On Nadastrom’s Rum and Coke EP, Moombahton, and the nature of learning.

 http://www.divshare.com/flash/audio_embed?data=YTo2OntzOjU6ImFwaUlkIjtpOjQ7czo2OiJmaWxlSWQiO2k6MTI1NzYxOTA7czo0OiJjb2RlIjtzOjEyOiIxMjU3NjE5MC1hMmEiO3M6NjoidXNlcklkIjtpOjEzMjcwMDg7czoxMjoiZXh0ZXJuYWxDYWxsIjtpOjE7czo0OiJ0aW1lIjtpOjEyODQ2NzM4ODk7fQ==&autoplay=

DOWNLOAD HERE

This is a summer love story.

Moombahton was the new girl in town. Pretty, foreign and voluptuous, she swept into town with a back story nobody could believe. It was couched in urban legend, the type of stuff that fairy tales are made of. Soon, everybody wanted her, and she teased everyone, flirting with danger, until everyone universally knew she was beyond gorgeous, and then the lust began. The lust of men is an amazing thing to watch, glowing eyes filled with devious plans, wanting to steal her for themselves, and take her, hold her, own her and keep her. Many came close, but all did fail. Moombahton did have but one lover, he who bore her, and when she returned back to him, he released her once more, truly unattainable to but universally appreciated by all.

In 2006, Italian duo Bot and Phra, The Crookers, unleashed a bass and synth heavy sonic assault with hard breaks and electro melodies. People who had never appreciated sounds like these were immediately drawn to it, taken aback by how new, hard and sonically fresh everything sounded. However, all the while, Bmore club producer Debonair Samir likely sat in the corner noting how eerily similar the comparisons were between his “Samir’s Theme” and a string of the Crookers’ releases. There unforunately was never a Samir/Crookers pairing, which, had it happened, would have been unbelievable and possibly advanced both club and electro music as a tandem act farther than Diplo and MIA did after they listened to KW Griff tracks.

This is comparable to moombahton. Dave Nada’s original “Moombahton” track chopped and screwed the entire EDM universe. Into a world where melodic appreciation was a bygone concept of the youth of the average hipster, 108 BPM mellow sounds with percussion, depth, scope and a 2/4 danceable melody took form. In the early months, there were nights where people stood still on dance floors and began to appreciate melody, rhythm and percussion all over again. All the while, unbeknown to a great percentage of the underground universe existed Toy Selectah and Bersas Discos records. Toy is a musical mastermind. A plethora of Latino sounds have passed through his hands and ears as an artist, DJ, producer and label executive. Five years earlier, cumbia, a percussive and undulating Latin medlody, an ever popular sound from beyond the US’ southern border, was blended with rave sounds to create “raverton,” which, surprise, is Moombahton as well. Add to that Disco Shawn, Oro 11 and the great DJ Sabo from the Bersas Discos cumbia appreciation imprint, and moombahton had roots.

What differentiates this story from the Crookers’ is what we get in the Nadastrom Rum and Coke EP from T & A Records. Nada presents to us before his escape to Los Angeles what amounts to a summer school project about Latin rhythms and melodies. In inventing moombahton, and it being a wide success, Nada has earned the right to traverse into the territory of Latin sounds, and have free reign to create. There are clear elements here of the Bersas Discos crew down to Disco Shawn’s vocals on the AMAZING “Trompaton,” and the influence of Toy Selectah, as well as his homies, the Sheeqo Beat involved 3Ball crew and their tribal house, and as always co-conspirator Matt Nordstrom involved as well expanding his already expansive musical palette.

In a culture now as defined by rapid expansion as by great songs becoming swallowed by more great songs making music constant snippets of sonic greatness in a constantly evolved state of noise, Rum and Coke is a standout. Yet again, Nada redefines, by right of education being the plug and knowledge being power that moombahton is his addition to the world of latin rhythm, and the world’s to share.

Of DC and Nadastrom, an appreciation.

