droppin' cyance

NEW BLOG: DUB CYANCE

2008-10-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Please check me out at my new blog:

DUB CYANCE

Reggae Rising 2008

2008-08-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Mercedes and I headed up to Piercy, CA over the weekend for our 3-Year anniversary to catch Reggae Rising. It was fun camping out in the sun and checking out hours upon hours of reggae all-stars, including Tanya Stephens, Junior Reid, Don Carlos, Sizzla, and more! The 3-day festival was very well organized and the overall vibe was super positive. We met reggae headz as far south as San Diego. That says a lot about the reputation of Reggae Rising, even though the name was changed last year due to legalities.

It was amazing to hear how reggae music has influenced dubstep, drum & bass, and all forms of modern music with its pulsing basslines, funky skanks, and enlightening vocals. I didn't realize how rich and deep reggae music ran and I've been having fun discovering more about the artists. Check out the iTunes feature on Reggae Rising for some essential listening.

This was our first time to Reggae Rising, but definitely not our last.

KODE9/HATCHA/CYAN@MEZZANNINE-JULY10,2008

2008-06-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

MEZZANINE and SureFire Productions present
KODE 9
(Hyperdub, UK)
&
HATCHA
(Kiss FM, Tempa, Big Apple, UK)
@ MEZZANINE / Thursday July 10, 2008
Doors at 9 pm / $12 Advance (on sale Sat, 7/7) / 444 Jessie Street, San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA – On Thursday July 10th, MEZZANINE and SureFire Productions join forces to present one of the biggest dubstep nights San Francisco has seen. The headliners of the night are the mighty Kode 9 and Hatcha, two of the most recognized names in dubstep music. Both Kode9 and Hatcha are early pioneers of the burgeoning dubstep sound, even before there was a name for the genre.

South London-based Kode 9 (Steve Goodman) has been DJing for the last 15 years and producing for the last 10. He is also the owner and founder of the respected Hyperdub record label. Hyperdub has broken the critically acclaimed artist Burial to a worldwide audience and continues to release the most cutting edge dubstep to date. According to Time Out London, Kode9’s debut album, Memories of The Future, with dub poet Spaceape, is “full of dread in both senses of the word…and set to become a modern classic.” Kode 9, who mixed the Dubstep Allstars, Vol. 3 CD, showcases his unique style of mixing at his debut appearance at the MEZZANINE.

Another dubstep founding father is the illustrious Hatcha (Terry Leonard), who mixed the Dubstep Allstars Vo. 1 and Vol. 4 compilations on Tempa. He was the headliner at SureFire’s first all dubstep event in 2006 and returned for SureFire’s one-year anniversary in October of 2007. Considered to be one of the scenes leading DJ’s and tastemakers, he holds residency on London's Kiss FM, is half owner of Big Apple Records, and is a noteworthy producer collaborating with Skream, Kromestar, Benga and more. SureFire welcomes back Hatcha on one of the best sound systems in San Francisco.

Local support is brought to you by Maneesh the Twister (Surya Dub, Dub Mission), DJ Cyan (Grime City, Lotus Root, SureFire), Subtek (Grime City, Dubliminal), and Sam Supa (Grime City, Brapdem, SureFire). The hosts for the night are DJ Collage (MasseOne, SureFire, Seattle) and local favorite Emcee Child (Grime City).

UPCOMING SHOW DETAILS
Artists Performing: DJ’s: Kode 9, Hatcha, Maneesh the Twister, DJ Cyan, Subtek, and Sam Supa
MC’s DJ Collage and Emcee Child
Date: Thursday July 10, 2008
Time: Doors at 9 pm
Venue: MEZZANINE / 444 Jessie Street / San Francisco
Price: $12 Advance (on sale Sat, 7/7 at www.mezzaninesf.com)

May Madness (Grime City 3 Year, Dizzee Rascal)

2008-05-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since I blogged, but I have some sweet gigs on the horizon.

Grime City is turning 3 years old. Dubstep, grime, and sublow music in San Francisco has grown exponentially in that time and Grime City is still the top party to brock out to.

Company Flow got me into El-P and his Def Jux empire. Dizzee Rascal got me into grime, which eventually led me to dubstep. Two pioneers of their genre on the same label and together on one bill with the Grime City crew. May 21st is also my 30th birthday and I'm ringing in the next decade in style - a massive lineup!!! Hope to see you out.

Ending 2007 With a Bang!

2007-12-12T20:48:00.001-08:00

2007 has been an amazing year for Bay Area dubstep. So many shows of historic proportions and inspiring new music from a hungry pack of local producers. Just listen to the B.A.D. Vol. 1 compilation presented by Ripple to hear the budding scene growing.

Closing out the year includes Grime City, Skream at the Regency Center, and a special New Year's Eve Grime City.

Grime City Time

2007-11-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

B.I.G. Crew and SureFire Productions present:
GRIME CITY: YEAR THREE
DUBSTEP/GRIME/SUBLOW - NO COVER!
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2007

Did Drum & Bass Lose Its Cool?

2007-09-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

This article reminds me of when I just got into d&b and started DJing. I thought d&b would change the world. In a way it did shape mine.

Now Breakbeat Science is no longer in New York, Phuturo in San Francisco has ended, and I've been sorting through my d&b records to sell back to Amoeba.

Did d&b lose its cool?

Fly Life

A Full-Circle Farewell

Drum'n'bass may never conquer the world, but it managed to outlast this column

by Tricia Romano

May 29th, 2007 8:35 PM

I'm ending it the way I started.

Once upon a time, the only music I listened to was drum'n'bass. Hip-hop was on top of the charts, but all I cared about was Ed Rush and Optical. DB and Dara, New York City's local purveyors of jungle, were my saviors. Without fail I went to all the weekly parties—Konkrete Jungle, Direct Drive, Camouflage, and Testpress Sundays—and spent all my money at the record store Breakbeat Science, back when it was on East 9th Street. In 1997, when I was a Voice intern, drum'n'bass was on the rise; in 1999, when I moved here permanently from Seattle, it was at the height of its cool, coasting on big-time releases from Roni Size and Grooverider, its practitioners and fans hoping against hope it'd cross over. It never did.

Back then, I'd spend every Sunday night at Testpress, the weekly jam hosted by DJ Swingsett and held at Drinkland on East 10th. There, I'd see local DJs like Delmar and Roy Dank, and watch TC Izlam, one of the only American jungle MCs worth hearing, guide us over the beats in a bar that was too small and with a sound system too tiny to contain the massiveness that is drum'n'bass. I'd listen as different d'n'b obsessives would talk about the latest cuts on dubplates, and argue over who was the better female junglist—DJ Reid Speed or DJ Empress. (They're both great.)

Believe it or not, drum'n'bass isn't dead. Don't get me wrong: It isn't cool or hip in the slightest. Its followers don't wear skinny pants or flaunt asymmetrical haircuts. Celebrities don't play special "DJ sets." And you won't find any pictures of drum'n'bass events on Last Night's Party, or photos of fans mocked in Blue States Lose. It's a world away from Cobrasnake and Ruff Club and Susanne Bartsch and Motherfucker and the Box and 205 Club and the Trinity and basically everything my life is now. It's almost like a parallel universe.

