Cedric Woo

He started to get involved as a radio DJ/music coordinator at Radio Campus Clermont-Ferrand, France, in the mid 90s, a privileged position which quickly turned into a full time job. His original background in psych rock and all things Jamaican quickly expanded to hip hop, funk and soul as he started to play local spots around Clermont, as well as organising his own events.

A one-year spell in New York City introduced him to the magical dance-floors of The Loft and Body & Soul, as well as a new found love in (spacey) disco music. A close friendship with mentor David Mancuso ensued; as a result, Cedric is now part of the Lucky Cloud team who put out the quarterly Journey to the Light parties in East London, which are absolutely unique in the UK.

After settling down in London in late 2000, Cedric founded the collective VOICES with kindred spirits DJ Alex and Ramar, and since then they have been playing and promoting deep house, balearic, discoand all things leftfield with regular events all across London. The night is now internationally renowned, having welcomed DJs like Daniel Wang, Joel Martin, Gerry Rooney, Gatto Fritto or Victor Rosado. The parties are currently going stronger than ever with a residency at London's Plastic People every 1st Friday of the month, + bi-monthly events in Dalston with a new bijou (Quested) sound system.

Throughout the years, Cedric has developed a keen interest and knowledge in sound, attracted especially by the warmth of vintage analogue equipment. This led Cedric to start a new night in 2005, BEAUTY AND THE BEAT, with co DJs/promoters Jeremy Gilbert and Cyril Cornet, which he describes as “psychedelic soul”(from Pharaoh Sanders to Patrick Adams, the Smiths to Larry Heard, Ebo Taylor to Jay Dilla, Jorge Ben to Lee Perry) played on an audiophile sound-system (Klipschorn speakers, Rogers Deluxe monoblocks amplifiers, E&S rotary mixer...). This venture proved to be an instant success and confirms Cedric’s title as being more of a party organiser than just a DJ. To be part of this family affair, join us here!

Apart from hosting his own parties, Cedric has played goodies in basements in New York, Seattle, Moscow or Paris, opening for names like Kerri Chandler, Osunlade or Daniel Wang, and occasionally plays at the eclectic Balance club night at Plastic People alongside Abdul Forsyth, as well as other London nights, including Cosmo's Cosmodelica, Nikki Lucas’ Future Fusion, Guynamite's Boglewaltz or the (in)famous bigblackfagz parties. A trademark DJ set by Cedric Woo is ideally no shorter than 3 hours, and cannot be defined by genre or bpms. It will instead be an eclectic mix of jazz, rock, dub, brazilian, funk, afro, tropical, boogie, disco, italo, deep house and other leftfield nuggets, obscure grooves and forgotten classics, linked together to create an atmosphere of psychedelic heaven...a cross between Francois K’ spaced out sounds and Harvey’s all round eclecticism!

2005 was also the year that saw Cedric jump in the production field. After being selected for the Red Bull Music Academy in Seattle (search for my mix here) and sharing ideas/techniques with studio maestros like Osunlade or Marco Passarani, he is now actively aiming to translate his style onto wax. Unfortunately a year of work was lost in 06 due to IT miseries (!), but look out for candies to come out in the near future.

To complete the circle, Cedric is now hosting a bi weekly show in full swing every other Sunday on the DEEP FREQUENCY web radio. The radio medium allows Cedric to dig even deeper into his crates and select forgotten goodies and fresh beats that will form his TOURBILLON. All shows are available on the archives.

Also winner of the Mystery Mix competition in January 08 on the (beardy) DJ HISTORY website. Listen here!