DAVID DAY

Day by Day by Day

DAVID DAY — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:56:15 GMT

A column ends
Two years ago, the Phoenix asked me to write a weekly column about Boston’s growing electronic music and DJ scene.

David Day

Two years ago, the Phoenix asked me to write a weekly column about Boston’s growing electronic music and DJ scene. Having moved here just before the year 2000, I was fortunate enough to see the community come into its own. Now, as I write my last column from a music studio overlooking the hubbub of San Francisco’s Polk Village, I can say the Basstown scene is a force to be reckoned with. Before the turn of the millennium, Boston electronic music was practically non-existent. Yes, there were strands that touched far beyond the Hub. FRED GIANNELLI and his experiments in early acid and industrial music; ARMAND VAN HELDEN’s brief but influential time at the Loft; the hip-hop of EDO G and DJ PREMIERE; TOM MELLO and his well-known warehouse extravaganzas.

But for the most part, there was no tradition of non-rock musicmaking for Boston transplants to sink their feet into. It’s amazing what has changed. Boston’s transitional student population makes such traditions necessary. Without Aerosmith or Jonathan Richman, for instance, new Bostonians would not know they could rock and succeed. But as the music scene at large fractured, bedroom producers could become famous, DJs could become superstars, and kids with laptops could get signed off a remix. Boston adapted in kind.

The first story was one “Up All Day” (né “Circuits”) never really told, that of electronic-music experimentalist Keith Fullerton Whitman (a/k/a HRVATSKI), who brought cutting-edge experimental electronics to the indie-rock masses. To this day, people all over the world still align Boston with the elusive Somerville laptop experimenter. Whitman blew up around the same time as MR. LIF, who typified a city known for its intellect with his own far-ranging thoughts and brain-blowing lyrics. The release of Lif’s Enters the Colossus EP was a turning point in the local hip-hop mentality.

On the techno tip, the new millennium brought UNLOCKEDGROOVE, a collective of MIT kids who loved sturdy dance music and a good party. The Unlockedgroove mentality persists at places like the Phoenix Landing on Wednesdays, on thousands of vinyl slabs around the world, and in the local empire of DJ ALAN MANZI. One change brought on by the naughties was the acceptance of DJ culture and dance music — hip-hop MCs are now powerful record executives, and French house duos sell out arenas. Once again, college town Boston has adapted — turntables are a familiar sight on rock-club stages, and you can’t go far without a flyer for the latest LEEDZ EDUTAINMENT show being dropped into your hand.

The Duff connection

DAVID DAY — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:35:29 GMT

Joe Bermudez, DJ to the stars
“I really haven’t had to deal with any crazy paparazzi, since we usually keep a low profile and sneak in the back door of places.”

“I really haven’t had to deal with any crazy paparazzi, since we usually keep a low profile and sneak in the back door of places,” says local DJ and producer JOEBERMUDEZ, referring to his friend Hilary Duff. “When they do realize she is out and about, she has some rather large bouncers that are pretty effective at making sure they keep their distance.” “Up All Day” caught up with Bermudez before he headed out to Duff’s show at Bank of America Pavilion. The Brighton resident and regular Rumor DJ has remixed two tracks for Duff, “Stranger” and “With Love.” “We are going talk about what single I should remix next. Then probably hit up Revolution Rock Bar later on tonight.”

As regular house DJs go, Bermudez is probably the biggest success story in New England. He’s shared the production bed with Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and Sharika as well as the Duffmeister. His work has led to DJ gigs in Mexico City and Hollywood and a memorable New Year’s in Australia. “It was awesome to kick off 2007 19 hours before any of my friends,” he writes via e-mail. “The party was great. We started at 10 pm and went until 2 pm the next day. The club ended up shutting down, not because it was dead — there was a full dance floor and people were still trying to get in — but because the staff was so exhausted from partying all weekend and just couldn’t function anymore!”

Bermudez got started in his home state of Maine but then moved to Brighton. “As much as I loved it up there, I needed to be closer to some sort of nightlife scene and a major airport. I ended up moving in with one of my good friends and absolutely love it. I have a hot tub, off-street parking, and I can be at Logan within 10 minutes.”

He’s been using that route quite a bit. Since getting started, Bermudez has learned something many DJs take years to grasp. “There seems to be a lot of insecurity with DJs, which quickly leads to negativity. My advice is to just hang in there.”

That attitude has taken him all the way to Nervous Records, a label most DJs know well. Next month, he’ll releases a mix CD for the well-known imprint called, of all things, “Mass Movement.” The disc will offer his remix of Duff in addition to heavy hitters like Gabriel & Dresden and Martijn Ten Velden.

Basstown nights

DAVID DAY — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:42:42 GMT

The new scene emerges; Halloween preparations
If 2006 was the year Boston germinated, 2007 is the year it grows up.

SOUL-CLAPPED: Felix da Housecat does the Middlesex Lounge on Halloween.