A handful of drum'n'bass parties still thrive in New York. Camouflage is still kicking Tuesdays at Sin Sin Lounge on East 6th Street—it's been going on as long as I've lived here. And the nine-year-old Direct Drive soldiers on despite losing its latest location, Tonic, when the club closed a few weeks after the party moved there. DD has also survived moves from Baktun, Rothko, Movida, and R'N'R (the old Cooler), which are all now closed as well. "We'll kill your club," says Cliff Cho, a/k/a DJ Seoul. They are now concentrating on special events held at the Sullivan Room.

At the venerable club Love, DJ DB has an event called the Secret Night of Science, held the second Friday of each month. He specializes in the softer side of d'n'b, and is successful enough that as many as 425 people have come out, many of them new converts. "That was the challenge," says DB, who runs the night with DJ Place 42. "We didn't want the traditional d'n'b stand-around arms-folded nodding-your-head crowd. We wanted girls. You ever heard of girls?"

Meanwhile, the king of them all, Konkrete Jungle, has been going on since 1994, and is now held at the Pyramid on Avenue A. (They've only missed two Mondays, both due to snowstorms.) I went earlier this month to see who exactly goes to a drum'n'bass party on a Monday night. Answer: not many folks. And even then, it was mostly boys who appeared to be of college age, wearing the requisite baggy pants and hats, dancing the raver dance (the one that lies somewhere between jazzercise and b-boying with imaginary glowsticks), something I haven't seen in a while.

As for girls, there were a few, composing maybe five percent of the sparse crowd, including the two who were onstage: a female MC named Dyer and my old friend Christina Ingram, a/k/a DJ Empress.

"There aren't that many girls, still?" I asked Mac, the head of Konkrete Jungle. He was looking very much like the schoolteacher he is, sitting at the wooden table, his glasses resting on his nose, a pencil resting in his hand. "I blame the Usual Suspects and Bad Company for that," he said, referring to the dark tech-step producers who specialized in sonic wizardry and scaring the bejesus out of you with monstrous basslines. I, with my heavy metal past, loved it; when I spun drum'n'bass, I'd play track after track of the dark stuff. Other girls, not so much. (My all-time fave 12-inch: Ed Rush, Optical, and Fierce's "Cutslo (Locust remix)," b/w "Alien Girl" on Prototype. Yes, you are reading a foreign language.)

The bass rumbled the walls of the near-empty room; I watched as Empress spun effortlessly. When I first moved here, I thought she was the coolest person on earth—an impossibly hot, fashionable girl who played the fiercest, hardest music, and who gained respect from the toughest critics of all—the U.K. jungle gods. Watching her a few weeks ago, she still was the coolest person on earth, even if she would never pose in front of the MisShapes' wall. (Who the fuck am I kidding? This makes her even cooler.)

"It's definitely not the cool thing anymore," DB says. "But I was into it before it was a cool thing. Maybe it'll be the cool thing again, one day."

I went to Konkrete Jungle to end my official participation in New York nightlife the way I began it nearly eight years ago. This is my final column. After five years, I'm hanging up the Fly Life hat to become a staff writer and broaden my horizons (read: see daylight).

I'd like to dedicate this column to the people who served as my introduction to New York nightlife, and those who tolerated me for many years, including but not limited to Siouxie Zimmerman, Gamall Awad, Justin Bond, Mario Diaz, Murray Hill, Larry Tee, Tommie Sunshine, Lyle Derek, Honey Dijon, Sherry Vine, Misstress Formika, the World FamousBOB*, Julie Atlas Muz, Robert Johnson, Tommy Saleh, Mandy Brooks, Kimyon, Elan Ackerman, the MisShapes, and Thomas Onorato. Thanks to Mr. Musto, Frank Owen, and Steven Lewis for the nightlife education. Thanks to David Rabin and Robert Bookman for hours of healthy discourse and ideological rabble-rousing. Norman Siegel, Paul Chevigny, and the many cabaret-law activists who've fought to get this stupid law off the books—you are my heroes. There are more: You know who you are.

And I will always remember, mostly with fondness, all of the parties and places I've seen: Motherfucker, MisShapes, Siberia, Mama's Bar, Rated X, the Cock, the Hole, Halcyon, Matter:/form boat rides, Bunker at subTonic, the Dark Room, Nublu, P.S. 1, Body and Soul, Shelter, Cielo, Centro-Fly, Luxx, APT, Plant Bar, Filter 14. There are too many people to thank (don't worry, I won't soon forget) and too many moments to immortalize. I'd need three columns to do everyone justice, but I don't have that. Party over: out of time.

flylife@villagevoice.com

XLR8R TV Episode 25 - Dubstep 101 with Youngsta

2007-09-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I had a part in shaping up this episode. Big up Tomas and the SureFire crew!

London-based DJ Youngsta schools us on one of our favorite emerging music scenes, dubstep. Youngsta explains the evolution of the genre, id's the key players and which records should be on your turntable.

Article

Dubstep:

London-based DJ Youngsta schools XLR8R on one of our favorite emerging music scenes.

Youngsta explains the evolution of the genre, who the key players are, and which records should be on your turntable.

Watch it, then head over to the XLR8RTV forums and chime.

Dub Qawwali - Honoring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

2007-08-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: A Sufi Music Master Revived

by Anil Mundra

Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997) was considered the finest qawwali singer of his generation. Photo: Ishida Masataka

Songs from 'Dub Qawwali'

Hear old Nusrat recordings dressed up in dub reggae beats by producer Gaudi.

Dub Qawwali combines the soaring vocals of the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the reggae style called "dub."

“The message of [qawwali] and the message of reggae is exactly the same. It's peace, love, and spirituality.”

Gaudi

Producer Gaudi's great reverence for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan almost stopped him from making his new record. Photo: Dan Welldon

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's concerts were often rapturous events where fans showered the musicians in money.

All Things Considered, August 7, 2007 · Resurrecting the dead is nothing new in music. Remember Natalie Cole singing and dancing with her late father, Nat King Cole? The latest luminary to be revived is the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. August 16 marks the tenth anniversary of his death.

In his short life, Nusrat was the world's greatest singer of qawwali, a boisterous and passionate music of mystical Islam. He embraced western pop music, teaming up with Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder. Now, Nusrat returns with the help of Italian dub reggae producer Gaudi. Their new CD is called Dub Qawwali.

Gaudi is a veteran producer with 11 solo albums over the past two decades. He specializes in dub reggae, a style that often reworks existing material, mixing booming bass and drums with electronic effects.

After dabbling in punk music, Gaudi began experimenting with synthesizers, and was fully steeped in reggae when he first heard one of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's records in the mid-1980s. By this time, Khan was already being called the "Emperor of qawwali."

Gaudi displays an appropriate reverence for the emperor, a fact that most likely helped him when he approached Khan's old record label. Gaudi says he was thrilled when they gave him full access to original 40-year-old reel-to-reel tapes of unreleased Nusrat sessions.

"It was incredibly emotive for me, seeing the writing, handwriting and everything, I had goose bumps, really," Gaudi recalls.

