WE NEVER LEAVE THE CLUB: Quarterly Baltimore Club Music Update

Whether you like it or not, this guy had the best year in Baltimore club music. By a long shot.

As 2010 draws to a close, Baltimore club music is in an unusual place. On one hand, the music is more mainstream accessible than ever. Blaqstarr is positioned to become and underground pop icon and everything that was either directly or indirectly attached to the hipster movement from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to Diplo is achieving a place in the mainstream. Usher’s “OMG,” a Baltimore club track disguised as a pop song was voted by MTV as the channel’s favorite pop tune of the year. Baltimore club tracks are now a staple of mainstream R & B and dance releases for the time being as well, as acts ranging from the expected Black Eyed Peas to the unexpected newcomer Miguel incorporating the sound. On one level, between that and internationally popular DJs like Trouble and Bass’ Drop the Lime and Zombies for Money, along with kuduro club smasher Munchi making waves in club music the dream has been realized. Club music is global, in a major way, and shows no apparent signs of slowing down. However, as rapper Redman once entitled an album, “Dare Iz a Darkside.”

 We No Speak Bmoreo by James Nasty

On the veteran front, Unruly’s Say Wut had another terrific year, releasing an album length mix, and with King Tutt promising a 2011 release that will venture deeper into the electro side of club music, Unruly has transferred quietly from being a leader in club music to being the genre’s most respected brand. Hearing Scottie B drop bombs at the Baltimore Bass Connection Xmas Party at Sonar wasn’t the life altering experience it normally is, instead it was met as the expectation of the DJ and the music he plays. In having harnessed the titanic strength of club music for so long, and being the brand that carried it into the mainstream, Unruly no longer needs to be a leader, but it rather can be the steward, the respected folks at the top of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IK4BSndto8Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

It is important to also note that the Baltimore game has changed. When the city was widely regarded as the predominant world underground leader, club music was swept into that. Now, as Baltimore has faded back into being a weird, yet still vibrant musical enclave, still local Baltimore club needs to be, well, back in the clubs. The growth that occurred in the sound between “Watch Out for the Big Girl” and “I’m the Shit” needs to be replicated yet again. There needs to be an emphasis on not just producing, but the actual art of DJing the music. Mainstream success is always just around the corner for club music. It reflects popular culture and features intensely catchy dance breaks. Jonny Blaze is an urban legend and Benny Stixx may not be a household name, but they are DJs adept at  producing and spinning the sound and getting people moving. Philly’s DJ Sega is a prodigy and everyone is aware of that. KW Griff and DJ Booman are holding down breaking songs on the radio. Between those names and a plethora more, there needs to be work done amongst DJs who still want to advance club music. While names like Usher are toying with the sound, enormous mainstream exposure isn’t exactly possible. However, working hard in the lab and concocting where the sound can be headed in the shadows of these giants is of ultra importance.

In final, club music truly became pop music in 2010. Of course, as when anything underground goes pop, it immediately causes tension in the underground, a sea of angry emotions, hurt feelings and rash decisions borne of confusion. All of these things happened in club music this year. However, with a quick change of gears, club music can survive, and actually get stronger for the next major boom. As the King James Version states in Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

SEAL OF APPROVAL – FREE JAMES BROWN HAPPY HOUR – U STREET MUSIC HALL – 12/10/10

On December 25, 2009, the music industry lost its most influential modern legend when “Soul Brother Number One,” the “Sex Machine,” “Mr. Dynamite,” “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” “The King of Funk,” “Minister of The New New Super Heavy Funk,” “Mr. Please Please Please Please Himself,” “I Feel Good,” “Hardest Working Man in Show Business” and “Godfather of Soul” James Brown passed away. There is not a genre of music that Brown did not touch or was influential in the development of. Early disco and house couldn’t exist without the funk breakdowns of his rhythm sections. Baltimore club owes a significant portion of its entire success to the breakdown of “Think,” a track by James Brownbackground vocalist turned solo artist Ann Peebles. Hip hop? Well, the entire genre is built on the vocal inflections, funk, soul and iconic nature of the voice and music of the legend. With core influences in intenrational dance styles as well and at the major point of influence of all music, James Brown is a legend worthy of an epic celebration.

