Music Industry

Featured Artist: Gem City [Editor’s Edition]

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

Good morning! I just want to thank everyone again for taking the time to peruse my content. I for sure couldn’t do this without you!

Meet the interim editor of my website and the other half of Aries, Gem City otherwise known as Corey Reith to his friends and family.

Corey Reith is more than just a friend to me, he’s become like a brother. Love this dude and he’s the one who took me under his wing to learn how to mix. Without him, this Aries DO project may not have ever seen the light of day.

 

We first met at West Coast DirtyBird Campout 2017 as well as Holy Ship 11.0 ..unknowingly aware of the fact of who we were and not knowing that sooner or later we would be the best of friends and hanging out every weekend haha.

Moving forward with my platform, Corey is now my interim editor due to the fact that I can’t always catch my own mistakes. Thanks Corey!!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Can you tell us what music means to you?

Music becomes an escape from reality for me, whether I’m in my room with my headphones in, riding my bike around the city or at a music show with my friends. The second the beat starts and the bass hits reality, disappears, it doesn’t exist to me anymore. Escaping reality makes me happy, it gives me the strength to achieve what i cant achieve when reality is in place. Therefore music makes me happy, it makes me who I am. Personally music has dragged me all over the country, its showed me the beautiful places this world we live in has to offer. Its also showed me another side of me I didn’t know existed, in good and bad ways. Overall music has brought me to meet my best and closest friends to date, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it wasn’t for music.

So what’s your story? What do you do? Where are you from?

My name is Corey Reith, I’m a wide / small format print press operator. Im from Kettering, Ohio, just outside of Dayton, north of Cincinnati. 

 

How’d you decide on DJ and/or Producing? Why?

During my musical journey of traveling the US going to festivals and attending weekend shows, I personally wanted to start playing music for myself and my friends. I wanted to take the music I enjoyed listening too and piece it together in my own way. I wanted to take what was making me so happy and express it to my close friends and the people around me, hoping it would influence them the same way music influenced me. 

How did you end up coming up with your DJ name?

So when my friends asked me.. yo whats your DJ name… I thought long and hard. I wanted to have a name that reflected back on where I came from. Gem City. If you type in Gem City in google… first thing that pops up… Dayton, Ohio. 

What do you think is the hardest thing about being in the music scene?

I’d say the most difficult thing is getting KNOWN. I wanna be known, I wanna be that guy that people enjoy seeing.. I wanna be the guy that opens for the headliner and people come early just to see me. Not because they wanna support me, but because they like hearing what kinda songs ill play for them and what mashups ill come up with while I’m playing. 

As you have transitioned into being more of an artist do you feel that you don’t hear music in the same way?

Not at all, I’m just as into it as I was back when I went to my first show. I would always get over excited and get really bad anxiety. That still happens today sometimes, not as much and as often. Ill always be a listener… but one day I want to be a leader. Till then I will follow the right path.

Favorite Artist or Favorite Track right now?

Damn,,, I knew this one was coming… Ugh lemme think here… I wanna say my favorite artist is Maceo Plex…. I can say so much about him but ill make it short and sweet… The dude is a freaking masterpiece. His tracks are so weird and complex. His live sets are another journey and I simply cant even put that in words, thats something you just need to experience. As for my current Favorite Track… well ill just go with favorite Album… Is Enrico Sangiuliano’s Symbiosis. The whole album is just impressive honestly. Go check it out for yourself.

What are some artists or tracks you want to share with folks?

My homie Jacob Massey ( Mass Appeal) from Indianapolis. From when I first met him in Detroit at movement on a boat party with worthy, the dude HAS BLOWN UPPP. It seems like as if he strapped himself to a firework and just exploded all over the US. He has opened for so many big name artists, played some sick parties and even was on the Shipfam Island lineup. Im honestly surprised he isn’t signed by someone yet. When he comes to SF he’s not one to miss out on. 

22277909_359549234494883_8029358952334491648_n 2

Any mixes/tracks of your we should check out? 

 

Funny story I made this mix around 9 am in the morning after a long fun night with my man himself ^^^ Christian. I was extremely happy and proud how it turned out. If you ever get the chance to see me spin…. that mix will 100% give you an idea of what you will experience. 

Also be sure to check out Corey’s latest mix for our mix series titled “The Horoscope” created by our project Aries. The mix series is dedicated to highlighting bangers that you’d otherwise never come across and of course tracks we all enjoy!

