Ultimate T&A
is the new EP on me and Tittsworth's label. It's all Baltimore
Club remixes of funky 70s jams from the
likes of Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Jimmy Castor Bunch and
more.
Cosmo wrote a page in Wax Poetics about a Tuff Crew 12" about
a year and a half ago and their DJ, Too Tuff, got in touch with him and came
to see us play with A-Trak in Philly. Since then he's started to make a comeback.
Dude was a really innovative DJ in the 80s and this mixtape, made in 2007 but
featuring mostly raer hip-hop from the late 80s / early 90s, is fucking phenomenal.
I don't know most of the music on here but it's all really really good.
This is an EP of Disco edits by Smalltown Romeo aka Wax Romeo aka Neighborhood Romeo and it's on some Metro Area 2007 shit, sort of reminds me of some of the stuff Eli is doing.
Trevor Loveys (1/2 of Speaker Junk, formerly 1/2 of Switch)
is playing with me and Walter Meego and James Fucking Friedman
at Hiro Ballroom this Tuesday July
3rd at Kurrupt aka The Rave Pt 2. Foxxy is a fairly straight ahead house remix
for Jimi
Hendrix "Foxy
Lady" but it's a fucking workhorse. Such a perfect breakdown. If you dig the wobbly
house
stuff, Organ Grinder (Loveys & Sinden) dropped last week and it's pretty crazy too.
Friday, June 22
Cosmo
just dropped a new summer mix called Feeling
Good. Download that for free here.
I'm in Montreal and
DJ Eleven is in Texas this weekend but there are a bunch of things going on in NY including the first
McCarren Park Pool Party, outdoors and free in Williamsburg / Greenpoint. We're
djing at four of the parties this summer starting July 8, and the lineups are
all great.
Check
the
whole
schedule here.
-Ayres
Wednesday, June 20
New 3 hour Rub Radio streaming on Scion's broadband internet
radio. On future shows, we'll have
interviews with Ghostface, Chromeo, A-Trak, Andy Smith, Jazzy Jeff
and a whole lot more!
Scandinavia
was really nuts. The Rumble in Malmo in particular was just an incredible party
- I don't think I've ever seen that
many people go nuts to Baltimore Club in my life. To give you an idea, the biggest
song of the night
was DJ Class "Stop Snitching!" All the parties were great - shout out to Sampo in Helsinki, Jaywalker crew
in Oslo, Jonny and Sanna, Saurabh and my man Stefan in Stockholm and of course
Sweet Fred and the Discobelle crew in Malmo. Tittsworth murdered it everywhere
we went, and I just tried to keep up! We literally didn't sleep at night the
whole time we were there, just a few afternoon naps to battle the 21+ hours of
daylight everyday. Helsinki photos here, more photos coming. So now I'm home playing catch up for a few days, then heading
up to Montreal on Friday.
Saturday, June 9
Still going on the old
tapes! Here is a classic
Big L tribute mix from Radio 1 in 1999. Max Glazer (Federation) on the mix, Tim Westwood on
the mic. Big L was an incredible rapper and was just about to blow up when he was killed. I was always a huge DITC fan growing up and I felt like Big L really took the styles pioneered by Lord Finesse to another level. It really hurt when he was murdered, it felt like losing a friend. Especially because, as Max said, Big L was a genuinely good person on top of being a great artist. Big L R.I.P.
I'm gonna keep putting up old
tapes as I have free time. This is one of my favorites, from PF
Cuttin. He is the dj and producer for Blahzay Blahzay (any hip-hop
head worth his salt remembers the mid-nineties hit "Danger" "when the
East is in the house, oh my god, danger!"). Anyhow I don't have the cover
anymore but this must have come out in 1997 because he starts it off
with an exclusive from Wu-Tang Clan's second album. PF Cuttin is a
beast with the doubles but he was also really ahead of his time with
the drops and effects. Most DJs then weren't putting that much work
in on mixtapes. I assume this was recorded with a digital hard
disc recorder and not a computer - I don't think many DJs were using
Pro Tools to record mixes yet since most computers didn't really have
enough memory.
Monday, May 28
I run myself ragged touring and working all the time but then something
big will come along and make me realize it's all paying off. This summer
I'll be playing shows with Ghostface Killah, TV on the Radio, MIA,
DJ Drama, Peedi Crakk and a bunch of other performers I look up to.
