Posts Tagged ‘Guy Scheiman’
May 14, 2013 | 
Author Back into music mode, we kick off by selecting our latest podcast & track of the week choices, Done & Dusted’s compilation & a brilliant Verde, Redant & Scheiman collaboration our choices, download/stream links, respective banner clicks in our adjacent music section or by image clicks below, while we delve into the detail of these dance delectations beneath.
Having been out of action for a while, a good three months to be exact, it’s a great feeling to be back into music mode once again & picking our podcast & track of the week selections, our podcast pick a hot off the production press compilation, while our track choice is one that was released a couple of months ago, but has been on our musical radar since. And with download/stream links to both within the “Podcast of The Week” & “Track of The Week” rotational banner clicks away in our adjacent music section, we also share these links within the large images below, while also digging a little deeper into the detail on the producers & their prolific productions.
So to our “Podcast of The Week” choice first and to a duo new to our music selections, Done & Dusted having original formed back in 2010 as Dun & Dusted, this D.J. duo, brothers Simon & Louis Lennon, their “Summer Tech Part 1” podcast published under the “Audio Orgy” musical network in July last year, on the back of a handful of appearances at Ministry of Sound for the clubs “Above & Beyond” branded parties. However, with the brothers heading in different musical directions, we fast forward to 2013, where we find the re-formed & tweaked Done & Dusted duo, Louis Lennon joining forces with experienced & scene favourite Alan X, they quickly scoring a number of guest slot gigs across London, including at The Eagle in Vauxhall, a residency for the manly Thursday night meet, Butch, at East Bloc in Shoreditch & a Friday slot at Soho’s Manbar, while they also played their part in the successful launch of new collaborative clubbing collective, This Is Prohibition in February. Indeed, it seems they very much hit the ground running, as the spring has already seen them jet out to Copenhagen to play at the popular “Bearserk” event, while they also starred at the Summer Rites pre-party at Heaven back here in London the previous weekend. But this coming Bank Holiday Sunday (26th May) will mark Done & Dusted’s biggest gig yet, as they will feature in the massive As One In The Park festival, they representing brand Bearracuda in what looks like being THE gathering of the year so far, a real coup for both Alan & Louis who we now are really excited about being involved.
But it’s Done & Dusted’s first podcast that we are concentrating on here, the blend on sound styles between Alan & Louis working like a dream, the digital intro setting the scene for an upbeat funky & tech infused set of sounds that got our feet well & truly tapping from the off, Alan’s sneaky vocal injections adding brilliantly to the high octane pace of the track selections. Indeed, it seems that this is a duo match made in heaven as, unlike a few playing partnerships we could mention, the switching between the two is pretty much seamless, they clearly having put a huge amount of hard work into choosing the tracks that have resulted in one of the most compelling compilations we have heard in a long time. And while we don’t benefit from a full podcast playlist, our attention is grabbed along the way by a smattering of familiar tunes, some classics remixed, while it’s the pace of the beats, those vocal infusions & the quality of the production that ultimately kept us hooked from minute one to sixty seven and will surely you too when you head to http://audio-orgy.com/ & hit the download button, while you can stream the mix via http://mixcloud.com/donedusted50 and also subscribe to this & forthcoming mixes by heading to the iTunes link at http://tinyurl.com/2w9algh. Plus, if this magnificent mix is a barometer for Alan & Louis’s live performances, then we will definitely be hunting a gig of theirs down when we are fully back on our feet, while we are sure they will go down a storm in Victoria Park at the end of the month, so wish them well with that, a reminder that you can keep track of all of Done & Dusted’s productions, gigs & activity by liking their page at http://www.facebook.com/djdonendusted.
Onwards to our “Track of The Week” and while, as we mentioned earlier, this a release from two months ago, having made such a splash when it hit the airwaves, we have had it on our radar & list since, it beating off a considerable amount of competition to make it to our first full-blown featured “Track of The Week” slot since February. And it is fully deserved on a number of fronts, first & foremost that our particular choice brings together three D.J./Producers (known here as the Bent Collective) that are not just good friends of ours, but are, in the case of Danny Verde & Steven Redant, huge stars across the global clubbing circuit, Danny particularly having gone meteoric in the last couple of years, having made it big in The States, Canada & the rest of the America’s as well as Europe & Asia, while Mr Redant’s jet setting D.J.’ing life continues unabated, he bouncing from one continent to another with relentless regularity. And the third man in the Bet Collective equation, Guy Scheiman, is very much now following in their footsteps, a pretty prolific 2013 seeing him score no less than eight European gigs so far, with much more to come, no mean feat when you realise he is based in Israel.
So, joining forces for this first track project seems to fit & sit well, while in this collaborative track production, Danny, Steven & Guy couldn’t have chosen two more prominent names on the music scene to employ their remixing skills, Avicii having hit the big time with his massive smash, “Levels”, since carving out an impressive D.J.’ing & producing career in the global spotlight, while Nicky Romero is a name synonymous with chart topping track production & remixing, he also having worked with the likes of Freddie Le Grand, David Guetta & Calvin Harris and has a discography extending to well over 50 official releases. And with these two huge names on the scene having combined forces on the track smash “I Could Be the One”, in original mix form here,
given its chart topping status in both the UK & the US among other countries along with its production quality, this terrific track was ripe for remixing, three official re-works having been accredited since the original’s release on Boxing Day, the Bent Collective our choice pick, not least as of all the three, it has the best dancefloor credibility, perhaps reflected in just how quickly it raced up the download charts when it hit the ground running in March Plus, what it reflects in its production & sound, is the style of all three contributors combined, definite flecks of Danny Verde in the beats & twisting of the vocals, while the euphoric undertones that then explode into intermixed tech tones throughout the rest of the re-work are symptomatic of both Steven Redant’s & Guy Scheiman’s styles of sound. So, all in all its an amazingly accomplished addition to the “I Could Be The One” track collection, we even preferring the boy’s video
while for further snippet streams you can head to https://soundcloud.com/dannyverde/avicii-vs-nicky-romero-i-could &/or https://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/avichii-vs-nicky-romero-1i, the official release & download options can be found by going to this Beatport link at http://.beatport.com/search?query=Avicii+vs+Nicky+Romero+I+Could+Be+The+One+Bent+Collective+Remix.
So, that’ it for our weekly choices but, with our eye firmly on catching up on the couple of months missed, plus having updated our website podcast & tracks section(s) with our pick of the best & latest releases, watch this space for the next volume in our 2013 music newsletters, “Podcast Picks & Tracks In the Mix” coming up next, while in Done & Dusted, Danny Verde, Steven Redant & Guy Scheiman, we have five terrific talents who, through these prolific productions, prove that “Music Is The Answer”. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music | 
Tags: Alan X, Avicii, Bent Collective, Danny Verde, Done & Dusted, Guy Scheiman, Loius Lennon, Nicky Romero, Steven Redant | 
No Comments »
Having christened our continental clubbing cavorting in the capitals closest channel divided country, it was inevitable that we would return to picturesque Paris, this time to succumb to the splendour of Scream in the hands of our impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman & his spectacular sounds, but what made this peach of a Parisian party so special? And will we be back to scoop a second Scream serving soon?
From the very first moment that we stepped foot in the French capital we fell in love with the city & its considerable charms, Paris oozing style, sophistication through its amazing architecture that sets it aside from any other city we have visited in the world and having visited now a good half a dozen times, there is something quite special about each & every arrival, we discovering a breathtakingly beautiful site or landmark that only serves to heighten our love affair for Paris & Parisians even more. Yet, while we wouldn’t rank it as our favourite city in the world, Cape Town clutching that crown, with Barcelona a close second & Berlin a brilliant third, Paris is right up there in our top ten destinations, meaning we are always excited about returning. And, the undeniable beauty of the city apart, there is plenty to keep us occupied on the city’s gay scene, Paris boasting well over 300 bars, businesses, restaurants, recreational retreats, shops, and, of course clubs, a little known (or should we say overlooked) fact to many Parisians & visitors, long time residents of the city always talking about the good old days when world renowned venues such as Queen & Le Rive Gauche attracted the best in the business, David Guetta among many others having cut his D.J.’ing teeth here. But while the 70’s 80’s & 90’s were special times for Paris, a slump in the new millennium seeing the scene go through the mill, when we compare the Le Marias of today with its London equivalent, Soho, this charming Parisian quarter is streets ahead, the choice of eateries & watering holes plentiful, while the new(ish) Spyce currently ranks as our favourite bar brand outside of South Africa.
Moving to clubbing and Paris was the first destination on continental Europe that we hit the dancefloor, although with Spirit Of Star’s “Pool Party”, it wasn’t quite so much of a dancefloor, more a beach, while the after-party was much more Parisian both in style & sumptuousness, our visit with D.J./producer pal Javier Medina one that will live in our memory banks. However, with the exception of just a small handful, the rich clubbing pickings in Paris remain a little lame compared to Barcelona and here in London, although with LAB & Revolution, plus the twice yearly Matinee La-Leche parties helping to put the French capital back on the international map and contributing towards the general resurgence in the scene. But there is one club that continues to go about its business in a brilliant way, packing in the punters each & every Saturday, attracting the cream of the international D.J. scene, recent names in the D.J. booth frames including Juanjo Martin, Pagano, Steven Redant, Danny Verde, Tom Stephan (aka Superchumbo), Nacho Chapado & Chris Bekker, while Paris based Ben Manson also features reasonably regularly, hosting his LAB parties here. So where are we talking about?, well Scream of course, Paris’s longest running gay weekender that packs as powerful a partying punch today as it did when it launched back in 1996, its three rooms as dynamically diverse as any across Europe, perhaps even eclipsing the likes of La Demence at Fuse & Muccassassina in Rome, while it already outstrips in years, any current club running in London by a country mile, elevating it to our list of all-time greats, joining the distinguished company of the two already mentioned, as well as Antwerp’s Red & Blue, Barcelona’s Salvation, Cape Town’s The Bronx, Johannesburg’s Decadence and London’s Trade, DTPM & Factor 25.
What is surprising however, is that until this weekend, we had never set foot in Scream, it clear that we needed to make speedy amends for this outrageous oversight, while having seen the likes of Paul Heron, Pagano & our very good friend Danny Verde make it across during 2012, we should have made it earlier than this at least. However, after what had been a truly dreadful year for us on many fronts, we were determined to make amends in 2013 and with the news that another great friend, impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman, would not only be playing at Scream on this first Saturday in January, but would be celebrating his birthday, we simply couldn’t say no, booking our tickets well in advance. And while we had it in the back of our minds that the weekend after the New Year may not be the best choice, we couldn’t contain our excitement in savouring the spectacular Scream as well as our beloved Paris, the opportunity to see the city as dusk turned to dark, as enthralling as our club cavorting. So, with a mid morning Eurostar to the French capital, it was just after lunch when we arrived, having been in text touch with Guy on route, so pre-arranging a liaison at his hotel in Republique, and being now pretty much proficient with the Paris Metro, we emerged within ten minutes, while our usual good bearings, which for some unknown reason go array in Paris, meant it was nearly an hour before we found his hotel.
Keen to do some sightseeing, Guy’s preference was lunch in Le Marais, another bearing losing calamity, although with a mini meal done & Guy back in his hotel we were set free to roam Le Bastille, Champs Elysees & the Eifel Tower ahead of dinner and then the main event itself and what we had really come for, the superb Scream. With head Scream cheese Ludo picking us up from the hotel at not long before midnight, it was just a short walk before we were inside the club, a massive expanse of an outside smoking area which, when the weather is warm, must be a real bonus for the club, we winding down the stylish stairs and into the main room which was already alight with action. Being our first time, we were keen to get of bearings, but first followed Guy to the D.J. booth where Scream resident Tommy Marcus was in charge of the tunes, his uplifting, chunky & vocal house going down a storm with the packed main room revellers, it quickly apparent that, even the weekend after New Year couldn’t dampen the Parisian penchant for a party. With refreshments in mind, we headed to the bar and to the bevy of beautiful boys, Ludo being the perfect host, while we couldn’t help our eyes diverting to the video screens and the flashing up of our PPP’s image, Zach Burn’s the following weekend’s guest D.J. for one of a handful of Scream themed parties, this one entitled “London’s Burning”.
But it was this week we were concentrating on and as Guy prepared for his set, we took a further quick tour of the two other rooms, the play area a brief visit, while the pop music second space saw us lingering a little longer, while the inevitable draw of the main room was never far from our mind, as we made our way back to the side of our fabulous friend & impressive Israeli Mr Scheiman, who was already well into his set stride. Indeed after the specially prepared intro track, along with some uplifting vocal productions of his, the packed out place & party goers were responding to his renditions with real gusto, a pair a scantily clad youngsters even braving the stage in front of us and entertaining us to a podium performance to be proud of. However, we were keen not only to give Guy some space, but to get a feel of the main room atmosphere from different directions, so retreated towards the rear, only to be surprised by a flock of fabulous friends with whom we had celebrated ringing in the New year just a few days ago, they seemingly as surprised to see us as we were them. Now we were into our stride, soaking up the superb set from the star of the show, we shunning the fatigue of having been on our feet for well over fourteen hours without sleep, rather soaking up each & every scrap of splendour that Scream was sporting, the night slipping into dawn before we knew it & the early Eurostar return to London on the sunrise horizon. However, with a spurious security check while we took a moments rest over and a scare with our temporarily missing phone resolved, we were determined to dance the last few moments of our stay at Scream out to the full, Guy still in pole playing position with a pitch perfect performance that even resident D.J. Tommy Marcus remarked to us, hit the mark magnificently, it was a wrench that we had to say our farewells, although time was calling & the clock was ticking on this peach of a Parisian party, we wending our reluctant way back to gare du nord & a re-liaison with London.
So what made Scream so special, would we make a return and what of the headline D.J. act performance? Well, to Scream first and, having visited many venues both in London & worldwide, we can say with qualification that Scream & it’s home is now among our favourites on the continent ranking right up there with Muccassassina, Red & Blue & La Demence, both the layout & the varied choice making it truly enticing, while the crowd on our visit was one of the friendliest we have seen, none of the pushing & shoving that seems to plague many of London’s big equivalently sized clubs & events. And when you look at some of the names the club attracts, Danny Verde, Pagano, Paul Heron, Tom Stephan, Nacho Chapado, Steven Redant, & Phil Romano to mention just a few, Scream can surely claim to be truly international both in reputation & stature, while Ludo, Tristan & the team are also keen to nurture lesser known talents, London based Zach Burns one such example, affirming its status as a club that gives its clubbers & fervent followers musical variety week in week out rather than the same old same old drudgery that we have to put up with in the clubs of a certain capital based clubbing organisation. So, for all these reasons, it pretty much goes without saying that a return to Scream is definitely on the cards and given the superb set from Guy Scheiman tonight, it would seem to be the same for him, certainly if the feedback from both the team & the responses from the party goers have anything to do with it, we sure that Guy will leap at the opportunity and one he richly deserves. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Reviews | Tags: Guy Scheiman, Ludo Scream, Scream, Spyce Bar, Tommy Marcus | No Comments »
With 2013 having already seen impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman make his mark across Europe with appearances in Paris, Brussels, Nice, Hamburg & Prague, ahead of his next headlining gig at Red & Blue in Antwerp, we look at the rise & rise of this Tel Aviv based D.J./Producer as well as propelling his latest track & podcast productions.