In 1988, James Brown was sentenced to three years in prison and many in the hip hop community felt he was unjustly imprisoned. The response? A movement based around the concept of “FREE JAMES BROWN.” Now, 22 years later, Brown is eternally free, so we celebrate him with a FREE happy hour in honor of his life and contributions, an event which flips the lid on his darkest hour and makes it his brightest. From 5-10 PM on December 10th, DJs Harry Hotter, Jerome Baker III, and Baltimore representatives James Nasty and Johnny Blaze fete likely the most important artist in the development of dance music.

Harry Hotter is a truly dominant turntablist, blending disparate styles to create the diaspora of funk and soul in his sets, not unlike James Brown throughout his career.

Jerome Baker III is a rising hip hop centric but genuinely party rocking DJ that brings a definite aura of excitement and frenetic energy fueled by classic and current breakbeats and crowd anthems.

James Nasty is the fastest rising DJ in Baltimore Club music at the moment. Working with Bmore Original Records, his best club selections display an attention to base desire and and populist fervor, two elements core to the James Brown tradition.

Jonny Blaze is a true Baltimore club music legend. The DJ has been spinning for over twenty years and is as ribald of a personality as he is talented as a DJ. His sets are unforgettable, pulse pounding and bass rattling moments in time, His tracks also appeal to populism and take unexpected turns down musical pathways that still keep the dance floor filled with energy. He’s also the headliner. The only man that could headline. On a level of personality, creative flavor, style and talent.

Playing selections from Brown’s catalog, the catalogs of those who played with him, and also the catalogs of those who were inspired by him, this is an event where I can almost guarantee you won’t hear the same track twice and it’s a guaranteed dance party all night long.

AND now, the finest performance in the history of music. James Brown from Britain’s TAMI show in 1964. On a show with The Barbarians, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Rolling Stones and The Supremes, it was James Brown and his Famous Flames that completely were a step above the competition. Enjoy, and if in the vicinity, come to U Street Music Hall tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/v/b2nybY647F0?fs=1&hl=en_US

TGRI RADIO – EPISODE 9: The Baltimore Club Conversation w/ James Nasty (and Murder Mark)

The future of Baltimore Club Music? Take a listen HERE, or check the left side of the site!

Outside of the rising production credits of DJ Pierre and Murder Mark, the story of 2010 in the retooling but perpetually party rocking genre of Baltimore Club music is the rise of James Nasty. Playing U Street Music Hall’s Halloween party this Saturday night is one of many great accomplishments for the selector. A populist club DJ very reminiscent in production style to veteran Rod Lee of “Dance My Pain Away” fame, Nasty has had a fantastic 2010. Finding his own style as the headliner at the “next generation Taxlo” the Friday night weekly Moustache Dance Party at Baltimore’s Ottobar, he’s now aligned with the revised Bmore Original Records, and his single “Back It Up” is presently in rotation as a perpetual part of KW Griff’s Friday night mix on 92Q. As club music retools and new names like DJ Sega become top veterans and mentors, it’s names like James Nasty who are now at the forefront of pushing the genre ahead and being ones to watch. For 45 minutes, James and I discuss the nature of club music, past, present and future.

At roughly the 25 minute point, we’re joined by 2010’s Best Club Music Producer at voted by the Baltimore City Paper, the aforemntioned Murder Mark who joins the conversation and has some very pointed, poignant, honest and charismatic comments about the present and future of the genre.

Enjoy!

SEAL OF APPROVAL: (DC) BOOM feat. James Nasty, Oh Snap and Ratt Moze @ DC9 – 10/5/10

Welcome to the third year of True Genius Requires Insanity. At every turn, TGRI is now all about the evolution from blog to lifestyle brand. On a creative level, year three is going to be all about showcasing those artists who exceed expectation. As well, we’re all about the desire to inform the universe of what is great either before it blows up, and also sifting through the detritus of what we’ve forgotten and reminding everyone of its never ending legacy continuing brand of excellence.

The Rum Sessions Vol. 1 – Ratt Moze by djrattmoze

Opener for tomorrow night’s BOOOOOM party at DC9 DJ Ratt Moze exceeds expectations. The Detroit, Michigan native and Bmore club fanatic has had a first year of DJing that is quite typical of most first year DJs, filled with a constant learning curve and consistent growth as a selector. Where he exceeds expectation are the crowds he regularly plays in front of at the Rock and Roll Hotel on weekends, and having the drive to always attempt to position himself with top names of the industry. He has aligned with DJs who play parties that bring quality performers to his capacity crowds who have yet to significantly break the DC market to DC, succeeding with the likes of Libby (now Zna Queene) Picken of Lazerbitch, Zakee Kuduro and DJ Sega. This combination of foresight and grind make him a weekly DJ on DC’s scene to watch, as in playing in a growth area like the H Street corridor and succeeding, he has been thrust into a position of importance in DC’s weekly urban nightlife.

