our list) who has been making a very welcome habit of jetting over to London recently, his last visit marking an incredible set at Beyond, where he took the Terrace room by storm, keeping the party going deep into Sunday afternoon. But returning home to Berlin signalled another success, as he landed a new residency at the city’s “Connection” club and this “Balearic Berlin” six minute splendour out at http://soundcloud.com/eduy2k/dj-edu-de-la-torre-no-scene-balearic-berlin-org-mix is a celebration of that & his progressive house intentions and we love it!

Now, just time to squeeze in our mention to the music links at favourite clubbing website Seen Queen, they having already uploaded 15 mixes for June at http://seenqueen.com/music, including four that we have featured within our own posts, but with direct links to many more, is definitely worth a visit & browse.

Well, that’s it for another week, but watch out for our special “Proud To be Pride” music post with lots of goodies & news, as well as focuses on Kris Di Angelis & Phil Marriot, while we return to post pride normality the following week with devotions to Gonzalo Rivas & Rob Sykes. In the meantime, we hope you crave our choices here and as we now say all too often, “...sit back, turn up the volume & let the music play...”

xDM

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Music Is The Answer - "New Breed Boys"
















Hey Folks,

Now you will have probably gathered that apart from clubbing & writing, one of our major passions is promoting D.J’s & their work, we being particularly keen on developing & showcasing new or upcoming stars. So, in this our latest “Music” post, that is exactly what we are doing, as well as celebrating a little bit of “summer” with two dedicated mix compilations of the same name.

First up is JC Christopher, who just over a week ago, laid down a very impressive performance at Lovechild, kicking off the main room in style with some truly uplifting, funky & chunky house sounds, drenched with plenty of latest dancefloor hits that very much set the pace for others to follow and all that fighting off a nasty ear infection. Mind you, this wasn’t Mr JC’s first performance at Lovechild, in fact he has very much shone in the lounge space in previous parties, so is truly deserving of his inclusion in the prestigious resident D.J. line-up in Alex Erfan’s monthly lovey-dovey outing. But this talented young man’s time behind the decks often sees him travel across the world, both Australia & the USA being regular destinations, down under seeing him rub shoulders with the likes of Alan Thompson, The Freemasons, Alex Taylor & Johan Khoury, his attendance to Miami’s Winter Music Conference (WMC) back in March also linked to his position as PR manager for house music event hosting agency Milk N 2 Sugar’s, a company that has boasted the likes of Todd Terry, Joey Negro, Seamus Haji & Dennis Ferrer on their books & is a major sponsor of WMC, as well as hosting a Thursday night at El Divino in the Ibiza summer season.

However, English born & bred and a graduate of Kent University, JC’s career path in the music & entertainment industry has seen him work for Disney in Orlando, T.V.’s Discovery Channel in New York, as well as holding down PR positions in the capital, including that with Blue Cube, his current role keeping him very busy indeed. But it doesn’t stop him diving behind the decks when he can, or indeed showing his face out on the scene, we first coming across this bubbly bloke D.J.’ing at Ku Klub one Saturday, plus have since lost count the amount of times we have bumped into him on the dancefloor somewhere, or not as the case may be, a hilarious moment we enjoyed together being when, despite him being back home in Kent, we were sure he was with us at Trade in Ministry Of Sound (well we do have senility issues from time to time!). So, given his hectic lifestyle & work commitments, his dips into the studio are not as often as he would like, but when he does, the results are quite prolific, his last offering, which is was major nod to his tour to Melbourne & Sydney during the last Mardi Gras short season, a vocal-tastic bouncy collection of 10 tunes encompassing elements of electro, trance & progressive beats, but often returning to those rip roaring vocals that give this sixty minute sampler a real summery feel. So, to get a slice of Mr Jc, check out his “Return To Oz” compilation at http://jcchristopher.podomatic.com/.

