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Saturday 18 September 2010

"Brazilian Beats By The Best In Our Books" - The Week - Music Is The Answer Special























“BRAZILIAN BEATS BY THE BEST IN OUR BOOKS”
THE WEEK
MUSIC IS THE ANSWER SPECIAL


Well, with a mere three hours to go until The Week, which lands in London and takes Fire in Vauxhall by storm, what better way to get you in the mood for what looks like being THE clubbing event of the weekend, than to share some slices of music that you can expect from this massive carnival inspired party. So, rather than our usual focuses, we take a look at some new compilations, some not so new, but all with one common theme, all laid down by D.J.’s that will be appearing at this carnival splendour.

But first, we have to re-enforce the musical message we delivered via out preview “Sourced In Sao Paulo, Landing In London” at http://discomattpreview.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-event-preview and our weekend focus “Under A Week To The Week” http://discomattweekend.blogspot.com/2010/09/weekend-focus-week, by stating that this amazing event tonight (Sat 18th Sept) has one of the strongest line-ups we have seen in many months, nay years, as megastars & the cream of the crop in Steve Pitron, Mikey D, Gonzalo Rivas, Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron will be joined by The Week resident, Leandro Bekker, as well as upcoming Brazilian star Doug’uim & a special appearance by super Swede Per Q.X., to literally lift the roof off Fire with some of the best sounds around.

So what of these sounds, well Mikey D very much leads the way with his new compilation, “Lose Control”, which has The Week written all over it, as not only does the green & yellow cover shout Brazil, but the terrific tracks in this 73 minute smash do too, especially Mikey’s own mix interpretation of “Happiness” by Alexis Jordan, which has been featured in our other posts, as well as on the official The Week website. From the brilliant opener “Seek” by Bromace, Mikey treats us to a myriad of main room music, many which will be familiar, we even falling on yet another re-work Zoe Baldwin’s “Release Me” in amongst other tracks that include the octane fuelled “Don’t Stop Till You get Enough” and an amazing new version of our own anthem “Music is The Answer”. But to be honest each & every track hits the mark and such is the strength of this compilation, it has already hit our top five of 2010 in just one listen, meaning we cannot recommend it enough, so you simply have to grab it for yourself at http://mikeyd.podomatic.com/, as we concur with Mikey when he say’s “hope it was worth the wait”, and yes, it may be twelve months since the last solo release, but by golly the wait was well worth it.

Onto our next maestro behind the music decks for The Week and who else could it be but Steve Pitron, who will storm Fire’s main room for this mega Brazilian club brand, performing alongside Mikey D in a special back-to-back set that will surely be one of big highlights of a superb evening of music. Now, we have already given Mr Pitron’s latest compilation exposure on these pages, but given his involvement in this event, it is certainly worth mentioning again, as “Summer 2010” is a truly amazing collection of uplifting beats that are so evocative of this man’s scintillating sets that we so often savour. With Steve having starred for The Week over in Sao Paulo on a many occasions, in some ways it will feel a little like a home coming for him at Fire and we suspect he will be pulling out plenty of tremendous tracks to mark the occasion, just like those you can find on his latest compilation offering, highlights being SNS’s “Alive” & Rossini Pain’s “I Will Be” featuring the vocals of Kaysee. So, while it been out for a while, make sure it’s in your collection by going to http://steveptronsessions.podomatic.com/, as “Summer 2010” is very much in our top five of the year and should be in yours too.

Now, we are extremely excited that so many D.J. stars will be under one roof at the same time at The Week tonight, our musical ecstasy extending to Brent Nicholls, who will be reigning supreme in the “Latin Lounge” and will surely be turning out a truck load of his “nu-funk” sounds that both his “Aural” & “No Americano” compilations are crammed with. It certainly goes without saying that both mixes are pushing for a top five slot in our yearly chart, as is his Beyond Pervert mix, all which you can take a listen for yourselves via http://djbrentnicholls.com/music. However, just last weekend, we were treated to a 75 minutes of musical mastery in his “Get On MyGayFace” compilation. Now, such is the diversity of this fantastic mix, from the full-on “Air Miles” to the fabulously swoony “Stereo Love”, from the funk of “Upside Down” to the pop-tasticness of “Add Suv” this will latest Brent release will definitely be in our top five, it’s just a question of where, especially as it includes THE best remix version of “Release Me” we have heard. So, whilst we cannot recommend it enough , here’s the deal, this mix has been produced exclusively for members of new networking site, MyGayFace, so, if you are not a member already, then best you join at http://mygayface.com, not least to grab this specially commissioned compilation, which you can also do via Brent’s website.