Single Girls Rock by ohsnapmusic

Mickey Fortune and John Neilson are the Baltimore tandem known as Oh Snap!. When the group was just a solo, Mickey’s “I’m Too Fat to Be a Hipster” was an early blog classic, and propelled Fortune to, well, fortune overseas with extensive touring including popular locale for top underground North American dance acts, Australia. Now a duo, the group maintains a busy touring and production schedule with singles and remixes galore, and pushes the envelope musically, as the latest success for Oh Snap is as *gasp* a calypso act. The two bring their typical  screwball and self-effacing sense of humor to a new genre and alongside the usual high production standards, the group has put out a release with Faluma Records, the leading international distributor of the genre.

 James Nasty – Back It Up by James Nasty 

James Nasty is at present the hottest name in Baltimore Club music. Now getting regular spins for his latest hot track “Back It Up” as a part of KW Griff’s influential Friday night nix on Baltimore’s 92.3 FM, the sky is the limit for the DJ and producer. Recently affiliating himself with the retooled Bmore Original Records, Nasty’s music is equal parts sensual and visceral, and with a production style reminiscent of Rod Lee of “Dance My Pain Away” fame, his music, to use his own words, “makes girls wanna get freaky and fuck.” As the weekly headliner at the Ottobar’s Moustache Party, Nasty is the pied piper for the young, urban alternative college set of the Charm City, rocking stages as of recently with the likes of Rye Rye and Ninjasonik, headlining both parties, and as he did at 2009’s My Crew Be Unruly party, “playing a set so powerful, that you thought the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were coming, and all that we thought could save us was Baltimore club music.”

Yes, we’re aware the XX are headlining tonight at the 9:30 Club. But that show ends by 10 PM, and we wholeheartedly urge you to stop by DC9, only two blocks away for what Washingtonian Magazine and the Washington Post are calling the event of the night!

Club Music, Evolution 3.0 started in DC this weekend. Tales of DJ Sega and James Nasty.

As far as Bmore staples are concerned, club music will dominate the charts

long before the Orioles will dominate the standings again.

Let’s state that the evolution of club music at this point had a definite beginning, and a definite next step. The beginning will encapsulate the early era, where Jimmy Jones'”Big Girl” and the adopted Chicago anthem of Cajmere’s “Percolator” were added  to the musical lexicon and fabric of international music. The second era encapsulates the build and development of club music, as it spread nationally and internationally, making cult heroes out of Unruly and Bmore Original Records affiliated spinners and making underground DJ sets on 92Q as important of cultural identifiers as the work of any deep house, trance, hip hop or techno legend behind the decks. That of course culminated with DJ Class’ “I’m The Shit” being blessed with the cosign of 31st century forebearer and kingpin of all music Kanye West. In my most recent interview with him, Unruly Records chief Shawn Caesar mentioned club music was “headed back underground for a bit.” If this is the case, then in the last week, we have found ALL of the component parts necessary for the next evolution of club music. While we are still yet unsure of who, what, or when the mainstream surface will be yet again pierced by the trademark bass loops, drum kicks and hot melodies, we know where it’s coming from.

  Cee-Lo x Emynd “Fuck You” (Baltimore Club Edit) by Emynd  

Foremost, let’s mention the steady, yet understated influence of Crossfaded Bacon’s Emynd, local Baltimore youngsters DJ Pierre and Murder Mark and Unruly’s next in charge, King Tutt. They all deserve mention because their tracks are the bread and butter of where things are headed. Emynd released a remix of Cee-Lo’s virally explosive “Fuck You” that was so great that Warner Media Group, the media group behind Cee Lo’s label is hurriedly attempting to shut down all download locations across the internet. Electro club maven Tutt has an EP forthcoming that given his own hype for the release portends big things. Before KW Griff and Porkchop decided to “Bring In the Cats,” Pierre’s “Uhh Break” was likely the hottest club track of the year. Murder Mark stays in the studio, attempting to start to set a standard as a producer that will ultimately make him far more valuable to club music than ever having to DJ a live set in his life.

