breaksny

Aww shux. Thanx JayP. I'll look for you @ the next 1 & @ the next Bittersweet on the 6th.

Well this was a blast too! Never partied in an airplane cabin b4, and what a rockin party it was! Royce kicked things off very ecclectically and excitingly with a an electro-heavy set, that brought in some nice Fla tracks and fingerlickin funkyness 2. This was certainly one of the most innovative warmup sets I've heard anywhere recently. Some of the tracks had a very early, "Planet Rock" Bamabaataa-esque feel to them, while he also roughed up the edges of his set with a Soto (think it was them) track that's on Botchit breaks 3. Nice nostalgia indeed. He also had a few Fla traxx toward the end as well. Shugga followed for the next 80-90 mins and simply scorched on the decks, in my book the nite's top set. It was quite Bedrock Breaks heavy, with 4 traxx from Hyper's masterwork, but as usual she threw us some tight tight acid electro curveballs (also the name of one of the Elite Force traxx CER dropped), that showed why she's the city's ace nu skool/acid electro DJ. No one's sweeter. Mike Robinson had a couple mini sets (1 of 15 mins, and another of 30-45 mins or so) during the party, and I don't think there's anyone grooves during his sets like he does. Mike as well through in some tight electro as well as some phat soulful traxx, and rockin Plump DJs traxx like "Scram." Phat indeed. The Heart & Soul delivered as well. CER was simply blistering on the decks, with 2 (count em 2!) Elite Force traxx that may've been the standout portions of his turn on the turntables. I'd never heard their stuff before and it was a very nice preview for their upcoming set @ Static 2 weeks from Wednesday. Mike also banged some of the old skool Fla sound that just hyped the crowd beyond all expectations. He is a top mate too. Finally, Atomik Rage (who I hadn't heard before) basically gave me an education in the history of old skool and Fla electro. It was nice to have CER's and Mark's running commentaries on the history of many of the traxx throughout the set. Indeed this is the roots of where it all comes from and impeccably mixed, as well selected. Atomik doesn't just make the history of breaks come alive, he contemporizes so you feel as though the music from that time is alive now. Phat set indeed. Shoutouts: Maudy, the Chrises (Crobra and the other, sorry forgot your name), Mark, Tilly (likewise forgot yours, sorry), the Mikes, Kelly, Royce, Trisha (damn you have impeccable negotiating skills, Atomik, Brickhouse, and all the CP, nubreaks, bigapple, and naughtybooth crews for showing. And remember, Turbulence 2 is just 3 weeks away on Sun, Feb 17th. See you there.

O and just to clarify, Maudy Cara's and DJ Wool's party is gonna be on Weds @ Coal (230 E 9th St., adjacent to Solas). And here's Mike's announcement from Bigapple: http://pub65.ezboard.com/fbigapplebreaksfrm2.showMessage?topicID=8.topic Bittersweet Goes Weekly, Daybreak goes bye-bye, Radio & -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tons of news on the breaks front this week: Starting in February, Bittersweet breaks will happen every Wednesday. The new schedule will feature resident DJs, Sara "Doomer" Walker, Kswing, women MCs, and more. Stay tuned. Liquid Todd invited me and Miss Bliss to spin on his Solid State show on K-rock (92.3) this Saturday night, so tune-in. Last night’s Turbulence party went so well, Idlewild invited us back for a Sunday Party on President’s Day Weekend, Feb 17. Speaking of Sundays, Daybreak is Dead. It will not be happening this Sunday. I’ve been invited to another breaks party, thurs Feb 28th, details to come.

Wow well I find nothing on naughtybooth, nothing on nubreaks, nothing on bigapple. And yer all here. LOL I'll put my long review up after lunch in a lil bit. Glad you all came since it means the city has a real breakshead core into the music. Definitely something to build a fanbase around. And remember, coming next month we'll have 3 weeklies in NY (though all r on Weds ): Bittersweet, Static (if you like yer breaks electro), and Bigapple. O ya and the next Turbulence party will be....(opens envelope) Sunday, Feb 17th (President's Day Weekend). Wait for the official announcement from the Mikes (CER is a Mike too)for details.

I knew there was someone out there who wrote better reviews than me. Nice job m8. Btw, get yer bum on nubreaks and bigapple if u ain't there already. Naughtybooth's not bad either.

