Metro Area - Beats In Space - New York US - Sep 2007 - Part 1

Biography of Metro Area

The brainchild of veteran producers Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani, Metro Area was born out of the pair's somewhat dichotomous love for both the old moods of R&B, disco and boogie and the more cutting-edge sound of innovative house and techno. Metro Area brings back the soulful experimentation of the early club classics, mixing live and electronic instruments. Simultaneously, the mood and minimalism of more recent dance music forms creep into the mix: Detroit's cold futurism, Chicago's abstract track-modes, and the warmth of New York and New Jersey's deep house.

After over a year of late-night sessions in New Jersey and Manhattan, Metro Area burst onto the scene in 1999 with their self-titled debut 12' featuring the cult smash 'Atmosphrique.' With an angular bassline underpinned by a grungy 4/4 disco beat and the most distinctive claps this side of 1977, 'Atmosphrique' sounds futuristic and retro at the same time, and spawned myriad heated debates concerning the record's production date. Most of all, it left both DJs and dancers wanting more.

However, the runaway success of Metro Area's MA 4 EP (released November 2001) surpassed all expectation, not least the duo's own. The feature track 'Miura', a sinister, spare and pulsating antidote to the melancholic sweetness of their previous release, captured the imagination of a broad cross-section of DJs, dancers and listeners from almost every genre. Ubiquitously charted and still played with reverence today, 'Miura' fueled sales of over 16,000 copies of the EP to date. It should be noted here that in keeping with Metro Area's low-profile tradition, not a single promo was mailed out to stimulate sales: the frenzy was created purely by word-of-mouth.

Exactly a year after Metro Area 4, Metro Area's self-titled debut album finally emerged. Comprised of the strongest tracks from their 12' series plus 4 new tracks, the CD/LP elicited superlative responses from The New York Times to The Onion, from Web-logs to The Wire. Metro Area won a place among Rolling Stone's 'Top 50 Albums of the 2002,' a rock-and rap-dominated area most of today's dance music falls short of. Other accolades included BBC/Radio 1's 'Dance Album of the Year' and the 'Best New Artist' prize at the 2003 DanceStar/American Dance Awards.

June 2004's MA5 and June 2005's MA6 EPs are already being touted as an extension of their sparkling tradition of redefining, refining and re-shaping their influences. The duo's remix of Hugh Masekela's 'Mama' for Verve Remixed 2 was hailed as an elegant and innovative treatment of a classic recording, proving that Metro Area is more of an ethic than a production style and prompting Verve to release it and the original as its own 12' single.

Besides their work in the studio, Metro Area have toured extensively, both together as a live PA and DJ team and separately as DJs, playing their distinct and individualistic style to crowds from Norway to South Africa. Currently staying busy with continued touring, solo remixes from Morgan and Darshan, new studios in Brooklyn, solo and side projects and the imminent release of a new Metro Area album, the music world can rest assured that Metro Area will continue to rock theories of time and space.

http://www.myspace.com/metroarea
http://www.myspace.com/darshanjesrani
http://www.myspace.com/morgangeist

Dennis Kane - Beats In Space - New York US - Sep 2007 - Part 1

Biography of Dennis Kane

* Interview with Dennis 'Citizen' Kane, originally published in BPM magazine

The room is large, and usually rented for wedding receptions, anniversary celebrations, awards dinners, bar mitzvahs, etc. On this day, however, it’s filled to capacity with another type of community. Everyone in attendance has been invited or is the guest of someone who has, and everyone has paid. A small group of devoted souls has set up an amazing sound system, lights, balloons (lots of them) and a large disco ball over the sizable dancefloor. Ranging in age from six to um, let’s say fully adult, the crowd brings wine and beer to share, and at a certain point food is served buffet-style. The party is in its 36th year, and many in attendance have been there for a major part of its run. It is The Loft, David Mancuso’s musical environment where Love Saves the Day. I recently visited with David at his home in NYC to talk about the party that has really been his life’s work.

DK: Since it’s such a feature of the party, let’s start with the sound system, the various components...