He took the tapes and worked some studio magic, removing unwanted instruments and laying the bare vocal tracks over his own beats. It was a daring venture, to be sure, but Gaudi says that in all that tinkering, his aim was not to adapt Khan's music to his own beats, but exactly the other way around. He was even careful to preserve the message of Khan's music.

"I couldn't understand what he was thinking about," Gaudi says, "so I had to employ a translator. And making sure that all the vocals that phonetically for me sounded great, even meaning-wise made sense."

That's part of the reason the record took Gaudi two years to make. He says he spent months just listening, before touching anything. And in the end, his careful study convinced him that he could safely use Jamaican dub beats without compromising the spirit of Khan's music.

"Because the message of that music and the message of reggae is exactly the same," Gaudi says. "It's peace, love, and spirituality. So that was my common denominator for me, just to try and unify the two elements."

Still, as harmonious as it felt to him, Gaudi says sometimes felt he should abandon the project.

"I know already that whatever I do with this music," Gaudi says, "it will not be as beautiful as the original material, and that's for sure. So I was about to give up. And the same feeling happened when I remixed Bob Marley four years ago. It's bigger than me, bigger than anything I did so far."

But he went ahead, trying to imagine that Khan's spirit was there with him in the studio. After all, Gaudi says, the studio is his "temple."

# # #

'Dub Qawwali': Honoring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

by Derek Rath

Day to Day, August 3, 2007 · The new album Dub Qawwali takes the vocal stylings of the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who died 10 years ago, and puts them over a reggae beat. Nusrat, a Pakistani singer, has sold more records worldwide than Elvis.

XLR8R: The Week in Dubstep: Quoted

2007-07-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

I was quoted in Tomas Palermo's "week in dubstep" column for the Grime City Anniversary!

XLR8R

The Week In Dubstep

The scribes at xlr8r.com are currently locked on and addicted to all the audio and video goodies found on Get Darker. Watch videos recorded at Rinse FM, preview dubplates and press clips about everything happening in the dubstep scene. A killer site!

San Francisco’s free dubstep/grime monthly Grime City turned two on Friday June 15, with a bang up session. The night, co-produced by the B.I.G. Crew and Surefire Productions, brought the US dub don Joe Nice out for his second appearance. Also in the mix were selectors Cyan, DJ Munk, Samsupa, Jamin, Subtek, and vocals from Audio Angel and Emcee Child. Cyan commented: “It was best night the club’s had in its two-year history. It was packed like sardines! By The time Joe went on it was a sweatbox and Joe got deep with his set, all dubplates. The vibe was really thick.”

MC Child.

Speaking of SF nights–One Ronin’s Samsupa’s new night BrapDem fires its dubs first and third Wednesdays at the Transfer. Bay Area dubsteppers should also check out the next Surya Dub at Club Six, featuring DJ Ripple (Full Melt), Djunya (Narco Hz), Maneesh, and more.

Denver dubstep crew Sub.mission throws free monthly and bi-monthly club nights at the Snake Pit in Denver. Guests have included Nick Argon, and June 29 will feature Parson. Sub.mission also runs the Dank Dealz radio show on DubstepFM, 4-7 p.m. GMT on Saturdays.

One of dubstep’s most popular radio voices and club selectors is DJ Chef of Transition dubplate cutting studio. He plays on Rinse FM Sundays, 1 - 3 a.m., for all you graveyard ravers.

DJ Chef.

Loads of new vinyl and downloads are due to hit shelves and screens this summer, including "Retro" by Hijak & Skream, on Eddie Bliss’ Cultured Recordings, RUF’s “Raw Love” on Danish label Kraken, and Djunya’s “Contact,” on Bristol-based Komonazmuk, all due mid-June.

Releases for July include: Whistla, “Merkaba” (OxRider), Uncle Sam & Tes La Rok, “Round the World Girls (Tes La Rok Remix)” (Argon), DZ, "Slums Dub" (Scuba), Tes la Rok, Djunya, Grimejah and DJ Absurd, “DubstepSessions1 RP” (Aphex), and Marlow, “Butterfish Rmx” (Scuba). Big respect to Planet µ, XS Dubz, Ranking, and the other labels we couldn’t fit in.

Get you hands on the new album from Plastician. Beg To Differ drops Monday, June 18 on Terrorhythm Recordings as a CD or download, with vinyl remix singles to follow. Key album tracks include: “Intensive Snare (feat. Skepta),” “Real Things” (feat. Chronik, Skepta, Tempa T, Frisco, Esco), ”Hocus Pocus,” and “Japan.”

Album art from Plastician's Beg to Differ.

Tragedy struck Skull Disco producer Appleblim in the form of his record box getting nicked following popular club night FWD. The “Mystic Warrior” producer was gutted, posting to Dubstepforum: “I was deep in convo with Obi Wan [from] the [Dubstep] forum, looked round, and it was gone! My fault for takin’ my eye off it, but still a gutter...and my mp3 player, house keys etc, Rhythm & Sound CDs, Burial CD, many fresh dubs…” Even in the midst of this downturn, AppleB offered the news that Skull Disco hoodies and apparel are available on their site, and his new single “Vansan” will drop soon!

AppleB: gutted.

In other news: top producer Skream is releasing a house remix of artist David E Sugar for Hot Chip’s label Greco-Roman, but on July 6 he’ll return to dubstep form as Disfigured Dubs, featuring the tracks “Sand Snake” and “Movin Snarez.”

Bare Files web portal is back up, with all the crazy exclusive archived DJ sets you’ve been looking for. BF promises more updates soon, including a section to submit your own mix and an online store to get Bare Dubs MP3s/WAVs/vinyl. The site now has an RSS feed.

Nuff folks are chattering about producer L-Wiz from Sweden. His new single on Dubpolice drops shortly. It’s been much rumored, but still no date is set for the massive, impending new full-length from one of the scene’s heaviest producers: Benga. Come with it man!

Tomas Palermo

Haight St. Fair - Photos - June 10, 2007

2007-06-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Crowd and lineup courtesy of dMarie.
All other photos courtesy of the mighty Miro.

6/15 - Grime City: 2 Year Anniversary

2007-06-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

B.I.G. Crew and SureFire Productions present:
GRIME CITY: DUBSTEP & GRIME: FREE
JUNE 15, 2007
THE 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Part Two

The Ambassador of Dubstep:
JOE NICE (Dub War, GourmetBeats, BreaksFM - Baltimore) www.gourmetbeats.com www.myspace.com/joenice

The man, the myth, the legend - badboy selector Joe Nice is back. Making his third appearance at Grime City, the Ambassador will be bringing the newest dubs and biggest tunes from the heaviest producers in dubstep - expect the unexpected. You are in store for a mind blowing, chest caving, foot stomping experience. If you have not had the opportunity before, now is your chance to witness the force of nature that is Joe Nice.

AUDIO ANGEL www.rashida.net www.myspace.com/audioangel

With a list of performances and collaborations too long to mention, Rashida Clendening aka Audio Angel is well known as one of the most prolific vocal talents in Bay Area nightlife. Her eclectic stylings and soulful voice have graced us at Grime City before and we can't wait to hear what she has in store this month when she reunites with Joe for our 2 year anniversary show.

