my set from last friday's party at smartbar in chicago with the Manifest squad.

video: https://youtu.be/DYA8I1wqVMg

tracklist:
kryptogram @ smartbar 5-13-22

Mark Hawkins - Can’t Find A Reason
Lazare Hoche, Malin Genie  Work That Booty
Parris Mitchell - Ghetto Shout Out!!!
Jesse Jacob & Close to Custom - Tallander (MADVILLA Remix)
kryptogram - ID
kryptogram - Feel The Heat
kryptogram - Gentle Touch of Love
Detroit Swindle - The Make Up
Seb Zito - UKG G
Fonzo & aæe - Bowow
Parris Mitchell Vs. Nina Kraviz - Feel My Butterfly (Jamie Jones Tribute To Aaron Carl Remix)
DJ Swisha - Crypto feat. Bahamadia
Hush Hush - Good Love
Janet Jackson - Together Again (TMB Edit)
Sherbert - Paralysis By Analysis (MADVILLA Remix)
kryptogram - 4AM
Bass Playah, Mawua - Gotta Keep On Groovin
AJ Christou - One, Two, Three
Kelly Lee Owens - Melt!
Djoko - Solaris (Kosh Remix)
Ian Pooley - Chord Memory
Two Shell - Touchpad
Eats Everything - Sprint
Traumer - Cold Water
Sam Binga, Addison Groove - Drop That, Pop That
Blackchild (ITA) - workandworkagain
Jame Moorfield - The Feeling
Peggy Gou - I Go (DJ Koze Remix)
Basic Bastard, Blake Baxter - Love Break (Original Mix)
Disclosure - Observation Effect
Detroit Swindle - Fat Rat!
Todd Edwards - Heaven (2005 Main Mix)
Stone Cold Steppaz - Need Love

kryptogram @ smartbar (5-13-22)

A steady climb from the deep to the peak, opening the floor for @honeydijon & @dj-heather at @smartbarchicago on September 3rd, 2022 <3

Live at Smartbar: Honey Dijon & DJ Heather opening set

Photo by Justin Aulis Long
https://soundcloud.com/justin-aulis-long
Justin Aulis Long is a sonic sorcerer, urban Homeric poet, and cosmic wanderer that exists within the liminal spaces where light meets dark. Long is the offspring of a gorgon, conceived within a brick and mortar labyrinth while surrounded by the supernatural electronic voices of angelic forces.

While engaging in themes of the uncanny and erotic, Long opens thresholds which lead to psychedelic realms during communal dance gatherings. Applications of sonic alchemy during ritual action generate vibrant forces created through collective effervescence, causing a bubbling over of ecstatic energy leading to rapture. During the rite, incantations are expressed through fusing a swarm of aural fragments composed from diverse temperaments by way of a personal and singular technique.Sacred objects (records), selector’s tools (turntables and mixer), body, spirit, harmonic and discordant voices unify and become one - The Soft Machine.

During a ritual performance, phonic collages are created intuitively on sight, sigils are aurally direct with specific intent, and offerings are bestowed before an alter, all charged by an engine of chaos. Time and space unravels while normality ruptures and disintegrates as foundational structures of the status quo are dismantled through intensive executions, founded in the practices surrounding musical selection.

RND 088 - Justin Aulis Long

Ariel Zetina is as charming as she is talented—one of the many reasons she was named "Chicagoan of the Year for Pop Music" by the Chicago Tribune last month. A straight shooter with strong principles, her witty personality shines through on social media and in person. She radiates both best friend and boss energy.

Musically, she wears her heart on her sleeve, infusing her personality into her DJing and production. Her sets and mixes are adventurous, moving from hard to soft to playful with precision. From producing theatre shows and opening for Beyoncé to releasing her RA-recommended debut album on Local Action in 2022, the smartbar resident approaches each venture with meaning and depth. That LP explored the complex experience of being a Belizean-American trans woman, using fiery house and techno to express vulnerability and triumph. 

Ariel Zetina's multifaceted personality is on full display in her RA podcast. There's baile funk-infused techno, crisp drum & bass and plenty of tracks from queer producers from all sorts of scenes, including Michael Cignarale, StrikeStone! and Perfect Lovers. It's a grand statement of power, flow and seriously good taste.

@arielzetina

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/919

RA podcast

RA.919 Ariel Zetina

From the Zambian house parties she went to as a kid and the European raves she went to as a young adult, to her recent international debut at Bella Afrikana Beach Club in Accra, Ghana, COBRA B pulls from her unique influences to create energizing, boundary-pushing dance floor experiences. Mix recorded live at Smartbar in Chicago, September 2024. 

Tracklist:
Buya Timmy Regisford edit
Concentrate Truncate
Love’s Got Me High Terrance Parker 
Zisho
Ceri Need You
Jill Scott Crown Royale
Zulu Circle Children
Say Yes LoKi
Message for the DJ Delano Smith
Kelela Bruises
Liv.e Back Alley
God’s Got It DJ Spen
Mr G G's funk
Mukkala Mukkabala
Rich Homie Quan - Type Of Way
Charlotte De Witte 
Blessed Mr G
Musiq Soulchild So Beautiful (K2 remix)
Traveling Quentin Harris
Mr G Lights
Let Me Tell U Lyric Hood
Techno Dabke
Jill Scott 
Yaegi booboo
Santigold Disparate Youth

Live mix at Smartbar in Chicago

BUY IT HERE https://zeelaa.bandcamp.com/track/streetlight

A hypnotic hard techno track inspired by the detroit & chicago techno I grew up with meeting the harder berlin sound that I love.

