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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

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