A little sneaky preview of something forthcoming from myself.....
You know soul? by At One
Aaron Ross' WMC Report
Defected and Strictly Rhythm A&R man and voice of Defected Radio Aaron Ross spent last week in Miami for the Winter Music Conference. This is how he saw it...
Touched down in south beach at around 9.30 pm on Monday night. Even though I was knackered I got unpacked, jumped in the shower and headed straight out to the Underground Collective party which is always the first party of the WMC – they do it the day before the conference actually starts – just to be underground! Caught DJ Yass, Tedd Patterson and Master Kev spinning some fresh tunes and was happy to already have heard something new from Tedd Patterson that I wanna sign for Strictly Rhythm…watch this space.
Tuesday saw me hit a couple of daytime parties including Bobby & Steve’s Soul on the Beach party that has become the stuff of legend over the years. Caught John Julius Knight and the Groove Junkies down there @ The Clevelander Hotel then went on to the Mi Casa Su Casa party @ South Seas… a great party with Master Kev and Keith Evan Spinning amongst others. Met Brendan and some of the crew from Afrodesia in South Africa who were doing live audio/video streaming of the party. The evening was dinner with the Defected crew – Spen & Karizma, Eddie Thoneick, Ben Westbeech, Nick Navaro and Layla. Went to a nice Italian restaurant on Espanola Way. Straight after dinner it was over the road to Cameo to get the Strictly Defected party underway and I was playing the opening set in Room 2.
The night was pretty amazing, a great crowd paired with some awesome DJ’s – the highlight for me has to be Spen & Karizma’s Deepah Ones showdown – pretty damn incredible both visually and musically. Also Quentin Harris in the main room dropping ‘Hey Hey’ with the Gypsy Woman chords running over it – a magic moment for sure!
Wednesday afternoon was all about the DJ Magazine party at the Shelbourne, Dennis Ferrer absolutely ripped it up! From old school gems like ‘Brighter Days’ to new stuff I’d never even heard yet! Then Sharam from Deep Dish came on and send the poolside crowd into an absolute frenzy! From there I went to meet Quentin Harris and his manager Lloyd for dinner on Lincoln road at the Nexxt café – one of my favourite places to eat in south beach. Discussed the strategy for Quentin’s new album ‘Sacrifice’, so you’ll have to wait and see how that one pans out.
Wednesday night started off by catching Quentin play some classics at the Paradise Garage party @ Score, then onto the United Records party at The Clevelander to catch Jamie Lewis do the disco house thing, then over to DJ Chus and Ceballos’ party to catch David Penn rock the house. Finally, ended up at Jellybean’s party at the Aerolounge to hear Kenny Dope throw down the beats to perfection.
The first stop on Thursday afternoon was at the City Deep party at the Beach Plaza hotel, Black Coffee from South Africa played an amazing set – and also debuted their mix of the record that was clearly THE Miami record – Dennis Ferrer’s ‘Hey Hey’. Then headed over to the National Hotel, which is always a good spot for a few meetings, plus there was also a great party going on out the back too! Tribe Records were showcasing the new Timmy Regisford produced Peven Everett album; really nice to hear Peven live and some seriously hot records to watch out for on that album – ‘Inspiration’ is my pick!
After leaving the national it was time to head to the IMDA Awards; great to see Dennis Ferrer pick up the award for Best Underground Dance track for ‘Hey Hey’! – yet another sign that the record is continuing to gain some serious momentum. Unfortunately Defected didn’t win best global label, the awards was cool…but I gotta say a couple of the performances (naming no names) were embarrassingly shocking!! Thursday night had to be all about the Objektivity party, definitely one of the highlights of the week, with Dennis and The Martinez Brothers proving why they’re a truly sound representation of what underground house is all about.
Friday afternoon’s first stop was Pete Tong’s pool party at the Surfcomber – Pete dropped Riva Starr’s mix of 'Hey Hey' as well as his mix of Reboot' 'Enjoy Music'! Also caught a great set from Chuckie before flying by the Beatport beach party to catch the Bingo Players. Then met up with Dennis Ferrer at the South African house party @ The South Seas – I gotta say the South African house crew were truly representing at this year's WMC! Culeo de Song, Black Coffee, Christos and the Afrodesia crew – showing the world what the S.A house scene is all about...I can’t wait to go over there and see for myself!
After a nice dinner, Friday night started with Halo and Jamie Thinnes at The Shore Club for an Aquabooty party. Nicodemus was dropping some eclectic sounds outside on the terrace while inside Anane and Louie Vega were spinning alongside Halo and Jamie. After that we headed to Klutch (formerly the opium lounge) to check out the MN2S party. Caught DJ Meme dropping some nice disco house flavours and Funkerman bringing his blend of peak time action.
Saturday afternoon grabbed lunch at Big Pinks diner and then managed to catch an hour on the beach. I think the last 2 WMCs I didn’t even make it there! We couldn’t have timed our entrance to the Shelbourne’s Pacha Classics Party; as soon as we walked in we heard on the mic “Now give it up for the magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff !” He delivered an awesome set which sent the crowd into a frenzy with a mix of killer party classics. Caught up with Kenny Dope, Todd Terry and David Morales who were all there hanging out...should have had a camera I know..! Then onto Louie Vega’s Sunset party again with the South African crew. The location was at a beautiful hotel on West St and Louie had brought in his own system so it sounded pretty damn amazing! And that was as far it went on Saturday night, but what a great way to finish a great WMC.
All in all it was a crazy, non-stop week that left me completely knackered, but well worth it..! Roll on 2011!
Article sourced from Defected
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