HomeGrown
Twelve months and eight DJs means we are done for the year. This month I've cut together a recap of all our DJs, using my finest radio-DJ skills, so you can choose your favourite one out of the bunch. {enclose homegrown_ep9.mp3} Then vote for the best homegrown DJ of 2009!
I'd say we've had a pretty good year. We're averaging around 1000 downloads per month, which isn't bad for a new show, featuring DJs who have yet to make a name for themselves :) Following is the rundown of our DJs from this year. Show them some love, download their episode if you don't have it already, and vote for your favourite back on the home page.
DJ Dunamis - Download
DJ
Dunamis hails from Moody, Alabama, in the US. He currently DJs and
produces music in his spare time, in a variety of genres, but generally
focuses on drum and bass. He plans for his DJing to become a ministry,
whereby he can share the love of God through dance music, in coffee
houses, clubs, churches, or wherever the Lord leads him. You can check him out at djdunamis.com
Christopher Carl - Download
Christopher
Carl has been DJing and producing under various aliases for over 10
years, plus he's a long time Tastyfresh member, and could be considered
one of the founding fathers of our community. His was actually some of
the first Christian club music I came across, back in the days of the
old MP3.com. Since then, he's shared the stage with Scott Blackwell, AJ
Mora, Andy Hunter, Kenneth Thomas, and Stryke, among many others. In
March of last year he reinvented himself as Christopher Carl, and since
then has begun to reach out to Kansas City, Missouri and the
surrounding area, with musical awesomeness. Chris passed away in July 2009, and we miss him loads.
DJ Shagz - Download
DJ Shagz has been spinning records for over 12 years in the
Greater Toronto Area (yes, in Canada!), playing gigs of all sizes and
colours (crowds from 2 to 2000, CD release parties, benefit gigs, DJ
workshops, etc.). He's one of the most professional non-pro DJs I've
encountered, his mixes are always programmed with great detail and he
never releases a mix he's not completely happy with. I've seen him open
for numerous bands, and he's known to support many charities around the
city. He's played gigs with The Crystal Method before, and is a teacher
at the Off Centre DJ School in Toronto. He's spun numerous genres over the years, but these days mostly
plays breaks, house, funk/soul/jazz, hip hop, electro/progressive
house, and a little bit of drum and bass (can you say seriously
versatile?!). After a 2 year hiatus he's now looking to get back into
gigging regularly. Contact DJ Shagz at djshagz.com
DJ NOS - Download
NOS, stands for No Other Source, and that
belief permeantes all of Rafael's DJing. I met him myself a couple of
years back and in the short time we spent together I saw him praying
throughout DJ sets, praying over which records to buy, and handing out
mix tapes to kids on the street. He wants his DJing to be used by God
in any way God would like. Raf's been a Tastyfresh member for a
long time. He was also known to hang around the FoundKids movement some
years ago. He started DJing in the mid 90s, and after mastering the
bedroom, he moved to Boston, where he played for "Transition Radio" for
MIT. He hosted many big name DJs from around the world, including the
likes of Adam and Trixie Warp, Dylan Drazen, Bingus Kahn, and Curtis
Atchinson. He also played for some years under the alias, DJ
Vertigo, making a name for himself spinning anything from Ambient to
Hard Techno, at raves and underground parties. He traveled the Mid-West
for a time, where he continued playing at private events and get
togethers. After returning "home" to Melbourne, Florida, Rafael went on
tour with the likes of Divine Rhythm, and Cloudburst and played one
event with Studio 54's Scott Blackwell. At the end of that period he
changed his name again, and spun for a time under the alias 'Unnatural
Vehicles of Light.' These days you'll find him back in
Melbourne, Florida. He's a supporter of SuDance, the dance music driven
aid movement for Sudan, and he has a weekly 4-hour show at 'House of
Joe' on Monday nights. You can find him online at Tastyfresh, and at myspace.com/noothersource
DJ Ecliptik - Download
DJ Ecliptik has been spinning drum and bass for the last few years... wait. But this is a trance mix? Start again... Truth is, Ecliptik began playing with DJ gear back in 2001, before
he finally baught himself a set of turntables. Having been exposed to
all sorts of music during the 90s, including dance music, he quickly
developed an interest in trance, psytrance, happy hardcore, jungle,
breaks, and progressive house. However, the turntables he bought only
came with an old set of drum n bass records, so for the next few years
at least, his fate was sealed. Before long, Ecliptik began work on his
own productions, using whatever cheap software he could find. He made
one track that his friend deemed worthy enough to get play time by the
DJs at a local club. Not knowing what kind of response it was going to
get, Ecliptik actually pleaded with them not to play it. Play it they
did, and it received an awesome response from the crowd. He's looking
to get deeper into music production in the near future. In 2005, he sought out the Christian Dance music scene and ended up
being signed on with DaGathering, an organization dedicated to throwing
all-ages events up and down the Golf Coast of Mexico. Recently,
Ecliptik has had a desire to get back into the house and trance
genres... so that's why we've got a trance mix from him! You can find
out more on DJ Ecliptik, at myspace.com/djecliptik.