With Grime City residents:
CYAN (SoulStream, Grime City)
DJ MUNK (B.I.G. Crew, Grime City)
SAM SUPA (OneRonin, Grime City)
SUBTEK (B.I.G. Crew, Grime City)
On The Mic:
EMCEE CHILD (B.I.G. Crew, Grime City)

Anu
43 6th Street
(between Market & Mission)
San Francisco, CA
10pm-2am
NO COVER!
----------------------------------------------------------
XLR8R.com Coverage:

Grime City Turns Two

The US is finally catching up with the UK’s dubstep and grime precedent set by Digital Mystikz, Skream, etc. The leader of the American invasion may fall solely on the shoulders of Baltimore-based DJ Joe Nice. Credited with the “Best International DJ of the Year” by dubstep forum and responsible for the acclaimed Gourmet Beats radio show, Joe Nice is stepping into magnate turf.

In homage to the second anniversary of San Francisco’s premier (and most anticipated) dubstep and grime party, Grime City, Joe Nice is coming through to keep the sub-bass wheels turning. While a majority of cities in the United States lack nights devoted to the progressive genre, Grime City has acted as a powerful force in propelling the genre in Northern California (12”s can be found in record stores now!).

The party has already had Mr. Nice pay his respects, as well as DJ Distinction and XLR8R ‘s very own bass columnist Kid Kameleon. With more and more dubstep and grime collectives popping up in the US (see L.A.’s SMOG and N.Y.’s Trouble & Bass), the bass circuit has powerful potential to become as potent as seen in the UK and elsewhere.

Fred Miketa

Grime City Two-Year Anniversary
Friday, June 15, 2007

Featuring
Joe Nice

Plus Residents
DJ Cyan, Subtek, SamSupa, and Munk

Anu Bar 43 Sixth St., San Francisco
10 p.m. – 2 a.m., Free, 21+

SF Chronicle Feature - Six Degrees Records

2007-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Working for Six Degrees Records has been an amazing experience - touring with artists and learning the inner-workings of a successful independent label. Below is a feature on the label that I pitched and placed in the SF Chronicle.

------------------------------------

SURVIVAL OF THE HIPPEST

Neva Chonin

Sunday, May 20, 2007

No one told Bob Duskis and Pat Berry it would be easy when they launched their world music label, Six Degrees Records, in 1996. On the other hand, no one told them it would mean surviving a corporate takeover of their parent label, overcoming a dot-com boom that went bust and took much of San Francisco's venture capital with it, weathering a terrorist attack that pushed the economy into a slump and, most recently, maneuvering through music's shift to a digital format and the resulting bankruptcy of several record-store chains -- including Six Degrees' primary distributor.

So if someone had told Duskis and Berry what they were in for when they released their first CD 10 years ago, would they have reconsidered their decision to start an independent label?

"Of course not," says Berry. "But I won't deny we've had our struggles. We've been through every up and down you can imagine."

Duskis just laughs.

Seated in their Potrero Hill office, surrounded by mountains of half-opened boxes of CDs, the two alterna-magnates don't look as if they've been struggling. Maybe their winning formula includes the ability to look calm amid chaos, be it a landslide of new product or another impending market catastrophe. Or maybe, after a decade of riding the music business from brick-and-mortar stores to iTunes, through surge and slump, they have simply learned to chill.

This month, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its first CD, and its survival in an era that's killed more than one local label, Six Degrees has released "Backspin," a compilation featuring label artists covering their favorite songs, from the Real Tuesday Weld's version of "The Day Before You Came" by Abba to the New Delhi band MIDIval PunditZ's retooling of Led Zeppelin's "Four Sticks," a song that was itself an homage to Indian music.

Such circular chains of influence underscore Six Degrees' transglobal aesthetic and illustrate its motto: "Everything is closer than you think." The label's roster certainly looks like a genre-crossing, borderless musical exchange: Talvin Singh and others in the Asian Massive movement mix traditional Indian sounds with digital dance beats; Issa Bagayogo does the same with his hybrid of classical Mali music and postmodern grooves. The Bay Area's DJ Cheb i Sabbah puts a new, danceable spin on the folk music of his native Algeria, and Bebel Gilberto has transformed Brazilian music with her fusion of grassroots and groundbreaking sounds.

Just as their artists blend disparate traditions, Duskis and Berry run their label with a fusion of idealism and pragmatism. While they take risks on eclectic and unorthodox artists, they also license their more accessible music for films and television commercials. They've also made sure Six Degrees is at the forefront of the move to online distribution, including being the first independent label featured on iTunes.

"We said to ourselves that we could piss and moan about how the business was changing, or we could look ahead to new opportunities, embrace them and try to be one step ahead," Duskis says. "We can't compete with major labels when it comes to spending huge amounts of money on videos or paying radio stations to play our things, but we can be faster moving, more forward thinking and try to anticipate trends."

Duskis and Berry met while working at Windham Hill Records, San Francisco's jazz and New Age label. After discovering that they shared a love for the same types of music and a vision for how that music should be marketed, they decided to make the jump to their own label. There the cutting-edge music coming out of countries like India could be spotlighted in its own right, rather than "borrowed" to spice up Western electronica with an exotic sample.

"We wondered, 'What would it be like if producers from Rio and Mali were mixing these things up?' " Duskis recalls. "So that's what we went for, and we found hybridized bands like the MIDIval PunditZ, who grew up steeped in traditional Indian music like ragas, but were also club kids who loved the Chemical Brothers, hip-hop and trance. Their music is almost a perfect 50-50 blend of both of these aesthetics. It's not some guy in England bringing in a sitar sample; it's a natural, fully formed extension of where these kids are coming from."

Six Degrees began as a subsidiary of Island Records, where Duskis and Berry also helped market Island's more avant-garde acts. The marriage lasted two years until, on the eve of Universal Records' takeover and subsequent purge of Island, Duskis and Berry wisely packed up their master recordings and fled.

It was 1998, the dot-com boom was going strong, and soon the two struck a deal with a Bay Area venture-capital company. They hired local illustrators to design colorful CD artwork that went on to become a Six Degrees signature. When the boom broke, the label was rescued by its first hit album, Gilberto's "Tanto Tempo." Released in 2000, the CD eventually sold more than a million units worldwide -- peanuts for Viacom, but pure gold for a small independent.

"The album was right for the time," says Berry. "It had elements of music from the past, but also this new electronic sound that really took it to the future. We saw the opportunity, and as soon as the record started selling, we got Bebel on tour around the country. I remember our head of marketing coming in and yelling at me, 'You had the booking agent book her at Bimbo's? It's gonna be completely empty!' And then, the day of the show, it sold out. The same thing happened in New York, at a venue they thought was too big for us. That's when we knew we had something."

Fast-forward to 2007, when all is well in the world of Six Degrees. Gilberto's new album, "Momento," looks set to repeat the success of "Tanto Tempo." This year will also see Six Degrees' first contribution to Starbucks' Hear Music Debut series, featuring the Brazilian singer-songwriter CéU, and the launch of a digital-only Emerging Artists Series.

