Category: Upcoming Guests

The Austrian Invasion continues: Abby Lee Tee, who’s “Sundayday” can be heard on my March 20th show, will join me on The Main Ingredient for a guest DJ set tonight.

photo by: Robert Winter

Majestic Mood who runs Groove Merchants Radio out of Vienna is back in town and will join me tonight for another guest set on The Main Ingredient.

Check out recent episodes of his show, including interviews with Taylor McFerrin, Machinedrum, Shigeto, fLako (jealous), and more below.

Photo by Daniel Shaked

About Majestic Mood:

If there’s anything any good DJ should be able to do, it is to set a mood. In the case of this cat from Vienna/Austria/Europe, the mood is going to be majestic – no matter which musical genres are involved. Inspired by Hip Hop, he explored it’s various roots – Jazz, Soul, Funk… – at an early age and paid his dues playing some residencies around his hometown. In recent years, he’s been immersing himself in the international Beat movement that fuses Hip Hop aesthetics with more electronic soundscapes and even deeper bass frequencies. His online radio show Groove Merchants is a good starting point for explorations into the field as it also features interviews with artists like Hudson Mohawke, Waajeed, Tokimonsta & Mount Kimbie. He is also the resident DJ for “The Message Radio Show” on Vienna’s Superfly FM and co-hosts the club series Royal Eclectic.

Trishes (FM4/MPM)

Wonway Posibul (facebook, twitter) who is in town from The Bay to kick off the 3rd summer of his monthly Makossa Brooklyn Cookout daytime party series, will also make a stop at The Main Ingredient on Monday night to play a DJ set.

More about Wonway:

A modern day renaissance man, all around b-boy and performer, Wonway’s artistic resume includes emcee freestyle champion, DJ, educator, host of ThinkBeat Radio, and actor. In his short time returning to being a full time DJ, he has already played with Afrika Bambaataa, Tony Touch, Bobbito, Garth Trinidad, Neil Armstrong, and Quantic just to name a few.

His afrolatin hiphop jump, Makossa has grown in popularity to spawn the incredible monthlies in San Francisco, Makossa West, and most recently New York, with the Makossa BK Cookout. His style is soulful party hiphop fused with Latin, Afrobeat and the occasional slap. His “Makossa Classics” mix series is crack for dancing fiends and a must have for music heads, receiving accolades from people such as Erykah Badu and feautured on numerous influential websites including Okayplayer and Remezcla.

Amsterdam’s finest return to The Main Ingredient, almost exactly two years after their last visit (listen to the June 1, 2010 archive). They’re in the midst of a summer tour and I’m glad to catch them while they’re in NYC. You can stay updated on their tour through the tour Facebook page.

Both were also recently featured (on vocals and remix duties) on Anthony Valadez‘s lead single from his Just Visiting LP which was released on the 5th on Plug Research.

And last but not least, rumor has it they will be coming out with a full length debut album by the end of the year.
More Info: Full Crate, Mar, Mar Variations

DJ Platurn of the Oakland Faders, who I first DJed with in San Francisco back in 2006 (damn, has it been that long?) is going to come through the EVR studio Monday night, after spinning an early all-45s set at the Mobile Mondays party at Bowery Electric.

You can read his full bio here but here’s a snippet:

“…voted Oakland’s best DJ by the East Bay Express and winning Scions’ “Free Up Your Mix” competition along with fellow Oakland Fader DJ Spair, Platurn has devastated crowds from coast to coast and internationally, and in doing so, he’s shared the stage with folks like Z-Trip, Krs-One, Mixmaster Mike, The Beat Junkies, DJ Premier, Slick Rick, Maseo (De La Soul), ZionI, Jazzy Jay, Quest-Love(The Roots), M.F. Doom, A-Trak, Afrika Bambaata, Pete Rock, and a whole bunch more.”

More Platurn: Check out his site and find him on twitter.