Fall preview 2007
“Happy endings: Bad news begets good tunes.” By Matt Ashare.
“Busy busy: Something for everyone this fall.” By Debra Cash.
“Stage worthies: Fall on the Boston boards.” By Carolyn Clay.
“Bounty: The best of the season’s roots, world, folk, and blues.” By Ted Drozdowski.
“War, peace, and Robert Pinsky: The season’s fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.” By John Freeman.
“Trane, Joyce Dee Dee, Sco, and more: A jam-packed season of jazz.” By Jon Garelick.
“Turn on the bright lights: Art, women, politics, and food.” By Randi Hopkins.
“War zones: Fall films face terror at home and abroad.” By Peter Keough.
“Locked and loaded: The fall promises a double-barreled blast of gaming greatness.” By Mitch Krpata.
“BBC? America!: The networks put some English on the fall TV season.” By Joyce Millman.
“World music: The BSO goes traveling, and Berlin comes to Boston.” By Lloyd Schwartz.
“Singles scene: Local bands dig in with digital.” By Will Spitz.

If 2006 was the year Boston germinated, 2007 is the year it grows up. Basstown, as some in the scene have taken to calling it, is the crop of manic dance nights with home-grown party-rave DJs and a crowd that may be even wilder. Boston loves to wild out as much as it likes to rock out, and from Allston to Jamaica Plain to Cambridge, and most places in between, you find a night of stomping tunes in every corner.

When it comes to high-class, bottle-service-style trends, no area owns the game like the Theater District, with its revolving door of clubs and club nights, all seeking to be new and fresh. MANTRA (52 Temple Place, Boston; 617.542.8111) leads the chi-chi pack; the new night is called NYC VAULT THURSDAYS and features the stylings of DJ DEKA. Promising New York hard and vocal house music, it kicks off with an invite-only soiree before featuring guests like MICHAEL KNYTE (September 27), DJSTRICT (October 4), and, up from New York, MIDNIGHT SOCIETY (October 11). The driving force is monthly Rise resident Deka, who if he lives up to his on-line biography will “take you on a journey through musical euphoria.”

Party pros

DAVID DAY — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:22:00 GMT

DJ Lupe Loop and Paul Dailey
Weekend Warriors, or WKND WRYRZ, is the Sunday-night lounge party at ZuZu in Central Square.

DJ Lupe Loop

Paul Dailey, "20th Anniversary Mix" (mp3)

Weekend Warriors, or WKND WRYRZ, is the Sunday-night lounge party at ZuZu in Central Square. And DJs TYRONE TANOUS, CLAUDE MONEY, and the UNDISCO KID, would be hard-pressed to find a crew to match their eclectic lounge mastery. But they did.

DJ LUPE LOOP shared the decks with the guys August 26. The Brooklynite (real name: Kathleen Cholewka) plays in the faux French band Les Sans Culottes as Edith Pissoff. Her DJ name is inspired by Cuban music legend La Lupe, and in an age of laptop DJ mixing, she plays strictly vinyl. “I’m nuts for it, I still am. I don’t go to the gym, I lift boxes of records. But believe me, the other day I came out into my living room and thought, ‘What am I doing with these?’ ” Lupe Loop’s vintage style fits right into the Sunday-night scene at ZuZu, which resurrects wax weekly. “I DJ everything, late-’60s/early-’70s Latin music, rock to ska to disco. I’m a total disco nut, I’m totally into that. But it all flows, it’s all a groove. One night after DJing, this guy came up and said, ‘I don’t know how you got from salsa to Dreamboat Annie, but you did, and that’s amazing.’ ”

On this particular night, Cholewka spins after Tanous, who has dropped the System’s “Don’t Disturb This Groove.” She goes from that electronic R&B jam into — what else — Gentle Giant. “I err on the side of liking everything. I like to be the spirit of the party . . . but I also like to impose my taste a little bit. Every time you listen to a DJ, you should learn something.”

Her record bag is very much an indication of her eclecticism — everything from reggae disco to French yé-yé. Her look, a fashionably tight black lace dress, is also right at home among the chic Sunday-night crowd at ZuZu. “I’ve been going out to clubs in New York City since I was 16. I like to keep it on an international funk tip, but expect the unexpected.” Practically the motto for Weekend Warriors.

“DJing is more about sociology than mixology,” says PAUL DAILEY via e-mail. “Good DJs sense other people’s tastes and value them as much as their own. A great DJ can read a dance floor like a book and pull out a song that exactly fits the place they’ve reached in tonight’s story.”

Citizens of Basstown

DAVID DAY — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:04:46 GMT

Our magnificent seven speak out
The proliferation of dance parties in Boston has led not only to a rise in the number of DJs but also to a growth in the ranks of dancers.

Doria Grace

The proliferation of dance parties in Boston has led not only to a rise in the number of DJs but also to a growth in the ranks of dancers. Whether it’s the Good Life on Saturday, Phoenix Landing on Sunday, or Middlesex Lounge on Tuesday, more and more Bostonians are getting out to shake it to club music. “Up All Day” e-mailed seven of these dancers to get their views. “I love going to where people genuinely love music and sweating it out on the dance floor,” says DORIA GRACE, a local artist and self-confessed “paper pusher.” “It’s so satisfying to be in your body and really expressing yourself to your utmost.” Political telemarketer VIBEKE ANGELLE says, “There’s definitely an element of mass hysteria that goes into a dance party once the lights are flashing. There’s a crowd movement. It’s harder to feel that natural inebriation at a house party or a show. It gives other people that don’t go out that often a chance to consort with people — a little infamy and popularity for your everyday college student or degenerate.” And this from VLAD KROMATIKA, a Cambridge-based conceptual artist: “Dancing, for me, is like a trance. It’s a really powerful experience when something can make your body and brain go wild and you completely forget where you are. An amazing party, in my opinion, involves blood-pumping music and a cornucopia of characters. I love seeing how far people can take their imaginations with how they look.”