Yeti, Nadastrom’s mascot, much like the electro house duo themselves, is soon off to the Hollywood hills to finish an album, and scare the pants off of big labels, celebrities and supermodels. Seeing him crowd surf last night and get carried around on DJ Billfold’s shoulders was a wonderful sight, but the music I heard Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom spin was even greater.

Washington, DC is very much still a Grade B city with Grade A talent. Because of this, it’s still surprising to see when one of our own gets the opportunity to make giant waves as well, DC promotes DC well to DC, but not to the rest of the world. One of the most wonderful things that the hipster underground did was to allow the global dance community to become aware of Nadastrom. It is due to this network, as well as a relentless passion, tireless energy and ever boundless creativity that Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom as an electro house duo became A+ talents coming out of a city not quite prepared to handle to notch talents of this caliber.

Punk dominated, then on a mainstream level removed itself and influenced the universe. Chuck Brown is a legend, and came from a completely different generation, same for Marvin Gaye. On an EDM level, DC was a top of the second tier city with artists that had respect, but not enormous genre defining acclaim. Of the modern artists, DC didn’t quite get Wale, and Wale never quite understood DC, so the jury’s still out. Tabi Bonney stays heavy in the streets, but is pretty much smarter than everyone, and has discovered the balance. Go-go acts come off as too percussive and too rough edged for the mainstream. In merely existing as the boiling hot water soaking in the best of all of those flavors of the DC, national and international universe, Nadastrom are going to be enormous superstars. The ability they have to take any existing sound and filter it through their appreciation of these various musical concepts, but also appealing to the lowest common denominator of the average person’s dance sensibilities is uncanny and a talent only reserved for the elite of the pop class.

They’re the indy kids doing suddenly yet again pop friendly dance music who don’t look like they should be sitting at the table. DC’s a DIY town slowly gaining access to mainstream muscle. What separates Nadastrom from Guetta is that Guetta’s from France, and already has a continental sheen that in DC, we appreciate, but many secretly make fun of and sit you in the corner for having. In the EDM scene, DC’s not next door to the isle of Ibiza, we’re next door to a lot of filthy ass warehouses and nightclubs under overpasses. Nadastrom have risen out of that and the sound, especially of their newer material, hasn’t been sacrificed at all, but is definitely not the wham bam orgasm of early Nadastrom tracks, but is instead on a level of tantra, a sound that is still powerful, but is now deep and extensive as well, as if capturing lightning in a bottle and watching it encompass all of that space without having the bottle shatter. In reigning in Nada’s hard punk, hip hop and club music edge and making it smooth, and Matt Nordstrom getting to really delve deeper into figuring the fine line between saccharine electro pop and sounds with a deeper house based edge, they’ve succeeded.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/7786344?portrait=0

Nadastrom – Save Us from Ben Solomon on Vimeo.

From the phat ass Cajmere sample of “Horny” on “Save Us” taking that from the Paradox down the street to Camden Yards without losing it’s trance-like house qualities to trashing everything but the vocal bridge of Fugative’s “Crush” and remixing it as a ponderous, bass heavy love ode taking it from mainstream pop radio into the deepest ends of the bass jungle, Nadastrom does everything fairly well at this point. Dave Nada invented moombahton, and watching that sound get massaged and developed into the next brand of pop will be highly entertaining to say the least. Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom as individual artists would have remained dominant in their realms and very quickly maxed out the level of acclaim and stardom they could reach on the underground realm in short order. But as Nadastrom, their potential is limitless as they’re putting together an endless musical puzzle that pulls from so many disparate edges of the musical atmosphere and synthesizes everything into such unique sounds that take the ear into places that you never expected to go, but are overjoyed that you visited.

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

Nadastrom’s masterful remix of UK teen heartthrob Fugative’s “Crush”

Nadastrom will always be from DC. But in order to reach the maximum of their limitless potential, they need to leave the city. They are entirely ready for so much more than DC can offer right now. As groups like Nadastrom and acts like Tabi Bonney, Wale, and others leave the city to develop their otherworldly and superstar talents, it’s up to those of us dedicated to the day to day operation of the streets, parties, venues, and socio-economic success of the city to develop the ability for DC to be a place that eventually can sustain a cosmopolitan underground and mainstream culture with open mindedness and universal appeal. The same reason why Nadastrom’s leaving is the place for development where in ten years it’d be really cool to have them come back to stay. The wheels are in motion, but the train just left the station, while some needed jet planes to get there.

