Zodiac & Jackmode Off-Sonar Gemini Throwdown

In the absence of a PDJ gig this year, allow myself to invite yourselves to the #1 Thursday Get-Down for my Off-Sonar teaming.

While the Barcelona prepares itself for a weekend of advanced music and city-wide events, Zodiac returns to its home on Montjuïc for the first pool party of the summer and an amazing line-up of artists to rival any stage you could be at over the Sonar period.

We are delighted to be able to announce our hook-up with Berlin-based house agency Jackmode, who have put together an international cast of dancefloor masters to kick off proceedings at the festival.

Fans of the new directions of house music will salivate at the thought of the team we will be presenting on the Thursday night that for the past few years has played host to a number of quality off-Sonar events.

So, without any more beating around bushes, we have a very special Made To Play guest around, joint by Zombie Disco Squad, Oliver $ (Made To Play), Sasse (Mood Music), Chopstick & Johnjon (Suol), Penner + Muder (Wazi Wazi), J.Phlip (dirtybird) and Slick D. (Plat Du Jour).

The venue itself is totally unique. Just a ten-minute walk from Plaça Espanya leads you to an isolated country club, whose swimming-pool area and bar we commandeer for the purposes of an astrally-inspired throwdown.

In promoting the event electronically, we have been able to keep costs down, so we're proud to announce that tickets cost just 5€ in advance, available at Discos Paradiso, a minute from the Sonar Day venue, or from Resident Advisor who got the early bird tickets 5€.  The door will take 10€ off your hands.

The artwork for this event blessed by the sign of Gemini has been used with the kind permission of Kid Acne.

Here's a little something I put together to prick up ears.

 Zodiac Prevista Off-Sonar 2011 by Slick Dixxx

Zombie Disco Squad Present 'Playing Around Again'...

I had a turd in ZDS's pint of beer about the second Made To Play compilation, which has recently been released and is certain to knock your ears off, with bangers you didn't know you knew and bangers you're about to know and also bangers you'll never know unless you get hold of this shit.

Yo yo what it is etc. Tell me about this joint one moment please. How did the production process take form?

Around half an hour, maybe 35 mins altogether….actually the mix took a lot longer than expected, there were a lot of changes brought in and I adapted a few times.  To make the mix I used Abelton, some headphones, 36 cups of instant coffee and a whistle.

How many songs did you have to choose from?

We had the choice of everything in Made To Play's back catalogue, me and Nat chose the most ‘Zombie’ type of stuff and went from there, we wanted to include most of the releases from the labels recent history. We also have ‘re-edited’ most of the tracks to fit them into our sound, where some tracks went a bit noisy, we chopped them up and layered them to make them sound natural.

Is there an overall concept for the mix?

Not really a concept as such, but the mix does echo our sets when we play. Warming up from some more atmospheric, bassy stuff, to moving through House and more bumpy territory and ending up in Techno Hell…which usually happens once we have drunk everything to hand and can indulge our punk-rock side. As mentioned before, we used the edit a lot in this mix because we wanted to bring something new to the tracks, hopefully this comes across.

Do you have a favourite moment?

The re-edited drop when Idiotproofs ‘Gorilla’ comes in for the second time, less is more!! Plus just listening to Jan Drivers productions is a treat, he is a very talented young man and also has one of the most ramshackle studios I have ever seen, he owns two caravans, a couple of hot rods and decorates the place with Texan flags.

What formats is the shit available on?

Digi-digi and Compact Disc, I'm fighting to get it out on mini-disc but it seems no-one listens to them anymore.

Why should we cop it?

Because we did it! And we are your new favourite DJs okay? Plus royalty cheques ain't what they used to be...