Friday, April 25

Livio & Roby - Kalimera EP [Supernurture]

Livio & Roby released a new EP on Supernurture called Kalimera which includes two tracks: Kalimera and Moriska. Smooth and groovy house coming straight from Bucharest. You can check them out on Supernurture's myspace here.



Supernurture
is Supernature's digital only sub label available exclusively via Beatport. Supernature is Audiofly's label. And it's super! Nature or Nurture. And Audiofly. And Livio & Roby.

Super super boys are attacking with super tracks out on a super label!

Danny Tenaglia playing R.E.M

Yes, that was one of the highlights of the night for me. The Mission pres Danny Tenaglia was one of the best events of the year by far, and the only reason was the music and the great crowd: no kids, no idiots fooling around and no one that didn't knew who's Danny.

Loved the morning moment when I was in front of the DJ booth with my old school friends dancing and singing Do It Now's lyrics. Oh, great times! Danny played for about 5 or 6 hours, but I had two special moments when I really lost my mind: R.E.M.'s Loosing My Religion which you will see now and the end of the set with Dubtribe Soundsystem's Do it Now.

Enjoy ;)

Nic Fanciulli Interview

This is an interview which I took to Nic Fanciulli back in 2006 that was never published. Use to work that time for a project that was suppose to be launched in Romania and never did - DJ Mag. Just found out that the license was bought meanwhile, but not by the brand I worked for. Was a pleasure doing that, but a pain in the ass the fact that we were suppose to send the same silly short questions to all DJs in the data base.
Wanted to ask Nic so much more, but now that I'm back on the track I will soon. Enjoy this since it was never published. :)

- How did your DJ career started?
- It started off by working in a record shop, and also by bombarding my local club with mix tapes week in week out.

- How do you choose your tracks for a live set?

- I pick a variation of records across the board, from deep house through to techno. Although some clubs you understand that there is a certain music policy so I always do background checks on the clubs to see what they are into.

- What’s your favorite club in the whole world and why?

- I think it has to be my residency in my home town. The night is called Club Class, I've grown up playing and going to this club for the last 9 years. Its always good to play at a club in your home town because you get to see all your mates enjoying them selves as well as the regular people that always come along.

- What makes a DJ/production/set being commercial?
- Commercial gets confused sometimes. I think there’s two types 1:where the dj or producer just goes down the route of wanting to make big records or to make people have there hands in the air for the whole night. The other is the producer who makes that record which is so good everyone across the board can play it.

- What’s your opinion about the Romanian clubbing scene?
- I've only played once and I had a great night.

- What makes a party great?
- Great sound, small venue, friendly people and, of course, good music.

- When and where did you make a marathon on the turntables? How
many hours?

- Space Miami last November I played for 11 hours – 9 in the main room and 3 on the terrace.

- Turntables, CDJs or laptop? Why?
- I think all of them, I find it hard to travel with vinyl, but when I'm in the UK I try and use all of the above. DJs shouldn’t be scared about trying new equipment.
Special thanks to lovely Beth @ Bullitt Bookings for this.

Thursday, April 24

Dan Ghenacia - Eyelights [Freak n'Chic]

Dan Ghenacia 'Eyelights'
Freak n'Chic - FNCCD03
Released June 2008


Freak n'Chic label-head Dan Ghenacia presents 'Eyelights' - a deep, dance-demanding insight into Ghenacia's musical world of today, yesterday and with exclusive tracks for the future.

The overall style of the mix is deep house; deep, groovy and hypnotic, but in a modern way - Dan Ghenacia

The idea of the compilation is to 'highlight' what is going on for me as a DJ/producer and with the music I like and play - with the artists I'm working with and the artists I love. For the name, I tried to find something that included the word 'highlights' - in a musical sense - and I also wanted something that 'highlights' the magnifying glass theme on my eye - we found something in between 'Eyelights'. I like it. Dan Ghenacia