In the fiercely competitive world that is the D.J. clubbing circuit, it has always proven extremely difficult for budding new talent to break into the big time, many of the world’s bigger clubs continuing to rely on established & experienced residents, London having been a perfect example of this in recent times, even those based on the major clubs doorsteps not getting a look in. So when you consider all this amidst the European aspirations of an individual that is some 2000 kilometres away in the Middle East, the task to break out into the circuit becomes all the more difficult, but, in impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman, we have an individual whose determination to make his mark in Europe knows no bounds and over the last couple of years, through that dynamic drive & determination, he has built up contacts across the European continent & here in London that has, in turn, produced an increasing amount of bookings. And all of Guy’s hard work has certainly bourn considerable fruit this year so far, we having been right by his side in & witnessing a prolific set performance at Paris’s Scream in January, he quickly following that with a gig in the U.K. for brand Bearotica, February seeing him play for another manly meet, Hunkut in Brussels, while he can also boast Nice & MaDgiC, as well as Hamburg’s Pulse club and the infamous “OMG” party in Prague in March within his playing schedule so far this year, all this ahead of his latest European appearance tonight (Sat 11th May) at Red & Blue in Antwerp.
So, 2013 has certainly started well for Guy, this very much building on a brace of showings right here in London last year for club brands Lovechild & Hustlaball which really got him noticed & for whom he remains connected. Yet, while there is little doubt that, particularly with Hustlaball, a club known worldwide, has propelled Mr Scheiman into the eyes of European promoters, it is his music & his productions that have spoken & continue to speak the loudest of volumes in this respect, he having built up a solid reputation for remixing tracks of some of the biggest pop stars on the globe, including Madonna, Rihanna, Kylie Minogue & Britney Spears, while more recent productions have included works from Alexis Jordon, Avicii & Will I Am. Indeed it was the latter’s track, re-work, the hit “Scream & Shout” with Britney Spears that Guy used to open his set at Scream in Paris (appropriate or what?!), while his interpretation of the Avicii vs. Nicky Romero smash “I Could Be The One” was produced in conjunction with Guy’s compatriot D.J/Producer stars Danny Verde & Steven Redant and, having scored significant successes in a number of well known music sites, is destined for huge heights we are sure. But, Guy’s track production repertoire extends so much further, a whole host of bootlegs along with commissioned works for record labels including Universal, Atlantic & Epic records filling his discography, a trip & skip through https://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman opening up an impressive array of his prolific productions, The Scissor Sisters, The Saturday’s, Beyonce, & Ellie Goulding all in there, along with a handful of his own tracks too, the most prominent with vocalist Peyton, Guy’s studio production output among the most impressive we have seen.
Therefore, you would think he hardly has time to compile podcasts, but there you would be wrong, because between his Soundcloud site & his Podomatic page, this tremendous talent from Tel Aviv has produced no less than seven full length compilations in the last twelve months, including one for Gusman magazine, as well as three others marking his tours of Brazil & Spain last year, two destinations he already has in his diary for 2013. But it is his latest podcast that gets our detailed attention, as it comes from one of a handful of gigs he is re-developing into his schedule back home in Israel, his live performance at Tel Aviv’s Apollo club caught in a massive 2 ½ hour podcast that is packed with many of the productions we have mentioned earlier, the compilation taking you on a jovial jamboree of a journey through vocal tracks & more progressive pulses that very much reflects Guy’s genre style & performances, it also reminding us of his superb set at Scream back in January, so is definitely one for your collection by going to http://djguyscheiman.podomatic.com/ & clicking on the download link. That said, with a tenfold output of tracks, inevitably we are led back to what Guy would admit, apart from his desires to play live across Europe, is his biggest musical love, his track productions, our choice pick going to that Avicii vs. Nicky Romero “Bent Collective” remix collaboration with Danny Verde & Steven Redant, out via https://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/avichii-vs-nicky-romero-1i, one which looks set to be our track of the week this week, this version right up there with the original, so another must for your collection.
Back to Guy’s gigs and with those tours of Brazil & Spain on the 2013 horizon, plus with his name & reputation beginning to spread across Europe, tonight’s Red & Blue appearance sure to boost & propel his name even more, it seems that Guy is well on the road to achieve his aims & ambitions to make D.J.’ing his full time vocation, the nest big step being the leap towards basing himself here. So, we wish him well with all his endeavours and, given the opportunity, will hopefully once again be right by his side, soon, just as we were during that prolific Scream performance in January, as in Guy’s hands, “Music Is The Answer!”. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music | Tags: Apollo, Bearotica, Guy Scheiman, Hunkut, Hustlaball, Lovechild, Pulse, Red & Blue, Scream | No Comments »
Having propelled podcasts in the primary in volume one, it’s the turn of tracks in this our next music newsletter of 2013, we picking out the producers we promote right here on our website, looking through their recent productions & picking out our highlights, while podcasts get a little look in too.
After a couple of false starts towards the end of last year, we are filled with a huge sense of relief that the clouds that hung over us in 2012are lifting, along with the braking of certain shackles that were all too often dominating our lives, we very much finding ourselves back in the writing grove and feeling great for it. So while we sit on our sofa nursing our first (hopefully only) injury of 2013, the order that has seemingly returned means that we are in action stations mode to propel the prolific track producers that gain our support right here on our website. And what a spectacular six they are, all star players on the global clubbing circuit and whose tracks & productions are, in our books, right up there with the best in the business, meaning it is with complete & utter joy that we will be sharing with you, snippets of their biog’s and discog’s and then selecting our tip top tracks with links to official download pages & video clips. But this second volume in our 2013 music newsletter series is not entirely about the towering track producers, we finding room for a couple of podcast mentions, while also propelling a new(ish) production that we have been itching to share for a few weeks now.
So let’s get down to business and to the first of our spectacular six, a man whose work we have been following for over five years now and someone we are privileged to call a great friend, Danny Verde having exploded onto the international D.J.’ing stage in 2009 after building the solid foundation that is his track recordings, the hallowed Holab Studio turf that is his home, this marvellous Milano man having been in the music making business since 1994. His early years saw him make his mark in Italy, while in track terms, his big international break was the release of “Pushin To The Top” in 2008, this pretty much opening a floodgate to remix opportunities that have since seen him work on productions for Lady Ga-Ga, Cyndi Lauper, Kelly Rowland &, most recently, The Scissor Sisters & Mariah Carey. But setting his studio work aside for a moment, Danny’s D.J.’ing strides have been pretty huge in the last three to four years, very much propelling him to the top of his game, Europe, The America’s & Australasia his prolific playing field, he having cracked the US nut a couple of years ago and hasn’t really looked back. And you just have to look at the schedule he is about to embark on, to see that Danny is a gig globetrotting giant, The Atlantis Cruise seeing him sail the Caribbean in just four days time, this followed by Mardi Gras in Sydney, then Moscow, Palm Springs, Bangkok, Paris & Dallas, while Mexico & Brazil are regular & rich playing fields for Mr Verde, his trips to the UK sadly pretty seldom, although we did manage to spend a wonderful short weekend with him in Brighton last September.
So to those tracks and if there was ever a production that shouts Danny Verde it is “Pushin To The Top”, while his other fully fledged single “Express Yourself” has, perhaps, enjoyed much more exposure both across the worlds dancefloors and on the international radio airwaves, while a third track, our favourite of the three, “Open Your Heart” is one that has dipped under the popular radar a little, not quite emulating the success of the other two, but is an equally good example of Danny’s talent for turning out a tip top track. However, it is his remix productions that have been pushed to prominence, a veritable feast of beauties in his beats batch, many holding magical memories for us, his incredible interpretation of Blake Lewis’s “Till We See The Sun” reminding us of a brilliant last trip to Berlin, while his re-work of Ellie Goulding’s “Starry Eyed” is us on our Beyond spot through & through. Then there is Lady Ga-Ga’s “You & I” which recalls the fabulous Friday we spent by Danny’s side at Muccassassina in Rome, while his nifty work on Neon Hitch’s “Fuck U Better” not only links us with racing around London’s roads, but made it safely into our top 40 track chart of 2012, beating off plenty of stiff competition others in the process. However, while Danny has amassed no less than six official remixes in the last year alone, all which you can preview via https://soundcloud.com/holabstudio, some also up on his Beatport page at http://beatport.com/artist/danny-verde/70306, if we were pushed to pick a favourite of his many marvellous mixes, it probably has to be Danny’s remix of the Pagano & Wayne G track “Trapped” featuring the vocals of Peyton, one which this incredible vocalist would, we expect, rank as an all-tile anthem, as we do.
To the second of our spectacular six and the superb Guy Scheiman, another prolific producer that we have befriended in recent years, just three weekends ago helping him celebrate his birthday in Paris, that same weekend witnessing a truly scintillating set of his at Scream, while the memories of the terrific time we had together at Delice Dream a couple of years ago will live with us forever. But there have been opportunities missed, Guy’s part of the Hustlaball London playing package in 2011 one example, we having been laid up in hospital while just this weekend, we could have been with him in Bristol but for yet another injury. And we have to grab these chances swiftly, as his Tel Aviv base means this impressionable Israeli rarely makes trips to The U.K., while Germany, Spain & soon to be a tour of Mexico are destinations you will find the genial Guy when away from home. However, home is where Mr Scheiman is at his most productive, devoting much of his spare time to his studio sessions, while the clubbing scene in his own backyard has been familiar territory for many years, guest slots come residencies at the likes of Penguin, Supermarket, Oman 17 and Cat & Dog are all part of his playing portfolio, while his insatiable desire to carve out a career behind the decks oozes from every pour.
However, there can be no doubt that his absolute passion for amazing music runs through his veins, not a day going by without him delving deep into the bowels of Beatport & other such sources, this then flowing his creative juices & his powerful intellect pumping, tuning him into potential mix/remix projects, one after the next. Indeed, looking through Mr Scheiman’s studio work in just the last twelve months, we count a stunningly staggering twenty four track productions, a mixture of official, unofficial & bootleg releases, but a figure that is quite phenomenal when you consider Guy also holds down a full time job in sports physiotherapy. Therefore, finding a favourite is a taxing task, the choices extending to artist that include Anjulie, The Saturdays, Ciara, Ellie Goulding, Kazaky, Katy Perry, Doxi Jones, & Beyonce, while his official remix of The Scissor Sisters track “Only The Horses” probably tops this particular pile for us. But Guy also produces his own tracks too, two notable successes being “My Life” & “Ibiza Trip”, both finding favour internationally, while he has charted collaborations too, most recently with performing artist & vocalist, Peyton, the result the rapturous “Reach Out” which is, even more than The Scissor Sisters snippet, knocking on our number one Guy track door. So, with so many to choose from you can see our towering task, one which we have, once again, enjoyed being engrossed in, a terrific trip you can too take by heading to https://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman, while that top of the tree track belongs to his resplendent vocal remix of Flo Ride’s “Wild Ones” featuring the vivacious voice of Sia, one officially released on Atlantic Records, one which we share in full video glory beneath, while, to add it to your collection head to https://itunes.apple.com/album/wild-ones-guy-scheiman-vocal/id500366574?i=500366580&affId=1590916&ign-mpt=uo%3D5
To a podcast mention now and our attempt to draw a line under 2012 once and for all has been fabulously thwarted by Brent Nicholls who has shared his picks of the year, a brilliant blend of the genres Brent lists as “…commercial tracks, dirty tunes, old school flavours, remixes, covers, pumping & jumping…” no less than 34 tracks that make this three hour compilation one that offers something for everyone and everything for someone, download/stream options a click away at http://djbrentnicholls.com/web/2013/01/23/mmxii/.
Right back to our track producers and to Javier Medina, the next in our spectacular six, he like the two before him, despite the distance between us, having become a close companion, over three or so years this partly due to the fact that we share a fellow friendship in Leomeo Carandang. but moreover through the support we afforded him from when we started following his music making back in 2009. And while we cannot in any way take the plaudits for propelling him into the path of Alex Erfan who brought Javier across from his Barcelona base to London to star in both As One & Lovechild parties, we reckon our music features & podcast promotions helped in some way. That said, Mr Medina up until this time had made his wonderful way around Europe & across to Australia, that on top of regular residencies back home for Dboy & Devotion. However, without question, his biggest break in a long & hard working career in music, has been his marriage with Matinee, one that now sees Mr Medina as a prominent part of a world tour team that includes Taito Tikaro & J Louis, trips to Miami, New York, across Europe and also here in London have undoubtedly increased his playing profile, we making the most of the brief catch up back in the summer. And while we will be missing out on his headlining appearance for Matinee “Pervert” this coming Saturday, as we are away in Antwerp, we have no doubt he will make his magnificent mark, his influential involvement in the brand, to our mind, having contributed to s shift in musical genre & style.
However, all that said, Javier’s studio work spans his career as much and with the recent formation of Classroom Records plays a significant part in Javier’s day to day life, an independent dance music label which he formed with fellow Spaniard & D.J. Jorge Soüst, both individuals sharing the ethos of the label which they describe as one born out of “…more than 10 intense years of experience behind the desks, in which we have developed our own concept about music, beyond the ideas and limitations pre-established in each moment of our professional careers, allowing us to synchronize both biorhythms in a constantly evolutionary state…”, adding of the label’s aims which are to “…keep on exploring & experimenting, to show the world our own vision of the current clubbing scene…”. And since its birth in February and formal launch in May, Classroom Records has released five tracks, each with a variant of remixes, productions extending to Oscar De Gala’s “Mechanish” & Marc Galindo’s “Space Invaders” while both Javier & Jorge have produced one each, “Hole In My Bed” and “Gypsy Clap” while the latest is a Sebastian Manuel & Hony Dijon recording, “The Age Of Communication” doing great guns, not least that it featured on the front page of download site Beatport’s house genre section, no doubt propelling Classroom Records as a label to a wonderfully wide audience. Yet with the tracks firmly in the tech to techno bracket, with our aging tastes, they are not really our bag, while you can soak up all their splendour by heading to https://soundcloud.com/classroom-records while for our tip top Javier track we go on a nostalgic trip, finding the delightful “Nirvana Dream”, a joint production with Mr Medina’s & our Parisian pal, Leomeo.
Onto fabulous number four of our spectacular six and a fellow resident of Barcelona who too manages his own record label jointly with Nacho Chapado, the label in question being Guareber Recordings and the man of the moment, Ivan Gomez, a D.J./Producer of profound proficiency who has been treading the live set & studio boards for over fifteen years now, in that time amassing an array of club residencies & guest slots right across his home country & the whole continent. With appearances here in London for the huge LGDF Festival & at Beyond, memorable moments for us, Ivan follows a feverish schedule that still sees him continue to party in Portugal, spin in Spain & impress in Italy, while continental switches also see’s Mexico a dynamic destination for him. However, hoveringly in recent years, the studio has taken up more & more of his time, Ivan’s passion for production evident in the output which never fails to impress, while the Spanish spirit that is his every heart beat shows through in his music making magnificently, the genre blend come hopping that includes tech, progressive, tribal, minimal & underground, occasionally tinged with uplifting vocals, also mirroring in his live set performances. Add to all that, when you see the vast array of artists works he has remixed & D.J.’s he has covered, Peter Rauhofer, Offer Nissim, Mike Kelly & Pagano just four examples and labels that have carried his work including Star69, Twisted USA, Matinee Recordings, & Sorry Shoes, Mr Gomez’s considerable credentials cannot be denied, rather celebrated.