DM: Well I use modified Technics 1100s. The “table” is really the motor and platter, not the foundation it’s set in, or the tone arm. I use a Koetsu tone arm, a Koetsu head shell, and the Koetsu platinum/diamond cartridge. The turntables I really want to use are too sensitive to vibrations from the floor. If I can resolve that issue then maybe...

DK: You have the tables on cinder block towers with rubber absorption mats.

DM: I like being on the floor, the intimacy. I have the decks at chest-height because I don’t want to bend over so much. Plus I’m not using headphones or a monitor; I don’t use a mixer—just an amp and a Mitch Cotter dividing network. I’m cueing by sight. I use disc stabilizers and rubber slipmats to minimize any vibrations coming back through the record. Where I’m coming from is the idea that I want to maintain the integrity of the “original” mix—that of the musicians themselves in the room where/when they performed, and to present it as clearly as possible without compromise.

DK: That’s why you choose to play the entire record as well?

DM: Hey it’s a good record—I mean I think each one I play is, or at least thought so when I chose to play it. I don’t want to bump anybody’s head if they are into it—they may be having a mental orgasm and then I cut away? No, no way, it would feel too arbitrary; it’s not my composition. Sometimes [I might use] a slight fade-out to help cue the level of the next piece. It’s about picking the songs, building from record to record, and setting the mood; being tuned into where we are all going. I’m trying to use everything in the room at that moment. People always talk about the DJ as the performer—for me it’s the people in the room who become part of a performance, with the recorded performance of the musicians. Every gesture I make in terms of the system and programming tries to aid or enhance that place where they meet.

DK:And the dancefloor is the “sweet spot” for this congruence?

DM: Exactly. It’s like each record is live, and the feel is organic.

DK: And the songs maintain their individual sonic identity...

DM: Right! It is being transcribed at the level it was recorded at—real fidelity. What’s the point of eating food with no vitamins in it? You end up more hungry than when you started. However, good recordings, and a proper harmonic pathway...heh heh...less is more when less is right.

DK: How do you approach the start of the day?

DM: Preparation and planning are essential, but also a gesture or openness to the moment [is necessary]—a little door for some poetics. For the last party, I had a friend open the night by playing piano in the corner. I had two requests for her: “Here Comes the Sun” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” People are starting to drift in, the ship is pulling out. She is a jazz pianist so when she finishes I play Stan Getz’s “I’m Late, I’m Late” and WOW what life energy in that song! And her husband is a Coltrane fanatic, so I pull Alfredo de la Fe’s cover of “My Favorite Things” and we’re off.

DK: It’s 5:30 on a Sunday and the voyage is started…

DM: Yeah, but I’m not the captain and they are not the passengers—it’s a flow between all of us, and the music, and our relations and histories with each other. I’ve held a number of these people when they were babies; it gets better each time I see them because I’ve known them that much longer! We’ve all been part of this “ thing,” and we’ve stayed through life together. It’s coming down to that, and man that’s the paycheck. This is the family you choose!

DK: And all the components enhance that continuum: the food, the tables, the lighting. It has an intimacy which is sorely lacking in commercial dance clubs….

DM: Totally. Everyone is invested. I don’t know how you guys do it playing in clubs.

DK:That’s a whole other article, (laughter), but when people come to the Loft they stay.

DM: It’s like less than 7%-10% leave in the course of the day.

DK: How do you feel your own sensibility has evolved over the course of the party?

DM: Well, I try to share records that can stand on their own. It’s a liberated environment, and a sophisticated crowd. The people aren’t demanding but they are really responsive, so I have a freedom to explore. But I also really care about the mutual history and people’s involvement, so I‘ll play requests within reason—meaning I have the record and the moment for it seems appropriate. I mean we’re here for each other, right? I love it when someone asks for a record and I already have it cued up!

DK: And that reflects on your view of the crowd as the performer?

DM: Yeah, and it’s also a reaction to their love of music. Music is so beautiful, it’s such a healing force; forget a club, think temple or shrine! I feel so grateful that I can be part of this, and that there is this relationship we all have. It takes me days to come down after the party.