If you can make it, Turbulence @ Idlewild is tonite (Thurs 1/24). The address is 145 E Houston @ 2nd Ave. The lineup is kickin too: CER, Atomic Rage, Shugga, Mike Robinson, and Royce. You should hear a pretty diverse asortment of sounds, like those of you who went last nite probably did (couldn't go myself cuz of an illness). The party's free and the bar loox like the interior of an airplane cabin, so if you go, enjoy yer flight.

No self discipline then? Ya brotha I feel yer pain.

Tony Blair would be proud.

U do know the party's free right? You can always drink water. Just a thought.

Hmm...whatever.

Bedrock came out in the US on Jan 8th and the UK release date should've been the day b4.

Um well...I dunno alot but when Buzz does have parties, by all means you should go. It's arguably the best large club in America anyway. Apparently you guys have the largest breaks scene in the northeast/mid-atlantic states anyway. It's certainly larger than what we have up here in New York, though we're starting to build something ever so slowly. I can tell you this much, Smalls is alot of fun to watch. He gave a very good set, like I said imo better than BLIM even. His promo disc is tight too, nice blend of fla, acid, and some nu skooly stuff. There's a party coming up on Saturday Feb 16th (dunno where yet, but should in the next couple days) with Smalls, Imri (from philly), and Elite Force from Whole 9 Yards (1 of the top hard nu skool british labels). I should be there and will probably post a review about it later. I would check out Buzz's site and maybe even ask on there for leads about other websites on the DC breaks scene since they seem to get some good talent down there (they had Hyper on the 11th...see the Philly board for my review of his set in Philly). Travis the guy who brought Hyper, BLIM, and Koma and Bones back in Nov is also a local jock in the capital area and by repute anyway, pretty darn talented. As for websites I know of, try: www.nubreaks.com or www.breaksworld.com (the latter has a massive webring, probably with some links to some dc sites). One of the DJs down there (Shane was his name I think) gave me links for www.oobliss.com and www.scratchtraxx.com too which are supposedly DC centric, though I didn't seem to find much on there myself, but maybe I was doing something wrong. Hope that helps.

Ya we do. We're just on other boards about it. Read the last daybreak thread for my 2 insanely long reviews of his ny sets. 1 was alot nicer on 1 than the other. :b

No you haven't. This board's all NY breaks: http://www.djmissbliss.com/bigapplebreaks/index.htm www.nubreaks.com has alot too.

