DCDNB

Where have we been?

Why, right here, of course. However, the content has been lacking lately, and there are a few things we should be doing to rectify that. So here is an update to the mission of DCDNB, although it is subject to change.

Get involved with the DCDNB blog, a continuing project centered around the drum’n’bass music genre and the DC Metro area (basically within a 25-mile radius of Washington, DC). Look for the following regular posts:

• Mondays: From here on out, Mondays are Mixtape Mondays. Makes sense, right? If you are a DC area DJ, send us your mixes. We are no longer aggregating information from the local forums and webcasts, we want the DJs to forward on their material. So if you want to see your mix from EXBC or Dirtbox, or any other webcasts we might be aware of, send us a link, a title or show name & date, a track listing and contact info (email, a website address, a Twitter account), and make sure your mix is mostly drum’n’bass and mixed well. If you’re clanging the mixes, some of the regulars who check our blog & Twitter will ask me “what’s up with new jack DJ train wrecking up & down their mix?”
  
  
• Tuesdays - Thursdays: We are going to try some new content ideas out, maybe something interactive with those who read the blog. We might be asking for photo replies of record collections, DJ set ups, studios, hand drawn DCDNB logos, air horn impressions, 10-minute mixes with nothing but double drops, etc.
  
  
• Fridays: This will be a combination of:
  
  • Five For Friday - a short form interview with the dynamic range of people that make up the local drum’n’bass scene.
    
    
  • Flashback Friday - either we, or someone we contact, will post an item or two that reflects the history of the DC drum’n’bass scene. This could be old fliers, old mixtapes or just a YouTube clip of any old tunes we feel like.
    
    
  • Feature Friday - Some other feature we might come up with.

If you want to get involved, for now the best method of contact is to email Harry Ransom at r4ns0m (at) gmail (dot) com and let him know you want to help in some way, or post a comment on one of our posts.

Also promoters, if you want DCDNB promoting your event in some capacity and you will help us out by including our logo in your promotional materials, let us know; we also have a vector version of our classic logo, which designers can incorporate in to their designs easily. As with the mixes, we are no longer scouring forums for info, we want to establish a connection with those active in producing & promoting events in Washington, DC. If you have drum’n’bass on your line-up and that party is happening in DC (or very close to the city, not down in Richmond, VA or up in Baltimore, MD), let us know.

Look for other updates as well. We will be trying out a lot of different ideas for content. And with all of that said, I am going to post about an event tomorrow in DC, and maybe a couple old drum’n’bass tunes that I was listening to earlier today.

Five For Friday #04: DCDNB fields questions from readers.

Yes, that does look realllllly strange having a Q&A for DCDNB itself, but this week I was out of town, did not have any one lined up for this week and I was just going to skip doing a Five For Friday… but then I was talking to next week’s interviewee, Jungle Jessi, and she agreed that this might be a fun idea.

So here is what I did, I opened up DCDNB to the readers, asking them to submit questions and I would answer them. I predicted that most likely, people were going to ask “when are you getting new DCDNB t-shirts printed,” or “when are you going to interview [ fill in the blank ].” Four people asked about shirts.

This was not exactly a flop, but it is no matter because on 01/08/2010 we will have Five For Friday #05: Jungle Jessi, and you should check out DCDNB Five For Friday Q&A/interview #03: Translation Recordings. I also need to hit up Minnie/Wicked Sway at Spun Recordings, Nat/Utopium and maybe a promoter or two for the other January 2010 Q&As.

So here are your questions, and our answers.

Jungle Jessi: What goals do you have for DCDNB?
DCDNB: To establish the blog as a portal to what is happening in the Washington, DC drum’n’bass scene, to keep the content constantly updated and to make DCDNB a dynamic project that supports the local drum’n’bass music scene and the people who make it what it is. Ideally, the support we show to the scene will manifest in a resurgance of drum’n’bass in DC: more events, more artists (especially producers and event production/promotion people) and a push to improve the quality of venues available, interest in events (pack the dancefloors, get dnb DJs better slots at events, encourage promoters to take risks with national/international tours by showing there is a crowd that will come out), awareness of people involved here, as well as visiting talent. Plus continue to link up locals with each other.