DJ Spiritually Minded - Download
Adam Vegys Aka Dj Spiritually Minded from Toronto Canada has been producing for over 8 years and Djing for over 4. With every year
passing his sound is expanding and developing into more unique and
captivating sounds. His style in the studio ranges from Downtempo to
House music with a little drum n bass. On the dance floor he likes to
keep the energy high with House, Progressive, Minimal and Tribal. He
also loves to throw down some earth quake Drum & Bass which was his
first love in electronic music. Adam is currently working on releasing a wave of House tracks
for the dance floor after completing 2 artist albums of Downtempo and
Breaks. He has worked with Monica Shroeder on his track Crystal Sky.
Monica is one of Canada’s upcoming vocal talents and has been nominated
for best outstanding pop recording 2007 by Western Canada Music Awards.
Adam has also worked with local RnB/Hiphop artists Sean Prominent,
Steven Mulcare and Andrew Huang. Adam has performed on the Radio with CFMU 93.3 Fm Hamilton and has
also been interviewed on CHUO.FM Ottawa for his involvement in
organizing alternative positive events for electronic music outside of
bars and clubs. Adam has formed a team that run events every few months
for this purpose, called Sound Ministry based out of Toronto. Sound
Ministry was also part of a Documentary on Global TV's “Hip 2 be Holy”
showing how people are expanding the ways they connect with God and
reach out to people.
Keith
Babinec - Download
Most of
you will know Keith from the forums, he's been around for quite a
while, hailing from rainy Seattle. Keith's been producing and spinning
trance and hardcore music for the last 6 years. I fondly recall his
"Punch Your Mother in the Face" mixset, under the alias Frozen Robot.
Keith has turned his sights on electro now, however. He's refocussed
his efforts on writing and spinning quality electro tunes, some of
which we present for you today. During the month of June 2009 alone he
completed 3 remixes, plus this podcast (clearly Afterhours delayed us a
little) and has several more remixes on the way. Keep your ears
open for upcoming free releases on DataCycle Bootlegs, and more electro
mixsets during the year. In this mix he's crammed in 17 electro cuts
including one of his own brand new production tracks, which is a remix
of Tony Rocky Horror's upcoming single, Subatron. To follow Keith's producing and DJ updates go to twitter.com/keithbabinec
Ed "The Watchman" King - Download
Ed
hails from the sunny (really?) shores of the United Kingdom, where he
got into clubbing and DJing at a young age. I met him in Toronto and we
spun together frequently, doing a number of church and non-church
related gigs around the city. In our tag team sets he would usually hit
the darker, harder tunes, and was a huge fan of UK hard house. 2010 will see him starting to pump out some tunes of his own. He
has a desire to bring the gospel to the dance floors of the world, and
is getting into music creation now, to that end. He is also
experimenting with free form worship using loops and samples, combined
with live instruments. His dream is to be a catalyst in fusing dance
music and worship. If you'd like to meet him and you're in the London
area, check out the new church plant in Wembley that he's a member of.