It's a bit old, but worth reading, if you have the patience. Below are reviews from about 10 days ago for both of Lee Coombs's sets in NY on Jan 11th and 13th. The 1st is for his set @ Centrofly on Jan 11th. I'm sorry but this was just flat out dull. I'd say it was disappointing, but as K Swing correctly reminded me, this was advertised as a housey breaks party and so it was. Does the Fly ever have anything else on their main floor? O ya the ocassional trance and techno parties, my bad. Well the breaks were present in his set (he played half a dozen or so things from either his or other fingerlickin comps), but the set was clearly more housey and housey-breaks than it was straight breaks. The latter probably made up @ most a third of all the music he played. I hate to be this harsh, but Coombs was the 1st of 5 times I've seen a British jock in the last 3 months when I left before the end of his set (though it's not like I didn't give him a shot since I stayed a solid 2 hours). He did play some decent stuff like the Drumattic Twins, but I really wasn't feeling it overall. And he's without doubt imo the weak link in the fingerlickin family. To be fair he doesn't spin the same style as other DJs on their label. but he doesn't compare in terms of track selection or playing a dynamic and exciting set to the Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts, or Soul of Man either. His mixing skills may be sound, but apparently that doesn't make for a great DJ since he didn't bring the goods, and I feel as though I (not a DJ) cool pick better tracks for him to mix than he did. Maybe it's just my taste cuz I really am not into housey breaks (I guess I shoulda known since I don't care for Meat Katie's "Seismic Sounds" b/c of the Chicken Lips and Switchkraft traxx on there). But I just don't think Lee Coombs is the kind of out of town talent the city's breaks scene needs to build itself, even if he's spinning house on the main floor of the city's trendiest club. That's probably the whole problem anyway. If it's gonna be in the Fly, it'd probably be better to have such a party down in the Pinky, and preferably not with a housey breaks DJ, unless you're going for the sort of party we has last nite, which to be honest wasn't that breaky. Better to continue our slow, but steady progress in smaller venues, and hope an opening comes someday @ one of the city's gems like Filter or Baktun on a thurs, fri, or sat. It certainly could be worse here, as I saw on Wed in Philly, where there effectively is no breaks scene @ all, which makes it that much more competitive, so K Swing told me anyway. But on the other hand, we don't have a Buzz here anymore either, which besides bringing the best in every other kind of dance music, brings the best in breaks as well to Washington. We don't have a club like Fluid in Philly either, which is sort of a mini Buzz, a real jewel of a place that's small, intimate, but still has a nice lil dance floor, nice decor, and good looking people who go to party, not b/c they find others who are good looking, but b/c they wanna party to the best music around. Filter and Baktun sorta come close, but it's not the same. I'm sure with time things will get better, maybe the Pinky or Baktun will become the focus for these events. Let's hope so and keep working on it. The evening was saved as usual by Terry Casey, who delivered a much more interesting house and breaks set of his own, and all the cool people I hung with during the nite. Trakstar it was nice to meet you and I definitely look forward to seeing you on Sunday @ Daybreak. And it was great hanging with Mike, Cara, Ugo, Royce, Trisha, Abdul, Kelly, and Katie. Sorry if I forgot anyone. Thanx for a fun evening, even though the music left alot to be desired. This 2nd 1 is for his set @ Daybreak on Jan 13th: Well despite the rather poor time I had on Friday, I did indeed give Mr. Coombs a second shot last nite and the difference between his 2 sets was the difference between nite and day. His set @ Daybreak was nothing like what he played on Centro Fly's main floor @ all. It was 100% better and was nearly as much fun for me as seeing Hyper and BLIM, both of whom I've seen in the last 2 weeks. I should say paranthetically that Lee and I talked about my previous post that slagged his set @ the Fly pretty hard, and in certain respects unfairly. I was wrong in saying he's a poor DJ, as last nite's all breaks set proved he obviously wasn't. He was clearly aiming for two totally different things @ each of the two parties he was playing @. Centro, being a funky house club, demanded a house/housey breaks heavy set for it's main floor. By contrast, the Pinky wouldn'tve and the Rivertown Lounge clearly didn't, since he had complete freedom last nite to play whatever he wanted to, and he excercised that freedom to a great extent. And within that context, housey tracks were few and far between. He was much more heavy in playing out Fla/US Freestyle influenced tracks, electrolaced choons, a heavy dose of fingerlickin funkiness, and a bit of nuskoolish tunes as well. It was a far cry from Friday nite. But that raised an interesting point he made. Coombs as an artist is about both funky and other forms of house and housey breaks, as well as the more raw, funk, beat, and synth-filled tracks he played last nite as well. In a nutshell, he cares deeply about "moving the music forward," as he put it and not being pigeonholed or building walls between styles of music. He seemed hurt by what I'd said on this board and elsewhere since he takes his work personally, probably as any musician or artist does. And I certainly had no intention of causing any personal harm myself. I just don't like funky house in particular myself, no matter who does it. That's why I've only been to a few subliminal sessions or gbh parties, and never had a particularly good time. That's really more a reflection of the fact that I personally don't like that style of music, than on Lee Coombs's ability as a producer/artist/DJ in making or playing that sort of music, which he seems to do pretty well. I just like his (non-housey) breaks work alot more than I do his house work, since I'm not a big fan of house. I still personally like the work I've heard of his label mates better, but that's just my personal taste. And I have yet to see any of them perform live, whereas I've seen Coombs twice now, doing two very different things, and doing them both well. I just like one of them alot more than I do the other. Terry Casey joined us mid conversation and made a point that I'd been thinking about before talking to Lee about Coombs playing on Centro Fly's main floor and mixing house and breaks there. By playing breaks and introducing it slowly to a house crowd in the city where house may be bigger than anywhere (with the possible exception of Chicago), this may be the most effective and quickest way to help the growth of breaks, by exposing it in small but gradually increasing douses to audiences of the most popular dance music genre in the city. That's sort've the flip side to my criticism of having Coombs or other breaks jocks play breaks in a house venue. While I can see the validity in that argument, particularly in light of the possibility that over months and years it could have an impact, I would think booking Coombs in the Pinky or a less wankerish club would've been better. Last nite was sooooo much better than Friday, it's hard to put into words. Hi set was far more musically varied, he had a much livelier (albeit far far smaller crowd), and he had much greater freedom to experiment musically than Friday, where he had relatively little. I could understand him wanting to mix breaks with house, as well as the possibility that he may've needed the money that only a Centrofly main floor appearance (and possibly not even the Pinky) could've given him. But I'd think there are better audiences which Coombs taps into naturally with which to make inroads in developing breaks's popularity, namely the city's dnb, 2 step, and progressive/trance scenes, particularly the former 2. But despite agreeing with him that the crowd @ on Friday was pretty whack, he clearly liked the music he was playing, otherwise he wouldn't have been up there canning it. He likes and obviously plays funky house. I suppose I just have difference tastes. But last nite he was clearly on form and delivered a blistering set that had people rockin in the aisles. The 2nd Daybreak party was also made far better than the 1st by the blistering sets delivered by Shugga and Sara Walker who just stormed it!! One clubber was so amazed by Sara's set that he couldn't stop talking about how inspired he was as a budding DJ himself. I kid you not. Sara is the real deal and will one day deservedly be a DJ of national (and hopefully international) repute herself. She is among the top jocks in any genre of dance music (and to think she plays 2 of em!!!!) in the city. She threw several curveballs @ us, especially in the early part of her set, including some electro I was not expecting, and the classic Information Society anthem "Running." The rare version she played has the band's lead singer cracking his falcetto during the chorus, that you won't hear when the song is playe in it's radio version on one of the freestyle shows on WKTU on Sat & Sun nites. Blame Mike Robinson 4 that 1. Likewish, Shugga delivered what may've been her best 2.5 hours of music I've yet heard her play live and she is still my personal favorite DJ in the city. Smiling yet, Kelly? You've earned it. Shugga continues to bang electro, funky, and nu skool tracks in combinations I just don;t hear anyone else doing. She's one to watch no doubt about it. And of course the indominable Miss Bliss kicked thigns off with storming fla breaks that just prove no one can make this hot form of breaks as fun and danceable as the Bliss Queen. Listening to her sets with the solid 80s freestyle and other electro influences that make up Fla breaks put me back in the 1980s, in a good way. Bravo Cara! And finally our guest mixer this weak, DJ Stride, who played for 45 mins, was in top form with a solid nu skool-electro melange that banged it. Mike Robinson's own cameos throughout the nite were tight indeed, especially the freestyle tracks (particularly the Infosoc he couldn't stop caning), and his Beastie Boys and other hip hop scorchers. All in all, this was far and away the best party Robinson has thrown yet, and the best the city has seen since Hit the Breaks! And thanx to everyone who I hung with, especially Mike, Terry Casey, Lee Coombs, and everyone else. I had a wikkid time! Can Robinson top himself? Well next with the men (Royce, Mike, CER, DJ Wool), K Swing, and Shugga should have a good shot. Be there or be triangular. Peace!

