Apart from all the blogging, we DJ quite a lot. We play the same sort of music that we post, so if you like the blog – you’re going to have a good time on our dancefloor as well. Also, the blog reaches out to a lot of people and attracts a crowd that likes what we’re about. That’s the sort of crowd you want as well, we promise.
We’ve shared the dj booth/stage with a wide assortment of artists/dj’s including the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, SebastiAn, Fluokids, Nadastrom, Tittsworth, Risky Bizniz, Thunderheist, Krazy Fiesta, Oxy Cottontail, The Glass, Dan M, DJ Suijinho, Audioporno, Kornel Kovacs, Fagget Fairys, DJ Dainja, Boody B, AC Slater, Sir Nenis, Sharkslayer, Pets On Prozac, Jamtech Foundation, Cousin Cole, Pocketknife, Casper C, Jess Jubilee, DJ Wool, Mumdance, Cobra Krames, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Ben Mono, Niyi, Renaissance Man, Sekta, Arveene, Solo, Spoek Mathambo, Bok Bok, WooBanger, Hot Pink Delorean, Femme En Fourrure, Solo, Tane Lee, Zebra & Snake etc.
Hey, do you like Exploited Records? Do you live in Berlin? If so, check outJoyce Muniz,Hickup & more at “Time To Jack” on February 11th, sure to be a torrential hailstorm of tech house classics in the making.
But if you’re like the rest of us poor unlucky bastards situated in other places in the world, you have two options. You can check out an exclusive mix that Hickup created for the evening, and you can download a zip file of goodies from Joyce Muniz, Hickup & Jack Tennis in return for subscribing to a tasteful Exploited newsletter. Also, here’s a free Hickup jam that was included in the “Five Years Of Dirtybird” compilation, which builds up to a stuttering explosion.
Last week San Francisco producer and Dirtybirder Worthy brought out the big guns with his “Big Perm” release right here on Discobelle Records, get your big perm on and shake it to this smashing EP. And now to entice you even more, we give you the sexy and luscious remix from Helsinkis very own Femme En Fourrure. Enjoy and go ahead and grab the full EP on Beatport, Boomkat, Juno or iTunes.
“Beware. The perm is back.
Discobelle’s new release from San Francisco’s Worthy is a percolating tech-house ass shaker infused with enough oomph to make you sweat until you’ve messed up your hair. An infectious vocal sample and an uncontainable bubbling vibe make this one peak hour jacking tech-house at its best.
Accompanying the original, we’ve got three great remixes to round out the package from Worthy – Harvard Bass, Renaissance Man and Femme En Fourrure. First up, Harvard Bass gives a chunky, infectious bruiser that strikes a perfect balance between the deeper dancefloors and the uncontrollable, messier ones. Then, architects-turned-house-music-innovators Renaissance Man turn Worthy’s track into a sparse and icy percussive techno journey, continuing to push house music to deeper, stranger places.”
The fine Swiss gentlemen in Round Table Knights put together another edition of their seasonal mix series, their Autumn mix is absolutely splendid and as you probably already well aware of when it comes to this duo – filled with an exquisite track selection and as always flawlessly executed.
PS. Round Table Knights – will together with heavy hitters Zombie Disco Squad, Solo, Christian Martin and Midland – be headlining the You Can Call Me Pelski party in London on Saturday November 6th that’s presented together with booking agency-of-the-moment Jackmode in order to bring you a very special line-up. The event is held in a temporary venue under London Bridge as part of Counter Culture and the line-up reads like a who’s who of fun, funky and tribal-infused tech-house, showcasing artists hailing from some of the most influential labels in the game: Made To Play, Jackmode, Dirtybird, Turbo and Deadfish.
Tracklist for the mix and flyer for the party after the jump.
A while back Radiohead hosted a remix contest for their “Nude” track, this remix by Dirtybirder and Martin Brother Justin Martin was entered but never saw an official release besides being bundled together with his “Chaos Restored 2″ CD over on iTunes. We proudly present you with this wondrous techhousey remix that keeps just enough of the vocals for recognizability and just enough sass to make the dancefloor start boiling.
