Dusty Crates

We’ll miss you.

DIRB! on the East Coast FTW…

Good times…

Sabotage!

“Your belt buckle is cool.”

“No, your belt buckle is cooler…”

Rage! (Fredster still F’s the Scene)

Get to know the #1’s, suckas!

DIRB! #1: (l-r) Antonio, Gracie, El Jeffe & Matt Sizzle (2009)

DIRB! with Witnes

Does this man really need an introduction?

If you don’t catch Witnes at CAM’s Steel Lounge Underground on Friday, Do It Real BIG with us at Block Party (2420 Washington) this Saturday for his birthday and homecoming!

You won’t be sorry…

RSVP here and see event e-flyer in sideline –>

Rocks Off: Rock Box’s Final Night, 2008

SLFEMP mixtape – Witnes & Squincy Jones (mp3)

On an unusually cold Saturday night for Houston in February recently, Daniel Allen (Backseat Bingo, DNA, ATX) warmed up the Block 21 (2420 Washington) crowd with his mixed bag of heaters. The entire dancefloor was fuego by the time I jumped in to play along with him at midnight. We had such a good time, we had to have him back to join the rest of the DIRB! posse on the decks.

This Saturday, April 18, is the return of Daniel Allen as we team up again for another “Bonnie & Clyde” session at DIRB! Block Party! Plus DJ Pooks and guest rounds out the Howard Hughes Bar in the side room.

You can catch Daniel earlier on Friday night at The Roof in Midtown with G.Wizz and later on Sunday at Dean’s newest location in Montrose with Josiah Burke.

Right click and save Daniel’s live house mix:

Safehouse Podcast – Backseat Bingo Live at Barcelona (mp3)

COMING UP at DIRB! Block Party…
4/25 WITNES (Frank151, NYC)
5/02 Brotha Jibril (The Flat, Jaleo)
5/09 G.Wizz (Neon Nites, Fahrenheit-Media)
5/16 Kung Fu Pimp & Co. (Karma Houston)

Cerebral Vortex & Kissey Asplund – HeyCat from blythstyle on Vimeo.

Since our boy Cerebral Vortex migrated to Chitown, he’s been keepin’ it Texas large. Here’s his latest video with enchanting former Malmö-based vocalist Kissey Asplund in a video of the track “Hey Cat” taken from the upcoming Cerebral Vortex album Kitty Kat Kaboodle.

Go ‘head, boy!

It’s official: our family is growing!

DJs Squincy Jones and SDF-One are the newest DIRB! members added to the roster. As El Jeffe embarks on his eastward migration and Sizzle holds down the West, DIRB! is not only going tri-coastal, but is beefing up its game with new talent.

SDF-One has been a solid force on the regional dubstep and drum & bass front, but most recently he’s dabbled in DJing fidget house.

One of Houston’s Best DJs (Houston Press, 2008), Squincy Jones easily genre hops to get the party jumpin’. He’s currently working on a follow up to his highly acclaimed Nintendub mix.

Both are set to play dates at DIRB! Block Party with the fam–Antonio and I. Squincy’s up first as he teams up with me (and El Jeffe, hopefully) to play this Saturday, April 11. Next month will be SDF-One’s debut at Block. Stay tuned for more info and a confirmed date.

They both recently played at Houston’s infamous Gritsy dubstep parties and recorded Squincy’s latest set.

Meanwhile, get this here:

Squincy Jones Live at Gritsy (04.04.09) (mp3)

SDF-One Live at Gritsy (04.12.08) (mp3)

And befriend them there:

www.myspace.com/enofds
www.myspace.com/squincyjones

Since I missed a lot of the SXSW 2009 shows last month (Dusty Crates’ limited recap and pics soon to come), I should be making accomodations to make up for it now.

The Fader.com just released this information about the upcoming Bacardi B-Live Tour:

Diplo, Switch, A-Trak, MSTRKRFT and More Headline Rum Tour

Hollloaarrrr, we are going to this. Major Lazer (Diplo & Switch), MSTRKRFT, Jazzy Jeff, Tiga, FADER blogger A-Trak, FADER Label’s Matt & Kim and FADER cover star Santigold are all signed up for the Bacardi B-Live tour traversing the US this spring/summer, so we are professionally and personally obliged to go to as many as possible and sweat our hairdos out. The full dates are after the jump, though it’s not yet clear who will be at which dates and what the venues will be. But seriously, when was the last time someone offered you rum and some grinding and you were like, “Maybe, but where?” Watch the video above of Major Lazer and the Mad Decent Mummy making it nuts at The Levi’s®/FADER Fort a few weeks ago and stay tuned for more details.

