Henrik Schwarz Returns To Blow The Roof Off 4 Albums in One Year...

Those who saw Henrik Schwarz last time he toured Sydney for the Future Classic 5 Years party can testify that Mr Schwarz uncanny ability to read the dancefloor & develop his sets down to the finest detail to suit the mood of room made his performance one of the dance highlights of Sydney for 2009.

Electronic music lovers in Sydney should be very excited to know that Henrik Schwarz will be performing at the always amazing Becks Bar at Hyde Park Barracks as part of the Sydney Festival this coming Thursday the 13th of January hosted once more by the lovely folk at Future Classic. Henrik was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about his recent activity to get everyone in the mo0d for dancing the night away to his excellent remixes, edits & live improvisations this Thursday.

Having seen your shows & heard your live albums, it’s easy to see why your performances are often classified as “live remixing”. Would you consider this term a fair appraisal of the Henrik Schwarz live show?

Yes I think you could say that. It is all about bringing together different elements in real-time and see what is coming out. Sometimes when things go really well you might create a special magic moment when the music is something neither I nor the audience has ever heard before – these moments are what I enjoy the most.

What kind of equipment are you using in your current live setups? Is it still just Ableton Live & a mixer or have you expanded to include more equipment into your shows?

I still use just my computer and a controller with Ableton Live and an analogue compressor for good sound. I am currently experimenting with iPads and keyboards but this will still take a little while to be stage stable.

How did you get your introduction to music production? Where you using analogue gear before digital software?

I started to work with analogue gear only - a friend of mine had them all - 909, 808, 303, 101 etc. And he didn't have any space - so lucky Henrik could offer him the basement of my parents house as a place to put his stuff. Hehe.

How did you begin to pick up programs like Ableton and how steep did you find the learning curve?

I started using Ableton immediately after its release - the first version was stable and not very complicated so I found it easy to learn how to use it. I used Cubase before but it was already a very complex program at that time. Today Ableton Live has become more complex but I have been growing with it so it’s ok to understand.

Your recent Innvervisions release is a live cut taken from your Critical Mass tour. What can you tell me about the setup for that show & how do you enjoy performing live in a collaborative environment as opposed to alone?

When we play live together I absolutely love the group performance aspect. It is like playing in a band. On the other hand when I play solo I have full control over what is happening and I am much freer in which direction I want to go. So there are good and inspiring sides within both options.

Do you have any upcoming releases in the works for 2011? Can we expect another live album in the not too distant future?

My solo album is half finished but won’t be near completion until Autumn. I have an album finished with Bugge Wesseltoft ready for release. I have 9 written scores from my pieces ready to be recorded by a 9 piece classic ensemble by end of next month! That will be another album called Henrik Schwarz Instruments ready by summer. Ah yes and I forgot to mention - I also wrote and played a filmscore with Âme and Dixon that is also ready for release called A Critical Mass presents Das Cabinet Des Doktor Calidgari. So in a way there were 4 years of no albums but now we have 4 albums in one year. Not sure if that’s good or not but it should be exciting listening none-the-less.

Your return to Australia this year see’s you playing at the Becks Festival Bar, often considered the highlight venue of the entire Sydney Festival. What are you looking forward to most about your return to Australia & are there any special treats we can expect on the festival night?

For sure I will play some new pieces and I love festivals - is it going to be outside? (It certainly is Henrik, it certainly is.)

An Interesting watch on Funktion One

In this video interview the owner and designer of Funktion One loudspeakers talks at length about how and why he thinks their audio systems are the best in the world, and what it takes to be the best.

This Weekends Activities

Trinidadian Deep Farewell Party @ Fluid, Friday 14th.

Line Up

Trinidadian Deep Jay Russell Jamesey Leon Paul Time: 10:00:pm - 03:00:am Venue: Fluid, 40 Charterhouse Street, Farringdon, EC1 Cost: Free

Je Nais Se Quoi @ Vibe, Saturday 15th.

