Category Archives: Gigs

Tracklists

T-Funkshun

Substance Abuse and MF Doom – Profitless Thoughts (Street) [Fat Beats]

The Pharcyde – Soul Flower (Remix) [Delicious Vinyl]

Renaissance Records – Do it to it [Renaissance Recordings]

The Afrobutt Express – Funk Surprise [Bigger Bear]

Tony Foster – After Party [Mode Recordings]

Diviniti – Find a Way (PirahnaHead’s Intense Dub) [Women on Wax Recordings]

Omar-S – Always There [FXHE Records]

Omar S – Oasis Detroit #1 [FXHE Records]

Silvio Manuel – La Mente Oscura que es Carlo Marx (The Dark Mind that is Carlo Marx) [Ferrispark Records]

Rick Wade – Night Station [Music Is… Records]

3 Chairs – Dreamz [MRKT Chairs Publishing]

The Rotating Assembly – Them Drums [Sound Signature]

Abe Duque – What Happened? (B1) [ADR]

Joshua – Rails [Music for Freaks]

Henrik Schwarz – Marvin [Mood Music]

Henrik Schwarz – Chicago [Mood Music]

Ron Trent & Chez Damier – Warfare [Track Mode Recordings]

Just One – Love2Love [Neroli]

Freeq Unique – Mind & Soul [Bitasweet Records]

DKD – Future Rage [Bitasweet/2000 Black]

Umod – Tromboline (Domu Rmx) [Sonar Kollektiv]

Rima – Telos (Isoul8 Remix) [Compost Records]

Orgue Electronique – Here I Come (Vengo) [Crème Organization]

Etienne de Crecy – Soul Seek [Different]

Aroy Dee / Peel Seamus – Razar [M>O>S Recordings]

Omar S – U – [Subgroundz Records]

DJ Yoav B – Luv Iz [Delsin]

I:Cube – Freez [Versatile Reocrds]

Perception and Mad Mike – Windchime [UR]

Juan Atkins – Dusk Til Dawn [New Religion records]

Mathew Jonson – Decompression [Minus]

Electrofunk – Bounce [Electrofunk Records]

Dan Curtin – Autonomic Groove [Down Low]

R-Tyme – R-Theme (Mayday Mix) [Transmat]

Kenny Larkin – Breathe [Peacefrog]

Dabrye – Magic Says [Ghostly International]

[313] 10th anniversary party (UK) (all tracks were created by one-time [313] list participants)

Newworldaquarium – Daze [Delsin]

Newworldaquarium – Tresspassers [Delsin]

Morgan Geist – I Want To… [SSR]

$tinkworx – Saliva (Putsch ’79 Remix) [Delsin]

$tinkworx – Yinmao [Platinum Projects]

Metro Area – The Art of Hot [Environ]

Ani – Love is the Message (For Those Who Didn’t Hear It) [Prescription]

Deep Forces – You’re my One & Only [Foreplay Recordings]

Merrick Brown – Stealth Crime [Tektite Recordings]

Stewart Walker – Something for You [Tektite Recordings]

Jacek Sienkiewicz – New Direction [Recorgnition]

Juan Atkins – Dusk Til Dawn [New Religion records]

Non Stop DJs – Furious (Raw Fury Dub) [Non Stop Productions]

Upcoming gigs

I should mention that I haven’t already mentioned I’m headlining T-funkshun in Liverpool on Friday the 17th. It’s one of the most respected parties in England, so I’m quite chuffed. Went up there for Kenny Larkin earlier this year and had a blast.

On the 18th I’ll be playing the London [313] 10th anniversary party @ the newly revamped Public Life, so be sure to come check that out if you’re around.

Red Star, Camberwell, with Ian Cheshire and Ryan Blackman

When we arrived the sound was unbelievably quiet. After a while we got pretty fed up with it and tried to track down a sound guy. I told them I’d come all the way from Detroit to play, and it would be really dissapointing if the audience couldn’t hear it. Hehehe. It worked. For once the American accent came in handy. 🙂 We got just enough volume out of it that we could kinda hear, but not until Ryan’s set was half over. 🙁 My set went surprisingly well given I’d only mixed four times since April, and hadn’t had most of the records for the last two years. Ian followed with some chunky tune provision, but I think by the time 3:00 rolled around most people had had enough of the Red Star. We left right as things wound down, had a lengthy trip home given how close it is, and promptly fell sound asleep.

