With the days of February coming & going quicker than we could say month 28 times, March is already steaming along at break neck speed, although up to now we have been engrossed in South Africa & Cape Town particularly, plenty of extracurricular duties precluding us from devoting time to our writing duties. Yet as amazing as Cape Town was, there was a force blocking us from getting our writing head on, but as we find ourselves into our second full day back in London and back at our creative best, we thought it high time to come back up to music speed. Indeed, since our last newsletter in January, there is now a mass of music to share, so in this first of three posts, this one aptly called, “Catalogue Of Compilations To Choose”, we cast you back to Jan/Feb releases before forging into the month of March.
So let’s crack on and take you back to Lovechild’s birthday which took place on Sat 12th Feb and brought to the London fore, two Berlin based boys as guest D.J.’s for the night, the first being Chris Bekker , who arrived on a high, as his track “Upgrade” was not only getting loads of dancefloor attention across Europe, but had just been given the remix treatment by Steven Redant & Lenz Garcia, and featured large in his storming set in Fire’s main room that night. With a video trailer well worth a look at http://youtube.com/watch?v=i4jRZzzLkzU, which includes Chris in action at Berlin’s GMF club, a taster & selections of Mr Bekker’s sounds are also available via http://chrisbekker.com and we will be sharing his latest track release details in our forthcoming newsletter, “TrIBIZA” already getting lots of attention. Plus, with it being Chris’ birthday tomorrow (at 19th March), his inclusion here seems all the more approriate, so many happy returns Chris, keep up the magnificent music.
The other Berlin based boy was, of course, Eduardo De La Torre, a face familiar to the London scene, not least as he used to live & work here. Jetting across from his latest home last month saw him mark the occasion with a special compilation release dedicated to Lovechild’s “The Birthday” event, and was definitely, as he explained at the time, “…a taste of what you guys will get on Saturday…” With 56 minutes of Mr De La Torre in terrific tech house & euro beat mood, with lots of vocals to inject the sort of vitality that is stand out in his sets, this marvellous mix that is well worth adding to your collection is still available at http://soundcloud.com/dj-edu-de-la-torre/lovechild-the-second-birthday, while like Chris, we have more music of Edu’s to share in our forthcoming newsletter, so watch out for that.
Just before we head away from Lovechild for this music devotion, another talent that caught our eye & impressed at “The Birthday” event was D.J. Isavin, a Romanian born but now London based boy who was spotted & scouted by the clubs promoter Alex Erfan and who made his mark pretty much immediately, the second Saturday of this February being no exception. With a rousing performance that set the standard for this celebratory event, if you happened to miss out on his superb showing, then you can do no wrong by checking out his specially devoted podcast which is still available at http://isavin.podomatic.com/ and watch this space for a special focus on this talent who will be centre stage in Area for this month’s Lovechild event tomorrow (19th March).
Now, moving on and to a terrific talent who all too often slips under our radar yet, having entertained us enthrallingly for many years now, it’s high time this our “Super Swede” got some attention. Per QX is a name synonymous with the scene in London, not least for being an intrinsic link in the way out & whacky Gutterslut, an East End based club that has his style written all over it. Yet aside from club promoting, there are many strings to Per’s bow, his studio production works one of the strongest, a whole raft of track releases catching our eye, the most notable being “Blow My Trumpet” which made it big last year. However, of the many that have passed our eyes recently, the one that gets a shout here is his remix of Daniel Bovie & Roxy Rox’s “My Destiny”, which gets the Per electro/tech twisted treatment and is featured on his compilation “Only For DJ’s Magazine Mix”, both the track & the mix available by going to http://soundcloud.com/perqx/. But like the trio before, there is more from this pint sized producer coming in our next music delectation, a Gutterslut birthday mix no less.