What would Dave probably tell us as a city now? Lezzzzgo. Indeed.

SEAL OF APPROVAL (DC) – AFROJACK & NADASTROM – 9/2/10

  MOOMBAHTON by T&ARecords

Afrojack’s remix of DJ Chuckie and Silvio Eccomo’s “Moombah,” and Dave Nada’s “Moombahton”.

Anatomy of a movement, and the key development points for superstars!

Afrojack appears tonight at Lima for Panorama Productions. Check http://www.clubglow.com
Nadastrom are at U Street Music Hall for their residency.

Real talk, if Afrojack never would’ve remixed DJ Chuckie and Silvio Eccomo’s “Moombah,” this summer would’ve been nowhere near as entertaining. When the Dave Nada half of Nadastrom took that remix’s hypnotic, thumping bassline, and slowed it to 108 BPM, and meshed it with Sidney Samson’s “Riverside,” summer got screwed up, and became amazing. “Moombahton,” the Dutch House meets cumbia meets reggaeton development that has turned the underground on it’s ear also couldn’t have ever happened unless Nada started producing tracks with Matt Nordstrom. Nordstrom, a Grammy nominated house producer with a legacy that makes him a heavy hitter even without having ever playing with Dave. Nordstrom’s more measured simmer to a boil then back again method of production took Dave from the subtle build to massive explosion style he learned from being a punk rock kid who spun Bmore club to a brand new place as a producer, a place that has Nadastrom hot on the lips of everyone on the underground from U Street Music Hall to Eighteenth Street Lounge to all of the top names in the underground world, to yes, rappers like, amazingly enough, Lil B the Based God, and given they produced a track on the Jersey Shore Soundtrack, MTV buzzing about them too.

Just as Afrojack has leveled up and is now producing remixes with David Guetta (“Louder than Words”), Nada and Nordstrom leave at the end of September to Los Angeles to be closer to their Dubsided Records label chief David “Switch” Taylor, of Major Lazer and generally unique and dope productions fame. However, whereas a ton of people local to DC and Baltimore are acting like this is an enormous “farewell tour,” it really isn’t. If Nadastrom are going to continue to be dominant forces on the underground, then it would stand to reason that as their legend grows, selling out 9:30 Club, U Hall and Sonar will be as much a part of that legacy as pretty much anything else. And given that they’re from here, they’re going to have to bring it, and bring it massively. We’re not going to cry and moan about Nadastrom leaving town, in fact, we’re not even going to acknowledge it. We at TGRI are going to sit here and watch Twitter and wait for the first time Dave Nada calls some fool out in LA a “bama” on Twitter, or when a Nadastrom track is strongly influenced by a Bad Brains or Fugazi song, or something they learned from Scottie B or KW Griff, and we’ll know. You can take the boys out of DC, but you can’t take DC out of the boys. Well actually, they’re men now. Handling business like that too. And we’re proud. If you can, check both Nadastrom and Afrojack tonight. In VERY short order, they’ll be on the exact same level of eyes around the world. We know that amongst themselves, they already are on each other’s level, and that’s a victory in itself. Game recognize game, and we do too.

Top tier performers make tonight a top tier night.

The Mad Decent Block Party on July 31st is the end of the hipster movement.

