New breaks mix CD, "Break It Down," now available!
June 4, 2009
Yes, at long last, it is finally here: "Break It Down," my first-ever breaks mix. It's a trip through the best bits and pieces from my record collection, or, as the cover blurb says, "This mix is 45 minutes of breaks, beats, loops and snippets (taken strictly off of original-pressing vinyl, in case you care about that sort of thing) all arranged in a compositional, half DJing, half beatmaking style."
I'm really proud of this one. It took a lot of time and effort to have it sounding like I wanted it to sound--layered, complex, but easy to listen to. I think it came out pretty well.
You can listen to a sample snippet right here, and you can listen to another sample snippet right here so you can get a sense of the style of this mix. If you're ready to buy, you can cop it right here from the fine folks at The Giant Peach, or from the legendary Turntable Lab, or just drop me a line. I'll be putting this thing in the finer Bay Area record stores this weekend, and it should be available through some other websites soon.
Check it out--and thanks for the support.
Cornbread! (aka I have a new song for ya)
June 2, 2009
So a little while back, my stromie Raashan Ahmad (of Crown City Rockers fame) asked me for some beats for a project he was working on. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity and sent him some. He picked one, laid some fantastic vocals, I did some scratching for the hook, and a dope new cut was born.
Finally, I can share this dope new cut with y'all.
Raashan's entire project, called Soul Power, can be heard right here (and I do suggest you check out the whole thing). The song I produced is called "Cornbread," and you can listen to it right here. It's been getting a really good response thus far, and I must say, I'm pretty proud of it. Check it out and enjoy!
Chicago stand up!
March 30, 2009
I've been wanting to play Chicago for years, and thanks to m'man DJ Intel, it's finally going down. In case you can't see the flyer image above for some reason, here's the deal:
Saturday, April 18
Butterfly (772 W. Grand)
9pm-2am
No cover!
DJ Enki joins resident DJs Intel and Merk 1 for a night of top-notch music and DJing.
Hope to see y'all there!
When/where to catch me in February
February 9, 2009
I've got me some good giggage lined up this month, and I might even be squeezing in a few more shows before we roll into March. As it stands, here's what's on the docket:
Sunday, February 15
Industry Night at Mix Downtown, 1525 L St. in the Firestone building, Sacramento
9pm-2am
No cover with pay stub or business card
Thursday, February 19
Thursday Throwdown with Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist at the Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley
Hip-hop, funk, and old school gems from 10pm-2am
FREE!
Friday, February 20
Flashback Fridays with DJ Mere and DJ Mpenzi at Luka's Taproom, 2221 Broadway at Grand, Oakland
Hip-hop, funk, and party-rocking classics from 10pm-2am
$10
Sunday, February 22
Industry Night at Mix Downtown, 1525 L St. in the Firestone building, Sacramento
9pm-2am
No cover with pay stub or business card
Yeah, I'm staying busy this month. Come through to the shows, have a good time, and come say what up!
NYE party at Luka's in Oakland
December 30, 2008
I haven't DJed a New Year's Eve party in a good three or four years, but I'm coming outta NYE retirement for this one because we're gonna tear it down in Oakland. And by "we" I mean DJ Platurn, Zeph & Azeem, and me. There's nothing like rocking a show with the homies, and it's gonna go down in a big way right here. Here's the scoop:
Luka's Taproom (2221 Broadway at Grand, Oakland CA)
Dinner/doors at 7pm, party starts at 9pm
Free champagne toast at midnight
Cover: $20
You definitely want to get there earlier rather than later
See you at the party, and see you in 2009!
People Under the Stairs--"Up Yo Spine" (DJ Enki remix)
November 21, 2008
A couple months ago, I did a remix for People Under the Stairs' "Up Yo Spine," off their then-upcoming, now-released Fun DMC album. I think the remix came out pretty well, so after procuring Thes One's blessing, I am now spreading it around so other folks can get a little bit of this here bassline bump. You can download it right here. Check it out and play it loud! Hope y'all are feeling it.
I get money, money I got!
September 29, 2008
When I got home from work today, I found something in my mailbox I was not expecting in the slightest: A royalty check from BMI!
Granted, it's for less than $50, but still, the mere fact that I got a royalty check at all is something else to me. So, to whoever out there is playing, buying, or using my music: Thank you. For real.
Blast from the past mix download: Sumpthin' for Bumpin' in the Stabbin Cabin
September 27, 2008
Now this is taking it back a good 8 years! My man Lalo has gone to the trouble of uploading my second official mixtape and posting it to his blog. I recorded this in 2000 and finally put it out in 2001. Ah memories....