Our other focus goes to new & relatively unknown talent Norbert M, a very likeable yet quiet & unassuming Polish guy, whom we have been rubbing social shoulders with for a couple of years, although for most of that time were unaware of his D.J. skills & intentions. But D.J. he does and quite accomplishedly at that, his mixing skills for such a home taught talent standing up impressively well, particularly judging by the mixes he has laid down so far in his shot in the public eye. However, like so many of his D.J. peers, music has been in Norbert’s blood from an early age, although he knew that if he was to make a name for himself and break out onto the circuit, he would need to up sticks from his home country of Poland, seeing the move to London as his best opportunity to make any sort of headway in the disc spinning game. So, to the capital it was and in between holding down demanding shift work, he purchased his own set of decks & equipment and refined the art of mixing, within the limitations of his own four walls, although knowing just how committed & determined a character Norbert is, it was no surprise that he burst out of his own space and landed a series of gigs at his local club Ghetto, an alternative hangout in the very trendy Shoreditch/Hoxton area, his persistence also seeing him take charge on the decks ar Rupert St bar for a short Saturday stint a few months ago.

But, despite these breakthroughs, landing regular gigs has proven difficult in what is a fiercely contested market for a small amount of available gig spots and still very much a “closed shop” gAylist scene, with established D.J. talents hogging the lion’s share of clubs, events & happenings. So, in order to get himself noticed, Norbert has recently dived into the recording studio, producing three fully fledged compilations, each reflecting his style which he describes as “diverse & eclectic aimed at a mixture of audiences & tastes”, the first very much on the tech side of house, the follow-up more electro, progressive & vocal inspired, this paving way for a short 7 track promo, probably his most accessible (and our favourite) piece of work so far. And this a specially commissioned competition mix, has seen him land a slot at club Heaven’s Monday nighter “Popcorn” on 12th July, when he will be part of a special D.J. challenge event in the departure lounge and we will certainly be there, lending our support. So to get a feel of this new talents musical style, check out his compilations now at http://norbertmik.podomatic.com/ where you can also grab his latest mix “Mellow To Harsh”.

Now, what about those “summer” mixes? Well first is Jamie Hammond who recently issued his latest compilation, which is full of vocal infused tracks, combining elevated electro tones with pumping progressive beats, very much the style of his sets at Friday night club of the moment “Onyx”. Jamie’s latest piece of work has definitely got a sunshine feel good factor from the off and is a worthy addition to your collection, so to get your copy, go to http://d-jamie.podomatic.com/.

Our other “summer” devotee is Sicilian sensation Alessandro Londra, who got us “wet” with his last mix, but now gets us warm with his own nod to the sun season of the year, with 54 minutes of a-typical Ale style latin encrusted progressive & tech tainted beats that he deployed to incredible effect in the contact room at Lovechild’s last outing, packing out the place. His style of sound is also sure to win him fans with his up-coming gig at Splash Roma’s “Night Pool Party”, not to mention Matinee London’s “Open Air Summer Party” on 11th July, so his aptly named summer mix definitely gives you a flavour of what will be on offer, which you can check out & download at http://soundcloud.com/djalessandrolondra.

Now, we just have time to mention tip top clubbing website Seen Queen’s music page, which not only has a comprehensive listing & link connections to the scene’s top D.J. names works, but they have details of no less than eight new mixes released this month. Plus, the little darling's have featured our recent focus on Paul Heron, all of which you can catch now at http://seenqueen.com/music.

Right, that’s it for this week, but don’t forget to check out our “Lovechild” special post, plus up-coming focuses on Chris Brogan & Javier Medina, plus Gonzalo Rivas & Rob Sykes as well as a “Pride” special post and much more. In the meantime, as we love to say, “sit back, select our choices, turn up the volume & let the music play”

xDM

Sunday 20 June 2010

Music Is The Answer - "Little Lights Of Love" - Lovechild Special Post
















“LITTLE LIGHTS OF LOVE”
MUSIC IS THE ANSWER
LOVECHILD SPECIAL POST


Well, with it having been our time of the month last weekend, not that we succumb to those sort of tendencies you understand (despite someone claiming that we were going through PMT!), we succumbed to the return of Alex Erfan’s Lovechild and in doing so we thought we would give an extra special nod to the D.J.’s that graced the decks of this erotic & seductive monthly event both last Saturday & at previous parties.