The Crowd Surfing Michael Vick Dog and Booty Obsessed Elmo,
maybe the two biggest names announced for the Mad Decent Block Party

If Michael Wadleigh were directing this story, the 3rd Annual Mad Decent Block Party on July 31st, the hipster generation’s last stand, would end the way Woodstock did. However, instead of Jimi Hendrix playing the “Star Spangled Banner,” it would be the self proclaimed “Philly Club King” and likely the movement’s closest performer on a level comparable to Hendrix, DJ Sega crushing his own remix of the national anthem in the same manner Jimi did, however, this one would be done behind the turntables, head nodding in time to the beat, blunt hanging askew out of the corner of his mouth, with the song that defines the nature and purpose of our nation being taken into avenues and corridors it likely never expected to reach. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/KrUoy1OMSPU&hl=en_US&fs=1

The hipster movement is dead. Just like the hippies before it, the most mainstream accessible and luckiest acts in the movement made it big, cashed out, and became superstars everyone could enjoy. As well, there are perpetual favorites too, the acts that everyone hopes make superstardom one day, because they’re entirely responsible for some of the best songs and defining moments that allowed the movement’s development. On July 31st, on a few blocks in Philadelphia, let’s all take a serious look at ourselves and a serious look at these performers. Let’s all hug each other, let’s all remember the times we shared, the moments we enjoyed, and what brought us together. Because it’s gone. It’s on the soundtrack to Jersey Shore. It’s the background music in video games. It’s number one on the Billboard charts, and it’s #1 on the President of the United States’ iPOD. These days, it’s certainly no longer the domain of the hearts and minds of awkward, creative, technologically enhanced and socially wandering misfits, but it’s the music that informs the world.

http://www.youtube.com/v/_7bX0FevAm0&hl=en_US&fs=1

Let’s also give credit to Diplo. Much of what became the hipster movement we couldn’t have had without him. He co-opted, co-mingled, resurrected, invigorated, involved, mashed up and reheated many of the world’s most unique and disparate local trending melodies into international champion sounds. Bmore club, Baile funk, Dirty South crunk, Dubstep, and the list goes on and on. Smelly girls and boys with phenomenally terrible beards would never have a clue of who K.W. Griff, Scottie B, Blaqstarr, M.I.A., Rusko, the Paper Route Gangstaz, the entire Brick Bandits crew and so many more were without him and the Mad Decent imprint. From such humble beginnings with DJ Low Budget and the Hollertronix parties to the likelihood of rocking 20,000+ screaming EDM maniacs at the upcoming Electric Zoo Festival, the idea of seeing this man dropping legitimate sound bombs of musical delirium while hanging out on a South Philly street corner in front of a mausoleum was once expected, but is now incongruous with the level of the man’s fame and legend.

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

And ultimately, that is why this is the end. It is now time for the rest of the universe to become enraptured by what we held near and dear. This block party, complete with a relaxed social atmosphere, local families and bizarre interlopers mixing and sharing and being happy together without threat of crime, is an ideal universe. Hipsters, a culture of people largely defined by eschewing financial gain for personal satisfaction and a self-defined harmony, for a significant era lived and thrived in that ideal. However, the bottom fell out of the economy, mommy and daddy had to pull the purse strings, and in many cases, an entire generation remembered those college diplomas sitting on the wall collecting dust, and used them to *gasp* get jobs, be useful in a traditional sense, and hopefully use the ethos of their era to influence the direction of the next generation.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Rye8SkRmce4&hl=en_US&fs=1

From Nadastrom to the Death Set, to the Brick Bandits to Paul Devro and Brendan Bring’em to those they directly influenced like Maluca, Po Po, Bosco Delray, and the mysterious Toadally Krossed Out, this is the end of yet another renaissance era. Let’s bask in it’s memory, and revel in its ultimate success.

JULY 31st. Philadelphia. 12th & Spring Garden. 2-8 PM.
FREE FOOD & DRINKS. ALL AGES FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

If this movement defined you, raised you, and allowed you to truly discover and enrich your life, come join me and let’s celebrate.