Today sees the arrival of Niklas over in Miami for WMC, he’ll be holding it down for Discobelle since British Airways managed to screw up my trip. In order for him and everybody else to get in the Miami spirit, here’s an exclusive and devastatingly awesome mix from Christian Martin who’ll be playing the Blue Collar party tonight and then getting the hell out of Dodge, hence the title of this mix: “23 Hours In Miami”.
I think its cool to pay tribute if a producer or DJ I like comes to the gig to show support. Sebastien Leger came out to Melkweg and i played his “Le Moutache” which also ended up being the biggest jam of the night!
“Le Moustique” Sebastien Leger – Mistakes Music (mp3 clip)
Amsterdam Overview
It started at my hotel while i was waiting to be picked up for dinner. A woman walks in the lobby of the hotel who doesn’t look anything like a promoter of a nightclub. But she starts walking straight towards me like she knows me. I go along with this cause i meet a lot of people and maybe she does know me. She gives me the ole Euro kiss kiss on the cheeks and a huge hug like we are great friends. I am thinking…OK…this has to be the promoter even though she looks like a lawyer. 2 seconds later she realizes that she is coming to see the guy who is sitting on the other couch. She bursts out laughing hysterically and goes over to the other guy. They are all speaking Dutch so i don’t know what they are saying but it was a very funny greeting to Holland.
I had an Ostrich steak with truffle sauce for dinner on recommendation from Roy, the promoter. It was actually very very good. It tasted like a very nice lean steak. Who knew a bird could taste like a steak. I was thinking to myself, is it cannibalism if i eat bird meat for dinner?
Melkweg is a big room that probably holds 1100 people. I think there were maybe 1000 there. The show was great but it could have used that extra 100 to set it over the top I think. I tried out a lot of ideas and most of them worked but sometimes I drew dead and this was the kind of crowd that was motivated by a track by track basis so it was tough to get a hot vibe going and keep it steady the whole time.
On rare occasion I get asked about my bear hair, meaning my very hairy body. I prefer this to be a woman asking but it is always funny to me when it happens and it happened in Holland this night. It makes me know the crowd is not taking the show too seriously and it always cracks me up.
David K followed me and i stayed for his set. He did not fair as well as me with the crowd but he stayed strong and I quite liked the music. It was one of those things where David was really good but the crowd didn’t get it all the way, so i blame them not him.
After we finished playing of course i was excited to hear that David K had some weed and we were going to light up. I was thinking we would get a fat Dutch style joint just like Cali. But then i realized David is French and not Dutch. So of course he rolled our joint with tons of tobacco. Uggg. Foiled again by Europeans. (****see below for further explanation) Either way I got super high and it was totally fun walking around with David in downtown Amsterdam at 6 am with our weed on. I think i ate like 3 plates at breakfast too.
London – Fabric – Saturday night
Track of the night.
I opened with this shit following Voodeux. The intro is insane!
There are 3 rooms in Fabric. The main room, room 2 which is also big, and room 3 which is very personal and smaller. It’s pretty rare that a label takes over room 1. They usually do that kind of thing in rooms 2 and 3. (in fact Wolf+Lamb had room 3 so it was a very American night in Fabric.) I was like a proud poppa bear all night because we took over the main room and did not disappoint.
J Phlip opened up at 11 and played a really thoughtful and awesome warm up set. I think it was her first DJ trip to Europe. Who gets to play Fabric room 1 on their first trip to Europe? Insane! Her set had everything from the deep stuff to booty bass and the room went from a few stragglers to totally full by the time she was off the decks. It also was awesome to see that her track of the night was her Bootsy Collins remix.
The Greasy Beat ft. Bootsy Collins (J Phlip Remix) – Claude VonStroke – dirtybird (mp3 clip)
Justin Martin followed her from 1:30 to 4 and he killed it! Last week he thought i was bagging on him when i said he destroyed the room but I meant it as i said it – he DESTROYED the room. Meaning he played incredible, lots of rolling jackin beats. At one point the energy was so amazing at Fabric all i saw was smiles and asses shaking all throughout the club and in the booth and even from the Fabric employees. The room had really caught fire.