However, with a plethora of talents to choose from, the choice of who was to get our full devotion was a difficult one, although with some already having benefitted from our focus treatment in the recent past, we thought it only fair to pick two who have yet to be subjected to our detailed scrutiny.

So who did we choose? Well first pick of the bunch is a young man that has been present for every single party since moving to new home Fire, but actually missed out on this “summer” affair as he was frolicking around down under, although we have forgiven him, as he was still very much in the “love” mood & mode, playing alongside recent Lovechild guest, Sydney’s Johan Khoury at the cities version of gAylist party Love Muscle. Phil Hewson has been playing at parties for Alex Erfan for a couple of years now and we were well & truly delighted with his uplifting, funky & chunky performance when he first caught our full-on eye at Hustlaball just over a year ago, when he truly delighted us in the VIP room, very much stalling our return to the clutches of Matinee that night. As a result, we were pleased as punch when he turned up in the residency team for Lovechild and has hit our musical sweet spot on each occasion we have been Lovechilding down on South Lambeth Road, whether it be in the lounge, the main floor or the contact room, Phil’s broad musical direction which encompasses electro, funky, latin tainted, tech toned tunes, pumped up progressive beats with uplifting undertones, meaning he is able to play to his audience in whichever space he finds himself.

Phil was raised, schooled & graduated from university in the north east of England, but was drawn to the bright lights of the capital, using his qualifications in computer skills to land him a full time position within the multinational management systems organisation Billback, this providing Mr Hewson with a secure base to expand his vocation in D.J.’ing and further develop his love & interest in music which he has held from a tender age. And such is his devotion & love for his dips behind the decks, that the services of this amiable & cute individual have seen him play at Profile, Lo-Profile, Rupert Street & Barcode, on top of his club appearances for Lovechild Hustlaball & Recon, not to mention that tour down under which has seen him jet between gigs in Sydney & Melbourne. So what with his full time job as well as the ballooning D.J. commitments on his plate, you would think Phil would have little time to dive into the studio, but dive he does, producing full compilation releases from time to time, each indicative of his delivery direction, that he calls “house music London style”, his latest mix entitled “Afterhours Down Under” very much exporting to Oz bucket loads of that London style. However, it is his specially devoted mix to Lovechild that gets our big shout here, his “A Spring Affair” 14 track compilation kicking off as it means to go on with the brilliant “Come Get My Lovin”, but also includes gems “Addicted”, “From The Stars” and a brilliant re-work of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”, as well as some prolific progressive beats that make for 73 minutes of magical music. So, to grab your slice of Phil in Lovechild mode, go to http://funkylondon.podomatic.com/ and you can catch Phil playing at Lo-Profile this coming Friday (25th June).

Our other special devotion goes to Terry Vietheer, who has made quite an impact on the London scene since moving from his native Australia just two years ago, although he had already built up a formidable career behind the decks in his home city of Sydney, playing out to thousands at the massive Ministry of Sound & Hed Kandi tours which led him to land a residency at the biggest club name down under “Home”, Mr Vietheer stamping his uplifting musical style on the Terrace for the clubs legendary circuit party, supporting names such as Peter Rauhofer & Offer Nissam. All this from a man that starting his fledging D.J. career just a year before that, playing at small time bars in Sydney, having been gripped by music from an early age and very much into clubbing as soon as his age would allow, although he knew that he would be destined to be spinning the sounds rather than swinging to them, his decision to fly the comforts of home, moving to London, a brave yet fruitful one, Terry quickly establishing himself with tip top clubbing brand Pacha, playing for their “Funky4love” parties.

