Interview: TEKI LATEX (Sound Pellegrino)

Saturday, March 19th. Mark your calendars. Day 2 of the I Love Neon + Highfood Festival, starring Jesse Rose, and SOUND PELLEGRINO THERMAL TEAM (Teki Latex + Orgasmic).

Duke of Swabia is super excited and looking forward to that night! We had a few questions for Teki Latex before he takes over the S.A.T alongside his partner DJ Orgasmic.
Check out the exclusive Duke of Swabia interview below.

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Bio: (source: Resident Advisor)

It doesn't take an expert in musical genres and movements to find out that since the last few months, a new musical family has built itself on the ruins of loud big-beat-like fidget and overly distorted washing machine electro. Inspired by the "less is more" ethics of minimal techno as much as the DIY/sample-anything-as-long-as-it's-got-attitude" philosophy of hip-hop, this new un-named form of groovy and refreshing house music is rising and Institubes' new "little brother label" Sound Pellegrino is proud to be on the forefront of such an exciting phenomenon.

Curated by renowned DJs and taste makers Orgasmic and Teki Latex, (from pioneer electronic hip hop outfit TTC - Teki also happens to be one of the founders of Institubes), Sound Pellegrino has quickly established itself as one of the labels to look out for in 2009, releasing singles by Renaissance man, Zombie Disco Squad, Harvard Bass, Momma's Boy and Douster and generating interest by A-List DJs from all ends of the dance music spectrum such as Laidback luke, Mowgli, A-Trak, Bart B more, Sinden, Pete tong, Riva starr, Chloé to name a few.

Today Orgasmic and Teki latex, the two public faces of the label, unite to form the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team and they are ready to take that movement to a club near you. Even though their teaming up behind the turntables is rather recent, these two have known each other for 15 years and have released countless collaborations. Going through various musical phases, they have always kept a will to explore forward-thinking dance music that will make the crowd go crazy without sounding stale and outdated. Mixing ingredients ranging from tribal rhythms, pumping tech house and mini baltimore to warped funky sounds with a slice of club rap thrown in for good mesure, the Thermal Team's mineral cocktail promises to bring something refreshing and bubbly to the table. With already 3 mixes acclaimed by the blogosphere under their belt, as well as remixes and original productions as the SP Thermal Team in the works, this new combination of already well established forces is ready to take the house music world by storm.

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Interview: (by Alexander Leblanc)

Duke: When/How did you first get into production/DJ and what still motivates you to do it today?

Teki: My "production" skills are limited to sitting in the studio with Orgasmic, Para one, or anyone of my collaborators, and telling him i want my drums to sound more this way or that way, and i want the melody to go "da da da di" instead of "da da da da"... i'm not really touching the hardware and i don't know how to use abelton or anything. I just know what i want and i learned that by hanging with talented producers for hours and hours in studios since my TTC days.
When it comes to deejaying i was always fiddling around with the turntables before and after ttc shows or during the parties we used to throw, but i bought a pair of CDJs 3 and a half years ago so i guess that's when i started taking the art of DJing very seriously.

Basically it was around the time when my solo album dropped. It was very different from what i was doing with my rap group TTC, it was a pop album made by a guy who wished he was a pop singer, but who really kind of wasn't? Anyway I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of going on tour and giving people a live version of my album, because it meant forming a new band with actual instruments and rehearsing with that band, starting from scratch, doing all the shitty venues we had already played with TTC (a nightmare i didn't want to go through again), being the only vocalist on stage and all sorts of things i wasn't ready to do. So i never got around to putting together this version of my solo live show, yet people still wanted to see me perform and promote my album in a "live" context. So i started doing DJ sets instead, and people loved it and kept asking for it.

Obviously i sucked at first but it soon became a real passion and something i would take really seriously. I didn't want to be that singer/rapper/entertainer guy who was pretending to be a DJ and who would just play random songs without beat-matching or anything. I've been hanging out with DJs all my life and i always was a real lover of dance music, so that kind of set a standard for me.


Duke: Who were your early musical influences?

Teki: My early early influences were things i saw on TV as a child, 80's synth pop, cheesy french and italo disco, tv show themes, Michael Jackson, Talk Talk, Teenage mutant ninja turtles, Technotronic, whatever. Then came Hip hop and later on, house music, even though it was always kind of present in the background... more or less consciously.