Justin Martin – Robot Romance – dirtybird (mp3 clip)
Tanner (performing as Voodeux) was on next live. His gear was set up on the stage on the other side of the room and the sound of Voodeux is quite different than the Dirtybird sound of me and Justin. Voodeux is more techno and soundscapes and harder beats so i was a little scared for Tanner that the room might turn on him. Of course as soon as he started it was amazing. All fears washed away instantly and Tanner had an incredible hour performance. This was also his first DJ trip to Europe. At he’s standing there on stage in front of all of Fabric just killing it, jumping up and down, loving it. It made me so happy. I could see that Rose, his girlfriend was so proud and excited. It was a great moment.
After Tanner’s deeply dark vibe it was time to shake up this place. I opened at 5am with the absolutely killer “Yonkers” by Marc Houle. (see above) The intro is so sick, everyone freaked out. I played for what seemed like an hour and then it was already over. It was such an enjoyable night that my car to the airport showed up at 9am and i wasn’t even done DJing…ooops. I had to quickly wrap it up, grab my bags, and jump in the car. Thanks to everyone at Fabric, especially Judy and Julienne. Definitely the best Dirtybird night I’ve ever been to outside of SF!!
Now going from a rockin club straight to Heathrow airport then to San Francisco is pretty much as severe as it gets. Its like someone pouring a large bucket of ice into your hot steam bath or like having sex and stopping right before you jizz to go do a math equation in the living room. I didn’t make the upgrade so i stuffed my ass in the back of the plane and just sat there like a zombie for 10 hours. Some lady was complaining that i had too many carry-on items. I just stared at here with a blank face and watched her fat lips open and close. Sometimes it actually doesn’t pay to live in San Francisco.
***** Euro-weed
Like president Clinton, right up front I’m making the statement “I did not inhale,” but lets take a minute to talk about joints. Amsterdam is known of course for it’s famous coffee shops where you can smoke some of the best hash and marijuana in the world. I have been known to dabble but i’m not a stoner by any means. Maybe once every couple months or so i’ll partake in some extra fun. Before a DJ set is a no no for me because i am one of these people who gets really really hiiigh even on just a little.
For some reason back in history the Europeans decided that a “joint” must be rolled with tons of tobacco mixed in it, more like a rolled cigarette at its core. Now i absolutely hate tobacco. i don’t smoke and tobacco just makes me feel like shit except maybe the initial buzz. In California and some parts of Canada everybody knows that when we roll a “joint” that means all weed, no tobacco. This leads to getting way more stoned and in my opinion is way smoother and much much better with no nasty tobacco interfering.
The only exception to this crappy Euro practice of rolling in tobacco into a joint is in the city of Amsterdam. In Amsterdam they know about the California style and they don’t fuck around. A joint is a motherfuckin joint in Amsterdam. Like a Royale with cheese. All weed. Of course when you are in my situation on Friday night where i was hanging with French guy in Amsterdam it could go either way. Unfortunately for me it was a combo tobacco/weed joint.
A few quick differences between America and mainland Europe.
(there are a million but for the sake of time.)
1. In America a joint is a joint, no tobacco bullshit.
2. NO ONE like Sarah Palin in Europe. (or any of those losers)
3. In the US you can find a sandwich and a cup of coffee at any time of night. In Cali you can even go grocery shopping at 4am. In Europe you’d be lucky to get a dry roll in the middle of the night.
4. DJ is a legit occupation in Europe for an adult. You can be 43 and a DJ and it’s totally normal. Really, it’s true.
5. In Europe a lot of people want to travel and visit California
6. In America a lot of people want to travel and visit Hawaii (screw you Justin Martin).
It’s hard to pick a track of the night when the crowd was so incredibly up for it on almost every track. But this one had that extra little inch of airtime of feet off the floor. When the break hit ALL hands were in the air. It’s one from our Dirtybird 5 year birthday compilation out this March.
San Francisco Overview -
I only played one gig this weekend because it was a special weekend where I debuted the album at home in San Francisco. This is where i live. The city that influenced the music. I adore San Francisco with all my heart. So needless to say I was a bundle of nerves going into this party. Not because of what i would play but because i wanted to see if my home town would come out and support. And of course they did. Everyone came together. Big creds to Boz, our label manager who really turned the screws on this event – and Luke, our office assistant who hammered the internet as well. Thanks as well to Dax, Emma, Andrew, Mareissa, etc. So many people helped I can’t possibly list them all but when i saw over 500 people dancing before it was even 11pm I knew we were golden!