But his big break on the gay scene was to come when he secured a residency at Heaven for hip hop Monday night happening “Popcorn”, which very much threw his name into the limelight, his London base also allowing Terry to expand into Europe, appearances at clubs across Italy including Skylight, “Magazzini & Generali, complimented by gigs in Russia, Switzerland & Spain, the Vietheer vroom vroom even hitting The States with an appearance at MrBlack. But back in the U.K., his name has slowly spread and concurrently Terry not only plays regularly at Heaven, but his busy schedule includes Barcode, Shadow Lounge, Rupert Street & The Dalston Superstore, where he is resident for the new(ish) monthly outing “Mixtape” masterminded by club promoter Laurent Chaumet. Mixing in the East End circles, also brought Mr Vietheer into contact with favourite Swede spinster Per QX, both collaborating in the studio on a track entitled “Old Scholl, Nu School”, which made it big at the 2009 Winter Music Conference in Miami, also getting the remix treatment in the hands of Tom Stephan & Roger Sanchez no less. And that studio work continues with his own compilation works, his latest release “Funky4love” a distinct nod to his current musical direction of funky progressive & tech beats, but like Phil, produced a specially devoted mix to Lovechild, which is of similar style to his latest, but has much more uplifting electro tendencies throughout, being a credible addition to the Lovechild collection of compilations, which you can grab at http://soundcloud.com/terryvietheer along with his other masterful mixes.

Right, so what other specially devoted Lovechild compilations are out there? Well, guest star of the recent “Wet” party, Alan K, has produced a special mix which is drenched with his multi mixing from start to finish & is a worthy addition you your collection which you can grab at http://djlank.podomatic.com/, a true reflection of his awesome performance when he filled the main room to virtual capacity.

Lovechild regular Mattias has also devoted his only compilations to Lovechild, his “Easter 2010 Mix” the fourth in his series of live recordings, which stretch back to February 2009, when he played for the premiere party in Moscow, each devotion available through http://djmattias.podomatic.com/. All these live set recordings are played & saved direct from his computer which is a trademark of Mattias’ performances behind the decks (well he doesn’t need the decks themselves!), a trend which has seen many D.J.’s follow his lead.

Another Lovechild music lover is resident Gabrielle Cutrano, who has laid down two mixes especially for the lovable club brand, his NYD live set recording in the Lovechild room at “As One”, plus his Nov 09 set both still available at http://soundcloud.com/gabrielecutrano, both indicative of his tech verging on techno style of sound, while massive mega international D.J. star & Lovechild resident Paul Heron has also got in on the live set recording game with his own extract from the March 2010 party, which you can grab at http://soundcloud.com/djpaulheron.

So with 10 mixes with Lovechild all over them, that’s about it for our special focus on the music of this lovable club and having just posted our review of the last party titled “Love Shine A Light”, if you missed out on the event, why not take a look in our review section. Moreover, if you have overlooked Alex’s Lovechild parties, don’t miss out on the mesmeric music from the incredible depth of D.J. talent, via these specially dedicated compilations. So, get downloading and/or listening and as we love to say “sit back, turn up the volume & let the music play”. (DISCO MATT)

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Music Is The Answer - "Friends Indeed"












Hey Folks,

Well, with much of May having been taken up with reports on the international D.J. stars of The London Global Dance Festival (LGDF) now behind us (ish! – reviews still to do), our music posts can resume some sort of normality. And with the queue of latest recipients of our focussing growing rapidly, June is pretty much mapped out already, although deciding who gets our devotion in our first “back to normal” post was tricky.