The Rub is doing Fabric in July, which has been a goal for a really
long time. I was interviewed on MTV Live in Canada with Tittsworth,
The Rub just shot our first magazine cover, our internet radio show
is getting 60,000 downloads a week, and we are doing guest slots on
XM and Sirius sattelite radio in the next few weeks. The Rub is celebrating
our 5 year anniversary at Southpaw in July. It is still so strange
to me when I get stopped in the street by fans who recognize me, or
asked to sign posters at shows - I really don't feel like that dude.
But I'm really happy and proud of what we've accomplished so far
and I'm amazed by all the opportunities that are coming along this
year.
- Ayres
Sean Dorgan took pictures of
Tittsworth, Ayres & Zebo at Smartbar in Chicago. Scott Furkay took pictures of Tittsworth, Ayres, Wax Romeo and Smalltown DJs in Calgary. And here are
all the pictures from the tour in one
place.
Tonight Eleven and Ayres go in heavy in a reggae fashion with Queen Majesty from 6-8pm on East
Village Radio! Get ready for two hours of Jamaican music and promotion of the dancehall compilation Rub Up and CD release party at Sway - vodka and airhorns!
Rub
Up CD Release Party
DJ Ayres & DJ Eleven
Hosted by Oxy Cottontail
Sway - 305 Spring St. Manhattan
Free entry + free CDs + free Vodka 10:00 - 11:30!
Friday,
May 11
Ayres & Eleven
quoted in an article about DJs in the New
York Observer
Thursday, May 10
The Rub has a show on Scion's internet radio thing! Go to scion.com/broadband/, click on Radio 17,
then click on The Rub. This is a three hour show, different from Brooklyn Radio. Our special guest is Mike the 2600 King.
Monday, May 7
I've been digging out old
tapes lately. Side
A / Side B
This is one of my all-time favorite mixtapes, by NYC's DJ Daze around
1999. Tracklist here. I had Volume 1, which was also bananas, but I lost it. If anyone
has it please email me: holler@djayres.com
This past Sunday's Baby Loves Disco at Central Park was incredible.
It was close to 8,000 people, on The Great Hill at 106th
St. Everyone was jamming, the sun was just POPPING and it was the
perfect temperature. It pretty much was "THAT
ONE DAY" in springtime
that everything just comes together and makes everyone say
"
everything is going to be alright." Hosted
by Tah Frum Da Bumrush
and featuring me and DJ MoMa spinning the classic tunes, the entire
crowd was with us in the groove. At one point this little girl got lost and we had to stop the music so that we could emphasize the importance of trying to locate her, and at one point everyone in the
crowd was calling her name ("Madeline")
in unison. We found her and
there was an enormous roar from the crowd, at which time I played
Stevie Wonder "Don't You Worry
Bout A Thing." I ended the show with
"
Ooh Child" and some guy got onstage
and proposed to his girl. She
said yes and the crowd erupted again.
I then walked from Central Park to Houston Street, just soaking up the New York springtime. Amazing.
Rub Up is available on the store page! Double disc of classic Dancehall
Reggae party joints mixed properly - all those songs you know but don't know who sings them, from the crates of Ayres and Eleven.
Fresh off of the crazy week before in Austin,
we hit Miami for WMC and we hit the ground running - within 5 minutes
of checking into our hotel we were upstairs at the Scion Penthouse
party listening to Richard Dorfmeister playing some deep groovy house. Oh, it's going to be THAT kind of week, Miami?
We're ready...
We were supposed to play a party Wednesday evening for our boys from Paperstreet at
Nikki Beach Club, but it got rained out. While Ayres was smart and caught up
on some rest, Eleven and I went to Shore Club for the Frank 151 party, with a
special performance by Blowfly, and later on we went to see Jazzanova & Bugz In The Attic. A good way to end the night, as well as to start the week.
The next day, after doing an interview with Andy
Smith (of The Document/Portishead fame) we got ready for our set at The Penthouse.
It was a small room on top of the Raleigh Hotel which is right on the ocean,
so it had a beautiful view and set the tone for us. The three of us dudes rocked
the spot, setting the tone for Andy Smith to completely obliterate the room by
playing funk 45s, British hip-hop and classic ska records from the 60s. I would
have official declared the game over, but after Andy came some super heavy sets
by the headliners, Justice and MSTRKRFT. That "heavy heavy" sound would become a running theme throughout the conference, like when we went
to see the Ed Banger crew the next night.