Tracklisting:
01. David K. feat Opium 'Western Journey' Freak n'Chic
02. DOP feat. Noze 'The Riot' Milnormodern Records
03. Seth Troxler & Patrick Russell 'Doctor of Romance' Circus Company
04. Skat 'Concrete jungle' Karat
05. Shonky 'Bushes' Freak n'Chic
06. Dyed Soundorom 'Remote Cocktail' Freak n'Chic
07. Floppy Sounds 'Ultrasong' (Studio B Mix) Wave Music
08. James Mowbray & D.Ramirez 'Time Fades Away' (Daniel Stefanikremix)
09. Basic Unit 'Fedass' (Gary Beck remix) Fine Art Recordings
10. Johnny D 'Walkman' 8Bit Records
11. Shonky 'Time Zero' Mathias Kaden vas-y gamin remix Freak n'Chic
12. Jus-ed 'Tekno Minimal' / Interlude Jamie Jones 'Still Here?' Acapella Underground Quality / Fn'C
13. Andomat 3000 'BND2' Four:Twenty
14. Chris Carrier 'Sticks & Stones' Freak n'Chic

- material coming via my special lady Kim Booth @ Rebel Butteryfly -

Ozgur Can at Studio Martin in May

Ozgur Can will be the guest of the Official After Hours Party on the 17th of May at Studio Martin. On that date, The Mission presents Booka Shade's The Sun and The Neon Light Tour in a tent at the great outdoor venue, Arenele Romane. The event has guests like Booka Shade [live], Lopazz [live] and Livio & Roby and you can get pre-sale tickets here.

Usually the after hours parties at Studio Martin kick off at 5 a.m., straight after lights are out at The Mission, and have local DJs to play. But this is an exception, cause this will be a magic night! So say hello to Ozgur Can for the 17th of May!

Jona is missing the gig on Friday

I have a good news and a bad news. Should I start with the good one? No way, let's try the bad one first: Jona will miss his gig at Studio Martin on Friday, 25th of April. Jona was suppose to play at an event where he was invited alongside DJ T. and Roby. Because he has a flu and his doctor recomended him to stay in bed, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience and publish this message from his side. His show will be re-scheduled for autumn.

I AM VERY SORRY THAT I CANNOT BE IN BUCHAREST AND PLAY FOR YOU TONIGHT. UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE TO STAY IN BED, AS I HAVE A HIGH FEVER. I WISH YOU ALL A GREAT NIGHT WITH DJ T.
& WILL SEE YOU ALL VERY SOON!

* * * JONA * * *


Good news is that the entrance is now 10 ron before midnight and 20 ron after midnight. So dear all, see you on Friday with DJ T. and Roby. Meanwhile, Jona - Get yourself a hot cup of mint tea from Deejay Tea. :)
And get over here fast, got it? We need your beats. But first, you are the one to need this:

DJ T / Jona / Roby @ Studio Martin 25.04.08

Let's GET PHYSICAL with

DJ T [Get Physical]
JONA [Get Physical]
ROBY [Viva Music]

Kick off: 11 pm

Line up:
11 pm - 01 am Roby
01 am - 03 am Jona
03 am - 05 am DJ T

Entrance: 20 ron before midnight / 30 ron after midnight
Special Offer:
First 10 clubbers to enter Studio Martin will automatically receive an invitation to the party on Saturday, 26th of April, which brings to you Anthony Collins.

Get More Info About:
Studio Martin
Get Physical
DJ T [Get Physical]
JONA [Get Physical]
ROBY [Viva Music]



DJ T [Get Physical]

Thomas Koch, co-founder of Get Physical, a well known and respected DJ and producer, came out on the music scene under the name of DJ T many years ago. He is also the co-founder of Monza, which became one of the greatest party brands if you are talking about techno.

Latest mix for You FM is available for download here and you can check out his music on Beatport. Any other information you might need is here or on his myspace.


JONA [Get Physical]

Jona's sound is shaping from Detroit techno to a more modern sophisticated house feeling. Eclectism is a master-word for him. He's always trying to explore new ways of sounding and takes the advantages of any musical style he listens to. In the past few years, he s released 11 maxis on vinyl, on labels like Get Physical, Resopal, Fumakilla, Toys for Boys, Strobe Music and some remixes for M.A.N.D.Y., Booka Shade, David K, Daso, Soffy O, Junior Boys etc. Amongst them, two on the major record company Virgin-EMI. They both reached number 1 in the official German Dance Charts.

