Conch Records

Date

May 22 2012

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GIG: Francois K (FR/USA) @ Inkcoherant - Fri 8th June

Written By 1 - May 22 2012

   

Francois K (Fr/USA)

Support from: • Bevan Keys • Recloose • Philippa • Frank Booker • Greg Churchill • Angela Fisken $25 pre-sales from www.iticket.co.nz The lowdown on Francois K... Born and raised in France, Kevorkian's passion for music led to playing the drums during his teen years. He moved to the United States in 1975, where he hoped to find more challenging situations than those back home. Due to the heavy competition for any gig as a drummer in those days, he instead tried his hand at becoming a DJ in underground New York City clubs, around 1976. His career then skyrocketed, and he quickly made this his full-time occupation, although some work was at more commercial venues such as the club New York, New York in 1977. He taught himself tape editing and started making disco medleys, some of which are still popular to this day, such as Rare Earth's "Happy Song". He was offered a position doing A&R for a nascent dance indie record label, Prelude Records, which allowed him to go into the studio and do remixes. His first remix, of a Patrick Adams production, "In The Bush" by Musique became a wild success both in clubs and on the radio. It was the first of many remixes that helped Prelude define the sound of New York's dance music, including many memorable songs, including "You're The One For Me" and "Keep On" by D-Train, and "Beat The Street" by Sharon Redd. His stint at Prelude ended in 1982, the same year where he had the most number one singles in Billboard's Dance Music Chart, which included his remixes of now-classic songs such as "Situation" by Yazoo, and "Go Bang" by Dinosaur L. During this time he decided to build his own recording studio, Axis Studios, which ironically shared the same building as Studio 54. It quickly turned into a major commercial operation. Due to the pressures of studio work, he had abandoned DJing around 1983 to dedicate himself to recording and mixing full-time, but couldn't stay away from the turntables, and started spinning again in early 1990. The scene had really become much more international, and he quickly was able to start traveling and gaining much exposure overseas, including Japan. He toured Japan, DJ'ing with Larry Levan in the Summer of 1992 (the 'Harmony Tour') right before Levan's death in November of that same year. The demand for his DJ appearances led him to start traveling to many of the best club venues around the world, including London's 'Ministry Of Sound' and 'Fabric', Japan's 'Spacelab Yellow', Ibiza's 'Pacha' and 'Space', as well as Italy's 'Angels Of Love' and many large-scale festivals. By 1995, he decided to start an eclectic independent record label, Wave Music which allowed him to find an outlet for his own creative endeavours, including the FK-EP, as well as signing records by Abstract Truth, Floppy Sounds and a slew of other electronic music releases. Then in 1996, he (along with partner John Davis) became involved in starting what arguably became one of New York's most revered weekly parties, Body&Soul, which took place every Sunday afternoon at Club Vinyl (6 Hubert Street), playing along with co-resident DJs Joaquin 'Joe' Claussell and Danny Krivit for a mixed crowd of ecstatic and faithful dancers from all over the world. The 'Body&Soul' sound, a unique soulful mix of very organic and spiritual dance music grooves, led to the release of a successful compilation series by the same name. His career as an artist did not stop evolving, as he rekindled his interest for a more electronic sound, and the release of his Sonar Music set in 2002 marked a turning point; he started playing a much edgier and futuristic style, with more to do with techno and dub than the house sound he was mostly identified with as a DJ until that time. In 2002, he also started touring along with Detroit Techno legend Derrick May, playing sets together as the 'Cosmic Twins'.

Date

May 16 2012

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GIG: Mark Rae @ Inkcoherent - 1st June

Written By 1 - May 16 2012

Mark Rae - Grand Central (UK)
Friday 1st June
At Inkcoherent, K'Rd
The Turnaround DJs - Coherent
Bevan Keys, Reed & Radley & More - Ink
Presales $15 +BF  from Conch, 115A Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby or Iticket
 

Date

May 11 2012

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GIG: Bill Brewster 1st NZ Tour

Written By 1 - May 11 2012

 

Bill Brewster 1st NZ Tour

Seminar: Friday 25th May @ 7:30pm
Red Bull Studio, 13 Hargreaves St, Freemans Bay
 
GIG: Saturday 26th May
Ink Bar, K-Rd
Support From, Recloose, Frank Booker & Philippa
 
$10 before 12, $20 after
This month an absolute legend in the world of dance music is heading to Australia & New Zealand for his first Antipodean tour. Not only is Bill Brewster interesting because of what he does on the decks, but he has played a massive part in defining dance music via his books and journalistic endeavours. While in Auckland Bill will be holding a seminar at the Red Bull Studio on Friday night May 25th at 7:30pm, as well as playing a party at Ink Bar Saturday night May 26th.

Having long ago cemented his name as dance music’s key commentator and historian, in-tandem building an illustrious career as a DJ and producer over the past 30 years, music aficionado Bill Brewster is finally heading to Australia and New Zealand for his first ever down-under DJ tour this May.

His books ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ and ‘The Record Players – DJ Revolutionaries’ helped to define dance music culture, the industry that surrounds it and the main figureheads who have helped to shape into the force that it is today. ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ has been translated into seven different languages, including Portuguese, Japanese, Serbo-Croat, Spanish, Italian etc, and has now sold over 150,000 copies worldwide, around 100,000 of that in English. His other book ‘How To DJ Properly)’ has been translated six times, including French, Italian and Portuguese, with sales of around 110,000 in English and another 30,000+ in other languages.

His first delving into the world of recorded works came back in 1982 when the band he was singing with called Group Therapy released the album ‘Arty-Fact’. Since then he has re-rubbed the likes of The Beat Assassins, Superstars of Rock, two times Brit awards nominee Elkie Brooks, Jackson 5 and seven times Grammy nominee David Gamson and has his own project with Alex Tepper (ex-Futureshock) called Hotel Motel. From the year 2000, he has also been busy compiling and mixing compilation releases, having completed 10 out on labels including Hooj Choons, Universal, Capitol, Strut and Harmless. Known by a number of his peers as ‘the Oracle’, Bill has an enviable knack of foreseeing trends long before they have become a reality.

It’s no wonder that for more than three decades he has been the go-to man for media and alike when it comes to opinions and grounded predictions into the future of dance music. His website www.djhistory.com is a portal for like minded individuals. “What I love about dance music is it’s a technology-driven industry so you never quite know in which way it will turn or twist and I love finding out about new things. It’s what’s kept me fiending for the next big thing for the past 35 years”

Replicating his knowledge and love of music in a club environment, Bill began Djing in 1986. He was a founding resident of Fabric, going on to play weekly for 6 years. Emphasising his musical diversity on the decks, one week he would come on after Sasha in the main room to finish the night, the next he would be sparring with Leo Zero in Room 3 playing mental disco records and Balearic biscuits.

For his coming Australian/New Zealand tour, Bill has been scouring through his massive record collection to bring a mix of definitive classics, that will sit alongside up to the moment bombs to get the dancefloor pumping. “I’m psyched about coming to Australia and New Zealand not least because I’ve heard it’s warmer than Grimsby. I’ve been furiously digging out some forgotten gems in my records room for the trip and I’m looking forward to busting some of them out, so hold on to your corsets”

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