Overdose

This mixtape was recorded live at Bar Tapa (Turnhout) during the weekend before my actual gig at Overdose, the official afterparty of the Antwerp On Stage 2011 festival hosted this time by TK Projects (Stereo). The place to be that Wednesday night was Publik, a small club near De Stadswaag in Antwerp and formerly known as De Cinema. As a member of the new Stereo Sound System deejay collective, I played back 2 back with Myno and Dimystic. Prinz (Café d’Anvers, Push It Records) and Supreems (Blast Your Ghetto) were spinning the decks as well. Our first public performance as Stereo Sound System had to be some sort of an eyecatcher. We dressed up in black ties, black trousers and white shirts. Even without the black sunglasses, we were looking just like the main characters in Quentin Tarantino’s cult movie, Reservoir Dogs.

Recently I’ve started buying music online, because you just can’t find everything exclusively on cd anymore. Buying single digital tracks is also more efficient and less expensive than looking for a good album or collection in a regular record store. Nevertheless I’ll never quit buying cd’s, because I like the sound, the artwork, the physical touch and the apparent endless search for that ultimate cd on a Saturday afternoon in your favourite record store. It might sound stupid, but I’m pretty sure every vinyl junkie or any music addict out there will agree with me.

Most of this mixtape’s tracks come from Beatport, today’s biggest online store for various electronic music. It starts rather deep with some Soul Migrantz tracks and remixes. In the middle it sounds more tech and by the end it evolves into real progressive sounds from Trentemøller and a new upcoming Belgian talent, Leesa. Based in Gent, I saw her performing last year at Play & Produce 2010 (see also my previous blog post). She won various contests, signed at Atmosphere Records and recently released her first EP’s: Dinosaur and Au Revoir Mon Coeur. Full of talent, both as a deejay and producer, I’m pretty sure she’s going to hit the charts soon. She can count on my full support, wishing her all the best and a successful career in music business.

Yesterday I went to another edition of Sneaker Freaks, a popular party concept by Tom Smeyers (Solano, Guesthouse Music) at De Firma in Geel for the love of funky-deep-chicago-jazzy-westcoast house music. It was a special night, because Tom was celebrating his 29th birthday and had invited some special guests: Raoul Belmans (Swirl People, Aroma Records) and Soul Migrantz (Calling Chicago, N.E.W.S.). I had a great time and want others to enjoy the same positive vibes. Therefore I’ve called this mixtape I love Sneaker Freaks.

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Stereo The Contest

A couple of weeks ago I participated in Stereo The Contest organized by TK Projects at my home town Turnhout. I had been selected among 14 other deejays to perform on stage and play a 20 minutes DJ-set. Every participant had to stick to one out of 3 different styles:

• electro
• house
• minimal / dubstep

A professional jury consisting of music business members had to select one winner in every genre. Brian-V, a well-known house DJ and owner of the Prime Records Belgium label, had not only been invited to play at the afterparty, but he fulfilled a crucial role in the selections after the contest as well.

To prepare for this contest I took the opportunity to join DazZs Audio (Jordi) and Wezzelby (Wesley) during their promodays at fashion store Labels. I had a great time spinning records, distributing flyers and making lots of fun. I could already drop some tracks and watch the people’s response in the streets. This helped me when picking the right records for my electro set back home. I wanted to make it sound dirty without loosing its funky character. To highlight this even more, I chose Kraak & Smaak‘s brand new track called ‘Dynamite’ to kick off with. You’ll be sensing the same groovy beats throughout this set.

This is the complete playlist of my Stereo The Contest set:

1. Kraak & Smaak – Dynamite (Original Mix)
2. John Acquaviva & Lützenkirchen – Zombie (Original Mix)
3. Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
4. John Acquaviva – Monster (Original Mix)
5. Jin Sonic & Dive – Play (Wolfgang Gartner Dub)
6. Acid Jacks – Awake Since ’78 (Original Mix)
7. Savant Garde – Trigger Happy (Olivier Giacomotto Remix)
8. Dada Life – This Machine Kills Breakfasts (Original Mix)
9. Kid Dub – Tetris (Tocadisco Edit)
10. Wolfgang Gartner – Front To Back (Original Mix)
11. Deadmau5 feat. MC Flipside – Hi Friend (Original Mix)
12. LFO – Freak (Original Mix)

During the afterparty at Club 1900, I shared the decks with DazZs Audio (Jordi) and Wezzelby (Wesley) again. These guys already have a strong reputation as DazZelby, thanks to their quick mixing skills, original track selections and self-made mashups.

Conclusion: the first edition of Stereo The Contest was a great success and I’m looking forward to the next one. Bonkers!