Kai-zen Podcast 35 - Feb 10th 2012 - Andy James
Kai-zen Podcast - Regular top guest DJ's playing Deep House, Tech House & Techno.
Andy James
Tracklist:
001 # PVT – Light Up Bright Fires (Nathan Fake ambient mix) [Unreleased]
002 # FourTet – Moma [Works In Progress]
003 # PVT – Light Up Bright Fires (Nathan Fake remix) [Warp]
004 # Luke Abbott – Honeycomb [Amazing Sounds]
005 # Axel Helios – Sleeping On An Igloo (Avus’ Acid remix) [Shabu]
006 # Phillipe Cam – UNICEF Christmas Card [Traum]
007 # Dominik Eulberg – Die 3 Millionen Musketiere (Gabriel Ananda remix) [Traum]
008 # Justin Maxwell & John Tejada – Domerocker (Roland M Dill remix) [Trapez]
009 # FortDax – Fortune Telling Fish, Curled To Suggest ‘Home’ [Unreleased]
010 # N’To – Stupid (Worakls remix) [InLab]
011 # Allez-Allez – Six Down Seven Across [RVNG]
012 # Carl Lekebusch & Joseph Capriati – Napoli 4am [Drumcode]
013 # Psycatron – Memories Of The Moment [Bedrock]
014 # Luke Abbott – Brazil (slow version) [Border Community]
015 # Blue Daisy & Anneka – Raindrops (John Talabot's Cosmic Rework) [Black Acre]
Ever since breaking out of the bedroom in 2007, Andy has been spending every waking minute cementing his reputation as a man to be trusted when it comes to working a dancefloor.
He’s been completely immersed in Dance culture for well over a decade now, a fact reflected by his ability to craft the kind of imaginative mixes only heard from the most dedicated record spinners. It’s this asset, combined with his notorious enthusiasm behind the decks that paved the way for his amalgamation into the team at Slide, one of Oxford & London’s foremost authorities on hosting House & Techno events. Throughout his involvement with the brand, he has been fortunate enough to play to sizeable crowds on a monthly basis at Oxford’s O2 Academy, and has warmed up for the likes of Nic Fanciulli, Adam Freeland, Krafty Kuts, Stanton Warriors, and Style Of Eye amongst many others. He’s also had the privilege of being chosen to warm up for Erol Alkan with Simple (Oxford’s flagship Dance promotion), invited for several guest spots on Oxford FM, and repeatedly booked for boat parties and the burgeoning Out To Graze Festival for 3 consecutive years alongside fellow turntable maestro Dave Johnys.
It’s safe to say he’s been a busy lad, but he hasn’t limited himself to local events. Spreading his wings and delving into the turbulent London scene has thrown up some of the most memorable experiences, such as a particular booking at SeOne (during a Tidy vs. NuReligion hard-house event). Having the courage to stick to the music he believed in led to his set (B2B with good friend Chris Page) packing out an empty dancefloor, despite playing intelligent techno to a room full of day-glow ravers who had never heard anything like it. It’s gigs like this that have sparked his enthusiasm for DJing in London, and subsequently joining the team at Kai-Zen has provided Andy with a much larger podium to shout from.
Despite 2011 being a quiet year with regards to club appearances, Andy has used the time to start getting to grips with music production, and the intricacies of Ableton Live 8. He’s the first to admit that he should have made a start on this a long time ago, but as is so often the case, life’s distractions have kept his attentions elsewhere. Regardless, 2011 was a significant year whereby his move into the complex world of music creation meant that he also took some time to consider the music he was supporting. Whilst Andy is always extremely vocal in his adoration of Chicago-House, Deep-House, and Progressive (or anything with a decent groove for that matter), he found that his tastes had slowly adapted to favour the more leftfield abstract Techno of such artists as Luke Abbott, Nathan Fake, Dominik Eulberg, and Caribou. With that in mind, he has made the conscious decision to start openly embracing this style of music (regardless of whether it leads to an incline or decrease in bookings), and base his sets on Techno for those with a more open mind to Dance music.
With regards to influences, Andy would never profess to have a page-long list, but one DJ/Producer that does spring to mind again and again is James Holden. As his friends will testify, Andy’s love for all things Holden is boundless, mainly due to the forward-thinking nature of the music released on his Border Community imprint and the unparalleled approach Holden has to music. Following closely behind would have to be Nick Warren. His reason for influence stems from his respect for a man who still has an unmatched passion for pushing new and interesting music, despite being in the industry since year dot. As a proud member of the Electronica scene, Andy would hope that this ethos of never compromising music quality will serve him well as a DJ guideline, and that through this he’ll never be regarded as ‘just another DJ’.