Wednesday, May 20 Seattle, WA
Friday, May 22 San Francisco, CA
Thursday, May 28 San Diego, CA
Friday, May 29 Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, May 30 Phoenix, AZ
Wednesday, June 3 Denver, CO
Saturday, June 6 Kansas City, MO
Thursday, June 11 Milwaukee, WI
Friday, June 12 Chicago, IL
Saturday, June 13 St. Louis, MO
Wednesday, June 17 New York, NY
Thursday, June 18 Boston, MA
Friday, June 19 Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, June 25 Louisville, KY
Friday, June 26 Cleveland, OH
Saturday, June 27 Columbus, OH
Thursday, July 2 Charlotte, NC
Friday, July 3 Atlanta, GA
Saturday, July 4 Orlando, FL
Wednesday, July 8 New Orleans, LA
Friday, July 10 Austin, TX
Saturday, July 11 Dallas, TX

DAVID DORANTES, LA VOZ, April 1, 2009, 10:38AM

Gracie Chávez asegura tajante que nació para ser DJ.

Desde la infancia, rememora, su padre le inculcó pasión por la música y cada domingo, tras las caricaturas de la televisión, le hacía escuchar su colección de discos de The Beatles.

Ahora, Chávez, de 36 años, es uno de los referentes de la vida nocturna en Houston por sus mezclas originales de ritmos electrónicos con brasileños y cumbias.

“Me hice DJ en 1998 porque mi esposo era DJ”, cuenta Chávez, quien es de Brownsville. “Salíamos, por su trabajo y, un día, él y sus amigos me animaron a que mezclara yo misma mi propia música y a que desarrollara mis propias ideas”.

En aquel tiempo, la ahora DJ era columnista de música en un periódico de Houston ya desaparecido, el Public News, según cuenta. Pero, afirma, para ella fue “fácil hacerlo”.

La DJ actúa en clubes como Boondocks, Block 21 o The Mink.

Chávez, hija de regiomontanos, dice que no le gusta definir su estilo y que prefiere estar alejada de etiquetas.

“Me gusta tocar un estilo de música electrónica que se llama club, y yo la mezclo con house, rap, funk (…), porque me gusta la música que tenga muchos sonidos de bajo profundo”, explica. “Y luego lo mezclo con música brasileña porque me gustan los ritmos exóticos”.

Pero uno de los grandes elementos artísticos que hacen a Chávez muy popular en Houston es su identificación con su herencia mexicana, algo que ella misma trata de mostrar en sus mezclas.

“He estado cerca de la música mexicana porque he hecho algunos remixes de cumbias y a la gente le ha gustado mucho”, dice Chávez.

“Creo que eso también me viene de influencia de mi papá porque a él le encantaba y yo desarrollé el gusto por oírlo a él”, reconoce la DJ.

By david.dorantes@chron.com.  Story published in Chron.com.

Hailing from Houston’s multicultural community tucked away just on the north side of downtown, dubstep innovators Heavy Heights is made up of the scene’s most notorious players. There’s Suma from Rebel Crew and Soular Grooves, then you’ve got BMC of Texas Dub and Purrin Lion, and to top it off you’ve got the voice and the creator of Rebel Crew, Joe B. Truth and Rights is their debut release which features local vocalists Gina and Karina Nistal, plus hints of Dunnock’s Ill Advisory.

Backed by local imprint Starlight Beats, Heavy Heights has created and assembled a collection of dub-infused hip hop that aim to put Houston on the map for yet another original sound. Peep their heavy duty tracks over at HoustonsMostHated.

The album release has been followed up with a healthy dose of Texas Dub events and live performances at SXSW 2009. This Saturday, April 4, Suma joins us at DIRB! Block Party (Block 21, 2420 Washington) to blend in his ecclectic break beats on the decks.

Houston’s Most Hated – BMC of Heavy Heights (mp3)

For more monsterous dubstep beats, go to GotDarker.com.

On Saturday we’ll also be celebrating a few birthdays–Antonio, Caitlin, Oanh, Tina, Squincy, Dru, Witnes–ya’ll know who you are! Aries/Taurus folks represent. More info on Witnes’ upcoming birthday party at DIRB! Block Party here.