Duke: How did you meet your partner in crime DJ Orgasmic?

INTERVIEW: BAREM [M_NUS]

Hello MTLiens ! I think we all noticed that Montreal has been on fire lately , bringing us all kinds of international artists not only monthly but WEEKLY ! A huge step for the scene ! With igloofest, the boys at Microzoo and Safari @ Salon Daomé I can honestly say that 2011 is going to be a sweet journey into the international sounds of electronic music …which is obviously great ! On March 8th , the Safari crew will take us to the next level with non other than Minus artist BAREM ! For the occasion, I (Omar Diouf) and the rest of the Duke crew prepared a little interview and information about the Argentinean beat maker/DJ !

ENJOY ;)

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BIO : (source : www.residentadvisor.net)

‘Everything you do in life affects your music if you do music with passion. It's YOU in there, with everything good or bad inside’.
Barem

Mauricio Barembuem (aka Barem) perfectly personifies the new breed of electronic musician who has grown up in the digital age, using intuitive software programs like Reason and Ableton to spontaneously express ideas and emotions. On-line distribution has also made it possible for them to reach out and connect with audiences across the globe, no matter where they are - Buenos Aires for example, where Barem grew up amid the hustle and bustle of a city on the edge.

His teenage years were spent playing blues and rock guitar in bands but this always meant compromise. He longed for a purer form of self expression and eventually found it through electronic music, fascinated in particular by the way some DJs could impose their own personal vision onto the music they played, elevating it to an art form. It was exactly the inspiration he needed and Barem was soon experimenting with sampled loops and buying records (7th City, Spectral, Perlon and of course Minus). However, becoming a techno producer/DJ in Buenos Aires was easier said than done with gigs were few and far between. He was close to quitting a few times but found the right people at the right time and the solid advice they gave kept him motivated and focussed on his goal.

It was to be a defining moment and from that point on his induction into the scene was fast and frenetic. He released the Kleine EP on the free net label Unfoundsound in July 2005 with the track Suki grabbing the attention of many prominent DJs, before graduating to Foundsound with his first vinyl EP - Campo Madness in May 2006. Meanwhile, his relationship with Minus was already taking root. Richie Hawtin encouraged him to submit some demos after hooking up in Buenos Aires, one of which – Opal, appeared on the Min2Max LP which kick-started a period of non-stop touring across the US and Europe as demand for his live performances grew. Two Minus releases then followed in quick succession. 2007 saw the release of his Never Better Than Late EP before 2008’s superb Kolimar EP signalled a distinctive evolution of his sound, adding organic, house inflected grooves to his repertoire. Listening to both EPs, it’s clear Barem concentrates most energy into creating the powerful bass lines that underpin his work. His expansive use of reverb and delay create space for subtle percussive elements to skip and snake while distant, sometimes eerie melodies occur on random, secondary levels as a result of these interacting elements.

Some tracks just sound right from the first moment you experience them to the point where it’s often hard to appreciate the intricacies that lie within. Whether on outstanding remixes like Fuse’s Substance Abuse from last year’s Plus8100 retrospective or his recent outing on Foundsound with the epic Heyday, it’s all about keeping things simple and staying true to the old school, minimalist approach that first got him hooked, his definition of which is both insightful and considered:

‘’...Minimal is not really a sound... it's just a way of making music. It represents good taste, stylish sounds, the underground, afterhours... Whatever native roots you have, whatever music you like or liked in the past, it all fits in there and it's not dying in my opinion. It's just arrived at the point where we’ve rediscovered how free and amazing the concept and the reasons behind it are...’’
Which goes some way to explain his decision in 2008 to step back from performing live to once again concentrate on DJing, infusing his sets with warm, Latin rhythms as he blends his favorite tunes from a cross section of electronic genres past and present. His sets have graced some of the biggest events around – the Detroit Music Festival, Time warp, Miami, Ibiza, ADE...not to mention 2009’s Contakt special at Brixton Academy and the Minus North American bus tour.

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INTERVIEW: (by Omar Diouf)

DUKES: Hello Mauricio ! first of all…we are here to talk about Music, a passion we all share so what I want to ask you is, how did you first get into production/DJ and what still motivates you to do it today ? 

JUAN MACLEAN (DFA Records, USA)

Hello readers! As you know Juan Maclean will be performing (DJ SET) alongside Simian Mobile Disco For the NEON festival this March 18^th! We asked him a couple of questions about Montreal and also his gig at SAT.