Duskis would like to see Six Degrees continue its expansion for another 10 years, and he doesn't necessarily think "commercial" is a dirty word: "We've never treated this music like it's some kind of strange niche that only a few ethnomusicologists will like, and I think we've opened a lot of people's ears and broken a lot of preconceived notions of what world music is. There's a huge amount of Brazilian electronica that exists today solely because of Bebel's success. Same thing with the Asian underground. We were the first label to really embrace it, and it's everywhere now. Hey, we'll take credit for a little bit of that.

"Oh, and not to sound hokey," he adds, sounding hokey, "but we're really proud to be a Bay Area label. In terms of a vital, open-minded music scene and a progressive, internationally flavored city, this is the place."

So it's official: Local is the new global. And the beat goes on.

E-mail Neva Chonin at nchonin@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page PK - 40 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Future Breaks FM! Mixes

2007-03-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

Cyan - 3/3/2007

Download (160kbps MP3)

Cyan
[Grime City, Soulstream]
Dubstep

Kode9, Benny Ill & The Culprit “Fat Larry’s Skank” [Kode9 Remix] (Tempa)
Mala “Blue Notez” (DMZ)
Juju “Punks” (Narcohz)
Loefah “Disko Rekah” (Deep Medi)
Kromestar “Shokwave” (Southside Dubstars)
Benga “Crunked Up” (Tempa)
Loefah “Ruffage” (DMZ)
Mala “Bury Da Bwoy” (DMZ)
Skream “Dutch Flowerz” (Tempa)
MRK1 “Sensi Skank” (Planet Mu)
Distance & Skream “Travels” (Ringo)
D1 “Foundation” (Tempa)
Mala “Hunter” (DMZ)
Headhunter “Descent” (Tempa Dub)
Scuba “Timba” (Scuba)
Djunya “Contact” (CDR)
Scuba “Harpoon” (Scuba)

###

Cyan - 6/10/2006

Download (96kbps AAC)

Cyan
[Soulstream]
Dubstep

Shackleton : Blood On My Hands : Skull Disco
Skream : Monsoon (Loefah rmx) : Tempa
Kode 9 : 9 Samurai : Hyperdub
Scuba : Plate : Hot Flush
DJ Distance : Fallen : Boka
Loefah : The Goat Stare : DMZ
Skream : Midnight Request Line : Tempa
Benga : World War 7 : Benga Beats
Skream : i (Loefah rmx) : Tempa
Digital Mystikz : Haunted : DMZ
Benga : Zombie Jig : Benga Beats
Skream : Rotten : Tempa
Digital Mystikz : Da Rath : DMZ
Skream : Glamma : Tempa
Scuba : Twista : Hot Flush
Boxcutter: Bad You Do (Halfstep Mix) : Planet MU
Loefah : Root : DMZ
Digital Mystikz : Anti-War Dub : DMZ
DJ Ric : Dubstream : CDR

###

9/3/2005 - Cyan

Download - Cyan (96kbps AAC)

Cyan
[Soulstream]
Studio B live mix
Drum & Bass

Boymerang “Soul Beat Runna” (Regal)
Die “Clear Skyz” (Full Cycle)
Skitty “Sweet Vibrations” (Bassbin)
Paradox “Too Dissimilar” (Partisan)
Future Forces Inc “Strontium Jazz” (Renegade Hardware)
Die “Special Treat” (Full Cycle)
Random Movement “Stars in the Dark” (Bassbin)
Mouly “Fall Into You” (Renegade)
A.I. “Switch On” (Commercial Suicide)
Deep Blue “Soho Code Version X” (Offshore)
Digital & Spirit “Phantom Force” (Phantom Audio)
D Kay & Epsilon “Space Quest” (Soul:R)
Fracture & Neptune “Colemanism” (Outsider)
Seba & Paradox “Sound on Sound” (Bassbin)
Breakage “Ask Me” (Bassbin)
Adam F “Metropolis” (Metalheadz)

Grime City Mix CD

2007-03-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

If you haven't snatched your copy of the Grime City Mix Session Volume 1, then you need to hit me up for a copy or stop by Rasputins, while supplies last. The selection, mixing, and variety of each DJ is stellar. You can get a sneak peak of my mix here.

GRIME CITY - 2/16/2007: Atomly, Cyan, Subtek

2007-02-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

DJ Cyan's top 10 for February:
1) Bury da Bwoy - Mala (DMZ)
2) Disko Rekah - Loefah (Deep Medi)
3) Punks - Juju (Narco.Hz)
4) Crunked Up - Benga (Tempa)
5) My Demons LP - Distance (Planet Mu)
6) After Life - Distinction (Dub Police)
7) Twitchy Droid Leg (Vex'd Remix) (Offshore)
8) Pick a Dub - Keith Hudson (Blood & Fire)
9) Donuts - J. Dilla (Stones Throw)
10) Welcome to Detroit - J. Dilla (BBE)

SoulStream Invades Sacramento 1.05.07

2006-12-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

I can't think of a better way to kick off 2007 then by playing dubstep and d&b with my SoulStream brethren. Come through for our Sacramento debut at Drop Heavy!

Drop Heavy, every first Friday, is held @:
Silk Bar & Cafe
1011 Del Paso Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95815

18+ | 900PM - 0200AM | $5
FREE for the 21+ before 1030PM
$2 Drink specials all night!
Delicious food served all night!
Sound by Summit Sessions

Check out my new logo

2006-11-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

SF Weekly: Dubstep Feature

2006-11-14T23:35:00.000-08:00

Dawn of Dubstep
Will this bass-heavy dance phenomenon blow out only your speakers or will it really blow up?
By Darren Keast

Local dubstep crew (clockwise from bottom left): DJ Cyan, MC Child, Sam Supa, Kozee, Juju, DJ Ripple, Miro Wiesner, Djunya. (Photo by Angela Poole)

Local promoters of dubstep, the latest mutation of underground U.K. dance music, seem to engage in similar anxious pre-show rituals. Having taken the plunge with a lineup of a genre alien to even most full-time clubbers, they'll peel the labels off their beer bottles. They might survey the sparsely peopled club a few times and then talk hurriedly to the door person. They will fret and fidget.

Sam Supa, who helped host a recent Pioneers of Dubstep showcase at the Darkroom, excused himself from an early evening interview due to raw nerves. DJ, producer, and promoter Juju, who recently began adding a monthly dubstep night (called Narco Hz) to his eight-year-running drum-and-bass party Phuturo, also admits to acute stress. "I do it every time .. I pace and I drink a lot," he says. "I never know how people are going to take it."

So what's with the nail-biting, especially considering that dubstep has been held up by some as dance music's savior from redundancy? The BBC, after all, has described the scene in its London epicenter as the most vibrant, populist movement to emerge from British clubs in years. And Burners this Labor Day were abuzz over "that weird shit" breakbeat raver-celebs Lorin and Freq Nasty were mixing into their sets. Lorin, who now probably has the largest cult following of any DJ in San Francisco, has been sprinkling dubstep into sets sparingly, but he's also been hitting up local dubstep producer Djunya for anything he's got.

