skrufff
Droog’s Andrei Osyka: From LA With Love (SWMC) (Interview)
Andrei Osyka (click for more on Culprit)
One of the more prominent and international events taking place at next weekend’s Sochi Music Winter Conference 2012 will be the showcase of LA’s stellar label — Culprit.
The showcase will feature Ukrainian expat Andrei Osyka, leader of the mighty Droog collective and label owner of acclaimed underground tech-house label Culprit. Also releasing on the likes of Crosstown Rebels, the trio of Andrei and fellow Droogs Brett Griffin, and Justin Sloe have held residencies at LA’s Avalon as well as touring the world spinning events including Sonar and Miami’s Winter Conference.
Dancetrippin Live DJ mix
Click on the picture to listen to the new mix on demand
Acapellas by Marlon Brandon, Bonnie Raitt
- Jet Project: Alright (Snatch Records) 6.07
- Mark Holmes – Coming Home (MUM) 12.13
- Solo: The Flea Circus (Kling Klong) 17.39
- Red Snapper: Jack (V2) 23.47
- Harvey Mackay: Want You (Soma Records) 28.58
- Zenbi; Double Trouble (Great Stuff): 32.49
- Graphics: Mama Grizzlies (Made To Play) 39.43
- Mick Finesse: Sex Machinas (Perc Trax) 44.49
- Aeroplane: Storm Queen: (Jamie Jones RMX) (Defected) 49.50
- Dosem: Tales Of Tomorrow (Tronic) 54.39
- Meda: Curtain Call (Neverending Records) 59.39
- Rockers Revenge: Walking on sunshine (Jonty Skrufff Vocal RMX) (white label)
click on the picture for instant listening
Global Festivals’ Bubble Bursts
Malawi's Lake of Stars: Cancelled
30 British music festivals went bankrupt last year, the Independent newspaper noted last week, in a feature which asked the question ‘are our field days over?’
Citing ‘an increasing feeling that festivals have shifted too far from their original hippie-spirited ethos’, writer Lena Corner blamed corporate sponsors for diluting many events’ sense of ‘alternative reality’ while eFestivals guide chief Scott Williams identified a new breed of ‘festival tourists’ for doing the same thing.
“(The festival tourist) is someone who would never have dreamt of going to a festival 10 years ago,” he said.
“They saw that festivals were fashionable so they go out and buy all the right kit from the high street – Cath Kidston tent, Hunter wellies”.
“The popular festival bubble has burst,” he declared. (Independent: http://ind.pn/wuuhAu )
Jamie Jones Remix (Storm Queen; Look Right Through)
Storm Queen; click to listen
Sure every man and his dog adores Jamie Jones right now which as a rule would make us run a mile, but in Jamie’s case, he really is the exception that proves the rule.
This new remix ( click HERE or on the picture to listen to it) is out on Defected so it’s unashamedly housey but it’s also a great club track that works. Click HERE to buy it.
Push Enters the Simon Cowell/ Superstar DJ Debate
Click on the picture for loads more from PUSH
Sure, we’re going overboard a little this week on the Simon Cowell story but it’s sparking debate all over the place, so why not? Skrufff contributor Push (famed as the man who founded seminal EDM magazine Muzik) is curiously ambiguous…..
Push; “I’m both disturbed and intrigued by the news that Simon Cowell is preparing an “X Factor”-style TV talent show for DJs.
I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised that Cowell wants to extent his already excessive influence over another area of the music industry – and funnel more money into his bank account along the way – but he’s a wee bit late in his assertion that “DJs are the new rock stars”. Err, Simon, people have been saying that for well over 20 years . . .
Cowell To Compete With ‘Superstar DJ’ Show
Producers for an upcoming European DJ talent show ‘Superstar DJ’ reacted angrily to the news that Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment is planning a rival DJ talent show, suggesting this week that the karaoke king’s version will be inauthentic.
Show creator Gilly Da Silva said she’d been working on her series’ concept for over 11 months and said her winner will need to have ‘proved he/she has the stamina and is prepared to fight tooth and nail to be come one of the world’s most in demand DJs.’