So who did? Well first up is a man that has been skirting the mainstream D.J. circuit for a while now, yet was fascinated with music & mixing from an early age and had D.J.’ing in his sights from the informative period in his young adult life. Brought up in leafy Warwickshire, Nick spent his childhood listening to music, so it was no surprise that it would be in his blood and when making the bold move south, he soon got entwined in the club circuit and started rubbing shoulders with people in the know who would eventually be his gateway into what historically has been a very difficult scene in London to crack, especially in the bigger clubs which were very much closed shops with no real opening for new talent. Add to this the challenge of holding down a very demanding full time job, not to mention a loving relationship with his partner Chris, Mr Evans was throwing the proverbial balls in the air to balance these two aspects of his life with his desire to get behind the decks.

But in long standing friend Paul Heron, he had the both the peer and the support he needed and those openings and appearances began to come his way, Nick first grabbing our attention filling the spot for his close friend at Industri, at the time, very much a departure from what the crowd were used to in terms of musical direction, but refreshingly so nevertheless. Since that appearance, we have been tracking Nick’s progress and, when we can, catch up with gigs that he plays in the capital, which have included spots at both Profile & Lo-Profile as well as Rupert Street & Barcode Vauxhall, where his uplifting yet funky filled electro tainted musical choices go down like a storm, the sounds that have the Evans selection theme more often than not hinting towards the vocal injected type that prick up the ears and get the feet more than tapping.

And in his first podcast release, there is a perfect example of the Nick style, a glorious & upbeat 73 minutes of music, simply entitled “Spring 2010 Mix” which includes some of our favourite tunes of 2010 so far, kicking off with the amazingly melodic & meaningful “You & I” by Medina, then immediately raising the tempo with tracks that include a brilliant remix of Candi Station’s “Musical Freedom”, Joey Negro’s “Can’t Get High Without You” and the uplifting & funky “Best Of Me” by Rino Cabrera, not to mention plenty of updated versions of old Hed Kandi style disco tracks, like “Feel For You” & “Believe” and to add to that truly upbeat & dancefloor drenched feel, the track that continues to send the crowds wild & was close to taking top spot in our 2009 music poll, Zoe Baldwin’s “Release Me”, is popped in for good measure. All in all, this is one hell of a compilation and was an immediate addition to our collection when we first heard it back in May and so should be to yours too, so grab your copy now at http://nickevansdj.podomatic.com/, you won’t regret it.

Fittingly so, our other devotion goes to Nick’s close pal and a D.J. that rarely gets a look in on our posts, although with his massive international standing & reputation he hardly needs our humble exposure, but such is the talent of this maestro behind the decks, we felt he deserved it nevertheless. To chronicle Paul Heron’s hectic life and rise to stardom could take well over a page to describe, so in cutting it down, we can think of one word that describes it to a tea, “meteoric”. Ever since he first ditched sensible plans in the eyes of his parents to convert his graduation in fashion, rather to follow his dream emulating the top names at the time that were playing out in the club that influenced him more than any other, Trade, Paul knew that his destiny was to be behind the decks, although he never dreamt that it would start at this legendary club. But with his first gig under him, as they say the rest is history and having established a firm foothold in the London club scene, playing out at mammoth clubs that included Crash, Action, DTPM Discotec & Heaven, he really got our attention back in 2002 when he played in the VIP room at Beyond in the heady days of Colosseum and we have never really taken our eye off his amazing career to this day, always heading to the dancefloor like an excited child to hear him play.

However, keeping track of this very much in demand D.J. is a task & a half, as whilst London is his backyard, the world is his oyster and Paul jets around the globe like it’s a trip between Soho & Vauxhall, with hardly a week going by where he is not abroad somewhere, whether it be as close as France or as far away as Australia, there is no continent that hasn’t sampled a bit of the Heron music magic. And no matter what the size of gig it is, from the intimate social splendour that is London’s Industri, to the massive dance party phenomenon, Barcelona’s Circuit Festival, Paul has been there & done that, pride events at home & across Europe, an exhaustive list of the world’s most famous clubs as well as the more obscure. Such is Mr Heron’s reputation, that despite the capital being his home, he lives much more out of his suitcase, touching on an endless list of destination cities in his truly jet setting life, whether it be Athens & Auckland, Copenhagen & Cape Town, Milan & Montreal or Tel Aviv & Toronto and the fellow D.J. stars he has played with is equally impressive, David Guetta, Frankie Knuckles, Seamus Haji, Pete Tong, Judge Jules, need we say more?!?!

