Orange County Music Blog

It's a little strange to sense all the buzz surrounding Europe's new dark wave of dance floor sounds, which combine tribal drums with deep, chugging bass and a simmering sense of bacchanalia. The likes of Loco Dice, Sven Vath, Dubfire and Radio Slave have been churning out this latest club-land flavor, which lies somewhere between minimal techno and dubby house music. But it's been done before.

Fabric London

The doctor is in the house.

​

Rewind to the mid-1990s and behold one Southern California native Doc Martin, who was rinsing out evil, "druggy" house for the after-after-hours underground. Dry, loopy tracks would declare "New York-London-Amsterdam" ad nauseum; or a song would state, "It's dark in here ... it's wet in here ... it's deep in here ... I like it here." Even before DJ's DJ Danny Tenaglia was declared the king of the "twisted" sound, Mr. Martin was tweaking bodies and minds.

A DJ hero who has been at it since the late 1980s, Doc has never been a flavor of the moment. He's always been his own man, anchoring his strictly underground Sublevel events while jetting off ocassionally to headline the world's greatest superclubs. (London's Fabric is a frequent destination). Check out Doc's timeless, bottom-heavy grooves Tuesday at Focus.

Focus presents Doc Martin Tuesday at Tapas, 4253 Martingale Way, Newport Beach. 18+. Tickets $8 in advance. Doors at 9:30. Info: focus-oc.com.

Some would credit Europe with this thing we call electronic dance music by pointing back to the pioneering work of Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Can. They would be half right: Contemporary electronic dance music, like blues, rock and jazz, is a progeny of the interplay between black and white music. (See Juan Atkins, Frankie Knuckles and Moby). And so, for many years New York was the club capital of DJ culture, and Southern California was its backyard playground.

DJ T

​

But Europe has, in recent times, exacted a swift revenge on the world's dance floors. Berlin, Barcelona and Ibiza, Spain have surpassed New York, Miami and Chicago as clubbing's premier map points. And early techno and electronic dance artists such as Germany's Sven Vath, Booka Shade and DJ T - some of them beyond their 40s -- have come back with a vengeance, adding that lost ingredient of early European electronic - soul - to their teutonic groove boxes.

​

​As the '00s dawned a fresh crop of DJs and artists descended on club-land. Where the last generation had mastered the long mixes and hip-hop-style tricks of turntables, the new kids were getting under the hood of technology to produce multimedia experiences on the dance floor. James Zabiela is chief among the new wave of spinners.

The Brit burst on the scene in 2000 by winning a mixtape contest put on by a UK dance music magazine (Muzik). He was soon embraced by the progressive house elite (Sasha, John Digweed) and ended up showing them how it's done. Zabiela's groovy, forward-moving tech-house style is almost overshadowed by his skills: He often spins and mixes DVDs instead of CDs, and lately he's taken on the live performance software suite known as Ableton Live, which allows DJ to break songs into parks and reconstruct them on the fly.

It's a far cry from 1999, when it seemed that everything that could be done using two turntables and a mixer had been done. Things were getting stale. Little did we know that 10 years later jocks like Zabiela would take DVD decks, laptops and video screens to breath new life into pop's most technologically advanced wing, electronic dance music. Check him out tonight [Thursday] at Giant in Newport Beach.

Giant presents James Zabiela tonight at Code, 4221 Dolphin Striker Way, Newport Beach. 21+. Doors at 9. Free with RSVP; $10 for "express" entry. Info: giantclub.com.

​

Long Beach's Basement Lounge is on a roll. Lots of times, promoters come into Iowa by the Sea and claim big things are going to happen. Then they never do. But so far, the new people running the Basement Lounge have got a pretty good thing going on.

This Thursday's weekly Big Audio event includes hometown hero Greyboy spinning a set of soul music all from 45s. Watching him change records every three minutes should be pretty entertaining. I wonder when he'll find the time to take a piss break.

​


Thursday marks the opening of a new weekly club night at Long Beach's Basement Lounge. Called Big Audio, the kick-off event includes former From First to Last frontman Sonny Moore (aka Srkillex) spinning electro re-mixes, DJ Japson and DJ Jahmontee.

There are drink specials and the first 50 people to RSVP here get in for free.

Before the owners were busted for allegedly running a sex club, the Basement Lounge was the closest thing to Hollywood-style nightclubs that Long Beach had. Velvet ropes, dress codes, men/women way out of your sorry ass league, overpriced drinks...the whole nine. Let's hope Big Audio steers clear of all that mess.