This new-music-as-exotic-additive is one thing; the genre as an entree is quite another. On first listen, the tunes have a funny way of baffling, physically disorienting, and prompting the newbie to look up and demand, "Now what in the hell is that?" Newbies are most likely to stumble over the bass line, which uncoils from the woofers with all the delicacy of a python engorged after a large meal. Then it just lies there in the lowest frequencies, sluggish and perverse. The heaviness might roll over, stretch out a bit, and wobble up to the mid-range for a beat or two, but only to ooze back into the sub-bass murk again.

This bass line didn't just slither out of nowhere, though .. it has a traceable genealogy in Jamaican roots and dub reggae, and drum-and-bass once provided it shelter. "But drum-and-bass almost completely lost it," says Juju, who is still booked to play drum-and-bass across the country every weekend. "You don't hear that 50 Hz kicking you right in the face anymore. That's what brought me to dubstep, which kicks you in the face on every track."

Miroslav Wiesner, the other half of the Pioneers outfit, has a grand plan to seed a proper dubstep scene in San Francisco (which so far follows New York as the American city most supportive of the heavily South London concentrated sound). He created a flowchart placing it at the nucleus of five distinct scenes: drum and bass; "breaks + Burning Man;" minimal techno/glitch; grime and 2-Step, the über-urban British club subculture that many of dubstep's founders started in; and "dub + desi," the South Asian-meets-reggae movement represented locally by the Dhamaal crew.

But even that complicated taxonomy fails to adequately define the sound for him. "I like to quote Joe Nice when explaining it," Wiesner adds, referring to the Baltimore DJ called dubstep's American ambassador. "He said, Dubstep is space, pace, and bass.' Space, as in the large amount of white space between samples; pace, as in this narrow band of 138-142 BPM that the tracks are made in; and bass, as in unless it has massive sub-bass, it doesn't work."

"Space" could also refer to its sonic tone and mood, which match that of the inkiest, loneliest of black holes. The best work of dubstep's South London vanguard .. Skream, Loefah, Benga, Kode 9, Digital Mystikz .. conjures the bleakest Rastafarian-imagined scenes of industrialized society slowly consuming itself. Because of its apocalyptic vibe and unusual shuffling rhythms, even dubstep partisans have wondered about its viability for local dance floors. Maneesh the Twister, co-founder of Dhamaal and veteran DJ of eclectic dub-based beats, says, "One criticism I've heard is how can you play dubstep at 1 or 2 a.m. when people want to really dance?' People haven't quite figured out how to move to it .. they kind of wobble up and down and let the bass do its thing." He takes a spoonful-of-sugar approach: "I try to bring in something they already understand .. reggae .. and then mix dubstep into that."

But those predicting hopelessly flummoxed or sedentary consumers of dubstep changed their tune after the Pioneers of Dubstep night, which featured local DJs Cyan, Subtek, Ripple, and the Santa Cruz based Argon Records crew opening for prominent British headliners Youngsta and Hatcha. The promoters were pleasantly stunned to see a packed house at peak hour, with people crying out in glee and dancing a sort of nasty limbo as the bass slunk ever downward. Even a uniformed sailor who had wandered in from Fleet Week furlough couldn't sit still. Sea legs, in fact, might be the right preparation for extended dubstep exposure .. thighs tend to burn and knees buckle after an hour or two of such dancing.

"We proved that you can do 5 1/2 hours of solid dubstep and keep people on the dance floor," Wiesner says. "We might not be able to throw a pure dubstep night of that size more than once every few months, but we have a long-term outlook."

Staying power, however, is just what many of the genre's ancestors lacked. Most clubbers have been calling drum-and-bass dead for years, 2-Step failed to score much more than a blip on San Francisco's radar, and the monthly Grime City party has shifted its emphasis from its namesake to dubstep even before its two-year anniversary. The electronic music faithful have been so eager for fresh ideas that they treat any new sound as the next messiah, and in so doing, tend to smother it.

"There's definitely some resistance from some people in the drum-and-bass community," says Ryan Romana, who spins both dubstep and drum-and-bass as DJ Cyan. "They say dubstep is just a trend, and they joke that we're traitors."

Weisner has also felt an early backlash. "The vibe I get on the online forums is, Talk to me next year. I lived through garage; I lived through 2-Step and grime. I'll see you at the other end, and I'll still be playing my drum-and-bass tunes.'"

Dance music's chattering classes have been ambivalent as well. San Francisco's XLR8R magazine became a major cheerleader early on, running a dubstep cover story in 2002 that helped certify the emerging genre's name. But Simon Reynolds, author of Generation Ecstasy, dismissed dubstep's "bass theology thing" as "a bit tired" and having "something of a lived-in air about [it] at this late hour" on his blog. Vice magazine called the recent dubstep collection War Dubz "the perfect compilation for anyone who likes to spend their evenings sulking in a darkened room with lots of other stoned weirdos."

So will dubstep join broken-beat, electroclash, and grime as the next electronic sub-genre that's killed before it even reaches adolescence?

Maneesh thinks not. "It seemed like with electroclash and grime, nobody I knew in San Francisco was really making it. That's the major difference; [local] people here are making dubstep," he says, pointing to Juju and Djunya, who have been releasing tracks on the former's Narco Hz label and getting spins from British heavyweights. Matty G of Argon Records produces a signature West Coast rap influenced dubstep, and San Francisco's Kozee .. one of very few female dubstep DJs .. says she's buying gear to make her own tunes, too.

The British expat MC Child, who co-founded Grime City and is the go-to vocalist for any local dubstep or grime show, thinks that the global scene is also well structured for weathering faddishness. "Since the music is so relaxed and warm, people act like family," he explains. He recently flew home to Brixton to check out the definitive dubstep party, DMZ, and found it to be incredibly inclusive. "The scene is still underground, so you don't have the hipsters or the big egos yet. Both will come .. they always do. But the cool thing is, there's a place for them. As long as you don't have aggressive vibes, you'll be welcomed."

Plus, he says, death of dance music subcultures is an illusion. "There's still garage, there's still grime, there's still drum-and-bass," he says. "The music doesn't go away, it just goes in and out of the public eye. With dubstep, it's not going away .. it's been around in other forms for at least six years; it's just that now it has an identity. If it disappears from the public eye, cool. It'll be like going back to your favorite bar after the cool people got tired of it."

Show Details
Who / What: Grime City
Music Date: Friday, Nov. 17
Music Genre: DJ/Electronic Music
Details: Admission is free; call 543-3505 or visit www.anu-bar.com for more info. Also, on Tuesday, Nov. 21, you can check out Narco Hz featuring Juju, Djunya, Subtek, and DJ Cyan at Underground SF at 10 p.m. Admission is $5; visit www.undergroundsf.com for more info.
Where: Anù

Grime City: Friday, November 17th

2006-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I am honored to be a part of the Grime City crew. Come celebrate with me on November 17th. I'll be dropping the bass bombs.