This mix is an interesting one to me for several reasons. The recording was decidedly unsophisticated, as the only program I had at the time was Cubasis AV. Not Cubase. Cubasis AV, a $100 bare-bones recording program for my pre-iMac Macintosh. Stereo recording? Any sort of automation? Not happening. It's all done in mono, and I had to do the mixdown live on the fly as I mastered to cassette (remember those?), then recorded the cassette onto CD via my old roommate's sophisticated-at-the-time CD burner (it could then duplicate the CD at an astounding 4x speed!) and broke it into seven tracks.
Then there's the music itself, which is much more random than pretty much every other mix that I've done. My other CDs usually have some sort of cohesive sonic theme, but this one really went all over the place--Strangers With Candy samples, children's records, rap parodies, a Chicago remix, there's all sorts of wacky stuff on here. I haven't revisted the idea of really getting far-flung with it since this mix, but perhaps I should--this is the mix that people are the most enthused about. I have other mixes that I like better, but of all the comments I've gotten about all of my mixes, this one gets the most effusive praise. Hopefully you'll dig it a lot, too.
Adventures aboard The World, Part II: I gets down with the Croatian persuasion
August 28th 2008
Concluding our triumphant worldwide tour of Croatia were stops in Trogir (Town Motto: “Trogir? I barely even know her!”) and Zadar (Town Motto: “No relation to Zabar’s, so don’t ask about our bagels”). Trogir was nice enough, though smaller and somewhat less interesting than Dubrovnik. We were able to take in most of the town in a couple hours of wandering, but the town is very nice to look at nonetheless.
Adventures aboard The World, Part I
August 15th 2008
I came to be aboard an extraordinarily luxurious, private-property cruise ship called The World while it was anchored at Dubrovnik, Croatia (before moving on to Trogir and Zadar, both also in Croatia, and then Venice) courtesy of my good friend Chris, who has been my friend since the eighth grade. Without getting too deep into it, his pops owns (yes, owns) a condo (yes, a condo), on this ship, and Chris invited me to join him and his wife on it for about two weeks. It’s a hell of a deal--on board the ship, everything is already paid for, and it’s pretty damn swanky. How could I refuse that offer? So, after meeting up with them at their new home, Vienna, we jetted off to Dubrovnik and boarded the ship.
Hit the road, Jack!
August 9th 2008
As soon as I relaunch this here website, I go on vacation. Hmmmm...do a little bit of work (and by "do a little bit of work," I mean "pay somebody else to do it for me"--what up, Marta?), then slack off for a couple weeks. Is there anything more American than that?
At any rate, I'm off to Europe for the first time ever, and man, am I excited. I'll be hitting Vienna, Dubrovnik (Croatia), and Venice, the latter two aboard this ship, pretending to live a lifestyle I couldn't possibly afford in real life. I'll try to post some updates while I'm gone, but considering I won't have somebody to pay to do it for me and the fact that I'm going to be incredibly lazy, it may end up being one uber-update once I'm back home. Stay tuned!
Free mix download: The Party & The Afterparty Part II ... and visit me @ the O-Faders Blogspot!
August 1st 2008
A week ago, I posted up the first part of the mix and explained the concept behind it. Now it's time for part II (or side B, if you prefer): some soul and mellow funk for relaxing after partying to part I/side A.
Well, here is side B, the Afterparty side. Strictly OG vinyl, no scratching, just music for gettin' cozy. Enjoy!
It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you...without a web page to click to!
July 31st 2008
Yes, my website was on hiatus like Diamond D, but now I'm back on the scene. In the interim, I made my first visit to Toronto to play at Never Forgive Action with the homie DJ Platurn (and inspire some photography, it seems); I put out another record with the good folks at Slept On Records called "Every Man for Himself" that also has cuts by E Da Boss, Nick Andre, Troublemaker, and Woodstock (with rhymes by Gift of Gab, Jern Eye, Phoenix Orion, and Raashan Ahmad) and that you can download off of Amazon if you don't want it on vinyl; I provided the soundtrack for this year's SF Crawfish Boil with a New Orleans funk mix that will be generally available soon; I became an official member of the Oakland Faders (don't forget to peep out the Faders Blog as well); and just now, I wrote the longest sentence I have written in quite some time.
I've got some other new projects coming soon, both mixtapes and production, so keep an eye/ear out for those, too. And feel free to poke around this here website, wonderfully designed by the great Marta van Eerdewijk. Put your feet on the coffee table, rummage around in the fridge, make yourself at home. Mi virtual casa es su virtual casa!