Line Up

Marathonmen Aka Freddy McQuinn

Simbad

Kyri (r2) Special Guest

Time:	8:00:pm - 03:00:am
Venue:	Vibe, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL
Cost:	£4

Maya Jane Coles RA Podcast....

London's newest house talent steps up. Maya Jane Coles is a 23-year-old London-based house producer whose recent work under her own name has been a point of intrigue for those in the wider dance music community. Club-going folk in her hometown may actually have been acquainted with Coles for a while now. Despite her relative youth, she's been playing DJ sets and live shows in and around the city for a number of years. Others may have had their introduction—whether they realised it or not—through Scuba's RA podcast at the beginning of last year, on which her excellent "Can't Hide The Way I Feel" track under the dubstep moniker Nocturnal Sunshine shone like a beacon. Coles can also be found performing live as part of the duo She Is Danger alongside Lena Cullen. Her breakthrough moment arrived back in October 2010 with the release of "What They Say" through French label Real Tone. The track reached the summit of RA's top 50 for that month and continues to reside within the top 10 months after its release. On her RA podcast Coles plots a steady course through grooving and often melodic house music, with plenty of her own unreleased tracks and edits thrown in along the way.

What have you been up to recently? I've been busier than ever with gigs so that's been occupying most of my time. It's been really nice seeing lots of new places and faces. I've been working on some cool remixes too, and I'm excited about my EP coming out on Mobilee at the end of the month.

How and where was the mix recorded? Just at mine on a pair of CDJs. Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix? It's quite different to what I would play out, but I wanted to include some stuff that I wouldn't usually get the opportunity to play in clubs. I wanted to express a bit of musical variation within the house genre. I wasn't really thinking about trying to prove anything or impress anyone, I just wanted it to reflect a certain part of me and that I like. (And of course it's always a bonus if others like it too!)

There's a review of "What They Say" on discogs that suggests the track is a nod to '90s house producer MK. Is he, and this time period, indeed an influence on you? To be honest I wouldn't say MK was a specific influence as I was only familiar with a couple of tracks of his before I made "What They Say." Obviously after the comments I checked out more of his stuff I can see why people would make the link. I respect his work a lot and can see that he's definitely carved a strong sound in early house. Actually Defected have asked me to remix his track "For You," which they are re-releasing sometime this year, which is pretty cool, so that's currently something I'm working on. Even though I've never been a hardcore follower of '90s house music, (mainly because it was just a little before my time) I've always liked and respected the early sounds of house. I appreciate the simplicity yet effectiveness of early dance music, and I think this is what I was trying to achieve with "What They Say."

Will your Nocturnal Sunshine alias, and by extension dubstep, always be a secondary/side project for you? I guess it will be, just because I set it up as a genre-specific project. With the MJC stuff (including my album that I'm currently working on) I haven't set myself any boundaries genre-wise, which I guess is why it will always be my main outlet.

What are you up to next? When I have a little more time I'd like to get my label up and running, mainly because I want to have an outlet for my music alongside my artwork and have 100% creative control. But that probably won't be for a while. I've got sooo many ideas for projects and things I want to do I just wish I had more time to be able to carry them all out. My main priority is always making new music.

via Direct Download

Tracklist

Rob Shields - Slum Room

DC Salas - Peru (Dave DK Brussels Berlin Connection Remix) - Doctor Vinyl Records

Axel Boman - Depression

Maya Jane Coles - Run with the Wild

El_Txef_A - See It All (Edit)

Maya Jane Coles - Protect Them

Youandewan - Eidolon - Magicbag Music

Julian Perez - Nelipot - Recycle Records

Rhythm & Sound ft. Jennifer Lara - Queen In My Empire - Burial Mix Records / Funman, Kick Da Joey & Vansam - Get Down - VectoRecords 2.0

Miss Kittin - All I Need (Gesaffelstein Remix) - Mobilee

The Timewriter - Wasteland - Neurotraxx Deluxe

Rhythm & Sound - Why / T. Williams & Terri Walker - Heartbeat - Local Action / Asad Rizvi - Me Tangare (MJC Edit) - Reverberations

Luca Albano - Calinda (Francesco Bonora Remix) - High Definition Records

Greenville Massive - Lost - Soul Sheep Music

Axel Boman - Naomi

Joni Mitchell vs. Maya Jane Coles - Stardust

Derrick Carter mixes Fabric 56

Fabric 56 is mixed by Chicago veteran Derrick Carter.