Gettin' a leg up on dubstep with Hatcha and Youngsta

2006-10-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

From sfweekly.com
Originally published by SF Weekly 2006-10-04
©2006 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

If you read William Gibson's cyberpunk classic Neuromancer, you'll remember Zion, the rasta-resistance space station that echoed with the sounds of dub. But Gibson jumped the gun a bit, since his silver-skied dystopian world would have resonated much more convincingly with dubstep. The South London— born, bassbin-taxing sound has been slow to make its way stateside, and Saturday night's presentation of Hatcha and Youngsta should be the most prominent San Francisco showcase of it to date. These two DJs mixed the fourth installment of the music's gold standard compilation series, Dubstep Allstars. Since dubstep often wades into frequencies much lower than your home system can likely handle, don't sleep on the chance to experience it on the proper speaker array. DJs Hatcha and Youngsta perform on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Club Six (the Darkroom) at 10 p.m. Admission is $10-15; call 863-1221 or visit www.clubsix1.com for more info. - Darren Keast

>HATCHA & YOUNGSTA<10.07>CLUB SIX<

2006-09-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

HATCHA & YOUNGSTA
CLUB SIX - SAT, OCTOBER 7TH
10pm-4am / $15 at the door, $10 RSVP / 60 6th St

San Francisco, CA – Pressing Issues, One Ronin, FWD, and Dub War have teamed up for an evening of dubstep music featuring DJ’s Hatcha and Youngsta, the pioneers of this burgeoning sound. Hailing from the UK, Hatcha and Youngsta are two of the most respected dubstep DJ’s in the world. They make their Bay Area debut on Saturday, October 7th in The Darkroom at Club Six to celebrate their recently released double mix CD entitled Dubstep Allstars Volume 4 on Tempa Recordings.

Dubstep is the most exciting underground dance music coming out of the UK at the moment and the virus is spreading globally with scenes popping up from Brazil to the Bay Area. Dubstep is the mutant sound of dread dub basslines and dark jungle energy; funky reggae skanks and soaring Detroit melodies fused into a new hybrid.

DJ Hatcha (Tempa, FWD) is truly a pioneer of dubstep music, championing the sound even before it had a name. Hatcha is known for mixing a variety of dubstep sounds in a smooth and enticing set. He is a resident at the legendary FWD party in London as well on KISS 100 FM. San Francisco is in for a special treat of beats, bass, and boom.

DJ Youngsta (Tempa, FWD, BMSOHO) is a master of the decks. Twisting, tweaking, manipulating his dubplates into a sub-low assault treading the line between implosion and explosion, dark and light, pleasure and pain. Youngsta is a crowd pleaser with the most upfront selection of tunes and impeccable mixing. Hold tight.

Getting the party started right are local dubsteppas DJ Cyan (Soul Stream) & Subtek (BIG, Grime City), alongside Matty G & Nick Argon (Argon Records), and DJ Ripple (Subscience). The host for the night is the hardest working man in SF dubstep; Emcee Child (BIG, Grime City) alongside Dub War’s resident MC Juakali from NYC!

Upcoming Show Details
Artists Performing: DJ’s: Hatcha, Youngsta, Cyan, Subtek, Nick Argon, Matty G, Ripple
MC: Emcee Child, Juakali
Date: Saturday, October 7 2006
Time: 10pm – 4am
Venue: Club Six (The Darkroom)
Address: 60 Sixth Street / San Francisco
Price: $15 door / $10 RSVP (full name to rsvp@sfdubstep.com)

# # #

About Pressing Issues
Pressing Issues was founded by an international group of passionate music lovers with the goal of exposing the world to Dubstep music. The nonprofit label is managed by committee and tracks are produced, submitted and selected for release by members of dubstepforum.com. For more information, please contact info@pressing-issues.co.uk

I heart San Francisco

2006-09-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Lovefest Activities

Stateless @ Amnesia - Fri, August 25

2006-08-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Break down the borders because I've been booked to play Stateless, the premier global electronic night in San Francisco hosted by Six Degrees Records (Full disclosure: my new employer). I'll be playing mostly Brazilian d&b (remember the trend in 2002) and ethnic tinged dubstep. The best part is that it's located at Amnesia, the old home of the legendary Hemisphere night (RIP).

August Hotness - Compression & NarcoHz

2006-08-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Its been a minute, but I'm back with August gig updates:

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10th @ COMPRESSION

Featuring in the main room:
Soul Stream (Ric, Cyan, Dashe) w/ Audio Angel (Groundscore, Sleeveless, Compression)
Aye~n (Compression)
Femme Fatale (Compression, Gurlillaz)

The Cellar
685 Sutter @ Taylor
9pm - 2am $5
****************************************************************************
TUESDAY AUGUST 15th
[[[[[[ RECORD RELEASE PARTY ]]]]]]
NarcoHz Presents: An Evenng Of Dubstep, Reverbs, Delays And Subs
JUJU
LEXXUS
CYAN
DJUNJA
Insults provided by MC CHILD

UNDERGROUND SF [aka the top] - 424 HAIGHT ST.
21+ : 10PM – 2AM
ALL NIGHT PUM PUM ACTION : $5
WWW.PHUTURO.COM

Distance, Pinch, Cyantific, Mathematics, & Cyan

2006-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Two shows, two sets, one night. Mark your calendar for July 29th! You can catch me dropping two dutty dubstep sets; one alongside Distance and Pinch at Full Melt (from 10-11) and another at the Cyantific and Mathematics party at Club Hide (from 11:30-12:30).

FULL MELT
Saturday July 29th
10 PM - 6 AM
Undergound location
* 18 and Up
$15 before 11 / $20 after
info line: (415) 820-1625

Saturday, July 29th 2006
CLUB HIDE
280 7th Street @ Folsom
San Francisco, CA
21+
Discount Presales: Groovetickets

Artificial Intelligence @ BOCA - Fri, July 7

2006-06-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

Soul Stream and Still Doin’ It, two of San Francisco’s most dedicated drum & bass collectives, have teamed up again for another evening of smooth liquid drum & bass. Hailing from London, UK, Artificial Intelligence make their Bay Area debut on Friday, July 7th at BOCA (The Bar of Contemporary Art).

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is the collective mind of drum & bass producers/DJs, Glenn Herweijer and Zula Warner. With ten years of experience under their belt, they’ve built an arsenal of quality releases spanning well-respected labels including V Recordings, Commercial Suicide, Soul:R, and their own Widescreen imprint. They’ve recently become the ones to watch in the scene due to the success of their uplifting anthems “Desperado” and “Uprising.” Now their name has become synonymous with cutting edge future funk d&b. Soul Stream and Still Doin’ It are excited to present Artificial Intelligence for a special night of soulful cinematic drum & bass, in celebration of their recently released mix CD, “Liquid V Club Sessions Vol.2: the Big Picture.”

Getting BOCA boiling is the local talents of Soul Stream (DJ’s Ric, Cyan, & Dashe), Kuze (Still Doin’ It, Sound:Trax, Nitewise), and Retox (Still Doin’ It, Bassism, Turntablaze). To get the crowd live is your host The Colonel MC (Compression, Still Doin’ It).

BOCA (The Bar of Contemporary Art) is the latest Blasthaus venue extravaganza and recently voted “Best New Club In San Francisco” by the SF Weekly! Located on an alley across from the historic Mint Building, BOCA is a spacious gallery and music venue with a full bar, cafe, and outdoor seating. Open for lunch and light-dinner during the week and special events at night, BOCA will also feature rotating contemporary art exhibitions curated by Blasthaus including a video art program and a special project room.