You can listen to an old school techno mix of Jona here , download the latest promo mix here, and read more about him here or on his myspace.



ROBY [Viva Music]
Part of Livio & Roby and Monochrome projects, Roby is by far one of the best producers of the moment in Romania. Robert Precup aka Roby is making music since he was 16 years old and nowadays, altogether with Livio managed to get under Steve Lawler's label, Viva Music. Their Monochrome project won both prizes, The Jury's Prize and The People's Choice, at the Global Sessions of Heineken Music Thirst Studio which tool place last year in Las Vegas. And that was just the beggining as thye just came back from WMC, where they were guests at Steve Lawler's Lights Out party at ParkWest and shared the DJ booth with him, Clive Henry, Audiofly and many others.

Livio & Roby's tracks have tracks released under labels like Viva Music, Supernurture, Definitive Records, Organized Nature, Solar Recordings, Whoop which have been featured on compilations released at Global Underground, Ministry of Sound, Azuli and Toolroom by artists like Steve Lawler, Hernan Cattaneo and Gabriel & Dresden.
Recently, after remixing U.N.K.L.E.'s Restless, Monochrome launched its first album called Children of House at the label Ido Music and Livio & Roby released the first LP, Speranta, at Viva Music, which includes nine tracks.
At the beggining of the year, Roby won the title Best Upcoming DJ of The Year at Nights.ro Awards 2008, after playing alongside names like Laurent Garnier, M.A.N.D.Y. and Steve Lawler, just to name a few. At the moment he's preparing with his colleagues and partners, Livio and George G, for the hottest period of the Romanian clubbing scene - 1st of May Sessions, where they will play as special guests at Club Gossip, alongside Sasha, Audiofly and Gabriel Ananda at La Mania Club and during day time at Kudos Beach. If you think you know enough, just wait and see!

DJ T mix

DJ T aka Thomas Koch did an amazing mix for You Fm a couple of months ago. Here you have the first part of it which I find exceptional!
DJ T will play tomorrow night @ Studio Martin, so be there or be square! It's time to Get Physical! :)

Tuesday, April 22

Alex Under Interview


Alex Under
- brainy minimal

- You say your work resembles the collage technique in visual art. What kind of sounds do you assemble, in order to create a new whole?
- That’s exactly the point, the sounds I use are part of already made tracks, I mean, I first make a basic track or loop, then I use cuts, slices, clicks, and parts of this track as sounds to make a new track. That way every single sound has a whole world of sounds on it. It’s a very complex technique that needs a lot of time to make a track. Unfortunately I don’t have that much time, so I don’t use it always. You can listen to "collaged" tracks in the "Multiplicanciones" series on Apnea Records, some of my early CMYK Musik releases and the "Collage EP" on Plus8.

- You say there is something alchemic in your music. What is the purpose of your music?
- The purpose of my music is to evocate feelings in the listeners, probably the purpose of all the music, though. It depends in what I’m working on, but right now my aim is to make people dance with an ear-to-ear-smile in their faces.

- What’s the story of you making music?
- "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year" do you know that Sinatra’s song? It’s a good one! Anyways, I started when I was a teenager, I used to play in metal bands in my hometown, I spent all my youth in a hole we had rented for play, I played everything, guitars, drums, bass, but I didn’t sing ever, thank God. Then I discovered electronic music and I got amazed with it, firstly I tried to mix it up with the music we were doing with the band, some kind of (ha ha ha) techno-metal, but of course it was a shame. And then I kissed bye bye my band buddies, and started my solo career as a techno kid.



- Where is your studio, what is the sightseeing there?
- My new brand studio is in Madrid, we have a new place with 3 studios and the office, it’s a Paradise, we were working on it very hard, doing some handyman’s stuff after the professionals finished the hard work. The sightseeing (ha ha ha again) is not bad, I have a 2x1 meters window that connects my studio with the office, and so every time I see the face of my partner Jose, he is not that ugly, but the sightseeing could’ve been better. So, I have Jose in front and the rest of the guys, Tadeo, Imek and Damian in the other studios.

- Do you use any gear?