DOWNLOAD

STREETLIGHT

RA Live 26.03.2016 - Michael Serafini, smartbar In Residence, Chicago

I am not really a fan of live recordings. Things that happen live during a set don't always convey the impact of experiencing it live. I also play with eq and volumes that always don't translate well into recordings. However, it was a fun night and I got to play alongside Cassy in my hometown.

Honey Dijon Love at Smartbar March 25, 2017

Brand new label. Brand new music. Brand new remix. I paired up with Smart bar resident and Chicagoan Disconaut, Chrissy, for a supercharged initial release on his new label Cool Ranch. Invoked my inner Maurice Fulton for this one. Hope you all enjoy. Check the link for the bandcamp pre-order

RANCH001

We Ain't Goin Nowhere (Pontchartrain Remix)

Chrissy - We Ain't Goin Nowhere (Pontchartrain Remix)[96kbs]

Bliss- Song For Olabi

chicago electronic music @veilchicago
bookings/contact: veilkody@gmail.com
Promo : zeelaapromo@gmail.com

Support from:
Adventure Club
Krewella
Slander
Kayzo
Herobust

Cobra B is a Chicago-born, St. Louis-raised open-format DJ who mixes music rooted in the Black diaspora. She pulls from her unique influences to create energizing, boundary-pushing sonic experiences that blend house music, amapiano, afrobeats, R&B, juke, kwaito, techno, hip hop, jazz & post-punk✨

She's musically influenced by the soul, R&B and rock her mom played while cooking, riding shotgun in her big brother's car with the bass on high, the Gospel in church pews with her dad & grandpa, Zambian braai parties with her childhood best friend, songs by Alicia Keys & Regina Spektor (Soviet Kitsch) she once learned on the piano and Esperanza Spaulding on the bass guitar, European raves while studying in Ireland, and underground punk shows & jam sessions with her bandmates (Black Reveries) while in Boston.

Since launching her DJ career, she has made appearances in some of Chicago's legendary spaces, including Smartbar, Podlasie Club, the California Clipper, Berlin nightclub (RIP), and annual events like Pride Fest and the Other Art Fair. She is also a resident DJ for a free community roller skate event in Garfield Park and regularly plays at underground events and raves. Cobra B primarily plays in the Midwest but travels on occasion, making her international debut at Bella Afrikana Beach Club in Accra, Ghana  (hey, Mz. Oristin!).

Photo credit: Michael Izquierdo Instagram: izqueerdo
Choker necklace: Sonal instagram: ssonixo

P.S. if you've read this far...some random influences: my first techno rave (Dax J in Dublin 2017), my homie Bongani in Ireland & those NUIG pizzas, my homies sippin' Savanna cider & dancing pantsula in Khayelitsha, South Africa and Lusaka, Zambia; my first Chosen Few Picnic, seeing DJ Virginia at Berghain, my first jazz jam session on electric bass with Angel Bat Dawid & friends, watching Pink Floyd's The Wall with my mom as a kid, every backyard party someone has welcomed me to, that time India Arie performed under the stars at the St. Louis Arch on July 4th for free (yes, there were fireworks!), and the little girl in Garfield Park who said I was the best.

@smartbarchicago resident
vinyl enthusiast
sleazy house songwriter 
@splice software engineer
inquiries: url.madeline@gmail.com

Profile photo by Daniella DeLuna & Jo Control

Based in Chicago, R&D is a music event/mix series focused on nurturing new sounds, experiences and atmospheres while exploring the music and culture it was born or mutated from. Techno, electro, EBM, bass, breaks, club and beyond.
Current personnel
Jeremy Alvarez - JS Alvarez
Eric Fernandez - Makeen
Shanti Chu - Shanti
Dan Hood - Dan B Hood
Kona Mazariegos - Zona Cinco

For the last 12 years, the way that Detroit-based DJ Pontchartrain has approached music, is centered around two things - learning and sharing. The result has been an interesting change up from the status quo of what comes out of the motor city. Heavily funk-infused and sample-laden original productions, edits and reworks that border on brand new versions of the track, and sets that string together a wide array of sounds that all center around the idea that dancing and feeling music are the main goals.
 
What started off as a project for edits and DJ tools has turned into a rediscovery of the roots of dance music. This shift in the last few years has pushed him into the new opportunities with some of the greatest labels in disco and house realm, and interesting achievements across the globe.
 
Currently he serves as A&R for one of the most prominent edits labels in the world, Whiskey Disco, and for the house subsidiary, Lovedancing. In addition to curating these two outlets and putting out his own records on them as well, in the past few years alone he has released on over a dozen labels, including Kolour LTD, Rocksteady Disco, Delusions of Grandeur, Toy-Tonics, Soul-Clap Records, Masterworks Music and more. Output has been nothing short of consistent, hitting #1 chart positions on sites such as Juno, several times.
 
Wen it comes to performances Pontchartrain believes in the overarching goal of making people dance, and think in equal parts. From the time he brought the Detroit Children’s Choir on stage with him at Movement Festival to sing along, to the bold invocations of poetry and messages of love, the dancefloor is a temple when he’s on deck. A place to worship each other and the feeling of letting loose. Whatever sounds get you there; genre is second to the emotion.
 
Like many of the great Detroit artists he looks up to, there’s a humble blue collar aspect to his background as well. Pontch still works as a social worker directly with drug addicts getting back on their feet right here in the motor city. He volunteers with groups such as Give A Beat, LRNG, Girls Rock Detroit, local public libraries, and is now a volunteer and teacher at Spin Inc music production school. Music is truly a way of life, part of the greater idea of lifting each other up. His actions, sounds, and personality encompass this idea.
 
For booking inquiries, e-mail:
dustin@pontchartrain.us
 
Listen: SoundCloud.com/pontchartrain
Like: Facebook.com/pontchartrainmusic

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