I’ve heard one of their remixes in a dj set and I was instantly sold. STDJs are Saul and Theo from London. They’ve been dj’ing for some years now, conquering the uk and europe. They’re dj’s first and producers second. They’re producing dirty, weird house music to make people do weird dance moves. They just want to see how much you can do between 4/4 kick drums.

[audio:/0408/Tapedeck-DestinySTDJsTapedickRemix.mp3]
Tapedeck – Destiny (STDJs Tapedick Remix)

[audio:/0408/MarvellousMaccMello-ZimmeRoundTownSTDJsremix.mp3]
Marvellous Macc Mello – Zimme Round Town (STDJs remix)

Fine Day Record‘s Plastic Operator is coming up with a new release, the socalled Home 0207. The Digitally released album will contain remixes by Hermanos Inglesos, Speaker Junk and Chewy Chocolate Cookies. I’ve got a promomail with some of the tracks. They’re really blasting tracks, definately worth to check out. The releasedate is planned on the 24th of march, so keep ur eyes open!

[audio:/0308/plasticoperatorHome0207-HermanosInglesosRemixPart2.mp3]
Plastic Operator – Home 0207 (Hermanos Inglesos Remix Part 2)

[audio:/0308/plasticoperatorHome0207-ChewyChocolateCookiesRemix.mp3]
Plastic Operator – Home 0207 (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)

Previous week I went to Blast Your Ghetto. Dolby Anol was performing and they really trashed the place. Dolby Anol is a 2 piece project from Glasgow. After Blast Your Ghetto I messaged them and they sent me some tracks. Check them out!

[audio:/0308/dolbyanolsheblindedmewithdolby.mp3]
Dolby Anol – She Blinded Me With Dolby

[audio:/0308/dolbyanolriddled.mp3]
Dolby Anol – Riddled!

Some days ago Q.G. added me on myspace. This fresh talent has a very catchy sound. He’s been around as a DJ for quite some time now, but he’s just producing since ’05! Already stoked up with a label he is ready to tell the world about his music. Keep ur eyes open people, he’s doing an European tour in november, including a performance in Belgium! He gave me 2 remixed tracks, one from Hushpuppies and one from The Famous Munchies. Both equal blasting like a bomb! Last but not least he gave me a little mixtape too.

[audio:/0208/hushpuppies_-_badtasteandgoldonthedoorsqgremix.mp3]
Hushpuppies – Bad Taste And Gold On The Doors (Q.G. remix)

[audio:/0208/thefamousmunchies_-_thefuckingmachineqgremix.mp3]
The Famous Munchies – The Fucking Machine (Q.G. remix)

Q.G. – minimixtape january ’08

Playlist:
1. mekon feat roxanne shante – yes yes all (duke dumont remix)
2. crookers 6 big money comin
3. acid jacks – awake since 78 (mstrkrft remix)
4. donovan -yo
5. boys noize – don’t believe a hype (remix)
6. justice – d.a.n.c.e (les rythmes digitales remix)
7. the bloody beetroots – detroit
8. blende – get lost (boogieboys remix)
9. d.i.m – is you (les petits pilous remix)

So I went to a party Blast Your Ghetto the 25th of january. Andy (D.I.M.) was performing his first live act in Belgium. I’m proud to say that Phase02 had an exclusive interview with him. Also I want to welcome Nicolas a.k.a. Fierce. He helped me with putting this interview into text and he has a great interest in music as well, so he joined us.

Phase02: when did you start producing?
D.I.M.: Pretty early.. It depends on how you want to judge it. My father was a musician, he also worked with computers and machines. My first machine was the Linndrum and that was by the age of 14 so then I started to get into it. But professionally, so I can really live from it, it started around the age of 21. My music career didn’t really start with producing. I started more as a sound engineer and had my own studio. It wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I had to, I had to make money, and it’s not so easy to make money out of producing.

Phase02: Did you start with the same rough hardcore electro sound like u produce now?
D.I.M.: No. not at all. Around the age 20 I did a lot of hip hop stuff. I had a project going on with Alex (Boys Noize), who is one of my closest friends, which called Kid Alex. He was 16 at that time and we did this project where Alex was singing. We had a club hit called ‘Young Love’ and all of the sudden we had a major record deal. So Kid Alex was a lot different from what I produce now. It was more clean hip hop/ electro stuff. A while after that, Alex created the Boys Noize label, and we kind of split up, because we didn’t know who was doing what. Alex went on with the Boys Noize label and I started to think what I could do. That’s why I created D.I.M. around 2004, and that’s when I started to make this hardcore electro sound.

Phase02: At the moment you are again working together with Alex from Boys Noize. The co-operation is called Puzique. Could you tell us something about it?
D.I.M.: Puzique is just the same thing as Kid Alex basically, but then ten years later. He is now living in Berlin and I still live in Hamburg, so we meet up in the studio once in a while and we produce some Puzique stuff. It’s a new fresh name where we can do what we want. It’s not like Boys Noize sound or D.I.M. sound, it’s just the Puzique sound. We just say f*ck off and do what we want, like we did with Kid Alex. It’s really fun.

