Playloop Music » Press

Up and Coming Philly DJs – DJ Everyday

helmetwalker — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:57:49 +0000

Up and Coming Philly DJs

Five up-and-coming house DJs to keep an eye on this year.

By Dennis Lowery

Philadelphia Weekly Story - http://bit.ly/7BlHxV

Everyday has the knack of playing off the emotional connection he makes with his crowds, feeding off of their reactions and having them help him progress throughout his sets, a behavior that some DJs have lost. He blends flawlessly and effortlessly, and when watching him work, you can see he is truly living in the moment. DJing 40-plus weekends out of the year, he’s one of the most consistently tight DJs you’ll ever see. A resident at the infamous PEX parties and associated with Playloop Records, Everyday is a fantastic asset that Philly should embrace and support the positive vibe he shares through his music.

Vail Daily asks DJ Lee Mayjahs? seven questions

helmetwalker — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:08:09 +0000

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Friday, November 27, 2009

Deep tech house DJ performs in Vail Saturday

Vail Daily asks DJ Lee Mayjahs? seven questions

Caramie Schnell
cschnell@vaildaily.com
Vail, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado — Lee Mayjahs, a DJ who plays in Vail Saturday night, has been deejaying and promoting events throughout the U.S. for more than 20 years. As Founder of the Philadelphia Experiment (PEX), a Philadelphia-based arts and music community, he has rocked crowds from Los Angeles to Ibiza with his deep tech house music.

Vail Daily: How did you get your start in the industry?
Lee Mayjahs: I started deejaying in Maryland in the ’80s at the age of 13. I moved to Santa Fe, N.M., for college and started working in a nightclub where I was exposed to the burgeoning reggae and indie rock scenes. Eventually I returned to the East Coast and settled in Philadelphia where I began spinning large venues and house music became my thing. I love to play extended, five-hour-lus sets outside on large sound systems. I’ve been traveling to the Black Rock desert in Nevada to Burning Man for 11 years and I travel around the world to play outdoor festivals. In 2009 I’ve had the honor of playing with Thievery Corporation, The Prodigy, Playloop and The Crystal Method as well as dance music legends Marques Wyatt, King Britt, Josh Wink, Osunlade and Nickodemus, to name a few.

VD: Why should people come see your show?
LM: I love to move people through sound. The music I play grabs you down deep and penetrates the soul while tickling the cerebral recesses of your psyche.

VD: How do you differ from the other DJs out there?
LM: I have a highly adaptable style and possess that uncanny ability to read the crowd and give them what they want (or need). I love to rock the crowd, but I always keep an underlying soulful vibe that elevates the spirit and mind.

VD: What inspires your sound?
LM: For dance music I usually keep a strong 4/4 rhythm but vary the energy from anything like gospel house to deep tech rhythms with strong African percussion. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of dance music that has a French gypsy feel intertwined within it that gives the music a celebratory carnival sound while still being slightly mysterious and hard. It is sophisticated, yet easy to digest at the same time.

VD: What kind of music do you play?
LM: It really varies depending on the crowd, location, vibe and time of day. I like to play authentic 1970s reggae dub in the mountains at three in the afternoon in the summer. On a rainy night at 3 a.m. in Brooklyn I’ll be playing hard electro-house or dirty grimy breaks. If there are fire performers present I like to play sexy tribal rhythms.

VD: How do you plan on impacting the future of electronic music?
LM: Through The Philadelphia Experiment events that we organize (primarily on the East Coast) we try to create an energy and vibe that is truly positive and that evolves the creative spirit that lies within every one of us.

VD: If you could perform on any stage in the world, where would it be and why?
LM: I would like to play the full moon festival in Thailand on New Year’s Eve. Maybe next year.

High Life Editor Caramie Schnell can be reached at 970-748-2984 or cschnell@vaildaily.com.

Ross D takes it back to the classic era with his jazzsoul tinged debut “Musical D-lite”

helmetwalker — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:17:57 +0000

For fans of: High Contrast, London Elekricity, LTJ Bukem, Peshay

ROSS D

NEW YORK – Playloop Records recording artist and Philadelphia transplant Ross D is bringing back that classic UK drum n’ bass sound of the mid-90’s golden age with his debut artist album Musical D-lite. There are no fads here, no bells or whistles and no sub-sub-sub genres to confuse you by. No, this is simply drum n’ bass at it’

s purest and most beautiful. No doubt the thick layers of jazz and soul will take you back in time to that first time when you first heard licks from LTJ Bukem and his classic original Logical Progression compilation.

