cant believe im still listening to this old mix. so good.

Spring has sprung!!  So good to start feeling that warm weather and sunshine after a long winter.  Here is my Spring 2021 promo mix Digital Dreams chalked full of all sorts of groovy house vibes!

Featuring tracks from The Fabulous Joker, Sischke, Local Options, Di Saronno, T. Markakis, Inkswel, Oliver Night, DuBeats, Jovonn, DIY, Barney Osborn, The Stoned, Tilman, Houzzie Killa, ACG, Intr0beatz, Paul Najera & Jr Quijada, Zove, Audio Jacker, Phaze Dee, Exotic Duo, Stranger Danger, High Caliber, Miguel Rios, Colette, Rubb Sound System, Jimpster, Demuir, Simplex Motive, Farhad, Fred Dekker, Henry Navarro, Mat Lunen & Darren Marshall

Grab a download and SHARE!!  Much love and thanks for the support!

SATURDAY HOUSEWORK

Digital Dreams | Spring 2021 Promo Mix (FREE DL)

Kai Alcé delivers a soulful house music mix for Best's Friends Music incl. his remix for Noah Slee's hit "RADAR".

Who is Kai Alcé?

There is a certain type of artist that transcends generational and artistic boundaries, that channels their experiences while simultaneously fostering an environment for others to thrive. Kai Alcé is a prime example. Born in New York, some of his earliest musical influences included his mother’s penchant for soca music and the distinct Caribbean rhythms of his culture. An appreciation of Jazz would be further guided by his father’s expanding audiophile home system. Moving to Detroit in 1980, the start of the decade where Techno would take formation, put him at the center of music history as the Belleville Three and their contemporaries molded house into the new sound, while simultaneously working at the now famed nightclub “The Music Institute”

Relocating to Atlanta, GA for school he took it upon himself to bring more of the authentic House and Techno flavor to his new home, playing at numerous clubs and bars in the metro area. Eventually this led to DEEP, his aptly-named, game changing decade long Saturday night residency at local club MJQ, where would bring guests such as King Britt, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Peven Everett, Kerri Chandler, Phil Asher and Joe Claussell.

It is during the 2000s that Kai really sets his stride. 2002 saw the release of his first production, ‘The Kaizer EP’, on Brett Dancer’s seminal deep house label Track Mode. After a few releases on other labels such as Moodymann’s Mahogani Music, Deep Explorer & Real Soon. A few years later he would co-found the Labor Day weekend outdoor event House In The Park with DJ Ramon Rawsoul which now has over 15,000 attendees with many traveling from around the world to partake in the revelries.

2008 would prove to be the defining year of Kai’s decade as it saw the creation of his label NDATL and the first edition of his annual Deep Detroit. NDATL stands for the cities that Kai has called home and have played a role in his musical development: New York, Detroit, ATLanta. Which is home to many of his own productions and A List producers such as Larry Heard, Mr. G, Theo Parrish & Mike Huckaby to name a few.

Never one to stay static he has recently curated the boutique Kai Alcé Eyewear line. “The Kaizer” never stops moving. A love of life, mixed with his flair for originality, willingness to experiment and devotion to the dancefloor has cemented his place as a pillar in American dance music history. Whatever comes next from Mr. Alcé, you can be assured that it will be classy, soulful, fulfilling and funky. Stay tuned because you never know what the man will have for you next!

KaiAlcé RMX/NoahSlee

Kai Alcé /Atlanta  >> BEST'S FRIENDS MUSIC <<  Flux FM - Club Sandwich 4.6.2021

From the lost tapes, here's an hour of me on my college radio show I called Underground 88, on 88.9 FM WERS in Boston. It aired on Friday nights from 2am-6am from '94 to '97.

Just a young pup, still a teenager and about a year after starting out—so forgive the mixing as the vinyl was blended live on a traditional radio board and old belt driven turntables!

Still, not the worst place to learn how to DJ..

(and if you’re curious what I sounded like then, skip to 5:04, 25:53, and 56:25)

88.9 FM WERS Boston

Underground 88 (March 17, 1995)

Originally broadcast live on July 1 2023, DC House Grooves 138 features another fine mix of underground sounds and visuals from Andy Grant & Katrina Mir.

Underground Quality

DC House Grooves Show Episode #138 With Andy Grant & Katrina Mir

DeepBox

RadioB - DeepBox: AndrewJ (Tribute Mix to JT Donaldson) / 11.11.2023

Go Kiryu - Supernatural Radio Show 03.22.2024

This was the first take of dd22: "Caught In The Act." I wasn't happy enough to make it an official mix, but it was still good enough to post.

Recorded at Tetanus Studio, 02.17.01 - Brooklyn

Playin' 4 The City - Chicago Nights - Straight Up 
Ana Rago - Sex (next evidence mix) - Set 
Coco 70's - How U Feelin' - More Underground Music 
Metro Area - Caught Up - Environ 
Contriva - Mike (next time) - Monika 
Mille & Mr. Kirsch - Business Jazz - United States of Mars 
Nathan Haines - Surprising - Chilli Funk 
The Parallax Corporation - Cocadisco I - Viewlexx 
Dimitri From Tokyo - Don't Hold Back (Your Love) - Basenotic 
Flying Disc Federation - Make Your Shadow Smile - Wha? Roots 
Ricky Montanari feat. Lisa Millett - I Believe - Azuli 
Ibis Vermelho - ROM - Rhythmix 
DJ Linus - Desire - Exun 
Lenny Fontana & DJ Shorty - Chocolate Sensation - Tremolo 
Jimpster - Seeing is Believing - Kudos 
Soldiers of Twilight - Feeling So High - What's Up 

dd22 Reject (2001)

No artwork, no tracklist, no nothing.  Just a spur of the moment mix I made in '99 as a bit of a precursor to Ultimately Deep.  The track at 18m remains one of my biggest influences.  I was a white label by I think Pal Joey.