But club music isn’t best experienced on iPODs and over Wi Fi on laptops. It’s experienced live, and this weekend, DC was treated to three incredible sets from the two fastest rising headlining club DJs in the game, Baltimore’s James Nasty and Philly’s DJ Sega. Due to unforeseen occurrences, James Nasty DJed a 90 minute club music set at U Street Music Hall as the headliner of TGRI’s own Michael Jackson Birthday/Motown Happy Hour on Friday night. Of course, our hope was in having Nasty play that this would eventually lead to hearing Scottie B’s “Motown Medley” or DJ Technics’ “Please Mr. Postman” alongside the standard versions of Motown hits, but when it became obvious that we were going MUCH longer than expected, Nasty, whose confidence as a top notch producer and live DJ professional has grown as a headliner of the Ottobar’s Moustache Party played a set that paid homage to nearly every major Motown or MJ sampling track in the  history of club music, and as expected, the revelers went wild. What started off as an austere and fun event became a mess of sweat and excitement with U Hall patrons applauding Nasty with each increasingly more classic or rare club remix. Alongside Dave Nada nearly causing massive amounts of cardiac arrhythmia on the dance floor with his classic club set at U Hall for Stereo Faith’s benefit, club music is clearly NOT DEAD, but alive and well as ever on the underground, preparing for the next mainstream invasion.

Usher is not the only one in the mainstream these days saying “oh oh ohoh, oh my god” to the sounds of club music these days. Anybody in the listening vicinity of DJ Sega’s East coast mini tour this weekend may be dead. Or, if not dead, completely flustered by the ferocity that the Philly Club King intends to bring to club music in the future. At first, Sega was merely a creative wizard. Taking songs we knew in the most non-club setting and riddling them with a hail of drum and bass patterns. However, something great has happened to Sega. He has developed his style yet further, and is applying his trademark intensity to dubstep, electro and pretty much anything in his path. Toddla T, Donaeo, Dr. Dre and Caspa have all recently been remixed by the boy turned man who dares to be king.

DC’s H Street “Atlas District” corridor may be the hottest party locale in the city. Capitol Hill kids looking for something new have flooded the streets of NE in high numbers. These aren’t underground kids or jiggy club heads either. These are fresh scrubbed and hard working sons and daughters of white collar parents who like their beer cold and music top 40 or classic rock, no exceptions. Well, hold up…maybe not. At the Distract party on Friday night at Rock and Roll Hotel, the kids danced to electro. Not surprising. Pop radio sounds like Ibiza in 2002 and Brooklyn in 2006 these days, so, we should not be surprised. What was surprising is DJ Sega altered nothing, and beat kids over the head with sledgehammer cut after sledgehammer cut, marauded, steroid ingested club break beats spilling out of the sound system upstairs at Rock and Roll Hotel until it died. Yes, DJ Sega played a set so hard on Friday night that is caused a surge that activated a circuit breaker. Rock and Roll’s upstairs has become a resurgent spot for quality dance nights in the city with DJ Doc Rok and his proteges our own DJ Cold Case and gaining in experience Ratt Moze at the helm. They have refurbished and entirely renovated the upstairs area due to dancing being on the rise with U Hall’s white hot start out the gates, but, clearly after this weekend’s assault by Nouveau Riche’s Gavin Holland (who set the table perfectly) and Sega on Friday night, sonic reinforcement is necessary.

Between ease, finesse and classic dance friendly style, and rave friendly asskicking, these are the two extremes of club music. From James Nasty to DJ Sega, and all of the ultra important new school stops in between, club music is in great hands for its development and future.

SEAL OF APPROVAL/THOUGHTS: (Bmore) MOUSTACHE PARTY w/ NINJASONIK/RAPDRAGONS/FREDDY JONES/JAMES NASTY/MOUSTACHE DJs – 8/20/10