Comin’ atcha from such a musical place like Philly brings a historical influence. Ross D has always been musically inclined having an extensive music education background in drums, piano, classical guitar, bass and overall theory. However, one thing you can’t teach is soul, and there’s nothing better than the kind of Philly soul Ross D. deftly infuses over the jagged beats.

“Smooth Talker” ignites the blue flame with crisp 4/4 white washes in line with noodling guitars, flutes, organs and a sublime vocal. “Be There” is a builder as the looping drums provide a backdrop for the oncoming key parts and funky mainline. “Here I Am” is in your face with Vegas horns popping right at you and the vocalist making it clear where she’s at, while “Love Child” is perhaps the albums most gorgeous tracks with a flowing powdery synth line. The album builds through “So Fine” and “To The Stars” reaching Ross D’s ode to Philly on “215.” This one is a celebration and a soundtrack to a fireworks display circa 1976. It’s also one of the more interesting arrangements with lots of cool stops and starts. “Wait Ok Go” is not what you call a love song, although it’s quite lovely. It’s an instrumental breakup track and quite a bittersweet tearjerker. “Stay” is the companion to the previous track and it’s more forceful with a driving beat, auto-tuned vocal demands and popping horns. Give the guy one more chance. “I Need You” brings the album full circle both musically and thematically. This one might be the grooviest of the lot with a to-die-for piano line.

Musical D-lite is is currently a Beatport Exclusive and will be live on iTunes, DanceTracksDigital, JunoDownloads.com, TrackItDown.net and more from July 25th.

BUY ALBUM -
http://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/176692/musical_d-lite

Musical D-lite
Playloop

http://www.myspace.com/rossdmusic

http://www.playlooprecords.com

http://www.myspace.com/playlooprecords

Media contact
Justin Kleinfeld
rephlektor inkorporated
justin@rephlektorink.com
www.rephlektorink.com
(646) 383-8827

Spin Magazine profile on Lee Mayjahs?

helmetwalker — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:23:06 +0000

JUSTIN PAUL DJ TIMES INTERVIEW

helmetwalker — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:07:23 +0000

Justin Paul DJ TIMES Interview with Jim Tremayne focusing on the digital music business and DJing.
Printed July 2008

Download Hi-Res PDF – http://www.playlooprecords.com/press/djtimes_jp_interview.pdf

The Model Big Shot Mag Feature & Review

helmetwalker — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:13:51 +0000

The Model Big Shot Magazine Feature & Review
http://www.bigshotmag.com/

The Model Slug Magazine Review

helmetwalker — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:12:28 +0000

The Model
Physical
Playloop Records
Street: 11.18.08
The Model = The Faint + She Wants Revenge + INXS
The groove of this record makes me want to direct The Model’s music videos with leather-clad, 80s rock-gods like icon Michael Hutchinson (INXS) staring into the camera and singing/whispering with eyes as intense as their motive for creating music. You can picture it, can’t you? The motive in the case of The Model (frontman Markie and keyboardists Ziggy, Jason, Johnny) began as a semi-annual philosophic-pop-costume party in Philadelphia—where it’s always sunny. Today, The Model is exactly as their name implies: a perfect example for dance parties they (and Girl Talk) have made infamous by mixing their own synth-noise into sexy, 80s, I-am-who-I-am-movie-attitude, like their anthem “I Won’t Be Hanging Out Anymore.” They play new-wave synth very well, blending that style with modern techno effects and beats for hopeful romantics (or those just swaying alone), like the Simple Minds-influenced “Do You Believe In Angels.” Markie’s deep, haunted vocals are similar to Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), only lacking the self-loathing which is replaced with a becoming maturity. Expect to hear The Model at every club/dance party this next year. –Jennifer Nielsen

http://www.slugmag.com/article.php?id=1512

The Model Remix Magazine Review

helmetwalker — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:37:19 +0000

Physical (Playloop)