Stay up to date with my posts by subscribing to my Newsletter below!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Stay connected with me.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

 

 

 

Advertisement

The Sound of Mew-sic [Box of Cats]

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

I’m so absolutely thrilled to be able to publish this behind the scenes interview with Box of Cats. This collective and label has been one of my favorites ever and I truly believe in their entire vision.

I first became acquainted with Box of Cats about a year ago via a certain Soundcloud repost by none other than Kyle Watson. That repost was Box of Cat’s 23rd release in one of their series they so cleverly named “Litterbox”. The release can be found here and it’s truly filled with gems.

At the time, I was feeling like I needed something different within the house & tech house scene and just happened to be on Soundcloud when Kyle reposted it and I became so enamored with all these new artists. I was elated and began texting some tracks to my friend’s to share and rejoice in my discovery.

Once I looked at their Soundcloud biography I quickly realized why I loved so much of the music: It was made up of some of my favorite genre-bending artists. Their bio reads “‘Box of Cats’ is the collective mind of Wongo, Jeff Doubleu, Jak Z, Kyle Watson, Tom EQ and Marc Spence“. What more could I have asked for in that moment? It was not only the music created by artists I already liked, but music that was created by artists that they liked.

I knew right then and there that this was a collective that I had to consistently keep my eyes on to discover new groundbreaking music. I try my best to stay up-to-date with Box of Cats and it has not disappointed me. They’ve exposed me to awesome artists such as Malive, Mancodex, Overthinking, Steve Darko, LOthief, MKJAY, Lucati.

Take a listen to their latest compilation series titled “Box of Trax Volume 1”.

 

I am very proud and happy to present to you a little bit of an in-depth look into the Box of Cats crew. I managed to get one of the cats, Tom EQ, to awake from his afternoon cat nap to chat with me.

Alright, so how on earth did Wongo, Jeff Doubleu, Jak Z, Kyle Watson, Marc Spence and yourself all come together to form Box of Cats?

We started from a mutual appreciation of each others music, releasing on the same labels, remixing each other’s tracks and dj’ing at the same parties. Most of us had releases on a label called Jack Union back in the day and we all kinda felt there was something missing from them, so we just all got together and figured we’d start a project to release vibes from ourselves and whoever we think is cool.  It’s like a social club.

What’s the story behind the name?

This was the hardest thing, we wanted something catchy and memorable, we all ended up on a conference call with the specific aim of getting some serious brainstorming done, but we ended up talking shit and telling jokes. Someone said “Box of Cats” and it was like a “yeah, that’s it!” kinda moment.

What sort of plans does Box of Cats have in store for the future that you can share with us?

Well you see we started off as a group of mates, with the aim of having a laugh, and we will continue to do so.  We want to be organic, with no pressure and just have fun working with some of our idols and give a stage to artists that are on the same wavelength. We do have our 50th release at the end of September that we are dropping for free as a thank you for all of the support we have received.

In your opinion, what is one of the most difficult aspects about being a collective/label? 

Being spread around the world can be an issue time zone wise, but the worst thing is managing the release schedule. Quality control is the highest thing on our list.  Every single one of us has to approve a track for it to make it onto the label, having heavy workloads can sometimes makes it slow to review a submission and respond.

As a cat, what’s your opinion on dogs?

We love all animals.

I have been playing out that new Folly EP non-stop. There’s so much depth to both tracks and the EP just blows me away. How do you manage to find these artists? 

The good thing about being a collective is that we have our own links.  Folly approached Wongo and he saw the talent, submitted the tracks to the rest of the group and we were all blown away.

Take a listen to the Folly EP below and make sure to support both him and Box of Cats by purchasing the track here.

 

Being a label, do you feel as though you can’t experience the music the same as you did when you were just a listener? 

Not at all, we love music, this is where are hearts are.  We would hate a day to go by were we don’t have something to listen to.  Yes, we do occasionally get some stinkers sent to us, but reviewing demos’s opens us up to new music we wouldn’t normally hear.

Any upcoming Artists and/or new Tracks we should be aware of?

There’s way too many to choose from, but Mancodex is totally killing it right now, he’s got a new EP we are trying to get our hands on at the moment ;).

Also, Botnek is throwing down some serious heat right now. In addition, we are also massive fans of GAWP (but he hasn’t done an EP for us yet!).

Favorite Artist or Favorite Track right now?

If there is anything we can all agree on, Kyle’s new album “Into the Morning”  out on This Ain’t Bristol is just a work of art.

 

Any mixes/tracks of yours we should check out? 

