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Under the gun: Loco Dice
RA reaches into the bag of one of its top 20 DJs of 2008 to see what's been getting play in advance of his gig at this year's Time Warp.
Why do we love Loco Dice? Let us count the ways. One: The Düsseldorf DJ recently stripped things down and toured in venues that had a capacity of only 300. Two: He'll soon be off to play enormous festivals like Time Warp in Mannheim, in which his sets will go over just as well due to his innate sense of a dance floor's needs and desires. Three: He recently completed a mix for NRK that reflects the sound you can hear from Dice at intimate gigs and big room gatherings. Four: He's convinced some of his favorite producers to remix his work over the past few months on Desolat to devastating effect. Five: He gladly gave up ten of his current top tracks to RA early this month in a discussion that touched on pure beats, why Robert Dietz is the next big thing and being a good listener.
 Levon Vincent - These Games [Novel Sound]
"I bought this in the record store here in Dusseldorf called Flipside. Vladimir, the Desolat label manager passed it on to me and said, 'You need to listen to this' and from the first two or three beats I was like, 'Yeeeeah. That's the sound I'm looking for.' This is my kind of music. The music I love. Very dirty, very chunky, very club. If you play it at the right time, it hits you right in your heart because these are pure beats."
 Lawrence and Troxler (youANDme Edit) [White]
"Someone from Rotary Cocktail sent this to me and, to be honest, I don't know what it is! I guess it could be a mix between Lawrence and Seth Troxler. The vocals sound very bad. Just like my man Seth. He likes to do those spooky vocals on his tracks. I use a lot of vocals overall—I tend to use a lot of bonus beats and then put on an a cappella or play a record without bass or mids to get the vocals. That, for me, is DJing—mixing up various styles and genres."
 Livio & Roby vs George G - Invers De Palma [Cécille Numbers]
"This one from these Romanians has a very heavy beat with some very weird undefined vocals in the break. It starts out really slow and chunky and then comes the kick and...boom! People in Romania are very open-minded I think because it was one of the last countries to open up in the East. It was very difficult for them to buy records for a very long time, so when the internet came along it changed everything. I remember Rhadoo, Pedro and the rest of the crew at Circo Loco and they'd be on the floor no matter who the DJ was. Just listening, listening, listening. They're still very hungry for music."
 Sebastian Lutz - I'm Telling You (Robert Diet'z The Story Is Over Remix) [DoEasyRecords]
"I picked one of Robert Dietz's tracks for my NRK compilation, but this one is very different to that: It's a little bit more funky and he plays a lot more with the snare and bass drum. I think he's a person to watch in the next few years. A lot of the guys on Cécille and Oslo loop quite a bit. For them the basis is the groove. Robert, though, is someone who gives the track a song characteristic—a beginning, a middle, an end."
 Derrick L. Carter - Dreamin' (Bonus Dub) [Classic]
"I have no explanation on this track. Just pure old-school beats. I love to drop this one when I experiment with the crowd and myself. I play this one and then see what direction I can go. Carter was one of the guys that got me into dance music. Classic. NRK. Danny Tenaglia. I'm still paying respect to them by playing their records. I always try to add one of the classic tracks in my set that hasn't been played over and over. It's always great to have someone come up to you and say, 'Wow! What is this?' and say, 'This is a record from the early '90s!' For me, coming from hip-hop, some things are still so fresh and new."
 Even Tuell - Untitled [Workshop]
"This is the first track on the new release from Workshop. I've been collecting this label since the first release. I love the design—it's very simple. The stamp on the record and nothing else. What I love on this record, though, is the vocal: 'Detroit.' For a lot of people it's annoying. Too much Detroit or whatever. But it fits with the beat he created and, for me, when the vocal comes in it's never annoying because it's integrated so well. I really like Workshop because they're not afraid to release things that aren't dance floor orientated. We need more labels like it, labels we can collect, labels that release things and just say, 'This is a track. Put the record on and listen to it.'"
 Yakine - Backstabbers [Je T'Aime Records]
"This track is new, but it also has an old-school vibe with beats that remind me of stuff you'd find on NRK, Nite Grooves or something like that. It's quite refreshing to play this after a lot of deep and hypnotic tunes because you'll immediately see a bit of ass-shaking on the dance floor. And we need the ladies. I think that I have two copies of this, which always seems to happen to me. I will get a promo copy, say, and then buy it in the record store and download it on Beatport after forgetting that I had it. You get a lot of stuff for free as a DJ, of course, but I have to have the things that I love on record. I'm still a big collector and go to the store once a week if I can."
 Kenny Larkin - Cirque De Soul [Planet E]
"Beautiful track. I love the piano when it's intelligently played and really integrated into a great groove or a great story. And Kenny did that here. Unfortunately, I can't play the piano. If I'm playing it, you're running away. I can't play a proper instrument. But I'm a good listener!"
 Mikael Stavöstrand feat. K.atou – Dark Eyes (Brothers Vibe Remix) [Lick My Deck]
"No explanation needed for Brothers Vibe. This man is Mr. Sexy Groove. Every single track of his has amazing percussion and it's always different. This is a very deep track with an old-school vibe. When I first heard his stuff, it was magic. I had to buy everything that he had put out. I was playing it in the early DC-10 days and Ricardo [Villalobos] was a big fan as well and then Ricardo did an interview where he mentioned Brothers Vibe and it just blew up. He was already a good weapon for DJs by that time, though, because it's just heavy analogue beats smashing over your ears."
 Radio Slave - Koma Koma [Rekids]
"These tracks—the ones with ethno-percussion—are the ones that you play in the last hour or last half-hour. That moment when the security guard is in front of you with a look like you've already played too much and he's going to shut you down. That moment when the light guy has turned the lights on and off three times to let you know it's time to stop. And then you put this record on and everybody gets on the dance floor again and you tell the security guard and the light guy, 'Good luck.'"
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Published / Friday, 20 March 2009
 17 Comments
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