New Look – Nap On the Bow by New Look

About New Look:

Recorded over the past three years, across the creative trinity of Berlin, Brooklyn and the sleepy hollow town of Hamilton, near Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, New Look’s self-titled debut album is a feverishly anticipated affair. The Canadian future pop duo of Sarah Ruba and Adam Pavao first emerged in 2008, landing in Europe with a self-released EP of pitch perfect, experimental pop entitled, “How’s My Hair?”. This was accompanied by a masterfully stripped back yet soulful reworking of close friend and polymath producer, artist and photographer Jimmy Edgar’s anthemically androgynous smash single, “Function of Your Love”. The couple’s undeniable creative synergy translated directly to the stage, where the stunning, synth-playing chanteuse and former model, 25-year-old Ruba (previously shot by the likes of cult fashion provocateur Bruce Weber) and multi-instrumentalist, 31-year-old producer Pavao played a series of hypnotising live shows across the UK and Europe, with early support from the UK’s premiere music and style press, including an upfront spread in Dazed & Confused magazine.

“We’ve since developed a lot more and now fully realise what we have always wanted to do,” introduces Pavao, speaking from their home studio in a converted Victorian house in Hamilton, Ontario. “What’s most important to us is that every song has to sound super new to our ears. That feeling of unpredictability within every second of each song,” says Ruba. “We’ll never re-do a vibe and that’s the whole basis of what everything jumps off from.” There is a confidence and wit to their songwriting, coupled with a sublime subtlety in the cosmic tweaks and soft synths underpinning their future pop aesthetic. It’s controlled yet wistful pop perfectionism. “We try not to keep anything superfluous in our songs. We’re always conscious of the negative space in our music and that’s a constant theme,” explains Pavao, their trademark sparse 80s snap dynamically lifting Ruba’s crisp, siren-esque vocals and synth driven melodies.

Signed to !K7, certified home to Jimmy Edgar, Chromeo and the classic DJ-Kicks series, the first single to be released from their debut full length is “The Ballad”, a magical synth pop record, perfectly aligned to introduce New Look’s soaring ambition. “We recorded the song four different times, the vision of this was so strong and clear in our minds that it took us so many times to get it how we knew it should be,” Ruba explains. “We attempted it twice in Berlin, once in New York and finally got it in Canada. The song is a message to someone we know and even though it’s a fleeting message to them, we would never want them to find out. It’s too personal.”

“The Ballad” is set to a psychedelic music video directed by celebrated Australian fashion photographer and filmmaker Will Davidson. “It’s so beautiful, I can’t wait until it’s out,” enthuses Ruba. “I can really hear the energy of the different cities that we recorded in,” adds Pavao. “When we first got to Berlin and it was Spring and we felt so free, and then also moving back to New York, it definitely translates to the music.”

The self-titled album is also the inspired sound of a personal uprising for New Look, whose initial plan was to move to Berlin for nine months to finish the record amidst the critical acclaim surrounding their self-released EP that was followed by a sold out European tour supporting The xx. “We moved to Berlin to get a flow going, to focus just on music,” reminisces Ruba. “But last Fall it felt like absolutely nothing was happening. All these plans never came to fruition and we were really frustrated and felt like shit. So I wrote this song with super inspirational and motivational lyrics and – however cheesy it may sound – it actually somehow created a new hope. It’s called “A Light” and somehow actually manifested itself.”

New Look will be returning to the UK and Europe this Summer with their debut album and headlining tour which will see Sarah Ruba’s mesmerising vocals and melodic keys front Adam Pavao’s live analogue synths, drums and visuals performance. “It’s been three years and for us the album is hard to put into words, concludes Ruba. “We’re still super perfectionists and whilst some of the record is New Look pop, there are tracks that are pretty badass and serious. But it all reflects our grand vision.”

About Hold On:

Last year, Brooklyn’s Krts released Remixes for Beards and Flannels, a mix-tape of top shelf classics from hip-hop’s ‘80s and ‘90s heyday. This September, he’ll follow this with his newest and first-ever proper EP release, Hold On, on the Berlin label Project Mooncircle.

With sounds ranging from the eclectic side of Hip-Hop, Broken Beat, Downtempo, soulful Dubstep, Indie Rock, and Fusion Jazz, Krts crafts a soundtrack to an ever-changing NYC landscape, fraught with struggles and flashbacks of what-was, all while letting go of ideals in favor of a new, raw, and heartfelt future. The album’s title track, “Hold On”, concerns the battle of a fleeting love – electronic and psychedelic sounds lead to a heavy, mid-range looped chorus and a deep, rumbling dubstep-style bassline. A taste of struggle is represented in “Whatever”, with it’s 808 kicks, layered snare, eerie and rattling samples, sweeping syths, and improvised piano… all as an ode to the cluttered market of Brooklyn’s indie art scene.