Check out our Soundcloud, we regularly post mixes and re-post stuff we are into.

How do cats feel about catnip?

Everything in moderation!

 

Last question, could you tell us why cats’ like boxes so much? 

This could get way too deep….

 

Looks like it’s time to let this cat get back to his cat nap!

Thank you again to Tom EQ and Wongo of Box of Tracks for connecting with me to write this piece. At some point in the future, I would love to bring some members from Box of Cats to San Francisco and organize a label takeover at a venue.

P.S. Do yourself a favor and cop one of these super awesome nifty Box of Cats shirts! Wongo is pictured on the left absolutely slaying on the decks.

 

Purchase your shirt here.

Stay Connected with Box of Cats.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud

Cheers everyone! I appreciate the feedback I’ve been getting from my friends, peer and people who have stumbled upon my project.

Subscribe to my upcoming Newsletter below!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

 

 

Aries – The Horoscope 002: Strictly ReciKnows

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

Hi all! Aries here bringing you your weekly Horoscope of music. This week’s episode features a mix crafted and curated by myself (ReciKnows). Gem City (Corey) was playing Fortnite alongside me so he was there for the moral support haha.

This weekend Corey and I tried to keep it pretty low key since each of us has been feeling more homebody lately so if you didn’t see us out at the club now you know why. Our lovely friends Drew and Anya invited us and some others to their new pad to mix live and catch some insane views from their new place. Check out some of the photos below.

HSS01-127HSS01-95

Pictures are courtesy of Drew aka OpenFire Photography and his nu nu equipment!

Oh and Corey & I weren’t the only ones mixing so don’t be surprised if you see some guest mixes emerge in some of the coming episodes of The Horoscope 😉

Stay connected with us.

Facebook | SoundCloud | Instagram | Twitter

Subscribe to my upcoming Newsletter below!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Mixed Mondays w/ Aries presents: Tech Hau5

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

It’s Monday again! Another work week means another Aries mix to get you through it! For this week’s Mixed Mondays, Corey and I are bringing you a pure tech house mix.

Moving forward we wanted to know what you guys wanted to hear! Whether it’s certain tracks, artists, labels, or genres give us your feedback! Drop a comment at the bottom of the page or via SoundCloud / Facebook!

Enjoy!

Love,

Aries

Stay connected with us.

Facebook | SoundCloud | Instagram | Twitter

Mixed Mondays w/ Aries presents: “The Playground” [Loco LDN Radio Show]

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

Hey everyone! Busy day for me I nearly missed writing a post for this weeks Mixed Mondays w/ Aries ;)!This week’s mix is just me holding it down since Corey was partying in the Dominic Republic celebrating the birthday of a dear friend of ours. Corey and I kept in touch and he was telling me about this crazy sick underground rave cave (pun intended) he stumbled upon that was rinsing some killer house & techno.

While Corey was off doing all that, I was recording a mix for a UK radio show called “The Playground” hosted by my friend Carlos Montalvo. The mix I made was probably one of the best mixes I’ve made so far and I’m pretty proud of it despite some technical flaws.

Without further ado, I’m super pumped to premiere my newest installment of my The Essence of House series.

Check it out!

 

Enjoy! I hope you all have a great week too.

Subscribe to my upcoming Newsletter below!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Stay connected with me.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

 

Creator’s Spotlight w/ Christian ReciKnows: Carlos Montalvo

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / 1 Comment

Damn did anyone else feel like this week went  by super fast? I’m not complaining, but I swear it was JUST Monday not too long ago haha.

Today, I’m bringing you a friend of mine named Carlos! Carlos and I met through the Bay Area DirtyBird page I moderate and we’ve seen each other at shows and other events. He’s got a knack for finding some real good tunes and all-around chill guy. We recently started hanging out more because he’s been kickin’ it with Corey a lot. Carlos had been listening to some of my mixes lately and was kind enough to offer me a slot on his radio show called “LocoLDN” that’s based in the UK.

To be perfectly honest, I was super intimidated and I had asked Corey to go b2b with me so I could have someone to get my back in case I messed up. Corey and Carlos eventually pushed me and told me to just do it and they said they believed in me so that was super sweet and I’m actually super proud of the finished product! It’ll be airing in the UK this Saturday at 2PM (6AM PST btw, but I’ll post it next Monday 😉 )

Anyway let’s jump right in on this Q&A with Carlos!

HRD Template Design Simple 2-2 copy

First of all, welcome! I love being able to showcase different sides of the music scene so I appreciate you doing this interview with me. Alright so the first question I love to ask is what does music mean to you? 