Jungle Jessi: Where do you see DCDNB in the future?
DCDNB: Meeting some, if not all of our current goals, and continuing to be involved in the scene in some way. As a web presence, it is hard to say just based on how web content and communication has changed in the past five to ten years. Hopefully DCDNB will have more contributors in the future, and also serving as a consultant to the scene, if not throwing our own events. I am also trying to think of more content ideas, some directly tied to the music (e.g. a remix or flat out production contest, monthly mix series… which I actually have some people in mind to contribute to), some more creative endevours (e.g. photo series, fun “send in an audio clip about” a topic), basically things that get people active. Maybe even some sort of collaborative project.

Jungle Jessi: If DCDNB were an animal, do you think it would a liger or a tigon?
DCDNB: Liger, but both hybrid species sound cool in theory but the ligers seem to have the better survival rate… and bigger Wiki entry.

Grateful Dread: Are you going to start doing weekly, monthly or bi-monthlys?
DCDNB: Right now it looks like we will do some small scale, irregular events with Expansion Broadcast at Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely Hearts Club. Jimmy Valentine’s liked the event we through on Thanksgiving Eve a couple months ago, and have thrown a few dates our way. If there is no Konkrete Jungle DC at the time of the dates we get offered, we’ll probably do a drum’n’bass event, maybe mix in a little dubstep; if there is a Konkrete Jungle DC planned for that month (as is the case for January 2010), then we’ll do something non-DCDNB related (e.g. the bass music themed Apple Juice nights).

That said, I would like to have DCDNB provide more substantial online promotional support for local events. Pretty much, if a promoter throws an event and includes our blog address and logo on promotional material, we will be sure to push the event well outside of the weekly event round-ups we post on Tuesdays. If a promoter wants to work out some sort of reduced list or a guest list competition (e.g. give DCDNB a number of guest list spots to give away), we would be very interested in working out some ideas.

Grateful Dread: How long you been playing?
DCDNB: Myself, as Harry Ransom, I have been playing drum’n’bass since 1996, when I first started collecting drum’n’bass vinyl and getting in to DJing. I played my first club gig at Deep in DC in the spring of 1998, and been hooked every since. In 2000/2001 I started playing breakbeat occasionally, sometimes under my own name, sometimes as half of Tears For Jonas. In 2006 I started getting in to dubstep and playing it in 2007. And in 2007 I started playing around with house and techno, and released a few house tunes and remixes in 2009. I had a couple drum’n’bass tunes come out in 2005/2006, which were collaborations with a few other local producers.

As far as DCDNB though, the idea was established online in December 1999, and while not exactly a crew, a few other local DJs have pushed the affiliation at one time or another. The biggest supporter would be my fellow EXBC-crewmate Deinfamous, followed by Upfront Industries’ founder, Bobby Jae. We used to be a major promotional supporter for the Act Your Age weekly event that ran in 2001/2002, and for the Upfront DnB Sessions at Five their first few years; I fell off for a while and they stopped including our logo on the fliers. We also had some banners that Upfront would hang at the events, but we don’t know what happened to them.

Grateful Dread & Don Vega & Dan Amitai & a bunch of other people on the Buzzlife thread about DCDNB: When can I get a DCDNB t-shirt?
DCDNB: Hopefully this winter. I have been out of town for the past week, and the holidays ate up a lot of time, but I am in contact with a local printing place about getting shirts done. We are probably going to do two different designs, the classic DCDNB logo (which is at the top of this entry) on a blue t-shirt with white print, and on a red t-shirt, also with white print, then Joeseph Nicolia’s remix version of the logo, probably on black t-shirts with white print and then on white t-shirts with black print.

Depending on how these go (planning to keep the classic logo version at a very low price), I am going to look in to a few other designs, most keeping a basic, solid identity to help promote the DCDNB project. But I was a big fan of the old Bulletproof line of shirts and mixtapes that Nick/Binac of Pittsburgh used to do, and I might see if he wants to do something. If he does, expect a classic, solid font, but in really tweaked out colorways. Think brown t-shirts with hot pink print, or marine blue shirts with a bright green print.