Let’s begin with the tequila. My wife’s friend Jen called me up the week before and told me she was working on marketing a new brand of Tequila. She asked me, “Do you need tequila for anything??” Ummm, yes please? So she sent us 3 huge cases for free and we staged a free tequila bar for an hour from 9-10! Tequila is a particularly frisky, sexual liquor. Perfect for dirtybird. A nice wild liquor to prep a huge wild crowd.
Christian Martin went on and had 500 dancing by 11pm. A new Dirtybird attendance record for sure. He played a crazy mix of dubstep and house, featuring some new tracks he did and also some by his brother Justin. I was going to play a clip of his new track Polar Bear but he wanted me to play his new remix of Monster Island which in my opinion sounds like Matthew Dear and Ectomorph met up with a Cali breaks crew. Sweet. Thanks to Chris for opening up. That’s one cool thing about the db crew. Everyone takes turns and has no problem supporting their friends. On rotation I open the party two or three times a year as well. It’s all in the family here in SF.
By 11, everyone was ready for Solar. We don’t usually have guys from outside dirtybird play our events but Solar is probably my favorite DJ in the city and i wanted someone who could build the room and not play every dirtybird track in my bag. Solar is from a crew called Sunset who were doing parties before we even had a label. Their crew still puts our park parties to shame and is the reason we even do park parties. Solar and Galen and J Bird and all those guys are the real SF party visionaries we looked up to when we were starting dirtybird. Anyway, Solar came on and really smashed it for 2 hours straight. He showed us why he has been one of the best DJs in San Francisco and the USA for many many years. He played the perfect lead in set of weird trippy tech house. Not too big, not to small, just solid solid oddball party music. It was a real treat to have him on the line-up. I wish i could post a clip but thanks to Solar’s genius I have no idea what any of the tracks he played were called!
By the time i went on the room was mayhem. There were 1000 people heaving inside Mezzanine. I was loving it. Half way through my set I dropped this gem from Heinrichs and Hirtenfeller which really made an impression.
There was a dood so fucked up in the front that he was crashing into the Dj setup. His girlfriend kept dragging him back out on to the dance-floor. I watched him flop about all over the place. The best part was that even though he was way past being able to function he was still trying to dance. It was kind of like watching the guy in Monty Python who gets all his limbs chopped off and keeps trying to fight saying “it’s merely a flesh wound!.” Funny.
After about 2 hours of hands in the air madness I dropped a drum n bass track and switched it up to some big nasty techno shit. The sound was really proper and I was really enjoying myself in there. During this whole thing Luke gave out about 500 cd albums as a gifts to the people. Overall, It was one of the best Dirtybird nights ever for sure. Thanks so much to all the people from SF who came out!!! I love you all.
TOP 7 SAN FRANCISCO
Places to find cool shit on Haight St. – I have lived in SF for 12 years and actually on Haight St. for 5. There are a million shop on the Haight, some trying to be cool and some legit. There is something for everyone but here’s where i shop.
Upper Playground which is technically on Fillmore but is like 3 doors off Haight. A staple of my wardrobe for the last 12 years. Local artists like Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish have made it big off the back of this T-shirt store. At one point in my career when i was working on film and i didn’t have any free time i was just buying t-shirts here instead of doing laundry.
Amoeba – Is this the last place on earth that feels as big as Best Buy but only sells music? including vinyl records, rare genres, used cds, collectors items, etc. This is the best music store in the USA and probably the world. It is a criminal offense to visit SF and not go here. Only gripe is that you can’t listen to vinyl before u buy it.
TRUE – As opposed to the way over-priced and “trendy” Villains shop on Haight (which is still worth a visit if you are rail skinny and like French house music) – for me the best shop on Upper Haight is True. They always play great mixtapes and have the big boy XXL sizes in the best brands. A nice T-shirt collection as well.
Ali Baba’s Cavern – People get really crazy about their favorite places to eat on the Haight. Some people would demand that the sausage place Rosamundi’s be in this spot or the breakfast joint, Pork Store – or even Citrus Club, the Tai Soup shop. But in my opinion there isn’t a better sandwich on Haight than Chicken Schwarma sandwich from Ali Babas. That shit is niiiice!