The Regime Change of the DC Underground – Records broken at U Street Music Hall and what that means for DC and dance music…

Curious business is afoot at U Street Music Hall. In the club’s opening two and one-half months the venue had seemingly catered almost exclusively to the segments of the dance music population that kept the city going in the era prior to U Hall’s debut. With that being said, U Hall has become a more than serviceable home for DC’s hipsters, house freaks, deep bass heads and electro loving ravers. The mainstream dance populace, those who usually cautiously venture to K Street or the corridor just behind North Capitol Street to dance their pain away, well, it took awhile, but the press has finally worked about promises of no photographers and bottle service douchebaggery as they have arrived in earnest. As well, let’s also take the time to mention the Wild North parties. Sami Y and DJTJ, the Pacemaker crew, and the dedicated promoters to Howard, George Washington and American Universities have infused underground party culture in the city as well, as in opening up an amazing venue to them, newer, younger partiers are now a regular part of what easily has to be the biggest East coast story of 2010. This was the week where the tipping point occurred, as given that it was Memorial Day, and that people had extra time, initial ventures were made to the Temple of Boom in record numbers. Of course, there are a few reflections regarding what this means, and shifts in nightlife in general.

Electro is now mainstream music. The Nadastrom takeover looked like a Justin Bieber concert after party. 18+ at U Hall opens you up immediately to the kids who came down for the initial Wild North party at U Hall, frat boys, ravers, Chad, Becky, suburban kids and the children of trust fund privilege were out in effect on Thursday night. Hilariously enough, the first generation of hipsters, kids at Nada and Tittsworth’s legendary Crunk parties and those influenced by that music five years ago are now adults with jobs or are local DJs themselves, so, they absolutely didn’t attend. The point has come where new legions of kids are now the deciding ears of the mainstream. If electro hitting drive time radio is the point where we’re at now, then I’m fully in expectation of a return to the late 80s – early 90s extreme house feel on records coming up next, as it truly was a magical thing to see Nadastrom spinning their very electro friendly, heavy handed electro and bass smashings they call remixes, but at the same time NOT losing the crowd when playing things like Nada’s “Moombahton” invention or Nordstrom’s prior affinity, the deepest of house grooves either. A duo like Nadastrom, which on some level represents the seismic shift of what house music can sound like as an evolution from electro, are clearly important to laying the officially genreless paths that music will take in this second decade of the 21st century.

However, more importantly than that was seeing three post teens in baggy white tees and fitted caps leaving from record collecting disco head Tim Sweeney’s technically brilliant post Durkl barbecue party dejectedly wondering “where was that fast music?” In opening U Hall to more middle of the road friendly sets like Sweeney’s and that of LA’s Classixx on last Saturday night as well, there’s going to be some initial head scratching from those now open to electro and harder house styles and those who feel as though their appreciation and support of EDM in the city before having U Hall are no longer cool or a necessity, and that suburbanites and K Street types being in “their spot” really brings a “bad” and “uncomfortable” vibe. In shaping a venue with unlimited possibilities, it is truly important to be cognizant of the present, while at the same time being a steward for what allowed that present to exist. As we say here at TGRI, it certainly needs to be a case of “all respect all.”

DC’s dance music underground is rapidly shifting from a town where parties consist of DJs supporting each other surrounded by literally 300 people you see probably two to four times a week to now being a more expansive scene. Imagining where this takes creativity for DJs and how worlds will meld together is absolutely intriguing and an emerging issue of note for underground club culture.

Salad Days Mixtape Release Party – DC goes harDCore again this SUNDAY @ 3 PM!

DC STAND UP

This event makes all the sense in the world, and if it isn’t the first total sellout in the brief history of the U Street Music Hall, I’ll be mightily offended.

 Minor Threat, meet major threats behind the turntables Nadastrom and Stereo Faith. Y’all ain’t yeti.

The incredibly dope Cmonwealth x Mad Decent x Nadastrom x Stereo Faith “Salad Days” mix released two weeks ago by Mad Decent Records is as apt and awesome of a portrayal of punk rock as any mix ever created. This Saturday, a gathering of the tribes is taking place at the U Hall, for a most vital event in remembering and celebrating the past, present and future of the punk movement.

In many ways, Washington, DC is punk rock. Ian Mackaye. Henry Rollins. Bad Brains. Minor Threat. Dischord Records. Teen Idles. Fugazi. The lifeblood of the punk movement was as much about San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens as it was about Manhattan’s CBGB as it was about the original 9:30 Club. On Sunday, let’s go back. Waaaay back. Back into time.