Old, but screw it...that nite was REALLY inspiring to me as a breaks fan. I JUST (like 5 mins ago) got back home to NYC and it was well worth the trip down. I should say sorry to Jaypee, Mellow, Jlrwin (sp?) et al who were planning a meet up...did you guys pull it off? I came down to DC late Thurs and didn't have net access again till now so I missed the news of when and where you all were gonna meet...I shoulda looked for the nubreaks/breaksworld sign or made one myself. LOL Anyway, if any of you are gonna be there on the 11th for Hyper, I'm 50-50 on goin right now depending on how this NY thing pans out, since there's still no confirmed date. I may not make a decision till the day itself. I hope we get another chance to meet up thouhg. Anyway, I gotta say you guys in DC really have a hard core breakin crowd down there and the vibe in Buzz is just incredible. Some guy asked me if I thought this was the best club in America, and the only rival to the title I can think of is Spundae out in LA/SF, which I only know by reputation. I had a great weekend with Sasha, Burridge, and Van M on Thurs (lots of breaks there too) and then BLIM, Smalls (a simply wikkid dc area breaks jock who actually topped BLIM's set by a wide margin after the Botchit/TCR titan finished), and Oron, a 2 step jock who banged it for a couple hours b4 BLIM took the decks around 1:15. BLIM also dropped the mighty (fuckin) ming, Triffid (from his Modernizm disc), and a bunch of other stuff I recognized, but alot of which I didn't know by name. The set was pretty anthemic (if there is such a thing as breaks anthems), but definitely didn't really flag in energy. After he was done, the mighty one informed me he's hoping his new album will be out b4 June. And he seemed very interested in the prospect of playing up here in NYC some day, so area if you're in my fair city and reading this, you heard it from the horse's mouth. He mentioned his agent, so get crackin cuz he seems to want 2 come here as much as we wanna see him. And I gotta give lots of props to Smalls again. Really a diverse set, and a bangin one as well. He was as good as any of the local jocks I've seen up here in NY, and I think by now I may have seen most of them live, since we don't have many. Smalls is clearly a reason why DC's breaks scene is blowin up indeed, as a local DJ told me. I think we up here could learn alot from them, not at all to say that our DJs have any problems. I just think it could be educational for us. All in all, Buz @ Nation is a great party at a great club, and the breaks slammed last nite. Thanx again BLIM!