Frankie Alvaro, looking flustered.

My girlfriend is part of the newly formed Long Beach Roller Derby, which meant I really couldn't say no when she asked if I wanted to attend their Friday night fundraiser at Que Sera. Luckily for me, I went, and unlike her work Christmas parties, this wasn't a drag at all. It was really fun.

Not knowing what I was in for, I grabbed a flier near the entrance and discovered the fundraiser was actually part of a new monthly event called Rock Box Long Beach. On this particular evening, DJs Frankie Alvaro, Neko, Saratonin and Soozee were spinning a range of house music to '80s re-mixes to Biggie Smalls hits. Somehow, it all worked.

​

Busywork, the old no-cover weekly Wednesday dance night at Detroit Bar, has been replaced by Pistol, the new no-cover weekly Wednesday dance night at Detroit Bar. The similarities don't end there.

​
For Chris Manak (aka Peanut Butter Wolf), the 90s will always hold a special place on his turntables. After starting his official career as a recording artist in 1990, this revered L.A. DJ/producer birthed Stones Throw Records, a premier source of eclectic hip hop culture, in 1996. Tonight, he kicks off his 999 Tour at The Glass House that pays homage to the era of G-Funk, New Jack Swing and those hip hop jams that still get the party going. It's the latest in his tradition of triple digit shindigs ( he's hosted events titled 666, 777,888 over the last several years). Tickets for tonight are $15.

The flier is pretty self explanatory: come out and party with PB Wolf and his gang of legendary DJs and performers for 9 consecutive nights in 9 different area codes at a party that is all about, you guessed it, the 90s. As far as LB and OC are concerned, you can look forward to catching the party on Sep. 3 at Club 149 in LB, Sep. 6 at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa and Sep. 8 at The Continental Room in Fullerton.  And in case you forgot what the 90s looked like (I know, it seems sooo long ago), PB is ready to refresh your memory.

Stepping into his role of Video DJ, the night promises a barrage of Clinton-era classics that bridge the gap between the golden age of hip hop and today's radio faves. Joining the roster for all 9 shows will be the legendary DJ/producer Prince Paul (De La Soul), DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill), Rhettmatic, Dam Funk (who we wrote about not too long ago), Mayer Hawthorne and Pase Rock. As if you need any more reasons to drag your ass to at least on of this wild parties, PB also has decided to tease you with a little bit of you tube promotion . You can tell they really put a lot of time into this. Check out the little tyke in the overalls.

​

Busywork is dead. Apparently.

In its place is a new Wednesday night dance party called "Pistol." Jon Reiser, Detroit Bar co-owner, filled me in on it a little bit a couple of weeks ago, but much of it still remains shrouded in mystery. But let's see what the flier tells us, eh?

"Cheap drinks all night." Nothing wrong with that. Joaquin, Nick Hernandez, Dallas Cornell. Those must be resident DJs. They should have more fun DJ names. (Mine is "Wild Ching. Don't steal it!) It also keeps up the Busywork tradition of being free, which is nice. The comic book-y look is fun, which hopefully speaks to the spirit of the evening. Logically, it's probably a metaporical pistol, which is also a good thing. Either way: enough info to interest, enough left out to intrigue. Could be cool. Or not. Who knows! Guess you have to show up. (Oh no, we've fallen for their trap!)

I'd tell you all about the Long Beach Funk Fest, happening tomorrow from noon to midnight on the corner of Pine Avenue and Broadway, but the flier does such a good job that I don't have to.

​

The 20th anniversary of rave culture's American birth is coming next year, and already it feels like the happy face era is making a comeback. In Los Angeles last month, Electric Daisy Carnival, a two-day dance fest with origins in the glow-stick underground, claimed attendance of 135,000 people. And rave veteran Destructo's new-school Hard festivals (the next one's Aug. 8 at the Forum in Inglewood) are getting bigger and bigger. Frankly, geezers are coming out of the woodworks. Orbital even regrouped to celebrate its own 20-year mark.

Add to that list a name from Orange County's hand-raising heyday, one Simply Jeff. (He might say, don't call it a comeback - he's been here for years). The OC DJ churned out some of the more compelling sets and mix-CDs of the 1990s and became a headliner on the national party circuit. His "funky breaks" style was as loose as they come. Well-spaced kick drums were spiced with sparse snares and the occasional hip-hop sample. While other spinners, including DJ Dan, moved away from the sound, we always credited Mr. Jeff for sticking with it. But alas ...