Carter allegedly got started on the decks at the age of nine, playing disco records at his family's parties. He became a key figure of his city's house scene throughout the '90s, playing clubs like Shelter and Foxy's and working at Gramaphone Records. One of his most notable achievements lies in Classic Records, the label he launched in 1995 with Luke Solomon and Chez Damier that put out exactly 100 12-inches in its decade-long stint (which famously began at CMC100 and counted downwards with each release), including modern classics like Isolee's Beau Mot Plage. An avid remixer, he's done reworks for everyone from Cajmere to Ricky Martin. With Fabric 56, Carter did his best to show what you might hear from him in a club: lots of his own remixes, lots of tracks from Chicago artists, and that signature "boompty boomp" sound. "I have some new stuff, some old stuff, some special stuff," he says. "I tried to give it that kind of treatment so it's authentic, and real and valid and present. It's Derrick. All day."

Tracklist

01. Jody Fingers Finch - Jack Your Big Booty (Derricks BHQ Acid Vocal / BHQ Bonus Of Beats) Green Velvet - La La Land (Derrick Carter Ds BHQ Business Remix)/ Dennis Ferrer - Church Lady (Tommy Davis & DJ Spen Bom Bom Bom Tool)

02. Almost September - Love (Derricks BHQ Remix)

03. DJ Sneak - Respect Bonito (Justin Long Remix)

04. Nick Garcia - Playin Tricks (Hector Moralez Remix)

05. Scope - 8 Track

06. Cricco Castelli - First Love

07. Osunlade pres. Nadirah Shakoor - Pride (Johnny D Remix)

08. Iz & Diz - Cosmid

09. Roger Sanchez - My Organ

10. Scrubfish - Testify To The Soul Provider

11. Olene Kadar feat. D-Low - Baby Keep It Up

12. Cajmere - Percolator (Derrick Carter Bonus Mix)

13. 1200 Warriors - HardDrum (B-Boy Mix)

14. Tripmastaz - Back on My BS

15. Piek meets Stan Garac - La Gondola

16. Lego - Bang Bang

17. Abraham Inc. - Moskowitz Remix (Ds BHQ Re-edit)

Fabric will release Fabric 56 on March 7th, 2011.

Free Music Friday.....

Some mixes i have been listening to......

Nick Haris - December 2010 podcast by nicknrk

CBLS 081 - Compost Black Label Sessions Radioshow by Muallem by compost

ARTIST BIO: Danilo Plessow / Motor City Drum Ensemble

At the tender age of 6, Danilo Plessow`s path in music started with playing drums. With his engagement in a school bigband he found his love for jazz - and from 11 years of age on he started working on his own music using a computer and samples. Being influenced by Jazz, Soul, Funk, Hiphop and House music, the first results were already released 5 years later on Stuttgarts Pulver Records. Together with Joachim Tobias, Danilo had formed the House and Broken Beat project ´Inverse Cinematics`: Seven 12 inch Records, one LP and many remixes and compilation appearances followed.

The project was and still is a favourite of some of the worlds most influental leftfield djs such as Gilles Peterson, Rainer Trueby (with whom Danilo just started a collaboration), Michael Ruetten or Benji B. After several other collaborations and solo projects in the Nujazz vein (Hipster Wonkaz with P.Valentino for Ubiquity Records or solo as Aphro Pzyko for Raw Fusion), Danilo went back to his House music roots with the ´Motor City Drum Ensemble`. Taking influences from soul, disco and detroit and chicago 90`s house, the new moniker soon became his best known: He released five 12 inch in 2008, and especially his ´RawCuts` series made him a shooting star in the deep house scene, highlighted by the internets house and techno bible ´Resident Advisor` for whom he did a mixtape that is soon regarded as one of the best mixes of this influental podcast.

