Winter Warmers 3

Back in 1964 Alfred Hitchcock shared his definition of happiness, stating that when all negative and destructive emotions are removed, there’s a clear horizon ahead for renewed creation. Almost 60 years later these wise words still count and are more actual than ever.

For the third time, I’m proud to present my personal Winter Warmers, a fine collection of mixtapes recorded live at different locations across Belgium. The music keeps me going and helps me escaping from today’s reality. With these carefully selected tracks, I want to bring hope, motivate and inspire you to find happiness in the little things of life.

I really hope you enjoy this music as much as I do. To book me for your own event, venue, concept or business, don’t hesitate to contact me and say hello.

Personally I want to thank all promotors supporting my passion for music and believing in its power and ability to heal, touch or move people’s hearts, even during these difficult pandemic times.

Therefore a very special “thank you” goes out to:

• Bastiaan P. of Deep House Belgium for inviting me at his studio in Lint to record a unique livestream
• Ugur A. and Marc R. of Extrema and The Day Before Tomorrow for booking me at La Brassa, a brand new Summer bar & restaurant in Brasschaat
• Michel VG. of Wezel Culinair for the kindness and hospitality at his yearly gastronomic festival in ‘s-Gravenwezel
• Kasper S. and Danyelle VT. of tasTE! for their continuous love and support of being a regular resident throughout many years at Black Smoke (Rooftop), Absinthbar and other exclusive venues in Antwerpen
• Randy B. and Judineth M. of Skybar Antwerp for the trust and opportunity to open their popup The Berlin Post in Antwerpen
• Andy S. of SHARP.Art for a creative collaboration during his Fine Art Prints Expo at House de Neuf in Edegem

These surprising locations inspired me to compose those exclusive mixtapes for you. Let’s be inspired even more in 2022 with great quality music ahead…

“Quality music taking you on a journey of sounds & beats leaving you longing for more.”

To keep track of my next upcoming gigs, connect with me on BandsInTown and follow my socials. Stay safe!

Winter Warmers 2

The days are getting shorter, the nights are feeling colder and nature is telling us: Winter is coming. This doesn’t mean Winter season cannot be interesting too, don’t you think? In Winter time you can also go to apéros, afterworks, openings or visit various indoor/outdoor popup-initiatives. But nevertheless these cosy Winter events keep reminding me of last Summer and make me longing and dreaming for just a little more sunshine and happiness.

For the second time, I’m proud to present my personal Winter Warmers, a fine collection of mixtapes recorded live during the last year at different locations in Belgium. These carefully selected tracks will help you living through Winter season easily. I really hope you enjoy this music as much as I do.

Now sit back, relax and turn up the volume!

A special “thank you” goes to the various promotors out there supporting my passion for music and especially to:

• Black Smoke
• Salito Beach
• Skybar Antwerp
• Smokey Jo’s Cantina
• The Dirty Rabbit

These creative concepts and surprising locations inspired me to compose those exclusive mixtapes for you.

“Quality music that takes you on a journey of sounds & beats and leaves you longing for more.”

I love Cubic Clash

Last year I got the chance to play at the 5th anniversary edition of Cubic Clash, a well-known indoor festival for electronic music lovers at the Kuub concert hall in my hometown Turnhout. Unfortunately the 5th edition of Cubic Clash was also the final one. The founders, Tune In Turn Out, decided to put an end to the Cubic story and explore new horizons.

Nevertheless Cubic Clash has always been a versatile and contemporary event with various musical dimensions. Not only local deejays got the opportunity to play, exciting electronic live acts were invited as well. Every year international and exclusive headliners came to Turnhout to perform on stage:

• 2007 : Rex The Dog (UK) | Meltdown (BE) | Lady Lite & MC Mary Jane (BE)
• 2008 : Vicarious Bliss (FR) | Digikid 84 (FR) | Sound of Stereo (BE)
• 2009 : T.Raumschmiere (DE) | Geht’s Noch vs Keatch (BE) | AKS feat. Selah Sue (BE)
• 2010 : Freestylers DJ’s (UK) | Tek-One (UK) | Vermin Twins (BE)
• 2011 : Simian Mobile Disco (UK) | Lucy Love (DK) | Teddiedrum (BE)

The organization of such a fast growing indoor festival required lots of energy. The comparison with large commercial dance events was often made, although its growth potential and profit margins had never been the intention. Therefore Tune In Turn Out wanted to avoid that their Cubic concept became too mainstream like several other festivals already did.