It looks like Simply Jeff redux has moved on to four-on-the-floor, electro-flavored stylings. (He still revisits break-beat bridges though. Check out his remix, with Swedish Egil, of Shannon's "Let the Music Play:" myspace.com/simplyjeff. We can't entirely blame him. Funky breaks died a long time ago. Some DJs still spin its predecessor, nu school breaks. But even some of that genre's biggest proponents, such as Adam Freeland, have move on to straight 4/4 genres or even band-based rock 'n' roll.

The problem with breaks is that people sometimes don't know how to dance to them. The lack of an emphasized kick drum on each beat causes some folks to skip a step, even though they don't need to. The thump-thump-thump-thump of four-on-the-floor music (house, techno, trance) leaves not one beat to chance. And so a breaks DJ is a rare thing these days. Too bad. The genre bridges the gap between hip-hop and electronic dance music as it harkens to our break-dancing past. If trance is sometimes soulless, breaks is all heart. The resurgence of electronic dance music in pop, in fact, is giving us shades of rave's break-beat glory. Witness Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," a funky breaks track in pop clothing. Twenty years on, if we can bring back punky colors, disco flavors, indie sensibilities and mega-raves, we can bring back the breaks. Jeff, we have a special request.

Simply Jeff headlines Relentless Beats 2009 at the Hudson Theater, 295 E. Caroline Ave., San Bernardino. 18+. Tickets $15 advance. Doors at 8 p.m. Info: plurlife.com

Okay despite the fact that he mentions playing in the "IE" tonight on his Myspace page when referring to his gig at The Continental Room, we're willing to give Jeremy Sole a break. He's just that good. And maybe while he's down here, someone can remind him that Fullerton is still in Orange County.

But either way, the fact that this late-night turntable wizard from KCRW 89.9 FM is coming down to show some love adds another solid lump on to Continental's DJ cred. As one of the co-founders of Afro Funke Thursdays in Santa Monica, Sole has been heavily entrenched in the L.A. underground scene for years, also fronting his own live 9 piece band and of course spinning his favorite funk, afro beat and world music in the wee hours of the weekend. He's also had the privilege to DJ and record with names like Lauryn Hill, Cut Chemist and Stevie Wonder. No, that last name was not a type-o.

Tonight, he'll be joined DJs Bobby Soul (no, they are not cousins) and Thee Conductor, in an all night vinyl session tailored to fans of rare, exotic grooves and some shit that just makes you want to pack the dance floor. Sets start at 9 p.m., no cover.

Good show going on Friday at downtown Long Beach's Rhythm Lounge. It's called Summer Bliss A Solstice Celebration and there are some cool bands playing.

Headlining is EOTO, an improv electronic duo featuring Michael Travis and Jason Hann from String Cheese Incident.

Also on the bill is Long Beach's Delta Nove, who plays a mix of funk, samba and jazz. I've seen DN millions of times and they never disappoint.

The show also includes performances by Swiv Tackle Circus, Alfred Howard and J. Wail Oslab (three acts I know nothing about), live visual projections, live paintings and DJs.

And for all you South County-ers reading this, the same show takes place Saturday at the Belly Up in San Diego.

Yeah, big things are poppin' in P-town these days, especially with the recently reopened Fox Theater. The latest: an all-ages, weekly dance night called "Club Matinée." They're already calling it "Southern California's biggest weekly all ages dance club," and given a real dearth of competition, they're probably right.

OK, I know what you're thinking--all-ages dance night? Danger, Will Robinson! It just seems like Chris Hansen will be lurking somewhere in the shadows. But it definitely looks like they're going all out for the first one--three rooms of dancing, each with several DJs, all of which have various hilariously goofy names (Joe Dirt! Reid Speed! Sir Charles! Mantastique!). They're also quite proud of what genres they'll be spinning: "electro / nu rave / indie / Britpop / indie dance / house / dubstep / drum and bass / wobble / fidget / baseline," all helpfully spelled out on the flier. Because you know you were waiting for a chance to bust a move to some wobble.

All of these genres and DJs don't come cheap, though. It's an eyebrow raising $20, or $10--before 11 p.m.! with flier! Yow. It does go until 3 a.m., though, which is nice, and keep in mind the dress code: "fitted, fashionable and avant garde." All three, one would assume--two out of three IS bad in this situation.