Now to someone who is from a similar mould to Per, not least as he is also East End based, but another guy that has been entertaining us for years and just last night was an incredible host at the resplendently superb Room Service. But like Mr QX, Mr Di Angelis is just as accomplished in the studio as he is out there promoting on the club scene, promotion which includes Circus & new kid on the block “Meat (excuse the pun), while that recording work includes a long list of original productions, set compilations and remix works that are all fabulously electro tainted house music monsters. However, we particularly like his work with Ben Dobe and their “Making Love” track, a re-work of the Phyllis Nelson classic “Move Closer” & is a corker so well worth a listen at http://soundcloud.com/krisdiangelis/sets in the “original productions” section, while there are plenty more mixes & comps to choose from, all of which will please for sure. Plus, watch this space for news on studio works from Kris in collaboration with the mighty Tom Stephan aka Superchumbo.
Next up is yet another scene favourite that has been rocking our boat for years, from Crash through to Beyond and plenty more in-between, recent showings at clubs like later, Lo-profile and even WE party confirming him as one of those delightful D.J.’s that make it high in our rank of all time greats. Jamie Head certainly knows how to cut a considerable stride in music terms, often nodding to the more experimental sounds that push the boundaries & break from the norm, although his WE party devoted podcast filled our ears in our Euro mini tour prior to heading off to South Africa. However, having completed his first podcast ever, we thought our calls for a follow up would not fall on deaf ears, his cutely called “Tech Head” mix, much more in the Jamie style that makes him a hit in the Terrace room at Beyond and is so deserving of a shout here, it, like the former, having made our collection and should yours too by going to http://soundcloud.com/jamie-head, while for the WE party mix, go get it at http://jamiehead2.podomatic.com.
Now to another Jamie, this time Mr Hammond, who continues to carve his own niche in & around the scene, both in London & internationally, Muccassassina in Rome being a regular port of call away from home. With Monday nighther Popcorn still on his schedule here in the capital, recent shakeup’s at Onyx (many we don’t approve of) have seen him being overlooked, although he always entertained us there and is, for us, a force to be reckoned with. So, given that, its comes as no surprise that we find our way to mention him here and a compilation which was pressed at the end of January and explained as one “…made for my gym workouts…” and is a departure from his usual progressive beats, rather a nod to the matinee style, with vocals & euro beats a-plenty. Aptly titled “Matinee Style House”, this is one that found immediate favour with us and will surely you too, especially given the inclusion of a Madonna remix (no need to hang your head in shame Jamie), so is well worth grabbing at http://d-jamie.podomatic.com/ while is usual style of mix for March is also now out.
Neatly dovetailing in is another talent that features large at Muccassasina yet is a true globe trotter, having spent the last few weeks over in Mexico & the Brazil wowing the audiences there with his barnstorming beats & equally appealing good looks. Danny Verde, has in the twenty four months or so he has been on the international D.J. circuit has certainly made a name for himself and has gained scores of followers, although his true pedigree lies in his studio work, with tracks like “Pushin To The Top”, “Express Yourself”, “Open Your Heart” & “Let Me See Your Underwear” just four of a long list of releases from his hallowed Holab turf, while the odd full compilation here & there helps remind us of just what a talent he is, not to mention a damn good friend too. So, with his latest offering which was made for the club of the same name, “Love In Traffic” showcases many of those tracks we mentioned, plus a new(ish) remix with Hector Fonseca of Katy Perry’s smash “Peacock” and made our iPod playlist as soon as we got drift of this 60 minute marvel, which should be filling yours too by going to http://dannyverde.podomatic.com/, while there is much more to come in our next newsletter as he has been busy on a number of new track projects which we want to share.
