2010 starts here…

Squadron & DonDisko kick-off their 2010 agenda on the 13th of March with none other than the amazing Belgian duo Sound Of Stereo! Having ripped clubs and festivals apart all through 2009, it’s finally time to witness them in Malta! Until a while ago “Sound” and “Stereo” were just two words that popped up every once in a while in your hifi-installation’s manual. In the beginning of 2008 those two words stopped being just random: “Sound Of Stereo” saw the light of day. In only a few months time their tracks conquered clubs all over the world. The Belgian scene responded really well to their presence and they were noticed rather fast by the famous Lektroluv label. In November of 2008, their first EP came out and had massive response. One of the singles on that EP “Supah Dupah”, is said to be played over 100 times each weekend in Belgium alone. A follow-up EP was nothing more than a logic continuation of this success. The follow-up single ” Heads Up! ” was an instant success, played by the likes of MSTRKRFT, Crookers, Armand Van Helden, The Bloody Beetroots, Dr.Lektroluv and many more. In the meantime Sound of Stereo have been very busy traveling all over the globe while playing at all major Festivals which include I Love Techno, Pukkelpop Festival, Dour festival, Tomorrowland, 10 Days off and so on. The new “Zipper EP” has just been release and is already supported by Tiga, Brodinski, Steve Aoki, Jack Beats, Djedjotronic, Riva Starr, MSTRKRFT and so on. Speaking of Steve Aoki, Sound of Stereo has a release coming up on Aoki’s Dim Mak label, “Chewbox” which will be out in the beginning of 2010! There’s only one thing left to say: Get your rocks off, your heads up and enjoy the Sound Of Stereo! Oh, don’t forget to check out www.myspace.com/soundofstereomusic and www.soundofstereo.net Sound of Stereo live at I Love Techno 2009 Sound of Stereo live at Pukkelpop 2009 Sound of Stereo live at Dour Festival 2009 Sound of Stereo – Supah Dupah (download) Sound of Stereo – Zipper (download) Sound of Stereo – Heads Up (official video stream) Sound of Stereo live at I Love Techno 2009 (download)

Get up and JAM!

Following last September’s sell-out edition, it’s now time to JAM again! Squadron and DonDisko proudly present the second edition of JAM FACTORY on the 11th of December, this time at Escape Club (ex-Dukes). The night will include a fusion of genre`s from Nu-Rave, Fidget House, Electro, Chicago House, Techno, to Italo Disco. Featuring Rudi, Mathematikal, Squeak and Fat 32. Tickets at €5 only! If you’re interested in selling tickets get in touch now

Getting to know Steve…

When he isn’t pounding rhythms behind the drumkit for Belgian indie crossover band Soulwax, Ghentbased artist Steve Slingeneyer is quite likely to be mixing tunes, slipping beats and raising the roof at some venue around the world.

Under the name of One Man Party, Slingeneyer has been putting together the most awkward of musical mash-ups in a manner that eludes categorisation, let alone description.

Do bear in mind, however, that one of his influences is Animal from The Muppet Show, which could explain it all. If still in doubt log on to OMP’s MySpace page and download his free DJ mix.

He’s shared bills with the likes of 2manydj’s, Justice, MixHell, Busy P, Vitalic, Klaxons, and many others, and on November 21, he will be bringing his soaring electro-fied music to Malta when he performs at Tattingers in Rabat for the ‘The Beat that shakes the Mothership’ event, the last of four events that Don Disko ( www.dondisko.com) have staged with the collaboration of The Devil Digs Rave this summer.

The three previous editions, held at different venues, featured different local DJs and artists and were a huge success. Apart from One Man Party, the line-up for the last leg of the tour will also include Mathematikal, who are currently working on their debut album, as well as DJ sets from Squeak and Kenji.

Tickets are available from Exit, Fact, Dr Juice, Ryans and Chequers or by sending an e-mail to info@dondisko.com.

 

Interview with Steve Slingeneyer

(One Man Party)

 

How did you first get involved in music and then in bands?

My father is a musician; my whole family is musical. We would dance in the living room to Earth, Wind and Fire and rock out to AC/DC. I got into music at an early age. I was 13 or so when I picked up the guitar and then got into drums, formed a punk/hardcore band and that was it. It just grew from there.

 

Apart from the Soulwax connection, what gave you the urge to set up your one man party alter ego, and when?

In the early Soulwax days, Stephen Dewaele (of 2manydjs) and I used to DJ for fun, mixing anything from disco and funk to rock and electronic stuff. Then I moved to New York for seven years. When I came back to Belgium, I steadily started DJ-ing more and more; from the bar to the local clubs to international places.

The name One Man Party came from James Murphy (of LCD Soundsytem) because I was known for dancing and partying hard on tour and at parties. It seemed perfect to use as a DJ name.

 

Eclectic setlists are becoming more and more popular. Why do you think have clubbers become more receptive to such diversity on the dancefloor?

