I suppose one of the perks of having your own blog is to ramble on about irrelevant nonsense (which this article is the perfect opportunity to do). Meat Katie, for my money, is really the king of tech-funk. There is a triumvirate, I’d say, but at the top of the heap is the godfather – Meat Katie. His name taken from an old British porno, MK has always had a unique style that cannot be described as house, breaks, or techno – rather the bastard child of all three. MK records were always full of force and style – and always on the dark side, which I loved. Aside from my brief sojourn into funky breaks, I was a huge fan of the “Whole9Yards sound” from the start. W9Y is MK’s much beloved former label, put to rest – and resurrected in the form of Lot49. Now five years old already, Lot49 has become the premier tech-funk label in the world and a staple in DJ crates spanning multiple genres.

I first met Meat Katie at LA’s best kept secret – Monday Social – back when it was at Las Palmas. Each subsequent time we have crossed paths he has been humble, geniune, funny, crass (always), and just plain cool – rare (believe me) in this DJ scene we all frequent. Evidence of MK’s status is that I found myself dancing next to BT at Monday Social that night – and the dancefloor at Las Palmas was about 10 square feet. Since then, I have gone on to see MK thoroughly punish dancefloors at multiple shows in San Francisco – none more memorable than Love Fest 2007. It is all the more thrilling that MK (and Lot49 label-mates) will be making that journey down Jungo Road this coming summer to Black Rock City. *editors note: they will most certainly be taking Route 447 and not Jungo Road en route to Burning Man – but it sounded better to say it that way.

Be sure to check out Meat Katie’s scorching 90 minute set from the Opel 7 Year Anniversary party – streaming below, download link above, and podcast available on iTunes (search: Jungo Road). Special thanks to Zach Moore and the Gough Street Sessions podcast for a copy of this un-interrupted mix. Be sure to check out Zach’s podcast for additional sets from the Opel 7 Year party and enough additional free music to make your head spin.

<————– slightly edited label logo (I prefer this one)

Stream the Meat Katie mix right here. You can also download the podcast at the start of the post or by subscribing.

Here are some of Jungo Road’s favorite tracks by Meat Katie available from Amazon. You can click to listen, purchase and support Meat Katie.

Electronic music in the US is very much an urban expression, in that, each city has it’s own particular style. San Francisco is no exception. One can almost distinguish So.Cal deep house from No.Cal deep house. What is unique about San Francisco, and not many US cities can claim this, is that it has a very healthy breaks scene. Perhaps it is the artistic and expressive history of the city which has set the stage for this particular style of music to succeed. The breaks are nothing new, however, and yet it seems many US clubs are not ready to promote anything other than four-on-the-floor.

Enter Syd Gris – legendary San Francisco promoter and founder of Opel Productions. From his humble beginnings as a DJ and part-time party promoter, Syd has always been a man with a mission. His parties always encompass a greater sense of community and responsibility – very much consistent with the philosophy and prevailing attitudes of the cities (SF and Black Rock). Over the past 7 years, Opel has grown to become one of the biggest crews in San Francisco. Between Opel and Opulent Temple (Syd’s Burning Man camp – incidentally the largest sound camp at Burning Man), Syd has booked the biggest DJs in the world – but none more consistently than tech-funk heros like Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, Lee Coombs, and Elite Force.

With Opel’s 7 year anniversary (a party too big for one night! see below…) on the horizon, it seemed fitting that Jungo Road features one of Opel’s newer DJs: Dex Stakker. I also used this opportunity to launch a new series on Jungo Road – “Take 5″. Five questions posed to accomplished and influential people in the breaks/tech-funk community. We begin this series with Dr. Syd Gris…

Take 5 with Syd Gris

1. What has made the breaks and tech-funk scene so successful in San Francisco?

I see it as a symbiotic relationship between the well established SF underground crews simply liking that sound as promoters and dj’s and so bringing it out to their parties.  The parties are sweet, and the ball starts rolling and it becomes self perpetuating.  I think because the 3 of us (myself as Opel, Seismic, and An-Ten-ae) are dj’s, we know what we like musically, and have trust that we know what the SF crowd will be up for.  We have an idea of a particular sound we want to push and expand here and so we take the steps to make it happen.

2. Will breaks and tech-funk remain a sub-genre that most promoters in the US won’t touch with a ten-foot pole?

They won’t?  That’s odd to me, especially as in the tech funk realm the whole point is it’s a range of house, electro, breaks and techno, so it’s got much more broad appeal that let’s say just straight ahead funky breaks.

3. When and who were the DJs/Producers that interested you in this sound?

No surprise there.  I bought the first Lot 49 release – ‘All I Need’ by Meat Katie, w/ one side a remix by Dylan Rhymes, and the other by Lee Coombs.  Off that track alone, and how sick it was, I booked Meat Katie to play a Opel Halloween party in 2005, and have since broadened the roster I like to bring out to be a bunch of the guys on that continuum such as Lee Coombs, Dylan Rhymes, Elite Force, Rogue Element, Vandal, Blende, + other guys that might be associated with breaks but do much more such as Adam Freeland, Stanton Warriors, Rennie Pilgrem, Hyper, Hybrid, etc.

4. What does the future hold for Opel Productions?

I like the talent cycle we’re on and we love doing what we do with special events such as our anniversary parties, LoveFest, Halloween, NYE, street fairs, etc. so we’ll likely keep that up.  Plus, our sister playa community the Opulent Temple will be looking to expand our production outside of just doing Burning Man, and that holds all kinds of exciting potential.

5. What is your most memorable moment over the years with Opel?

Simply impossible to say.  We’ve been blessed with more awesome memories than I could sort through, and we look forward to more.

We thank Syd Gris for taking the time to share with us his insight into the scene and some history on Opel!

Opel 7 Year Anniversary
Part One: April 25, 2009 featuring Meat Katie & Dylan Rhymes (with full local support)
@ Mission Rock 817 Terry Francois St. San Francisco
Part Two: May 1st, 2009 featuring Stanton Warriors (with full local support)
@ Mezzanine 444 Jessie St. San Francisco

for more information visit www.opelproductions.com