Published
Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 15:00
- Recently appointed music director Nate Seider has made his mark on the Chicago venue already, installing five new residents for 2010.
Chicago's Smart Bar will bring in five new residents for the forthcoming year, including their freshly appointed music director Nate Seider.
The venue has become a favourite spot for electronic music fans in the city, and is often the first club to break artists before they go onto further commercial success in the US. As a previous Smart Bar patron, Seider is well aware of its position in the Illinois nightlife scene. "I'm just trying to be as absolutely well-rounded as I can with the bookings," he explained to Chicago's Newcity Music site. "I want to try to really get a mind-blowing array of artists in there! Smart Bar is the kind of venue that's just the right size where you can have up-and-coming people; you can take kind of a gamble on things."
Although he wasn't supposed to be making any official decisions until December, Smart Bar have recently announced their new Seider-selected roster of residents, which brings in four new Chicago-based acts on top of Seider (who himself DJs under the name Nate Manic).
John Patterson has over thirteen years of turntable experience under his belt, spinning synth-pop and hip-hop before turning to techno at the turn of the century. After taking a break from DJing for a year due to the birth of his baby daughter, he's set to make his return at Smart, with the focus still firmly placed on techno. Sassmouth also favours a punchy four-to-the-floor style, and her mix of minimal, house and techno has seen her perform at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival as well as contributing original tracks and remixes to Detroit-based imprint Hej Records. She's previously lived in New York, Santiago and San Francisco, and currently takes up residence in London, so expect her globetrotting nature to come through when she hits the decks.
House music is John Simmons' forte, and he takes his main inspiration from vintage sounds emanating from both Chicago and New York. He's already clocked up over a thousand gigs during his DJing career, and has also worked as the road manager for Chicago legend Green Velvet. He's also been working on material with production partner Future Forward, co-producing and performing vocals on acid house jacker "Welcome 2 Chicago," a track that harks back to the days when Chicago was the centre of the house music universe. The Orchard Lounge collective are the final additions to the residential roster of Smart, and are the most diverse of all the acts selected by Seider. Mixing cosmic disco, house, vintage electro, hip-hop, soul and funk, the trio combine turntable trickery with live improvisation to create a unique party vibe with an emphasis on the dance floor.
Smart Bar regulars worrying about the status of current residents DJ Heather, Kaskade, DJ Colette, Santiago, Miles Maeda and Justin Long shouldn't fret. Seider has said that there will be plenty of events planned for 2010 that will feature all of these DJs.