“Being able to forget about the work day or anything else that’s been bugging me, if only for a few minutes,” is what software engineer JON THOMPSON looks for in a night on the town. “Fun just kind of happens when I’m dancing,” says Northeastern student and retail maven KEIGA MATSUMOTO. “I can have fun without having to make an effort. The party aspect allows for people to still socialize and meet new people.” Thompson concurs: “I meet new and interesting people every time I’m out. The supportive regular crowd keeps in touch in and out of the club.” And HARMONY DAWN, a massage therapist and psychic, makes this simple point: “I like to drink, sweat, and grind. For our group, the dancing does a lot more to bring people together than a concert or a sports bar.”

Digital demon

DAVID DAY — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:03:29 GMT

Boston’s Baltimoroder fires up his laptop
If there’s one producer or DJ who represents the new style of Basstown, it’s Baltimoroder.

Alter Ego vs. Lil Keke, "Ghost Musick (Baltimoroder Remix)" (mp3)
Dangerous Muse, "The Rejection (E-Marcé Remix) (mp3)

If there’s one producer or DJ who represents the new style of Basstown, it’s BALTIMORODER. Erik Pearson has come out of nowhere over the past five years to become a scene leader with more gigs than he can handle; these include residencies at Enormous Room and the Middlesex Lounge, where he’s been a fixture for years. Pearson has also played just about everywhere else, from Axis to the Milky Way to ambient-art parties, from Montreal to New York to Fire Island and back. What explains his Basstown status, however, is his mastery of technology. A transplant from Arizona with a day job in IT and the quick fingers of a programmer, he can make tracks jump, bounce, and lift with a few simple keystrokes.

“Right now it’s just big and wavy,” he says behind the glow of dual computer screens, “but I like the sounds.” Pearson is working at his Southie studio on a remix commissioned by the local duo Matters & Dunaway, who have asked him to create a dance version of “Shot of Love.”

“I added a few chops, but that’s mostly what I’m going to stick with,” says Pearson, who pieced together his music studio by hand. His arsenal includes the German technology of the Abelton Live computer program and a Swedish program called Reason. Matters and Dunaway provided him with all the source files of their track, and now, perched above baker’s shelves loaded with midi controllers, foot pedals, and other components, he’s manipulating them at will. “If you use a certain tool for so long, you realize how easy it can be and how you strive to hear something else.”

Pearson was once best known for the ambient drones he recorded under the name State Music, and to this day he gives an experimental touch to his club tracks, many of which you can download free at his MySpace page. His popular “Ghost Musick” remix pairs the Southern rap of Lil’ Keke with the Berlin nü-noise of Trauermusick in the rap/rave “thugrave” method he and his Hearthrob teammates excel at. In clubs, the track’s monumental arc elicits insane reactions. Each production is distinctively Baltimoroder, with uniquely cut bass lines and an ascendant energy that melts dance floors.

Secluded superstar

DAVID DAY — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:38:07 GMT

San Serac’s Somerville sanctuary
Any electronic musician who chooses to live in Boston has made a conscious decision to remove him or herself from nerve centers like New York, Montreal, and Berlin.

San Serac

San Serac, "Tyrant" (mp3)

Any electronic musician who chooses to live in Boston has made a conscious decision to remove him or herself from nerve centers like New York, Montreal, and Berlin. Given that geography, Somerville’s Ten Hills neighborhood is indeed an island apart. “It’s a pretty unknown corner of Somerville,” says Basstown music star SAN SERAC (a/k/a NAT RABB). “It’s totally cut off from the highways, which is kind of nice and secluded.”

Rabb has released three albums of forceful electronic club music, most recently Professional, a 14-track epic of dark disco madness, with art-punk-flavored tracks like “Tyrant” and a handful of heady DJ dubs that close out the disc. His talent has drawn the eye of the hip duo Junior Boys, who took him on a month-long tour earlier this year. “We have a bunch of mutual friends,” he says. “Professional came out in April: I wanted to wrap it up before the tour, so I hauled ass to get it out.” The determination paid off: he sold hundreds of copies on the jaunt.

Aside from the considerable assistance he receives from his friend MICHAELANN ZIMMERMAN, Rabb produces his own material, playing the instruments and even releasing his music on his own label — Frogman Jake. “I try to do things in whatever order they actually occur. Which is not in order, if you know what I mean.” He has distribution deals with labels in Japan and Canada, where Professional will come out this fall. “There’s talk of a tour,” he laughs. “Always talk.”