Foundation II, Plzen, Czech

Arrived in Prague around 18:30 and headed straight to the venue in Plzen, about an hour from the airport. On arrival, Ryan told me they’d moved my set to 21:30 (the event started at 20:00), which was a relief, if a bit early. A good compromise for my style though. Checked out the venue real quick. Rallied people for much needed grub. Was told I might only be able to get fried cheese and chips across the road, but when we finally got ourselves together Veronika took us to a wicked Italian place down the street. Got myself an enormous pizza. Ran back to the venue (literally) with 5 minutes to get my shit together and found out my set had been moved to 23:00. Whew! It really couldn’t have been much of a better slot for my first visit. Oh, and get this! Grand total for a six person dinner in a reasonably swank Italian place: £18 (a little over $30).

Everyone else filtered back soon thereafter and we got a chance to get some drinks down us (at around 35p, or $.50 for a damn fine pint of Pilsner Urquel), watched the place fill up, got a feel for the sound, etc. 23:00 crept up quicklyand before I knew it I was well into it. The hour and 45 minute set went by very quickly, except for the last 15 minutes, when I had to sit down for a few seconds to catch my breath. I really threw a lot of myself into it, like you can only do for a big gig. I was really happy with my set and had a hell of a lot more people in there than I would’ve expected when I was going up again Ryan and Stu, who seem to be developing quite a Czech following. My only regret about my set is that I didn’t get to see them – oh, and that one time I knocked the tonearm after finishing a mix. I *always* do that at least once when spinning with those big clunky Stanton 680 headshells. Shame I couldn’t record it – my minidisc chord disappeared the night before. :/ But I can’t end on a negative, since I thought it was one of the better sets I’ve played in public. Here’s some pics of me in action:

The thing that made the biggest impression on me about the main event were how happy everyone seemed to be with their sets, and how open-minded the crowd was. I guess I just don’t often get the same sense of excitement from larger crowds. It still felt very intimate although the venue was fairly big and reasonably full. It’s really hard to pick out a highlight of the evening for me, because I was running back and forth between everything all night. Gutted about missing all of the Blowmen (our sets overlapped). Really really enjoyed what I heard of Rolando. Chris Finke’s drum ‘n bass action was dope (slept through his later set, as pictures will evidence with much hilarity soon). Lee’s set was a particular stand-out for me as well, since we’re on such a similar musical wavelength.

My pics:

As you will see in this poorly translated review, the reaction seems to be fairly positive (or does it)?

original
Na druhé stagi se po Molczikovi gramcù ujal amerièan Tristan Watkins, jehož deep techno mi až chvílemi bralo dech. Od první desky prostì super!! Blížila se jedna hodina a tudíž došlo k hromadnému pøesunu na stage hlavní, kde se již chystala hvìzda svìtového formátu na své první èeské vystoupení.

crap translation
Within species stagnation to about Molczikovi gram ujal Yankee Tristan Watkins, whose deep technologist me when now and then bralo wind. Since prime slabs in plain terms superpower!! Approximated to jedna hour plus accordingly došlo make for hromadnému transposition within stagnation mainsail, where to yet toward star world rule size within své prime èeské appearing.

Apparently I’m the maritime superpower of technologist stagnation! Quite vexing only picking up about 20% of what dude is saying, but there’s no such thing as bad press, as they say, so even in the worst case I ain’t bitchin’. Hope to have a real translation of this soon.

Freelance @ The Cube, Camberwell

During sound check the live PA guys Laz and Steve sounded really great. I mean, I was really amazed how good it sounded in there, and they surprised us by having Laszlo sing! He was really good too. So… after they were done I had a couple of trial mixes to make sure all was in order from our end, and noticed that the left table was impossible to back que on. Like the needle literally flew off the record whenever you spun it backwards. Luckily I had two spares, but managed to kill one of my headshells in the process of trying to replace the other one. What a mess… Haven’t even had a chance to see if I can fix it, since I think I totally nuked the bit where the cartridge goes into the headshell by putting it in sideways. Grrr… No more mixes from me any time soon. But we got it sorted through a combination of parts.