We jetted out of the Raleigh over to The Delano to attend an exclusive dinner
set up by Giant Step and Levis/The Fader honoring the Mizell
Brothers. Not only were Fonce, Larry and Rod there, but there were 50 other attendees
at the quiet and civilized dinner - all people who really make shit happen. Jazzy
Jeff and I joked about it the next day like "Good thing someone didn't drop a bomb on the hotel at that time, several generations
or legendary musicians would have been wiped out in one fell swoop." But all in all it was an amazing, humbling and unforgettable experience. More
info about it can be found on that here. Here's the one photo I took, me and Danny Krivit. Phillip Angert took some great photos - look here.
Thursday night
we spun at the Turntable Lab
party with all of our extended fam from The Lab. It was good to have
everyone from all over in the spot at one time. Unemployed Lloyd, Woody,
Blu Jemz, Roger Yamaha, Alex XXXChange, Roctakon, Egg Foo Young and
Chromeo all murdered it on the turntables.
Friday, Ayres
and I set out on the yacht that Scion was having it's Jazzy Jeff/Masters
At Work party on. Ayres spoke on it some over here
- it was a great afternoon. The first day it hadn't rained and again
it was an intimate setting, so you could party or you could chill. Things
came to a head when Jazzy Jeff dropped War's "Galaxy" at exactly
6:30 and that throbbing bass line kind of rippled through the crowd
on the top deck, instantly engaging everyone. Then when Lil Louie Vega
dropped the Todd Terry dub of Cajmere "Brighter Days" exactly
at 7pm it electrified the crowd, and personally brought me back to 1992.
Hearing MAW play cuts like Harddive and La India's "River Ocean"
really was perfection. Like Monk
One said to me at the time, "It's amazing to think about these
particular songs being play right now, because for the most part they've
been played out and you don't really want to hear them in the club.
But the fact that they're being played right now by the people who made
them, that's totally on another level.
Later on that night, Ayres, Dante Ross and myself went to go see the
Ed Banger dudes at Studio A. I'll let the photos on Dante's
blog speak for themselves.
Saturday we went
and DJ did some quick DJ sets for Mackie at the Remix Hotel. Our "opener"
was Roy Davis Jr. He didn't play "Gabrielle" (which would
have blew my mind) but he played an inspiring set and we were honored
to have been able to play after him.
That night we
held our Rub party at Shore
Club and it was great. We only got a chance to set it up with a
few days notice, but it ended up being exactly what we hoped - a nice
fun party outside at a beautiful location that all of our peoples could
come out to and enjoy themselves. DJ
Mr. Supreme played the first 2 hours of the evening and it was the
best set of the music conference in my opinion. While all our folks
grooved pool-side, the homies from The Bay Sake
1 and J-Boogie
got it popping in the Red Room inside.
Sunday was at first deemed "recovery-mode Sundays" but after
we all got some Cuban sandwiches in our bellies, it quickly turned into
"Love Is In The Air Sundays." We had on last night in Miami
and with our friends Smalltown Phil and Steve, and our boys Jake and
Contra, we took it all the way home. We had been "One More Day-ing"
it for about 2 weeks so the family affair we did that night was the
perfect capper on the past 2 weeks. Without a doubt,
Love Is In The Air.
