Bangalore Events: Black Cascade presents Nightshift w/ Sailen & Azhar - Warm Up from Bluesky

Flyer Design: Pia Alize Hazarika

Azhar and I seriously had the most fun playing at Black Cascade last night - we encored with MFA's 'The Difference It Makes' - CHOON! Such a wicked and intimate crowd, just loving the music... people who genuinely enjoy underground music. The cherry on top? It went on till about 12:15AM, unheard of in these times! We were actually saying, a lot of the tunes we play in other venues sounded so much clearer and warmer at Black Cascade... we are huge fans of the sound system there. It's a beautiful space with trippy as fuck lighting.

This week we're bringing in Bluesky to do a warm up set for Nightshift, to be perfectly honest given our history - we might as well refer to him as a Nightshift boy. Back in 2007, Bluesky actually came over with me to a house party and we DJed the night - who was in the audience and drove Bluey down? Azhar. haha First time I met the guy, good times. Bluesky has got a ridiculous vinyl collection and just like us, only plays on turntables. He plays a lovely blend of minimal, tech house and deep... very eclectic taste. I remember he came over to my house and had forgotten his bag of vinyl, so he just went through mine, haha threw down quite a few Nightshift records. Good times.  We're really looking forward to playing Saturday night and honestly, you're going to love the space.  We have something really amazing going on for us at Black Cascade and we'd like to share the experience with you - get there early to check out Bluesky's set...

RSVP Nightshift w/ Azhar & Sailen, Bluesky @ Black Cascade, Saturday, August 28th: Click here

Downloads: Lopan's (AKA Nick Jamieson) Latest Mix

My home boy in Australia Nick Jamieson just did a dirty disco mix - as usual good shit... If you like make sure to listen to his mix with ADD. Party like it's 1999? haha sorry.

1. Kolombo - Come Closer 

2. KZA - Unfaithful (Fernando Remix Version 1) 

3. Diamond Lights Feat. Amy B - Disco Dancer (Monday Dub) 

4. Roland Schwarz - Step In (Faze Action Dub) 

5. Franc Spangler - Forever and a Day 

6. The Revenge - Forever In Their Debt 

7. Cole Medina - Do What You Like (Cole's OG Mix) 

8. Rick Wilhite - Drum Patterns and Memories (Moodyman's Unreleased Remix) 

9. Flatwound - Tickle Me Disco

Download Lopan's latest mix: Click here

Burn & MTV present The Ultimate DJ Championship 2010 - A Submerge Property

After the complete fail that was the Kingfisher Flyp DJ Academy, I'm a little bit weary about DJ competitions.  However, this seems to be the real deal. Usually when Submerge are connected to these kinds of initiatives, it means it's going to be done right. A part of me wants to do this, all gung ho and shit, but unfortunately, fortunately, however you want to look at it, I'm employed and I'm loving it, drowning in work and couldn't be happier. Let's see though... :) 

Nikhil Chinapa teased this on the Submerge Forum and it was pretty cool to see how the idea developed into this massive monster. The winner earns himself a year long residency as a Submerge DJ - that will obviously mean multiple cities, the lucky bastard. haha, Well hardly lucky, because whoever it is, they're going to have to earn it. The winner also gets money - gets paid, a slot at a UK festival (that's fucking huge!) and professional DJ gear too. Might be Pioneer stuff, I'm not really sure on that though.

This is big and if interested, the best place to follow up on the rules, deadline dates, if you have questions for Nikhil or Submerge admin Tuhin Mehta, then I'd suggest you sign up now and get on that Submerge forum.  They've been promoting this on Twitter and there's quite a bit of interest in it.

Check out all the details on Burn & MTV's The Ultimate DJ Championship 2010 (A Submerge Property): Click here
Check out the official website for the Ultimate DJ Championship: Click here

Bangalore Events: Black Cascade presents Nightshift w/ Sailen & Azhar

Flyer Design: Pia Alize Hazarika

So we just played the iDANCE 2010 and the next night we did our first Submerge Sunday gig at Fuga opening for Vachan. Good times. Surreal times. But we're lapping it up. I was reminded that playing a Submerge gig means you're golden... and it really does.  

We've got a gig tomorrow at Black Cascade, gotta say, I love the sound system there. It's a great space, lots of seating, good food... you should come on over. It'll be nice to play out an extended deep house set, but I'm sure we'll get to a harder space towards the end.