So to the Gomez studio of productions we go, first taking a quick look at a just one of many notable achievements, he having as recently as 2011, achieved a number one on the prestigious Billboard list in The States with his remix of Yoko Ono’s “Ono Move On Fast”, while heading for that outstanding output we deluded to just now, we find a Soundcloud site packed with no less than seventy two productions in the last twelve months alone, a truly phenomenal number in some ways difficult to comprehend as that means, on average, he has produced a track or podcast every five days of the year. So picking out highlights from all these is pretty mind boggling, we concentrating here in Ivan’s own tracks for the first, which include “Funkagain”, “Your Love”, “Get Well”, “The Rhythm”, the interestingly titled “Cada Die At 5am”, “La Musika”, “Somebody 2 Love” and “2 The Sky”, while “You Drive Me Crazy” definitely floats our beats boat the most. As for of the many he has remixed with Nacho Chapado (and there are a lot), Offer Nissam’s “I’m In Love” is close to the top of our list, although we head slightly further back into 2012 to fall on The Free Radicals Formation, a trio that is actually Ivan, Nacho & close friend & fellow producer, Fran Ramirez, their towering track “World” without doubt top of our tree. But with so many other’s to choose from, the Ivan Gomez world is your oyster at https://soundcloud.com/ivangomezmusic, while his Beatport page at http://beatport.com/artist/ivan-gomez/70053 is a great nitro for the uninitiated, we that fave our ours, “World”, in Fran Ramirez radical mix form, right here.
To that track mention we have be itching to share, it coming from London producer Matt Kotchi, who has worked with fellow friends & other seasoned scene faces Rich B & Chrissy Darling, he an east end exponent, circulating clubs such as “Songs Of Praise” & “SOS”, while his latest release, “Play Our Music” is the one that gets the DM mini mention, hitting on https://soundcloud.com/matt-kootchi/matt-kootchi-ft-martin-kirley serving up a short teaser, while a search on iTunes & Beatport will find official downloads via Toolroom records.
Onwards to our fantastic fifth of six producers focuses and we find Taito Tikaro occupying a spot that is richly deserved solely on the strength of the phenomenal productions that well & truly rocked our world in 2012, a string of hits that have not only, each & every one, made it into out Y.E. top 40 chart, secured ninth with “My World”, this amidst one of the closest top ten’s in our chart history. However, virtually from nowhere in November came his huge & heavenly remix of DHP’s “Not Alone” with studio recording partner Flavio Zarza, it claiming number one spot ahead of, what was till then, an almost certainty in Rony Seikaly’s “Take Me Higher”. But we digress as there has been so much more to Taito’s year & indeed career, he a major torre de force in the Matinee package, probably their biggest resident D.J. in terms of stature and has played for the brand for close on ten years, not only playing a major role in this Spanish super clubs world tour, but, during the summer season, performs regularly at Amnesia in Ibiza, L ‘Atlàntida in Sitges, DMIX & Le Madame, as well as all the major Matinee parties in its base in Barcelona, including the massive Circuit Festival every August. But Matinee aside, the list of clubs Taito has played reads like a who’s who of clubbing, Rome’s Muccassassina Haoman 17 in Tel Aviv, The Week in Brazil, Paris’s ShowCase, Space in both Ibiza & Miami, Madrid’s Space of Sound and Space both in Ibiza & Miami, while we can never really escape his Matinee connections, global destinations he has travelled & played for the brand over the years including in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, Paris Amsterdam and, of course here in the capital, where, in the heady days of the Matinee London between 2006 &10, he starred The Collosseum & at Cable.
But it’s his studio work that we focus on here, as his production list is substantial to say the least and the labels he has recorded for just as impressive, major ones including Spinnin Records, Tommyboy, Gusto Records, Armada Music, Juicy Music & naturally Matinee Records, Taito describing his style of sound as “…hybrid, merging different styles to create a very personal overall genre, gliding across techno, electro, progressive and deep house…”this as accurate assessment as we could make, as you only have to listen to one of his tracks having read that to realise that pinpoint assessment. In terms of his discography, it’s a question of where do we start?, the list considerable, Taito having worked with fellow Matinee resident J Louis on a number of mix & remix projects over the years, not least, “The Bodies Connection”, the massive anthems “Shine On Me”, “The Time Is Now” & “Looking For Love”, while you will notice from more than a handful of his productions, that he also works closely with vocalist Vanesa Klein, who is too part of the Matinee machine, “Addicted” just massive, while for us, “My World” wins this mini competition hands down. Other huge dancefloor hits that have received the Taito mixing magic have included “Miracle Of Love” & “Show Me Love”, the latter having been re-engineered for 2012/13 and is simply stunning, while more recently he has collaborated with fellow Spaniard Flavio Zarza on their track “Lift Me Up” as well as remixes of Florence & The Machine’s “Spectrum” along with that number one of ours, “Not Alone”. So, to pick out a favourite leaves us in a real dilemma, while you can choose your own or just soak up all of Mr Tikaro’s terrific tunes by going to https://soundcloud.com/taitotikaro or checking out his Beatport page at http://www.beatport.com/artist/taito-tikaro/14553, while having landed on “Not Alone & “My World” so many times, we thought we would rather share that re-engineered 2K13 mix of “She Loves” which we adore.
To superb number six of our spectacular six and, in reality, the word superb hardly does this Sicilian justice as the career he has carved out for himself both behind the decks and in the recording studio is nothing short of colossal and while some of our critics have questioned our occasional stance towards Francesco Pagano’s style of sound, in the many years we have known this extravert individual, we have always admired his achievements and soaked up his scintilating sets, Plus simply by researching this piece on Pagano, affectionately called “The Italian Stallion”, we cannot help but marvel in his music, while when you glance through the global list of clubs he has played in recent years, there is no-one we know that compares, huge guest appearance highlights surely Alegria in New York, Miami’s White Party and Winter Party Festival, White Party Palm Springs, The Week in Sao Paulo, Living in Mexico City, Arq in Sydney, Circuit Festival in Barcelona, Space Of Sound and WE Party in Madrid, Space and Privilege in Ibiza. But we could go on & on really, not one corner of the globe untouched, while regular roving residencies in Europe include La Demence in Brussels, Rapido in Amsterdam, GMF in Berlin & Scream in Paris, while with Francesco considering himself as a proud Londoner, we would venture to suggest that is heart remains here. With the likes of Trade, Beyond, Matinee, SuperMartXe, A:M and even Onyx all part of his playing portfolio & magical memory moments for us, we also recollect with real fondness those heady days of Barcode Vauxhall, when he pumped & packed out the place with his phenomenal progressive performances. Plus with recent appearances for Deelooded & Room Service combined with his own club night Deviate, it seems that Pagano’s roots remain here in the capital, even if he lives out of a travelling suitcase more often than not.
However studio productions are equally as impressive, in some ways more, as not only has he mixed & remixed for music industry a-list of artists, but he records his own tracks, occasional puts them into compilations that are of very much in the true sense of the word and he even has his own record label, Deviate (hence the club night of the same name). So what of those music industry stars, well Pagano’s remixes & collaborations include The Scissor Sisters, Freemasons, De’lacy, Robin S, Kathy Brown, Peyton, Lisa Millet, & Billie Ray Martin, while he has also worked with fellow producers including Chus & Ceballos, Ralphi Rosario, Wayne G & Stewart Who?, labels supporting the long list of Pagano productions stretching to Stereo Productions, Nervous Records, MN2S, S2G Productions and biggies Kult Records & Universal. Add to that support for his recordings from industry heavyweights Carl Cox, Paul Van Dyk, Bob Sinclair, Fergie, Cevin Fisher, Danny Rampling, & Quentin Harris, early productions including “The Ride”, “Lessons In Love”, Rocking Beat” & “My Religion”, more recently his notable track achievements include “Trapped”, “Kissing The Wookie”, “Hispanicity”, “Perfect World”, “Loca” “The Reflex” &, “That Disco Fever”, while we simply love his track “My Name Is Pussy Galore”, a 007 sampler that never fails to make us smile. And as a measure of his success, not only have many of these original productions hit top ten slots of the official dance charts in the UK, USA, Germany & Italy but his latest mixed compilations “Digital Generation Vol. 2″ and “Trade – The Dark Side” have both reached the number one spot on the sales chart of Beatport, this the best source for his music, a click on http://beatport.com/artist/pagano/18177/ revealing all, while we leave you in the “Perfect World” of Pagano, this Ralphi Rosari remix right up there as our Francesco fave.
So, while our last mention was planned as a podcast propulsion, after that Fran finish, it seems right and proper that we wrap up this newsletter now, the proof of the pudding that this spectacular six of ours fully deserve that support we give right here, while for us, they are the cream of the track production crop. So, here’s to Danny, Guy, Javier, Ivan, Taito & Francesco, may you all continue to wrap us in rapture with your records and continue to prove that “Music Is The Answer! (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music | Tags: Danny Verde, Francesco Pagano, Guy Scheiman, Ivan Gomez, J Louis, Javier Medina, Nacho Chapado, Pagano, Taito Tikaro | 1 Comment »
Schools are out, Easter looms, a new era dawns and spring is definitely in the air in Disco Matt land as he draws a line under the stormy seas that marred his stepping out on the scene during January, February & March, taking a brief look back but a more significant stare forward of what’s to come for an April awash with activity.
If we had thought that 2011 was a rocky road & rollercoaster ride of a year, while 2012 got off to the best possible start we could have imagined, the year soon went seriously downhill, paling the previous year’s down’s in comparison, a whole host of superb soiree’s, prolific parties & magnificent meets passing us by while we continued to come to terms with intense personal & family issues affecting our enthusiasm & ability to step out significantly on the scene. But with a steadfast step in our stride along our determination to draw a line under the last three months, what better way to start than to highlight & then put to bed our relative anonymity in January, February & March and then look forward to an April awash with activity, so, not so much a monthly message, more a quarterly catch-up, a midterm report if you like, driving home the “Must Try Harder” theme.
REVIEWS – Given that this is an acclimation of our activity, it has come as quite a shock that, as we look back over what had always been our core writing & publications, our reviews, we can only muster a total of five in the last three months, perhaps Beyond & WE from NYD being two highlights, although it is the former’s February foray that we lay our highlight hat on here, this exceptional event without doubt the most emotionally enthralling yet. But with no less than six reviews in the catch-up tank, while we may have missed out on the likes of Matinee “The Return”, we were there for the follow up, added to which we have reflections on Beyond at Fire, & a bunch of Profile & Lo-Profile outings to accentuate, that on top of seeing our beloved Area re-open just two days ago for Onyx “The New Era”, not to mention seven sorties over Easter that should see our review count quadruple just two weeks into April.
PREVIEWS – With absolutely diddly squat to look back on, it’s best we simply look forward, the first feature planned is a preview look at new club “Covert” which is just weeks away from making a significant splash on the scene. Over & above that, we will be casting our forward thinking minds towards the return of Delooded, as well as a special preview look at international festival Delice Dream.
RECOMMENDS – While we made every effort to get our weekly newsletters back on stream, the plan to split our “Best Bites” & “Short Shouts” bearing a little fruit, the result was an all too erratic service which we intend to put right from April onwards, while our Weekend Focus features fared a little better, coverage extending to Matinee, Beyond, Trade, Casa Latina, WE Party, Room Service & Gigolo, perhaps our highlight pick being the feature we commissioned on “The Masked Ball”, although this one of many events we recommended but failed to review. So, having taken over in the quantity stakes as our most extensive activity area, it seems this part of our publications can only go from strength to strength in April, starting with a flood of Best & Extra Bites, Focuses & Short Shouts for Easter alone, while we are committed to those weekly newsletters in their split format.
REPORTS – Like the majority of our activity, our reporting suffered a significant slide during January, February & March, although we did manage to ruffle a few scene promoter & club feathers when we looked at the suspension of “SuperSocial”, as well as what we saw as the uncomfortable bedfellow bringing together of Trade & Beyond for Ultimate, although we headed for calmer & less controversial waters when we looked at Room Service & the Boyz Awards. However, it is that “SuperSocial” post that is our highlight pick here, while as April opens out, we already have two special reports planned, the first, “I Would Like To Thank” looking at those Boyz awards results, along with analysing other scene awards such as Attitude & SeenQueen and giving our take on the winners & the losers in it all, while with the sad & shocking news of the untimely & premature passing away of the true gentle giant of the club promoting scene, we will be paying special tribute to the late great Steve Elliot.
MUSIC – Much of our, it has to be said, limited activity was concentrated early on to looking back into 2011, as we picked out our top tracks, podcasts & sets in our most comprehensive Y.E. music review to date, a three part epic entitled “The Best Year Yet”, while there is no doubt that our new year has very much been dominated by one particular D.J./Producer, we devoting a special feature to the release of Steve Pitron’s prolific podcast “Jan 2012 Session”, this feature being our highlight pick here. However, with steadfast plans to get our music newsletters back on track stumbling a little, we can only boast one in the period, although our “Premier & Protégé Player Productions” first volume has paved the way for a series that will continue for the rest of 2012, side by side with our other series “Allsorts In the Mix”, the first of which will be out this week.
D.J.’s – Falling woefully short of expectations here, the “Must Try Harder” theme of this message rings ever so true for our D.J. devotions and so we aim to put the metal to the peddle in a big way during April with the return of our weekly focuses, planned inclusions being Guy Scheiman, Zach Burns, Elof De Neve & Paulo Moreno, while special features on Javier Medina, Brent Nicholls, The Oli & Gonzalo Rivas are also chalked for April. However, one chap that did get our focussed attention was Marco Gee & it is his that is our highlight pick here.
DOES… & DISCO MATTERS – Two other sections of our website, like Previews, that saw no activity during the first three months, although we will be starting our spring season as we mean to go on, planning one “Does…” & one “Disco Matters” feature a month, the former likely to be on Paris, as we are right now planning a weekend trip for the end of April so will be digging into our archives to post our feature from last February, while with the launch of new club Covert, just weeks away, we will be commissioning a special feature on this new & smart addition to the scene, which will include an exclusive interview with the clubs manager, Tom Fuller.
COMING UP – Naturally we have set the benchmark quite high for April, but with that spring back in our step, plus with plans to devote a whole day a month on top of our weekend work to our writing, we are determined to keep track of our timetable. And with the focus now clearly on the upcoming Easter weekend, watch this space for our special feature on “The Big Easter Ticket Trio”, as well as Extra Bites Special combining alternative antics Discotec, Fiction & Dish, that on top of the return of our two part recommends newsletter, “Best Bites” & “Short Shouts”. Plus with a weekend full of activity, there will be reviews a-plenty, with much of that music activity we promised, slotting in as well.
KEEP UP – One part of our activity that has literally soared both in substance & popularity are our infamous “Nibble Size Tweets” which now not only just extend to those events we are reviewing, but to ALL our steps out on the scene. And with our following gaining momentum with every turning week, our tweets are one of the best ways to keep up with our activity, which you can follow at http://twitter.com/discomatt. Twitter aside, we continue to use Facebook as a major broadcast medium, the changes to FB causing a few hiccups during February & March, although with timeline now bedded in on both our profile & our page, plus Disco Matt’s group restored, there are three additional gateways to keep up with our activity, so please check out our group at http://facebook.com/groups/discomatt/, press the “like” button at http://facebook.com/pages/Disco-Matt/112730602119746, or simply follow our profile at http://facebook.com/discomattlondon, while please feel free to post/plaster our walls with your podcast links, event details or even comments on our tweets, reviews, reports & recommendations. Plus, don’t forget that you can keep track of us via your smartphone, by simply bookmarking http://discomatt.com & benefit from both an iPhone & android friendly layout.
CONTACT US – Very simply, just drop us an e-mail at matt@discomatt.com , or fill in a contact form which you can find at the bottom of our website, a hint of which can be found in the main body of our website. That aside, you can send us a message via Facebook, or even more simply, just plaster our walls or send us a tweet.