Big shout outs to everyone who we worked, chilled and partied with over
the course of those 5 days; shout outs to everyone we kicked it with,
DJed with, everyone who hooked us up with guestlists and food and drinks
and gear! DJ Haul, Andy Smith, DJ Hier, Jeri, Jason, Ian, Dana, Matt,
Kelly Mccaully, Sheri, Ben, Tommy Up, Jay Simplefly, Thane, Jessica
Webber, Lindsey, Myles, Language, Dante Ross, Jazzy Jeff, Kenny Dope
and Louie Vega, DJ Mehdi, Busy P and the whole Ed Banger crew, MSTRKRFT,
Justice, A-Trak, Chromeo, Craze, Jen Lyons, Blu Jemz, Roger Yamaha,
Egg Foo Young, Roctakon, Lloydski, Jasper, Pete, Anthony and the whole
Turntable Lab crew, XXXChange, Spankrock, DJ Mr. Supreme, Flosstradamus,
Pase Rock, Fort Knox 5, Smalltown DJs, Johnny G, DJ Contra, Franki Chan,
Justine D, James Friedman, Andre and Dennis from Wax Poetics, Monk One,
Lily from Seed, Roxy, Jake, DJ Ammo, Edski, Roy Davis Jr, Vikter Duplaix,
Sake 1, J-Boogie, Small Change, Synapse, Giles Peterson, Spinna, Danny
Krivit, Madlib, Wajeed, Peanut Butter Wolf and the whole Stones Throw
crew, Egon, Fonce, Larry and Rod Mizell, King Britt, Maurice Bernstein,
Daniel Best, Daz-I-Cue, Nickodemus, Malente, Ben Wyatt & Tracy Thorn,
Lumin, Steven Gerstein, Anthony Shippoli. Damian, Geology, Benji B,
Aloe Blacc, Sal, Rob Weinstein, DJ Lady Sha, Killer Kela, Jesse, Tom
Laroc, Tyler from HVW8, Rob Wonder, Steve Malbon, Fancy, Ronnal Ives
and DJ Tone from Mackie, Shelly Rootz from Audio Agent, Taayib, DJ Avee,
Rich Medina, Mark B and the ATC crew, Lord Sear, Josh from Shore Club,
Rob Weinstein, Carlito, Jess Jubilee, John Trepp and big up to anyone
who may have been left off this list. See you all next year.
We just got back from Miami
last night and we're diving right back into it, with an Open Bar party
tonight at Webster Hall, DJ
Eleven & Scott Melker's weekly Thursday at Gallery, our new Friday
residency at Lotus, and Shirts and Skins with The Rub and Shy Child
Saturday at Canal Room! Check out Ayres blogging
about the Jazzy Jeff / Masters at Work yacht party on The
Fader, The Rub talking about the Hip-Hop History series on Brooklyn
Radio, and another interview
in Serie B, straight outta Spain! Full
Miami wrap-up coming soon, some pictures
up now.
SXSW
festival last weekend was a tremendous amount of fun.
There's nothing like hanging out with friends from all over the world
in 70 degree weather, seeing countless incredible musicians and djs
for free all weekend, eating great food, and partying into the wee hours.
Highlights (in no particular order): Ghostface Killah, The Melvins,
Federation, Redman, Amy Winehouse, SWOLL, DJ Day, Mike 2600 King, Morse
Code, Diplo, King Most, Catchdubs, DJ Mel, Prince Klasson, Smalltown
DJs, Flosstradamus, A-Trak, Kid Sister, Vyle, Cool Kids, Federation,
UGK, Rakim, Hier, DJ Haul, Revolution, Boris, Amanda Blank, Solico,
RJD2, Nasa, breakdancing, bbq and Sabbath
in the Motherfucking Park.RIP
IBM Thinkpad #2, all hail IBM Thinkpad #3.It's nothing!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
We're off to Austin for SXSW!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
The
Rave was phenomenal! Rain, weird door guys and a shorted extension cord
could not stop the party, which raged until 7 AM. Rave til dawn for
real! Huge thanks to Jen Lyon, Sinden, Tittsworth, Star Eyes and all
the ravers for making it happen! It's unanimous - The Rave 2 has to
happen. Photos here
by Ian Meyer.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Oh man it's time for The Rave! Our man
Sinden is coming all
the way from London to smash the East Coast with a gig in Philly
Friday and headlining slot at The Rave in Brooklyn, along with Star
Eyes, Pase Rock
and Tittsworth. We're also
spinning with Tittsworth Friday night in DC, alongside Smalltown
DJs and Fort Knox
Five. Plus me and Tittsworth just released our Bmore/Miami battle
record, T&A
Breaks. That's a lot of Titts! I put together a little megamix using
T&A Breaks and played it Friday on East
Village Radio - click
here to download that show and check the tracklist here.
And if The Rave is too rich for your blood, tonight we're at Sputnick
with Red Alert, Evil D, Tony Touch, Nice & Smooth &
more for Vic
Black's birthday. Mandatory RSVP to elijahs95@aol.com,
cydneyb@gmail.com or info@palisusa.com
It's the real...
Thursday, March 1, 2007
T&A
Breaks Out Now at Turntablelab!
This is a new battle record, by Ayres & Tittsworth on A-Trak's Ammo
Records. The format is Baltimore Club beats and breaks and samples and
chops on one side, and Miami Bass loops, samples, acapellas, and 808
bass on the other side. Everything is at 133.3 BPM for mixing in matching.