We do have alot of good restaurants too. That's probably the best thing to do around here besides 86th St.

I live here but I never really go out around here. At least we got a Century 21. Cheap Italian dress shoes...great for guys or girls.

Well the rumors are true. I did indeed make the trek back home (I'm originally from Philly) for 1 nite to see Digweed's lastest prodigy live on the decks in person. And as expected, he's a supercool, nice, and talented bloke. He stopped by Cue records, down the block from Fluid (far and away the best club period between NY and Buz), a lil after 7, did the usual photoshoot/PR stuff with the store's staff and then spun a few records and chatted with me and some of the store staff for a few mins b4 heading off to dinner. It was pretty disappointing imo that barely anyone showed up to see him @ the store, especially since it was promoted on this site and elsewhere (that's not a slag at anyone in particular, more a comment on how small Philly's own breaks scene is). We talked about a few of the tracks on his comp and he said he too is working on an album hopefully for release later in the year, but definitely not on his own label since he thought that'd be a conflict of interest. He also told me his plans are to be here in NY in March and he's quite looking forward to it since he's never played here before. January isn't happening b/c they couldn't find a venue, as Draco announced on this board himself, and as others up here have told me. So mark your calendars NY, with him, the Plumps, and Soul of Man all tentatively slated to be here, March'll be a heavy month. He also mentioned to me a few places over here he was really looking forward to, but unfortunately he was standing right under a speaker that drowned him out and I rather foolishly neglected to ask him to repeat himself. However, the one name I did catch was Spundae, so LA/SF get ready for some great shows next week since he's amped to see you guys. The set itself was quite nice and the vibe @ Fluid is as lively as any club I've seen, especially considering Philly's breaks scene is even smaller than NY's, so a few local DJs told me anyway. Hyper drew heavily on his album and kept it pretty proper and bangin in a nu skooly, acidic, bassy sound music wise. He must've played half or more of the tracks on Bedrock Breaks, which in this case was basically a good thing since so many of em are upfront, such as Rennie's "This is Acid: Pt 2,"Terminalhead's "Give Me Head," and Puretone's "Addicted to Bass," among many others. He also dropped a track by the Insiders (so I was told) that was very proper acid, right after the Pilgrem one. Nice transition. He was very energetic, very interactive with the crowd during his set (though so relaxed and chilled during the warmup sets that came before him that I almost wondered if he'd dose off...just kidding). And he answered everyone's questions after his set was done a little after 2 (Philly really does close way too early). Let me add, contrary to what some have said previously about his mixing, it is spot on tight, exciting, and hot. His song transitions are smooth, lively, and interesting. He's really lacking nothing in the mixing skills department, and I'm sort've miffed as to where that criticism arose from in the 1st place. He's rightfully one of the best up and coming breaks djs around. I don't wanna forget to mention that my evening was made much better by the people I met and hung with from Philly, Todd from Cue records, Imri who opened for Hyper and gave a blinding set himself, Anton Chasm a local jock and one of his friend/promoters Pete, and 1 of the women who helped brign Hyper to Philly and is playing Fluid on the 23rd with Imri herself if yer gonna be down there, Summerjoy. A great time was had by all and certainly myself. Get ready North America, Hyper's about to rock the continent like he did the City of Brotherly Love!!!