SUPPORTING THE SCENE – Having established the “Supporting” section as an integral part of our website last summer, we have slowly increased capacity to include well over twenty promotional banners covering clubs, events, businesses & music producers in London & internationally. In addition we recently introduced a “Best Bite Choices” interactive section, along with “Pick Of The Day” & “Podcast of The Week” banner sections, these also being promoted via our Facebook Page & our Tumblr site (http://tumblr.com/blog/discomatt), this part of our activity having proven most effective in keeping you updated with the best places to be & be seen on the scene, links to websites, event & ticket pages complimenting the visual images. And with these continuing to be updated daily with broadcasts going up on Facebook once or twice a week, we now consider these promotional banners as a cornerstone of our activity and are grateful to support a wide range of clubs, events & businesses, so if you are a club promoter or event organiser & fancy having your club or event promoted, then just drop us a line at matt@discomatt.com including the relevant artwork and we will do our best to include you.
DISCO DIARY DATES – With Easter very much dominating our immediate diary, we have already committed to a number of events this coming weekend, including “High Society” on Thurs (5th Apr), A:M “Easter Headliners” on Saturday morning (7th Apr), and then a fifteen hour marathon on Sunday/Monday, which begins with Beyond and then encompasses Later, WE “Fluro”, Dish, As One & Orange, while we will be making every effort to pop into Discotec & Fiction too, so it certainly looks like we will be spreading ourselves pretty thin which will no doubt produce a plethora of “Bite Size” rather than “Full Size” reviews. As for the rest of April, well we will be making successive trips to Gigolo & Room Service, as well as aiming to fit in a visit to East Bloc so as to fly the Shoreditch scene flag as well as the Soho & Vauxhall ones.
Well that’s about it for this midterm report and with the line now very much firmly drawn under the first three months of 2012, we can look forward to the new era in Disco Matt land awash with activity throughout April, meaning spring has definitely sprung in our world, even if there is snow on the way for the UK. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Reports | Tags: A:M, As One, Beyond, Casa Latina, Covert, Discotec, Dish, East Bloc, Gigolo, Gonzalo Rivas, Guy Scheiman, Javier Medina, Later, Marco Gee, Matinee, Onyx, Orange, Room Service, Steve Elliot, Steve Pitron, The Oli, Tom Fuller, Trade, Ultimate | No Comments »
Regardless of the topsy turvy times & the rollercoaster ride twists & turns that have become part & parcel of our lives lately, being charmed by a creative compilation, passionate about a prolific podcast & titillated by a terrific tune means that music always seems to be the answer. And in finding that answer to our problems, Disco Matt is once again ready to extend his enthusiasm for the art of music making & music makers with the return of his regular features, focuses & newsletters, this report hinting towards a mass of activity to come.
Premier Player
There was a time not too far into the distant past when not one Saturday would go by without a music feature or focus of some sort making it to our former BlogSpot page or subsequent website section, although we would be the first to admit that our attention has been somewhat diverted by non Disco Matt duties & devotions recently, while we are somewhat shocked just how derelict & devoid have been our dedications to D.J,’s & producers that were once a weekly norm. Indeed, having looked back through our archives, we cannot quite believe it was September since we posted our last music newsletter, while to be fair to our activity, we did share a string of track selections that made for our top 40 of 2011 in the last forty days of the year, following that with our most comprehensive & three part review of “The Podcasts”, “The Sets” & “The Tracks” that made 2011 our best music year yet.
Premier Protege
However, having hardly given that claim justice by our infrequent features & focuses, we are determined that March will signal an about turn on our tardy coverage of the single most significant passion in our lives, music making & music makers. So, from next weekend, Saturday & Sunday will signal the two days that Disco Matt will devote to D.J.’s, to producers, to compilations & to tracks, mixing up his activity between special features, specific focuses & the much loved newsletters that have all been noticeably absent. Starting with a focus on impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman, other D.J.’s/producers that will be reaping our focus attention in March will include Zach Burns, Elof de Neve, & Paul Moreno, while we will be re-starting the special focus features on music makers that have influenced our lives both past & present, so having covered Steve Pitron, Leomeo & Danny Verde already, we will be moving onto Javier Medina, Brent Nicholls, & The Oli during March, with many more to follow in the coming months.
Indelible Influence
But our music coverage reconstruction story doesn’t stop there as it is the podcasts & the tracks that will also be at the forefront of our attention, we both catching up on the months we have missed as well as restoring some sense of stability to our newsletters. So, in order to achieve this & maintain our coverage, we have decided that, throughout the remainder of 2012, we will be running two distinct music newsletter series’ in a sequence of volumes, the first entitled “Premier & Protégé Player Productions” and devoted to those handful of music makers both in London & internationally that have attained this privileged position within our extensive player & production list, while the second series, simply called “Allsorts In The Mix”, will cover the rest, planned subject matter’s in forthcoming weeks including Potential Protégé’s, Lofty Londoner’s, Exemplary European’s & Superb Spaniard’s, the aim being to encompass a list of scene stars & indelible music making influences that, both at home & abroad, extend well into treble figures.
Add to that the return of our music features devoted to specific events, such as Delice Dream, Gay Pride & Circuit Festival, along with particular parties, club brands & production houses and it is clear we have our work cut out. However, with music having been the answer to the rollercoaster rides we have found ourselves on of late, we feel it is high time we paid our dues to those protagonists that have helped us through these tough times and in so doing, paying homage to a medium that means the world to us and without it, would mean a very different world indeed. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music, Reports | Tags: Brent Nicholls, Circuit Festival, Danny Verde, Delice Dream, Elof De Neve, Gay Pride, Guy Scheiman, Javier Medina, Leomeo, Paul Moreno, Steve Pitron, The Oli, Zach Burns | No Comments »
From prolific to protégé players, 2011 has proven an interesting podcast production playground, some new faces making it big, while a flood of familiar ones captivated us with their compilations. But the choices have been made & from a listing that reads like who’s who, we have chopped our champions down to just ten. But who & what made it into our Podcast chart of the year?
Compilation Chart
There is no doubting the prolific nature of podcast production in 2011, the plethora of music newsletters we produced, just a small indication of how busy some of the players that have made it into our chart this year have been. Then when we look down our exceptional eight producers that make up the tremendous ten podcasts come compilations , we see a handful of notable names that popped up in our chart last year, while 2011 has also very much been about us promoting our protégé players, whether they be based here in London, or across further reaches of the globe. So while this second part of our 2011 music review is very much about the podcasts, it is also about the producers, whether prolific in their production or simply part of the protégé player list that we hold so dear. But like the tracks review before it, this podcast reflection of 2011 saw us whittle a list of over thirty compilations to just ten, each one getting their own special mention in a music newsletter style format with those all important purchase point, podcast page or soundcloud site link, we taking a brief moment to encourage you to support each & every D.J./Producer & the tracks they use for promotional purposes or otherwise, by buying through legitimate channels such as Beatport & iTunes.
Barca Boy
So let’s get straight to it and to the first of our exceptional eight whose year was quite stand-out compared to the last, not least as he landed a major contract with one of the biggest clubbing brands on the globe, Javier Medina securing his place with Matinee Group, this step change in his career seeing him start the year playing in front of capacity crowds in New York, while he was an intrinsic feature in the massive Circuit Festival in his home city of Barcelona, a 12 day event that took place in August. Add to that trips right across Europe for the brand, as well as projects away from matinee, including a guest appearance right here in London for Lovechild’s “Birthday” bash and 2011 has seen our brilliant Barca boy do plenty of travelling, while also continuing his residencies at home, including that for Dboy.
So, it comes as no surprise that his studio work has been playing second fiddle to his live performances, although Javier has been no slouch this year, amassing no less than 6 compilations along with three tracks, one with our Parisian pal Leomeo (more on that shortly), while his remix of Pagano’s “Perfect World” was among our favourites of 2011. However it’s podcasts we are talking here and Javier’s “Happy Tech House” release in May is the one that sees him slot into number 10 spot in our compilation chart, this “Spring” release certainly having that in its sound steps, we pretty much spinning around our study when we first listened to it, Mr Medina mixing in a string of styles that includes tech, progressive & tribal (his true love), while we are even blessed with a sprinkle of vocals, hence why we love it so much and one we are sure you will love to when you go to direct link http://soundcloud.com/javier-medina/happytechhouse2011, while volume 2, released last month is also worth a look.
Impressive Israeli
So we are motoring and to our significant seventh who slots in at number 9 in our compilation chart, although for personal reasons we wanted to pop him in a little higher, but given the competition ahead of him it was difficult. Yet, having added him to our protégé players list (Javier is on there too) following our first meet on New Year’s Day here in London, our impressive Israeli, Guy Scheiman, has been a big part of our year, joining us in Barcelona for Delice Dream, was here in London for Hustlaball & close to our bedside when we were landed in hospital and hardly a week goes by when we don’t speak on the phone or Skype. However, Guy’s year musically has been pretty good too, the two London trips huge highlights, while back home he has re-established residencies to add to those he already has and has played for big brand FFF group too, while he was also part of Tel Aviv’s gay pride event and continues to be scouted by promoters far & wide.
Lovechild Lament
But it is Mr Scheiman in the studio where we find a flurry of activity, his Soundcloud site packed with productions, whether it be track or podcast releases, meaning we would need a whole post to go through the 30 or so releases he has commissioned in 2011. But Guy made a tricky task of choosing which one to lay our Y.E. chart hat on a great deal easier when he gifted us a pulsating podcast back in October, marking the capitals’ clubbing circuit brand Lovechild landing a new home at Pulse, this mix edging out his Hustlaball devotion, as well as what is also an accomplished compilation, his “Dreams From Ibiza” podcast, which was inspired by his trip to the white isle in July. And, while we could have easily chosen our collaborative mix, “From Tel Aviv To London” as our Scheiman star here, it is the Lovechild mix that gets our vote and one you should add to your collection by going to direct link http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/guy-scheiman-october-2011-1 while a trip through the various sections of his Soundcloud site http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman is also a must.
Outstanding Oli
To our superb sixth now and superb is a phrase that truly befits this tremendous talent, a chap that has played across the capitals clubbing circuit for a hefty handful of years, cutting a significant stride for brands including Later, A:M, Orange &, most recently Onyx, his ties to the Orange Group meaning that hardly a weekend goes by without The Oli featuring somewhere in their schedule. But it doesn’t stop there, as he is called upon for specialist parties too, whether they be of the Fire or Area kind, his showing for Orange at the recent Saturday night spectacular at the Brixton Electric, one of the standout sets among a large list of others we have been privileged to witness. But perhaps our most memorable moments in Oli’s musical hands have been at Beyond, he occasionally being called upon to play in the main room (he is definitely main room quality), while he personally prefers in vibe in the terrace room, a smaller space where the atmosphere is a little more edgy and allows Oli to experiment a little, mixing up firm favourites with other bootlegs & remixes that give his sets added dimension.
Brilliant Beyond Beats
And it is one of those sets to which we dedicate position 8 in our compilation chart, Oli’s podcast pressing from his performance in that Terrace room at Beyond in June, a two hour recording that does pretty much what we said just now, this music mixing maestro serving up a superb selection of samples, not least “Cross The Line”, “Esta Loca” & “Yalta Groove”, all having other tracks intertwined to give them a fresh appeal, while it also includes some of our top tracks of 2011, “Pressure”, “Enjoy The Ride” & “You Will Remember” , no’s 8, 6 & 2 respectively in our chart. Plus, as it’s a full two hours and has been lifted from Oli’s live set, you can virtually immerse yourselves in the whole Beyond experience, it very much reminding us of that actual day when we were savouring this very set standing close to Oli & the decks that were dishing out this dream of a dance session. So, to grab your piece of Oli at Beyond, head straight for http://theoli.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-25T07_55_42-07_00 and sink into the sounds of our superb sixth.
Italian Stallion
Now we focus on our fabulous fifth, this Italian Stallion having had a stampede of a year globetrotting to all corners of the world, while also cutting a significant stride here in the capital, not least with his own club brand Deviate, which joined forces with awesome afterhours Beyond on a handful of occasions. However, breaking into the US market has probably been Pagano’s single most dynamic development, building on the successes he created during 2010, last year saw him play out in front of huge audiences in New York alone, a focus on the fab Francesco in the US’s biggest club circuit rag, Noise Magazine, an exceptional example of what sort of an impact he has made stateside. But back in Europe, we will never forget the reception he received at Delice Dream in May when a towering two hour set was culminated by the captivating crowd literally bowing at his feet & demanding more for this magnificent music maker. But whether it was the Ski Week, the Circuit Festival or Trade’s 21st birthday, our Italian Stallion was rarely out of the scene spotlight both at home & abroad, while his roots in London have seen him play out for brands including Orange & Onyx, the latter a vehicle he used to launch his new compilation back in November and marked a series of specially extended live sets that saw the place packed to the rafters each & every time.
Digital Delight
So, given the magnitude of the first, which was released just over a year ago, with “Digital Generation Vol 2” we have number 7 in our chart, like the first, packed with Pagano productions, not least his wonderful re-work of The Freemasons’ “Watchin”, along with remixes of Eva’s “Not My Daddy”, Ralph Rosario’s “Fantasia” & Bjork’s “Big Time Sensuality. But moreover, he included some of his own productions which others have remixed (an accolade indeed) including his latin cum techno track “Hispanicity”, the magnificent “Mr Magic” & “Need” a track specially commissioned for this colossal compilation which is sure to follow in the footsteps of the former which topped Beatport’s charts & was even lusted on the main dance page of iTunes (need we say more). Plus, while we have included Pagano’s 2nd prolific compilation production in our “Podcast” review, we entirely acknowledge that is is a compilation that represents a top class producer at work, meaning this is no simple download, rather a for sale copy composition which you can grab/purchase either in mixed or unmixed versions (or both) from Beatport at direct link http://www.beatport.com/release/digital-generation-volume-2-mixed-and-unmixed/740829, a sneak preview (do you really need it) available at http://soundcloud.com/pagano/digital_generation_vol_2_sampler_preview, while Pagano has started this year with the release of a rare “podcast” devoted to his club brand Deviate, that on top of a Trade “compilation” that is on its way too, the man sure to make it into our 2012 chart as our outstanding professional producer of the year, as he does here.
Captivating Celso
Onward now and to our fantastic fourth and a new entrant in 2011 on our protégé player list, Celso (aka Junior) Moura turning his talents to the decks with quite remarkable results for one so fresh to the game. Plus, given the stiff competition within the capitals clubbing circuit, which all too often for burgeoning D.J.’s is pretty much a closed shop, Celso not only got a bite at the big club cherry in the form of two spectacular showings for home-grown brand Casa Latina, his prolific performance in the main room at the “Super Carwash” event a sign things to come, he also stamped his sounds on showings for Barcode on London Pride Saturday, along with a huge handful of plays for Profile & Lo-Profile that have set Celso on the road to sure-fire success. But he finds himself benefitting from a terrific tutor who will feature higher in this chart, a mentor who’s playing pedigree along with podcast production has steered Celso superbly and while some would argue that Mr Moura’s style is similar to his master’s, the injection of Brazilian beats & other tougher tunes does stamp Celso’s own signature on his set showings.
Casa Celso Style
So given his protégé player positioning, we simply had to include him in our podcast review of 2011, his compilation created for Casa Latina’s “Super Car Wash” seeing him land position 6 in our chart, which Celso explained at the time of its release “…it includes some of my favourite tracks of the moment and takes influences from the great music coming out of Brazil & London…” the mix pitched perfectly blending those Brazilian come tribal beats with more upfront house to create a podcast worthy of its position in our chart. However, what is equally appealing to us in making this choice, is Celso’s inclusion of a handful of what we call “crowd pleasing plays”, not least a rapturous remix of the Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams”, making this a seventy minute mix to marvel at and one you can still grab for your collection by going to http://djjuniorspodcast.podomatic.com/. And in terms of D.J.’ing projects to come, while Celso (like many of us) balances a very busy daytime job with his love for his acquired art, showings for Profile over the NY weekend& just last Saturday seem to have secured his position as one of their favoured residents, while we predict him going places in 2012 and, as one of our few protégé players, we will be supporting him every step of the way.