Although San Serac is an electronic project, Rabb’s music has a human soul. Earnest vocals color many of his songs, and the tracks are peppered with classic R&B staples like sax solos and handclaps. The chic album artwork, designed by Rabb and Zimmerman, evokes a very different era — the 1980s. “It wasn’t until I was growing up that I realized how cold and electronic the arrangements were [in 1980s pop]. Like, David Frank from the System is this unsung hero, because he did some really crazy shit with his arrangements. He did [Chaka Khan’s] “I Feel for You,” and that was a smash Top 10 hit, right? And the way that it’s put together is the apotheosis of that style. But I digress. What’s important to me is that the sound is new. I use a lot of sounds that have semiotic meaning, and if it’s not new, it’s not done. If other people don’t see it that way, that’s okay.”

Basstownians

DAVID DAY — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:30:56 GMT

3 new hot producers talk tracks
Here at Up All Day, I’ve done my damndest to tell you about the local history of dance sounds.

Love Emitting Diode

Matthew Savant, "Maxximum Dommage Vol. 2" (mp3)

Profecyr, “Profecyr Predicts Disco” (mp3)

Blonde Redhead, “Signs Along The Path (LED Remix)” (mp3)

Here at Up All Day, I’ve done my damndest to tell you about the local history of dance sounds — RED FOXXX and the Hearthrob crew, EMJAE, DJ DIE YOUNG, 7L, DJ KON, GFA DJ MICHAEL SAVANT, DJ ETAN and his Allston cohort PLUS MOVE, Spank Rock’s CHRIS DEVLIN, RNDM, TANNER ROSS plus the mature tracks of UNLOCKEDGROOVE and the BEAT RESEARCH posse, and on and on. But now an even newer style is emerging. I e-mailed three of the most highly regarded producers, and this is the result.

“I think there is no more enjoyable and fun music than dance music,” writes PROFECYR (a/k/a Greg Cyr), whose remixes have him atop the hippest music blogs. “Even the hardest dance tracks are very fun. You don’t find yourself listening to some hardcore metal and thinking: ‘Wow, I’m having so much fun.’ ” Adam Rourke, a/k/a LOVE EMITTING DIODE, whose recent Blonde Redhead remix has him on top of the invite-only tastemaker Fairtilizer list and elsewhere, writes, “My mom was a dance instructor in the ’80s when I was a little kid. I think watching teenage girls from backstage dance to ‘You Dropped a Bomb on Me’ in leotards had some sort of lasting effect.” Writes MATTHEW SAVANT, “Just the fact that my tracks are making people dance in other cities and other countries is an amazing feeling, even if it’s not me playing it to them.”

The three young heads (all south of 30) have had buzz humming on the Web, either through Web 2.0 sites or music blogs. “I love the four-on-the-floor bass drum, the dirty synth basses, the breakdowns and build-ups,” says Cyr. “I love when those sounds flow through me, and I love seeing other people enjoy that sound in a club, or at home just as much.”

All three new names have spread their message through quasi-illegal remixes of big names like Rihanna and Daft Punk. “I’d be making music either way,” says Savant. “It’s something I’m very passionate about, but it’s difficult to balance working 40 hours a week to survive and still have the time to write music. Ideally I could make music and DJ enough to not have to have a day job. That’s my goal. I just have to keep hustling until something happens.” For his part, L.E.D. Rourke got to electronic dance music through a simple on-line remix contest, something that’s become a tool for labels to hype new tracks. “I said, ‘Hey, I think could make a hotter one than all the others in this contest.’ It was fun and people liked it. Now I’m trying to do them to get good at it.”

Mix surfing

DAVID DAY — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:40:35 GMT

Finding the finest of Basstown on line
Remixes are proliferating like benign viruses through the Web.

DJ Kares, Volcana (mp3)

Keith Kene, "Stay Gold" (mp3)

Mistaker, "Nightshade Mix" (mp3)

Pat Fontes, "NoNoise:002" (mp3)

Remixes are proliferating like benign viruses through the Web. I receive nearly enough of them directly here at Up All Day, but I’ve been trawling MySpace and visiting Utopia to update my stockpile. There are still plenty of good ones out there.

Allston’s golden empress of Basstown, DJ KARES, continues to distinguish herself; her new mix of “Volcano” includes a shout-out to local production hero Emjae (a/k/a Ben Johnson). The punchy bounce groove is bolstered by a wamp-thampt-wamp-wamp rhythm that that tends to promote a whole lot of head shaking. Kares elegantly moves the BPM up until we’re greeted with the all-too-familiar “SHAKE THAT AAAASS!!” refrain of Sinden & Solid Groove’s “Red Hot.” With the pitch up, she smoothes out the mix with some nu-skool breaks.

MICHAEL SAVANT has never been know for subtlety, and his Maxximum Damage Vol. 1 is no exception. It begins with some fluid post-raving courtesy of the Wighnomy Brothers before moving into the mash/crash æsthetic he’s best known for. Gems like Holy Noise’s “H.O.U.S.E.” stand out, as does the big-room sound of Tocadisco. Savant gives a shout to his producer/DJ brother, Matthew Savant, putting “DJs Don’t Dance” right in the middle of the mix. Also included is Mr. Oizo and Up All Day favorite Modeselektor. Next time, though, he needs to up the bit rate — 128 kbps is too small to house such a huge sound.