Being eclectic is completely natural to me. I get bored hearing or playing just one style of music. I think people in general have broad tastes. One has to cater for that.

It’s also a real challenge to make different styles of music work together. You can mix by tempo but also by key, finding little bridges between tracks is what excites me.

Although clubbers tend to follow ‘styles’ a lot it’s nice to tease or surprise them with a track they wouldn’t normally dance to. A DJ should just want to make as many people dance as possible and hypnotise them with his selections, but it’s also a lot of fun to shock sometimes; throw somebody off. By the way, I never rehearse a set.

 

Any particular people you’d care to mention who have had a major musical influence on you as a musician and as a DJ?  

There are loads and it’s mostly because they’ve taken me on a trip… Maurice Fulton, Carl Craig, 2manydjs of course, Riton, James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, Erol Alkan, Justice.

 

Ghent seems to be quite big on groovy tunes and clubbing, but also for alternative music.

Ghent has been producing some good music lately. My favourite new band is called Teddiedrum; a two-piece band that plays electronics, a ‘teddybear’ drum, guitar, keys… they sound like a cross between Hot Chip and Devo.

Then there’s a good indie band called Wallace Vanborn and others such as Hong Kong Dong, Das Pop, Drums are for Parades, Waldorf, Mascotte and many others. There’s a lot of diversity and many of the younger bands are often quite experimental, which is always good.

On the dance front there’s Nid and Sancy, The Glimmers, Ultravid, Sound of Stereo, Disco Drunkards, Hermanos Inglesos… a lot of bands. Ghent has been a real source for dance music but there’s a lot of live action too thanks to clubs and bars such as Charlatan, Make-up, Vooruit, Culture Club, Video and Roerkuip.

 

Your top five tracks at the moment are…

High Together by Siriusmo, Ghost Girl (Blatta and Inesha Remix) by Telepopmusik, The Dozens by Fake Blood, Simple Things (Work it Out) by Shitrobot and the 12” remix of Gino Soccio’s Remember

 

You’re playing at the last leg of DonDisko’s ‘the Beat that Shakes the Mothership’ tour. What are you cooking up for the occasion?

DonDisko will drop the funk and I bring on the rave…

 

Any expectations on your part from Malta and its clubbing scene?

Sadly, I don’t know the clubbing scene in Malta but I can imagine it’s an easy atmosphere – what with all the sun you get! I am definitely interested in the history of Malta and I’ve heard about the ancient Megalithic temples, which I hope to visit… depending on how the clubnight goes of course (laughs).

 

www.myspace.com/onemanpartyisadj

 

Written by Michael Bugeja

article was published on 8 November in The Sunday Times.

What a Tease!

Here’s a mixtape from One Man Party… its only 30 mins but it will give you an idea of what to expect from the King of Beats.

Oh yeah… Tickets are out now at €15 and can be purchased from Dr. Juice, Fact, White Arrow, Ryans and Exit.

X

The Grande Final… The King of Beats!

 ONE MAN PARTY IS A DJ…

One Man Party is Steve Slingeneyer. After having been witnessed going berzerk on the dancefl oor by his band/DJ mates for the umpteenth time, he was aff ectionately nicknamed ‘One Man Party’ by James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. He is known for both his skills as a DJ, as well as his skills as a drummer in the band Soulwax. He has, to date, shared the stage with the likes of 2manydjs, Justice, Mixhell, Busy P, and Vitalic. He is especially known for throwing and mashing many genres of music into his DJ sets, and also for being one of the few DJs who can actually dance.

Given all this, we all know there could be no better DJ to close ‘The Beat That Shakes The Mothership’ Tour for ‘09…

So let this king of beats join us, in bidding the Mothership goodbye.

also on the night: Mathematikal / Squeak! / Kenji

TICKETS OUT NOW AT €15
Fact, Exit, Ryan’s, Chequers, White Arrow (Junior College) and selected runners

D.I.M. Interview (This one is our own!)

With just a few days away from the highly anticipated first ever D.I.M. performance in Malta on the 17th of October, the Squadron and DonDisko crew meet up with the night’s headliners, and it’s none other than Andreas Meid straight from Boys Noize Records and Turbo. In such a short time, D.I.M. has toured all over the globe, while breaking new grounds with his amazing track ‘Is You’, considered to be a revolutionary track in this nu-rave rise. His tracks have been played over and over again buy the likes of Felix Da Housecat, Boys Noize, Justice, The Bloody Beetroots, 2 Many DJs and Les Petits Pilous just to name a few, and more is on the way as D.I.M. confirms rumours of an upcoming release that’s on it’s way very soon while telling us more on how the collaboration between Boys Noize and D.I.M. as Puzique materialised…

Let’s start off with the curious question. So many people ask and wonder, what does the name D.I.M. mean?

