MKL

DJ JUSTICE rocks Boston Rocks this Sunday, January 14, at UTOPIA, the long-running deep-house night in Faneuil Hall. “Spinning there is not for the faint of heart,” he writes on MySpace. “If I can spin there, I can spin anywhere.” Like most DJs, Justice has a host of mixes on-line, all tropical and smooth house blends. “I became a DJ because of the control the DJ had of crowds’ emotions, and when I met house music, I realized this music really controls people’s emotions.”

The Dean of Mood Mosaic at Redline in Harvard Square, DEANO SOUNDS (a/k/a Jeff Swallom) plays elegant lounge music: Brasilica, deep funk, Northern soul, and what’s termed “jazz groovers.” In an e-mail he explains, “I felt like there wasn’t a night in Boston that catered to the different styles of retro music I spin. And I wanted to challenge myself to mix all these styles together properly. Since I was a wee lad, I was fascinated with all styles of music. And I thought it was time for a different sound in nightlife.” Different is right. This Wednesday, January 17, Mood Mosaic welcomes BROTHER CLEVE’s new incarnation DJ SHARAABI KAPOOR to spin all his new brownsploitation/Bollywood finds from India.

This Friday, January 12, it’s all about neo-goth madness at T.T. the Bear’s Place: Man Ray’s former club night XMORTIS resurrects, as it does every second Friday. DJ CHRIS EWEN spins per usual, with special guests DJ SILENT PERFORMANCE and DJ VOLVOX, who tends to swerve outside traditional goth sounds. Names like Booka Shade, Black Strobe, and Adonis are sprinkled throughout Volvox’s playlists. “I knew there was more dark dance music out there than the standard industrial/EBM fare, most of which is not written for mixing,” she writes via e-mail. “I just felt that this music needed to be heard by the American underground audience.” Volvox (a/k/a Ariana Paoletti) has been DJing at Redline and Enormous Room and up in Lowell. “I started out as a clubgoer at Man Ray years ago but felt that more could be done with the music being played and how the DJs were playing it. Artists like Motor have been readily accepted since I started spinning them around Boston, and I hope to add names like Terence Fixmer and Richard Bartz to the locals’ musical vocabularies.”

That hope is echoed by DJ Justice. “I found house music to be a truly universal music not assigned to any one demographic or country for that matter. And the energy that the music brings from what some describe as ‘lounge music’ tops the energy levels at even the largest hip-hop or techno events.” Swallom is also concerned with energy. “I came up with Mood Mosaic because I wanted a music you could still dance or groove to but that wasn’t the same four-on-the-floor or cheesy Top 40.”

And their names? Justice: “I’m a Libra, and djjustice.com was available. Libras see the world through unobstructed, unbiased eyes. That’s important not only in music but in life in general.” Volvox is a colony of micro-organisms and an all-female Turkish band. And Deano Sounds? “My middle name is Dean and a friend of mine came up with the idea that I’m ‘The Dean of Sounds.’ Yes, I know, very cheesy . . . ”

That crazy club Shine in Kendall Square, the one that looks as if it had been put on a semi and shipped up from Miami, has decided on its Saturday DJ residency. With the Friday gay night firmly in place, Shine is calling on the impossibly positive Soul Revival party to fill the role as Saturday stars. It’ll be called DEEPERLOVE with resident DJs ADAM GIBBONS and Mr. Man K.C. HALLETT, and there’s no cover if you get there before 10:30. This Saturday brings DJ MKL from NYC in to spin. MKL is the real deal, having spun sets at Body & Soul in NYC and François K.’s Deep Space party. Those two massive bass cabinets on the dance floor will surely get put through the wringer.

On the Web
DJ Justice: //www.djjustice.com
DJ Volvox: //www.myspace.com/djvolvox
Deeperlove: //www.reviveyoursoul.com/

Email the author
David Day: circuits@squar3.com