DJ BRUNO closed down his “Utopia Sundays,” but not before leaving behind a sweet sensual house mix to groove on till Labor Day, when the night is scheduled to reopen at a location TBA. His “I Love Utopia” mix jumps off with indie favorite Röyksopp, a nice surprise, plus some of the usual deep-house suspects: DJ Pierre, Louie Vega, and Lil’ Louis. But the middle is the real treat: Bruno goes back to back with Peven Everett, whose brilliant voice is so good that some sort of label trouble was bound to come his way. After being courted by the majors, he opted to stick with the indie market, and that makes his stuff hard to come by.

When DJ PAUL FOLEY handed me his Strictly Rhythm Mix at Utopia, the sharpie-written credits spoke for themselves. The mix is full of legendary NYC house tracks, including material by Masters at Work and one-time Basstone maestro Armand Van Helden. Shout-out to Paul at www.myspace.com/13164196 and see whether you can get him to send you a copy. The crackles in the wax make it all the more endearing

They love the ’80s

DAVID DAY — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:45:38 GMT

Booka Shade bring the synths
“We are musicians, we are not DJs,” says Arno Kammermeier, one half of the electronic music duo Booka Shade.

“We are musicians, we are not DJs,” says Arno Kammermeier, one half of the electronic music duo Booka Shade. Working with Walter Merzinger, Kammermeier has become one of the biggest names on the DJ/dance scene worldwide. But, speaking by phone from his Berlin office on the eve of a tour that will bring Booka Shade to Mansion this Friday, he dispels one of the biggest misconceptions about what he and Merzinger create on stage: “We play as a band. I play electronic drums, and Walter plays keyboards, and there is a lot happening on stage. And that’s what people like, especially in America.”

Booka Shade specialize in a bombastic brand of electro-house that’s made them a big draw in both clubs and stadiums from Budapest to Tokyo. On the strength of the hit singles “Mandarine Girl” and “Body Language,” the duo released the full-length Movements (Get Physical Music) in May of 2006. It was such a crossover success that Urban Outfitters requested a copy for each store. The album brings together elements from trance, house, and electro, but most of all it is a tribute to the synthesizer, which colors all of Booka Shade’s music.

Kammermeier recalls his first love for the synthesizer from when he was growing up in the drum-machine-powered ’80s — the era of keyboard guitars, big hair, and synth-pad drummers. “I like modern stuff, but the socialization of music for me was in the ’80s. So you definitely hear a lot of the ’80s in our music.”

For electronic-music heads, those were the halcyon days of pop. “In those days,” he continues, “I don’t want to be too much of a romantic, but it really looked live. There was a time when we didn’t even have a music store where you could buy synthesizers. I remember driving 200 kilometers just to watch these things that cost 10,000 Deutschmarks!”

The seeds of Booka Shade’s performance at Mansion were sown earlier this year at the annual Winter Music Conference in Miami. Jay Prouty of Taste Boston promotions was there to see Kammermeier and Merzinger, and they made a big impression. “It was undoubtedly one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen,” Prouty reports. “I was instantly hooked.”

At home in Germany, Booka Shade have found themselves confronted with a club scene that’s geared for DJs more than for live bands. As Kammermeier explains, “It’s far better for us internationally.” Kammermeier and Merzinger also work together running Get Physical, which just celebrated its fifth year of independent existence. The label was born out of the duo’s distaste for what they were hearing from major labels. “We wanted to do something healthy,” Kammermeier points out. “Plus, having somebody tell you to do something is complete nonsense: why should I do that?”

Endless Utopia

DAVID DAY — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:05:35 GMT

Bidding farewell to DJ Bruno at Boston Rocks
"The place is over, but the movement is not over, the movement continues," says Evans Thesee (a/k/a DJ E2-E4).

DJ Rodney Marable, "Mix" (mp3)

DJ Bruno "2 Dark 4 U" (mp3)

“The place is over, but the movement is not over, the movement continues,” says EVANS THESEE (a/k/a DJ E2-E4), Boston DJ legend and now softwear engineer. “It’s like a tree. You can take off some branches, but it’s going to grow again.” Thesee is speaking to me in the kitchen of Boston Rocks in Fanieul Hall, and tonight all of Boston’s house scene has come to bid farewell to another installment of Utopia, Boston’s best deep-house weekly. Its founder, DJ BRUNO, is going back underground to find yet another venue. As the tourists clear out, Bruno’s crowd streams toward Quincy Market and the dance floor, positioned directly behind the landmark’s giant flag. The club has lost its taste for deep house and Utopia — after three years at Boston Rocks — must move.

“It’s hard to do house nights around here,” explains RODNEY MARABLE, who used to engineer Bruno’s WMBR radio shows in the 1990s. “The crowd isn’t very alcohol-centric and a lot of venue owners are unable to recognize that something that takes six months to build, people will be coming here for years. It’s like a snowball.” As the night runs later, even more people come out from the shadows. “It will live on and hopefully it’ll come back to the club,” says JASMINE MORENCY, Bruno’s niece and ticket-taker. “I’ve been listening to house music for a very long time. Growing up I had to listen to it! Everyday he’s like ‘Listen to this? Does it sound good?’ and I’d be like ‘No!’ and he’d go back into his room. I wouldn’t see him for days!”