But the music doesn’t stop there, as Gonzalo Rivas will be ripping up the Mirrorarch at The Week too and, my, has he been busy in the studio or what, with a whole collection of compilations released in the last few weeks. Latest mix off the block is “Understand This Groove”, a deep & tech fuelled one hour seventeen minute collection of cracking tunes that will surely evoke his set at The Week. From the opener of Jet Project’s “Understand The Groove” through to the finale of “Drumfunk” by Oscar de Rivera & Ismael Rivas, this is Gonzalo at his brilliant best (again!) and one listen will definitely get you understanding his groove and get a feel for his performance at The Week, which you should savour at http://gonzalorivas.podomatic.com/.

Also making an appearance, if but a little brief, will be super Swede Per Q.X., who will, along with stellar saxophonist, Sandra grant, be playing out an exclusive live performance of his hit track “Blow My Trumpet”, which has samba, maraca’s & carnival written all over it. Now, this track has been going down an absolute storm right across the globe and is popping up in all sorts of D.J. sets & compilations and looks set for further success as the year goes on. So, given its exposure, the tune should be familiar to you, but if not, why not get your own preview of tonight’s performance via http://soundcloud.com/perqx/per-qx-blow-my-trumpet

As for the rest, well we would love to share some latest music mixes with you but we can’t, although what we can say is that in bound The Week resident Leandro Bekker has been quoted as saying “...During the party I want to present some Brazilian productions such as “Breathe Again” by Lorena Simpson, a bootleg of “Sexercise” as well as Jeff Valle’s (another The Week D.J.) track “Freefallin”, which features Zoe Baldwin...”, so we will definitely be looking forward to that, as you should know just how big a fan of Ms Baldwin we are. In addition, we are hoping to get an audience with Mr Bekker and then bring you an exclusive interview plus news on planned track & compilation releases, so keep your eyes peeled for that, although we can say with authority that he will surely pack a punch in Fire’s main room after the duo of Dower & Pitron. But there is also The Week regular guest, Paul Heron, who will tempt you into the Mirrorarch with his tougher tech & electro beats, we crossing fingers & toes that a re-work of “Happiness” will be making it to his set and having discussed The Week with him just a few days ago, we know Paul is very excited about playing for the brand, both here in London and then for their upcoming birthday party in Sao Paulo.

So, that’s our special musical look at The Week which looks like being a euphoric event with music being the centre piece, especially with the likes of Messrs Bekker, Dower, Heron, Nicholls, Pitron & Rivas in charge. But for those that cannot make it down to Fire tonight (Sat 18th Sept), why not live the experience through our choices and doing do, as we love to say, “sit back, select those sounds, turn up the volume and let them play as music is the answer”, in this case Brazilian Beats By The Best In Our Book. (DISCO MATT)

Monday 6 September 2010

Music Is The Answer - DM Does The News















"BANK HOLIDAY BEATMASTERS”
DM DOES THE NEWS
MUSIC IS THE ANSWER NEWSLETTER
MONDAY 6TH SPETEMBER


Welcome to the second instalment of DM Does The News and a bit of a special one, as not only have we got loads of music to cram in, but it will be very much a musical journey through the last Bank Holiday weekend that was absolutely bursting with top notch D.J.’s doing what they do best, playing terrific tunes to thrill and in so do, making them our “Bank Holiday Beatmasters”. This supersized & superspeed journey will not only give links to new compilations, new tracks & new studio works, but will also hint towards upcoming stars as well as forthcoming projects of well established favourite jocks, so fasten your seatbelts as we take you on our very own magical music mystery tour.