Music makes me happy. It’s always been a part of my life ever since I was a little kid to beginning of my young raver life to where I am right now and even now to seeing the joy and happiness of seeing friends and strangers around me listening to the same genre I love at a concert or show. Every time I’m out or at a show, concert, festival, or even in front of a dj set up, you can always catch me smiling and dancing throughout my whole set and I always feel like my mind just lifts up with my body and takes control. Music just brings complete happiness to my soul that’s unexplainable unless you feel the same way as well.

 

 Alright so where are you from? What do you do in your “regular” life? 

Born and raised in the LBC aka Long Beach city just a little south of Los Angeles. Currently I am a server and bartender at a small restaurant/brewery in downtown San Francisco. Aside from the busy work life, I dj and produce music and enjoying my two kittens wrestling each other all over my apartment to keep me distracted.

Walk us through a day in the life of Carlos.

A little boring at the moment to be honest due to my work hours haha but I always wake up early in the am for work, get back home to take care of my 2 kittens before they start destroying more stuff around the house, then while they’re having their wrestling matches when I’m home; I’ll either get on my laptop or put on my headphones, and start either working on music or on my controller and just enjoy practicing and mixing.

 

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com
Photo by Steve Johnson on Pexels.com

So you’ve been hosting your own radio show on LocoLDN called “The Playground”? Can you tell us what it’s about?

Of course! “The Playground” is a show that I created to pretty much show everyone what I can bring to the decks and show everyone what I love to do. Also, even though, I am the host of the show, I always have a guest to throw down a set to help someone get some exposure as well.

 

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com
Photo by Mikes Photos on Pexels.com

How did this idea come to be? Have you always wanted to become a radio host?

The idea came from where I live. There used to be a big playground in the backyard and I even threw a couple parties there which were so much fun. I thought it was a fun (no so safe) idea to put the dj set up on the playground on top of the slide and just loved how it happened every time. Having the opportunity to have a time slot that is being aired outside of the United States is a huge opportunity for me and I took it regardless of the little to none experience to being a radio host, I decided to give it a shot and so far I been liking it ever since.

How’d you get connected with LocoLDN?

I was randomly on facebook one day and I had a friend who I would talk to about events and one day he told me that there was an invite for those who would like to have any exposure in the UK. Of course, I couldn’t say no and was introduced to LocoLDN and House Radio Digital. I started to do my research about it and began talking to the people who were running and hosting the whole website and told me if I was interested to join and be part of it that I would have to be wait for the right time for them to post up their information and signed up. You best believe I was constantly checking their pages and group pages for the information for me to sign up and luckily I was able to get a time slot.

How long have you been doing this?

For about 7 months now. Best decision I have made in a long time. It can be very fun and stressful at the same time but in the end I couldn’t be more proud of it. 

So, you’re a DJ too, right? What’s your artist name? How’d you come up with it?

My artist name is “Nyctea”, pronounced “nick – tea – ah”. Funny how I always get people saying it as “nicetea” or “niktea”, I’ve heard it all. Nyctea came to me out of nowhere one day when I was at my apartment here in San Francisco and wanted to get a new dj name from what I had before (It was eternity by the way and that’s a different story). I started looking up different ways to say owl or night owl in either a different language or something that I haven’t seen before but once that name came out I decided to keep it and been using that name ever since I moved to the bay area.

If you could have any artist on your show who would it be? Why?

That’s a real tough one! There’s so many out there that I would love to have on there but I would have to say Will Clarke. He has always been a cool guy to be around, always fun seeing him at events and I would be so honored to have him throw it down!

received_2046165452063687

 Do you have any specific artist(s) that you are consistently listening to? (Or one of your favorite artists? Serves as a way to connect the artist w/audience by showing what they are into)

Have too many to say but I would say my favorite artist would be Carl Cox. He’s the main reason what brought me to the scene and has always been a huge motivation to continue working on music. 

Any upcoming Artists and/or new Tracks you’d like to shed some light on?

He’s miles away from me but I would have to give props for my good friend Angel aka “Infamouz”. Even though I love my house and techno, this guy has been getting into some dirty, heavy trap and bass music lately and I am very happy to see a friend from my home town to be moving up from what he used to be.

What’s your favorite food?

Stuck between Mexican and Italian.

 

Photo by Raduz on Pexels.com
Photo by Fancycrave.com on Pexels.com

Anything else you want to say? 