Upcoming Show Details
Artists Performing: DJ’s: Artificial Intelligence, Soul Stream, Kuze, Retox
MC: The Colonel MC
Date: Friday July 7, 2006
Time: 9pm – 2am
Venue: BOCA (The Bar of Contemporary Art)
Address: 414 Jessie Street / San Francisco
Ages: 21+
Price: $10 door / $5 & $7
Discount Presales at www.snagtickets.com

NarcoHz (Dubstep @ Phuturo) - Tuesday, 6/13

2006-06-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

NarcoHz presents an evening of Dubstep / Dub / Dub & Bass
JUJU [phuturo]
SUBTEK [grimecity]
CYAN [soulstream]
LUKEINO [reflex]
with Emcee Child [grimecity]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UNDERGROUND SF [aka the top] - 424 HAIGHT ST.
21+ : 10PM – 2AM
ALL NIGHT PUM PUM ACTION : $5
HOSTED BY PHUTURO RECORDINGS

Words 2 Be Heard

2006-05-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Look out for my first feature in XLR8R issue #98 (June) on the legendary Seba & Paradox. In the meantime, I've listed out a majority of my d&b 12" reviews for your reading pleasure.

A-Sides – “Everything” (Mathematics Remix) (Levitated)

Alias – “Can I” (Critical)

Beta 2 – “Milan” (Nu Directions)

Bizzy B – “Science E.P.” (Planet Mu)

Breakage – “Staggered Dub” (Critical)

Breakage/Alias – “Plum Fairy” (Critical)

Calibre – “Domeran” (Critical)

Chris Su – “Satisfy” (Critical)

Davide Carbone & Kubiks – “Frisco Disco” (Industry)

Fanu – “Jason” (Thermal)

Goldie – “Say You Love Me” (Metalheadz)

ICR – “Change Inside” (ASC Remix) (Offshore)

Junior Cartel – “Supernatural Love” (Nu Directions)

Klute & Pieter K – “Material Trip” (Offshore/Commercial Suicicde)

Logistics – “Millionaire” (Innerground)

Mathematics – “Here and Now” (Social Studies)

Mathematics – “Jazz” (Social Studies)

Mathematics & Tactile – “Remember” (Social Studies)

Mikrob & Bungle – “Tempestade” (Nu Directions)

Nu:Tone – “7 Years” (Matrix Remix) (Hospital)

Pacific – “Autofunk” (Rehab)

Psidream & Resound – “Time Goes By” (Warm Communications)

Seba & Paradox – “Frost” (Bassbin)

Seba & Paradox – “Planet Stars” (Freak)

Sholto – “The Sleeper” (Silent Witness & Break Remix) (Pollen)

Silent Witness & Break – “Dialling Out” (Critical)

Silent Witness & Break – “The Gene Pool E.P.” (DNAudio)

Silent Witness – “Jump Gate” (DNAudio)

TC1 & Stress Level – “Satisfy” (Remix) (Critical)

Total Science – “Good Old Days” (Defunked)

Smooth Operators//Martyn//Soul Stream//Fri, 4/28

2006-04-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, APRIL 28th 2006

REFLEX CREW Presents...
__________________________
SMOOTH OPERATORS
__________________________
Featuring:

MARTYN
Soul:R / Revolve:R / Play:Musik / Metalheadz - Netherlands

E$KR & BICOLAS
Company Truck, DanceRecords.com / Skills Dj Workshop, Rhythm Method
Bringin' back the soulful and dubbed out vibe from the days of SOLUTION Tuesdays...

SOULSTREAM
Cyan - Ric - Dashe

MUNK & LUKEINO w/ Mc Child
Reflex, Elev8, Silent / Reflex, B.I.G. Crew, Dread Rollers

REFLEX
@ The Shadow Lounge
299 NINTH St. @ Folsom St
SF, Ca. USA / 21+ w/ID
9pm - 3am / $10 Door

DJ Cyan presents Dub Cyance Volume 1

2006-04-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

My debut dubstep mix – Recorded March 25, 2006 - San Francisco, CA
>DOWNLOAD HERE<

1. Candyfloss (Loefah Remix) – Search & Destroy [Hotflush]
2. Lightening – Skream [Tempa]
3. The Goat Stare – Loefah [DMZ]
4. Midnight Request Line – Skream [Tempa]
5. Timba – Scuba [Scuba]
6. Fallen – DJ Distance [Boka]
7. Thank U – Scuba [Scuba]
8. 28g – Loefah & Skream [Tectonic]
9. Mood Dub – Coki [DMZ]
10. Wavescape – Search & Destroy [Storming]
11. Angel – Toasty [Hotflush]
12. Killing Floor – Vex’d [Planet Mu]
13. Rottan – Skream [Tempa]
14. All Think (Kode 9 Remix) – Deep Alpha [Voltage]
15. Girlfriend – L. Wiz [Dub Police]
16. Da Wrath (Souljahz VIP Mix) – Digital Mystikz [DMZ]
17. Glamma – Skream [Tempa]
18. Kingstown – Kode 9 & The Spaceape [Hyperdub]
19. Anti War Dub – Digital Mystikz [DMZ]

Cyan & Soul Stream @ Anu Bar (Sat, 4/1)

2006-03-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the Cyantific show is postponed, but you can still catch the one like the Cyan (without the ...tific) dropping some dubstep early on and a little bit of drum & bass with the Soul Stream crew. Support your locals!

Retox b2b Femme Fatale b2b Frost
Soul Stream (Ric, Dashe, Cyan)
Lexxus & Cyan - opening dubstep set
MC Child

Still Doin’ It
Every First Saturday of the month at Anu Bar
43 6th Street between Market & Mission, San Francisco
9pm-2am / 21+ / no cover

Dubstep Transformation

2006-03-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

I, like many, have been recently inspired and infected by dubstep music. My introduction came from San Francisco dubstep pioneer The Lexxus and his “Last Dubstep’s A Doozzee” mix. From there, I picked up Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 and haven’t looked back. Mary Anne Hobb's Dubstep Warz special on The Breezeblock was just icing on the cake. I’m not divorcing my love for drum and bass. I’ve just found another form of musical expression that equally touches me. I'm amped to do my debut dubstep mix alongside The Lexxus on Turntablaze Radio on Saturday, 3/11 from 9-10 pm PT. Choon in!!!

Cyan's top 5 dubsteppas - March 2006:
1. Skreamizm Vol. 1 E.P. – Skream (Tempa)
2. Candyfloss (Loefah Remix) – Search & Destroy (Hotflush)
3. Anti-War Dub – Digital Mystikz (DMZ)
4. Fallen – DJ Distance (Boka)
5. Fukkaz – Kode 9 & Spaceape (Hyperdub)

Calibre & MC DRS @ Anu Bar (Fri, 2.24)

2006-02-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about this show. Its been over five years since Calibre has graced the bay area. Hold tight for this special night! Pre-sale tickets are available at Snagtickets. Peep my review of Second Sun in this month's XLR8R.