Our Leo Leo
So we are half way in our podcast chart, reaching our tremendous third and yet another protégé player of ours, although this individual has experience in the D.J./Production game spanning close on 20 years, being a truly international & globetrotting guy who seems to simply go from strength to strength, 2011 proving one of his busiest years yet, hardly a weekend passing by without Leomeo playing somewhere in the world. If we were to list the clubs & the countries he has touched during the year, we would need to devote a whole post to his performances, while with each & every music newsletter we issue, our Leo Leo never fails to miss out being mentioned. Having spent a few days with our Parisian pal in his home city in February, due to his exhaustive schedule, the one thing we haven’t benefitted from in 2011, is seeing him play live, although we are hoping to make amends this year. That said, there were plenty of opportunities before us last, Leomeo playing out right across Europe and even landed here in London, taking up a guest slot for social soiree splendour Room Service, while Canada The USA, Asia & South America were a feature of his considerable clubbing event calendar.
La Leche! Lemeo
But, despite his hectic schedule, Leomeo never fails to dip into the recording studio, an equally impressive array of compilations marking his movements around the globe, we struggling to keep track of his productions. However, a glance at his Soundcloud site gives us some measure of comfort in our quest, as he has neatly arranged his productions into sections, although when deciding to chart him here, our decision on what to pick as his compilation of the year was already made. And in his “La Leche” mix, marking his superb showing for Matinee when it travelled to Paris over the Easter weekend, is a standout selection of sounds, very much mirroring his prolific performance, the emphasis here very much more on upfront house rather than the tribal intentions that are the natural roots of Leomeo’s style, one which in 2011 has seen him step firmly out of that shadow & mix in a whole load of genres in his performances & productions. So, while we have a catalogue of creative choices, it is his “La Leche” compilation at http://soundcloud.com/djleomeo/la-leche-the-mix-by-dj-leomeo which takes position 5 in our podcast chart.
The Brilliant Mr Burns
Now we said this 2011 podcast review was as much about our protégé players as anything else and we arrive at our significant second in the form of the incredible Zach Burns who, had it not been for the one person above him, would have topped our chart, not least for the marches he has made during 2011, securing him as our premier protégé player of the year. From humble beginnings & showings for Heaven & Room Service, Zach has established himself as the star turn of social soiree splendour Gigolo, having been in the thick of the action since the launch back in May (more on that in a mo), while both Profile & Lo-Profile are his regular playing grounds, “Society” & “Playtime” forming part of his monthly roster, while a residency at the Edge, appearances at The Hoxton Pony & toe dips into Fire & Protocol for “Casa Latina” & “Le-Boy” also featured in his year. But it is to Lo-Profile that we draw our most memorable Zach moments, Gigolo aside, Mr Burns stepping in for an absent Mikey D & following on from Steve Pitron back in October that was very much a set & a night to remember. And, having tracked his progress, that along with his terrific talent for tantalising us with a tune, “Stupididsco 2011” became a bit of a Burns/DM anthem last year, it is no surprise to us that he has attained that premier protégé player position accolade.
Gigolo Giant
So, choosing a podcast from his fifteen productions in 2011 was a decision that we mulled over for quite some time, as his monthly “House Sessions” are equally attractive in their making, Zach changing his style to suit the time of year, as well as reflecting on some of the set showings he has made across the capital & beyond. And that style is very much upfront & disco, intermixed with more tech yet melodic music masterpieces, we very close to choosing his “House Sessions 2011 (Top 12)” as our choice pick, one which takes a track from each of the 12 monthly compilation releases to create a Burns bonanza which, from the moment we played it, we couldn’t put it down, one which appears on his Soundcloud site at http://soundcloud.com/djzachburns/dj-zach-burns-house-sessions. However, given how much he moved us with his stunning set at Gigolo’s launch, we had to place his devoted podcast, “Gigolo Promo (Disco Sessions)” into position 4 in our compilation chart of the year, a sixty minute marvel that screams disco & Zach in the groove, so one definitely for your collection by going to http://djburns.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-11T12_00_38-07_00, while there is a full 2 hour version out too.
STEEEEEEEVE!
From our exceptional eighth we reach our phenomenal first, that word beginning with P not used lightly, while the letter P is very much relevant as (you have probably guessed already!) it is Steve Pitron that tops our compilation chart of 2011, not only that, but taking the first three places in our podcast positions, such has been the magnitude & magnificence of his mixes. But before we run down each of the three, we want to give a mention to a fourth and one we overlooked in 2010 but really caught our imagination at the time & since, as his WE Party podcast gets a posthumous mention and one that should have ranked highly then, although somehow missed the boat. And talking of boats, while 2011 was absolutely crammed with magical memories, scores of scintillating sets & outstanding outings in the hands of Mr Pitron, with the possible exception of Gay Pride at Barcode, one of our fondest outing days with the man & a compelling collection of clubbing faces, was on the Later Boat party in the summer, one of many huge 2011 highs, while he, more than many others in our lives, was right there during our lows, not least when we were landed in hospital in June.
Amazing Afterhours Accoldate
So Steve has definitely been a huge part of our 2011, as have been the three podcasts he produced, each one truly towering in their own right, meaning choosing positions 3 to 1 wasn’t easy, not least that, between them, they account for a massive 26 out of our top forty tracks of the year, each one also part of our daily playlists as we spin around London’s roads. But a decision had to be made and in at number 3 is his “Afterhours 2011” mix, one which, for us, marked his podcasts attaining a new level of excellence and packed with brilliant beats from minute one to minute one hundred & one, standout tracks definitely “Live Your Dreams”, “Bitch Lady”, “Catch”, “Stupidisco 2011”, “Music In My Soul” & “Twist In My Sobriety”, while others helped the compilation contribute an unbeatable 11 tunes to our 2011 track chart, so a worthy number 3 & one that is surely in your collection, although if not, a visit to either http://soundcloud.com/stevepitron/steve-pitron-afterhours-march or http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com/entry/2011-02-24T02_53_58-08_00 should seal the deal.
Summer Sizzler
Then we come to position number 2 in our chart and this was a close call, not least as this compilation includes some of our favourite tracks of 2011, two that continue to erupt emotional tears whenever we hear them, while the short & sweet nature of “Summer Vol.1” compared to ”Afterhours” is also very appealing. So, you will have gathered this is Mr Pitron’s 2nd release of 2011 and like the first, contributes a fair few tracks to our Y.E. chart, “Starry Eyed”, “Offshore”, “One Look”, “Pressure”, “Fuck the Disco”, “Stupiddisco” (again), our most emotive track of the year, “Waiting For You” and “You Will Remember” which attained number 2 spot, quite appropriate given this podcast’s position. But, with another five terrific tracks apart from these, the podcast ticks all the right boxes & one we still haven’t been able to put down and while we never thought that “Afterhours” could be bettered, Steve certainly pulled a real gem out of the bag, perhaps representative of the purple patch he found himself within at the time of its release in early May, all meaning that it richly deserves it’s 2nd place in our compilation chart and should be in your collection by going to Steve’s Souncloud site at http://soundcloud.com/stevepitron/summer-2011-v1 or Mr Pitron’s Podomatic page at http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-28T12_01_35-07_00.
Pitch Perfect Pitron Production
Well we have made it to our number 1 podcast of the year in our compilation chart of 2011 and Steve scoops the prize with what we hailed upon its release as his most accomplished piece of production work to date, a simply scintillating string of towering tunes that show off Steve’s skills for mixing in different genres to create a dynamic dance journey of a podcast. Kicking off with our track number 1 of 2011, “So Much Love”, it continues on that huge high note with another 21 terrific tracks, not least “Enjoy The Ride”, “Turn It Up”, “Nimbus”, “Lift Me Up”, “You’ve Got The Love”, “Diamonds In The Sky” & “Stronger”, all that made our top forty track chart, yet with so many others to savour, some more on the progressive & tech side of Mr Pitron’s playlists, like the brilliant “Sunken Bells Of Ibiza”, “Play This Song” & “Dancing In The Dark”, this scintillating selection of styles in the form of his “Summer Vol. 2” release, does very much take you on that dance journey we mentioned and, like Vol. 1, is one we simply cannot put down. Now some may argue that is not pure Pitron, while we would say it displays his deck spinning dexterity and why he is still at the top of his game, headlining clubbing events & main rooms now as he did when he first stormed the scene. So if you haven’t yet grabbed this significant slice of Pitron perfection, then head straight to http://soundcloud.com/stevepitron/summer-2011-v2, &/or http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-21T04_46_56-07_00 and see why it made it to our number 1.
Unbreakable Bond
Well that’s just about it for our compilation chart of 2011, well almost, as we couldn’t let the moment pass without a quick mention for our own podcasts, four of which were produced in 2011, although we were hoping it would have been more. Following the creation of our “Dance-tastic” series, the first release blended twenty of our top tunes of 2010, this being followed by our “Spring Bloomers” collection in what was trumpeted at the time as being “…the most anticipated marriage of musical minds since Benny & Bjorn, Lennon & McCartney…” and one where we chose the tunes & he blended them. And it worked extremely well, the next in the series “Summer Scorchers” going down a storm, even if one track ended up the root cause of our fall from grace break-up, the other protagonist possibly being our collaboration with another, creating our fourth compilation of 2011, “From Tel Aviv To London” (still available at http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/from-tel-aviv-to-london-disco), although plans to continue or “Dance-tastic series with our original playing partner hit the rocks, meaning both “Autumn Anthems” & “Winter Warmers” were scrapped. So, while all four of these podcast’s are right up there with the other ten in our compilation chart, given the circumstances, it didn’t feel right to rank any of them. However, we look forward to a 2012, which we have hailed as “A Year Of Reconciliation”, that marks our “Dance-tastic” series of selections with our original collaborator back in business.
Now that really is it for part two of our Music Is The Answer Special, rounding off what truly proved, musically anyway, as “The Best Year Yet”. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music, Reviews | Tags: Celso Moura, Guy Scheiman, Javier Medina, Junior Moura, Leomeo, Leomeo Carandang, Pagano, Steve Pitron, The Oli, Zach Burns | 1 Comment »
Disco Matt, having procrastinated, cogitated & deliberated, while fending off floods of requests since the year end, cannot hold back anymore, as he delivers the results of who & what made it into his fabulous forty and which towering tune made it to number one in his track chart of 2011.
Fabulous Forty
Well, what a year of magnificent music it has been and one filled by fabulous tracks, whether delighting us on the dancefloor or playing out on podcasts, not a single day from January one to December thirty passing without us adding to a list that stretches well past a 100. And while we are no experts in naming a tune, we like to think we have a good ear for a great track and one that would make for a worthy contender in our now traditional top forty chart of the year. So, having collected a long list, November saw us begin to collate that list into what became our top forty tracks of 2011, the 21st day of that month marking the beginning of what was a daily track posting on Facebook that ran right to 30th December, that’s forty days incidentally. Yet this was this was merely an indication of what tracks made it into our chart, rather than a forty to one rundown, we holding back on the final decision until now, fending off the floods of requests for us to reveal our number one.
Commemorative Compilation
However, the procrastination, the cogitation & the deliberation is done, the decisions have been made and the wait is over, meaning it’s time for that forty to one rundown and a chart that has proven one of the closest in the three years we have been compiling these music reviews, not least as, with virtually no exception, each track has played an important part in some stage of our year, some intrinsically so. Therefore, deciding which would go where, particularly in the upper half of the chart, was very tricky, as it is the top twenty that could easily represent the content of a “Dance-tastic” podcast of 2011, repeating the production last year in what, at the time, was a collaborative partnership that seemed to have legs. But all that is for our “podcast” review, while here we concentrate on the tracks, giving you YouTube, Soundcloud &/or other play/download links to compliment our commentary of why each track made it into our chart, we acknowledging that our chart includes a handful of entrants from before 2011, but ones that nevertheless played an important part in our year, hence the reason their inclusion.
Stronger Shawnie
So let’s not keep you in suspense any longer as we take a look at positions forty to thirty five, first up & in at 40 is Erick Morillo & Eddie Thoenick’s “Stronger”, featuring the vocals of Shawnie Taylor & a track that was, at the time of its release in June, hailed as the new Pitron/DM anthem, but fell into relative obscurity as the world & his wife included in their play/favourites list. However, given the poignancy of the title to our troubles at the time, it is included and worth checking out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=C5mfaSeZAcU, while in at 39 is Michael Gray’s “A Piece Of You” the first of a handful of tracks that was destined to be included on our ill fated “Winter Warmers” podcast series, the track link at http://youtube.com/watch?v=njoi_y8Ff1Y hinting towards why we picked it as one of our favourite video’s of the year, while Mr Gray’s collaboration with Danism, who feature on track 38 in our chart, “Rise” with Yasmeen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouKpb6EEQlY, ranks considerably higher in our final chart. Then we have Beyonce’s “Run The World” in at 37, the superchumbo (aka Tom Stephan) remix pricking up our ears when we heard it at Room Service in the presence of its creator, so a worthy inclusion & worth checking out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouKpb6EEQlY, while position 36 goes to Ultra Nate’s “Turn It Up”, the Ruff Loaders vs. Scott Giles Mix featuring large on our top podcast of the year, its uplifting nature helping spin around London’s roads too, so definitely worth a listen at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=168557863197400, leaving us with the of four Whelan & Di Scala chart entrants, Alisa’s “Sine” in at 35, getting the duo’s dynamic remix treatment and another that was due to be included on our “Winter Warmers” podcast, a listen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=H17Dg8Xv2pA revealing why.
Captivating Concert
Moving straight on, we head to 34 and a track choice that signifies one of the most amazing evenings spent in the company of Tom Fuller & Paul Vlad, when we pitched up at The O2 Arena for the captivating Roger Waters concert, “The Wall”, meaning the Pink Floyd classic “Another Brick In the Wall” had to make it in, the Eric Prydz “Proper Education” remix at http://youtube.com/watch?v=h9gNo-wtjkc our representative choice. Then sitting nicely in at 33 is Antoine Clamaran, an artist that played a big part of the year, his remix of house hit “A Deeper Love” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=JZgil1GDTrg, the first of three entries from this fabulous Frenchman, while at 32 another artist that ends up ranking very highly in our chart, gave us a terrific track in the form of “The Future”, Mark Knight the man & the track at http://youtube.com/watch?v=mWbwQL61d-c proving nearly as powerful as his other chart inclusion. With position 31 taken by an equally powerful track, Neils Van Goch’s mix of Three N One’s “Reflect” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=JMWszKpzzzg representing a period in our year when we were pausing for our own reflection on a close friendship on the ropes, while conversely with Guy Scheiman’s remix of David Jonson’s “Get Down Tonight” at http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/get-down-feat-david-jonson-guy, celebrated on new friendship formed on the first day of 2011 that has since grown into a brilliant bond that shows no signs of breaking.
Fuck The Disco
We now point towards our top twenty as we reach 29, Housequake’s “People Are People”, remixed by Nicky Romero at http://youtube.com/watch?v=j8WdbOxdDOQ and was one of a handful of re-works of pop/house hit classics that made our chart, this originally released by Depeche Mode, while in at 28 is another representation of an original remixed, Freddie Le Grand giving the Everything But The Girl hit “Missing” (check it out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=QiOzI3uFlws) a terrific twist and one that has deep meaning & touched our world in a big way in April, Delice Dream & a certain Belgian boy, so had to be included. Then, with Delice & Joeri in mind, we thought it only appropriate to chart the Jan Solo & Taito Tikaro smash “I Surrender” just above at 27, another track with incredible links & meaning, as well as emotions, this also proving to be one of a few that, each time we listen to it, reduces us to tearful (joyful of course) floods, the link to the essence extended mix http://youtube.com/watch?v=oCakKGQGCfg a version which appears on one of our high charting podcasts of 2011. But so does the next track in at 26, “Cross The Line” produced by Chris Lake & Mark Lys also making it to our “Spring Bloomers” compilation, a reflection of how much we liked the track in the early part of the year (and still do), thus sharing the link at http://youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=ygFu4cizgzI a joy in itself, our joy extending to entrant 25 in our chart, Bob Sinclair’s “Fuck The Disco” only escaping a top twenty position as a result of the strong competition ahead, a track a version at http://youtube.com/watch?v=iXysR2GcuKQ that was podcast inclusion plentiful during the year, but rarely made it to the dancefloor.
