Free podcast mix/episode: Download now (Duration: 1:17:24 — 71.7MB)

CHAD NORTH (Erase Records, Jungo Road, NYC)

Rising New York producer/DJ and Jungo Road co-founder Chad North delivers an characteristically impeccable mix of throbbing tech-funk, techno, and breaks this week. He can possibly lay claim to the youngest age for a first remix. “I remixed MC Hammer when I was 11 years old using two tape decks to create an extended dance mix of U Can’t Touch This. I spliced together different sections of the track and even made some new breakdowns. I had no idea that Kool Herc was up to the same tricks 15 years earlier with turntables.”

A prodigy was revealed. “I won a 7th grade talent show by dancing to [that tape]. I didn’t think to mention in the program that it was an original remix. This was 1990.” It would be the first of many successes over the years to come. A music-obsessed Chad taught himself writing music, kept recording throughout high school and college and got a degree in music theory. A turning point was being introduced to the intense stylings of The Prodigy and Moby by his older brother. “The sound was captivating and a little scary in fact,” Chad says.

In 2001, he got a Macintosh with Logic software and began, in his words, “hitting the sequencer hard.” By 2007, his first 12-inch Get Mean was unleashed by Chicago-based Bad Advice Records. Since then, Chad has had his collaborations The Grind and You Got What released on Erase Records (with co-producer DJ Aaron Pope); then a remix of Waveplant & Ernesto’s (I Need A) Bassline on Exceptional Records (also with Pope).

Chad’s skills have reached beyond dance music and into film and television. He’s worked for Hans Zimmer(!), composed for LA-based music house Spank Music and has had his work featured in national TV ads for Bally Fitness, Absolute Vodka, Nokia and BMW. He now runs his own music company in NYC called Habitat Music. Other highlights include working with pop-singer Jennifer Paige, having tracks remixed by artists such as Trifonic and Mike Hulme, and most recently remixing Jared Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars.

And yet Chad’s first love is still all things tech-funk – a reliable staple in an underground scene that has experienced seismic rifts in recent years. “It seems the scene I have associated myself with for a long time has splintered into those more interested in dubstep/breaks and those more interested in tech-house/techno,” says Chad. “I like both genres, but, I see the shift toward techno being a more lasting trend. Of course, since tech-funk embodies all of these things, I could see these producers having more and more of an influence on the scene. And, producers who push the boundaries (such as Meat Katie, Lee Coombs, Elite Force, Dylan Rhymes) and want to keep it fresh will always cycle back to forgotten ideas. Acid, for instance, will never get old in my opinion. Nor will a 4/4 kick, a good bassline, or a fat break beat.”

You can next catch Chad at Lee Coombs’ Light and Dark Album Release event on Saturday Nov 21 at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. Keep up to date on his other live performances at his websites below and the Jungo Road calendar.

More about Chad North on his site, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and SoundCloud.

Booking: Click to reveal email

Stream the mix or click on the links below to purchase!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1. Intro – Barry McGovern
2. 30 Seconds to Mars – Kings and Queens (Chad North remix) [Capitol Records]
3. Mark Knight & D. Ramirez vs. Underworld – Downpipe [Toolroom]
4. BT – The Rose of Jericho (Sultan & Shephard remix) [Nettwerk]
5. Tim Deluxe – Storm in a Tea Cup [Skint]
6. Sour Grapes – Mantra [Televizion]
7. D-Nox & Beckers – Cala A Boca (Meat Katie remix) [Sprout]
8. Format:B – Hot Rod [Formatik]
9. Audiojack – Red Eye [2020 Vision]
10. Chad North vs. Aaron Pope – You Got What (Mike Hulme remix) [Erase]
11. Meat Katie – Tension [Lot49]
12. Mike Hulme – 100mg [U&A]
13. Odissi – Empty Vodka Bottles [Lot49]
14. Z-Listers – What U Waiting For? [Erase]
15. Kiwa – Drop Control (Rektchordz remix) [High Grade]
16. Hedflux & Tom Wilkes – Basscake (Matthew McCurry & Stephen Cole remix) [Broken Robot]