Submitted By: DSM

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Nov 24th, 2007

Filesize: 135.05 MB

Total Downloads: 18

BILLY NASTY has been DJ'ing half his life, a career that has seen him spin for ten of those years at a professional level. Travelling the world as one of the most in-demand DJ's, he has performed at some of the biggest dance events and some of the most famous venues on the globe and consistently featured in the upper regions of DJ Magazine's annual Top 100 World DJ's. He has also enjoyed an extensive recording career, formed a techno label that's as respected as his DJ'ing and set up his own DJ agency to expose nurtured talent to the rest of the world.

Having spent a handful of formulative pre-House years soaking up the rhythms of rare-groove, go-go and funk, Billy was already pursuing DJ'ing when Housemusic exploded in the UK.

Securing a job at London's cutting-edge Zoom record shop in the latter part of 1989 gave him a frontline job which acted as a meeting point for figureson the evolving scene and helped him to build up his reputation as a DJ.

At the beginning of 1990 Billy started his first residency, The ExplodingPlastic Inevitable (with accomplice Steve Bicknell) at the legendary BrainClub in Soho. It ran for two and a half years with Billy playing 'Nu Groove records, loops, European stuff and a lot of dance mixes of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Happy Mondays and James'; sounds and a style that were aprecursor to the progressive house scene that would come.

By 1991 Billy was gaining a reputation for his deck skills to the extent that he was asked to contribute the first mix for a new CD series entitled 'Journey's by DJ' (JDJ). Segueing together emerging artists of the time like Leftfield and Where Eagles Prey, it displayed Billy's fresh and developing style and even gained him an entry into the Guinness book of records for being the first ever DJ to produce a mix set available commercially. He alsoundertook his first studio project when he was invited to remix St Etienne's 'Join Our Club', with whom he then accompanied to Japan as tour DJ during 1992.

Throughout 1992-93, bootleg mix tapes of Billy's were flooding the UK in such amounts that they were consequently acting as an agent for him. The bookings came thick and fast with Billy securing gigs at burgeoning nights such as Venus, Renaissance and Back2Basics as well as numerous other clubs that welcomed the tougher progressive and tribal sound that Billy was pushing.

At the front of the pack when Progressive House boomed in 93, Billy's DJ'ing schedule became ever more frantic. Besides being a regular at four of the most prominent clubs in London (The Drum Club, Open All Hours, Final Frontier, and Strutt), he begun to reach wider audience's as he travelled the whole of the UK and undertook an increasing amount of European gigs.Studio adventures came with Dave Wesson (Zoom owner) as Shi-Take - enjoying a six single career on the shop's own label - and alongside future Chemical Brothers engineer Steve Dub as Vinyl Blair, as whom they found support at the recently founded Hard Hands label of underground house compatriots Leftfield.

1995 saw Billy's workload multiply ever more dramatically reaching such a stage that he left Zoom to concentrate on his DJ'ing, which now had him playing between 3-5 gigs a week at home and abroad. So in between studiosessions with Aloof/Sabres members Jagz & Gary as Kamaflarge, he founded his own DJ agency to manage his now hectic diary. Theremin soon begun to represent other British DJ's like Jim Masters, Mark Williams and Phil Perry, followed by European spinners like Adam Beyer, Marco Carola, Joel Mull, and over years of development has consolidated itself into one of today's premier techno agencies.

Whilst the miles clocked up through 1996, Billy was nominated for best national DJ and best Radio One Essential Mix at the UK Muzik awards and played prime spots at Tribal Gathering's in the UK and Germany.

Having evolved into playing more and more harder-edged techno, 1997 was an appropriate time to update an audience, some of which were still comparing him to his past. So a second mix CD 'Race Data' (Avex) was released featuring tracks by the likes of Planetary Assault Systems, Dirty House Crew and Vegas Soul and a comprehensive summary of Billy's sound at the time.
Frustrated also that the style of music he had been playing and championing was only minimally supported by a few labels and people in the UK, he set up his own imprint Tortured to tie-in. 'The reason I did 'Race Data' and started a label was so that people could see what sort of music I was now playing, because they were all listening to the old tapes and the old CD. And even though all the music I've played has had a power and a dirty funk to it, my style was changing from progressive house into trance and then into techno. 'Having also been responsible for nurturing the likes of Adam Beyer, Marco Carola, Joel Mull, Umek and Gaetek, (Billy flew them over for their debut UK gigs) I knew I was sort of looking after all these talented people - who at the time nobody really knew who they were, so it was natural to start Theremin.'

Billy also started Open to Torture (with Jim Masters); a bi-monthly night at London's The End which has to this day been one of the few quality techno nights in London and has acted as an all-encompassing showcase for the talent both attached to and surrounding the label (other guests have included The Advent, Green Velvet, DJ Slip, Oliver Ho, Holy Ghost, Swag, Laidback Luke, Cherry Bomb and Access 58). Studio time was eaten up with a new project Barb-Wired (with Swag's Richard Brown) and a brief re-formation of Vinyl Blair for the remixing of Gravediggaz and Howie B.

Finally to round off a magnificently creative year, Billy became a father to the first of two daughters.

1998 saw Billy's first expedition to the States, the Americans quickly warming to his decks dexterity and there have been frequent returns to spinat New Yorks' legendary Twilo club and at venues in places such as Chicago, Detroit, Washington, San Francisco, LA, Toronto, Seattle through Canada also, gaining popularity along the way. All the while Billy has continually enjoyed return trips to many places throughout the UK and Europe where the crowds and promoters are exceptional and his reputation and rank most enduring. In Holland where his following is enormous, he's voted second most popular international DJ of '98.

