For the first time in Las Vegas history Ice is featuring DJ Roger Sanchez- Dance music superstar and recent Remixer of the Year Grammy nominee Roger Sanchez has toured the world as a DJ, launched the Arsenal and Narcotic record labels, and mixed for the likes of Michael Jackson, Jamiroquai, the Police, Elton John, and Daft Punk. But now he's on the verge of releasing his first solo album of original material, slated for a worldwide launch this fall on Sony. It's a project that relays musically the story of Sanchez's life growing up during the early '80s breakdance days of New York. "It's a soundscape related to trains and graffiti," he says, "from old boxcars and tin can trains to futuristic bullet trains that can fly at hundreds of miles an hour. I have a sort of retro-futuristic musical vibe. I'm into combining clean, digital sounds with a nasty, growling [Roland] Juno-106 bass line. A lot of my programming is funky and esoteric; hip-hop with a dance orientation. I'll program a beat with different drum sounds from the E-mu SP-1200 or the E4X, then I'll chop it up in [steinberg] ReCycle and come up with something new. Sometimes I'll take an entire track and put it through a filter." And not just the backing tracks. . . . The album's vocals get the treatment as well. "I like effected vocals," he enthuses. "I'll take a vocal and put it through a distortion box, then I'll resample that and layer it with the original. I'm into layering different sounds -- a cut-and-paste approach." In addition to the aforementioned gear, Roger's rig includes an Akai S950 and S3000, an Oberheim Matrix-1000 "for funky old synth sounds," a Roland JV-2080 and JD-990, and a Yamaha AN1x. But his favorite tool is the Clavia Nord Lead 2. "It has some seriously interesting effects and very 'analog-y' synth sounds." For sequencing, he uses a Power Mac 8600 running Emagic Logic Audio. Roger is ready to take his love of rocking dancefloors to the next level. "We're seeing a lot of DJs getting themselves together as artists," he says. "The challenge is, how can I represent what I do in the studio so people can see it? So they can touch it?" A slamming solo album and tour are definitely a start. SIMONA RABINOVITCH (From Keyboardonline.com)