So considering this demanding D.J.’ing schedule you would think he would have time for little else, but there you would be wrong, as 2009 has seen Paul break into the international recording, producing & remixing market, teaming up (as Phax) with close friend and fellow D.J., Alan X, quickly achieving success with their treatment of Aussie duo Empire Of The Sun’s “We Are The People”. Further projects have included Ultra Nate’s “Hey D.J.”, Grace Jones’s “Hurricane” and a specially commissioned version of Stonebridge’s “Take Me Away” for house label Hed Kandi, their latest piece of work being a brilliant one too and should, like the others, hit the big time, we being treated to a first hearing the remix of the Scissor Sisters’ latest single “Fire With Fire”, by the man himself at Industri just a couple of weeks ago. Add to that Paul’s recent compilation works that have included a devotion to club Lovechild, where he is a resident (more on that next week) as well a brilliant nod to the musical mantra he labels “dirty, sexy, fun”, that includes dives into deep, pumping, tribal & progressive house, with a few uplifting tinges, which is superbly displayed by his 80 minute mix entitled “Summer Progressive 2010” which is out now at http://soundcloud.com/djpaulheron and it is clear this man just doesn’t stop. Often drawing on his 15,000 plus record collection not just to put together not just these compilations, & construct the amazing sets he plays week in week out, but to inspire him in his re-mixing works, all ensures Mr Heron remains at the top of his game and someone we feel honoured to call a friend.

Now, with news of their latest studio works hitting our desks just before we threw our music posts into the LGDF string of specials, we have been itching to share the details with you. However, to our extreme delight, while our regular posts have been off air, Nick Tcherniak & Steve Thomas have made it big with their EP “My People” featuring Wilhelm, reaching the playlists of scores of D.J.’s, gaining support from a list of Industry superstars that reads like a who’s who in the music game, as well as having already been targeted for remixing work by nine producers, including Phax. Moreover, it zoomed to number one on the Juno download progressive house chart within days of release, is currently racing up Beatport’s own chart, where it is available to purchase & download via https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/247565/my_people_ep#app=5d8e&a486-index=0 and is well worth adding to your collection.

Right, well that’s it for our selection’s this week, but coming up next week is a devotion to all things Lovechild, focussing on Terry Vietheer & Phil Hewson, but also detailing mix works inspired by the club from other D.J. residents & guests of Alex Erfan’s monthly erotic event. But we also have features on talents, JC Christopher, Norbert Molinski & Chris Brogan planned and plenty more besides, so watch this space for that.

In the meantime, we hope you like & enjoy our choices here and as we love to say “...sit back, turn up the volume and let the music play...”

xDM

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Music Is The Answer - "Two Peas In A Pod" - LGDF Special Post




MUSIC IS THE ANSWER
LONDON GLOBAL DANCE FESTIVAL
“TWO PEAS IN A POD”


With The London Global Dance Festival (LGDF) in full swing, what is officially billed as “the closing party”, but what we prefer as a more appropriate term, the afterparty, which will be hosted by Steven Sharp’s “Orange” mega club, has a host of resident stars who will be joined by four international D.J.’s, jetting into London especially for the LGDF, who will be flying the flag for Nightkomm & Spirit Of Star, but three who also have strong connections with record label & agency, Sorry Shoes, but two that have very close connections to each other, having set up their our recording labels & are based very close to each other in Spain. So, in the last of our special LGDF D.J. focuses we look at these two stars which are very much “two peas in a pod” and for good reason.