That all sorted itself out around 8:55, just as we were getting ready to start. So Nick went on and played a nice set, then Jamie followed with more goodness, then the live boys came on and sounded sweet. By this point we had probably 60-70 people in there, which is quite a feat for a first night in a new venue in Camberwell! I had been in social butterfly mode this whole time so when Nick came up to tell me the sound was fucked, I was totaly taken aback. When I got to the dancefloor the volume was at maybe 1/3 – 1/2 it’s sound check level, and totally distorted. In sound check the limiter had been steady at one light of 7, and now it was cranked full-on at 7. No wonder it sounded like shit! So I immediately tried to find the sound guy, who said he would be back at the venue by then, but he was nowhere to be found. The bouncer took me back into the sound room, and I wasn’t about to start fucking with all their shit, since I know that’s a really easy way to make an enemy of the sound guy, so we just had to deal with it. Someone told me the barmaid turned it down at one point, which would explain some things. Anyway… the sound dude finally arrived at the beginning of my set, and he sorted it out relatively quickly, but it was still nowhere near as loud as it had been. In short, the mood for my set was seriously compromised by all of this, and it showed. My ill-preparedness didn’t help much either. When it was all over, I had it out with the sound guy a bit, but everyone who worked at the venue was so quick to point the finger of blame at us that it was a totally worthless discussion. May have made a few enemies in the process, and not toally sure if we’ll wind up there again unless I can get some assurance that the staff we need will be on-hand for these sorts of issues. We brought them a hell of a lot of money for a Thursday night, so hopefully they’ll be persuaded to see things our way.

Bleep 43 @ Public Life with Ryan Blackman and Mike Grant

Here’s my tracklist:

8:15-10:15

========

Natalie Gardner – Going Down Slow (Flowriders Remix) – 4Lux

Spacek – Time – !K7

Dimlite:a/dd – Byrdshot and Bye – Sonar Kollektiv

Gangtarr – Just to Get a Rep (Madlib Remix) – No Label Records

Four Tet – As Serious as Your Life (Remix 1) – Domino Record Co

Diverse – Jus Biz – Chocolate Industries

Blockhead – Carnivores Unite – Ninja Tune

Outkast – Love in War – Arista

Jazzanova – Another Fine Day (Doctor Rockit’s Vocal Itch) – Rope a Dope Records

De La Soul – Aint Hip to be Labeled – Tommy Boy

Meg – Kouro (Theo Parrish Remix) – Joint Records

Scott Ferguson – “Q” (DX Mix) – Ferrispark Records

Rick Wilhite – Ruby Nights (Gilb-r Solo Flight Remix) – Third Ear

Bucketheads – Whew – Henry Street Music

Scott Ferguson – “Q” (Main Mix) – Ferrispark Records

Joshua – Century 82 – Tweekin Records

Kenny Hawkes & Louise Carver – Play the Game (Joshua’s Vocal Mix) – Music for Freaks

Stereo People vs. Music People – Baggershack – Select Recordings

Fabrice Lig – Meet U In Brooklyn – Playhouse

Liaisons Dangereuses – Peut Etre Pas – EMI

Kelley Polar Quartet – The Rhythm Touch – Environ

Niko Marks – Chune – Planet E

I:Cube – Oblivion – Versatile

James Duncan – Dub With Me – Traxxx Records

Lucky & Easy – Pimp Soul Blister (A) – Ann Aimee

Tha Poke – Uncommon Sense – Iridite Records

Starfighterz – Flavour 4 – Delsin Records

Yotoko – All Creation Remix – Delsin Records

Titonton – All Fours – Neroli

Horror Inc. – Siamese Twins – Revolver

Hakan Lidbo – White Trash – Moody Recordings

Infinity Plus One – Rhthmatic Unison – Drenched Recordings

Diego & Vocoderman – Refraction – Kanzleramt

Unknown Artist – Ltd 05 (B2) – Trapez

Kaito – Breaking the Star – Kompakt

Shawn Rudiman – That’s What I’m Talkin About – 11th Hour Technology

[313] Party @ Public Life

So… arrived @ Public Life pretty much right on time. Max came on before me and played a nice set of quirky/slower techno/idm, ending with Kraftwerk’s Neon Lights, at precisely the right speed for me to mix out of it. Wicked! This is what I followed it up with, from 10:15-11:00:

