DMZ Diary

#4 - March 22nd 2003 - Miami madness

Of course everyone in the DJ business wants to go to Miami for the Winter Music Conference, but not everyone can, make it. Sadly I was one of those people, between my day job, San Francisco DJ obligations and of course my wonderful girlfriend I found myself putting off the trip. What's that I hear you say? 'Day Job'? Well a love of music isn't enough to pay the bills, in fact I need the day job to spend on the records that I play out. Free promos only go so far, I'll happily pay full price for the best records, especially when I get to share them with you guys.

Where were we? Oh yeah Miami WMC. Well this year it suffered some bad timing, as all hell broke loose in the middle east, it must've put something of a damper on proceedings. Especially DJ's like Deep Dish who got We can only hope that events over the coming days transpire as bloodlessly as possible. And that's all I'm saying on the matter my job here is to bring you dance music, not compete with the various news services. Even if we do call the show theDMZ.

So, just enjoy the music for what it is, get your groove on, imagine you're in Miami,dance about and wave your hands in the air, unless of course you're driving. This is probably my favourite show to date, we've got a pretty good cross section in the first hour and we've also got a truly excellent guest mix from Kemek The Dope Computer - veteran breaks producer, co-founder of Roke Records, and honourary scotsman. Not only did he get to WMC, but he ended up getting interviewed by BBC radio legend Annie Nightingale, you have no idea how jealous I am.

Scott Manley

Tracklisting - Hour 1

Artist Track Label Buy? (readme)
Bassbin Twins ESW Marine Parade
This is the intro track we play at the start of every show. Slammin Beats!
Andrea Doria
 Bucci Bag Southern Fried
It got played by everyone at Miami, it's going to be one of those massive records that gets everywhere, and if it doesn't then I'm going to keep playing it until it does!
Layo & Bushwacka vs KOT
 Love Song (Final Bootleg) XL
Huge records from Miami last year, this got the mash up treatment with the Kings of Tomorrow vocal, unlike most bootlegs this actually got a proper release.
Medicine 8
 Rock Music Pays Off Regal
This is how you do dark progressive house without your track descending into bongoland. Rock Music pays off indeed.

Chris Carter
 ESP TCR
This Chris Carter is of course nothing to do with the guy behind the X-Files - although this record is spookily titled ESP - maybe he's trying to cash in on that confusion.
Jon Carter
 Humanism Shine Recordings
Acid house over some sociologists talking about the state of the world - my favourite quote - 'people go to university to proclaim rather than learn' - welcome to the University of DMZ.

Royksopp
 Eple (Fatoby Slim Mix) Wall Of Sound
It sounds like Norman Cook could've knocked this remix out in less time than it takes to figure out how to pronounce the bands name.
Also look for the album Melody A.M.
Pepe Delux
 Salami Fever Catskills
Records don't get much more exclusive than this very limited one sized 7 inch, featuring someone scratching through a Wah-Wah effect. It's a shame that US import regulations meant that I couldn't get a copy with the slice of salami in it.

Chris Coco and Peter Green
 Albatross (Hybrid Mix) Distinctive Breaks
I love this version, you can almost chill out to this, even though it's fairly high energy, I'm pretty sure it's mislabelled, the other side sound much more like Hybrid's style.
Conjure One feat Sinead O Connor
 Tears From The Moon Nettwerk
Sinead O Connor seems to be everywhere right now - the new Massive Attack album, John Creamer and Stephane K. remixed Troy, and here she's again providing guest vocals. It's a real toss up over which is teh best remix, so I played the Tiesto mix because trance fans out there always like to hear his mixes.
Syntax
 Pray (Dave London Remix) Illustrious
The original mix is a straighforward progressive house number, memorable mainly for the vocal. So Dave London took the vocal and laid it over a breaks backing track - if you remember the show a month ago then you might have heard another one of his remixes - he turned Trinity Hi-Fi from some acoustic guitar number into a breakbeat anthem.

Plump DJ's
 Big Groovy Funker Finger Lickin'
We really like the Plump DJ's at the DMZ, although we need to retitle this track to avoid upsetting certain members of our audience.

Dave Clarke
 The Compass (Josh Wink Sounth Philly Acid Pass) Skint
The original Compass was released on a very limited single side 12 inch on International DJ Gigolo records, I am a very proud owner of my copy. But this remix cranks drops a nasty acid line halfway through, Dave Clarke reputedly thanked Josh Wink for 'Making me feel like a hero when I play my own record'.
Planet Funk
 Who Said? Bustin' Loose
You'd never believe that this was recorded by a load of Italians, I mean Italian house music is supposed to be all piano driven diva led affairs. Not yobbish singalong anthems like this. I hear that they threw this track together in an afternoon, presumably packed with a bit more frustration and agression than usual?
From Their Album 'Non Zero Sumness'

Hour 2 - Guest DJ - Kemek The Dope Computer

AKA Adam Douglas, he's based in LA and has produced quite a few tracks under various pseudonyms, but as Kemek he seems to at last be getting some well earned respect. Anyway, he made it the the WMC this year, and managed to get himself interviewd by BBC radio legend Annie Nightingale - but between all this he was nice enough to write up his impressions of the conference....

Kemek in Miami

Miami is an interesting place. Miami Beach, I should say, as I barely left that strip of beach the entire three days I was in town. All of the action takes place, for the most part, in Miami Beach, amongst the rich and tacky tourists.

Everything is dance music. Every hotel has a DJ and bar in its lobby. Every store, from Armani exchange to Diesel, has DJs spinning and organized parties. The music is overwhelmingly house -- but thankfully not hard house, as I expected. It's tasteful stuff, for the most part.

Breaks and other forms of e-music (drum and bass, electro, IDM) are around but you really have to look for it. I missed the Marine Parade party, perhaps the most breaks-focused party of the week, but I did make it to Pick Your Perversion, Fuel's big, three-room party. It was far more IDM then breaks, with people like Stormfield spinning experimental/soundscape stuff. EVVAC played an amazing live downtempo set, Anthony Rother was hilarious doing "LIttle Computer People" in a bored, Sprockets-like way, and Radioactive Man got to play 4 records before the power was turned off at the end of night.

I made it over to the XLR8R party to see Rennie Pilgrem spin poolside. The cops came by the hotel where the party was so the sound was turned way down, but he did play some good tunes, including the Underworld "Cowgirl" boot, the new "Energy Flash" boot (excellent), and his "2 Freaks" with BLIM. This was undeniably the breaks schmoozing party. Radioactive Man; Tipper; Q and Davey Dave of Uberzone; Skool of Thought; the guys from 2 Wars; Cosmic Neil from Trigger; Biff from Functional; Dov from Muti; D-Monic from Toronto; Tree, Lady Jay, and AKA Robo from LA; and Ms E and Donna Matrix from SF were all there, drinking and laughing it up. I had a great time. Unfortunately I missed Skool of Thought's set later that night, as I passed out in a bar.

I'm definitely going again next year, hopefully for the whole week, and would like to do an LA breaks showcase. And I'm bringing a cell phone as well -- I can't believe I survived without one.

Other Kemek Info

Here's some places to check out and discover more info on Kemek -

That's it, time to go....
see ya Next Week.

Scott Manley 22/03/03