First up is Ivan Gomez, a native of Barcelona, who is a very much a Spaniard in heart & mind, having all the passion & drive of his fellow country folk and this is no better expressed than through his love of music. Having found himself behind the decks at the tender age of nineteen, mainly seeking opportunities to play at clubs in his home city, also circulating within the vibrant Barcelona scene to get him noticed and having played out at a whole host of small time Catalan clubs in the capital of this Eastern Spanish region, a big break came when he secured residencies at huge gay happenings Bear Factory & Arena and having played for a couple of seasons. Now the floodgate was opened on his D.J. career, not only as he played out at the massive summer festival, Loveball, but was also asked to be involved in the “Bears In Rome” gathering, which was just the exposure he needed, leading onto regular slots at the then new club, Gorgeous I Am, not to mention a whole host of others across the well known gay village in Rome & back in Spain. Ivan has been attracted to the draw of the big festivals as well as the smaller clubs, both Valencia’s summer week & Barcelona’s Bear Farm featuring highly, but whilst he is clearly an accomplished D.J., it is in the studio where Mr Gomez seems to be at his most prolific, the collaboration from 2003 between him & Flaix FM radio station increased his passion for house music, when he regularly presented news slots on the latest releases and then masterminded a slot allowing him to feature some of his home-grown remix & bootleg works.

So, the list of studio works from Ivan is extensive to say the least, having given his treatment to a number of Madonna records including “Give It To Me”, Celebrate” & “Secret”, as well as other big names in the pop scene including Justin Timberlake & The Black Eyed Peas. But it was his own track releases, first “Work My Beats” as well as “So Sexy”, “Turn Me Out” & remix works on a string of Jah Sound records that were getting the major airtime playing, not least on Roger Sanchez’s radio show “Release Me” and with Ivan having taken up production professionally in 2008, having landed a contract with Miami based Southside Recordings, it was that first track that was hailed as one of the most important issues in the Ibiza summer season of the same year, being played right across the white isle & also at all Matinee Group’s parties. More studio work was inevitable & shining examples are Jah Sound’s “La Bruja”, his own “D-Pressed” & the Luca G vocal inspired hit “Love To Survive”, Ivan often working with fellow peers on remixes & tracks, including Ben Manson, Mark Sanchez & both Fran Ramirez & Nacho Chapado who have become close friends of his and both feature in his latest track releases/remixes, many of which can be found at http://soundcloud.com/ivangomezmusic.

So being so active in the studio & producing some quality works, it comes as no surprise that Sorry Shoes creator Mike Kelly saw the potential of Ivan & wanted a piece of the Gomez action, asking him to join the increasing family of D.J’s & producers, to develop the labels depth & potential. Back to the D.J.’ing & Ivan shares his time mainly between Barcelona & Rome, still featuring big at both Gorgeous I Am & Bear Factory, his mixture of various house genres that include tech, progressive, deep, minimal & underground, tinged with uplifting vocals from time to time, go down an absolute treat wherever he plays. Naturally, Ivan will be representing Sorry Shoes at LGDF and brings a wealth of experience not least in the studio, but also from many years behind the D.J. booth. His depth within the genres of house he plays will add a definitive feel to the weekend and indeed his knowledge of playing at large festivals will be a definite plus and he will take to the main floor at Area as part of the Orange afterparty, his music style ideally suited to what looks like the THE party of the weekend.

Our other & final LGDF devotion goes to Jose Ignacio Chapado, better known as Nacho Chapado, who was born in Barcelona, Spain and surrounded himself in music from an early age, not just working as a radio D.J. but also holding down various positions with a number of record companies and soon got the taste for not just D.J.’ing live, but also engrossing himself into the recording studio. As a D.J., his C.V. reads magnificently, the main focus being Italy and, of course, Spain, playing at a host of meets in his home country, including Fascination, Odarko Club, Into The Tank, StrongMatic, Bear Factory, & Ursus Planet, at nearly as many in Italy, places like Hub, The Block, Gorgeous I Am & Gay Village, as well as featuring large at many of the festivals in both countries, highlights being Long Vehicle Week in Italy & Loveball in Spain, although the crowning glory was his appearance at the massive Circuit Festival in Barcelona last year, when he represented not only beartastic brand Megawoof, but also played on behalf of uber club D-Boy. Other destinations in his D.J.’ing career have included Paris for Club Rapido, Zurich’s Selection Party and the Absolut event in Athens.