In times when even big labels struggle to sell 500 copies, MCDE`S ´Raw Cuts` series, released on his own label ´MCDE` (run together with P. Valentino) sold a few thousands each, and his other own label ´Four Roses Recordings` has been doing very good as well. 2009 started with a 12 inch for one of UK`s biggest house labels, 20:20 Vision, and Danilo now hits the road on a regular again to show some of his dj skills, which have brought him all over Europe, the US and Russia already. In february, Beatport`s team of music experts has put him ahead of the up and coming Deep House artists worldwide in 2009. Therefore better watch out, this boy`s on a mission!

This Weekends Activities

Not much happening this weekend but this is a wicked party anyway.... :-)

Soulmates @ The Camp (Upstairs), Saturday 8th January 2011

Line Up

SAINT SEBASTIAN
RAP SAUNDERS
DENNIS CHRISTENSEN
& Friends




Time: 10:00pm - 4:00am
Venue: The Camp (Upstairs), 70-74 City Rd, EC1Y 2BJ
Cost: £5

7 Tell-Tale Signs You DJ or Love Music....

For every DJ actually out there playing sets in front of an audience, there are 10 who only do it at home. What’s more, there are 100 who really want to do it but haven’t got around to starting yet. One of the reasons is that many people simply wonder whether they’ve got what it takes to be a DJ.

So if you’re one of those who isn’t DJing in public yet, or has yet to build up the courage to start at all, and you’ve ever wondered if you’ve got what it takes, read on. The good news is that it’s easy to spot whether you’ve got the right stuff to one day make a great DJ. Here are some tell-tale signs that you’ve “got the music in you”. See how many apply to you, and check your score at the end…



How many of these situations describe you?


1. Whenever you move house, the first thing you do is set up your music system
Find a socket, get the speakers out, wire everything up, select the first tunes to listen to in your new place, and let the music help you unload and unpack everything else. Moving into a new home with your stereo in a cardboard box in the corner, silent? Unthinkable.

Why it matters: You’re passionate about music. You need it in your life at important times. It’s cool to have music on. All DJs share this intensity – they need it in order to hear enough tunes to be a step ahead of their audiences.

2. You can’t just “let the music play”
You can’t simply passively enjoy music – you’re there on the volume control, or adding things to the playlist, rearranging and shuffling, plotting a path through your listening rather than just letting someone else’s pre-arranged order do for you. And that includes when you’re in the car!

Moving into a new home with your stereo in a cardboard box in the corner, silent? Unthinkable.

Why it matters: DJs don’t just play music, they manipulate it and programme it, they build suspense then release it, they react to what’s going on around them by adapting the soundtrack. You don’t need DJ equipment to do it – just an awareness of what you want to hear next.

3. You find yourself saying “this sounds just like…”
You simply can’t listen to the radio or watch a music show on TV without saying: “Well, it’s obvious Katy Perry’s been listening to Kei$ha a bit too much recently!” or some other arch comment.

Why it matters: All great DJs make musical links and leaps, often surprising ones, in their sets. Being able to pair up records and see influences across artists, genres, even decades, is a big part of DJing.

4. You prefer to listen to your music within earshot of other people
Whether it means keeping your bedroom door open, or your window, or cranking it up so the neighbours can hear, you just don’t want to keep that music to yourself!

Why it matters: DJs are not so much interested in what they happen to like per se, but rather in what other people think of what they like. They feel a need to express who they are through the music, and they get addicted to the acceptance they get from playing “their” tunes to other people.

5. You retreat into music when you’re emotional
If things go against you, someone hurts you, or you’re just having a bad day, your instinctive reaction is to get the tune that says it to you (and you know which one it is, too) and smother yourself in it – loud.

Why it matters: DJs know the power of music to change, reflect and build people’s moods, and they harness its mood-changing potential in their DJ sets. They’ve learned because they know the effect it has on them.