Morency is handing out CD-R copies of Bruno’s I Love Utopia mix, of which there are 200 to give away. As well-wishers climb up to the DJ booth, Bruno asks each of them, “Did you grab a CD?” “I love Bruno!” proclaims fan, househead, and local bartender SANDI MICHELINI. “Anytime Bruno runs an event it’s a place where everyone can come together, you never have to worry about attitude.” “The power of sound that he plays, his tunes, there’s no limit,” says Boston clothier PATRICK SIMON in a thick Haitian accent. “Sometimes, after a very stressful week working, you feel like doing something relaxing. It’s very spiritual. The name that he gives the night describes it very well.”

Techno purity

DAVID DAY — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:24:46 GMT

Central Square leaves techno to the purists
“I have to run to Dunkin’ Donuts,” says Eric McLaughlin (a/k/a DJ Eric Grey) late on a Wednesday night.

Digital dancing

DAVID DAY — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:44:20 GMT

Slanted House gets a boost from Beatport
Over the past few years, Beatport, the Web site of choice for dance-music heads, has grown at such a rate, it’s practically the homepage for DJs worldwide.

Mike and David Laven

Elara, "End Of The Line feat. Marcie (Shlavens & D-Lav Rockin Mix)" (mp3)

Craig Mitchell presents Michelle Weeks, "Step Out On Faith (Shlavens & D-Lav Dirty Radio Edit)" (mp3)

Over the past few years, BEATPORT, the Web site of choice for dance-music heads, has grown at such a rate, it’s practically the homepage for DJs worldwide. No one knows this better than MIKE LAVEN, co-owner of SLANTED HOUSE, Boston’s most prolific dance label. “We got our first record pressed up on vinyl, and it was fairly available on the East Coast in some record shops,” he says over the phone from his home in Worcester. “But that was right around the time a friend of mine told me to check out beatport.com.”

Beatport is the iTunes of dance music, with different bit rates available for download and even .wav files for the most technologically adept DJs. Lately, though, as Laven explains, it’s become even more popular with consumers. “When Beatport first started, it was 75 percent club DJs and 25 percent regular consumers. But right now, through all the branding they’ve done, it’s 50/50. Which is why the numbers have grown so much — it’s not just DJs. I’ve heard they’re selling close to a million tracks a month now.”

Slanted House got in early on the Beatport phenomenon, and that’s helped them stay in the mighty site’s favor. “Our second release went straight to digital, and we basically canned the vinyl thing. We are on their Top 50 tracks from 2004, but now you have to sell 10 times as much to get on that chart. Beatport is what really started to launch us.” Laven also acknowledges the downside of Beatport’s dominance: homogenization. “Before, even just five years ago, DJs used to shop locally. If you were in Cleveland or New York or Boston, you had different records. But now, everyone, worldwide, is shopping at the same shop.”

He goes on to recall a classic DJ story. “Danny Tenaglia, supposedly, when he was buying one of these hidden-gem, minimal tech-house records that he would love, he would buy every copy in the store, because he didn’t want anyone else to have that record. And people would come in the next night and say, ‘Do you have that record that Danny played?’ And they’d be like, ‘No, we don’t have it.’ ” Beatport, though, is never sold out.

Mint Julep and the Masters

DAVID DAY — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:03:49 GMT

French pop, hip-hop, and Ryan Durkin
DJ nights aren’t all for wylin’ out, sweaty dance floors, and scandal. The Masters, "Wednesday Night Live featuring Talib Kewli" (mp3)

Christopher Muther

The Masters, "Wednesday Night Live featuring Talib Kewli" (mp3)

Ryan Durkin, "A Toast to King Tipsy" (mp3)

DJ nights aren’t all for wylin’ out, sweaty dance floors, and scandal. A DJ can also act as host, VJ, and scene setter, as is the case with CHRISTOPHER MUTHER and his monthly showcase of French pop, buxom babes, and sweet sound at Mint Julep Monday, the first Monday of the month at Middlesex Lounge. When I catch him, he’s swiftly mixing from CD to iPod and back, both swinging British hits and French yé-yé pop. “I don’t pretend to be a good DJ,” he quips, dressed to impress in a thin white tie (well-tied, to be sure) and fresh new Pumas. Muther spends his days as a writer for the Boston Globe’s Style section, so no surprise that his look is so chic. He interrupts our chat to change the DVD from a Brigitte Bardot compilation to another timeless style icon — Raquel Welch. The filmed frenzy at a Welch press conference makes me long for a Hilton-less world of celebrity fervor, and the space-age swimsuits are hard to ignore.