A late Tuesday night outlook of DC dnb events for 12/29 - 01/05!

New Year’s Eve is in two nights!

• 31-DEC-2009 in DC: Odyssey 2010: A Rave | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: Dieselboy (NY - multi-genre set) / D Star (PHI) / Don Vega / Headhunterz Inc. / MC Armanni / MC Sharpness / MC Checkwun
  plus Smash Gordon in the main room with all the dnb, and a second room featuring a lot of club, house and breaks.
  
  
• 01-JAN-2010 in MD: Good Vibes wishes you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: Godfather Sage / DJ Pick / Definitive Junglists
  plus dubstep, hardstyle and hardcore DJs on the line-up.

Not sure if there is anything else with drum’n’bass though, but if you know of something in this week, let us know.

DCDNB Five For Friday Q&A/interview #03: Translation Recordings

For this holiday edition of DCDNB’s Five For Friday feature, we catch up with Rogue State, label founder and owner of Translation Recordings, a DC-based drum’n’bass label that has been in operation since 2004, and carving a niche for itself in the rapidly changing independent music market.

For more information on the label, check out the following sites:

• www.translation-recordings.com
• www.myspace.com/translationrecordings
• www.soundcloud.com/translationrecordings
• www.twitter.com/translationrecs

DCDNB: Catch us up on Translation Recordings. Where & how did the label start, what’s lined up for 2010?
Translation Recordings: Translation Recordings is going on its sixth birthday and anticipating big things in 2010. Started in 2004 by DJs Rogue State (then DJ Ramen) and Will Griffin, Translation was our way of staying involved and contributing back to the scene with a unique and diverse sound covering all ranges of drum ‘n bass from old school to the funky liquid sound to heavyweight bangers to atmospheric rollers and the new minimal sound. Will’s work with ESL Music took his focus to the grooving lounge scene and in 2008, Steph MsDisdain came on board and manages the label alongside Rogue State. We’re also pretty fortunate to have a resident spot on bassdrive.com, a worldwide net-broadcasted drum ‘n bass channel.  Dubbed Translation Sound, we get to test out some of our favorite beats every week (Mondays, 7-8PM EST, midnite-1AM GMT)

2009 was a big year for Translation. We kept to tradition and kept it all over the place with jazzy melodic tunes from Slider & Expose and Perpetuum, to 12”s from ASC reppin’ the atmospheric vibe and most especially from Resound and Sabre with DSP and the remix of “Secrets,” probably our hardest hitting banger on the catalogue. We’ve gotten love from DJs like Bailey and Grooverider on BBC’s 1 Xtra among others, and we’re only getting started. 2010 is slated to be a pretty fun year for the Translation crew. We’re awaiting plates on our next 12”, a prologue of a three-part LP showcasing our sound with Grimm, Nusense and Resound and paving the way for tracks from producers including DubPhizix, Mindmapper, Stranjah and Theory, whose tracks are forthcoming on the Without Borders LP.

DCDNB: How has the changing music market affected Translation?
TR: The changing market has done more good than harm to Translation. Because there are so many labels these days, it’s pretty important to lay out releases consistently and in a timely fashion to avoid getting lost in the clutter. That’s one of the reasons we put out releases on both vinyl and digital platforms. We like the versatility of releasing tracks digitally or on vinyl and with the spiking popularity of Serato these days, it’s a great way for folks to get their tunes dropped on a dance floor quickly and via digital release. At the same time, we stick to antiquity and show love on 12” wax to the songs that capture the heavy edge and weight behind Translation. In combination, our releases on both platforms showcase our evolution and variety in sound.

As for digi-only, we see 320s as an awesome way for producers to get their name out there. With the volatility of the vinyl market and just the basic facts of the intense processes behind pressing wax, we really opt for folks to jump on the digital platform specifically because it gets their name out there and fast. Digital releases go viral and quickly show producers love and at the same time allow for a certain freedom to evolve in their sound. Vinyl on the otherhand, is statuesque and timeless and we save the edge for the plates. Each tune we release has a certain niche and as much as the artists that write them, we are so excited to play them out regardless of the platform!