This Sunday’s matinee show should be, if history were to be followed, at Food for Thought. However, it’s now at the Black Cat instead of in Dupont Circle, and something tells me that Embrace may not be able to make the show. However, this will be an epic event. DJing will be TGRIOnline’s own punk rock superman Denman Anderson, alongside the harDCore DJs responsible for the fantastic “Salad Days” mix, Dave Nada and Stereo Faith. This is topped off with the event being hosted by John Stabb of Government Issue, “punk rock karaoke,” and a performance by truly one of the best performing punk bands on the planet, the Brooklyn by way of Philadelphia by way of Baltimore by way of Australia MOTHER FUCKING DEATH SET. If not a believer in the Death Set, come out on Sunday, and trust and believe that you’ll know that there’ll be no negative thinking, and that they travel around the world and do what must be done, they’re on a top secret mission and their enemies were wishin’ that they had some bigger guns!

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

3 PM. Sunday. Awww man.

THE DROP: Introducing Fugative (or, Bieber: watch your back)

The UK music scene has been busy of late, exporting more than its fair share of indie pop-rock and electronic music. The next British Invader may be a kid with his eye on a piece of that Justin Bieber money.

Fugative, aka Harry James Byart, is a pop rapper from Essex. Just sixteen years old (and exactly ten days younger than Mr. Bieber), he writes and produces his music with Richard “YoungLord” Frierson. The pairing is a natural fit, as the Top 40 hip-hop producer was also a sixteen year old prodigy, working with Puff Daddy’s Hitmen Production Team in the mid-90s. The Bad Boy connection goes deeper, as Fugative is signed by Bad Boy co-founder / ex-Mary J. Blige manager Kirk Burrowes.

Fugative’s hip-hop is the sonic and lyrical counterpoint to Bieber’s R&B: age-appropriate, de-sexualized, “schools and girls are confusing” territory. The beats range from 90s dance throwbacks (“It’s Summertime,” which reached #4 on the UK R&B charts) to re-hashed club beats (“Supafly” apes the fills from “Drop it like it’s hot”). Still – a hit is a hit, and Fugative’s audience probably doesn’t care about originality.

http://www.youtube.com/v/WNZQdOjt-4c&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Between shuttling him between Atlanta and the UK and building his social media presence, the team behind Fugative are also trying something novel to boost their young performer. Remixes of his tracks are not coming from Timbaland or Young Money – but from top EDM producers like A1 Bassline, Roska, and Moto Blanco.

In fact, I first found Fugative while searching for a song with an infectious “I think I’ve got a crush” hook. Turns out the song was Fugative’s “Crush” (single release on May 10th), remixed by none other than TGRI-favorites Nadastrom. Keeping the pop melody and sugary hook, the guys dropped most of Fugative’s rapping in lieu of some serious wobble:

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

By brandishing his blog credentials before he even gets a stateside release, Fugative will already be on the minds of taste makers and culture fiends when he gets a US push. Probably just in time for the summertime.

http://www.youtube.com/v/knuwkrTG3E8&hl=en_US&fs=1&

TaxLo feat. Kid Sister/DJ Sega/Nadastrom @ Sonar – 4/10/10 – REVIEWED

I’m takin’ the tours, I’m wreckin’ the land
I keep it hardcore because it’s dope man
– Run-DMC “Down With the King”

Apparently, we all want to be down with the king. The self proclaimed “Philly Club King” DJ Sega that is. Sega headlined an excellent TaxLo event last night in Baltimore that, though nearly plagued by a number of occurrences, was still a more than wonderful time had by all. Cullen Stalin, one half of the combination that runs the event with Simon Phoenix celebrated his birthday 21 days late with a dream bill for him as it is every year for his birthday event, this year’s a once again spectacular array of hype at the moment artists on the underground scene. Top locals hard electro and dubstep spinning DJ Lemz and hyperkinetic party divas the Get Em Mamis joined with the most influential DJs of 2010 worldwide, Nadastrom, the electro pop and juking funk of diva Kid Sister, and the browbeating bass (and with apologies to MFSB the new “Sound of Philadelphia”) of DJ Sega for an intense bill of dancing, dancing, dancing, and yes, more dancing.