‘It takes a lot of commitment and hard-work to become a Superstar DJ, its all about branding yourself, building a strong following and obviously keeping the audience engaged,” she told Televisual News, “It’s not something that can be judged on a stage like X Factor.” http://bit.ly/xrOloh
Sochi Conference on Resident Advisor
click for more information
Resident Advisor are coming to the Sochi Winter Music Conference next week and they’ve just posted full details of the party line-ups on their site. Click HERE for full details (I’m Djing with Perc at the Elite Showcase after-hours party on Saturday February 11.
Russia’s Special Case: The Concept is Simple- Dance Music for Orgies (interview)
Special Case (Roustam stage left)
“Basically Russia is a large country with tremendous resources and almost unlimited opportunities. If the majority of the club industry stops striving for the lowest possible denominator with which to earn money, we will have a music scene to rival that of any other big electronic scene in the world.”
Growing up listening to Mid-western house and rave techno as he divided his time between Detroit and Moscow, Roustam Mirzoev received an impeccable grounding in electronic music, honed his knowledge still further after he opened a record shop in St Petersburg.
Promoting parties in Russia along the way, as a DJ he became well known for spinning acclaimed back 2 back sets with many of his headline guests such as Matt Tolfrey, Clive Henry, Valentino Kanzyani, culminating in him dipping his own toes in production in 2010.
“I recorded a track called ‘round:about’ just before Kazantip of 2010 with some gear I got for my birthday and sent it to a lot of my DJ friends just for fun,” Roustam recalls.
“To me I considered the track as already a great success and the highest point in my (then-non existent) musical career when Rhadoo played it with [a:rpia:r] one morning at Kazantip, during what was probably the most amazing Z-session ever,” he smiles.
“Honestly I thought that would be the pinnacle of my music career and I was happy with it.”
“Then to my surprise I came home to find an email from (Droog producer) Andrei Osyka, which included a video of him playing the track at LA’s Avalon and the place just exploding. He wanted to sign it to Culprit immediately, which was more than I’d ever hoped for, for my first real production.”
Long-term friend Arram Mantana also loved the track, introduced him to fellow Russian producer Tripmastaz and a mutual passion for each other’s music led to the trio teaming up as Special Case.
“I knew Arram from way back in the day when he used to buy records from me at my record shop in St.Petersburg and we’d stayed in touch ever since,” Roustam recalls.
“Anyway they made a great track with Tripmastaz which became Aurum — I knew immediately it was going to be a hit and would fit perfectly with the Culprit sound.”
“So I sent it to Andrei and he also loved it right away. After some deliberations (doing a split EP, etc) we just decided that we’re going to start our own brand new thing and to see how our three very different styles and creative approaches to music production and DJjng would turn out. The rest is as they say history.”
18 months on, they’ve released a follow up single with Tiefschwarz’ Souvenir Records and continue to work closely with Andrei Osyka and his label Culprit, performing together next weekend at Culprit’s label showcase at the Sochi Winter Music Conference (Saturday February 11). Musically, Roustam personally leans towards a ‘more minimal, reduced sound’, though Special Case he points out is different.
‘The concept for Special Case is simple,” he chuckles, “We make dance music for orgies.”
Barefoot Doctor Bit: When Should You Decide to Settle for Less?
click to buy the book
Barefoot Doctor: “It’s not that you have to settle for second best at any time. You have to trust that what manifests for you is the best on offer at that time and while it may fall short of long-held dreams, accept it graciously as a step along the way to their fulfillment.
3 of the Best: Tom Robinson Band
Click on the picture to buy Power in the Darkness
Despite being one of the most talented bands of the entire punk/ new wave era Tom Robinson Band (TRB) have largely been written out of punk’s history, perhaps because their fiercely political genuinely radical lyrics were too prescient and indeed powerful for safe retro consumption.
25 years on, they remain as powerful, prescient and inspiring as ever. Click below for three modern classics.