Well, as always our weekend started on the Thursday and in the hands of the social soiree splendour that is Industri, this venerable institution of a night out having held sway on our calendar for well over two years and in resident D.J.’s Paul Heron and Brent Nicholls, the music is always top draw, Brent especially using Industri as a test bed for new tracks, new evolutions & new directions in his music. So many of our favourite tunes from this master at his game have been born at Industri, indeed Mr Nicholls has racked up a number of compilations either dedicated to or recorded at Industri, although, his latest work, a brilliant collection of tracks from a genre which he calls “nu funk” is not so much an Industri child but a pure devotion this latest direction in his music, elements disco, funk & electro jazz, but predominantly latin beats, Brent explaining this latest work as “...a specialist mix that showcases my diversity & love for house music...” and boy does he show it in bucket loads with “No Americano”. To pick out a favourite track from the 19 on offer is so difficult, as we love them all, but if pushed it would have to be “Filthy Rich” by Arumba, but there are so many other amazing tracks including “Deep In My Sax”, “Devil Walking”, “Et Moi”, “Sweet Devil” & “To Start Again”, not to mention the inspiration for this compilation, the camp “We Speak No Americano”. But don’t just take our word for it, check out this amazing mix at http://djbrentnicholls.com/music, where you can also get details of free download options & other works of his.

Onto Friday and normally we try to dive into The Box, which always seems to attract a really good looking crowd, especially on a balmy summers evening. But with the weather far from summery, this Covent Garden hangout got a wide berth, unfortunately so as we know the music would have been just as good as Thursday in the hands of our very own female equivalent of Mr Nicholls, D.J. Minx, who is resident at The Box each Friday, as well as now being part of the “Therapy” team at Shadow Lounge. However missing out wasn’t so bad, as news has drifted our way of a new compilation from her, which is another superb summer corker, kicking off with Mark Knight’s “Devil Walking”, which we tipped as hitting the big time back in May, the compilation also including a multi mixed version of his “Downpipe” with strands of “Automatic” running through it which is simply fabulous. This foxy female has also included the awesome track “Dead Famous” by Diagram of The Heart, that rounds off this glorious 66 minutes of music from our female Brent, that’s how highly we rate Sam & her music. So, it goes without saying that we recommend you go grab your copy of her latest work at http://djminx.podomatic.com/.

The rest of our Friday was consumed by music in the hands of two latino’s, the first being Leandro Kloppel at the pre-party for Hype & M.O.S.T., Logan presents’ new home grown hybrid’s, both which have had extensive exposure in our preview & reviews posts, so check those out, but in finding Leonardo, Mr Schmitz has fallen on a gem of a D.J. that looks like making a considerable splash on the London scene, although is yet another model who has turned to disc spinning to earn a living (think Marco Da Silva, Phil Romano, Micky Friedman, Enrico Arghentini, they are all at it!!). However, we were impressed by his performance at BCS on this Friday, not to mention the slice we grabbed at M.O.S.T. on Sunday morning and we are keeping our eyes peeled for a compilation from the man, so will keep you posted on news of that, but in the meantime to get the low down on this good looking Brazilian, check out his stats at http://myspace.com/djleandrokloppel.

But Friday was all about “The Digital Generation” really, as we celebrated the forthcoming compilation release by Italian Stallion Pagano, who treated us to a five hour set at Onyx, littered with Francesco classics, including, “Loca", “Back To The Future” & “My Religion” as well as the more up to date “Drama On The Dancefloor” and the brand spanking new track “Digital Generation” which is the inspiration for this upcoming compilation. Now, we know that Pagano is back busy in the studio finalising the format & line-up for this, his first album release, which we are reliably informed will be out around the end of September on Kult Records, we hope including all the above, plus his ultra new remix work of Dynamix’s “Don’t Want Another Man”, which we expect to get an exclusive first airing at another five hour set of his, this time at Barcode Vauxhall this Saturday (11th Sept). We will keep you posted on “Digital Generation’s” release, but in the meantime, check out his discography & other info at http://djpagano.com/.

Saturday saw Logan’s Hype take centre stage in our proceedings, Spanish D.J. star Carlos Gallardo also centre staging a line-up that included London’s finest & international superstar globetrotter Paul Heron, who treated us to a sparkling set that included a brilliant if but slightly camp (he is going to kill us!) rendition of “Acapella”. He has been so busy of late, studio works have been very limited, but we are expecting a new compilation soon, although his “Summer Progressive” mix, which we featured a while back, is still available at http://soundcloud.com/djpaulheron/paul-heron-summer-progressive-2010.