I would have to say that these past 3 years living in the Bay Area has been nothing but life changing. I am very thankful and grateful for meeting everyone I have met now and became my friends. If it wasn’t for any of you, I probably wouldn’t be still working with music and being around in the scene instead of living a boring life so thank you all and hopefully you get to see me perform at any upcoming shows!

Thanks Carlos! Stay tuned for my upcoming mix on his radio show this Saturday that will air live at  2PM UK time / 6AM PST US time. Here’s the link!

Also stay up-to-date with Carlos aka Nyctea on SoundCloud as well as MixCloud

Subscribe to my upcoming Newsletter below!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Stay connected with me.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

 

 

Featured Artist: Ocean Roulette

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

Happy Friday everyone! It looks like it’s going to be a jam-packed weekend especially with Outside Lands happening. I’ll be laying low, but I will be going out tonight to see the homie Michael Bricker open for Eli Brown & Dateless at Halcyon tonight! Speaking of Outside Lands, Louis Garcia aka Ocean Roulette is in town for the annual San Francisco festival and he was nice enough to do little interview with me!

10616181_659111914185186_7023154226965040479_n

Alright, so I love asking people this question as it really allows for artists to talk about music in a spiritual and philosophical way. Can you describe what music means to you?

Music can trigger memories like the first time I went to a rave, the first time I heard house music, etc. I love its ability to activate nostalgia. 

Where are you from anyway? 

I’m from Northridge California.

 How’d you decide on DJ/Mixing and/or Producing? Why?

I decided to begin this project once I decided to quit a rock band I had previously been involved with. My basic reasoning was that although I love indie rock music, the genre of rock had already been around for decades with an insane amount of saturation in the market. Electronic music was really cutting edge and always changing, I figured if I wanted to make a living off of music this would be the appropriate route.

Ocean Roul

What sort of style do you like to produce? 

Tech house.

Ocean Roulette is a really cool and interesting name. How’d you come up with it?

The name Ocean Roulette came from my love of the ocean and of casinos. The ocean represents mystery, depth, and overall just a world that most people are unfamiliar with. Casinos however represent risk, addiction, and all of the bad things in life disguised as something good and fun. Something about both of these themes felt like they could be explored through my music.

Ocean R

This is another one of my favorite questions to ask people that do interviews with me. I find that it really gives the readers and myself an inside look into the music world from the artist perspective. What do you think is one of the most difficult aspects about being in this scene? 

The most difficult thing is matching sounds together (beat matching). Even though two ideas can sound good on their own, they might not always fit well over each other and it is tough having to let something go for this reason. The majority of my music is made by creating a ton of ideas looping over each other then picking out which I like and deleting the rest.

In my opinion, not a lot of people realize that once you make the shift from a listener to an artist there is a fundamental change in how you experience music. You end up being a lot more critical and in a way you end up being way more technical about everything. Do you feel like nowadays you can’t experience the music the same as you did when you were just a listener? 

 Enjoying music can be even better as a DJ because you are often listening with the intention of finding new material for performances. The experience of finding music and testing it out live is an even greater way to appreciate something. On the other hand listening to dozens of tracks with the intention of finding music for a set feels more like a job sometimes than a leisure activity. 

22490028_1499578706805165_6487741380151414173_nLife is B

Favorite Artist or Favorite Track at the moment?

Favorite artist right now might have to be Gorillaz, their new album The Now Now is insane. Favorite track would have to be Lake Zurich. I’m a sucker for tracks that sound instrumental with vocals that come in later on.

 Any artists you think all of us should be aware of?

Upcoming artists on my radar: Sly Turner, Morelia, Sirkea, and Zendlo.

Any mixes/tracks of yours we should check out? 

Checkout my latest EP on Psycho Disco!

Do you have any cool shows or projects in the future?

Performing at Kosmic Gardenz as well as Jackson Tree in the Fall. Both are desert renegade campouts which is my favorite type of party.

Anything more to add?

Last bit – Someone once told me that the music we create does not come from ourselves but rather from the universe. In order to create great art you must be willing to listen and allow ideas to enter and pass through you.

Keep yourself up-to-date with Ocean Roulette by following him on Instagram and Twitter!

Subscribe to Christian ReciKnows’ Newsletter below to learn more about music, fashion, art, photography, my life and more!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Follow My Facebook Page!

Twitter Fingers (Twitter)

The Gram (IG)

 

Featured Artist: Middath [Exclusive Interview]

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / Leave a comment

Hey again! So it’s the middle of the week, which for some can be pretty rough. To put some pep into your step today, I would like to present to you one of my all-time favorite artists, Middath.

