Shesek Birthday Bash @ Block, 6.11.09

What can we say about this party that isn’t self-explanatory? The place where Nadav, Idit Ladymoon and all of our homies call home, where I’ve been resident DJ for the past 8 years (and so far still going), the number 1 spot in Tel-Aviv for all things musical & cutting-edge – celebrates 8 years of going at it. The whole Shesek staff will take over the Block club, form the doors to the bar and up the DJ booth. Niv & I, who’ve DJ’ed b2b on Shesek’s opening night back in 2001 (nobody even remembers the exact date anymore), will be accompanied by Benji B of BBC/1Xtra/Deviation fame. A totally egoistic choice of guest DJ but it’s OUR birthday, so it’s our call and a good opportunity if there ever was one to treat ourselves to the max.

Benji started djiing in LDN’s clubs at a teen’s age, grew into radio under Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide wings, and for the past 8 years has been holding his own on 1Xtra since the station’s day 1. His Deviation show, which has just been prolonged to 3 hours and moved into the very central Sunday night spot, is the weekly must-stop for every concerning DJ out there, joining the dots between modern soul, club hip hop, broken beats, quality deep house & techno, FlyLo style beats, Dam Funk heat, funky carnival bangers and the wickedest dubstep tunes around – as long as it’s quality and got soul (in the true and broad sense of the word).

We highly recommend to purchase tickets via presale, as it’s considerably cheaper (50 NIS at Shesek, 60 NIS at Krembo, Psycho Tattoo and Hummus Abu-Dubi, and 80 at the door), and to avoid disappointment. Should be some facebook event page for it somewhere, and anyway we DEFinitely wanna see u there!

Dam-Funk & Fulgeance @ Block, 15.10.09

This October gonna be hotter than July! Not only we’ve got Karizma this coming Friday, but mid-month, the 15th to be exact, we’ll be joining TABAC familia for an extra special night, hosting not 1, but 2 of our favorite emerging artists of the past couple of years. If you’re deep as the playlists go then you probably need no introduction, so here’s a short one for those who wanna get started:

Future-boogie maestro Dam-Funk (from LA’s Stones Throw label), responsible for groovalicious joints like “I Got’s 2 B Done Wit U”, “Galactic Fun”, “Hood Pass Intact”, “Searchin’ for Funk’s Future”, “10 West”, “Silver”, “Burn Rubber remix” (original by Baron Zen) and so many more CHUNES – getting us all hooked on his funk gospel, dreaming of dancing on the moon and so on (Lady Moon – we see u kitty-kat!)… think Prince, Cameo, Kleer and whatever obscure 80′s bands which had the FUNK, school it 20 years of hip-hop and then smoke one with FlyLo and we’re getting close. Check out some of his fun podcasts over at the Stones Throw podcast page.

But it ain’t all that, as Mr. Funk will be followed by French beat-freak Fulgeance, whose hyper rhythmicism has been getting serious rotation at ours for a while now – “Low Club Anthem”, “Sour Socca” and the whole goddamn “Smartbanging” EP among them. Fulgeanace, who also goes by the name of Souleance when splicing soul samples into his beats, performs with 2 MPCs mad beatologist style, which is a rare and must see kind of live show around these parts.

Walter & Hectik of TABAC are preparing a special opening set of hip-hop sample sources, which is another thing to look ahead to, while we’ll be keeping the fresh vibes for the party hard massive on the other end with a varied selection of triple B – beats, bass & boogie yo’ass. Hectik has also done a special mini-mix to get y’all in the mood – cop it here.

Karizma @ Block, 2.10.09

Yes, we’re totally psyched about Karizma’s arrival to our shores. Ever since the Block opened it’s doors, he’s the one name we’ve been constantly asking for. One of our favorite producers, a man with a sound & feel of his own, so many of his tracks have been staples of our DJ sets (The Damn Thing, Twyst This, Kong, 33rd St Anthem, the recent Necessary Madness & Drumz Nightmare & so many more) . And as much as his sound is distinct, he’s output over the years has been extremely influential on so many genres and producers around the globe – from broken beats to UK funky, Baltimore club (practically stemming from his, Spen’s & the other Baltimore pioneers’ early productions) , techno and the percussive & syncopated variety of dubstep we like so much, and of course the deep & soulful house scene he’s a major part of.

But it ain’t just that – his sound – as he’s also a phenomenal DJ. Though we’ve yet to hear him live ourselves, some of these youtube’s are enough to wet our appetite, and most probably will do the same to yours. We’ll be opening the night, getting y’all ready with a deep/percussive set on a house tip, and homie DJ Hectik on the other end. Unmissable.

Friday – 2.10.09 @ The Block club. Prices tba

Block Birthday, 25.9.09

Yes, Block club is 1 year old (Only? yet?!). 1 year in which it has raised local standards of sound quality and brought into Tel-Aviv’s nightlife a much needed breath of fresh air. With it’s strong emphasis on soulful dance music, Block has been home to some amazing parties over the year, and we’ve had the pleasure to take part in a good bunch of them.

Most dear to us are our own – the launch of Nadav’s Shirbul project last September and the amazing night with Kode 9 in May. But we also got the chance to participate in various other great ones – like Nadav’s opening set for Theo Parrish, me & Niv Hadas’s warm-up for Deadbeat, Onili & me for Orgasmic & Cuizinier, and a series of Block Parties – 106FM’s 13th Birthday, Purim & the Elections, as the Disco & Soul revivals and the Detroit & Back to Africa specials.

With 2 mega exciting parties up the street – Karizma on the 2.10 and Dam-Funk & Fulgeance on the 15th (and a special Shesek birthday party early November), it’s only just begun!

Come celebrate with us and a huge bunch of friends & colleagues. We’ll be on around 1 AM in the main floor, hosting the dearest Onili on the mic. Entrance is FREE

DJ Vadim @ Block 4.9.09

DJ Vadim arrives in Israel back again, in support of his new album “U Can’t Lurn Imaginashun”, not only for a DJ set, but also performing with a full live band. We’ll be warming it up from the beginning till the live show, followed by Vadim’s DJ set & the Play More DJ crew outta Berlin taking the decks after him.

Block club, David Hachmi 35, from 11:00 PM. Prices & details tba.