She Wants Revenge, Nine Inch Nails, A.R.E. Weapons, Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, New Order, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Clash, !!!, The Faint, OMD...
CULTURE SHOCK RECORDS
“We wanted to create mixes of songs we loved to hear but that other DJ’s were afraid to play or otherwise wouldn’t touch in a club because they weren’t ‘danceable’ or ‘mixable’.”
- Culture Shock Founder Aaron The Pimp
Started in 1998, Culture Shock Records was created in an attempt to give ‘underground’ Artists another avenue of exposure with an audience they wouldn’t normally reach. Starting with simple extended mixes, Aaron slowly began to tackle more and more difficult songs with the integrity of the music & artist always the 1 priority. Over the next 9 years Aaron expanded Culture Shock to include like-minded DJ's including a number of lifelong friends. Together, the Culture Shock Crew has managed to expose the modern underground & alternative sound to the club crowds by introducing these mixes to radio & nightclub DJ’s that are pushing the genre forward.
CULTURE SHOCK F.A.Q.: Q: Why don't you come out with releases more often?:
A: All of here at Culture Shock are music industry professionals that are also hard at work at other production/composition and remix projects, so it is hard for us to come out with releases as often as we would like. Most importantly, we believe in the concept of 'quality over Quantity', that is to say that we know that DJs work hard for their money and are let down when they buy a CD with a lot of filler and only 1 usable track. We solve this by trying to release CDs when there are enough tracks to put out a viable release that will stand the test of time. In sum - we don't put out issues for the sake of sales like many other services.
Q: Service *x* has song *y* on their Cd. Why don't you?
A: We believe in being leaders, not followers in this genre. Since we are all working DJs and are 'in the trenches' so-to-speak, we believe we have a better 'feel' as to what's viable in this genre than other services. Also, there are many times when we simply wont put a song on an issue because a) it sucks or b) it simply wouldn't be used much in a nightclub or mixshow environment.
Aaron’s career as a DJ began when he was still a teenager. The when was 1986 and the where was an underground club for underage kids. Perhaps the performance lacked the finesse he’d develop in later years, but the potential was off the charts. After several years and many failed attempts at adolescent facial hair, he then went on to other genre clubs of the day: Six Feet Under, Out of Water and Asylum. By the time he was headlining at world-famous Phoenician hotspot the Silver Dollar Club in 1990, he knew that music would likely be his career for the foreseeable future, but was concerned about having his livelihood dependant on the whims of the notoriously fickle hipster nightlife. Still, he knew music was where he belonged, so he put his fears aside and made the leap into remix/production.
After hoarding his DJ proceeds (and some cash from somewhat illicit Underground parties) he bought a Digidesign Sound Tools editing rig in 1991 and taught himself to digitally edit songs and subsequently play these new versions at the clubs. The patrons, of course, remaining blissfully unaware of this whilst shaking their collective asses. He was on a mission - to make remixes fun again. He would soon find himself on Saturday nights editing and tweaking tracks while his friends were out getting loaded – certainly not what a 19 year old in the early-90’s should be doing:
“Remixes began to drift even farther into the ‘avant-garde’ category and were losing anything they had in common with the song they were derived from. I wanted to put the energy BACK into them using the feel of the originals.”
Fast forward to 1994. After a slew of headlining positions at various nightclubs in Phoenix and Tucson, his production skills and extensive musical knowledge were required traits at Hot Mix Radio Network, a syndicator of national and international DJ mix shows. This was a perfect match – a man that knew music, knew the production tools of the day and had a thorough understanding of the format that was now being touted as ‘Alternative” (much to his chagrin, as to him it was simply ‘good music’). His remix work started gaining momentum after a slew of remixes for artists such as New Order, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and the Beastie Boys. After graduating from college, he went full-time into the music/radio industry, all the while avoiding the hype machine with his headphones on in a world where style and hype notoriously win over substance.
“DJ culture seems to have filtered down into two categories - 1)The Celebrity DJ that becomes larger-than-life and appears to lose his connection with the music & crowds that helped him arrive there or 2)The Bedroom DJ that downloads MP3's & a pirate version of Final Scratch, makes a quick stop at Toni & Guy and calls himself a DJ. No offense to any of these guys that are trying to break into the DJ ‘business’, but I’m more concerned with programming than my tats.”
All of which brings us to the present day & Aaron’s personal mission to bring not only skill but fun back to the dancefloor. He currently lives in Tempe, AZ, where he has run his own remix service - Culture Shock Records - for the last 8 years. He & fellow DJ’s in the Culture Shock Crew stay in the thick of things by taking on tracks from Depeche Mode, Bon Jovi, LCD Soundsystem, Death Cab For Cutie, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, Echo & The Bunnymen, Goldfrapp, U2 & Nine Inch Nails. Many current DJ’s from genre’s as diverse as Hip-Hop, Indie & Top 40 use Aaron’s remixes on a regular basis. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also hard at work at his ‘day job’ providing exclusive, original compositions for Playboy International.
All of this is in addition to his numerous live DJ sets around the Southwest. That Aaron’s passion for music has never waned is obvious to anyone listening to one of his totally eclectic sets that effortlessly shift from new wave to hip-hop to alternative to indie to house to electro to grime.. These sets have been the stuff of legend at notorious club nights Hot Pink, Shake & Retrospect in Phoenix and Pearl Nightclub in Tucson. Aaron is currently hard-at-work on several new mixes & is coming out from behind the mixing boards for a Fall DJ tour, so expect to hear his name again and again in 2008.
Out Now on Nightshade Music: Michael Badal - 'Retrospect' Martin Villeneuve (MV) & Nosmo v Kris B remixes - available at Beatport and other online music retailers.
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FEATURED ON THE STEEDLORD BLOG, TOO !!!
CHECK THEM OUT IN MY FRIENDLIST !!!! New "RiotOnTheDanceFloorMix" is available for download!!! Click picture and you will be directed to my download section. ..::KIDKUTS::..
holla if you got time would be a honour 4 the house connextion if you could one day tune in maybee this saturday 1 december from 2 till 4 pm uk time house connextion live radio webb show mashing up the airwaves of london mixing underground beats 2 get you off to a good start on the best day of the week if in london tune into 103.0 ice cold fm 4 the world to live stream go 2 www.icecoldfm.co.uk we are a new underground dj band we have edge trust me and like to party but we wont go into that also have a cool week peace culture shock
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