A-Trak grew up with being labeled a child DJ prodigy by many, but despite that heavy label, he’s been able to deliver above and beyond anybody’s expectations. Constantly coming up dopness to give us eargasms on projects like Sunglasses is a Must, to Dirty South Dance and now Infinity + 1 and his Fabriclive mix. Expanding beyond his own music he co-founded record label Fool’s Gold Records with friend and fellow DJ, Nick Catchdubs and discovering KiD CuDi. He’s currently on his 10,000lb Hamburger Tour which features Fool’s Gold DJ, Treasure Fingers and Theophilus London, which is stopping throughout various cities in North America.

Killahbeez: A-Trak, thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

A-Trak: All good…

KB: Lets’ talk Infinity +1, how does this project differ from Dirty South Dance, which was a personal favorite on repeat for a straight year.

A-Trak: Thanks man. This mix CD is completely different. The whole concept of Dirty South Dance was based on bootlegs that I was making with rap acapellas and electro tracks. That was a new sound in 2007 but I can’t do that anymore. Infinity +1 is much more based on the montage of songs itself, rather than the individual songs. And musically it’s in another vein.

KB: It seems that this new release features more of an electro/disco/house vibe to it. Is that reflective of your personal taste has evolved over the years?

A-Trak: Yeah that’s correct , it’s got a sort of spacey vibe to it. Of course my taste and my selections evolve with time. Up until 5 years ago I was mostly playing hip hop. Around the time that I put out my DVD (Sunglasses Is A Must) and did that tour with The Rub I started playing more party sets. When I made the Dirty South Dance CD I was getting interested in electronic music. I’ve dug deeper into that since then and now I think I pick and choose from all those areas and pick my selections depending on the context.

KB: In an interview that our writer, AJK, did with your brother, Dave 1, they touched on how Chromeos’ sound and your sound are starting to fall in line. Growing up how much of an influence did your older brother play in the music that you listened to? Do you two still bounce material off of one another?

A-Trak: Dave played a huge influence on me when we were growing up, in terms of listening to music. Basically I would listen to whatever he and his friends were listening to. Now we share a lot of music. Yes he’s definitely the first person to hear my demos and give me feedback, and vice versa for Chromeo.

KB: Switching topics to fashion. It’s clear that you have an appreciation for fashion, you’ve modeled for Sixpack’s lookbook, what was that experience like and are you doing more stuff down the road?

A-Trak: Doing the Sixpack lookbook was fun, I’ve collaborated with that brand many times over the years so I’m always happy to do more stuff with them. I’ve been asked by more brands but I turn down a lot of things. I actually wear Sixpack tees so it made sense for me to do that shoot.

KB: Staying on the topic of fashion, you hit up Paris for fashion week. Which shows were you able to take in and were there any pieces that stood out in your mind?

A-Trak: Yeah I went to Paris fashion week with Kanye. It was women’s fashion week though I can’t really recall specific pieces, it was more about taking in all the creativity. I saw Givenchy, YSL, Hussein Chalayan, Viktor & Rolf and Sonia Rykiel.

KB: Going back to music, I’ve heard that you and Solange Knowles are working on some music and a record between yourself and Armand Van Helden. Are there any other collaborations or remixes that you have planned next?

A-Trak: Yes I worked on a track with Solange and I’m sure we’ll do more. She’s a great writer and has a very open mind. Sure there are more collaborations planned but I won’t tell you everything! I will tell you that I just completed an EP with Armand Van Helden which is coming out on Fool’s Gold.

KB: What else is on the agenda for A-Trak?

A-Trak: Wrapping up a few remixes and I’m going to start on an A-Trak record soon.

KB: Any departing words for the readers out there? Thanks again for taking the time.

A-Trak: Support Fool’s Gold! Kid Sister album coming soon. Thanks for the support.

Photo: Matt Barnes

After a year’s hiatus, I decided to head back down to sunny South Beach for WMC 2009.  As the days close in, the folks that run the Winter Music Conference publishes a master list of events.  First thing I noticed at a local bodega was this year’s publication was a pamphlet in comparison to previous years Frank151 mini mag style guides.  Although, having a game plan is to your advantage, you can wing it and still have a fun time.   Just watch out for the tourist-ready alcoholic beverages averaging in at 16 dollars, half priced lunches and breakfast but with a caveat of ridiculously expensive coffee, oj and iced tea.  This is to be expected as a trade off for the hotel poolside cabanas, people watching seats on Ocean Drive and of course the clear blue water/white sand combo in Miami.