Around the club itself, a well-kempt crowd murmurs and mulls to the never-trendy sounds of a “Paperback Writer” cover and some new music (Amy Winehouse) for good measure. Muther takes a casual approach to this affair — “I don’t really promote the night too strongly,” he says, but he does hand me a mix CD, A Hint of Mint Vol. 4, that’s a cocktail party’s wet dream, setting artists like Nilsson and Dusty Springfield side by side and including special gems like Claudine Longet’s “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and Up All Day Top Five favorite Françoise Hardy and her glorious “Comment te dire adieu?” At a slim 30 minutes and burned onto a hand-lettered CD-R, the CD is very much promotional in nature. Muther says you can hit him up on MySpace for a copy (myspace.com/christophermuther). Before heading out, I comment on the scandalous nature of the night’s visuals, as Welch continues to gyrate on the large projection screen. “It’s usually pretty scandalous,” he says with a knowing smile. “At least for a Monday night in Cambridge.” And with the strains of a Spanish version of “It’s Not Unusual” in the air, I head out into the night . . .

Cultural exchanges

DAVID DAY — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:41:34 GMT

Spank Rock’s Chris Rockswell and Brazil’s DJ Dolores
CHRIS ROCKSWELL, the official DJ for the club-rap phenom SPANK ROCK, says people are always asking him, “What does your neighborhood sound like?” DJ Dolores & Isaar "De Dar Dó (remix)" (mp3)

VIDEO: Devlin, Darko, and Diplo take on Australia

DJ Dolores & Isaar "De Dar Dó (remix)" (mp3)

CHRIS ROCKSWELL, the official DJ for the club-rap phenom SPANK ROCK, says people are always asking him, “What does your neighborhood sound like?” His answer: “Reggaetón! Boom-ba-boom clap!” Rockswell (a/k/a Chris Devlin) moved to Boston from Baltimore last year, and he can be talking about only one place: Jamaica Plain. “The neighborhood is great, man. It’s different from where I lived in Baltimore. There’s a huge immigrant population, which is cool. And great food, and everyone is really friendly.” It’s no small thing that a piece of Spank Rock resides in Basstown. The big buzz generated by their 2006 album YoYoYoYoYo (Big Dada) has the group, whose members include rapper Naeem Juwan and producer XXXChange (a/k/a Alex Newton), poised for a breakthrough. Recent news had them hooking up with Downtown Records, home to Gnarls Barkley. “Dude, all I know is that!” says Chris, stopping himself. “You can read about it on the Internet. There are some tracks out there that Alex and Naaem have worked on, and Naaem has been working with a couple of other guys.”

Chris has started to branch out with his own remixes of NYC’s Kudu and Scottie B. He recently toured as a DJ team with another Spank Rock member, Ronnie Darko. “I definitely play more outside Boston than I play here. I get offers all the time, and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m on the road that day’ — which is kind of lame, because I want to play here more now that I am living here.” He’s been able to hook up with 18-plus promoter E-MARCE to form the Throwed party, but he also wants to continue producing — he has singles coming out from Seattle’s Pretty Titty, a DJ mix for MP3 superblog discobelle.net, and music with MC Baltimore Chip including a track called “Race Riot on the Dancefloor” and a re-edit of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.” “It’s nice to sell some DJ mixes, but it’s pretty hard to sell copies until you’re touring,” Chris says before heading out to Great Scott to spin between bands. “Unless you’re Justin Timberlake, a lot of your money is coming from licensing and touring.”

Savath and Savalas

DAVID DAY — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:16:32 GMT

Golden Pollen | Anti-
This is a gloriously glassy album brimming with Hispanic sounds and surfer-boy harmonies.

Rave daze

DAVID DAY — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:31:53 GMT

The Mission Control story + Raster-Noton at the Middlesex
The history of the New England rave community is a tremendous story. Coh, "Path #02" (Raster-Noton)

VIDEO: Fox News covers a Portland rave in 1993

Coh, "Path #02" (Raster-Noton)

MisCon's Gregory Blake Live DJ Mix from Hibernia

The history of the New England rave community is a tremendous story. One of the largest in the US, the scene sprouted in pockets from Portland to Pennsylvania and eventually formed a huge network. Among the ways it remained strong was MISSION CONTROL, a party-info line based in Boston and run mainly by MICHAEL WILKINS, who started it in the late ’80s. “It was just an info line, giving directions to one party,” Wilkins says over the phone, having just returned from his job at WGBH. “Pretty soon other people we knew wanted their stuff on there. And one thing led to another.” Because the location of each party was kept secret until the last minute, Wilkins and some friends created a network so that rave nation could call in to find out where to go. At the height of New England raves, there were numerous info lines, but Mission Control was the largest.

“It started off with a phone line and an answering machine,” the jovial Wilkins explains. “As things progressed, I purchased a telephone that had a multi-mailbox function. If you wanted upcoming parties, you’d press 1. If you wanted club nights, you’d press 2 . . . that kind of thing.” His information-relay system kept growing till they had to take the idea out of his house. “We ended up going to a phone service with as many mailboxes as we needed. And we had three, four, or five mailboxes.”

Through it all, Wilkins was based in Boston as a radio engineer for the Christian Science Monitor and ESPN Radio. But before long he was fielding secret party info from far away. “Florida, the Carolinas, Montreal was not a problem, Toronto from time to time, Pittsburgh was always a big fave, Ohio’s Underground Peace Society was another.” Despite his dedication to maintaining the info line, Mission Control was much more than Wilkins alone, and throughout our conversation he drops names like DJ Overload, Kris Clark (of K.C. and the Sunrise Gang), Tom Mello, and Dave Jury. “Our friends are still out there, the friends we started this for and with. And a lot of us are still in touch.”