But like many of his compatriots in the industry, it is in the recording studio where Mr Chapado has been the most active, his first recording dating back to 1999, when he worked with the group, Soldiers Of Dance & with Micky Fortenza, an album that contained remixes of popular songs of the time, spring-boarding a virtual never-ending list of accomplishments, although a six year break meant that it was 2004 before he was back doing what he absolutely loves, producing & remixing records. Delving through the sheer volume of Jose ney Nacho work, is like stepping through a minefield of sensational sounds and outstanding achievements, purple patch years being, first, 2006, when he published his club & electro version of one of the great classics of the eighties: B-Movie’s “Nowhere Girl”, having great success with the first remix in Catalan language, which was an absolute revolution in the electronic music world, further remixes of Gossos & Beth “No Es Nou”, leading to a compilation of 11 remixes under his name with October & Christmas remix releases hitting high notes, then 2007, which was just as successful for him, as a whole plethora of releases came out of the Chapado production factory, including “Let It Fill Your Soul” in two versions: “Put Your Hands Up For Barcelona Mix” & “Electro Handbag Mix”, remix versions of themes by the Catalan group Lexu’s "Amazing & Gorgeous", "Don’t Show The Tears" and a remix made by Juanjo Martin of his record "Coming Up 2007 ". But the amount of releases he has been involved with is staggering, counting well over 60 in his career, recent collaborations with Enrico Arghentini and close friend Ivan Gomez attracting much attention in Spain & particularly on the Barcelona club circuit and already in 2010, he has produced no less than 14 remixes/recordings, nearly half with Mr Gomez and as many released on the Sorry Shoes label, for which Nacho is now part of, real gems in the collection being “Love To Survive” & Dark Beat”, these and a selection of others available to listen to at http://myspace.com/nachochapado as well as being available for download at leading worldwide online store beatport.com as well as D.J download.

Being involved with Sorry Shoes comes as no surprise given his pedigree in the studio and Mike Kelly short of bit his hand off to join, although balancing his work with this spurning record agency, he is also at the centre of a new tribal & progressive house music label, Guareber Recordings, which will see not just his, but close associations works released, which looks like making waves in Spain & beyond, Nacho explaining that “...the Spanish house mafia is here & we will hit the dancefloor with our tribal & progressive beats...” . But, Mr Chapado still loves to get behind the decks live, playing out to packed crowds at Martins Club & StrongMatic in Barcelona, plus zooming across to Italy & Belgium where his services are still in great demand and his style of full on euro style house beats, combining, electro tech & progressive, a hint of tribal, but nearly always with powerful vocals, sounds which are incredibly addictive and dance delirium tempting. There is little doubt, therefore, that his sound will go down an absolute storm at LGDF, the massive euro beats & noticeable records that have been given his remix treatment, very much in tune with striking resonance with the international & discerning crowd that the festival is sure to attract. And Mr Chapado will take his rightful place in the Orange Afterparty flying two flags, Sorry Shoes’ & Nightkomm’s and we cannot wait to sample some of his superb sounds.

So, that’s it, an exhaustive & most comprehensive look at 22 international D.J’s/producers that will have made an indelible impact on London across this massive dance & music festival, none of which would even be possible but were it for the amazing vision & passion of one man, Alex Erfan, who along with the support of Craig Elder and The Orange group, have ventured into the unknown to offer the capital gAylistig clubbing scene something truly different yet in familiar surroundings. What will be the verdict on all these international D.J’s performances? And did the festival meet all expectations? These are just two questions amongst many that we hope to answer in a series of special reviews coming up. (DISCO MATT)