- I don’t use much gear right now, I got into the computer music very quickly because it makes my life easier and it permits me to make music in less time. My vintage favorite is my SH-101 and my brand new favorite is an MBase01 by Jomox, which is a very small analog machine to make only bass drums.

- How many hours per day do you work? How long it takes till a track becomes a good track?
- I don’t have a routine, I have a 2 years old kid, and I’m all the weekends out of home, plus the office work with the labels, so its really hard to me to have a fixed schedule, either for work or sleep. I didn’t spend too much time in the studio lately, but I have a good working plan for the next months so I hope I can make it for 5 or 6 hours everyday. Anyway is hard to say how much time needs a track, some of them need weeks, others just hours.

- Does your son react to any type of music?
- My son, Cyan is 2 years old, and he is the meaning of my life, he is my world. Cyan loves the music, especially funky; his favorites are Herbie Hancock and Earth Wind and Fire. Is amazing how he reacts with "headhunters" of H. Hancock, since he was 3 months old. I love to watch him dancing in my rear-view mirror when we are in the car.



- You come from Madrid. How was your childhood, what were your musical influences? Do you still have tapes or vinyl from that period?
- My childhood was very smooth; thanks to my parents I always had lot of freedom. It was in the old-times, so a 10-year-old boy could go out by night in the summer without any danger, so I loved the street. I was always "having bad ideas" as my mom defines my childhood, this is something nice of being artist, now those bad ideas are named as creativity :))).
I have a brother and sister (+4 and +5 years older than me) my brother was very involved in music composition since he was a kid, he had the very firsts synths and computers.
The first bands I liked by my own, after listening to my brother’s tapes, was Metallica and Sepultura, followed by a long tail of thrash, gothic or death-metal bands. Shameless I don’t have much tapes or CDs from that period, but I do have a lot of vinyl from my family collection, very miscellaneous collection.

- How is the clubbing scene in Madrid?
- I’m afraid I’m not the correct person to answer this. Unfortunately I don’t have a clue of what’s happening in Madrid during the weekends. I live here Monday to Thursday, but I know only the day life here. I can tell you we have great parks to go with the kids, but surely if you ask Richie Hawtin or Ellen Allien, they would know much more than me about the club scene in Madrid. In the last year I played 2 times in Madrid, in the whole year!

- Compare the West European crowd with the East European one. Where did you play in Eastern Europe except Romania and how was it there?
- Every club and every city is an absolute different world from each other in terms of crowd, but, in general terms, I think the crowd in Eastern Europe is usually younger, they have much more energy. Two of my favorite countries are in this region of the world, Romania and Georgia. Playing there is always a peak-feelings-time, I don’t need to be so technical as in UK, Germany or US (i.e.) the show is something much more passionate and the contact with the people is more direct and intimate. Something I love when playing in Eastern Europe is that I have the same feeling I used to have when I started clubbing, really cannot explain what the hell it is, but is something that goes up and down in the guts.

- Tell us the importance of a good sound in a club. Did it ever happen to you not to play your set because of a bad sound? What’s a perfect club for you?
- The happiness and enjoyment of a DJ is the same as the sound system he is playing on, so you can guess how important it is. I never said I don’t play, but it crossed my mind in a 20% of my gigs I played with so crappy sound systems, but is part of the game, though. A perfect club for me I think in Studio Martin in Bucharest, this is a perfect club for me.



- What is the story behind CMYKmusik. How did the idea appear? Where does it have the headquarters? How does it look there?
- CMYKmusik was the first label of the Net28 family. I used to have a record shop, there, it was the very first HQ´s, and I met there all my buddies, all my partners now in Net28. I was new in town, I knew nobody in Madrid, they also didn’t know each other, so we all started meeting at the record shop, and we became a close family. All the shop was handmade with recycled stuff from the streets and it looked very funny, all the record shops in Madrid were like the modern black/silver painting and CMYKmusik shop had colors everywhere, it was very warm.
Downstairs we had a cellar, very dark and with lot of humidity, really uncomfortable, but there was the beginning. After 5 years I closed the shop and we formerly moved the net28 office into a flat, nothing special, and now, since February ‘08, we have the best office in the world! It’s big, spacious, we also have the studios there, we play here darts, basketball, ping-pong, and we also do some work, sometimes.