I first heard of Middath when the Celebrations album came out on This Ain’t Bristol. The album was chock-full of some incredible tracks and one of them happened to be Middath’s “Choppin n’ Cuttin“. I was completely mesmerized and it became one of my favorite tracks to date. I’m honestly never going to get sick of that track (I’m literally listening to it right now as I write this haha).

Middath, what does music represent to you? 

Music is and has always been an escape for me.  It’s been the only constant thing I’ve had in my life since I was 12 years old.  And to this day, nothing compares to the feeling I get when I create something new in the studio.

Where are you originally from? What were you doing prior to music? 

I am originally from Cape May County, NJ.  Prior to music, I’ve done lots of things and held lots of different jobs from flipping pizza’s to outside sales, worked at a county jail, opened up a commercial recording studio and managed a blockbuster lol.  

What do you do when you aren’t producing?

I’m currently a Warehouse Manager and have been working 9-5 for the same company for 7 years now.   

How’d you decide on pursuing music? 

My fiance actually got me into house music at a time where I almost gave up on music all together.  I definitely needed a change. I was originally a rapper and hip hop producer for almost 10 years at that time and got tired of it.  Creatively I felt “boxed in” as a hip hop artist. The scene was so predominantly focused on image and social media presence in comparison to the house scene which is truly focused on the music, not the DJ, which is how it should be.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Photo by Stephen Niemeier on Pexels.com
Photo by Jack Gittoes on Pexels.com

How long have you been DJ/Mixing and/or Producing?

I’ve been making music for about 18 years now but have been DJing/Producing dance music since 2013.

How’d you come up with the name “Middath” as your artist name?

Middath was a nickname given to me by two of my best friends back in the day.  Kind of an inside joke. To explain the story in detail as to how I got my name would require a 5 page essay from me so I’ll make it short as possible and break it down for everybody lol.  
1) My middle name is Michael

2) When I was a rapper, my stage name was Mike Middle

3) Joe Namath is a retired NFL quarterback who used to play for the New York Jets

4) Middle + Namath = Middath

LogoFINAL2Black(1)What’s the music scene like out in Florida?

The scene is very prevalent in Florida.  Most people assume Miami is the reigning capital for dance music here but the truth of the matter is that the underground scene has grown exponentially the past few years.  So many of us got sucked into the “Big Room Boom” 5-6 years ago and as we’ve all grown a bit older our taste in music has matured and evolved as well. From there, so many up and coming scenes have sprouted throughout the state.  Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville specifically. But even outside those cities you’ve got areas literally in the middle of nowhere hosting festivals like Distant Dimension and Dirtybird Campout. There’s also Okeechobee Music Festival and you can’t forget about Miami Music Week either.  Music is everywhere down here.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It must be so surreal traveling around and playing shows. Any clubs, venues, or festivals you have played so far that really stuck out to you? 

Last year, I opened for Claude Vonstroke at the Cuban Club in Tampa, FL.  The reason this show was particularly awesome was not only because of how packed it was but because the venue is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the world.  After I finished my set and Claude took the stage the sound goes out 30 seconds later. Then it came back on but the bass was off for like 20 minutes. Then the lights began to flicker.  This coincidental concoction of spirit meddling ensued for the remainder of his set.

If you could play anywhere in the world where it would be?

Elrow in Barcelona, Spain.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Any time I get to travel, attend a festival or throw down a killer set almost always leads to me making a bunch of new tunes afterwards.  A change of scenery works wonders for me.

Photo by Josh Sorenson on Pexels.com
Photo by Melissa on Pexels.com
Photo by Burst on Pexels.com
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com
Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

What do you feel is one of the most frustrating aspects about being in this scene? 

For me the most frustrating thing is submitting music to labels and having to wait weeks sometimes months for a reply that usually never comes lol.  Some labels will at least send you an automated “we’re not interested” email. But most won’t respond to you at all unless they want to sign your tracks.  This, in itself, is quite the mind fuck.

Do you feel like nowadays you can’t experience the music the same as you did when you were just a listening to it?

Yes, this is a constant struggle of mine since my brain has been conditioned to always analyze music.  It’s hard for me to let loose as a listener in the audience at a show or festival when my initial instinct is to figure out how and why something sounds the way it does.             

One of my favorite tracks of yours is called “The Treble”. What exactly were you thinking about when you created that track?