6. You forget what someone’s saying to you when a tune comes on that you like
No matter how important the conversation or how much you want to be involved in it, as soon as a song, riff, vocal or melody you either know and love, or haven’t heard before but that interests you, comes on in the background, you find yourself locking onto that instead!

DJing isn’t 9 to 5, and DJs know that inspiration can come from any snippet of music, snatched from anywhere.

Why it matters: DJing isn’t 9 to 5, and DJs know that inspiration can come from any snippet of music, snatched from anywhere.

What’s worse, once you’ve lost it, you might have lost it forever. Now, what was it you were saying again?

7. You’re always the first to notice when something is played twice
Whether you’re eating out in a restaurant or listening to the radio at work, the minute they play the same song again or the CD in the establishment goes round again, you notice… and then wonder why nobody else ever seems to.

Why it matters: Part of you wants to be DJing right here, right now! You know you can do better than the radio station, you feel slightly angry that this cool bar or great restaurant has such little regard for its musical backdrop that it could let such a thing happen. There’s a drive in you to make the world a better musical place through the simple act of playing records properly.

Happy New Year.... How to get Booked?

Good Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Happy New Year, I have loved my christmas & new years break, now i'm back to knuckling down.

So to start the year I think I will enlighten you all via my pals over at 5 Magazine on how to get Dj bookings, maybe I should heed there advice... lol

The Quickie Guide to Getting DJ Bookings

From CZ's perspective:

1) Have one or 2 mix CDs ready to go. TRACKED. LABELED. One track CDs with magic marker don’t cut it.

2) Have a business card always on hand. The bullshit line “I just ran out of business cards” is on par with “It’s not you it’s me.”

3) In order to get booked, you have to be SEEN. Show up at people’s events, network, socialize. If there’s a night that you would like to play at, then go out and support it. Pay the cover. Buy a drink. Say hello to the promoter (but don’t bug.)

4) Tell the promoter ONCE that you’d love to play for her/him should there ever be an availability. Approach it real laid back without any kind of imposition. Don’t make the promoter uncomfortable with your nagging. If you notice the promoter tiptoeing away from you then you’re being a pestering pablo.

5) Online threats (which we’ve gotten) about having to book you will definitely not put you on the DJ Top 100 list. It’s childish, ghetto and ultimately lazy. No one owes you a gig.

6) Have a Soundcloud page. A Podomatic page. Your own personal DJ website. A press packet. (Spell check please kindly.) The more professional you look, the more on your shit you are, the more equity you have.

7) Have mixes that show your versatility. You may have a certain style, but all of us have a little of this and a little of that in us. You could have a soulful mix, a disco mix, a jacking mix, a classics mix, an electro mashup (oh how that pains me to write that), you get the gist.

We’re fortunate that we’re at an age where anything can be disseminated to thousands and thousands of people via the internet. Get a podcast or a regular show on UStream and slut the hell out of it. Yeah everyone and their mum is doing it but you’d better get in that game because you’ll have a better chance of being noticed instead of sitting at home doing nothing.

9) Facebook and Twitter are your friends.

10) Have friends. Friends that will come and support you when you do get that gig. Because you may be the best DJ in the world but if you play and no one comes to see you, then the promoter may think twice about booking you again.

11) Be good. When you play. Duh. But also have friends. I said that already.

12) There could be a whole host of reasons why a promoter doesn’t book you. Maybe your style just doesn’t suit what they’re looking for. Maybe they have to book a whole bunch of DJs before you. Just keep it moving because you have myriads of options.

13) Patience, patience, patience! So your DJ schedule is a little dry right now, so what? Bang out those mixes, keep at the podcasts, make music, find more contacts, send out those press kits. Spread that net as wide as you can and keep at it!

What won’t get you a gig? Sitting around and complaining about all the reasons why you don’t get booked. Do away with bad skin and be ProActive.

14) Be nice. Assholes are no fun.

15) START YOUR OWN NIGHT. Seriously. So many major DJs have stressed that this is how they eventually made their name. If no one is going to book you, then book yourself! There must be thousands of bars and lounges in london…go online…look in the phonebook…start your own night.