I got this from a close friend who gave me the name “Dimaid” once, so I used that name for a while, then I needed a new alias, Dimaid was too long, DIM without dots was taken, so I had to fill in the dots, end of story… sorry…;)

How Long have you been making music, and what got you into it?

Been making music for all of my life… started with piano and guitar, then I inherited a linn drum from my dad and went from there. My whole family is onto music and my father was even a professional bass player and producer.

Which artists have influenced you the most?

Musically I was brought up listening to Motown stuff and death metal at the same… plus 80’s stuff from like Roxy music to Afrika Baambata. For programming beats and stuff, the early bomb the bass and Prodigy, I guess influenced me a lot till today…

It’s a known fact that you pushed Boys Noize into music production, how did you guys meet up and what eventually made you form a D.I.M. Vs Boys Noize collaboration as Puzique?

We’ve known each other for a long time, he’s one of my closest friends and we had another project before signed to Universal, we did music together regularly, so we just happened to create music we didn’t have a name for yet – that was the birth of Puzique.

The amazing single ‘Is You’ released on BoysNoize Records is considered to be a revolutionary track in this nu-rave rise, and has been played over and over again buy the likes of 2 Many DJs, Boys Noize, Justice, Tiga, Felix Da Housecat and Dr.Lektroluv to name a few. Do you think that this was the track that has really exposed D.I.M out there?

Oh yes! That one was number. 1 on Beatport, so it really did something and opened a lot of doors for me… and keeps me playing around the world!

Following the recent release of the amazing single ‘Lyposuct’, we heard rumors about an upcoming D.I.M. album in the pipe-line, can you confirm these rumors?

Yes I can! It’s still in the making, I’m trying out a lot of things right now, trying to figure out where and what I wanna be/produce… Distorted basslines really started to wear of….

If you had to choose two artists to collaborate with, who would they be?

Brian Ferry, Tim Simenon

The difficult question… your favorite tracks at the moment?

DIM & TAI – Lyposuct
Boys Noize – Kontakt Me
Afrojack Mix – Cool
Housemeister – Whos that Noize

When you’re out of the studio or not touring, how do you spend your free time?

It’s pretty much about coming down and trying to relax.. So that would be the usual stuff like meeting friends, laying in the park… stuff like that…. but foremost: SLEEP!

It’s the first time you’ll be performing in Malta, could you share any secrets of what you’ve got planned for the Squadron and DonDisko ravers?

No, it’s a secret

As a final question, what do you know about Malta?

I’ve been to Gozo once and really loved it! It was in the middle of summer and it was very hot and dry.. and from my memories I remember Gozo almost desert like… very archaic, calming your mind down, just starring at rocks…. speaking of it, I should consider some days off on Malta…
Looking forward to visit you guys!

The One Before Its Over!

The Beat That Shakes The Mothership III at Amazonia

It’s the year 2079 A.D., somewhere far beyond the orbit of planet Neptune. On the lower deck of the Mothership, boys and girls from a thousand galaxies are dancing to funk and disco tracks from one hundred years ago, which Mathematikal are dropping and editing through use of their custom made ‘Math-Machines’, in real time. In the meantime, Squeak is going through the records in his bag, looking for the latest four to the floor beats and techno tracks, which he will be mixing into the Math boys’ disco-funk edits.

Back in the year 2009 A.D., we still lack a functioning time machine. The years of terrestrials and extraterrestrials coming together on the dance floor still seem to be relatively far away. The secrets of eternal youth and life seem even further. The Beat That Shakes The Mothership III, however, will be giving you a glimpse of the day when all is much nearer, this coming October 2nd.

Mathematikal and Squeak will be getting together for an entire 2-hour ‘versus’ set. It is promising to be disco music, funk music, rock music, electro and techno music. It is promising to be eclectic. It is promising to be fun.

Also DJ-ing on the night: Kenji, Chris Shannon, and John Collins.

TIX: 5 EUR @ the door

AGE: 17+ (ID cards to be presented on request)

D.I.M. Interview

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

interview taken from http://phase02.org/2008/02/interview-with-dim/

D.I.M. Tickets Out NOW!!

+ MATHEMATIKAL – SQUEAK! – BJAN-JENSEN – DALE 

Tickets are out now at only €15 and can be bought from any one of the following outlets:

Exit, Fact, Royal Impact, Dr. Juice & Ryans Irish Pub + selected runners

Anyone interested in being a runner for the event, kindly contact us on info@dondisko.com

Jam Factory

The 4th of September sees the intoduction of Jam Factory brought to you by Squadron & DonDisko. This will be a series of parties promoting local talent. The events will include a fusion of genre’s that will come together on one night! We will dance to the electronic sounds, from Nu-Rave, Fidget House, Electro, Chicago House, Detroit Techno, to Italo Disco.

The first edition of Jam Factory will take place in the unique Buskett Roadhouse Terrace.

On the Decks

FAT32
MANTHRAX
BJAN JENSEN
MATHEMATIKAL
SQUEAK

Get ready to JAM!