DUSTY CRATES

Most of you are gearing up for lots of green beer. Some of us are packing up for SXSW cheer!

If you’re staying near and feeling a wee bit of the luck of the Irish, our new friends over at Houston Blog Blog can help you find a pot of gold (or a pint of black n’ tan) amid all the local sudsy festivities.

Otherwise, head to the Hill Country as the music portion of Austin’s most coveted conference starts on St. Patrick’s day. And what a better way to kick it off than with some Down Souf leprechauns.

Hell, these videos never get old! Jump around, Jump around!!

Check back for a list of Dusty Crates sponsored and recommended showcases, and recaps from what you’ll be missing!

Raw Word Record‘s DJ Orion is a DJ/producer from Austin, TX of Colombian/Puerto Rican ancestry who just released a new album. Although we’ve yet to make a formal introduction, this guy has been on the radar for quite some time. He’s been making moves at his Peligrosa nights and various other spots along with Klassen in ATX, and seems to be building una tremenda onda tropical.

Carajo Colombia is mainly his edits of tracks he grew up with and focuses on cumbia, with bmore/funk/hip-hop vibrations that manage to sneak in. You can name your price and download the album here.

Check DJOrion.com for his SXSW 2010 schedule as I’m sure he’ll be rockin’ a party near you!

It’s been a while since Witnes was back home and last night was a hellova visit! It almost felt like Rock Box all over again, but with better bathrooms (kinda). Even the Mathmatechs reunited for a split second.

At the start of the night, El Roy got all futuristic on us and Ustreamed the first two hours at Boondocks…

Dayta and Wit got it dancy and raised the roof! But Squincy pretty much recapped the rest of the night better than I could here. So I’ll just toss you over Awwready!

Thanks to primo Nonsense for some of the blurry flicks. LastNightPics has nothin on ‘em! Cheers to that!!

Once upon a time drum & bass was king.

By 2000, Houston had become one of North America’s headquarters for dominating beats and tougher basslines. Any new d&b soldier in the area had to earn respect (and status) from either pride of DJs at the forefront of the d&b movement — Purrin Lion or Protoculture – if they wanted to step up to the decks.

Shortly after Matrix Crew‘s Chris Anderson and Andrei Morant introduced “jungle” over the KTRU Rice Radio airwaves in 1996, I started covering its progression at home and abroad for Public News, Tha Pride and URB magazine. All truth told, I fell in love.

At its peak in 2000, Houston’s d&b crews (reluctantly) fraternized on successive UK-headlining events, monthly Micros at 2020 Commerce and weeklies across the street at Club Hyperia. Audio 3 (Lionel Gonzales), Classic (Brad Slack) and Ramsey (Mike Davila) spearheaded Static, a weekly d&b night and ad hoc DJ crew made up of oftentimes opposing units. That collaboration ushered in a new era of d&b here nearly a decade ago.

Today, Heavy DNB is the only d&b event in town that’s endured featuring local and out-of-town talent on a quasi-monthly basis at various venues. Our own DIRB! crewmate, SDF-One, and Pejman have become musical curators of sorts, carrying on the d&b sound via Heavy DNB installments. And this month’s round-up brings it full circle (see flyer below).

This Saturday, March 6, a founding member of each d&b crew, Matrix’s Andrei Morant, Purrin Lion’s BMC and Static/Protoculture’s Ramsey, steps up the bpms at The Blue Room (Wired Live, 1503 Chartres, 77003). Ramsey also dropped us his new February Mix 2010 to share just in time. After listening to the mix, it also reminded me of that long-lost love.

Ramsey February Mix 2010 (dnbshare)

Track List

I Need You – Subwave (Medschool)
Bone Structure – Rockwell (Critical)
Dark age – Total Science & SPY (CIA)
Lonliness feat Riya – SPY (CIA)
Tribes – Rockwell (Critical)
Jerhico – Total Science & SPY (CIA)
Spectrasoul – 4points (Metalheadz)
Slum Dub – SPY (Soul:r)
Stars Get Down – Subwave (Medschool)
Jubei – Outcast (31 Records)
Icicle feat Noisia – Driftwood (Shogun Audio)
Alix Perez feat Peven Everett & Spectrasoul – Forsaken (Shogun Audio)

Guess who’s back this Thursday?

I’ll Raise It Up to that!