Late to the party, but what an entrance

As the opening synths of “What Does It Look Like I’m Doing” drop into arpeggiated spirals and emotionally wrenched vocals, it’s clear this Philly outfit knows its way around the resurgent synth-pop blueprint. Filled with layers of over-the-top catchy synth hooks to match the overwrought vocals occasionally indulging in falsettos, The Model’s debut disc sounds like a lost ’80s treasure. But it’s not a one-note revival; “Immigrant” takes on the slinky grind of early Nine Inch Nails, and “Cowboys” looks to early techno. This band is starting in the past, and there’s room to grow. — Noah Levine

http://remixmag.com/rotations/rotations-december-matthew-dear-evidence/index1.html

PLAYLOOP Stage @ Space Island LA NYE Event

helmetwalker — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:12:07 +0000

EVOLVE – New Years Eve 2009
PLAYLOOP @ Space Island NYE
Space Island
http://www.spaceisland.org

Playloop Artists: Dave Hughes of Ireland, Justin Paul & Blake LaBounty

12/31/2008
10pm – ?am Minimum Age for event: 21+ w/ ID
Presented by: Space Island
Ticket Price: 75.00 * Plus $5.00 Processing Service Fee

Location Address:
613 Imperial St.
Los Angeles CA 90021
Google Maps

Space Island presents EVOLVE New Years 2009
Doors open at 10:00pm Open Bar until 1:30am

3 Stages of Sound Breaks – House – Dub Step

For DJ Line Up go to: http://www.spaceisland.org

Playloop Press & Posters

helmetwalker — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:31:50 +0000

Playloop posters and press clippings.

Philly City Paper, Big Shot Magazine, DJ TIMES, OCI Magazine, Slug, Mean Street and URB.

Event posters from: Dave Hughes of Ireland, Deadmau5, Disco Biscuits, King Britt, Natalie Walker and The Model

The Model Philly CityPaper Feature

helmetwalker — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:38:10 +0000

Misery, Love, Company

Get down with The Model.

by A.D. Amorosi

Published: Oct 22, 2008

When they’re making music, Mark Richardson and John Woods hardly seem half as miserable as they are when they talk about it.

Michael T. Regan

Singer/lyricist Richardson and multi-instrumentalists Woods and Jason Buzolits do a sprightly romantic, handily literate brand of electro-pop on their band The Model’s debut, Physical, on Philly’s Playloop label. Think Depeche Mode without the doomy fetishism and Fischerspooner without the sense of failure and you get the zest of giddy Model tracks “What Does It Look like I’m Doing?” and “I Won’t Be Hanging Out Anymore.” Physical’s finest songs are theatrical, sarcastic, philosophical and zealous. They are as much man as they are machine.

Yet pry into the backstory regarding Richardson’s lyrics, and there’s often a hard, sad catch to them. Like “N/A.” “I was in love with a borderline,” says Richardson about the tune’s state of dire amour. “Do you know what borderline personality disorder is?”

Or “Success.” “It’s a PSA for those of us who are never satisfied,” claims Richardson.

Or “Immigrant.” “The music came from a song I recorded in 1997, from my Run-DMC years. I don’t think I was having any sex while I recorded the vocals for the record, this song in particular.”

Woods’ stories of how The Model found its debonair pose are equally forlorn.

“The way I remember it is this: I made a CD, Attacktion, inspired by Patrick Cowley and other early Hi-NRG artists popular amongst gay crowds around the turn of the ’80s. Markie got a hold of a copy through a friend, enjoyed it and sought me out to remix songs for him. And it did not go well.”

Woods didn’t initially go for Richardson’s Model tunes — they were “too easy to compartmentalize into the ‘retro’ category, with something a little too raw and simple about them.” Next thing Woods knew, he got roped into producing and mixingPhysical on a massive old analog console with knobs the size of minidoughnuts, with layer upon layer of electronic bass, orchestras of synths and tambourine. “Lots of tambourine,” says Woods. And though he retreats to the mad and the moody when discussing Physical (“The mixing process was a nightmare. There are mistakes all over it”) and becoming a Model (“I hate bands and swore I’d never play in one again”), Woods comes clean. “It’s the best nightmare I ever had.”

Richardson too takes some convincing when it comes to finding joy in the process. Before The Model, the Jersey native was in Crystal Skulls. Richardson had just returned from playing keyboards and singing with Christian Wargo (now in Fleet Foxes) in 2006, emotionally and physically battered. But he still wanted something more from music. “I hated touring, and became suicidal — the sticky van seats in summer, the 4 a.m. check-in and 9 a.m. checkouts, the Midori and Sprite every night and candy from Taco Bell at some truck stop in North Dakota. Actually I just hated playing in someone else’s band.”