Ninjasonik have gone from being the most buzzed about band in the world to being a band that everybody is supposed to like, but nobody can remember why. That de-evolution is dangerous indeed, and with a debut album Art School Girls that sounded like it was mixed in a toilet and in no way reflected the live charisma and high voltage excitement the group brings to the stage, the group hit a crossroads and passed it, absolutely worse for wear. Gone is DJ Teenwolf, in many ways the old lineup’s backbone as battle ready emcee Telli Federline and ever consistent hypeman Jah Jah were the public faces, and Teenwolf a steadying behind the scenes influence. He gets replaced by two people now, Baltimore punk heroes The Death Set’s drummer Roofeo as a DJ, and rapper Johnny Nelson added as well, which given the nature of Brooklynites circle of friends makes perfect sense. However, one thing does remain. When you put a live spotlight on Telli and crew, they ALWAYS show and prove. If Ninjasonik never released another song as long as they lived, between “Pregnant,” hipster culture anthem “Bars,” “Art School Girls,” their cover of Matt and Kim’s “Daylight,” and a few other classics, alt-punk kids with a love of hip hop will always adore them. With Telli currently enamored with the rap stylings of Wiz Khalifa and Lil B the Based God, the “new and improved” Ninjasonik may end up in a different direction. Speaking of the post-mortem hipster generation, tonight’s Ninjasonik performance is extremely important for the direction of the underground as in many ways, Ninjasonik had made it to the head of the class, and now can inform hipster bands that didn’t quite make it pop in time, what exactly to do next.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IM31AMMc97Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

Acts the Rap Dragons and Freddy Jones are the warmups, and I will say this for the Rap Dragons. I see exactly why Bmore loves them so much, so much that the Baltimore City Paper proclaimed the group “1,000 times better” than Ninjasonik this week. Bmore isn’t just the home of club music. The Wham City art collective’s style has permeated the youth culture, and with a crowd largely comprised of awkward Johns Hopkins and MICA students, anything done with a unique ironic twist or any modicum of true artistic freedom has validity and appreciation in the city. Rap groups with a hood sensibility who sample the Reading Rainbow theme? Maybe not better than the group that literally defined the hipster subculture in rhyme, but heck. For this crowd, they’re a draw and a very intelligent booking.

And of course, it’s the Moustache Party, so you get the Moustache DJs, a throng of sweaty hipsters, The Ottobar, and the pied piper who leads them, James Nasty. Originally booked as a headliner for a Moustache Crew event, Nasty has permanently become the headliner, and has grown and matured as a DJ in the process. Say what you will, but there is no more important DJ at the grass roots of Baltimoe’s underground dance scene than James Nasty. The Moustache Crew DJs are as a whole all very green and completely underwhelming (as expected) by comparison to the standard for Baltimore underground DJs set by the infamous Baltimore Bass Connection (Emily Rabbit, Devlin and Darko, XXXChange, Adam Gonzo and others), Dave Nada and Taxlo’s Cullen Stalin and Simon Phoenix. Of that collective, and given that Moustache books more young DJs than anybody else in Bmore, Nasty is FAR more than a top rising club music DJ here. He’s a confidante, motivator, teacher and man who in one hour long set is responsible ultimately for whether or not the party is a failure or success on a weekly basis. To his credit he has accepted the pressure and shone brilliantly.

Moustache is the new TaxLo. No, I don’t mean that they’re going to start booking every major national and international underground act in the world and have a track record of breaking superstars that is next to none. I mean TaxLo at year one, when it was still a local indie dance party with a million chefs trying to boil a tiny cup of water. Moustache Party is the new cultural meeting point, melting pot and underground point of identification for Baltimore. TaxLo is still important, as it allows a respected and legendary underground stage for underground bands that need it. But for way too indie and way too cool for school kids in a major East coast city with a heart of filth that still pumps pure, this is the new hang out. Nothing more and nothing less for right now, but that’s of absolute importance.

S*** I’M DIGGING THIS WEEK: Certified Dope Summer Bangers Edition

aka avant garde musical water cooler discussion.

1. The moombahton movement continues to grow!

If you’re not at least aware of or informed as to having a favorite moombahton track these days, then you’re really doing it wrong in being any sort of “underground tastemaker.” We hate such nomenclatures here at True Genius Requires Insanity, but, if you want to be aware of and truly appreciative of the genre, you could do worse than being a follower of this site. We’ve recently proclaimed the warm, tropical sound as the soundtrack of the post-hipster generation. As if right on time with that, moombahton inventor Dave Nada started a Monday summer residency at Velvet Lounge, with last night’s event featuring all of your favorite moombahton, cumbia and tropical bass hits, and given that it was Nada’s birthday, yep, live woodwind instrumentation as a trumpet and saxophone accompanied Nada’s mixing.