FTC – I don’t even skate anymore but i do know that this is the shop to go if you do skate. Rumored to be an anagram for “Fuck The Cops” this tiny shop has made a real name for itself across the country. I took my nephew in here one day to get a new deck and they didn’t give us an attitude – quite the opposite. Love the old collector’s decks up on the wall as well.
Kid Robot – The Always fascinating Japanese toy shop. Whether you buy something or not you need to stop in. Justin Martin wears Kid Robot Pajamas FYI. It’s not higher on the list because it has multiple locations. (not just SF)
Trimmers – totally ridiculous and non-deserving that this makes the list but I’ve been getting my hair cut here for 5 years and the guy who works here runs the Haight St. Fair – so he’s for real.
Today we introduce a guest blogger. He will be doing his tourblog for a while here on Discobelle. So let’s welcome Claude VonStroke / Discobelle
Claude VonStroke Bird Brain Album tour blog…
Blog Intro…
Thinking up a German porn star name and touring the world as a house DJ is probably my greatest hair-brained scheme to date. This tour blog is just another silly idea of mine, but maybe not so silly. I did invent the mountain bike when I was 8 years old. (of course someone else followed through and actually did it.) So, as you would figure, this blog is me talking shit. It’s also cheaper and less embarrassing than visiting a shrink.
Week 1 – Paris – Friday – Rex Club
Track of the Night -
First things first, before you get bored with endless dribble, I’ll always begin with the track of the night, that one special tune that gave the clubbers extra hard nipples. In Paris it was a worthy recipient. This track i’ve been sweating hard for months. Sascha Braemer is 1/2 of Heinrichs and Hirtenfeller who had a sick album out this year on Highgrade called Dark Orbit. The album was so sick i went and found this guy. He lives in Berlin and his debut on dirtybird begins with “Some Sweat.” Its all about the simple but twisted time changes in the breakdown for me.
Paris Overview -
Paris is a magic city for me. Where else on earth can you get a shower in your hotel room that has a mosaic tile image of two lesbians making out? That and the little silver rubber duck and we’re all good. Also the guys who book me are second to none as far a fun loving party people with a good sense of humor. I always have an incredible time there and usually at the end of the night some epic quest for a fresh pineapple occurs.
Oli (as in Olibusta from mothership Invasion v3) & Patrick (the guy who always has the after-party at his flat) picked me up from the airport and we immediately started chatting about their new label that will have the same name as their blog and his events crew called “Get The Curse.” Oli had already done some of the hardest work which is saving up the seed money and finding a distributor so I wasn’t as discouraging as I usually am to someone who tells me they are starting a label. This was the main theme of the night. And to the distress of Oli’s stunning and gracious girlfriend, we discussed the fine points of “label starting” over dinner. – see the top 5 below***
After dinner we met up with Jesse Rose who was booked to play across town at Social Club at Brodinski’s night. Over some martini’s at the Murano hotel even more label talk quickly ensued about shitty vinyl sales and how to release singles on Beatport, etc. The consensus being that vinyl is totally fucked but that we will both still be pressing it for some reason.
After this, it was straight on to the club where Olibusta was already on the decks. He slowly and deftly grew the crowd from a seedling to a full jungle plant. It’s always really great to play after someone who understands the natural flow of a night. Oli told me to tell the story about how we rode elephants through the streets of Paris but I’m going to stick to the simple fact that it was a great room and a great crowd.
I opened with Maetrik’s “Simplemen” on mothership. This guy is so badass.
My set progressed through some serious jackin shit but then around the halfway point it got a little too techno a little too early and i had to spend some time bringing the room back down to some more funk based house. This was probably just my personal opinion because no one cared and in fact it seemed as if they were almost egging me on to play harder and harder. So of course Monty Luke’s new track on Planet E “Art of War” did some serious damage.
I played about 4 hours and Jesse Rose showed up right at the end and we danced around the booth. After that I experienced a first. I actually went home after the set in Paris! It was already 7am and i thought about Manchester coming up the next night and it was one of those moments when going out further just isn’t going to do you any favors. I almost always like to party in Paris but this time i was too burnt for business. I’ll just have to go back soon. Love ya PAri!