Ga Ga For Verde
So to 24 in our top forty and a track that grabs the prize as our favourite post clubbing play of 2011, Whelan & Di Scala’s “Teardrops” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=3kr-BKmwwyE, its chill-out qualities, along with that title, finding resonance with our after afterhours (Beyond of course) Sunday afternoons & the magical memories they hold and sure to be a continuing feature in 2012, while in at 23 is a track that will forever be about Beyond, about a certain D.J. & our Brazilian Bel, Kosheen’s “Catch” which was given the 2011 remix treatment by Enry the only one here missing its own link, although can be found on an “Afterhours” compilation that features in our “Podcast” review. Then we come to 22 and to a music maker that played a big part in our year, while having a huge year himself, his remix of Lady Gaga’s “You & I” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=0cancobs6ak making it massive for Danny Verde, although it would be another of his productions that would chart much higher here, a similar story relating to Whelan & Di Scala’s third of four chart entries, “Sunset To Sunrise” (link http://youtube.com/watch?v=e1D1ShteWzM) played out a few times in Beyond in recent weeks, very much vying for a replacement for the tear jerking “Offshore”, so neatly charting just below our top twenty at 21.
Lightning Levels
Well, we have made it to that top twenty, “No Words” being able to describe how tight a twenty it is, the track of the same name at http://youtube.com/watch?v=jLDWgfOASUs by Ferren Benavent & remixed by Chris Soler & J Louis, making it to 20 & being another example of a track that was not so much of a dancefloor smash, but perhaps should have been, the same being said for the euphoric “Diamonds In The Sky”, a TV Rocks production that was fabulously remixed by fave (well fourth to be exact) Frenchman Antoine Clamaran at http://youtube.com/watch?v=25N2jv21zPg finding its way into our hearts at a similar time to “Stronger” yet charts a full twenty places higher at 19. Then, in at 18 is a Guy Scheiman find from the summer that was included on our collaborative compilation with our impressive Israeli, Geoff M’s “You Better” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=wRPk__KizOg having since found its way to a host of London based D.J.’s playlists and in so doing making it big on dancefloors across the capital, as has our next choice, Avicii’s “Levels”,which was played out plenty of times with exceptional effect, the video a must view at http://youtube.com/watch?v=_ovdm2yX4MA proving our favourite of 2011, while the track in full glory at http://youtube.com/watch?v=gNYL7-Tu6fQ is set to be a continuing feature deep into 2012, its relatively lowly position at 17 in our chart a reflection of the towering tunes to come. And David Tort’s “One Look”, in at 16, marks the beginning of that tremendous tower, Norman Doray giving the track added dimension at http://youtube.com/watch?v=V4UwxisI2qM, yet is another we prayed to be played at our favourite afterhours but only made it to our ears through a daily played podcast.
Music Is In Our Souls
Leaving “one look” behind, we reach 15 and a track that nearly consigned our “Summer Scorchers” podcast to the rubbish heap, but signalled a step change in a close friendship, although in fairness, the Felix Wenzel dub at http://youtube.com/watch?v=oObmxsLJxEM was a little wide of the mark compared to the version that features large on our top podcast of 2011 and one you would need to search hard to find, while the same could not be said for track 14 in our chart, Whelan & Di Scala’s “Nimbus”, remixed by Manuel De La Mare, the track a simple Soundcloud search as well as a brief Beatport blink away, the former link at http://soundcloud.com/manueldelamare/whelan-di-scala-nimbus-manuel, revealing this terrific track in all its glory. But wrestling position 13 from “Nimbus” is a track that never failed to tip us into tears on the Beyond dancefloor, Antoine Clamaran hitting his highest note in our chart with “Live Your Dreams” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=0bhrLc87b8c proving to us at least that the Junior Caldera & M.O.D.A. remix floated our emotional boat more than any other track in 2011, well with the exception of one. However, it wasn’t choice 12 that was that track, Paul Gardiner’s “Music In My Soul” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=hmUX38dlaCc invoking an opposite reaction that saw us spin on our Beyond spot (and many another club too) virtually right through the year, remaining as fresh at the end of 2011 as it was when it appeared at the beginning, the same being said for the Strobe Club mix of Sebastian Kreig’s “Twist In My Sobriety” at http://youtube.com/watch?v=TIuS-9jrWkI, which squeezes in at number 11 and floats our boat now as it did back in March when it first came to our attention.
Hidden Meaning
So, we reach our top ten and what a ten it is, the Mark Knight 2011 remix of Florence & The Machine’s “You’ve Got The Love”, at http://youtube.com/watch?v=QY3rrKnZ58k looking like it could have been number 1 for a chunk of the year, but due to the tough competition in this tightest of ten, has made it only to number 10, the “Pressure” coming to bear from Starkillers, Alex Kenji & Nadi Ali, whose original version of the track of the same name at http://youtube.com/watch?v=NKfcg85fhTU has seen it make 9 in our chart. But if there was ever a rack that carried the most meaning of our year, it is the prolific Pink Fluid’s “Bitch Lady”, one which charts at number 8 although could have been much higher had it not been for the ones ahead of it, the hidden meaning (only known to a close friend) looking set to remain hidden, while the Craziba remix does no hiding at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ISsU2cGAbVQ. And hiding was certainly not what King Richard & Danny Torrence’s “Stupiddisco 2011” did in this year, another track that was riding high for quite a while, not least due to its Beyond-esque whooshes but lands in at number 7, the original mix at http://youtube.com/watch?v=xkSvhX4TFW0 nevertheless a major tune of DM’s year of “Doing The Disco Matt” on a whole host of dancefloors, while squeezing in at 6 is an equally major mover in our music year, Roy Davis Jnr’s “Enjoy The Ride” in James Talk & Ridney Remix make-up was so close to a top five place, we could hardly split hairs between it and the one just above it in our chart, memories from Later, & Orange pointing to the rides we enjoyed courtesy of this amazing 2011 anthem which you can catch at http://youtube.com/watch?v=xY1CrZw-NPI.
Starry Eyed For Danny
Well that covers thirty five tracks from our top forty chart, so what are our final five? Well, given the magnitude of each, we feel they deserve some extra special attention to the others, Danny Verde’s remix of Ellie Goulding’s “Starry Eyed” the first to get a fuller focus, as it makes it in at number 5, justifiably so, not least that it, for us, it represents our Milano man at his brilliant production best. And while many may claim that “You & I” is a better example of the master at work, “Starry Eyed” seems to have more lengthy appeal legs on it, having featured large in a score of stunning sets at Beyond earlier in the year, was played out by the man himself when we visited Muccasssassina in May and sits proudly on a podcast that has attained second spot in that 2011 chart of ours. But moreover, like all the tracks above it here, “Starry Eyed” holds many magical memories, emotional eruptions centre to those memories, the realisation that it was a Danny Verde production, just as tear flooding as the times we had heard it beforehand. So, we salute “Starry Eyed” for reaching number 5 in our chart and point you in the direction of Danny’s Soundcloud page and the track’s direct link where you can catch it in full 8 minute glory at http://soundcloud.com/holabstudio/ellie-goulding-starry-eyed-1.
If You Need Me Just Call Me
To number 4 now and while “Bitch Lady” may have held a hidden meaning, The Shapeshifters & Shermanology track “Waiting For You” could have been further poles apart in that department, a tune that shouted Steve Pitron from the rooftops, the dancefloors & everywhere else we heard it during 2011. Plus, like “Starry Eyed”, this tremendous track often ravaged us with emotions, good ones you understand, the lyrics having incredible meaning to a friendship that grew closer & closer as the year moved on and one that we now treasure more than any other. And while we probably need to be forgiven for displaying our emotions on our sleeves so boldly, it is those lyrics which start the track off, “…if you need me, just call me, I’ll be right here waiting for you, we’ve been through hell & back again, but I was right here waiting for you…” that are as big a reflection of the tough times the year we suffered in 2011, although safe in the knowledge that the close friend in question was indeed, right there virtually every step of our rocky way, not least when we found ourselves landed in hospital back in June. So, with so much prominence, we ranking it as probably the most emotionally evocative & meaningful tunes of the year when we shared the link, http://youtube.com/watch?v=nnB3t51qRBM, back on 30th November, we cannot fail to be moved by its magnificence, that along with the fabulous friendship it represents.
Joyful Tears Of The Year
Now talking of emotions, this next track was, without question, responsible for more of those joyful tears than any other during 2011, one that originally was brought to our attention by Tony English, but by March had become its most emotionally evocative when played out by Mr Pitron, whether it be at Beyond, at Room Service or at Lo-Profile, our reaction would be the same, those now characteristic emotional floods of tears that were very much a part of our dervishes on the dancefloors. And in the hands of vocalist Rebeka Brown, who performed the track live at The Logan Presents 3rd Anniversary, “Offshore” (A Little Love) proved yet again to be that tear jerking track that nevertheless also proved a brilliant tune to “Do The Disco Matt” to, as we did so often during 2011. So, given the magnitude of its importance to our year, it is no surprise that it charted in at number 3, the Andre Vicenzzo & Co Silco remix version of Magic Solution’s masterpiece our version choice and one you can check it in all its glory at http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mv4I1Qv3SVw, the track delivering not just “A Little Love” but love in abounds in our books.
We Will Always Remember
So to number 2 and a track that totally captivated us from the moment we heard it and another example of a fantastic find in the hands of Steve Pitron who remarked of the track when he first played it to us at Room Service earlier this year, that “…it had a bit of a Crash feel to it…”. And Michael Gray’s “You Will Remember”, featuring Danism & Rae, does remind us a little of those halcyon days at the underground club that started the whole Vauxhall clubbing movement, but moreover is a tune that appeals to our ears as much if not more than it did when we first heard it, no mean feat when you consider it has made it to our daily playlist since its release. Plus, finding itself in position two pretty much mirror’s the achievement of the prolific podcast that it features on, while it was a foregone conclusion that it would be part of our own “Summer Scorchers” podcast too, the only question remaining just how high would it chart and the answer s right here, “You Will Remember” marking a purple patch in our music year, a click onto http://youtube.com/watch?v=5CzWUwyJWn0 giving you plenty of hints why.
Top Tune
Well, we have made it, thirty nine tracks down and now just one left, one being the single most appropriate word and it is this final track in our top forty that has made it to number 1, a towering tune that tops our chart and, to be honest, always looked like doing so, virtually from that magical moment when an excited Steve Pitron revealed it to us. So, having given us “Bitch Lady” which charted highly, it was Pink Fluid’s fabulously funky & disco drenched dream of a dance delectation that won our hearts over, “So Much Love” every inch a winner in our books, although one that rarely made the dancefloor, rather played out on our number one podcast of the year each & every day since its release. And in it’s creators, Pink Fluid, we have our favourite artists of the year, edging out Whelan & Di Scala, as they also gave us the terrific track “Noise In Da House” although with “So Much Love”, like “Bitch Lady”, getting the Crazibiza mix treatment at http://youtube.com/watch?v=hlwfEtdj8MA we have the undisputed champion of our chart and one that has answered our question “…will it make it to the top?…” with a resounding yes.
So that’s it, our track chart rundown of the year, a tumultuous yet tremendous “Best Year Yet” music wise and while we still have our “Podcasts” & “Sets” posts to come, in this first of three rapturous 2011 music reflections on the movers & shakers in our world, we can once again exclaim that through all the highs, the lows, the emotions & the tears, music has once again proved to be the answer. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music, Reviews | Tags: Beyond, Danny Verde, Delice Dream, Guy Scheiman, Later, Lo-Profile, Logan Presents, Orange, Rebeka Brown, Room Service, Steve Pitron, Tom Fuller, Tom Stephan | No Comments »
Having been pretty all encompassing with our last few newsletters, we thought it time to divert back to our original feature format & focus on just a handful of what we have called our “Protégé Producers & Players”, a select few that are either internationally based stars that we have seen develop & progress, or fresh faced talents based here in London that we see as the new & rising stars of the scene. Now some of the inclusions will be recognised as talents as close to or at the top of their game, while others are still in that development stage, but what they all have in common is the ability to thrill us with their raw talent, along with a passion for their art. And yes, we can proudly proclaim that they are all, without question, firm friends too, we being privileged to know each & every one of them, hence why we are so proud to promote their achievements & aspirations here.
Milano Man
And we couldn’t think of a better choice to start this extended & special music feature off than Danny Verde, this magnificent Milano having had a truly yardstick year to add to the meteoric rise to the upper echelons of international D.J.’ing circuit that have made him such a draw by so many clubs & their promoters. Indeed, 2011 has seen Danny continue to forge a prolific path of performances across the globe, whether it be mixing in Mexico, spinning in Spain, or impressing in Italy, an army of adoring Latino’s not the only audiences that well & truly delight in his dextrous deliveries. The year has seen appearances for Delice Dream, those Mexican tours, trips across Europe including right here in London, regular slots at home for massive club Muccassassina, even up as far as Finland, or down to Deutschland, hardly any part of the continent untouched by his tremendous talent, while a return to The States is on the cards for next year to follow the trip this, Australia & Africa sure to come too. And such is Mr Verde’s demand, that hardly a week goes by when he is jetting off somewhere, either near to his native Milan or to distant borders. That said, there is no denying that the firm foundation behind Danny’s substantial successes across the globe is in his studio productions, a quick glance at some of his tracks speaking volumes, “Pushin To The Top”, “Let Me See Your Underwear” & “Express Yourself” three that spring to mind, while a whole raft of remixes litter his discography, for us, his re-work of the Pagano & Stewart Who creation “Trapped” right up there.
Rapturous Remix
However this year, the hallowed turf that is his Holab studio has seen the Verde remixing gear definitely hit top, first kicking off with a further re-work of “Express Yourself”, although when we realised that the “Starry Eyed” mix that Steve Pitron was treating us to in Beyond was Danny’s production, we were nothing short of speechless in just how emotionally euphoric it made us feel & how brilliant it is. But, when we enjoyed our third liaison of the year with him in Rome, we were privy to a new project involving Kelly Rowland, the result being his remix of her hit “Motivation”, although nothing could have prepared us for the news of an yet another official production, this time for Lady Gaga, one which has catapulted his name to the top of the biggest music download sites in the world, not least the US Billboard chart. And whilst we have particular affection for “Starry Eyed”, there is no denying that Danny’s version of Lady Gaga’s “You & I” is sure to attain him un-paralleled notoriety compared to the former and one which has already seen Danny plastered across the musical press both at home & abroad. And when you take a listen to the track you will understand just why, as this is undoutably one of his most accomplished productions to date (possibly his most), it blowing our mind & leaving us breathless when we heard it play in a club last Friday, so one you should definitely seek out (along with the other three of course) by selecting his soundcloud site at http://soundcloud.com/holabstudio/. Moreover, as we did today, go get Danny’s “You & I” mix from iTunes, stick it on your smart phone, MP3 player or iPod, and we can pretty much guarantee that, like us, you will become hooked to this heavenly house hit.
