With 20 years of turntable experience and about 2.500 live gigs, Mike S.Kreama certainly has a story or two to tell. When I prepared for the interview with him, it wasn’t easy for me to make sense out of the long list of things he has done already.

Good thing that Mike is an open and friendly guy and helped me understand his history and his idea on good music. Let’s start with an exclusive mix from him:

“I used to play in various Funk, Ska and Reggae bands, and that still influences me as a DJ. I played drums, guitar and bass guitar, and I still like electronic music with some organic elements in it. I also have tons of oldschool HipHop and Electro vinyl at home. These are my roots.”

With these roots, it’s no wonder that DJ S.Kreama has developed a preference for Breakbeats and other funky electronic sounds. Techno has remained somewhat alien to him.

“I was interested in Techno and Goa sounds for a short time years ago, but I quickly sold all the records that I had bought from those genres. Techno is too similar to military march music to me, and my music is a kind of protest against this. Straight beats are ok sometimes, but it mustn’t be too dull and simple. I like rhythms with a little bit of shuffle in them.”

If I wanted to explain to someone how to promote yourself via social media, I would probably use DJ S.Kreama as a positive example. He does a great job of promoting himself and his buddies through various platforms such as Blip.fm, Twitter or SoundCloud.

“I wasn’t really aware of the power of social media until about a year ago. I have a friend who organizes underground parties in Miami, and he is promoting his parties mostly through social media. He explained this to me and since then, I really got the hang of it and use it a lot to promote myself and my friends or get in touch with other DJs from around the world. I get really good feedback, too. You just have to give people something that they value, that’s how you can be successful in the networks.”

Being a sound designer by education, Mike has been lucky to work on several music-related film productions. He is particularly proud of Sonic Mirror, a film about Billy Cobham.

“Billy Cobham is an awesome Jazz drummer, and it was a great pleasure to work on this movie. We really travelled around the world and traced his roots with him. He was also sampled by Massive Attack for their song “Safe From Harm“. I can’t say that I was this lucky all the time, but having had the opportunity to work with music I love means a lot to me.”

About 10 years ago, there was a hype around a new sound from the UK. It was called 2Step or UK Garage and sounded like a fusion of House, RnB and Breaks. The hype didn’t really last long (at least outside the UK), but over the last few years, there seems to be a revival of that sound with some really good tracks coming out right now. I really like the current UK Garage wave as it seemed somewhat different from the first one (less cheesy), so I created this mix.

Tracklist:

This mix is hard-beating, fast-cutting and takes no prisoners – just like a ninja. I selected some truly banging tracks and forced myself to mix faster than usual. Sorry for some transitions being not as smooth as they’re supposed to be, but this level of energy just wouldn’t work with too much planning.

Oh, and by the way, you can also hear my first remix in this set: A dirty house version of “New Noise” by Refused.

Tracklist:

1. Heads We Dance – The Human Touch (Sideschains Remix)
2. La Roux – Bulletproof (Hyper Crush Remix)
3. Ladybox – Cookies Fly (Prod. AC Slater & B.Rich)
4. Who Da Funk – Shiny Disco Balls (Sex On Monday Remix)
5. Jan Delay – Disko (So Called Friend Remix)
6. NAPT ft. Louise Marshall – Make My Day (Jack Beats Remix)
7. Timid Tiger & Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way ft. Ludacris & The Notorious BIG
8. iPunx – Dizzee Busta
9. Shodan & Fatman D – And The Beat Goes (Sonz of Mecha Mix)
10. House of Pain vs. Micky Slim – Jump Around
11. Refused – New Noise (Sweet Headache Remix)
12. The Prodigy – Everybody in the Place (AC Slater Remix)
13. Geht’s Noch? – Horny
14. Cyberpunkers – I Needed To Go
15. SebastiAn – Killing In The Name

Nerditional Information: For the international visitors of this blog, Jan Delay’s “Disko” might sound somewhat strange. Jan Delay is pretty big in Germany and has successfully proven that the German language can actually sound soulful (as in Soul music). The remix I used is a lot rougher than the original though.

I really like the remixes that Hyper Crush release, but I can’t really decide if their own productions are still cool or already too cheesy. Anyway, it’s refreshing to hear some good electronic pop music, and I got a feeling that they’re gonna be big.

Timid Tiger is actually a rather tame-sounding Indie Pop band, and I don’t know why they released such a banging remix of Lenny’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way”. Well, obviously they did, and they did it well.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gi/1689138/ // CC-by-sa

Spring has finally arrived in Cologne, and I can’t deny that this does have certain effects on my mood. It’s just sooo good to feel the sun again! As a consequence, I just can’t listen to cold Techno right now. I need funky beats! I need melodies! I need….House music! And if you feel like I feel right now, then this mix is for you.

Tracklist:

1. Gorillaz – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)
2. Lorenz Rhode – Shake It
3. Malente – Rok der Haus
4. Jay West – It’s Boogie Time
5. Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix)
6. Parov Stelar – The Mojo Radio Gang (Club Version)
7. Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil (Fatboy Slim Remix)
8. Tom Novy feat. Michael Marshall – Your Body
9. Tyrell – Robofucius
10. Diamond Cut – Teardrops (Treasure Fingers Filter Disco Edit)
11. Alan Braxe & Kris Menace – Lumberjack
12. Annie – I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me (Feel The Moog Remix)

Nerditional Information:

I find it amazing how Alex Metric turned the somewhat gloomy “Stylo” into a very positive House track. The same is true for the The Twelves‘ remix of “Seven“. If you don’t know the originals, take a look at the videos:

With most current Techno releases being focused on minimalism, it is very refreshing to hear Odissi’s latest release “Dirty Secrets”. It is a very energetic track that draws its power from industrial sounds and rock vocals.

However, while many industrial-influences releases sound somewhat too alien for your typical Techno- or Tech-House-DJ to play, “Dirty Secrets” manages to be tame enough to be playable while showing enough rough edges to be interesting. Check out the remixes, too! (The Hedflux remix is my personal favorite.)

By the way, Odissi is definitely worth following on Twitter as she leads a very active and interesting life as a model,musician, promoter and DJ .

It is very rare that a records sounds both oldschool and fresh at the same time. However, Strip Steve’s Delta Disco EP (out on Boysnoize Records) is one of these rare cases.

The five tracks are more or less classical house tracks, but somehow manage to combine oldschool US house elements with a distinct french touch. My personal favorites are AM/FM with its cool bleepin’  acid finale and Breakin’ with its pumping french house beat and  its cut-up rap vocals. And there’s even some breakbeats in the mix!

House-lovers, go get this one! It rocks!