As for Mr Gallardo, well, in his native Barcelona & further reaches of Spain, Carlos has made a considerable impact, working in the country’s biggest club brands, including Space, Privilege, Amnesia, SOS & SuperMartXe and also with some of Spain’s top vocalists, his work on “Say The Words” with Kaysee & “Don’t Let This Moment End” with Rebekka Brown, just two of hoards of track releases. But his latest work entitled “Fantasy Girl”, featured in his set at Hype and is a blistering progressive smash which you can grab for yourselves via direct link http://djsbag.com/progressive-house/10092-carlos-gallardo-feat-rob-harris-fantasy-girl and which will give you an insight & snapshot to his performance at Hype which we described as “...a prolific performance...” and “...stupendous set that rivalled any Spanish D.J. import guest we have seen, ever!...” enough said.

Other Saturday night & Sunday morning D.J.’s that featured in our journey and who are both busy in the studio right now are Tony English & Danny Verde, Tony having rounded off Hype in style with a rousing performance, albeit slightly divorced from his usual style of tough progressive eurobeats. But you can get a full flavour of Tony’s style, which his sets at SuperMartXe & Lovechild are pretty much full of, collections of Balearic & Spanish beats plus major European dancefloor hits, many of which are showcased in his podcast series “The Social 2010”, part one featuring Alex Guerrero, the next instalment including D.J. Luque, although the third of four, pure Tony and our favourite yet. Now, we are told that the fourth instalment is due out this coming Wednesday (8th Sept), but you can grab the other three now at http://tonyenglish.podomatic.com/.

Now to Mr Verde, the man whose career has well & truly rocketed in the last 18 months or so and no one could be more pleased than we at just how meteoric a rise it has been, an exhausting list of gigs taking him right across the globe. But, despite all this live D.J. work demand, Danny remains no slouch in the studio, where he has really made a name for himself and, following his smash tour of Los Angeles, US online music site, Beatport, has loaded up many of his best works, all which are now available at https://beatport.com/it-IT/html/content/artist/detail/70306/danny_verde, which includes his latest remix work “Stay With Me” by Thomas Anders, which has European vocal house in bucket loads & is simply Danny at his dynamic best. Why not also catch it in full glory with visual links at http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dl5FF3N2QI0 and whilst we missed out on Danny at M.O.S.T. (after a brief hello), we are very much looking forward to a reunion at Salvation in Berlin next month, plus we will keep you up to date with forthcoming studio projects of his as the inside track of news hits our desks.

Onward and Sunday morning had to include Beyond, this afterhours proving to be the single most popular party of the whole weekend, stellar D.J. performances coming out of the main room from Messrs Adams, Dower, Head & Pitron and we are keeping our eyes peeled for new compilation works from all four (yes that includes you Jamie!!). But over in room two, German club “Sexy” was also having its fair share of the action, seeing host for the night (well morning), Oliver M play the opening set. And to mark his performance, Oliver has released an 80 minute mix, which is a live recording from his set at the “Super Size” event, which he describes as “...a good mixture of vocal, tribal, & tech house tracks and full of energy all the way through...” adding that “...this mix represents my more mainstream music style...” and includes the massive summer smash, “The Sun Is Gonna Keep On Shining” in full remix treatment, as has “Rhythm Is A Dancer” plus many more, in fact, listening to the mix, we wish we had been there to witness Oliver’s set, as this is a glorious collection from start to finish & the best compilation from him by far. So, don’t miss out on it, catch it now at http://djoliverm.podomatic.com/entry/2010-09-02T15_27_22-07_00.

But, hanging out in the Terrace room with Craig Elder, Tom Fuller & Dorin Andrei as we did for most of our brief stay at Beyond, we couldn’t help by being transfixed with the sounds from resident D.J. Hifi Sean Dickson, who never fails to impress us with his progressive tech & funky beats, especially if we find a spot under the mirroball (a private joke!) and his “Psychedelic House” mix compilations have become legendary in many a living room, his latest “Hifi-cast” reflecting many of the sounds that are spinning his world at the moment, a mixture of twisted disco beats, tech tracks, progressive sounds & funky tunes that make it a truly psychedelic from the off. So, to get your slice of Sean, go now to http://hifiseandj.podomatic.com/entry/2010-09-03T08_18_19-07_00 where you can also look up his previous mixes and watch out for our review of his pulsating performance last Sat (4th Sept) when he played b2b with Nick Tcherniak at Barcode Vauxhall.