Just for you ;) !

Dukes.

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BIOGRAPHY

"It's been a bit of a sore spot., laughs Juan Maclean, "sitting on this album and seeing this robot stuff pop up all over the place. I have serious robot credentials that go back years and years. Like, a decade! But Daft Punk beat me to the punch." He may be joking, but the man's right. If anyone's earned the right to call their debut album 'Less Than Human' and imagine a love triangle consisting of a man, a woman and the man's gay robot friend (as in 'Shining Skinned Friend'), it's Maclean.

He was guitarist and synth player with acclaimed but obscure, gonzo electro-punk band Six Finger Satellite, who began formulating their blend of rigidly mechanised disco beats, oddly sumptuous synth melodies and razor-shredded guitar work in the early 90s. The brutish but groovy result suggested a cross between Devo, Kraftwerk and Big Black. Then, America was mired in grunge, the famous French robots were still in short pants and the 'punk-funk revival' was in the unimaginable future. Six Finger Satellite were just too far ahead of their time and perished accordingly.

As a result, Juan MacLean nearly gave up. Not just on music, but on life itself. Creative disillusionment and personal despair aggravated by years of drug addiction (he started shooting coke at an early age, then moved on to heroin) had, toward the end of last century, brought him to his knees. Then, as the world prepared to party at the millenium's turn, two shifts occurred. First, he quit Six Finger Satellite, got the hell out of New York City and decided to try doing something rather more socially constructive with his life than just playing in a band. Secondly, he found himself being bugged by Six Finger Satellite's former live soundman. But this guy wasn’t after money or the return of borrowed gear or any one of the countless other things that usually prompt such reconnections. MacLean was being hassled by his old friend James Murphy to start making music again.

"From the very beginning," explains Maclean, "I always made a promise to myself that when I thought the time for Six Finger Satellite was up in terms of creativity, then I would just quit. I thought it was better to go out in a blaze of glory, rather than make five more albums nobody cared about. ” Maclean quit in 1988, just one month before their final LP, 'Law of Ruins' (produced by Murphy) was due to be released. "I was just so sick of it," he claims. "I was burned out from going on tour, plus it had just stopped being interesting, so I sold all my equipment. I thought I'd never have anything to do with making music again."

With that in mind MacLean moved to New Hampshire, where he lives now. He cleaned up, studied for a degree and began teaching English in a young offenders' institute (he spent time in such places as a kid), which he does still and describes as "pretty fun." Meanwhile, his enthusiasm for music had been reignited by (a pre-DFA) Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy. "They'd mail me CD's of things they thought were good," recalls Maclean, "and the three of us started having this dialogue again about older dance music that we'd always liked - Kraftwerk, house and techno." Goldsworthy also introduced Maclean to music that we’d always liked – Kraftwerk, house and techno.” Goldsworthy also introduced MacLean to the work of experimentalists like Autechre and, although he found it “very calculated and intellectualised,” it did help get him excited about music again. So much so, that in 2000 he bought a computer and sampler. “The real breakthrough,” according to MacLean, “came when I took Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ – which was one of my favourite records when I was like, 13 – and attempted to rip it off. The result was ‘By The Time I Get To Venus,’ because at the time, I just wasn’t good enough to get that close!” That track became the debut 12-inch by The Juan MacLean and one of the first singles released by DFA.

‘Less Than Human’ refines what that tentative first effort only hinted at. It’s a precision-tuned rekindling of MacLean’s love affair with everything from Kraftwerk to Juan Atkins and Derrick May, Funkadelic to Giorgio Moroder and Lipps Inc, DAF to Talking Heads and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It’s full of tics (sin drums, cow bells, Bootsy Collins bass lines, Moog Liberation motifs) borrowed from dance music history, but refuses to engage with retroism, nostalgia or any notion of ‘the classic.’ Opener ‘AD2003’ tracks back to Kraftwerk via Orbital, buoyed up by bubbles of percolating glitch. ‘Give Me Every Little Thing’ rewinds through Underworld and Talking Heads en route to Studio 54. ‘Tito’s Way’ contrasts acid-house synth squelches and rave whistles with clattering, tribal percussion. There’s a constant, though. Even the LP’s euphoric epic – 14-minute, piano-decorated closer ‘Dance With Me’, sung by LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang – is poignantly subdued, touched by a melancholy that reflects MacLean’s own world view. “It doesn’t seem incongruous to me to have a lot of that stuff in there,” he says of the album’s sadness, “because I made a big effort to make an album, rather than a collection of tunes with just one good track that everybody knows. So I never really set out to say, ‘this is a song that will played for the dance floor,’ or whatever.