- When did your other three labels come into the story?
- After CMYKmusik, I started thinking I needed something else, something like a platform to move with, I was lost with the label, I just made the music, but I didn’t have any distribution, any promotion department, anything else. So it was necessary to create a huge net around everything related with a label, as a manufacturing department, promotion department and booking agency, and of course, some more labels to build a proper musical scene. At that time, each one of my partners started a label.

- What defines each of your labels?
- APNEA Records - the word “apnea” refers to diving in the sea without any kind of artificial help, just the human, and that is exactly what Apnea is as a label too, deepness and humanity. CYCLICAL TRACKS is about something complex built from a basic pattern evolved on a loop basis.
Bemysheep is the label we use to release weird stuff, as bootlegs or freaky-versions of pop anthems as Shakira’s “Whenever” or Snap´s “I got the power”.
MUPA is the youngest of our labels, house music oriented and fine stuff, and CMYKmusik is all about personality, we don’t care what kind of music is released, just need to have the own personality of the artist on it.



- What do you think is unique to the first compilation of Net28?
- Is our first release in CD format, this for starters. Then, is also our first compilation of various artists, and we wanted to do it with unreleased tracks, we asked everyone to make a special track for the compilation, so all the artists had a common motivation to make a track. So that’s why the compilation has this "karma", you can feel the community concept when listening to it, all tracks are different, each one with it own style of each artist, but all them are almost-mystically connected to the rest of them. I think its a important break-point in all our careers, as artists and also for the labels, all we were working for some time and the compilation is something that had make us to stop, think and breath.
It took around one year since the first email asking for the tracks to the artists till we received the CD at the office, a long walk, but it was worth it!

- How and when did it start Musica Charlista, the project shared with Damian Schwartz? How is working with Damian?
I hate working with other people. I just cannot do it. But, one day we were just messing up in the studio and we got into a really good concept, the "conversationalism" between sounds, (“musica charlista” means something like "chatting music") and we made cmyk004 release. It was very fast, smooth working, everything came up almost by itself. It was very funny to do it, but unfortunately we don’t have much time now to work on this project now.

- What do you prefer most and why: to make a set as a producer, only with your tracks or to play as a DJ?

- I will try to not be too abstract with the answer, but is always complicated to choose one or the other in general terms. I’ve been playing a live set with my own tracks since I was touring with "Dispositivos de mi Granja” LP (listen here), in 2005, and I really feel comfortable with this kind of show, it has a negative thing, I get bored of playing the same tracks every time. Because is not easy to have a new live set every month, I use to add new loops, sketches and arrangements every week, but even with this is easy to get bored with it, and this is highly unrecommended. So, last year I was testing "Loopsi Driver", which basically is a live set but using tracks and loops produced by the artists on NET28 labels. During that time I had the chance to renew my life set in a 80%, and now I’m again playing only my own tracks and I’m enjoying it a lot. So, the bottom line is, the very best is to change things, set up, concepts, whatever that could bring yourself to a new adventure.



- What is the new trend Berlin will set this year? What do you think about new rave?
- Is so boring to me, I can’t even debate about it. Waiting for a new trend from Berlin? That’s sooo optimistic! I don’t know what’s this "new rave" you are telling me, but if it’s pumpin´, funny and kicking ass, I like it! Save the rave.

- Debate on this theme: vinyl or Ableton, digital or analog?
- About vinyl or Ableton, that’s easy to answer, talking about performance, Ableton is my choice. I love vinyl and I do collect them, I love all the magic surrounding a vinyl, although that has almost disappeared. When I remember the old times, when I had the record shop, and the customers came the day we had news incoming, it was such a great community moment. But times had changed and we must accept it, vinyl is now a collector item. Is not profitable for the labels and is very environment unfriendly.
Digital or analog, I don’t have preferences in here. .

- What is your set up for a live set?
- My actual set up is: Macbook Pro laptop, RME Fireface 400 soundcard, Evolution UC-33 midi controller, mini-Kaoss pad FX.