?

I think most of the people who went had a great time. No question this was an incredible followup to last week's stunner. I can't really say the music overall was better, but it was as excellent in a different way (namely the sound was basically harder, slamming even), topped off by the fact that for most of the evening the Rivertown was packed. I don't think I have ever seen a bar that full before (not that I'm much of a bar hopper). Sure chalk some of it up to the holiday, but chalk alot of it up to the buzz that's sweeping America's metropolis. This is the music (ya I know I'm preaching to the choir on this board ) that's blowing up here in NY and apparently around the country, maybe in England and elsewhere too (you Aussies already know what I mean). There were 2 major surprises to party last nite, 1 of which was obviously DJ Infinitee's blistering set. His concoction is without doubt a "Killa brew," as Soul of Man would say, of the best of storming West Coast and Fla breaks that ranged from funky to twisted acid to rockin old skool sounds that really rocked the floor. He's the real deal folks. The other biggest surprise was the ripping hard nu skooly set delivered by Robinson. Boy did that come out of left field, not that I didn't expect he had such stuff in his arsenal. Evil 9's "Technology" ripped the floor up, especially for me since I hadn't heard it in a month. Basically Mike's mixing was spot on, with basically little of the progressive breaks or funky/soulful sounds I'd seen him can before. Quite a pleasant surprise indeed. CER put in the most labor intensive effort, spinning for a full 3 hours in total on the nite, of which I caught about half. His last hour which closed the party out was full of the gnarley basslines I dig, smoothed around the edges with some more progressive material such as "The Mighty Ming." Mike's a great, humble, affable guy, a la the Roycemeister and he seems to treat his DJing and mixing like a science, very much concentrating on the music @ hand but studying his crowd's reaction intensely as well. Along with CER & Infinitee, I also hadn't seen Royce before and his set was just funky as hell! Along with Infinitee, he arguably had the most distinctive sound of all the DJs last nite and just banged it for the hour or so he was on the decks. A class act that brings some funkiness among NY DJs that maybe only Robinson and Wool can match among jocks I've seen here thus far. As always the indominable Shugga slammed on the decks for her set, bringing the best electro and nu skool sounds to the best party in the lower east side. No one combines the 2 the way she does in putting the very tightest sounds on vinyl (or silicon) and yes she sounds 10 times better live than recorded (not that that leaves much to be desired either). NY's fastest rising star pushed all the right buttons last nite. And finally Jersey's finest K Swing (besides giving me a lesson in rhythm 101 b4 her set) was incredible on the decks. No one seems to mix nu skool, fla, and electro as seamlessly as the Swingster. She pushed herself on a nite she wasn't feeling her best and just left everything she had in the DJ booth on the dance floor. She's an inspiration to any aspiring DJ or music fan, no matter what your tastes may be. I didn't quite know what to make of DJ Celt's set, since it ranged from dnb, maybe some hardcore (???), to fla breaks. It was certainly diverse but didn't seem to fit the party's vibe. JMO. All in all, however, yes you could certainly make the case this (along with last week's party) was Robinson's best yet. He appears to have a limitless supply of good musical and artistic ideas, as does his entire crew. Ok quick shoutouts to everyone who was there: Trisha, Abdul, Mark, Cara, Kelly, Katie, the Mikes (all 3 of you ), Royce, Rob, Mark, Infinitee (sorry I forgot your name), Amy (forgot your husband's name, sorry), Betty, Brickhouse, and anyone I've been to much of a wanker to remember. Sorry. Also shoutouts to all the people I wish'd been there: Ugo, Rennie Pilgrem, BLIM, Hyper, Sara, Glen, the everyone @ fingerlickin, the Botchit & Mechanoize crews, the tcr family, everyone @ W9Y, heir McMillan (ya I know I'm sucking up now ), Dark Globe & Boy George, Talvin Singh, Rehka and the rest of the breaks and dnb world. Peace and expect a review of Turbulence sometime Friday. Yes Mikes et al, I'll be there.