As far as music goes, this was my outlet for lots and lots of deep house, broken beat and of course electro pop.  My friends and I planned on hitting up several parties throughout the day until we couldn’t stand anymore.  One piece of advice, if your hotel is in SOBE, stay in SOBE.  The taxis have no issue taking you on the “tourist” route to cross the MacArthur Causeway.  Some parties were a bust aka Tuesday Night at Laundry Bar and Friday Night at White Room.  However, there were some events that stood out and made WMC 09 memorable.

One such event was the Sander Kleinenberg yacht party.  Thoughts of waiting in long lines at Epcot or Universal Studios came to mind and gave me a chuckle.  First, my friends and I walked from 9th and Collins to the Shelborne Resort to redeem our tickets.  One line at the hotel lobby takes you upstairs to the Wanttickets.com suite.  From there, another line gets in contact with a customer service rep.  Next step, much like a reality tv show challenge was to hail a $40 dollar cab ride to the docks before 3:30.  Arrival yielded two more lines to get onto the Biscayne Lady.  But the wait was worthwhile as the food appeased my palate.  The all you can drink bar also came in handy to enjoy progressive house by Sander.  My group and I were definitely loving every aspect of the yacht party.  The rest of Thursday night was a mix between a blur and being woken up to head down to Heathrow Lounge for an event called Sonic Boom.

Friday was a free for all.  I had no game plan other than to hit the Scion Party at the Gansevoort South Resort featuring Annie Mac, A-Trak, Dj Medhi, Riton, Toddla T and Rusko.  However, during the daytime, I did notice Sephora had a line ready for j-pop songstress, Utada Hikaru.  Thanks to Japanator, this info was confirmed.  Half of me wishes I camped out like the nerd I am.

After a long day of exploring, I was able to catch the last leg of the Scion party with A-Trak ending his set and Dj Medhi beginning his.  Had we read the flyer, we would’ve avoided the dude playing top 40’s “hip pop” on the rooftop pool.  Thankfully, the friendliest security at the elevator guided us to the beach club where the Scion party was held. Guestlist, bah who needs it. Friendly foreign girl wanting photo op with me? Why the fuck not, all in good fun. $20 dollars for two Amstel lights gave a slight hiccup to the fun.

The rest of the night involved trying to hail a cab back down to 9th and Collins from 23rd ended in failure.  We walked roughly 16 blocks down only to return back to the Lincoln Road for Sushi Samba.  One hour wait stated the hostess.  Final destination: Sushi Siam where our eyes were hungrier than our bellies.  Afterwards, we made it out to The Shore Club where we finally caught Rusko’s set.  A cab ride to the White Room lead to a mediocre night.  Despite wanting to see Alan Braxe, Roy Davis Jr., and the Juan Maclean, I was just not feeling the venue.

Saturday – When I am looking for you, I call your number, but I can’t get through…
Spent most of the day at a nearby friend’s pool at the Marriott on 2nd and Ocean.  Then made it out to Taverna Opa for excellent Greek dining and entertainment.  This is where our nerd juices were overflowing with joy.  We actually asked the cab to get us to Rokbar right when doors opened at 10.  Who does that?  A fan of MODULAR mothafuckin Records does, thats who.  Our zealousness yielded a mini camp out as doors opened at 11, not 10.  But the venue is beautiful, Knightlife, Kim’s and Dan’s set was amazing.  Nothing could’ve gone wrong with this evening.  Well except overdoing it with jager shots.

The trip concluded with a super early shuttle ride to the airport Sunday Morning.  Lethargic days and affordable eating, here I come.  See below for some highlight photos taken collectively by my friends and myself.  On a side note, Dan Whitford of Cut Copy was nice enough to take a photo with my friend, SK.

Treasure Fingers, the name has been synonymous with great dance music in 07/08. From dropping his own gems, “Its Your Turn” and possibly electro track of the year, well for me anyways, “Cross the Dancefloor” and not to mention the numerous banging remixes that he continually drops. My personal favorites being Chromeo’s “100%”, Empire of The Sun’s “Walking On A Dream” and even making Fergie’s “Glamorous” palatable. The man consistently keeps people shaking their asses whether its on the dancefloor or in the privacy of their own home. With that kind of resume we can definitely expect more hotness coming out in 2009 and it’s already started with Treasure Fingers remix of Miike Snows‘ “Animal”, heard here. In anticipation of him coming to Vancouver on January 23rd to Celebrities (tickets at www.blueprintevents.ca), we caught up with the man known as Treasure Fingers to talk about his remixes, plans for an album and for the gear heads, we touch on what equipment he uses in the lab.