What were they accompanying? Well, only the hottest sound this week in the underground smash genre, DJ Doc Adam’s mash of East Flatbush Project’s “Tried by 12” and Drop the Lime’s new summer smasher “Sex Sax.” Agreed, alongside Steve Starks’ “Lydia,” there hasn’t been a more moombahton ready track recently released, but the blend of the acapella of “Tried by 12,” and the reinterpretation of the Trouble and Bass related DJ’s “Sex Sax” works really well, and I think is the door opener to the possibility of involving freestyle with the genre, which I think is a direction that can prove to be truly fertile.

  Tried by Sex Sax (Doc Adam Moombahton Edit) by docadam

2. James Nasty is producing the Bmore club smash of the year

Some things just make natural sense. James Nasty is a Baltimore folk hero waiting to happen. If you follow his Twitter account, @jamesnasty, you’re introduced to a life which is surrounded by sex, drugs and Bmore club. As well, he appears to be perpetually surrounded by a cast of characters that say and do the most ridiculous things. Any given night can end up with accounts of party promoters assaulting DJs at Bmore’s failed Click party, a Saturday night house party gig turning into a theater of the absurd, or random musings on missed connections, random women, and the unusual nature of his life.

James has a friend that to a good percentage of the Bmore universe is known as “The Motherf***ing Thump.” Given that I spend a fair amount of time rooting about in the deep underground of Baltimore, I definitely know Thump well enough to know that he’s easily one of the more entertaining people in the city. The idea of James and Thump collaborating, while to the average person not anything remotely close to DJ Class and Jermaine Dupri on a track, is eons more important.

Club music was built on original vocal samples over hard breaks. Ms. Tony and Frank Ski, Jimmy Jones and the Doo Dew Kidz, hell, even Rye Rye and Blaqstarr. The ultimate key to club music’s rise was to have unique underground voices with hungry producers who were building their legacy. The music always then remained fresh and intriguing. James Nasty and The Motherf***ing Thump? I like the sound of that. Again, some things just make natural sense.

Wanna hear this track for the first time anywhere? Come to WORLD CHAMPS this Thursday night at Wonderland Ballroom!

More to come…

THE DROP: My Crew Be Unruly 3: Some Thoughts….

 Look at that lineup from the first event. Time flies when you’re having fun…

Baltimore’s Unruly Records announced late last week that My Crew Be Unruly 3, the yearly party that honors the legacy and memory of DJ K-Swift, as well as honors the legacy and continued progression of club music, would be held at the vault of 100,000 watts of sound, Bmore’s Paradox, on July 17th. The announcement came after a number of announcements from party organizer Puja “Senari” Patel over the last few months regarding the fact that party was coming, but with no word as to date or lineup. In previous years by comparison, by early June we were aware at least of a substantial chunk of the lineup and the hype was palpable. All that aside, the party is easily one of the hottest of the East coast underground social calendar, and a measuring stick of the levels of excellence of DJs from the party centers of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and the District of Columbia.

The rise of club music into a clear proponent of mainstream sounds leaves the party at a curious crossroads for 2010. In previous years, this party has been the key identifier of underground dominance. Now with DJ Class, DJ Sega, Scottie B and KW Griff and numerous others having an obvious handprint over the nature of mainstream radio, the party serves as more of a what’s next for a MUCH larger audience, as the underground informs more than other underground artists, but an entire universe that has become wide open to the sound.

Club music started in Baltimore, so, I look to the Charm City first this week to kick off TGRI’s continuing My Crew Be Unruly coverage to find some artists that I hope are booked that if booked would be blowaway stars at the party.

  Get loose by James Nasty 

Murder Mark’s “Cherry Hill and Down Ya Block” is an instant club classic. Featuring vocals that are NOT mainstream or popular music samples and inspiring a dance that was a local Bmore craze, the young producer has quietly become one of the best in the game. He has also developed rather quickly as of late as a mixer, his latest mix for his blog available below featuring a number of his own new edits that have served to inspire and astound many familiar to the Bmore sound. With roots in the roller rinks and connections to the ever controversial yet perpetually busy Aaron Lacrate, Mark is definitely one to watch for the future, and in hearing this mix, the future is now.

  Murder Mark Blog Mix 1 by MurderMarkBlog2010 

There was once a time that DJ Sega was referred to as they “youngest in charge.” That title may be usurped by DJ Pierre any day now. His name is on the tongue of anyone that is presently smashing the underground, and with good reason. Take a listen to the KW Griff esque precision of “Uhh Break.” If you start to dance in your cubicle, don’t blame me.