Phase02: Do u have other side projects going on?
D.I.M.: No, not anymore. D.I.M. is very time consuming so I don’t have time for other projects. I’ve been making so many remixes and for the moment I’m travelling to perform live. The whole year is almost planned so I don’t have much spare time left.

Phase02: Did you like performing in Belgium for the first time?
D.I.M.: Yes, it was amazing. It’s an amazing club and all the people are giving it. No one was just sitting or standing around, the club was really moving!

Phase02: What DJ’s/producers do you like?
D.I.M.: Well I don’t know too many good DJs. I would have to say Alex. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s amazing. It’s weird, we play the same tracks, but he just adds something magical about it. Secondly I would say Justice, as a DJ’s show.

Phase02: What kind of music do you like off the stage?
D.I.M.: Motown! A lot of Motown stuff. I do like Marvin Gaye a lot. But basically I like all music that has been made with the heart and the soul. You have to feel and hear that the music is made with passion.

Phase02: As a final question, what is your favorite remix?
D.I.M.: I’m really proud of the Junkie XL one. The track called My People from The Presets is also a track that I am proud of. And of course Jape because the rhythm, the lyrics, the guy… They’re all amazing!

[audio:/0208/Jape_floating_dimremix.mp3]
Jape – Floating (D.I.M. Remix)

Keukengerei messaged some info about him and some of his tracks which I think are brilliant! This 16 year young guy from Netherlands makes me wanna dance. He started listening to Daft Punk when he was 8 years old and got introduced to electronic music that way. He’s been producing since 2004, but back then it just included sampling existing tracks. Now he is making tracks from the ground off, and he’s really getting nasty! watch out!

[audio:/0108/keukengerei_-_g.a.k..mp3]
Keukengerei – G.A.K.

[audio:/0108/ravageravage_-_justanotherlover(keukengerei).mp3]
Ravage! Ravage! – Just another Lover (keukengerei remix)

I’ve mailed Don rimini about his new ep and he sent me a nice teaser. Its a bomb people. ho-ly-sh*t.

Release note:
“Don Rimini! Oh yeah, sounds like a henchman breaking bones with a baseball bat for the mob in a dark Brooklyn basement, or somewhere deep in Sicilia. Well, it’s almost that. Only that the only bones 31 years old Don Rimini aka Xavier Gassemann ever crushes, are those of partygoers on the dancefloor. And he does so with turntables & bass, and that energy and elegance everybody envies him, from Brooklyn to Sicilia. Getting into music during the late 80′s raves, he quickly found a residency in an obscure ghetto club of the 18th arrondissement in Paris. Those who were lucky enough to witness this will never forget: Don Rimini dropped house & hip-hop, doing unexpected crossovers between Jeff Mills & Mobb Deep, Dave Clarke & the Wu. It was a goddamn block party, something rarely experienced in the city of romance. Girls shaking sweaty asses, boys throwin’ hands in the air like they just don’t care, the kind of party you wanna be at.

With this well deserved dj money, Don Rimini went record hunting. Mainly techno, but also rock: The Strokes, The Hives & LCD Soundsystem are amongst his favourites, because The Don likes it fast. Today, this stack of influences makes him one of the most eclectic french djs around, which is something of an achievement in such a closed-minded country (oh my god he said something bad about La France!!!). Don Rimini likes brutal pieces, straight to the point, no bullshit stuff. Yes, just like a mob hit. He got the science of the ultimate track, the killer tune, “that” tune. Those who’ve experienced a night with Don Rimini on the decks know that he will never let your legs get a rest and that he gets people psycho-raving like only the English can. Pleasure of the dance is his mission.

Don Rimini started making music at the beginning of the new century, but it wasn’t until ’04 that this stuff got serious. In ’06, he appeared on a compilation with the track Let Me Back Up, a wild piece of electro that found itself quicky playlisted everywhere, and was followed by a first single, Time to Panic, a 4 track ep including the title Tutto Va Bene, a track doing big damage, calzone style! In ’07, at the top of the electro rise, he produces his second ep on Swiss label Mental Groove, Absolutely Rad, with Let Me Back Up as main track, finally seeing a proper release, as fresh and powerful as in the first day, boosted by remixes from the up and coming italian duo Crookers as well as the french rave godfather Manu Le Malin feat Lunatic Asylum aka The Driver & Justice’s roommates pop band Poney Poney. If you dare you will also love the tatami rumble earth shaking sound of Sumo & Geishas. He just played at the Transmusicales, alongside Boys Noize, Yuksek & Simian Mobile Disco. Nothing to add, the Don is here to stay, somewhere Brooklyn and Sicilia.”

By Pierre Siankowski

[audio:/0108/donrimini-absolutely-rad-longteaser.mp3]
Don Rimini – Absolutely Rad Teaser