Happy! (1999)

Natural Rhythm Mix Show #145 Ft. L!TO

Playlist:
01. Roger Sanchez - Get Hi
02. Aly-Us - Follow Me (Instrumental)
03. Sunday School - House Is A Feeling (Original Hardtrax Mix)
04. Code 718 - Equinox (Heavenly Club Mix)
05. DJ Sneak - Disco Breaks
06. The Don - The Horn Song
07. The Believers - Who Dares To Believe in Me
08. George Morel - Morel´s Groove 4 (Let´s Groove)
09. Banji Boys - Love Thang (Cat Walk Mix)
10. Lil´ Mo´ Yin Yang	Reach (Little More Mix)
11. Planet Soul - Set U Free (Fever Mix)
12. Caucasian Boy - Norther Lights (The Prime Cutz Mix)
13. Phuture - Rise From Your Grave (Wake Da F___ Up Mix)
14. The Mole People - Break Night
15. Hardrive - Deep Inside

#125 - A Tribute To Strictly Rhythm - Part B mixed by Moodyzwen

Masters At Work Sugar Shack (1995)

Masters At Work @The Empire, Middlesbrough - Sugar Shack '95

No discussion of underground techno purism and technical DJ mastery would be complete without the mention of Dylan Drazen’s uniquely remarkable life and career, and the myriad of musical influences it has brought. Conforming to no one person, genre or entity, Dylan has fiercely charted his own path since his sonic journey began over thirty years ago.

With the outset of Drazen’s path arriving in the early 90’s at the age of 18, a crescendo would already manifest in the late 90’s when Spain took note of his visionary methods and pioneering sound during the earliest days of the Internet, and he quickly became an originating stalwart of its nationwide underground techno scene for years, putting in over a million air miles commuting from his New York base, crisscrossing the Iberian peninsula many times over, as fans couldn’t get enough of his relentlessly energetic, organic and authentic rhythms that were so novel to a generation of partygoers.

Yet at the height of all this in the mid 2000s Dylan became swept up in the worldwide poker boom and found himself at a crossroads with dual careers. Maintaining both for nearly a decade, he decided to relocate to South Florida in 2012 to take poker more seriously and music took a back seat. By 2020, Dylan’s poker talent would bring him over $1 million in cash and tournament winnings. Then the pandemic hit, the world ground to a halt and everything was reset as he noticed fans begging for his return, bringing him to yet another crossroads…

So let’s reset.

Dylan’s exposure to multiple forms of music began at the age of 16 getting his first job working at his local record store on Long Island, NY. He quickly gravitated to electronic music, heavily inspired by what New York’s FM airwaves had to offer well before the hiphop era would take over. That summer he would sneak out to NYC and into his first club experience, The Limelight, where he instantly fell in love with its debaucherous environment and DJ booth, which he vowed to get into.

By graduation in 1993 he was beyond hooked. Before heading off to college, he took that summer to intern at a few Manhattan based labels: Todd Terry’s Freeze Records, as well as Astralwerks and Instinct Records. All the while insatiably crate digging through NY’s various vinyl shops, Dylan’s teen self was already swimming in local contacts and influences.

But college awaited, and throughout his time at Boston’s Emerson College (obtaining a degree in audio engineering) he launched a weekly radio mix show called “Underground 88” on WERS 88.9 FM through 1997, working his contacts and continuing to hone his technical skills live on air. During these formative years Dylan maintained working at various vinyl shops in NY and Boston doggedly advancing his exposure to every genre imaginable, thus contributing to his encyclopedic knowledge of electronic dance music and all of the wide-ranging influences it would bring him. As a byproduct, his position enabled him to recommend tracks to and influence the taste of bedroom DJs and a myriad of luminaries alike.

Through these years, he even made good on his promise to play at The Limelight before it closed, as well as other infamous New York megaclubs like The Tunnel, Twilo and Save The Robots. And thanks to his stint as an assistant engineer at The Looking Glass Studios where David Bowie was recording his latest album in 1997, Dylan was hired to DJ Mr. Bowie’s private 50th birthday party after his sold out birthday performance at Madison Square Garden.

But by the turn of the millennium it was off to the races and Dylan was spending more time on the road than at home, as he found himself in demand not only in Spain, but also in The Netherlands headlining the Awakenings festival three times, as well as other major events and festivals in Germany, Brazil, Japan, and Colombia, spreading his unique form of techno gospel one city at a time. 

Between journeys Dylan made the most of his audio degree by building out his own studio in Brooklyn, releasing a handful of original releases and remixes on some of America’s more influential labels of the era: François K.’s Clicktracks; Ascend; Blueline; Remains; and Ultra Records. Even after moving to South Florida in 2012, Dylan continued to work on remixes for other Spanish and European labels.

Then as Dylan began to go dark quietly diving head first into South Florida’s world of high stakes poker, he made sure to finalize the curation of his life’s work on his website and SoundCloud page, with that nagging feeling he would one day return…

That day arrived in 2021 when Dylan decided to look for work as a local DJ in his current residence of Fort Lauderdale and its saturation of gay nightlife. To his surprise, there existed a small but thriving underground electronic scene right in his backyard, so he decided to jump right in. Those couple years helped pave his way back and he now feels just as comfortable in today’s booths as he did 20 years prior. Getting tapped to play Ramrod’s prestigious monthly Pig Dance in 2023 sealed the deal. 

Determined to not stop there, now Dylan Drazen is primed and ready to return to the world’s electronic stage showing modern audiences how 30 years of sonic mastery, experience and musical influences can be put on brilliant display in a single set.

dd22 Reject (2001)

Dylan Drazen

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