Richardson started writing Physical while running his parents’ ’50s-style beach motel in Wildwood and only barely looked back. “Hey, it’s out of that milieu that the lightness and schizophrenia of Physical came through.”

URB Magazine Next List – The Model

helmetwalker — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:39:17 +0000

The Model :: Do You Believe in Angels
Philly Playloop
Reviewed by Amorn Bholsangngam
4.5 Stars

The slick, stylish pop of Philadelphia electronic trio The Model is just as aesthetically pleasing as any of the long-legged, platinum-haired human mannequins that wander freely outside our Beverly Hills office though not nearly vacant as you’d presume those vixens would be. J Buz, Johnny, and Markie craft life-sized hooks over gently strobing instrumentals that will stick in your head longer than the hottest image in your favorite maternity wear catalog. Their debut record Physical possesses a very fitting title; this is music that is hard not to react physically to, inciting impromptu dance parties, orgies, and head-bobbing sessions across the land. “Do You Believe in Angels” is just a slice of this promising band’s infectious blend of anthemic melodies, dancefloor-ready beats, lovesick vocals, and shimmering synthwork.

http://www.ulike.netwww.urb.com/promotions/next1000/profile.php?BandId=1202

SXSW FESTIVAL 2008

helmetwalker — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:40:21 +0000

SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists Justin Paul & Lee Mayjahs?

Justin Paul
SXSW Official Page -
http://2008.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/70066.html

In the world of electronic music, you know you’re on to something good when legendary Philly DJ/producer King Britt says your label “is putting Philadelphia back on the map.” The label King Britt was referring to is Playloop Records; founded in 2006 by DJ/producer Justin Paul.

Justin Paul has the type of character and drive that melds with this future music industry. His Playloop Records label has already drawn critical praise from some of the most respected DJs in the world and his releases are amongst the highest-selling tracks on a number of popular online download destinations. DJing for over 20 years gives Justin Paul an amazing ear for quality tunes but he is more than just an A&R man. Justin Paul is involved with every step of the processes that surround the Playloop brand – from conception of the music to sales and marketing. With a vision influenced by many different areas of the entertainment industry, Justin Paul has amassed quite a roster for his label. Playloop represents a wide range of genres such as Electro, Tech-House, Rocktronica,and downbeat. In 2007, Playloop has release a steady flow of digital 12-inches and LPs from their talented artist roster. First is “Get Into The Loop Vol. 1” (CD and Digital Album released in April). Get Into The Loop Vol. 1 is the first in a series of Playloop Records label compilations to feature the hottest Playloop tracks in original, unmixed format on CD. This inaugural release will feature all the Playloop tracks currently making waves around the world! iTunes & Beatport Keyword: Playloop

Lee Mayjahs?
SXSW Official Page -
http://2008.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/70947.html

Lee Mayjahs? has been on a long journey as a DJ and party promoter. His career started in Maryland in 1985 when he and his then DJ partner David Fitzgerald created “Mirage DJ’s”. Lee’s early influences on the turntables ranged from the Minneapolis Sound, New Wave, Hip Hop and Punk Rock. After Moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1989 for College, Lee Mayjahs? became involved in the Reggae, Indie and burgeoning Club scene there. In late 1991 Lee returned to the East Coast and starting working at the legendary “Bank” nightclub in Philly where DJ greats King Britt, Josh Wink and Dozia got their start. In 1995 Lee moved to California and lived in San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles until returning to Philly in 1999. Mayjahs? resumed Djing in Philly with DJ Train (Ari Saxe) and Rob Paine at Filo’s with Solomonic Sound. During the summer of 1999 Lee also began traveling to the Nevada Desert and became deeply involved with the Burning Man scene and culture. As one of the original founders of the theme camp “The Philadelphia Experiment” Lee has helped incubate the Philadelphia Burning Man community and spins at various Burning Man related events around the Nation. Through his diverse musical influences Lee is able to blend unusual genres that appeal to wide audiences on the dance floor. Currently working with Playloop Record’s Justin Paul, Lee has begun producing his own tracks and plans to have a full-length release out by Fall of 2008.