RSVP Nightshift @ Black Cascade w/ Sailen & Azhar, August 20th: Click here

Downloads: Praveen Achary - Artist of the Week - FriskyRadio Mix

In Pic: Praveen Achary

Meant to do this earlier. Home boy, Praveen Achary, who helps run The Sound Faction and premier DJ equipment hub The Inventory (alongside equally talented DJ and producer Tanseer Jabbar) was voted Artist of the Week at FriskyRadio about a month back.  Let me mention, I think it's absolutely awesome how Frisky have been supporting Indian acts... a massive big up to chiefFrisky Faisal Sultan. If you're big into this music, FriskyRadio is the place you should to be tuning into.  

Praveen actually threw down my favourite set in the Frisky Loves India line up - one of the few DJs who slowly built a groove instead of just busting a nut. We're going to be playing alongside him at the iDANCE festival and honestly, it's been a long time coming. Was really happy to see him get Artist of the Week with Frisky and thought it would be cool to feature it on YHIHF.  The track listing is delicious and the prog heads should enjoy this one. Power prog as we use to call it on the GU Forum. We use to also call this sound muscular. haha. :)

Frisky Artist of the Week - Praveen Achary

01. Lusine ft Vilja Larjos - Two Dots (Original Mix) - 

02. Wehbba - Depois (Original Mix) - Tronic

03. Francesco Pico - Smashed Into The Sky (Roger Martinez Re-Interpretation) - Outside The Box Music

04. Teva - Kapoor (Original Mix) - Roomba Music

05. Monaque - Dos3000 (Quivver Remix) - microCastle

06. Sahar Z, Guy Mantzur - Estimated Time (Stephan Bazbaz Remix) - Definitive

07. Vinayaka - Never Turn Your Back (Ben Coda Remix) - Spherax

08. 16 Bit Lolitas - Alien Fraud (Original Mix) - Bits & Pieces

09. Henry Saiz - The Rider (Original Mix) - Renaissance

10. Francesco Pico - Like The Old Days (Lank Remix) - Outside The Box Music

11. DJ Tarkan & V-Sag - Sea Through (Tan Atalar Remix) - No Smoking

12. Saints & Sinners - Pushing Too Hard (Nic Fanciulli Remix) - Bedrock

13. Sander Kleinenberg - M.A.N.I.A.C. (5K Original Mix) - Little Mountain

14. Solarity - Diophantine (Original Mix) - Anjunadeep

15. Monaque - Resolutions (Spooky Remix) - microCastle

16. Triangle - Five (We've Found It) (King Unique Remix) - Flow Vinyl

17. Neil Quigley & Cylon - Clear For Take Off (Neil Quigley Mix) - AudioTherapy

18. Lank - Run On Fumes (Monaque Remix) - microCastle

19. Leon Raes - Aruba Garden (Eelke Kleijn Space Mix) - Outside The Box Music

20. 16 Bit Lolitas - Perry & Peggy Have Twins (Original Mix) - Bits & Pieces

21. King Unique - Feniksas (Fergie Remix) - Bedrock

22. Tonnsaied & Mario Kahn - Voided (Silinder Remix) - Sudbeat

Download Praveen Achary's Frisky Radio Artist of the Week mix: Click here

Follow Praveen Achary on Twitter: Click here

Festival: iDANCE 2010 w/ Ma Faiza, Jalebee Cartel, Vachan, Sailen & Azhar, Praveen, Yash

Words can't express how excited I am about this festival.  Forget that the Nightshift boys are playing a slot, just look at how insane that line up is. This isn't cheesy shit, not one fucking hint of cheddar. This is just grimy good. One of my most favourite DJs is playing - Vachan (madness at the Ned Shepard gig) and we're finally getting to see a couple of different Jalebees behind the decks. It's always a pleasure to catch Jalebee Cartel's Arjun Vagale (click for the YHIHF interview) do his DJ sets, but not many of us in Bangalore get the opportunity to catch Ash and Ashvin do the DJing thing, so really can't wait to hear them play. Heard only stellar reports about Ash's set when he opened for Sasha in Blue Frog. What's really special, the dutchess of psy Ma Faiza is headlining the event as well - I got to catch her set at the Sunburn 2008 festival, and it was one beastly tune after the other. The SF Show's Praveen Achary is also playing, he just got voted frisky's artist of the week and put up a set, which was awesome, will be posting it here next. I haven't been to the venue, but I hear really really good things about Clarks, it's pretty much a holiday resort and we'll be playing pool side.  The organizers at Overture keep reminding us to bring swimming gear... hahaha.