KB: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. So tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in producing and DJing electronic dance music?

Treasure Fingers: I started with hip hop and experimental stuff when I was really young, 14 or so, on my dad’s drum machine and 4track. Around 16, I lost interest and started playing in punk/hardcore bands. I didn’t really get serious with dance music production & DJing until I was 17 or 18 and my band had broken up. I liked that I could fill the creative musical void by writing, producing, & DJing solo.

KB: You have an interesting name, Treasure Fingers, and before that you were know as The Enemy, tell us about those names, what was the inspiration behind them?

TF: Some friends of mine and I just kicked around some names and Treasure Fingers seemed to be the most popular. I still wasn’t completely sold on it at first but I really like it now. It’s taken over me. ‘The Enemy’ actually started out as NME-5, my first DJ name. I quickly grew out of that and changed it. I still use the The Enemy moniker for some hip-hop/extra production.

KB: Which musical genres as well as artists do you find gives you inspiration? And what kind of influence has coming from the south, Atlanta, had on your style of music if any?

TF: I listen to almost everything and it all influences me at least a little bit. For Treasure Fingers, 80’s funk and disco is the biggest point of influence. I think a lot of the r&b and rap I listen to comes through a little also. I love southern rap, and the vibe of the Atlanta club music scene and (I) hope a little of that comes across through my music.

KB: How did you meet up with the folks at Fools’ Gold and A-Trak and eventually getting signed to the label?

TF: I had quite a few mutual friends but what actually brought it all together was A-Trak sending me a MySpace message saying something like “hey! I like your music and run a label, are you interested (in) releasing some records with us?”. Since then, I’ve become good friend with A-Trak, Nick Catchdubs and the rest of the Fool’s Gold family; they’re all really good people.

KB: Ok so straight up I have to say I love your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, when I first heard it I was quite blown away. The melodies and production work are ridiculous. What was the process of making that track?

TF: Thanks! It started out as just an instrumental filter disco house type track. Then one day I decided to try to put vocals on it. The next day I thought it might be cool to have some girl vocals responding back to my male vocals. The overall production is pretty simple, just a clean kind of poppy track. There’s a sample in there (the filtered disco part during the first breakdown), but I played the rest of the synths, bass, drums and built the track up around the sample just in case we couldn’t get it cleared. Luckily, it got cleared and I’m blown away at how well the song as done thus far.

KB: Recently you remixed Chromeo’s track “100%” and they remixed your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, how did that partnership come about? Were you always into Chromeos’ stuff prior to Fool’s Gold?

TF: Yeah, for sure. I first heard of Chromeo from some DJ mix they had released years ago. Lots of old classic 80s funk, I didn’t know they were writing or producing their own stuff until I heard “Needy Girl”. I love their work, great guys too. I didn’t meet or get in touch with them until Fool’s Gold signed “Cross the Dancefloor”. A-Trak hit me up one day and said his brother and P-Thugg loved it and he wanted to get them to remix it. My remix for them came through some Bacardi promotion they were coordinating with Vice Records, I got asked if I wanted to remix “100%” and of course agreed to it. “100%” is one of my favorites off that album.

KB: As is mine, and that remix of yours is also bananas.

KB: For all the gear heads out there, what do you use to create tracks / remixes?

TF: I use a PC running Cubase SX 3, I know I need to upgrade to 4, as my main sequencer. As far as instruments, I use a lot of VSTs, some hardware synths (Roland JX3P, Roland Alpha Juno-1, Yamaha DX100, Korg MS10), a couple guitars (Gibson SG, Fender Strat), Heil Talk Box, MPC 2000xl, Fender Rhodes mark V, and a lot of other smaller fun things.

KB: In an interview that I checked out between you and Kill The Noise you mentioned that you wanted to move towards more of a live show by the end of the year, is that something that’s still in the works?

TF: Definitely! The live show won’t be ready for a while though. I’m concentrating on finishing the album now, but once it’s done I’m going to focus on putting the band together and hitting the road.

KB: So staying on topic with the album, when can fans expect it? Or has touring been taking up a lot of your time?