Barca Boy
To our second inclusion and very much a protégé of ours if ever there was one, the weight of our support being thrown behind Barcelona boy Javier Medina from the minute we saw his name emerge about eighteen months ago, although this belies his extensive experience in the D.J.’ing & production game which spans for many years. The son of a D.J., it was always going to be in Javier’s blood, although a pursuit of design would be his first career path, the creative skills that saw him take this direction soon translating into producing music, not least from inspirers such as Danny Teneglia & Herbie Hancock. So, it was no surprise that his insatiable desire to cut a considerable stride in among his music making peers saw Mr Medina shed his design coat & throw the full weight of his devotions into D.J.’ing & producing, his Barcelona base soon sprouting residencies at clubs like Dboy & Devotion, while European gigs would also soon follow in Germany, Italy & France, Australia also proving a prolific playing ground for him, ties still remaining from his short relocation down under. But cracking the international nut was a tough one, openings here in London for brands Lovechild & As One helping in that process, although it would be his homeland Spain & one of its biggest clubbing brands that would be the breakthrough Javier was looking for.
Matinee Man
The name Matinee is synonymous with Spain & with clubbing although it would be fair to say that at first glance, Mr Medina’s definite tribal & tech style of sounds didn’t much fit this global group’s music model, although with the advances competitors SuperMartXe & WE were making in 2010, a fresh injection at Matinee was required. So signing Javier to this Spanish giant was very much that move and one that would mark a massive step change in both his profile as a D.J. on the international stage and a slight shift in his style of sound, the vocal infusions that had been conspicuous by their absence in early productions of his, coming more to the fore within his performances & his podcasts. However, Javier’s musical roots do remain in the tribal & tech camps, although he is reported as calling his current direction as “…happy tech house…” explaining it as “…a hypnotising combination of groovy & percussive beats…”, a style that seems to have won him favour with Matinee and with audiences both at home & when he tours for the brand. And with his 2011 starting in the best possible way, playing live in New York, destinations including, Montreal, Moscow, Paris & Rome are just four among a long list, while he was an intrinsic part of The Circuit Festival back in Barcelona in August, that on top of a superb showing here in London in July. But it is to New York that we look & find Javier’s latest studio release, a podcast plucked from his live performance at the cities District 36 club and one reflective of Mr Medina’s music making & mastery, so one for the collection by going to http://soundcloud.com/javier-medina/tracks, not forgetting to pick up his Circuit compilation too.
Charming Chico
Now to another Latino although of the Venezuelan persuasion, Eduardo De La Torre a proud product of this South American country, although a large chunk of his life has been spent here in Europe, bouncing between Spain Germany & London, the capital being the place we first met a befriended our fellow Sagittarian and where his D.J’ing career took a huge leap, his exposure to big brand Matinee very much setting a course in his career that would lead him to laying his hat in Berlin. And it is in the German capital where Edu has really come into his own, the more relaxed feel of the city’s scene allowing him to flex his creative muscles much better than here in London, the firm foundation of a residency with Berlin’s Connection club the platform that allows Mr De La Torre to tour across Europe, Moscow a regular feature of his activity, while Cologne, Hamburg, Vienna &, of course, back to London feature, here being where he has played for clubs & events including A:M, As One, Beyond & Lovechild. That said, Berlin & Germany is his rock, as speaking the language fluently, having studied electronic music production in the city & also being intrinsically involved in the annual Salvation party which took place just last night and was one we were proud to be part of last year, means he feels right at home here, Edu completely in the thick of it all. But his talents behind the decks have also extended to stints on radio shows, his stay in Spain spurting his love for this medium, while beaming the Edu sounds through Radio Ibiza (via Berlin naturally).
Very Impressive Production
But much of his energy also goes into his productions and having formed a recording partnership & studio set up by the name of No-Scene, in the short space of time the duo have been working together, the accomplishments have been substantial, a huge highlight being their nomination to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision song contest, no mean feat when you consider that, despite its reputation, this is one of the biggest & richest music machines in Europe. That aside, a steady stream of track releases mark Edu’s production partnership, the latest being “VIP”, a pumping progressive, come electronic, tech & tribal combo that has the eastern European style of sound written all over it and has just been released on iTunes, remixes from the likes of Tony Jaguar & Andi Cowl on the cards, while Belgian beatmaster Elof De Neve is also associated with the track adding even more prominence to the production. However, for us, it is when Mr De La Torre creates his solo tracks &/or bootlegs that we see the Edu that we came to love & adore back in the days of his time in London, his re-work of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” probably one of our favourites, that underlying connection with Elof De Neve coming through quite strong and a track that we see finding favour across lots of European dancefloors with remix or re-work packages surely on their way. So we need say no more than thoroughly recommending that you select his Soundcloud site at http://soundcloud.com/eduy2k/ where you will find both tracks, while a pop to his podcast page will find full on compilations, the latest from his residency at Connection in his adopted home city.
Terrific Tel Aviv Talent
Right, moving from Berlin to Tel Aviv, one which some may find awkward but it is here where we find impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman, terrific talent both behind the decks & in the recording studio, yet one that only came to our attention this year, well New year’s Day to be exact, when he managed a feat few have achieved by playing for rival brands Salvation & Lovechild pretty much back-to-back. Having spent a short time with the man in the capitals clubbing events WE Party & Orange that followed, it became apparent that we would begin to track his playing & production progress, a further five day meet for Delice Dream in Barcelona in April cementing a friendship that has grown in stature & strength since, although we were gutted to miss his showing for Hustlaball here in June when we found ourselves in hospital rather than on the dancefloor. However, that connection we had cemented in Barcelona was manifested in the production of a podcast that was to represent a joint collaboration that, like all good friendships, had is rocky moments, while the central aim of this “From Tel Aviv To London” mix was to promote Guy as a D.J. & producer in the eyes of the European aspiration jewel he is undoubtedly aiming for, that taste of success that he achieved in London still fresh in his mind. So, having chosen tracks between us, but with Guy’s input invaluable to its release, the result is a compilation packed with sunshine sounds of the summer, heaps of Scheiman influences included, not least three of his own remix productions and what is fast becoming our track of the moment (more on that in a sec), so well worth checking out at http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/from-tel-aviv-to-london-disco/.
Delightful Devotion
But the Scheiman story is one that still sees his roots firmly planted at home in Israel, his daily occupation as a sports physio still very much part of his life, while he continues to hold down residencies for the city’s club Cat & Dog, appearances for massive brand FFF now also a feature and whilst many would say he probably still stands in the shadow of Israel’s biggest D.J. export, Offer Nissam, for us, Guy’s talents far outweigh his peer. So much so, we see him being our third Danny Verde in the making, a collaboration with one of the world’s most prolific club scene performance artists, Peyton, on the cards, while that goal of playing in London again is a lot closer than he realises, Guy now an international D.J. resident inclusion in Alex Erfan’s Lovechild lot with the likes of Javier Medina, Johan Khoury & Dani Toro, this neatly moving onto what is surely his best compilation to date, his devotion to Lovechild’s return to the capitals clubbing circuit at Pulse last Saturday. And in this promo mix we have a podcast that is as close to a live performance at the club that we could want, this 80 minute marvel kicking off with euphoric energy and in so doing, displaying the raw talent of this dextrous D.J., a resplendent remix of the dancefloor classic “Love On My Mind” leading onto hit after hit that finishes with that Danny Verde Lady Gaga triumph “You & I” which Guy has given his own slight re-work treatment. Now this podcast is definitely looking like being included in our top ten of the year or at least a strong contender, so it goes without saying that we recommend you add it to your collection now by going to http://soundcloud.com/guyscheiman/guy-scheiman-october-2011-1/ & while you’re at it, check out his sea of sounds via tons tracks & compilations to choose on his Soundcloud site.
Now for that track of the moment mention and one that is on our collaborative mix with Guy, but is one that has also recently found its way into the playlists of plenty of D.J.’s on the capitals clubbing circuit, not least Steve Pitron who treated us to it at Beyond & then Lo-Profile in the last two weekends. Geoff M’s “You Better” with the vivacious vocals of Dawn Tallman having been given the magical musical touch up by David Penn, is an absolute corker & has raced up our own 2011 chart, a top 40 that looks tougher to choose than ever before, although this should safely make it in, a link to its brilliant beats in full seven minute glory right here at http://youtube.com/watch?v=wRPk__KizOg.
Brilliant Brazilian
Right, back to the protégé job in hand and our next two come right here from London, although the first has his roots in Brazil, a country which has come to influence the capitals clubbing circuit in a pretty big way recently, with first The Week making a splash and then home grown brand Casa Latina making its mark and was where one Junior Moura made his club D.J.’ing debut, his main room showing for the superb “Super Car Wash” event back in July a huge highlight. However, the Junior story goes back a little further than that, as his very first appearance behind the decks was for Ku-Bar back in February, one we sadly missed as we were heading off to South Africa at the time, while more recent gigs for both Profile & Lo-Profile, for The Later Boat Party in July, as well as that unforgettable post London Pride play at Barcode Vauxhall are all stand-out stints for an individual whom we tip for further & future success. And his development couldn’t be in more capable hands, as he is one half of the relationship with scene superstar Steve Pitron, a better tutor Junior (better known as Celso) couldn’t ask for, not least that he has that wealth of talent & experience to draw upon, as well as Steve’s connections within the clubbing world & the wider music industry. However, while there is clearly a Pitron palate in Junior’s music making, his desire to strike his own style of sound also runs through his performances, that inescapable Brazilian influence coming into play, while he spends as much of the short amount of spare time he has away from his daytime job to search for new sounds in include in his sets, a devotion that is sure to pay dividends.
Casa Compilation
So given the tutorial direction Junior has received in his relatively short career to date, as well as given his hectic work ethic & schedule, it is remarkable to see that he has already produced three podcasts, two devoted to Casa Latina, so naturally leaning towards Brazilian beats for their make-up, while his first effort back in March also taking this delightful direction. But listening to all three it is clear how Junior’s talent is developing and how more accomplished his music choices are becoming, the latest devotion to Casa by far our favourite of his three compilations, as it seems to signal that style of sound step that we deluded to earlier, the influences from his tutor still apparent, but tempered in a way that reveals Junior’s composition capabilities. And it is a compilation that includes some colossal choices, not least that Danny Verde remix smash of Lady Gaga’s “You & I”, among a sea of other vocally infused tracks, with Brazilian beats as blends, Junior clearly opting for the Latin influence both with the tracks & their composers, quite rightly so for this devotion to all things Casa Latina, so one for the collection by going to http://djjuniorspodcast.podomatic.com/, while you can do no wrong by picking up the other two either. As for Junior’s D.J.’ing future, well it certainly looks bright, more Profile & Lo-Profile performances surely in the pipeline, while his Casa residency is also assured which will no doubt lead onto bigger brand inclusions and we will be right there supporting his very step in true protégé style.
Gigolo Gem
Looking to London again for our penultimate inclusion in this special music newsletter, we find Zach Burns, a D.J. talent that sprung onto the scene pretty much from nowhere, but impressed from day one, an inaugural set for Room Service quickly followed by a short stint for Heaven’s Popcorn, other brands under his belt including guest appearances for Gravity & A:M, while a recent trip down to Brighton saw him play for the official Circuit Festival pre-party alongside Matinee’s new resident Javier Medina. However, it is Profile & Lo-Profile where Zach has really found his D.J.’ing legs, he part of the Profile roving residency team along with the likes of Jamie Head, Brent Nicholls, Rob Sykes & Craig Daniels, Zach perfectly placed among his more experienced peers, yet more than capably holding his own & indeed shining in the spotlight. And he did just that two weekends ago downstairs in Lo-Profile, standing in for an absent Mikey D and following a scintillating set from Steve Pitron with an equally exceptional performance that was, once again, evidence enough for us to include him here, to rate him as one to watch among a sea of hopefuls & also ran D.J.’s of which Mr Burns is definitely not, rather a star turn for future greatness. With Gigolo boys, the Hart’s, taking him under their wing from the off, while the pressure to peform for the very first set of the clubs launch was immense, Zach pulled it off like a seasoned pro, pitching his performance perfectly and was a sparkling set that still lives vividly in our memories, not least as we have labelled one of this year’s great tracks “Stupiddisco 2011” as a Zach memory maker whenever & wherever we hear it. But with appearances for Casa Latina and now his inclusion in the resident team for new Friday night kid on the block, Le Boy, Zach is on the precipice of a huge step change in his D.J.’ing vocation which could become a career alongside the photography path he is as leading.
Outstanding October Offering
In terms of his podcast production, it is clear Zach is discernibly devoted to his art, as not a month goes by without a Burns bag of beats coming our way and not only does he set aside an immense amount of time & energy into creating the compilations, but he also takes time to post them with thoughtful explanations to their compositions, his October offering a perfect example as he is quite rightly explains that “…some people have stressed in the past that they can’t label my podcasts by the month (as he does) when I feature “some” songs that don’t fit that month of release (would be an incredible feat if each one did) but I never promote my podcasts as bursting with “fresh new music” month in, month out…” and in fairness we are glad that they don’t, as each one displays a skill that very few D.J.’s possess and that is the ability to spot a tune that befits the moment & makes plays to the audience in front of them, Zach having this skill in bountiful bundles. And this definitely translates into his live performances as well as his monthly podcasts, each one never failing to impress us with their production quality & choice tune picks, this latest instalment getting the feet tapping and the dancing heart racing right from the off, the Burns beats trademark of rhythm & bass as its foundation, but while starting very much in this vein, it soon moves into more upfront beats including a brilliant remix of a favourite of ours, “Upside Down”, while one of his inspirers, Nacho Chapado, is featured too, “The Hit Part 1” in the thick of this 63 minute marvel, the last few minutes giving way to more vocal & uplifting tones in the form of “Live Your Life” as its core, the whole podcast representing the joyful journey that we enjoy whenever we see him play live. So, go grab your slice of Mr Burns by pressing play on his podcast page at http://djburns.podomatic.com/, or simply add his whole series of releases to your collection as we have done, plus keep an eye out for this rising star of the scene as he cuts a even more significant stride in the coming months.
Parisian Pal Player & Producer
So to our final D.J./producer and, without doubt, the most established talent in our list of inclusions here, so perhaps not so much a protégé of ours but more a main player, although we couldn’t resist including him as Leomeo is undoubtedly part of this handful of terrific talents his links to one of them most notable, as studio recordings with Javier Medina form a part of this Philippine born but now French national’s resounding repertoire. But where to start in chronicling this exceptional talent’s career behind the decks is a tricky task, as we would need to devote a whole post to his achievements, although with virtually every newsletter in the last twelve including one of his compilation or track releases, it would be fair to say we have covered plenty of ground already. Therefore, focussing on the now, the last few weeks have seen the irrepressible Mr Carandang continue his globetrotting, a mini tour of northern America kicking off with a return to Montreal & the city’s Parking club, the Canadian’s welcoming him like one of their own, while just last night he has played out to audiences in San Francisco, having stopped off in New York on the way. But his beloved Paris will be calling, although hardly a weekend goes by without Leo being elsewhere, whether it be down in Nice, across in Cologne, or even further afield, his surely exhausting schedule hardly seeming to take its toll, probably helped by his rigorous fitness regime and total devotion to his art of music making & mixing which manifests itself in the never-ending podcast productions coming out of the Leomeo factory of features.