Moving on and As One was to be the next instalment of a further four parties in our bank Holiday weekend, although proved to be the last, but what a last it was, as many of “our boys, guapo’s, bello’s” were there & performing behind the decks, not least Eduardo De La Torre, who commissioned a compilation mix especially for this amazing amalgamation of an outing, which you can have for yourselves via http://soundcloud.com/dj-edu-de-la-torre/as-one-london-bank-holliday-especial-mixed-by-dj-edu-de-la-torre and is full of the energetic electro, tech & funky latino beats that was the trademark of his scintillating set. But news on his charming Venezuelan doesn’t stop there, as we know he is busy in the studio, working on a track release, of which we have been sworn to secrecy (how exciting!), plus he starts his new weekly show tonight (Mon 6th Sept) for Embeded Exposure Radio, the live link being http://embededexposureteam.webs.com/, Edu being on air each Monday from 8 p.m. till 10 p.m.. local time.

Another D.J. that starred at As One & in doing so, played on behalf of Wild Fruit was Lee Harris, who has definitely been making an impact in the capital in recent months, featuring loud & proud at many an Onyx event, as well as being part of the ever increasing roving residency team at Lovechild. Lee also laid down a special compilation for this brilliant blend of brand’s bash, this 11 minute mix kicking off as it means to go on with the glittering & remix version of the Eurythmics classic “Here Comes The Rain”, which is an absolute favourite of ours (we can hear those rockets fire across Beyond’s main room as Steve Pitron blasts this amazing track out!), but Lee’s superb selections grab you with every twist & turn, not least when “Release Me” pops up in a new format (nothing can beat the original for us but this has a damn good try), so another mix well worth adding you your collection, which you can do by going to direct link http://soundcloud.com/mashed/lee-harris-as-one-aug-2010.

However, the man that was very much doing it for us, was Barcelona boy Javier Medina, taking a guest slot in the Lovechild room at As One and treating us to a plethora of progressive, tech & tribal beats that has us whirling around like a spinning top, although it would be fair to say that, whilst his style goes down an absolute storm on the continent, London ears still need to grow accustomed to his style, but there is no doubt this D.J. talent is definitely going places and we are behind him with every step. Suffice to say, his follow up trip to Ibiza was a huge success & inspiring too, he diving straight into the studio when he got back to work on Lula (no not Lulu the Scottish born singer, Lula!!), but, once again, we are sworn to secrecy, but this is going to be the collaborative talk of the town soon, so we will let you know as soon as we can. But what we can talk about is his latest compilation, which he also commissioned for As One, his “Barcelona to London” mix dripping with joyous Javier Medina magnificent music, which we love and are sure you will too when you check it out at http://soundcloud.com/javier-medina/frombarcelonatolondon.

Now, due to upsetting circumstances our weekend came to a sudden end after As One, we trading the dancefloor for our duvet, but had we made the fantabulous & fun filled Pooldisco, we would have no doubt savoured the superb sounds of Kris Di Angelis, who has had a magnificent summer with plenty of brilliant developments both in & out of the studio, not only having released his first ever single, but has also landed his first radio show, which he is developing on as we speak, plus he is working on the sound & music programming for this year’s London fashion week which starts next Monday (13th Sept), so very much a man on the up and all from a boy that used to create havoc with us in Rupert Street all those years ago when we were younger. Anyway, back to Pooldisco, and if like us, you missed out on the last party, then why not re-live it through Kris’s compilation mix at http://soundcloud.com/krisdiangelis/pooldisco-volume-3, which has some terrific tracks including “Acapella”, “All the Lovers”, “Keep Me Home” & “Stelify” among others, that is truly refreshing & different to the norm, yet so Pooldisco and we love it!!