“When I started on it, I don’t think I had any pre-conceived notions at all, except that I knew I’d always be operating under the same aesthetic principles that I’d held in making music my whole life. For example, I started taking old multi-track, Six Finger Satellite recording tapes and I sampled all the drums from them – that’s most of the drum tracks you hear.” For the rest, there’s a live drummer, flute, guitar, synths, piano and vocals – no samples. “I might spend months and months on one track,” MacLean explains, “and we have a lot of live instrumentation on it, so a lot of things that sound like samples are actually me playing.”

As to the DFA connection, MacLean declares that working without Murphy and Goldsworthy was never an option. “Even now, if I weren’t going to work with James and Tim, I just wouldn’t be doing this at all. The thing that James does is something that he and I had been formulating for years and years, when I was in Six Finger Satellite – his recording techniques, his approach, the determination that he was going to put out the best thing he could possibly put out, or else it just wasn’t going to be put out. . . we spent every day and night together on tour for years, talking about recording – there was never a question of doing it with anyone else. I don’t need to be working with James because, in an engineering sense, we both do the same thing, but working with both James and Tim, it’s three people sitting there going, ‘that’s no good, that’s no good,’ and maybe one in three things will be passed by all three of us. It’s a really tough jury – the toughest – but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
(Source: www.residentadvisor.net)

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INTERVIEW: Juan Maclean (by Omar Diouf + Alexander Leblanc)

DUKES: Hello Juan! First of all…we are here to talk about Music, a passion we all share so what I want to ask you is, how did you first get into production/DJ and what still motivates you to do it today?

I have been involved in production since I was about 19 years old. I became interested in recording at a young age, and opened a recording studio in the early 90's with my first band, Six Finger Satellite. At some point I became pretty burned out with it and left music altogether for a few years.

One thing that enticed me back into production was that with dance music I could work alone and work at any time I wanted, without the hassles of dealing with a bunch of other people. After my first 12," By The Time I Get To Venus, came out, I immediately starting getting offers to DJ, so that is when I starting taking it seriously and playing outside the confines of my bedroom, around 2002.

I am still as excited about it today as I ever have been. Though I grew up with rock music, the limitations of a rock band setup make it inherently limited in terms of creativity. At some point, if you stick around too long, you start trying to branch out and make things more complicated. This is the death of a good rock band. For example, I seem to be in the extreme minority of people who don't give a shit about Radiohead. It just sounds like pedestrian electronic music to me, rock guys being impressed by production stuff that sounds very 10-years-ago to me.

INTERVIEW: SHONKY ( Freak n Chic)

BIOGRAPHY :

In music, one hit record is lucky. Two? That’s talent. And the talent everyone is talking about at the moment is fresh-faced Frenchman Shonky. But with over 50,000 tracks in the Beatport database, how does a modern electronic music artist distinguish himself? For Parisian techno and house producer, DJ and remixer, Shonky the answer is simple. He took his profound passion for making music and created a signature sound, delivered a few solid EPs, topped the charts, landed a nice place with a “few” big labels, moved to Berlin, & spun in the hottest euro Tech clubs and . . . Voila !

Indeed His natural aptitude for producing was immediately evident with releases like Let Me Ask U, his remix of Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia’s Far Away.. Back in 2007 every underground club was echoing to the sounds of Olympia – a slab of panoramic techno that seemed to have been custom-engineered at the bottom of the sea; Or dancing to his massive remix of Danton Eeprom’s All I Can Say, and he was piling up serious air miles with his increasingly hectic DJ schedule. In 2008, Shonky took another bold leap forward by releasing his first full-length album Time Zero. More than a haphazard assortment of tracks, Time Zero is blended together with a common theme: getting your groove on at a party and the art of celebrating life.