1999 up to the present has been spent constantly running and shaping Tortured (which has now achieved over twenty releases) and Theremin which has been rapidly expanding over the last 18 months.

In May 2000, Tortured released 'The Torture Chamber'; a brand new mix CD by Billy which showcases the quality of Tortured's pounding beats and power cuts. 'I wanted to do the mix CD as a label compilation because I think that we've put out some superb music out on the label. When I started it I made a list of some of my favourite ten producers and I'm proud to say that I've had eight of them work for it. 'It will be the first in a series with the other DJ's involved with the label mixing future ones. I want this to be the best series of techno CD's for the next decade.'

In support the Tortured team was out on the frontline with a mammoth tour from mid-February until the end of May that travelled around the globe (with Adam Beyer, Steve Rachmad, Craig Walsh, Holy Ghost, Umek, Joel Mull, Daz Saund, Gaetek, Marco Carola all supporting Billy on varying dates). Straight after he remixed Leftfield's 'Double Flash' with Richard Brown.

A new label has also been launched; Electrix which deals in 'Experimental electronica - everything from Maurizio style stuff to electro'. The success of Electrix has surprised everyone, with the media going mad for this new outlet of classy underground music. Billy will be releasing tracks on Electrix soon.

2001 sees Billy returning to Ibiza for the first time in many years where he will be playing at Amnesia for Dance Valley. As well as the now legendary techno sets, Billy played an extra special tech-house set for Slam’s residency Freelance Science in Glasgow. He will be dropping back down to Headstart at Turnmills for an Electrix Records showcase with a farely hefty electro set. The Tortured parties are still thriving down at the End, plus Billy has taken up a bi-monthly Tortured residency at the Red Box in Dublin. Later in the year, he plans to launch Tortured parties in Amsterdam.

Now in his 11th year of professional DJing, Billy has moved through varying genres in his time turning his back on the cash lined path to preserve his musical integrity. He still remains at the summit of underground dance music.

Things are looking Nasty.

Submitted By: DSM

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Nov 24th, 2007

Filesize: 135.05 MB

Total Downloads: 18

Within the techno genre, many claim to have been influenced by the now heavily commercialised hip hop movement. For Ben Long, one half of London 's infamous and influential Space DJ'z, this statement comes from within. Having grown up in the early 1980's immersing himself totally in the lifestyle of breakdancing and graffiti, his attitudes towards hip hop, and the connections he sees between it and techno were forged, and his beliefs are those of someone who has followed both genres from the underground upwards. When commercialism finally set about popularising hip hop to the masses, Ben turned his focus towards the familiar beats and bass of techno to satisfy his love of electronic music.

When Ben linked up with old friend Jamie Bissmire in 1988, the two urban Londoners had already been avid record collectors, and they began experimenting on turntables, and in the studio, and the Space DJ'z were born. As Jamie formed his Bandulu project , Ben continued to hone his skills, which were considerable even at that time, and in 1990 this was rewarded by his first gig, appearing as support DJ for Bandulu and The Orb at Brixton Academy . With Bandulu enjoying extensive success, Ben focused on producing the music he loved, dj'ing and working at the London based Infonet label. It was Infonet that was to be the platform for The Space DJ'z first release ‘Loose Change' in 1994, then again in 1996 when the duo's seminal and hugely successful ‘Return to Earth' proved to be one of the years biggest techno records, and catapulted them into the frontline of the thriving British techno scene.

With Bissmire still hard at work with Bandulu, Ben used his new found fame to develop his career by setting up his own record label Potential Recordingz. His releases on Potential proved to be massively popular, and soon Ben's production and remixing skills were in demand from such heavyweight techno labels as Primate, Tortured, Advanced, Audio, Ground, Consumer Recreation and Pounding Grooves. He rightly takes pride in the fact that he also offered Potential as a springboard to other techno producers such as Umek, Ade Fenton and Chris McCormack, who have since become established artists in their own right, and with the label reaching it's 20 th release, it has become synonymous with the highest quality techno for over 8 years.

During the late 1990's and beyond, the Space DJ'z have continued to enjoy enormous success, from their ‘On Patrol' album on Soma, to the staggering electronic mayhem of their AK-47 release on Ben's own Potential. As dj's, Ben Long and Jamie Bissmire have been performing individually, and as the Space DJ'z for over 12 years, regularly playing at techno clubs across every continent of the world, and in 2003 they released their first mix CD ‘The Last DJ'z on Earth'. Ben puts this longevity down to their total dedication to the art, and by “staying true to themselves and their beliefs. With the Space DJ'z, what you see is what you get”.

As a solo artist, Ben's dj schedule is busier than ever and his performances behind the decks undoubtedly reflect his hip hop roots, and it is clear that it is behind the turntables that he can truly express himself. As Ben himself says “I see the two as parallel musical forms with no constraints - techno is always changing and always moving, and hip hop is exactly the same”. It is because of this inventive and innovative attitude to his profession that Ben set up his Ergonomix label, an imprint influenced by Jeff Mills ‘Cycle 30' release, solely devoted to locked grooves.

2004 saw Ben return to production duties after a short time away from the studio with a new label Re-Rub, with it's philosophy of sampling and re-sculpturing old tunes mixed with razor sharp percussion, scored an immediate hit. In 2005, Ben celebrates his fifteenth year as both a DJ and recording artist. His love of electronic music remains as strong as ever, and his enthusiasm undiminished.

In 2006, With a stack of new music ready to be released, and worldwide bookings well into the year already confirmed, Ben Joins forces with UMAMi.tv and the futures looking bright...

http://www.myspace.com/djbenlong

Not available