The Treble was one of those rare tracks where everything just fell into place for me very quickly.  Sometimes in the studio I’ll search and search and search for sounds that compliment each other and then I’ll switch things out as the track evolves.  This time around though each sound and instrument I chose happened to work well with everything else the first time around. I think the track took me maybe a day from start to finish.  All I was missing was some type of vocal and I knew I wanted it to be some type of old school hip hop thing. And sure enough, the first acapella I played was “1nce Again” from A Tribe Called Quest and “The Treble” was born 🙂       

https://soundcloud.com/audiophilexxl/sets/middath-treble-ep

How did you get involved with This Ain’t Bristol?

I sent my first demo submission to TAB back at the end of 2015 and ended up getting a response from Billy Kenny saying my track wasn’t right for the label at that time but he was keen to hear more from me.  My next demo submission I sent them a week later caught their ear and Seb from Maximono reached out to me about signing “Freaky Lookin Trick” to his Maximono Selections Compilation.

Favorite Artist or Favorite Track right now? 

Dateless has been on fire lately! Really loving his stuff at the moment.  

Tweet Middath to let him know what your favorite track is!

Can we hope to see you play in San Francisco sometime soon?

I sure hope so!  I’ll be playing at Vanguard in Sacramento, CA August 24th though.

Last question, why haven’t we seen you on a Dirtybird Campout lineup yet?!

I was originally supposed to play Dirtybird Campout East Coast this past year but couldn’t make it happen due to radius clauses and all 😦 Hopefully next year though!

Be sure to follow Middath on Facebook and Instagram! You can take a sneak peek at what he’s been cooking up lately in the studio ;).

Thanks everyone and stay tuned to see what other artists I’ll interview!

Subscribe to Christian ReciKnows’ Newsletter below to learn more about music, fashion, art, photography, my life and more!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything.

Follow My Facebook Page!

Featured Artist: Tim Baresko [Exclusive Interiew]

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / 1 Comment

 

Tim Baresko is the epitome of tech house. He is an up and coming artist that is definitely underrated. He has quickly been climbing the ranks in the tech/house scene. The guy is an absolute weapon and is a rare act to see. It’s going to be his very first time in San Francisco at the beautiful and enticing all-female run club, Halcyon. 

He played on Groove Cruise this past year amongst his fellow Frenchman Shiba San. Most recently he has been announced as part of the lineup for Destructo’s new ship experience, beautifully called “Friendship”. Tim joins other artists: Doorly, Shiba San, Motez, Phlegmatic Dogs, Nora en Pure, Golf Clap, Anna Lunoe, J.Worre and legend Giorgio Mordoer, + many more what’s set to be the best ship experience to date.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Tim Baresko’s tech house prowess will surely make for another unforgettable night at Halcyon. With support from artists like Shiba San, Claude Von Stroke, Sonny Fodera, Tim Baresko has been carving out his own path in the house/tech music scene. His collaboration EP titled “The Connection” with Shiba San is still something I constantly play out on a day-to-day basis.

Check out his other tracks too! I am actually currently listening to “Another” by Tim Baresko & Clyde P

Tim, first of all, thank you for allowing me to interview you and for taking the time to do this for all of us! 

In general, what does music do for you?

Music makes me feel in a good mood, it helps to escape from everything, It gives you emotions. That’s what I’m trying to do when I produce.

Where are you from?

I’m from Lille, north of France

IMG_3139

(Congratulations to France on winning the World Cup 2018!)

How’d you decide on DJ/Mixing and/or Producing? Why?

The resident DJ of the club I used to go when I was younger made me want to be DJ. This guy had a ridiculous amount of skill, playing 3 vinyl’s at the same time. I watched him play for hours, then after a few years of DJ’ing, I wanted to make my own tracks. I wanted to create something, put my touch.. 

How long have you been DJ/Mixing and/or Producing?

I would probably say about nine years of DJ’ing and five years producing.

How did you come up with your artist name?

I went to a music school in Paris, and we had to find an artist name, which is actually difficult. It seemed easy but I wasn’t at all. I couldn’t find anything I liked, but then one day I was watching a documentary with a friend about Pablo Escobar and suddenly my friend sait to me, “Baresko”. Of course, I responded saying “Whaaat??”. He kept going on about how Baresko sounded so cool and boom that was it haha

What has been your most memorable experience so far?

 Probably Tribe Festival in Brazil. A big stage with more than 10K people at the sunrise. The energy was surreal, one of my favorite set ever.

Any clubs, venues, or festivals you have played that really stuck out to you?