DCDNB: Does Translation Recordings have any artists that are exclusive or being repped & groomed by the label?
TR: In all things Translation, instead of reppin’ certain artists, we rep a unique sound and we focus a lot of our time on building relationships with artists who are exploring a diverse set of beats. To say that we rep or groom any one specific artist wouldn’t be fair to the principle we set of pushing the envelope for an evolution of a diverse array of sound. We have a core group of artists that we work with and who have helped us grow, and for that, we’re thankful to have them on the label (especially Resound) but to us, it’s about the music. Besides, at the end of the day, we’re not on that level of success to officially “groom” someone, and we’re not sure if we want to be. We’re in it for the fun.

DCDNB: Will the label keep its vinyl releases “vinyl only”, or will they eventually get a digital release as well? Are there plans to compile the vinyl & digital releases and push them on CD compilations?
TR: We’re currently doing digital-only releases and all of our vinyl releases come out digitally as soon as it hits the stores as well. We’re going to stray away from compiling past releases on CD format; the music scene moves so fast and we want to move with it. The Without Borders LP featuring two 12”s back to back a CD compilation is the closest we’ve gotten, and arguably the most ambitious.

05. Highlights of 2009? Of the past decade?
TR: This year, getting Sabre on board with a guest remix of “Secrets” by Resound (an earlier digital release off of the Four Rooms EP) really got us on a groove and put us on another level. All the producers and DJs who have supported us, this year especially, we are totally thankful to you, and to all of the producers on our label, your releases have helped us shape this unique groove we’ve got going. Expect nothing but fun in the next year to come!

Thanks again to Rogue State for participating, and a shout to MsDisdain, also of Translation Recordings, for following up with the press pack! As for next week, I am not sure who we will feature, or we might take next week off since I will be up in New England for most of the week.

Tuesday drum’n’bass event outlook for 12/15 - 12/21

I think I got everything this week, as it appears I missed a couple events for the past week. So here is what’s up:

• 16-DEC-2009 WED in VA: Transit | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: J-Dastardly
  Plus a big mix of other genre DJs.
  
  
• 18-DEC-2009 FRI in DC: EP1CDEM1C | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: GENR8 - L.A. / Digital Conspiracy Crew
  Plus a lot of hardstyle, hard trance, happy hardcore and some dubstep on the line-up.
  
  
• 18-DEC-2009 FRI in VA: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Vol. 6 | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: Tittsworth (rare dnb set!) / Jungle Jessi / Kaotix / Blaze One
  Plus Cam One is playing hip-hop as well.
  
  
• 19-DEC-2009 SAT in MD: Essential Classics - Old School Night | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: Madame Bliss / J-Dastardly / Jed Words
  Plus a lot of breakbeat and house DJs in the main room, and some dubstep in the second room.

If any local party-goers or promoters are checking this and think I missed anything local with drum’n’bass on the line-up, let me know!

Tuesday drum’n’bass event outlook for 12/1 - 12/7

Here is where to go catch some drum’n’bass this week, in the DC area:

• 02-DEC-2009 WED in VA: Transit | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJ: Gabe Da Aphrikan
  Plus maybe another dnb DJ, and a bunch of other dance music.
  
  
• 03-DEC-2009 THU in MD: Throwdown Thursday | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: CJ Weaver, Trailz, Render One, Dystopia
  plus dubstep in the same room and house/electro/breaks in the main room.
  
  
• 04-DEC-2009 FRI in MD: LODA - Give Back | promo thread
  This is a fundraiser for the DC Homeless Shelter.
  w/ DnB DJs: Locks, Harry Ransom
  Plus house, techno and dubstep DJs on the line-up.
  
  
• 05-DEC-2009 SAT in MD: Hardcore Holidaze 2 | promo thread
  w/ DnB DJs: Sourdiesel - PHI
  Plus hardcore, happy hardcore and other dance music on the line-up.

Also some dubstep in the district this weekend, and more dance parties. Check around the forums and other blogs!