Incredibly, music was a second-choice career for the 26-year-old. “I studied mathematics and statistics for five years. I was supposed to get a job in a bank,” he grins. But as a dedicated clubber since his teens the lure of electronic music and culture proved too strong. Shonky bought a pair of decks though he admits he had no idea what to do with them at first. He picked up many of his tips at Dan Ghenacia’s infamous Batofar after-parties, where he struck up a friendship with Dan, Dyed, and the rest of the Freak n’ Chic crew.

Immersing himself in the rave scene in Paris, Shonky’s musical roots were then found at the “Batofar club”. More so, it was the deep house, soul and funk infused sounds hailing from the mid-90s West Coast house scene (namely San Francisco and San Diego) and the historical Chicago house movement that left an everlasting impression on his future. Inspired by pioneering deep house figures such as Gemini and Kerri Chandler, Shonky has dubbed his own innovative style of mixing, writing and producing.

Shonky’s was to be one of the hottest young stars of 2008 and simply a star in 2009 with still big releases, on Freak n’Chic and Contexterrior his home labels. Shonky’s hit tracks “Carnage” & “Coco Feel and Love Shonk,” unmistakably portray this development and expansion within his production, marking a musical crossroads in his passage towards a new sound –one that revealed sonically groovier house dimensions infused with stronger vocal representation. At this time, Critics and fans alike celebrated the new direction with admiration and enthusiasm. The result was a lighter feeling, less minimal with the same hypnotic overtones.. “He’s a natural talent,” raves Ghenacia. “I know when he does something it’s going to be perfect.” And 2010 shows no sign of slowing down, as Shonky delivered the summer Bomb Cluborama (FNC051) and Les shonkettes, contexterrior’s autumnal anthem.

We may never know what Shonky’s moniker means, but we certainly know the sound.. and Among those clamoring for his services, are clubs like.. DC10, Space, Zoo project in Ibiza; Goa, Madrid, Mac arena Beach Bbarcelona; Techno parade, Rex Club, Paris; mulletover and Fabric London, Bar27 Amsterdam, Berliner clubs Panoramabar, Der visionnaer & Watergate, Pollerwiesen Düsseldorf, Harry Klein München; Arma 17 Moscow; Kazantip Festival; Australian Ambar; La huaka Peru; Playa Del Carmen’s festival in Mexico & Hollywood’s famous Avalon Club to name but a few !

We caught up with Shonky as he continues his North American Tour ! He will be playing @ Salon Daomé

on March 1st ! Remember the date ! He is unbelievable :)

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INTERVIEW: (By Omar Diouf)

DUKES: Hello Olivier! First of all…we are here to talk about Music, a passion we all share so what I want to ask you is, how did you first get into production/DJ and what still motivates you to do it today ?

My first approach to production went through a sampler and that classic TB303. That’s all I could afford at this time. Then I wouldn’t talk of “a start in production” yet, I was 16, but it was a matter of getting familiar with the machine and the process at the time. I started in a proper way in 1999. I was working also with a friend of mine who helped to understand better logic audio and then in 2005 I was releasing my first EP on Freak n’Chic.

INTERVIEW : GUIDO SCHNEIDER @ U.N

«Guido Schneider has been producing electronic music for more than 10 years now. Strongly influenced by EBM he started his first project in 1991 with a friend; his first records released on SPV.

Changes marked the beginning of the new millennium: Guido closed down his label Neue Welten and met vocalist Florian Schirmacher. After their first joint studio session it became obvious that Guido‘s production and Florian‘s vocal skills would complement each other perfectly, and together they founded the project Glowing Glisses, under whose pseudonym they released 3 singles and the album 'Silver Surfer' on Poker Flat.

In 2002 Guido and Glowing Glisses joined Steve Bug, the Märtini Brös and Martin Landsky on the Poker Flat World Tour. Back in Germany, highly inspired, Guido began focusing on his solo project. His first Poker Flat single 'Triple Bolted' (pfr35) and the track 'Moved' showed Guido’s huge potential. Two 12"s followed in 2004: 'Unterwegs mit Guido Schneider' (pfr47) and 'Oh My Buffer' (pfr53). These two 12 inches finally put Guido on the map of internationally acclaimed producers.

Guido was also Steve Bug‘s first choice to remix his unstoppable classic 'Loverboy' for Poker Flat‘s 50th anniversary release. In 2005 Guido contributed the exclusive track 'Las Cuerdas de Las Canarias' to the 'Poker Flat Volume Four' album, alongside artists such as Steve Bug, Donnacha Costello, Argy and Jeff Samuel.