Then, of course we missed both DTPM & Orange/Trade where a whole host of D.J.’s were playing to delight, so sifting through who to select here was tough (although Hifi Sean has already had his mention), but we couldn’t pass over both events without including Nick Tcherniak, who, we are reliably informed, stormed DTPM and then had a similar effect at Orange/Trade, no surprise really, as he has been hitting the high notes at both club events for some time and has very much come into his own over the last couple of years, not that life was that tough before. The summer has been really good to Nick, having secured gigs both at home & abroad, his last venture across the seas being to Antwerp’s Red & Blue party, which he has celebrated, along with his appearances over the Bank Holiday back in London, with a special mix simply entitled “Trade, DTPM, Red & Blue In Reverse”, but couldn’t resist laying down a live podcast recording from his set at Orange/Trade too, both available at http://nicktcherniak.podomatic.com/. For us, stand out tracks across the two compilations are Per Q.X’s “Blow My Trumpet” & Rino Cabrera’s “Seize The Night”, although both are littered with amazing Tcherniak & Thomas remixes, the duo that is Nick & Steve also springing up with their single releases “My People” & “Deep Water”, the former having gotten the breathtaking re-work treatment by Alan X and has to be heard to be believed, while “Deep Water” has already been re-worked a few times, on this occasion by Hifi Sean, days before its official release this Friday (10th Sept) and is an equally impeccable interpretation. Now, we will be bringing you separate news of both tracks, plus more excitement in the Tchernaik-Thomas world in forthcoming posts, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

We also missed out on Gonzalo Rivas, who was also reported as taking Orange/Trade by storm, but then it goes without saying that the words, Gonzalo, Orange & Trade are synonymous with each other in so many ways, he having treated us to tons of tremendous times as far back as Turnmills & as recent as Fire, with everything in-between. But, interestingly he also does the business at Beyond and we couldn’t complete our look at our “Bank Holiday Beatmasters” news post without a mention for his specially devoted mix to their “Super Size” event, which is out at http://gonzalorivas.podomatic.com/player/web/2010-08-27T02_45_14-07_00 and we have to say this is very special indeed. Mr Rivas gets you in the dancing mood straight away with Craziba’s “Spinning Around” and then takes you on a magical musical tour not dissimilar to this one, the mix including works from the likes of Roger Sanchez, Ivan Gomez, & Taito Tikaro, he rounding off the 69 minutes of mesmerism with his own Trade remix of the Bills, Hurr & Rivas collaborative smash “Raise Your Hands”. For us this mix represents the Gonzalo flavour of music in full-on finery and why he remains at the top of his game, suuuuperb!!

Now, just a very quick musical mention for fab clubbing website SeenQueen, who have been busy bees like us, serving up well over 14 compilation mixes in the last month alone, many of which are featured here, but of course without our detailed devotions. So, for direct links to artists including Sharon O Love, Jamie Hammond, Dimitry K & Steve Geller, go to http://seenqueen.com/music & click away.

Well, our journey is almost over, but a reminder that we have up-coming news on studio works from Leandro Kloppel, Danny Verde, Eduardo de La Torre & Javier Medina, so watch out for those, plus keep your eyes peeled for Tony English’s podcast release, Pagano’s compilation and those official “Deep Water” remixes on Sorry Shoes recordings. We will also have news on more Gonzalo mixes, including his one dedicated to a Trade's 20th Birthday and talking of birthdays, we kind of come full circle in saying that Brent Nicholls’ latest compilation landed in our lap earlier, this being a devotion to another club’s anniversary, Suzi Kruger’s Hard On!, which celebrates 7 years in existence with a special party on Sat 25th Sept, Mr Nicholls combining classic Hard On! sounds with new beats in this aptly named “Master & Servant” mix which will get fuller exposure closer to the time.

Right, that’s our second DM Does The News done, our next post returning to usual format but with very much an anglo Belgian-French-Spanish feel to it, looking at Ruben Winters in detail, but also shouting out for Andrei 1, Leomeo, Ben Manson, Steven Redant & Ivan Gomez, while the following week we head back to blighty for focuses on Elliot J Brown & Gary H, who have just released new compilations. In the meantime we hope you love our choices here, so as we love to say about our music picks, “sit back, select those sounds, turn up the volume & let them play, as music is the answer”.

xDM