- You are a label owner, you make music, and you have a son. When do you find time for everything?
- Don’t forget I’m also traveling 3 days per week ;)
I was listening to that Japanese woman, 120 years old, the oldest alive person in the world, it was amazing how she looked like 60, walking, speaking fluently… so, she told her secret to the interviewer, she just sleeps 1 night in 2 days, that makes 40 hours awake / 8 hours sleep.
Now it could be really cool to tell you I do the same, but... unfortunately I can’t! I did try to, that story amazed me, and I tried it hard, but it does not work with me. I think the only secret to make things successful is to do it with all the senses on it, with the heart, the soul and the brain too.

- How do you see yourself in 20 years? What about music? Will the vinyl disappear completely?
- I see myself that kind of old man that doesn’t want to get old, so he wears "young" clothes and speaks the slang people used 20 years ago, drinking beers alone in a crappy bar and trying to get into the disco’s without any hope to achieve his purpose… Neah, I’m kidding. I see myself in my own Caribbean island drinking piƱa colada and listening Thomas Brinkmann´s "Rosa" in my own Martin audio sound system, placed in the beach.
In my point of view, music will be based in frequencies and noises; will be more something about sound than about music. And yes, the vinyl will be out of scene at that time, but also the CDs and DVDs and the kind of hard drives we know today.

- What means techno for you?
- Techno means the biggest motor of emotions and feelings known.

brought to you thanks to

Special thanks to Jose @ Net28 and Studio Martin ;)

The Mission pres Danny Tenaglia @ WTP

Last Saturday, 19th of April, The Mission invited Danny Tenaglia to play at WTP. It was an amazing night, but for the ones that couldn't make it, pics & videos are the best way to imagine ;)

So you can check out pictures at the following links:
Fotoclubbing
Beatfactor

And, of course, videos:


Who is Jona? Get his new mix!


If you haven't heard about Jona yet, you don't know what you lost. We are talking about an amazing tech house and techno producer that shake the dance floors everywhere in the world with his productions. He went under Get Physical Music label and his music fits there damn perfect. After listening to this promo mix I'm sure you'll go straight to Beatport to check his tunes as well.

You can check him out performing in Bucharest at Studio Martin next Friday - 25th of April with DJ T [Get Physical] and Roby [Livio & Roby / Monochrome].
Oh well, if a discography will make you happy, there you have it.

Enjoy!

Releases:

Altiplano - Planet E (2008)
Manta - Get Physical Music (2008)
Puppets EP - Toys For Boys (2007)
Swamp EP - Fumakilla (2007)
Turning Point/Ashes & Dust EP - Resopal (2007)
"Fisherman" appears on Get Physical 5 Years compilation (2007)
Evidence EP - Get Physical (2007)
Tizia EP - Get Physical (2006)
Someone EP - Strobe Music (2006)
"Crime Scene" appears on Resopal compilation "The Process" (2006)
Moontalka EP - Resopal Schallware (2006)
"Yellowstone" appears on Get Physical 4th Anniversary mixed cd (2006)
Tap Stroke EP - Fumakilla (2006)
The Learnings EP- Get Physical (2006)
Ask/Use & Abuse EP - Toys For Boys (2005)
Smile EP - Strobe Music (2005)

Remixes:


Junior Boys - No Kinda Man (Get Physical Music, 2008)
Michal Ho - Take Away (Tuning Spork, 2007)
Daso - Daybreak (appears on Get Physical "Full Body Workout vol.3") (2006)
Ian O’Brien Docker - The Beginning (Virgin/EMI, 2006)
M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Body Language (Get Physical, 2006)
Soffy O - Everybody’s Darling (Virgin/EMI, 2006)
M.A.N.D.Y. - Jah (Get Physical, 2006)
Sierra Sam - Perfume (Surprise rec, 2005)
David K & Terry - The Munk (Strobe Music, 2004)

Jona @ Deeplay, Panama

Monday, April 7

La Mania on 1st of May = 4 Days of Parties



30th of April
Italoboyz
Pikaya [Live act]
Michal Ho
Clive Henry [Peace Division]
Sepp

1st of May
Sasha[EmFire]
Livio & Roby[Viva Music]

2nd of May
Lee Burridge
Afrilounge
Sepp

3rd of May
Gabriel Ananda [Karmarouge]
Audiofly [Supernature]
Livio & Roby [Viva Music]