TF: Touring and remixing has been taking up all my time lately. Next year will be the time for a full-length album. I have a lot of tracks half finished & demo tracks already, I just need to pick out the best and finish them.

KB: What are some of your upcoming projects and collaborations that you can talk about?

TF: Not too much I can talk about right now really. I just finished a bunch of new remixes that should be coming out over the next several months. You can check my MySpace (www.myspace.com/treasurefingers) or website and see the full list of remixes I’ve done to date. I’m currently finishing one for Miami Horror “Don’t Be On With Her” for Virgin/EMI in Australia.

KB: So with your busy schedule are you still involved with or plan to work with Evol Intent?

TF: Yes, we have a live show we’ve been doing at bigger events and festivals. We’re working on new material now, and also doing a couple new remixes. One is for Shiny Toy Guns “Ghost town” and the other is a dubstep remix of Tech Itch & Kemal “The Calling”.

KB: Dope. So changing course, what are Treasure Fingers current top 5 tracks that you can’t stop listening to?

TF: Drop Out Orchestra “Gibbon”, D’Stephanie “Rock the Disco”, Van She “Kelly (Breakbot remix)”, JR Disco “What Cha Going To Do”, Matt Hughes “Can’t Talk Now”

KB: Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.

TF: No Problem, Thank you!

Treasure Fingers website: www.treasurefingers.com
Treasure Fingers MySpace:www.myspace.com/treasurefingers

Treasure Fingers “Cross The Dancefloor”

Chromeo “100%” Treasure Fingers B-Live Pemberton Mix

Ever since Nick Catchdubs blessed DC9 with his set, I’ve been anxiously waiting to see whats next at Feedback.  For the 7th installment, DC9 will house Mad Decent’s Dj Sega along with Feedback’s host, Stereo Faith, Chris Burns and Trevor Martin.  How a small venue like DC9 can handle disco house, crunk/ghettotech and electro bangers all in the same room is beyond me.  But its surely an event not to be missed.  Early birds get cover waived and free vodka cocktails.

Image Source: Stereo Faith
DC 9 is located at 1940 9th St., NW, Washington, DC 20001

As if we don’t rave enough about these cats, but on December 5th Keys N Krates have a huge show in their hometown of Toronto at Wrong Bar. Be sure to catch this live remix show because if you haven’t yet, then you are seriously behind. Nick Catchdubs from Brooklyn, New York will also be in the house mixing it up on the 1’s and 2’s as well.

Keys N Krates Feat. Nick Catchdubs (Fool’s Gold) & Le Pants Optional Friday Dec. 5th, 2008 Wrong Bar – 1279 Queen St. W (Toronto) Doors 10pm Cover $15 before 12am. Should be a huge show. Come out and show some love and support.

Check out this video interview that we did with DJ JR.Flo from Keys N Krates.

Flashing Lights is on that Rave Juice! This Friday Flashing Lights presents the NYC debut of Nadastrom (Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom)! With a ton of blazing remixes floating around and an EP coming on Dubsided (Switch’s label), our boys are killing it right now. Plus they got Gina Turner coming out from LA to play BIG A$$ HOUSE!

These guys are making HUGE waves in the music world and for good reason.  Their remix of Estelle’s “American Boy” and Lil’ Wayne’s “A Millie” is heating up them airwaves.

Public Assembly (aka Galapagos) 70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY  FREE ADMISSION!

Mishka invites you to celebrate 5 years gone wrong with us on September 12th, 2008 7pm to 12am @ the Red Bull space, 40 Thompson St., Manhattan
come join our Mishka family after work as we enjoy the musical selections of:

• Nick Catchdubs kicking off the evening fashionably early.

• Followed then by the undisputed Heavy Bass Champion and his Trouble & Bass orchestra.

• Then it’s the one and only Mr. Mad Decent.

• Closing it out will be some friends that will have your common lives Sucked Up into oblivion!

Visual carnage provided by system D-128
Photography by lastnightsparty
Please rsvp you & your guests’ full names(no pluses!) to 5th@mishkanyc.com
complimentary drinks & gift bags will be provided all night long by our gracious benefactors.

If you plan on coming up to the city this weekend, this is an event you may not want to miss.  Best of all, its free.  But as the flier indicates, rsvping doesn’t guarantee entrance if capacity has been met.

Image Source: Mishka NYC
Red Bull Space
40 Thompson St.
New York, NY 10013