I’m proud that I could be part of the very last edition, which was a real highlight again and made me longing for the next new party concept in T-Town. Thank you for 5 years of quality electronic music!

Because I was unable to tape my live gig at Cubic Clash, I recorded it again at my homestudio. It starts rather minimal with tracks from Leesa (Atmosphere Records) and Shur-I-Kan, and evolves into jackin’ tech house with Oliver Koletzki (Stil Vor Talent) and Sonny Fodera. Just the way I like it!

Let’s share and enjoy my tribute I love Cubic Clash mixtape.

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.

Play & Produce

On Saturday the 20th of November I went to Play & Produce 2010 at Vooruit in Gent. This one day event, organized by Poppunt, is the place to be for all electronic music scene lovers with workshops, masterclasses, mixtape feedback, photoshoots and lots of gear (software + hardware) to get your hands on. Every visitor gets the chance to meet with other deejays, producers and electronic musicians sharing the same passion.

A couple of weeks before, I participated in a mixtape contest and won my own professionally recorded DJ-clip at Play & Produce. I got the chance to play with some high-end Pioneer Pro DJ gear: 2 CDJ-2000 players and 1 DJM-2000 mixer. My set was recorded live from multicamera positions and behind me there was a led-screen showing various beat-synchronized images. I can say that it was a hell of an experience and thanks again to all people who made this possible!

While waiting for the actual DJ-clip video and photoshoot results, I can already post the audiotrack of my Play & Produce set. All tracks are signed to the Om Records label, which is one of my favourites ’cause they know how house music should sound like in all of its subgenres and styles.

Om is a San Francisco based music and lifestyle company. We are artists and producers of music, design, fashion and events for a global community of forward thinking people. From our humble beginnings in 1995, Om has grown to become a highly recognized and respected brand in the global music scene. Om is designed to create remarkable music and cultural experiences, which both entertain and build a sense of community.

The following tracks were carefully selected and mixed:

Om Winter Sessions – Mixed by Justin Martin

1. Mike Monday – I dream of ducks
2. Soul Avengers – Don’t let the morning come (Justin Martin & Claude Vonstroke Remix)
3. Jochen Trappe – Organic
4. Martin Brothers – Stoopit
5. The Bald & The Beautiful – Back Down

Om Winter Sessions – Mixed by Johnny Fiasco

1. Uneaq – Day Dreamer
2. Rosie Brown – Bliss (D’s Boom Bap Bleep Remix)
3. Mastiksoul – Just a feeling
4. DJ Disciple meets David Tort & DJ Ruff – Deep Underground
5. Mark Knight & Mtv feat. E-man – New Reality (Jesse Rose Mix)
6. Johnny Fiasco – 101 (Joey Youngman Remix)
7. Jacob London – Não Obrigado

Om Miami 2009 – Mixed & Compiled by DJ Fluid

1. Ramon Tapia – Can you dig it
2. Florian Kruse & Elmar Schubert – Despegue
3. Mike Monday – Salieri Complex (Club Mix)

This is the complete playlist of my Play & Produce set:

1. Mike Monday – I dream of ducks
2. Uneaq – Day Dreamer
3. Jochen Trappe – Organic
4. Rosie Brown – Bliss (D’s Boom Bap Bleep Remix)
5. Soul Avengers – Don’t let the morning come (Justin Martin & Claude Vonstroke Remix)
6. DJ Disciple meets David Tort & DJ Ruff – Deep Underground
7. Florian Kruse & Elmar Schubert – Despegue
8. Mark Knight & Mtv feat. E-man – New Reality (Jesse Rose Mix)
9. Ramon Tapia – Can you dig it
10. Mastiksoul – Just a feeling
11. Mike Monday – Salieri Complex (Club Mix)
12. Johnny Fiasco – 101 (Joey Youngman Remix)
13. Martin Brothers – Stoopit
14. Jacob London – Não Obrigado
15. The Bald & The Beautiful – Back Down

Enjoy this deep house mixtape and experience the funky and tech house flavoured tracks. Leave your comments and share it with your friends for the love of house.

See you at the next edition of Play & Produce in 2012!