Recently, Gudio joined forces with his old friend Sammy Dee (Pantytec) again, with whom he had worked years ago as Schneider & Radecki. The result of this reunion was the Poker Flat 12" 'Styleways' (pfr63), which also was licensed to Richie Hawtin’s 'DE9: Transitions' album.

As a DJ and producer of international demand, Guido Schneider currently tours top clubs around the world. The new album 'Focus On: Guido Schneider' is the next milestone in Guido’s carreer. It includes some of his best released tracks and mixes as well as some brand new songs and gives an excting overview of his capabilities.»

(source: www.residentadvisor.net)

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The Dukes catched up with Guido before his Flight to Montreal !

In all Exclusivity Guido tells us a little more about himself and his gig at Stereo Nightclub

this Friday February 18^th !

DOSSIER: Maher Daniel jacks the house !

Photo by Leif Tiltins

Maher Daniel has been moving masses lately ! The Get Physical artists Talks to Duke of Swabia in all Exclusivity ;)

«Where do we start with a name like Maher Daniel. "Maher" in his native tongue strings form the word excellence, and excellent is exactly what 2009 has been to jump start his career forward. Releasing records on top labels in the dance industry such as Get Physical Music/ Souvenir Music and Bedrock Records.

His remix of Tone Depth's 2001 classic Rumblefish saw him sitting at the #1 position of the Techno Charts for a solid 2 and a half months. His Music has reached out to the top players in the industry receiving immense support.

2010 sees a continuos rise with his musical journey,

Nominated this year as the world's biggest hot spot, renowned for its Analogue based sound system, this year's 14th best club in the world Stereo Montreal. We find Maher warming things up for the biggest names in the industry such as Lee Buridge, Clive Henry, Audiofly, Adam Beyer and Josh wink to Name a few.

Playing Festivals such as Creamfields Abu Dhabi, Piknic Electronik and Igloo Fest his sound travels across sound scapes of Deep house, Tech house, Techno and House as he never likes to pigeon whole himself with one specific musical genre.

This summer saw Maher's debut in Berlin and Europe where he has played at clubs such as Watergate, Bar25, Golden Gate, Cute Club Poland and Vozduh Moscow sharing his musical taste and energy.

The passion projected from this energetic character shows the perseverance and stone setting stature of someone who is not going anywhere anytime soon. Keep your eyes peeled as his passions and dream are transformed into reality.»

(Source:www.residentadvisor.net)

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INTERVIEW: (by Omar Diouf)

« DUKES: Hello Maher ! first of all…we are here to talk about Music, a passion we all share so what I want to ask you is, how did you first get into production/DJ and what still motivates you to do it today ?

i guess i was always passionate about playing music and being a musician i used to be in a band when i was younger i played the guitar until my brother introduced me to electronic music and then i got hooked 5 years later i started producing and djing i can't sleep drink eat without thinking of producing or djing and thats how it all started . The biggest thing that motivates me is the reaction i see on people faces when they hear my records being played its really inspiring and keeps me wanted to give them more.

DUKES: Montreal is a hard place to break through , how did you do it ? and how did your life change lately ?

The Man Behind The Camera: Exclusive Interview with Karel Chladek

I have something very special for you guys.
Most of us have seen his photos.
Many of us have heard of his name.
Some of us have seen him sneaking around with his camera and backpack.
But only a few of us really know the man behind the lens.
Here's an opportunity to pick the brain of talented, popular and well-respected professional photographer/videographer: Karel Chladek.

- Karel Chladek isn't a very common name, where are you (family) from?
Czech background, born in Montreal though.

- I have seen you around with your camera for no more than roughly 2 years now. How old are you, and at what age did you start getting into nightlife photography specifically? Remember the first event you covered?
I am 19 at the moment. Nightlife came into the scene when I went to my first event, Tiga Live @ Terrasse Bonsecours. Evidently I had to do it again.

- When did you first start expressing interest in photography?
Summer 2009, started with drifting events, learned it all by trial & error. 



- Are you currently in school? What are/were you studying in? Have you ever taken classes in photography/cinema?

I am currently in my first year of Photography at Cegep du Vieux-Montreal. I have already completed a Creative Arts DEC at Champlain College, which were my first steps towards holding my first camera.