Week 1 – Manchester – Saturday – Warehouse Project
Track of the night -
Lots of things were working on the 2000+ people in the giant car park warehouse but this one stuck out like a hot chilli. As I’ve said before, Maetrik is a beast of a producer and this is some of his best work ever.
Manchester Overview -
I don’t think there is a city i have visited more than Manchester. I seem to get booked here 3 or 4 times a year and i really appreciate a fan base that “gets” what i am doing. The place was full by 11 because it is like a festival gig indoors. The location is a massive car park under Picadilly station. A giant rave with 2000+ in the main room. I was kind of peeved that they put me on at 11:15 but to be fair the 2 guys playing after me were Dubfire and Adam Beyer so it would have been bad programming for me to follow either one. Even so, an hour and a half set at 11:15 ain’t exactly what i’m aiming for when flying all the way from San Fran to England.
The show was still great, and the crowd was well into it. Lots of tracks slayed in this big room like this one from our upcoming new dirtybird 5 year compilation.
The front row was especially enthusiastic and i expect there were some people tripping balls cause i watched them run their fingers down the front of their faces like some real drugs were hitting their systems. Here is a funny sign thrown up to me from the from the crowd…an unusual combo to say the least. Loving it in Mexico AND Poland – (and we are in the UK mind you.)
The highlight of the evening for me was actually after i finished. I went back to the other stage and Seth Troxler was on. Wow, what good luck! He was playing smoooth, sexy beats and it was working even on a northern UK crowd (who expect to hear banging stuff all night.) It was nice to see another Michigan boy tearing up the UK. He even got away with playing a Jodeci bootleg!
I didn’t really know Seth that well before other than he is from Michigan. So we had a fun chat for a while about moving from the living in Berlin. But the best part was that he gave me this little gift from his recent rip to Japan. Thanks Seth!
Gear Head Tech Addendum…
Before the gig i met up with two guys who always come out and support me. These two are real tech heads and they were explaining to me how they were setting up a huge wimax network in Manchester that was like 20 times faster than the fastest local internet. They were explaining how AT&T or some giant company was suing the government because they had put so much money behind 3G and now there was this new renegade system that was waaay faster. This was very interesting to me because I feel like this might have happened in San Francisco without anyone even knowing it. About 4 years ago Google announced that they would make the whole of San Fran a free wireless hotspot. There were some other companies as well like “Free the Net” doing this and i could fire up my notebook and get internet in about 60% of the city. Now, i turn on my notebook and none of these free spots are there. So what happened?? Did we just see a conspiracy unfold? I notice AT&T is doing a lot of local advertising and free wifi ain’t really available in San Fran like Google said it would be. Maybe I will investigate further.
****TOP 5 This week the top 5 ties in with my conversation in Paris about the best way to start and indy dance label. This is only a top 5 if you actually want your label to succeed as a business, not if you just want a hobby that sucks all your income and your free time.
Save a bunch of money..yes like more than $10,000. Preferably $20,000. you will need every penny. The rule of thumb is that you should have enough saved to release 4 records without ever getting paid, (because this is probably what will happen anyway.) Where does all this money go? Mastering, Artwork, Pressing, Postage, Promotion, Remix fees, etc.
Have 3 or 4 releases FINISHED before you start the label. You will quickly find that no distributors will even talk to u unless you have at least 2 or 3 releases ready for them to hear (along with your logo and all that.) This also means you should have your core group of producers all worked out, even if no one knows them. Make sure they are REALLY good.
Get a known remixer on your first few records. Aside from the fact that you will need some really kick ass tunes for anyone to notice you, it really helps if you can get a couple “name” producers involved from the start. they don’t have to be your core artists but they should be some of your personal favorites.
Press vinyl promos and send the records to all of your favorite DJs. You will be surprised how many addresses you can simply find on the web. This is huge because at this point no one does this and you HAVE to open and play a vinyl record if you get it in the post. A lot of people will tell you not to press vinyl but in the beginning you should. It still is the main barrier between being a “real” label and “digital only” label.
Develop your core – not not your abs – but your group or crew. No matter how cool u think u are you WILL need friends and like minded people to help you, to throw parties, to Dj your records, to develop your local scene, etc. Maybe you don’t have any friends like this so start going clubbing and make some if you don’t.