Magnificent Matinee Mix
With a musical direction that continues to keep us on our tip toes, the clear tribal influences that have earmarked much of his career behind the decks, often give way to more progressive beats, upfront house and even the odd infusion of lounge & chill-out genres that show just how accomplished & rounded is Leo’s talent to befit the occasion perfectly, he also one of those rare breed of D.J.’s that can switch his set in an instant to match the mood or direction of his dancing devotees. So, it comes as no surprise that when we look back across the last five months podcast productions we see, lounge, electronic, club, afterhours, house & underground mixes to take our pick from, although to be honest, we have ended up choosing the lot to add to our collection, as each one reflects in their own wonderful way, the towering talent before our eyes. But, if we had to lay our hat on one particular compilation, it would probably be his “Matinee Peak Time” mix, lifted from his recent performance for the brand in his home city of Paris and one that evokes lots of memories of sets we have seen him play right here in London for Lovechild & LGDF. Mind you, having spent three unforgettable days with (as we affectionately call him) our Leo Leo in the French capital earlier this year, it is this mix that gets our vote. However, his latest “Underground” offering is equally exceptional in its own delightfully different way, both available by selecting the track page at his Soundcloud site via direct link http://soundcloud.com/djleomeo/tracks, this also allowing you to dig deeper into no less than five pages of Carandang compositions to choose, meaning the sound of Leomeo is your outstanding oyster.
Right, that’s about it for this special feature length look at our “Protégé Players & Producers” and with well over 20 tracks & podcasts as perfect picks, there is plenty of magnificent music to keep you occupied for hours if not days until our next newsletter underpins what has been a labour of love in this post, one that was conceived weeks ago but has, with re-found enthusiasm, at last come to fruition, leaving us to simply say, “sit back, select those sounds and let them play, as music is the answer”. (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Music | Tags: Danny Verde, Eduardo de La Torre, Guy Scheiman, Javier Medina, Junior Moura, Leomeo, Leomeo Carandang, Zach Burns | 4 Comments »
Finding A Pulse
Over the years we have grown particularly fond of certain brands that have braved the capitals clubbing scene, the reasons for our attractions as varied as the clubs themselves, although certain common denominators kind of tie them together, the music & the music makers two perfect examples, although with certain clubs, it can also be said that the promoters are just as important. Indeed, looking at those brands that have achieved a special place in our hearts and those individuals at the helm, the prolific part that promoters play pretty much go without saying, Crash & Wayne Shires, FIST & Suzie Krueger, Trade & Laurence Malice, they all go hand in hand. And whist these three examples made have faded from the scene, they still fill us with misty eyed memories and ones that we miss dearly. And there is another brand that we have missed dearly, one that, like our three other examples, has gained a special place in our hearts, a club that has sported magnificent music players & music of the highest quality, its promoter synonymous with its existence, so seeing it disappear off our radar, having played such an important part in our lives, was a bitter pill to swallow.
We Love Lovechild
Lovechild has, without doubt, been a brand we have followed right from day one, when it launched itself as a Sunday t-dance style soiree, something in the order of Salvation, this being no real surprise as the promoter who had always been the big driving force behind this mega club brand, Alex Erfan, was keen to offer fervent followers of all things Salvation, something similar but different. However, it was clear from the first set of Sunday parties at Pacha, that the bottom had fallen out of t-dance style clubbing, on a Sunday at least, a short break seeing Lovechild reappear as a Saturday offering and at new home Fire, a venue which proved a worthy home for Alex & the club for close on 18 months. Plus, the switch from Sunday’s to Saturday’s allowed the Lovechild team to expand & experiment with the brand, a whole succession of successful parties, including alliances with other clubs such as Delice & Wild Fruit, cemented it as one of the capitals clubbing scene’s big hitters. Notable parties included “Wet”, “Makin Hay” & “Tropicana” (among many more), Alex also drawing on international D.J. talent to boost the appeal, while the creation of the infamous “Contact Room”, the introduction of saucy shows & the distinctly different arena’s of music, all added to the clubs appeal.
Turning Up The Pulse
However, times they do change and it was becoming all the more clearer that the onetime harmonious working relationship between Lovechild & Fire, Alex Erfan & the Orange group, was beginning to sour, the “1st Anniversary” back in November last year being the first catalyst, Lovechild pretty much shunted into the sidelines while Fire’s main room was given away to a breeder bash. And, from then, it was pretty much a slippery slope for our loveable brand, the final full-on Fire fling being when Lovechild joined forces with Israeli splendour FFF in May, relationships between The Orange Group top brass & Alex straining to breaking point, all meaning something had to give and the withdraw of Lovechild from the Saturday clubbing schedule was the saddening consequence. But, as the saying goes, “you can’t keep a good dog down” and, after a summer break which has seen the brand pick itself up & dust itself off, Lovechild is now ready to start all over again, a new venue, a new look & a new direction the inspiration for its return.
Beefy Blake In Blue
So, what’s the big change?, and what can we expect from the new look Lovechild? Well, first & foremost Alex has forged a new association with Pulse, the state of the art venue that plays host to SuperMartXe, the break away from Vauxhall definitely a new & daring direction which, we hope, will pay dividends, the flexibility with Pulse’s space allowing Alex to manage & manipulate his events to match the crowd & the entertainment. And there is definitely lots of promise for this first event “The Big Blue”, Alex kicking off by saying that “…This incredibly exciting space will allow Lovechild to grow and present the biggest shows and parties to date. New features are being added to the Pulse in the run-up to the party and Lovechild will by then feature the biggest dance floor on the London scene as well as some of the most ‘state of the art’ lights and lasers going in especially for the night…”, while the joining of forces with porn star legend Blue Blake is the inspiration behind the title of the event, the accent very much sex & seduction, a whole host of stars beefing up this branded bash, Alex going on to explain that , “…Lovechild goes blue this Saturday when it celebrates the launch of porn legend Blue Blake?s filthy new film “A Policeman Fucked My Son” andhis new website blueblake.com. There?s not just 1 or 2 super hot pornstars (as seems to be the norm these days) but a veritable “pornucopia” of sensational Blue Blake stars from past and present. Leading the pack is the UK?s most popular porn star Paddy O?Brian, along with French superstar Issac Jones, British internationals Ben Brown, Bruno Knight and Jake Reed. There?s also some American beef jetting in from the USA, the buff and beautiful Cody Miller. And that?s not all, Pulse will be packed with porn stars and purveyors of filth. So the hot studs dancing next to you could be the guys you?d been watching fuck the night before…”
International Israeli
Well, that certainly sets the scene for this “Big Blue” event, the porn element plain for all to see, but what about the music?, Well, with a pretty impressive list of resident D.J.’s both from here in the capital & internationally, Alex has a lot to choose from, Tony English the first major inclusion in an all London line-up, this main man having been with Lovechild from its beginnings and very much the lynch pin in Alex’s armoury, having toured with the brand internationally to destinations that have included Amsterdam, Antwerp, Istanbul & Israel, while he was with Lovechild for their two excursions to Edinburgh over the summer. Moreover , he is the man behind the “Lovechild” single, which gets full release early next year, although Tony has posted the radio edit to his Soundcloud page, check it out at http://soundcloud.com/djtonyenglish/tony-english-feat-kaysee-1, the vivacious vocals of Kaysee looking like this should be a 2012 smash and will no doubt be within Tony’s set on Saturday. Then, there is Alessandro Londra, another dynamic D.J. that has been flying the flag for Lovechild both here in London & across Europe, he never failing to ignite the dancefloor with his full blown tech & progressive house, our Italian bello having laid down a podcast to mark Lovechild’s first party at Pulse, a 62 minute marvel which is as good an indication of what to expect from him on Saturday as anything and a compilation well worth adding to your collection by going to http://soundcloud.com/djalessandrolondra/lovechild-pulse-club-london. But Alessandro is not the only one to mark this “Big Blue” event with a podcast release, impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman (one of Alex’s international residents) also jumping on the compilation bandwagon with his own devotion, perhaps off all the mixes, our favourite & one which you can grab at http://djguyscheiman.podomatic.com/entry/2011-10-05T15_47_54-07_00 although unlike the text on his podcast page, sadly we won’t be seeing Guy at Pulse this time round, although we know Alex has him lined up for a gig real soon. Then London based Aussie Brent Nicholls has also released a compilation dedicated to the party and we can confirm he will be there, although scheduled to play a late set, although surely worth hanging around for, especially given the quality of this podcast, which is worthy of at least a listen by going to http://djbrentnicholls.com/web/2011/09/21/podcast-lovepulse/.
Get It On Mr Gee
But all that is only part of the music picture, as Alex will also be drawing on the talents of two more Italian’s, Tony Bruno & Gabriele Cutrano, while a second Aussie in the form of Terry Vietheer will also feature, as will both Mattias & Phil Hewson, an impressive notch up of eight stars who will all get a bite at the “Big Blue” main room cherry, while Marco Gee is the final entrant onto the list of prolific players, Marco the latest addition to the residency team, having hugely impressed us at Lovechild’s “Muscle” event back in March and is very much a staple part of this latest outing. Why?, well Marco is responsible for the production of what looks like being a char topping smash, the truly tremendous “Get It On” by Shockalady, a brilliant re-take of the rock classic by T-Rex, this new version very much more disco than rock, camp than vamp, this promotional video giving you a good idea of exactly what we mean, http://youtube.com/watch?v=4VJFzzIMH6M. And, the hot off the press news is that Shockalady will be performing the track live on Saturday, this shaping up to be one of the most entertaining shows we have seen at Lovechild yet and one you definitely won’t want to miss. Plus, with Marco taking charge of the opening set, you can certainly expect a rousing start to this “Big Blue” event, a taste of whats to come available from Mr Gee’s latest podcast, which was lifted direct from another opening set, this time for Lovechild’s “Superlovers”, an gathering held for Soho’s Pink Sunday, Marco playing out to a considerable audience at Lo-Profile, so one worth catching at http://marcogee.podomatic.com/.
Blue Is The Word
So to the all important detail and this Lovechild “The Big Blue” spectacular takes place this coming Saturday (15th October) at Pulse (full address, 1 Invicta Plaza, Off Southwark St, Blackfriars, London, SE1) from 11 p.m. and running through until an advertised 6 a.m. finish, although a little birdie tells us that, subject to numbers, it could run a fair bit later (whoopee!!). Advance tickets have been on sale for a while, the £10 early bird ones having been gobbled up quite quickly, while standard £15 tickets are still available by going online to http://clubtickets.com/gb/2011-10/15/lovechild-pulse, while a drop into Prowler, Clone Zone &/or 50 is also an option, tickets also available on the door at the same price. With sponsorship support from Gaydar and live video recor4dings coming from Mirrorballs.tv, the launch of Blueblake.com will also be a feature, more information on the event out at http://alexerfan.com, while new website http://blueblake.com is also worth a sneak preview.
Now, despite a run of SuperMartXe’s at Pulse, due a a range of circumstances, we have yet to see the new venue, so we are just crossing fingers that come Saturday nothing will be in our way, meaning we hope to be there to report on it all, so if you see us, please come say hi, but make sure you don’t miss out on this Lovechild return by ensuring you “Go There! Be There! (DISCO MATT)
Posted in Recommends | Tags: Alessandro Londra, Alex Erfan, Blue Blake, Brent Nicholls, Gabriele Cutrano, Guy Scheiman, Lovechild, Marco Gee, Mattias, Phil Hewson, Pulse, Shockalady, Tony Bruno, Tony English | No Comments »
-
14 May 2013 | 0 Comments
Music – “Done, Dusted & The One” – Podcast & Track of The Week – Tuesday 14th May
Back into music mode, we kick off by selecting our latest podcast & track of the week choices, Done & Dusted’s compilation & a brilliant Verde, Redant & Scheiman collaboration our choices, download/stream links, respective banner clicks in our adjacent music section or by image clicks below, while we delve ...
-
12 May 2013 | 0 Comments
Reviews – “Peach Of A Parisian Party” – Scream – Saturday 5th January – Full Size Review
Having christened our continental clubbing cavorting in the capitals closest channel divided country, it was inevitable that we would return to picturesque Paris, this time to succumb to the splendour of Scream in the hands of our impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman & his spectacular sounds, but what made this peach ...
-
11 May 2013 | 0 Comments
Music/D.J.’s – “Terrific Tel Aviv Talent” – D.J./Producer Guy Scheiman – Saturday 11th May – Special Focus
With 2013 having already seen impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman make his mark across Europe with appearances in Paris, Brussels, Nice, Hamburg & Prague, ahead of his next headlining gig at Red & Blue in Antwerp, we look at the rise & rise of this Tel Aviv based D.J./Producer as well ...
-
27 Jan 2013 | 1 Comment
Music – “Podcast Picks & Tracks In the Mix” – DM Does The Music News – Sunday 27th January – 2013 Newsletter Vol. 2
Having propelled podcasts in the primary in volume one, it’s the turn of tracks in this our next music newsletter of 2013, we picking out the producers we promote right here on our website, looking through their recent productions & picking out our highlights, while podcasts get a little look ...
-
1 Apr 2012 | 0 Comments
Reports – “Must Try Harder” – Matt’s Monthly Message – Sunday 1st April
Schools are out, Easter looms, a new era dawns and spring is definitely in the air in Disco Matt land as he draws a line under the stormy seas that marred his stepping out on the scene during January, February & March, taking a brief look back but a more ...
-
3 Mar 2012 | 0 Comments
Reports – “Music Is The Answer” – Music Features, Focuses & Newsletters Return – Saturday 3rd March
Regardless of the topsy turvy times & the rollercoaster ride twists & turns that have become part & parcel of our lives lately, being charmed by a creative compilation, passionate about a prolific podcast & titillated by a terrific tune means that music always seems to be the answer. And ...
-
12 Jan 2012 | 1 Comment
Music – “Best Year Yet” – 2011 Music Review – The Podcasts – Wednesday 11th January – Music Is The Answer Special Part Two
From prolific to protégé players, 2011 has proven an interesting podcast production playground, some new faces making it big, while a flood of familiar ones captivated us with their compilations. But the choices have been made & from a listing that reads like who’s who, we have chopped our champions ...
-
9 Jan 2012 | 0 Comments
Music – “Best Year Yet” – 2011 Music Review – The Tracks – Sunday 8th January – Music Is The Answer Special Part One
Disco Matt, having procrastinated, cogitated & deliberated, while fending off floods of requests since the year end, cannot hold back anymore, as he delivers the results of who & what made it into his fabulous forty and which towering tune made it to number one in his track chart of ...
-
23 Oct 2011 | 4 Comments
Music – “Protege Players & Producers” – Music Is The Answer Special Feature – Sunday 23rd October
Having been pretty all encompassing with our last few newsletters, we thought it time to divert back to our original feature format & focus on just a handful of what we have called our “Protégé Producers & Players”, a select few that are either internationally based stars that we have ...
-
12 Oct 2011 | 0 Comments
Recommends – “Finding A Pulse” – Lovechild “The Big Blue” – Saturday 15th October – Weekend Focus Special
Over the years we have grown particularly fond of certain brands that have braved the capitals clubbing scene, the reasons for our attractions as varied as the clubs themselves, although certain common denominators kind of tie them together, the music & the music makers two perfect examples, although with certain ...
Event Review – “Bare Ches… : It would be fair to say that, over the years, we have s...posted on December 22, 2010
Recommends – “The Bel Ami… :
It hardly seems twelve months since we went str...posted on May 5, 2011
Reviews : Here you will find regular reviews of clubs, special ev...posted on October 7, 2010- Previews : Here we preview rather than review clubs & events that ...posted on October 7, 2010
- Music : Here we focus on, review and recommend the latest podca...posted on October 7, 2010
- Recommends : Here you will find recommendations for upcoming events ...posted on November 24, 2010
Reviews – “Eye-Opener Of … : Generally unplanned & unscheduled events in our clubbin...posted on March 2, 2011
Recommends – “Gay Boys In… : When the seeds were first sown on a specialist evening ...posted on April 11, 2011
Recommends – “Shoreditch … :
Having given East Bloc plenty of coverage in our We...posted on May 14, 2011- Reports : Here you will find reports & features on the latest new...posted on November 24, 2010
.jpg)