Benni Hemm Hemm

DAVID DAY — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:44:21 GMT

Kajak | Morr Music
The language of twee-dom knows no borders.

The men machine

DAVID DAY — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:40:40 GMT

Motor get to the brutal heart of industrial minimalism
Electronic music always seems to get a bad rap for being inhuman.

VIDEO: Motor, "Bleep #1"

Regardless of how many people you put on a stage or what kind of interface a performer uses, electronic music always seems to get a bad rap for being inhuman, unnatural, and/or impersonal. Not that this bothers Motor. Over the course of two albums, the dark techno trio from London have gone out of their way to strip their brand of electronic music down to its most facelessly inhuman basics. Based on the core duo of Mr. No (né Oliver Grasset) and Bryan Black (né Barton), who play live at Axis this Saturday with guitarist Hugo Menendez fleshing things out, Motor exploit the frigid and ersatz tendencies of techno to produce music that’s zero-Kelvin cold and as acidic as a dead car battery.

Motor are a side project for Grasset and Black (who were part of the London electro-rock outfit XLover), but by the release of their first album, last year’s Klunk (Mute), their shadowy personae had begun to penetrate the European dance scene, thanks in large part to industrialized remixes of Throbbing Gristle, Depeche Mode, and Cure tunes. With their new Unhuman (Mute), they’ve picked up where mechanized dance acts like Front 242 and even Depeche Mode at their coldest left off in the mid ’80s. “Even between the last two albums, we’ve learned to fine-tune the way we automate sound,” says Black on his cell from New York. “We’re moving more and more away from using traditional studio things — keyboards, mixers, amps, and stuff like that. Now we are doing a lot of it inside the computer.”

As a trio, Motor still play live instruments on stage. But in the studio, they’re an almost strictly computer-based operation. “Night Drive” pulses with synthesized handclaps and machine-like rhythms, with vocals that border on the alien. Explains Black, “Technology is getting better and better, such that the computer can model an analog synthesizer to make it sound as good as the real thing. And you get much more control over that sound — using filters, envelopes, and effects.”

Motor grew out of the more pop-oriented XLover after a Grasset/Black remix got more attention than the band. Working as a duo, Motor explored the outer edges of bleak, dark, synthesized sound, drawing more and more from industrial sources — groups like Clan of Xymox, Bauhaus, and Type O Negative. Black namechecks Ministry as an “all-time favorite. Nineties industrial was one of the first genres to really embrace sampling and vocal manipulation and drum sequencing. The production was really innovative.”

Busting out of Basstown

DAVID DAY — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:37:49 GMT

Matt Johnson’s three-headed beast
“I’m getting really tired of this food court here,” says Matt Johnson (a/k/a Emjae) over the phone from the Cambridgeside Galleria. Emjae, "April 07 Promo Mix" (mp3)

Emjae

“I’m getting really tired of this food court here,” says Matt Johnson (a/k/a EMJAE) over the phone from the Cambridgeside Galleria. “It’s like, ‘What do I want to poison myself with today?’ ” Johnson might seem an unremarkable Apple-store employee — trained to be a “creative associate,” he teaches customers how to use their Macs. “I don’t have to sell computers,” he says, trying to find a quiet place in the mall to chat. “I just sit down and talk. It’s a plus working for that company, ’cause I’m learning new things every day about the computer and the software. And I get the discount — that definitely helps!”

It sure must: as Emjae, Johnson’s on pace to become Boston’s biggest name in dance music. Already cited by monster DJs Sasha and Digweed and Sander Kleinenberg, he pushes the three Macs he owns to the brink. Last year he released 28 tracks — enough to suit all of his alter egos. “The Emjae alias is my big-room name for clubby-sounding tunes. Something you could play to 10,000 people. But I go by a couple of different monikers. BON JOHNSON is a collaboration with me and DJ BONS, a staple here in Massachusetts. We do a lot of dirty kind of ghetto tech. We’ve found some success in that project. And then I go by NIGHTRIDERS, which is me and JOE FARIA, who records with Island 9.” Since moving to Basstown in 2003, Emjae has received massive local support. “I’ve been picking up tips and tricks from a lot of my friends. Steve Porter is a big influence. He would help me get the sound I was looking for. Steve and Eli Wilkie, two Boston natives, they made a lot of things that seemed unclear to me, you know, seem clear.”

This clarity began in Johnson’s home town of Atlanta, when he discovered his own golden rule for making a living in electronic dance music. “I started to realize the way to make it in this business is to become a producer and actually put your music out there as an artist, rather than as a DJ.” So he enrolled in the Berklee School of Music, where they kept trying to force a saxophone on him. “That just didn’t float: I’m godawful at the sax,” he says with a laugh. “All wanted to do was be nerdy and get into gear and machinery and learn how it works.” So he jumped to the New England Institute of Art and began producing, limiting his club appearances to the occasional DJ gig at Rise, Underbar, and Axis. “And my plan worked. I got a lot of high-profile DJ gigs because people were listening to my productions and were like, ‘You know what, let’s book him as a DJ.’ ”