Festivals are always a big part of the summer and this eastern european on has been on the cards for a few years so I was looking forward to it. The actual conference was small, pretty much like the early days of ADE and that really friendly and relaxed vibe. I was part of the listening panel with DONS, Don Diablo, Benjamin Bates and a UK label guy. It was interesting to hear tracks from the producers over there and the quality was very high actually. Next we did the awards ceremony and I handed out the best producer award to a gentleman called DJ Row - awesome. Before the ceremony we actually had a chance to sample the local cuisine as you readers of the blog know that I always try to do when in a new city. I hate to report that it wasn't all that actually. Sort of boiled down meat in little containers. The good point was that DONS and his girlfriend joined me an Ben so I got to know him a little better and it was clear that he is a bit of a dude. So then, time for the main event and it must have been this year's biggest anticlimax. They had rented out the central station so the venue was massive. Unfortunately, it had been raining for a few hours so it wasn't very warm. And not very crowded either, but I pretended it was like main stage on Dance Valley or something and got them going. Towards the end of my set Don Diablo turned up and I asked him if he was ready, but he kept in the back not to disturb me and I said it's like 1 minute left of the tune!! Then he stepped up and realised that some genius had connected two of the CDs through a Serato interface so a tech was called in while a really boring loop of my last tune was playing for like 10 minutes. Seriously, as a festival tech, don't you get the technical specs before you set up a stage? Finally he could start and I realised why he needed 4 CDJs - the man is working it and it was absolutely awesome. I haven't been that inspired by another DJ for years. Granted, he could only keep that hyperdrive going for about 30 minutes, but the rest of the set was great too. Maybe sitting on a speaker and singing his own song was a bit OTT, but massive cheer to him. Next on the line up was Felix The House Cat and his bottle of Mescal. The party atmosphere was sort of dampened as he put on some Depeche sounding prog track, then forced into an acid type of tune. I decided to get ready for the next day so I left them there. The day after I met a pretty rough looking DONS and he said him the Felix cleaned up that bottle as he did the last set.
SeeMe, Sofia June 5, 2009
Voices of Freedom - Lift Your Hands Up (SB)
Jordan Rivera - Praise The Lord (Groovenatics)
Dumb Dan - Lights Are Low (SB Re-Edit)
Jade Ewan - Punching Out (SB Dub)
Flash Republic - Twister (SB)
Roman Salzger - Voices Inside My Head
Thomas Gold - Shake It
Matt Joko - So House (SB)
Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor (LBL)
The Cut & Mind Electric - Sweat
Tristan Garner - Gypsy Woman 2009
Hardrive - Deep Inside (Geoff M)
Getting from Sofia to Belfast was a bit of a trek, but I came there in the early evening and checked into a super stylish Malmaison hotel - yay. Mono is a small place, but run by a DJ who know's what he's doing (Chris Cargo) so there was a Funktion One in there and when those are set up the right way, they are just crazy. He did a really funky warm up and the mixer was just sizzling at 2 greens as opposed to normal warm up these days with all LEDs on red - excellent. The crowd consisted of 65% girl that were into R&B and 35% guys into harder forms of house. Always a tricky combination, but my latest theory is that people want energy and hooks so I got away with playing tougher mixes of well known hooks. The biggest cheer was for that new Terrace mix of Guetta's 'Little Bit More' and the Prodigy bootleg. Great night and weekend, going to mix a track for Robbie Rivera this week and return to Croydon with Joey to set the record straight next Saturday.
Mono, Belfast June 6, 2009
Jazmin Sullivan - Dream Big (SB)
Simply Red - Money's Too Tight To Mention (Alex Gaudino)
Dumb Dan - Lights Are Low (SB Re-Edit)
Jordan Rivera - Praise The Lord (Groovenatics)
Tristan Garner - Gypsy Woman 2009
Richard Vission - Can't Help Myself (SB)
Hardrive - Deep Inside (Geoff M)
Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor (LBL)
I Found Love Lockdown
SHM & LBL - Leave The World Behind
Flash Republic - Twister (SB)
David Guetta - When Love Takes Over (LBL)
J Joe K - Born Slippy
Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me (Norm & Pash)
Tatyana vs StoneBridge - Spring Breeze vs Put 'Em High
David Guetta - Just A Little Bit More (Whelan & Di Scala)
Hagenaar & Albrecht vs Prodigy -Everybody In The Place
Nadastrom - Pussy Soul (SB Re-Edit)
Mylo - Drop The Pressure
Thomas Gold - Shake It
Adele - Hometown Glory (Axwell Remode)
Bart B More - Finally
Solitaire - You Got The Love (MW Kidology)
Daft Punk - Around The World (Dumb Dan)
Jade Ewen - Punching Out (SB Vocal Dub)
MAW vs Paradise 45 -To Be In Love
Yeah, I know about Don Diablo, he got some great skills...he also has a quite unique taste in music! And what was the vote of the crowd on Jade Ewen? Bet they didn't think it was too dark