So yeah, GET THE FUCK IN!  It's happening this Saturday, August 14th and I hope to see you all there.

RSVP iDANCE 2010 @ Clarks Exotica, New Airport Road, Saturday August 14th: Click here

The Month That Was (JULY): Things are coming together

ON THE DANCEFLOOR

Atnarko ft. Nica Brooke - Solid Ground (Fred Everything's Lazy Dub)

Maayan Nidam - Perplexday

Santos - Llania Inesperada (Paul Ritch Remix)

Sander Kleinenberg - M.A.N.I.A.C.

Vinayaka - Never Turn Your Back (Ben Coda Remix)

Carl Craig - At Les (Christian Smith's Tronic Treatment Remix)

Chemical Brothers - Escape Velocity

Louis Armstrong - Nobody Knows (Monkey Safari Remix)

Sharkslayer - Who is he?

Cubiq - BOR-DOM

in the bedroom

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

Erlend Oye's DJ Kicks Mix

Matthew Dear - Soil to Seed

Jose Gonzalez - Heart Beats

The Roots - Somebodys Gotta Do It

Paul Wall - Sittin' Sidewayz

Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra

The Clash - Magnificent 7


LOVING

• Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010). Read my review HERE.
• Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – a wonderful take on a fun Roald Dahl story.
• “The Rebel Who Would Be King” by Philip Auclair – the long awaited Eric Cantona biography that is simply spot on. It’s beautifully written, which can be a rarity in sports writing. Watch this goal and know why he is King Eric (click).
• TV is hot as fire! Mad Men (back with a vengeance), Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie, you must feel like a twat),  Louie CK (quirky very non-PC comedy), True Blood (slow start to the season but shit is definitely hitting the fan) and Entourage (possibly the second last season?).
• Guilty pleasures on Star World - Masterchef Australia and Moment of Truth
• The new Rupee symbol and my friend Alok Shetty’s take on it – VIEW HERE!
• The Nightshift boys playing at Pebble for the first time; we’re also playing alongside Vachan, Jalebee Cartel and Ma Faiza at the iDANCE festival, August 14th – what what?! RSVP NOW! CLICK HERE!
• Clips of Spanish captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas being interviewed by his very hot reporter girlfriend right after winning the World Cup – adorable.
• The Formula One season notching up a gear; the top five drivers are separated by a mere 20 points – the second half of the season is going to be exciting. Fingers crossed Vettel’s luck changes, Schumi keeps being Schumi and Ferrari rub team orders in everyone’s face. 
• Cricket 2010 on the PS 3 – four straight days of yorkers and sixers, unhealthy but definitely worth a buy if you’re a fan of the sport.
• Wearing sweaters in July, only in Bangalore (and maybe Australia).
• Chancery Pavilion's Midnight buffet (Lavelle Road, Bangalore) - shhhh! This is our secret, don't want the pigs to get a whiff. Rs. 350 all you can eat. Drunken-stoner nights will never be the same.
• Tuhin Mehta’s Back to School Mix – house like it used to be. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!
• This is very cool - SUBMERGE & MTV have joined hands to launch a DJ Talent Hunt - click here for all the details...
• Dude, I’m employed – joined the editorial team of FlipKart, couldn’t be happier. Think of a book, any book, search and buy! :) Gwan, wish me success.

HATING

• Angelina Jolie’s Salt (2010) – horribly stale Cold War sentiments, what did Russia do to piss off Hollywood? And ffs, enough with the Jason Bourne comparisons, Bourne would ass rape Salt if he wanted to.
• Reports of the Commonwealth Games costing – this should be in 'LOVING,' purely for its comedic value.
• The Confluence Festival getting cancelled for various reasons (Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll, it seems). Sign the petition: CLICK HERE It must be said though, considering the recent events of flash floods in Ladakh, this is all rather secondary.
• Had the misfortune of watching the first two episodes of 'Persons Unknown' - I could imagine two fat writers pitching this to networks, 'It's Saw meets Lost...' Please avoid.
• Not blogging enough for the month of July - job interviews kinda held me back. My bad homies.
• The Dutch performance in the World Cup final - this wasn't football, it was a bloody war.
• The DJ Mag Poll - fuck.off. with your trance propaganda vote for me bullshit. Having said that, my vote goes to: Danny Howells, John Digweed, Jalebee Cartel, Chloe Harris and Neil Quigley.