- What camera + lens do you use?
A couple things that work for me. But if you must know, to make the videos and most of the albums I use the 5D Mark II, and a 40D. For lenses, I have gathered a couple but realized that for nightlife, I prefer my 50mm F/1.8 and my 24mm F/1.8.

- How did you end up in 'electro' shows? What kind of music do you listen to?
Ended up in it because I enjoyed it all my life, I live electronically, dnb, dubstep, trash, progressive, house, electronic, acid. They all have their advantages.



- Favorite track/artist/band at the moment?
At this very minute, Russ Chimes, it’s inspiring!

NICOLAS JAAR :SPACE IS ONLY NOISE : Recommended on R.A !

"Even those peripherally interested in dance music have probably noted the meteoric rise of Nicolas Jaar. The Chilean-born New Yorker debuted at just 17 with the expansive, cellar dweller house of his debut, the Student EP, in 2008 on New York's esteemed Wolf & Lamb. Following his Marks and Angles EP on Circus Company and a contribution to the label's celebratory Snuggle & Slap compilation, Jaar returned early last year to his original home with the slow astral grooves of A Time for Us along with a series of singles on his own slightly-skewed label, Clown & Sunset. As his music continued to both fuse and restructure traditional house, downtempo, jazz touchstones, his increasingly popular live sets mirrored the warmth and patience of his own productions, often sticking with warm-up BPMs for long portions of his sets (or damn near the entire runtime).

All of which leads up to Space Is Only Noise, his heartily anticipated debut album on the lovably weird sonic melting pot, Circus Company. And, frankly, the label's the perfect home for a record of Jaar's recombined dance tempos and textures. Much like James Blake—which Space is likely to be coupled with in the coming weeks for their different approaches to vocally oriented electronic music—there's a fascination with space and near-silence. Jaar uses his own voice, for the most part, more as texture than as center. Much of Space's charm lies in how suffused they are with moments of hush. In fact, so calm and comforting is Jaar's debut that the album at times almost resembles a bizarre downtempo DJ set of his own material (to which precisely nobody would be dancing). Melding Parisian jazz, Warp-style IDM, slo-mo house, classical, musique concrete and hip-hop, Jaar somehow never feels like he's trying on too many hats; the seams of his restitching just don't show.

For an album so clearly concerned with cohesion and a sustained narrative, it seems almost foolish to try to tease apart highlights. Space is, first and foremost, a full-length statement, and one of the best you're likely to hear all year. Remove any of its tracks, resequence any portion, and it would feel like a film poorly recut by the studio. Bookended by the mournful sample-and-piano crawl of "Etre"s, there's the bluesy vocal glide and soft Rhodes of "Colomb," or the waltzing guitar and slow grinding bass of "Too Many Kids Finding Rain in the Dust." With its basso vocal repetitions and stumbling rhythm, "Keep Me There" sounds a lot like labelmates Nôze, while Jaar anchors the drunken house of "I Got A" around a famed Ray Charles vocal, reveling in the use of such a "big" piece of history.

The title track, on the other hand, is echo-chamber soul music, Jaar's voice making its way carefully over its gentle, clicking rhythms and electronic glare. "Almost Fell" finds Jaar in brokedown effected-falsetto against sparse Rhodes coloring—the record's most refined moment arguably, and its saddest—only to lead into one of its more celebratory outings, the buoyant sample-cut funk of "Balance Her in Between Your Eyes." It's a pairing that resembles the slow emotional slide of life itself, this barely noted rise from deep blues to dancing days. It's also a good example of just how reflective and journey-based Jaar's debut feels. Space Is Only Noise is as appropriate for ten on a Sunday morning as it for the bleary ends of 3 AM, an on-the-nod effort that still feels redemptive and invigorating. You can play it whenever, which is good because you're going to want to play it a lot. "
(Source: www.residentadvisor.net)

Camel - Jellyjazz EP

This mornin', I'm havin' some of that Jellyjazz on ma toasts, with a glass of Coconut milk, per favore. I don't know if Camel is a baseball fan, and/or on steroids, but he keeps hitting it out of the ballpark. Jellyjazz EP, another home run release, via the label Blotter, is out now on Beatport. In the bullpen we've got original tracks Jellyjazz and Coconuts (souncloud previews below), as well as Jellyjazz remixes by Mr. Ho, Playmode and Pow! Pow!, and a nutty Coconuts remix by none other than Act Yo Age.