THIS JUST IN: Plump DJs April 2009 Promo Mix

There is some personal significance of this event for me…

It all started seven years ago – just about to the day. It was Coachella 2002, and I got a phone call that Friday night from PJ Hanke at Spank Music LA that I was to start my first big music job on Monday morning. I had been pounding the pavement for just under two years in LA before I got my big break at Spank. But there was no way I was going to miss BT and The Prodigy on Sunday evening at Coachella…

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a soft spot for progressive house. Those are my roots. But there was something very different about BT’s epic “Flaming June” and The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” – both appealed to me at the time, though I could not differentiate the genres. BT drew from both house and breakbeat influences to craft his third album “Movement in Still Life” which features incredible collaborations with Adam Freeland, Andy Page, and Hybrid – so it seemed fitting that he started his DJ set with two breakbeat tracks by Plump DJs and Dark Globe.

I was immediately captivated by this sound. It was the breaks – and it continues to be the sound which inspires me the most to this day. BT started his set with Dark Globe “Auto-erotic” (Globocop Mix) and then mixed into Plump DJs “Scram“. It took me about two weeks to hunt these tracks down… that kind of information traveled slower on the internet then. When I found them, it was all over for me. I was hooked.

The rest of BT’s set that night was a blur – it was those first two tracks that did it for me. I started DJing the following year and buying all the breaks records I could (vinyl of course). I would shell out $20 for a record from the UK with two tracks on it – only one I was actually interested in playing. But my crate consisted of too many Fingerlickin’ records to count. It was embarassing when people dug through my records. “Oh, another Plump DJs record, eh?”

Fast forward to this Friday at Mighty. I had the opportunity to live and play in San Francisco for two years and the two promoters I always respected the most were Syd Gris (Opel/Opulent Temple) and Murphstar (Seismic). Hopefully both DJ/Promoters will be featured on Jungo Road later this year (they were too busy to submit for the upcoming events). Murphstar formed a special relationship with Fingerlickin Records back in 2005 and has been throwing “Fingerlickin’ Thang” parties at Mighty several times a year since then, featuring Krafty Kuts, Slyde, Drumattic Twins, Soul of Man… just about everyone on the roster except the heavyweights – the Plump DJs – because of visa issues.

Well they finally got it all sorted and are making their debut US performance this Friday at Mighty. I always said that Mighty (legendary SF venue for breaks) was built for the Plump DJs, so it’s fitting that they would appear there first before making their very own appearance at Coachella two days later (Sunday).

What can be said about the Plump DJs? Best breaks act in the world perhaps? Artist records include “A Plump Night Out“, “Eargasm“, “Saturday Night Lotion“, and “Headthrash“… they had to take themselves out of the running for “Best Producer” at Breakspoll several years in a row because they kept winning by a landslide. Catch a glimpse of them on youtube and you’ll see that there’s not much that compares to the energy of a Plump DJs set. That’s the sound that changed me…

Sure enough, I showed up Monday morning to my first day on the job at Spank – sunburned and exhausted  (having left Coachella 6 hours prior and sitting in traffic till 2am in the middle of the desert). I will never forget that experience… and though I can’t make it to SF or Coachella (Dale will be there), I know that many people will experience the same thing I did, and that makes me smile.

Seismic Presents…

Friday, April 17 2009
THE PLUMP DJs
@ Mighty
119 Utah St. San Francisco, CA
tickets at more information at www.seismicsf.org