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Clayton the Chemist

Also this issue:

Bad Is Good
There’s a reason for the sudden success of The Bad Plus.
-Nate Chinen

Minister of Information
This is Al Jourgensen’s United States of Whatever.
-A.D. Amorosi

suitespot
Peter Burwasser on Classical
-Peter Burwasser

The Mercury Program
-Paul Burress

Philomel
-Peter Burwasser

My Morning Jacket
-Brian Howard

Cousteau
-Nicole Pensiero

Strawbs
-Nicole Pensiero

May 1- 7, 2003

music

Litmus Test

Roundup of local DJ mixtapes.

Clayton the Chemist

The Funk Is On Its Way

by Sean O’Neal

Style (music and/or mixing): The smoothest mix of raw, lip-smacking funk you'll ever hear, flawlessly and professionally beat-matched to perfection. The slow jams range from recent to ancient and are packed with horny horns, funk-guitars, soulful vocals and broken beats. It's a head-bobbin', toe-tappin' joyride down Funk Avenue ideal for laid-back home listening or a looong drive in the car.

Essential/representative tracks: Your soul will be captivated by the eclectic selection, which includes Ben Horn's "Stripped Down" (on Voodoo), Nickodemus & Osiris' "Mariposa" (Giant Step), plus three unreleased tracks of jazzy trip-hoppin'-ness from his own Clayton and Fulcrum project.

Find him: Better known for spinning drum and bass, Clayton drops the funked-up broken beats every first Saturday at Saint Jack's alongside Fulcrum, Aker and Art Cuebik. He's also been seen tearin' it up jungle-style at Fluid, Transit, Silk City and Club Maxim.

Chris Purtell and Mike “MOOV’s” Montgomery

Bringing That Feeling Back

Style (music and/or mixing): The duo immaculately mixes soulful house and garage -- Body & Soul-style -- on this promotional item for their new weekly at Fluid. With a lot of toying with EQ knobs, the deep and butt-moving house beats are wrapped with male and female vocals. In-house MC Vance (along with other friends) drops constant reminders on the mic about the new weekly, shout-outs and announcements like, "You're in the mix" and "Let's go."

Essential/representative tracks: You'll throw your hands in the air to the vocal-laden garage anthems, like Aaron Carl's "The Boot" (on Wall Shaker), Tommy Musto's "O.R.E." (White) and Kerri Chandler's "Rex Club Dub" of "You Don't Live Here" by Third Generation, featuring Chavell.

Find him: Known as the Sound Rangers, you can catch these soul-weavers every week at Fluid for Culture Tuesdays. Before this, they were Aqua Lounge's resident DJs at the legendary Pure Fridays parties.

G.C.

All the Pretty Bassbins

Style (music and/or mixing): Brace yourself for a deadly, ruthless body jolt through tech-steppin' drum and bass, bringing out the soldier in all of us through hard-hitting drumlines, roaring sub-basslines, sinister tones and an occasional soulful vocal lick. The shuffling beats and cold-blooded funk will throw your jungle-loving body into a dancing frenzy.

Essential/representative tracks: Features a dark and menacing array of top-notch D&B tunes that are up-front and in-your-face, like "Me, Myself & I" by JB & Spice (Back 2 Basics), the classic "Can't Punish Me" by Dom & Roland (Moving Shadow) and "Come With Me" by Philly's own Trust (Gasm).

Find him: Just starting to break through in Philly's D&B scene, G.C.'s hard-nosed, upbeat sets can be heard most Fridays at Club Maxim during Wiggle Productions' after-hours parties, Sundays upstairs at Pomodoro's and occasionally he'll rock it at the Fusion weekly on Fridays at Olive Branch. It's about time this kid earns a spot at one of the Platinum nights.

DJ Trevitt

Automatic Interlude

Style (music and/or mixing): Mesmerizing, mechanical and hardly melodic. You're pulverized by bangin' big-room, rave-friendly techno. Trevitt's robotic EQ-twisting, fader maneuvers and tight mixology sustain the sky-high energy level. It's hard, driving and mind-numbingly mesmerizing.

Essential/representative tracks: Lose yourself in tracks like Tony Rohr's "Filtrjazbang!" (on Hidden Agenda), Tim Xavier's "Big Guns" from the Sexy Beast EP (Infiltration) and Andrei Morant's "Stranded" from the Flood EP (Biotech).

Find him: One of Philly's few techno DJs and part of the Foundation Vibration and Global House Movement crews, Trevitt is most known for his now-terminated Automatic Tuesdays weekly at New City Tavern and random Strobe techno parties at Silk City and Aqua Lounge. He's seen shredding the funky 4/4 techno and house at one-off rave/rave-ish events in Allentown, New York, Bellmawr and Philly.

Peter Muench

Deep ’N Dub

Style (music and/or mixing): Douse yourself in deep, soulful, dubbed-out house music. The Marylander gently carries you through a softly pumping array of laid-back house saturated with light, airy vocals. Muench's smooth, long mixes intertwine a soul-soothing array of musical styles within a deep house format -- from flamenco to Mid-Eastern polyrhythms, jazzy funkiness or jackhammering ass-shakers.

Essential/representative tracks: Soak in the dubby soul with tracks like "Spanish Gan" by Gene Ferris (on Backup records), the Inland Knights remix of Joshua's "Watch Da Bass" (NRK) and, from our own hometown, the Pete Moss remix of Solomonic Sound's "Children of Isreal" (Worship).

Find him: A medical doctor by day, Muench continues to lace smooth, rich sounds in his living room after a couple gigs at a now-defunct coffee shop, Wild Child Cafe, in Wilmington. The future for him is still wide open.

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