  UHH BREAK by DJ Pierre

This isn’t club music, but easily some of my favorite Moombahton as of late has come courtesy of Bmore duo Uncle Jesse. They played the hipster themed outdoor “stage” last year and crushed it. Douster’s “King of Africa” re-imagined as a Dutch house grinder with reggaeton roots? Yep, and it’s amazing.

  Douster-King of Africa(Uncle Jesse King of Afroton Edit) by unclejesse410

TGRIOnline.com presents WORLD CHAMPS, a hip hop and club music party w/ JAMES NASTY and CAM JUS, 7/8, Wonderland Ballroom, DC

Hot off the heels of our first “True Thursday” monthly at Wonderland Ballroom, “FRIENDS,” which celebrated the greatest in teen pop music of the last fifty years, True Genius Requires Insanity proudly presents on July 8th at Wonderland Ballroom,”WORLD CHAMPS.” A hip hop and Baltimore club music themed monthly with resident DJ “The World Champion of Club Music” James Nasty, and rising local DC DJ Cam Jus, the goal of this event is to give club music, one of the building blocks of the current urban alternative movement, a home in Washington, DC, a city that, while only 45 minutes away from the Charm City, often seems a world away.

Nasty, nearly a decade long veteran club music DJ and producer is the headline DJ at the Moustache Party at Baltimore’s Ottobar, a position that Nasty has relished as he has infused the latest greatest party in a significant line of hipster and underground parties with energy that is at times manic, at times erotic, but always representative of the most tremendous of all forms of percussive dance music. Now, as the “World Champion of Club Music,” Nasty, a TGRIOnline.com STAMPED artist fully intends on taking his skills and talents to the next level in the Capital City.

Opening the event is DJ Cam Jus. Cam has easily been one of the more prolific professionals in the DC area this year, having already released two mixes that were met with waves of positive acclaim, alongside productions that explore the finest in dub, reggae, hip hop, electro and Latin sounds. Cam also has a pronounced and tremendous love of Dirty South crunked out anthems, and will bring those to the table as well.

Come check out the party, and definitely get down to the tunes we know are the MVPs of your booty, hip hop and Bmore club!

SEAL OF APPROVAL (DC) – C.U.N.T. w/ DJ Pierre, Nacey and Gavin Holland – Wonderland Ballroom, 5/18/10

Baltimore’s a much different place than it was just a mere five years ago. Club music, the house inspired, bass heavy, sample loving four on the floor beat massacre isn’t what it used to be. The creators of the genre, the legends are all pretty much in the cashing out and stacking paper business. Good for them, as toiling for 20+ years is paying off, but what about the future? What about the generations that have to still live and develop their craft in the shadows of the very giants of the genre they respect?

Well, a new day has arrived. If still sticking around with club music, youth is now being served, and served rather well. Go to the Charm City on ANY Friday night, and hit the Ottobar upstairs and watch James Nasty blast heaping spoonfuls of sex crazed club music to party ready hipsters. James is the bastard child of Rod Lee and Jonny Blaze, and on July 8th at TGRI’s inaugural World Champs party ascends to being the World Champion of Baltimore Club Music, pop leaning and dance friendly with ribald samples served raw.

If you still think the essence of club music is in the hood, and at the skate party, check Murder Mark. His “Cherry Hill and Down Ya Block” is about a year old now, but is still dope and truly a legendary club track, as production wise Mark may likely be the best young producer in the entire city. Working with the likes of TT the Artist doesn’t hurt either and portents well for the future.

Tonight at Wonderland lies the third part of the future success of club music, DJ Pierre. Pierre is a developing producer, a soulful creator who reminds this journalist of a young KW Griff. Griff’s mixing is smooth and effortless and his tracks are so well constructed that it feels as if his work is seamless and perfect every time. Pierre isn’t there quite yet, but do stop by Wonderland tonight and enjoy this most excellent DJ. The Baltimore City Paper’s 2009 “Best DJ in a Club” has a plethora of new tracks in his arsenal, and, if you want more proof of his excellence, do remember our #MOARCLUBMUSICS Volume 1. Yeah. That’s him on the mix.

DOWNLOAD MIX HERE

Wonderland is always free, and has terrific drink specials as well. Pierre is joined tonight by 2/3 of the Nouveau Riche crew, Nacey and C U Next Tuesday host Gavin Holland. Easily the best lineup in town tonight.