Events, Review | Dirty South @ Lavo NYC 1/17/12 (Review)
Posted by Middy on February 2, 2013
Though this was last month, I still have some pretty vivid memories of this night. The standard crowd of good looking upper crust mid twenties New Yorkers, expensive alcohol flowing like the Niagara and Dirty South spinning his brand of big room house behind the decks. Walking up to the high end New York Club I saw the familiar scene of people trying to negotiate the strict line — the people attempting to get in on the left side with either a ticket or just the hope that their looks or money would woo the bouncers to let them by that red felt rope and the right side filled with VIPs and their hangers on willing to drop their’s or daddy’s credit card on a night they will probably won’t remember. I shuffle in a bit out of place next to those VIPs and eventually make it through the various layers of rope into the club. Click on to go inside with us.
Events, Preview | Dirty South @ Lavo NYC 1/17/13 Preview
Posted by Middy on January 14, 2013
After celebrating his 35th birthday at Lavo NYC on November 15th, Dirty South makes his return to the upscale NYC nightclub this Thursday for a night sure to be filled with nutella and big room tracks. Lavo always throws a good party and with Dirty South in the mix, this is a must attend event. Tickets are still on sale now so grab them before they sell out.
For the occasion, Lavo is hosting a giveaway of 2 VIP tickets, a free dinner, drinks inside the club (crucial) and a meet & greet with Dirty South with a photo-op. All you have to do is take a photo answering “What makes you feel alive?”. Full details and entry info on Lavo NYC’s Facebook. Also below is a 30 mix of recent Dirty South tracks from Lavo NYC resident Dj, Kyle Rayner. Looking ahead, if this show doesn’t work out for you or isn’t enough, Benny Benassi is taking the reigns at Lavo on Thursday, Feb 7th. Grab tickets here.
Events, Featured, Interviews, Review | Hook N Sling Interview + Lavo NYC Recap
Posted by Middy on August 17, 2012
The Australian producer / DJ Hook N Sling has really made a name for himself since his start back in the early 2000s where he was struggling to get by still working in his dad’s graphic design and working in the breaks genre with his radio show ibreaks.co.uk. He has garnered support for his tunes since the his first big hit in 2007, “The Bump” and his career has shot off from there with hits like “Diamonds In The Sky” with fellow Aussie TV Rock, his remix of Nervo’s “We’re All No One”, his remix of Calvin Harris – I Am Not Alone, and many more. He has upcoming tracks on Axtone, Stealth Records (the below remix of Mozaik) and Wall Records. The future is very bright for this young Australian producer who has shown that success does not come over night and that if you work hard and are patient, good things will come to you.
We caught up with him in his hotel room before his set at Lavo NY to ask him about his upcoming records, his move to the US, his favorite place to vacation, the reason why “Reason” release date was delayed, his history of singing and more. His set at Lavo was superb, bringing his flavor from down under to the upper crust of New York. Lavo NY has some decent openers, but they do like to sprinkle a few too many Beatport top 40 tracks when those should be left up to the headliner to use as crowd pleasers.
Hook N Sling stepped on around 1 and got the party going with a mixture of his own hit tracks such as his recent single “Evermore”, his remix of We’re All No One”, which got a good reaction from the crowd and “Diamonds In The Sky”. He played recent songs from others like fellow Aussie producer Walden’s remix of “In My Mind”, which was fitting as the young producer stopped by for a short time that night. He played a good blend of progressive as well as some lesser known house tracks that worked very well in the set, displaying Hook N Sling’s ability as a DJ and his intelligence behind the decks. He finished around 3, leaving the nearly full crowd still wanting more. Looking forward at Lavo, Dash Berlin will be there next week the 23rd. Tickets are sold out, but if you are a regular, get to the show. Below is the start of the interview and the rest is after the jump.
FNT: You recently moved from Sydney (Bondi Beach to be exact) to LA — was that tough for you, anything you miss from Australia?
Hook N Sling: It was tough setting up a whole new life. I had to sell my car back home, kind of pack everything up and think about stuff I really love and and don’t give a shit about anymore and sold the stuff I hated. It was like boiling your life down to bare essentials and then picking up and leaving. In that part leaving home was the hard part, getting over here doing stuff like Social Security, drivers license, which I still don’t have and I hope I don’t get pulled over until I get one. All that kind of stuff has just been a big deal, but as I was just saying to someone the other day, it wouldn’t bother me if the shows are doing well, I am busy, so I don’t really think about it, but it was awfully stressful coming over.
FNT: DJs are known for never sleeping or rarely sleeping, how do you deal with that?
Hook N Sling: I slept 9 hours last night. But I needed that because the night before was like 4 hours. It’s ok, I can deal with it, the alarm goes off, I know I am going to get out of bed otherwise I am going to miss my flight and I kind of hate dealing with airports so I like to get it over and done with as easy as possible. It’s alright, the more you think about it, the more you hate it. So I don’t think about it.
FNT: Since you were in a choir as a kid (Hook N Sling laughs), would you ever do vocals for one of your songs like Calvin Harris?
Hook N Sling: I knew I shouldn’t have said that in an interview haha. I do, I have done a couple of vocal parts, but nothing I do makes it to the final record. I would put down an idea and I would give it someone else and go “what do you think” and can you make this sound better and put some words to it, I am obviously not to good with that stuff, but yeah, I have been known to step in front of a microphone.
More of the interview after the jump
Trance | Dash Berlin vs. Coldplay – Ticking Clocks (Dash Berlin’s Essential ‘Warmplay’ Rework)
Posted by Middy on August 9, 2012
While it is true that Coldplay has become quite the polarizing band with almost equal the amount of people who adore them and people who hate them, it is undeniable that they have come up with two of the most recognizable melodies of the past 10 years with “Clocks” and “Viva la Vida”. “Clocks” has been mashed, bootlegged, remixed and generally abused over and over again since its release, but when the infallible Dash Berlin takes a swing at it, you listen as he connects on this impeccable rework of a classic. He adds a trance build and melody that molds perfectly to what Coldplay had previously constructed, adding vocal bits to help the melody soar. I am loving these reworks from Dash Berlin lately with not only this one, but his ode to California in his remix of Tupac’s classic “California Love“. NYC people, Dash Berlin will be at Lavo on August 23 in a great club show you won’t want to miss, so get tickets HERE (show up early). If you do not catch him there or did not have enough Dash Berlin for the summer (is it possible?), he will be main stage at Electric Zoo on Sunday, so do not miss his set as he will be in his element, primed and ready to go.