  • Luke Vibert – Acidisco – Warp
  • Moodymann – Shattered Dreams – Peacefrog
  • Meg – Kouro (Theo Parrish Remix) – Joint Records
  • Fabrice Lig – Meet U in Brooklyn – Playhouse
  • James Duncan – Times Like These (B2) – Le Systeme
  • John Arnold w/Amp Fiddler – Get Yourself Together – Ubiquity
  • 32 Project AKA Hiroshi Watanabe – Summon – Ibadan
  • Chicken Lips – Bad Skin – !K7
  • Riton – Cast of Thousands – Grand Central
  • Infinity Plus One – Rhythmatic Unison – Drenched
  • Ennio Morricone – Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (Swell Session Remix) – Compost Records

I was followed by Dan Butler, who played some deep-as-hell techno, then mah boyee Matt Chester picked up the tempo a bit, but not sacrificing an ounce of funk, then Lunar Selector played a fantastic Ableton set packed with classics and new stuff alike, going all over the place. The last Ableton set I saw Brendan do was a bit frezied for my taste in parts, although still really impressive, but this one was bang-on-the-money throughout. He even finished with my remix of The Shit, although Guy faded it out after about 60 seconds, not realising what it was – the bastard. 😉 Guy Thackeray closed things out with another really nice set, although I must confess the memory becomes a bit more faint at this point. All I know is that I had a great time, and the music throughout the night was all top notch. As Brendan said, it all worked really well together. An excellent progression from start to finish.

Bootytronics

Got to Public Life @ 7:55, with a few minutes to wipe off the sweat, grab a water and collect myself before I started spinning. Nick and I split the first two hours of our set into thirty minute chunks. I offered to go first, and struggled a little with battle-style tables and a crazy cross-fader that slid all over the place when you didn’t even touch it. After my first (slow, around 110 bpm, maybe up to 120) set, Nick suggested we move the tables horizontally. Light bulb number one. I played two Moodymann tracks, and Nick played a Theo Parrish remix and one of our mutually favorite Theo Parrish tracks, ‘Falling Up’ (he played the whole damn thing too). 🙂 So I got back on, and felt marginally more comfortable, and a few friends had arrived, and a few others wandered in. Then after that next bit, in which I went properly east coast with my housing (and jacked it up to 125-128ish), and a few fuck ups with the cross fader, Nick suggested we turn it off. Lightbulb number 2. Actually, I had looked all over this mixer for the on/off switch, and it was in a totally unlikely spot in the upper left-hand corner (sort of), just to the left of the Channel 1 EQ’s. WTF??? Anyway. That was sorted. As I got off, most of the posse arrived, and Nick really got into his 2nd half-hour, throwing down some Relief gems and the like. It was really nice. Everyone loves that shit. Then we opted to go two-on/two-off for the last hour, which was fucking wicked. We both had an awesome time, fed off each other, and totally jacked the crowd to hell. It was really fun. Played a bit of techno, but mostly just house with depth and considerable energy, at a pretty fast tempo. Finished with “Who’s Pussy is This”.

Afterwards, Brendan and Guy came on for their Ableton + scratching debut, which was nice. Most of the Brixton massive and the extended family headed off to Lost, leaving Mark, Steve and I there with a suddenly fairly-vacant club. The set was quite interesting, with a ton of great moments, but overall it was far too intense for me in that state. Cutlass Supreeme finished up with a really nice set of ghetto tek, booty and drum ‘n bass, all worked together nicely, with some really good scratching in parts.