If not already acutely aware, Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom’s Nadastrom tandem represents the finest DJ braintrust at present in the universe. From a technical and entertainment standpoint, the duo are literal light years ahead of not just where popular music culture is headed, but laying down the tracks for pop music’s constant evolution. Nadastrom’s remixes are perpetually on point, tightly wound, slowly unfurled gems of music magic, the most voluptuous of developed noise. The elegance of minimal techno and deep house the Matt Nordstrom possesses, mixed with the kill or be killed behind the musical 8-ball attitude Nada has towards producing peak hour bangers created Moombahton, the chopped and screwed Dutch electro sound, which Nada has apparently already bored with with his depth of musical intellect as he uncorked the newest and latest in that barrage, a Moombahton remix of KRS-One’s “Step Into a World.” Yes, the Blondie’s “Rapture” sampling hip hop smash took a tour from the South Bronx through a smoked out haze in the Netherlands, down into the Dutch Antillies, and back to Sonar. Speeding up The Teacher to meet Moombahton’s three quarter time melodic sway is a work of genius. Pure, unadulterated genius, or maybe two guys obsessed and motivated by crowds of people moving their asses in lockstep to the most enormous grooves. Even in the position as table setters instead of headliners, they were absolutely every bit as tasty as the Old Bay seasoning instead of delivering as the crab cake.

Chicago’s Kid Sister performed an abbreviated set last night due to travelling with the flu and a fever of 101 degrees. That being said, the Chicago mistress of motion boogied her way through a very professional set where she did battle with her failing voice, but, as was again the name of the evening, she did battle with the dance floor as well, her lithe physique swaddled in tight black lycra leggings and a loose cut sleeveless gray t-shirt emblazoned with religious affirmation “Too Blessed to be Stressed” not sick enough to be dissuaded from a dance floor workout. Her set, which only improves as she adds new jams to it that continue, as she does, to be a 21st century repository for the history of house music. The straight up Chicago juke of “Switch,” “Pro Nails (with a visit from Rusko’s dubstep remix at the tail end)”and her excellent take on the Jungle Brothers’ legendary “Girl I’ll House You” punctuated a very exciting set.

But the star of this night, as with most nights, were the Philly Club sounds of DJ Sega. Literally fresh off a bus from Philly after playing a set in Pittsburgh the night before, Sega merely arrived at Sonar smoking marijuana as he took to the stage, set up a laptop, got busy behind the wheels, and closed the party with an utterly dominant sonic display. I tend to think DJ Sega became Superman last night. He entered the venue as Robert Taylor, mild mannered and extremely humble Philadelphia native. With a few puffs of premium sticky icky and his fingers on turntables, a mixer, and some necessary staccato drum loops, Lil Jon samples, and a mountain of riotous noise, he became a club music superhero. Add to this the fact that Rye Rye AND her backup dancers performed during his set as well in a poorly kept “surprise,” breaking, popping, Spongebobbing, Wu-Tanging and performing gymnastic feats of skill to Sega’s productions, and you had a recipe for the tightest club music night out of many transcendent club music nights of the year.

Last night could’ve turned into a catastrophe. The main stage of Sonar in what is still an economically depressed era may not have been the best look for a show featuring so many artists that are big, but still at a niche status on a local, national and international level. As well, having the advertised draw suffering from illness isn’t exactly a positive as well. However, we once again learned the lesson last night that good music and a positive atmosphere can solve everything.

SEAL OF APPROVAL – (Bmore) TaxLo feat. Kid Sister/Nadastrom/DJ Sega – 4/10/10

All around good Baltimore homie and friend to the site Cullen Stalin alongside Simon Phoenix promotes the legendary TaxLo party at Sonar. TaxLo has hosted pretty much every major underground artist of note of the past five years, and broken quite a few as well. Cullen turned 21 again on April 3rd, and this Saturday night, he’s throwing one of the biggest parties of the year to celebrate. No, I know we say that often, but really, this is going to be so so so ridiculous.