Ministry of Sound in London, legendary club and probably one of the best sound system in the world. Also when we had the residency at Sankeys Ibiza with CUFF, the ibiza vibe was utteraly and completely unreal…

IMG_3142

One of the most difficult aspects about being in this scene?

The most difficult thing for me is the eternal questioning about your overall production. It’s not easy to be really objective with your own work. The most frustrating thing is having wait before the release of your track, sometimes it can take a year..

This is something I have been asking lots of artist lately, but do you feel like nowadays you can’t experience the music the same as you did when you were just a listener?

Yeah pretty much.. I mean, for example, sometimes I am chilling listening to music with some friends (who are not into music all that much) and I say some thing like “Wo,  the kick bass relation is perfect on this one” and of course my friends don’t understand and say I’m not normal. Or when I’m in studio making beats, sometimes they say im kind of autistic lol.

Perhaps what they mean to say is Tim’s a wizard ha!

Favorite Artist or Favorite Track right now?

 I would say Camelphat, these guys are incredible. They’re able to produce super underground tracks and more accessible stuff. Their overall sound design is incredible.

Any other upcoming Artists and/or new Tracks we should know?

Lucati, a producer from California, you will hear about him soon, this guy makes only bangers and has a special touch. I love to play his productions! His next EP is coming on Basement Leak later this month 😉

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Any mixes/tracks of yours we should check out?

My new track with Clyde P and the amazing voice of Jinadu just came out on Sonny Fodera’s Label, he also did an Edit : Check It 🙂

Tim Baresko’s newest track with Clyde P called “Wanna Know” is actually superrrr smooth. The track lends itself to a groovy after hours setting (perfect for Halcyon’s dusk till dawn mission)

You’re coming to play Halcyon on Friday, July 20! First time in San Francisco, right? What can we expect to hear from you?

Yeah, I cannot wait for Halcyon, some of friends told me this venue is incredible, you can expect some bumpin’ beats from deep house to techno, I love to mix the genres.. I can’t wait to see San Francisco as well!

What’s your favorite food?

I’m a food addict. I love everything 😍🙈

Tweet Tim Baresko to let him know what your favorite food is!

Anything else you want to say Tim?

This American tour has been incredible, you American know how to party! I met a lot of amazing people and I can’t wait to come back in August for some gigs with Shiba San!

Once again, thank you Tim for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to me! I really do appreciate you.

Okay everybody, so the stage has been set for this Friday at Halcyon. I’m going to be there, will you?

Did I mention the ladies #pinkezup Ney x Miss Mak are doing a takeover to set the mood for this incredible night?

Buy tickets here! RSVP for the event on Facebook too! There’s a free guest list before 11pm.

Be sure to follow Tim Baresko on Facebook and IG

Subscribe to Christian ReciKnows’ Newsletter below to learn more about music, fashion, art, photography and more!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Follow My Facebook Page!

Twitter Fingers (Twitter)

The Gram (IG)

Facebook Profile

Tim Baresko at Halcyon + #pinkezup Takeover – July 20

/ Christian Recinos : Lifestyle Blogger / 2 Comments

Hey everyone!

So as requested by some of you, I am going to begin implementing an “events” section under the category of music along with a calendar that people can access to see local events around the city. I will try my best to post a little synopsis of the event :D.

To start things off, I would like to bring attention to Tim Baresko’s debut SF show this upcoming Friday at my favorite club, Halcyon.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For those of you who don’t know, Tim Baresko has been quietly slaying clubs left and right. He’s on tour right now traveling around the globe 🌏, treating fans to some really unique sets.

To warm us all up and get us moving, we have Wei taking the decks for the first time at Halcyon followed by the lovely ladies Ney x Miss Mak of pinkezup to get us groovin’

It’s honestly going to be a killer night packed with awesome music and great vibes that you won’t want to miss

Check out Tim Baresko’s SoundCloud to see what could be in store for this Friday!

Luckily for us, Halcyon is dusk till dawn 😉

Oh yeah, the first 20 people who show their pinkies will get one of the exclusive #pinkezup pins!

Buy tickets here!

RSVP on Facebook too! There’s a free guest list before 11pm.

Make sure to follow pinkezup to stay informed on their next takeover

Subscribe to Christian ReciKnows’ Newsletter below to learn more about music, fashion, art, photography and more!

Christian Recinos’ Newsletter Subscription

Don’t worry I won’t spam you, just let me know in the “Details” section what kinds of things you want to hear about whether it’s music, festivals, fashion, art,.. pretty much anything!

Follow My Facebook Page!