Now we just want to rattle off a few brief mentions before we bow out with a biggie and a long overdue podcast producer, but more on that in a min. First let’s give mention to new compilations from German based Aussie Mike Kelly of Sorry Shoes fame, who has laid down three “live” mixes, each with two part’s, so well over 6 hours of music and all done in February too. With Greenkomm, Space Of Sound & NightKomm to choose from, check them all out at http://soundcloud.com/djmikekelly. Then another well known name has been busy compiling too, Rob Sykes having served up three podcasts in just over a week, “Happy Horny Guy”, “Beyond Live” & “Dance And Sing, Get Up And Do Your Thing”, all full of vocal thrillers, while it was his “Let Me Tell You Something Deep” offering that was destined to get the proper mention, as like he explains “…it’s really deep & sexy…” and, yes, we do love it as much as you do Rob, and we are sure you will too, taking your choice of his four at http://djrobsykes.podomatic.com/. Then to complete the trio of short shouts, enter stage left Zach Burns, whom we caught up with briefly before we headed off to South Africa and has been a busy bee with no less than three comps out while we have been away, one his regular monthly edition, while to mark his appearance of The Circuit Party pre-party in Brighton on 1st April, as well as his showing at Lo-Profile on 4th March, there are two others to add to this mention, all three available at http://djburns.podomatic.com/.
Right, well that now just leaves us with our final and very special entrant, one we have been itching to include for a while, Gaydar’s own Phil Marriott having been the lynch pin in our Friday frolics down at Profile for much of last year, while its all change this, perhaps giving him the nudge he needed to get those podcasts recorded. That said, it seems, unbeknownst to us, he did record one back in September last year for Onyx, another club he has played for away from the radio. However, it is this year we are concentrating on and one which for our Mr Phil is full of change & promise, gigs at both gay & straight venue’s keeping his live performances fresh, while the is exciting news on the ClubNation front, a live house music mix show he used to beam live from Profile each Friday, but gets a brand new look from tonight (Fri 19th March). But we digress from this equally exciting podcast news, his February offering posted while we were away sunning ourselves, yet is equally as sunny in its make-up with some scorching sounds, not least the Bills & Hurr Mix of Erick Morillio’s “Live Your Life”, Roger Sanchez’s “2gether” which is given the Pitron & Sanna mix treatment, as well as the Alesso mix of Therese’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot”, three smoulders in amongst 13 tip top tracks in a collection worthy of yours and available at http://djphilmarriott.podomatic.com/. Now, Mr Marriott is a busy bee right now with this new ClubNation show, but has promised us a full up-date and maybe a trip down to Gaydar Towers to see it all in action, so we will bring you news of that as soon as.
So, that kind of begins to fill the February gap of music left in our wake while we swanned around in South Africa, although there is much more to come to get us & you right up to date, not least new compilation releases from the mighty Steve Pitron & Brent Nicholls, along with inclusions for Hifi Sean, Alan X & Jonny M. Plus, with devotions to works from Spaniards Javier Medina & Ivan Gomez, as well as step re-traces on Mike Kelly & Danny Verde and special inclusions for Leomeo & Guy Scheiman, we aiming to bring you all this & more within the next day or so, in what will be the second of three newsletters this month, this upcoming one entitled “March Wind Of Wonderful Music”. And don’t forget that both Chris Bekker & Eduardo De La Torre will get a further shout, planned for our third newsletter, “Three’s Company”, later this month.
However, in the meantime, to get a taster of what is to come, you can always pop across to our friends SeenQueen who have recently updated their music list to include some of the above and a few others too. Plus, with a music links page that reads like a gay scene D.J. who’s who, as well as their very own top 10 jukebox, you can do no wrong by going to http://seenqueen.com/web/music/.
We finish by mentioning, not unashamedly for the first time, a track that saw us on our wending way to Heathrow for our trip to South Africa, having featured large across that departing weekend, not least at Beyond, which, courtesy of a stellar set from Steve Pitron, also sent us on our happy way, we declaring at the time that the truly brilliant Lizzat & Voltaxx remix of the classic “Now Or Never” was the official new Doing The Disco Matt” theme tune. And we also promised a new DM video viral, which we aim to get recorded when our video editor returns from Canada, although in the meantime cannot resist sharing Tom Novy’s video link again, which we never fail to enjoy and hope you do to by going to ! http://youtube.com/watch?v=yFmvB13R_Jc.
So, that’s its, 12 artist inclusions and well over 20 track & mix link mentions that make up this our “Catalogue of Compilations To Choose”, so we hope you dig our choices here, leaving us to say, “sit, back, select those sounds, turn up the volume and let them play as Music Is The Answer”. (DISCO MATT)