Kid Sister is a beautiful, Chicago born maelstrom of positive dance energy. Her debut album, Ultraviolet is a personal fave, combining mainstream accessible hits like “Pro Nails,” with it’s A-Trak production and Kanye West’s sixteen bars, the Swedish House Mafia party smasher “Right Hand Hi” and current single “Daydreaming,” with Chicago house covers like “You Ain’t Really Down” for the album to get you through any Saturday night on the dance floor. And that’s where you’ll be if you’re at TaxLo as the TGRIOnline.com Hustlers of Culture fully intend to be. Stalin’s attempted to book the perpetually busy and very much in demand dance diva on three separate occasions in the last year and a half, so, this performance is likely to be huge.

But the party doesn’t stop there. Yep, the “El Jefe de la Moombahton” Dave Nada and the magnificent Matt Nordstrom, yes, Beatport perennial faves and most important DJs on the international underground Nadastrom will be there. Last time we saw Nadastrom in Baltimore was for Halloween, a set we described as “everything went from insane to armageddon and back again.”

We’ve also said the following about Nadastrom here on the site as of late as well:

– “They blend a potent mixture of so many musial styles that it’s hard to really categorize what they do, other than to say it’s a particularly excellent blend of electronic dance music.”

– “I’ve seen them open for Steve Aoki. They murked the Mad Decent Block Party in Philly. They’ve toured around the world twice in one year, have hit #1 on Beatport, and are a constant in the sets of literally every major and minor underground DJ on the globe.”
– “Clearly, the phrase that pays in 2010 is ‘Y’all ain’t Yeti.’

And you ALL know you forgot how dope this is:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7786344&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Nadastrom – Save Us from Ben Solomon on Vimeo.

Philly club music is SO on point this year. The Brick Bandits are the most inventive group of producers anywhere in the universe. The world champion of club music right now, DJ Sega. Some people may say Tameil, some may say Tim Dolla, some would promote young lion Nadus as being worthwhile, but for me, it’s Sega. He’s taking Philly club on an INTERNATIONAL ride right now, as club music gets more electro, Sega is the one in demand as a remixer, working with tracks from the likes of everyone from Toddla T to Laidback Luke and Steve Angello b/w Drake, all with excellent results. For a guy who had 200+ tracks done by the age of 17, his work ethic is legendary and production is phenomenal.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7445693&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Dj Sega from Ian Crawford on Vimeo.

As well, Cullen and Simon open, and they promise special guests doing things like this…

Yep. You read that right. Aww damn. Tickets $10. All ages. Again, this will be ridiculous.

Scottie B’s Birthday @ U Street Music Hall, 4/3/10 – REVIEWED!

It’s fair to say that without Scottie B, the U Street Music Hall wouldn’t exist. So for the Godfather of Baltimore club to grace the stage on Saturday – celebrating his birthday, no less – was kind of a big deal.

Opening for Scottie B, sets by Cullen Stalin, Nadastrom, and Tittsworth were punctuated with signs of appreciation and birthday well-wishes. As talented as they are, this is a group of DJs that owe their careers to Scottie B, a fact of which they are fully aware. Pulling out all the stops, the sets were heavy in B-more club, but also veered into different territory. As Scottie has returned in part to his house roots, Tittsworth and Dave Nada freely experiment with dubstep and moombahton, respectively. Apparently, the lessons never end.

Highlights of the night included B-more standards like Scottie’s own edit of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Find A Way” and DJ Class’ ubiquitous 2009 club banger “I’m The Shit,” infectious tracks that always get a crowd moving. Wu-Tang, it turns out, is not just for the children, but for club music, too; Bird Peterson’s “Torture Motherfucker” and DJ Class’ “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” re-fix have beats as sick and grimey as their Shaolin lyrics.

As the night wound down, Tittsworth paid tribute to Scottie B with a half hour setlist of Scottie’s tracks. The unassuming DJ pioneer in the Baltimore Orioles bucket hat could only stand back and take it all in, as if to say, “Yeah, I did all that.” Not a bad way to celebrate your birthday.