Los Angeles native Josh Kouzomis – known in the industry as Troublemaker – began making his musical name in the early 1990’s as a college radio DJ and music director at Ohio University’s ACRN. His school stint was brief but critical, and resoundingly affirmed Kouzomis’s future lay elsewhere – specifically, Los Angeles.
Once home, Kouzomis joined punk/hardcore giant Epitaph Records first as a grass-roots marketing intern and then as a radio promoter, positions he capitalized on. He took what he’d learned firsthand about the indie music business and production during his Epitaph tenure to co-found Celestial Recordings, the acclaimed underground hip hop and drum-and-bass label, in 1998. Just one year later, Rolling Stone named Celestial-affiliated Konkrete Jungle (L.A.) 1999’s Best Dance Club.
Troublemaker’s Konkrete-era sonic experiments with such Celestial partners as rapper Phoenix Orion and junglist Hive fueled Kouzomis’s personal ambitions. Not one to miss a beat, he next enlisted E. Moss to form Backyard Bangers, whose eponymous debut track – a collaboration with DJ Z-Trip – is on 2002’s Constant Elevation compilation.
The album’s title typified the trajectory of Kouzomis’s career then and today characterizes Troublemaker’s professional advance and ascent. This DJ since then has steadily turned out remixes and commercial pieces true to his name, consistently causing the best kinds of diggable disturbance. Whether edits for the likes of Bonde do Role or Justice, winning the annual URB Magazine/Scion Mixtape contest, or re-working Linkin Park’s “Runaway” to beat out more seasoned studio mixers’ versions for a place on the multi-platinum Reanimation album, Troublemaker has proven himself both a master producer and DJ. With a diverse discography boasting works ranging from Johnny Cash Remixed and Good Charlotte’s Greatest Remixes to the Peter Bjorn and John remix (now exceeding 20K downloads in the month it’s been out), Kouzomis has roused the audio rabble in-car, in-club, and even in-Capital: in January 2009, Troublemaker – alongside De La Soul, Santogold, and Shepard Fairey – rocked D.C. at the Manifest Hope Inauguration Party in Washington.
While others are satisfied with the standard mix-and-tour, Troublemaker refuses to settle – or settle down. His first solo album, Maestro, features tracks like the alt/modern rock-tinged “All Night” and the hip hop/pop-appealing “I’m Famous” that demonstrate Troublemaker’s ability not only to produce and remix others but also to do it for himself. Maestro sets itself above and apart by including new up-and-comers. Their sheer diversity and Troublemaker’s motley musical skills together make this album new and unique. In its conception and in your ears, Troublemaker’s Maestro truly is the kind of aural showcase and body-moving rollercoaster that can’t (or won’t) be stopped.
True to form, Troublemaker continues plotting mischief both in-studio and out-. In addition to spinning for his Wasted Space residency at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas, getting ready to play The Roxy on Sunset with Adam Tensta, U-N-I, and The 87 Stick Up Kids, masterminding remixes (Tim Armstrong’s Poet’s Life album for Hellcat Records; Matt and Kim’s “Daylight” for EA Video Games; Big B, Mastodon, Phoenix, and Zion I), and producing several new artists of various genres, Troublemaker is gearing up for May’s Hope Artists Festival in Kenya, Africa, as well as the brief European tour he’ll play en route to the States in June. He is also planning U.S. tour dates for July to promote Maestro, due for release on July 7, 2009.
ZION I • GEEK TO THE BEAT (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
MASTODON • OBLIVION (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
BIG B • SINNER (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
PHOENIX • 1901 (TATELAROCK and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
SILVERSUN PICKUPS • PANIC SWITCH (CHIN and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
DE LA SOUL • OOOH (TATELAROCK and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
PETER BJORN and JOHN • NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX feat. ADAM TENSTA, U-N-I, and THE 87 STICK UP KIDS)
MILOSH • AWFUL GAME (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
TROUBLEMAKER • FOLLOW THE LEADER
SOLANGE • T.O.N.Y. (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] GOOD CHARLOTTE • WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
JOHNNY CASH • STRAIGHT A'S IN LOVE (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
BONDE DO ROLE • GASOLINA (SK87 REMIX TROUBLEMAKER EDIT)
[DOWNLOAD] ROBOSONIC • KAPUTT IN HOLLYWOOD (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX feat. THE 87 STICK UP KIDS, BABY CASHTRID and MICAH JAMES)
[DOWNLOAD] CAMP LO • LUCHINI (TATELAROCK and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] LADY TIGRA • BASS ON THE BOTTOM (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] TATELAROCK and TROUBLEMAKER • THE END IS NEAR
[DOWNLOAD] YES KING • 40 LONG DAYS (TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] TATELAROCK and TROUBLEMAKER • HIGH FIVE (LIVE)
[DOWNLOAD] LATEEF and Z-TRIP (feat. CHALI 2NA) • MASS HYSTERIA (GOLDENCHYLD and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] BACKYARD BANGERS • ROCK, SHOCK, SHAKE, BREAK (feat. PHOENIX ORION)
[DOWNLOAD] LADY TIGRA • BASS ON THE BOTTOM (MR. HAHN and TROUBLEMAKER REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] JUSTICE • PHANTOM + PHANTOM PT. II (TROUBLEMAKER EDIT)
[DOWNLOAD] PUMP N DUMP • LET'S MEAT GIRLS
[DOWNLOAD] GEORGE SARAH • 1920 (BACKYARD BANGERS REMIX)
BACKYARD BANGERS • PERCEPTION
FLAMING LIPS • FIGHT TEST (BACKYARD BANGERS REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] CRAIG DAVID • WHAT'S YOUR FLAVA? (BACKYARD BANGERS REMIX)
[DOWNLOAD] LINKIN PARK • RNW@Y (BACKYARD BANGERS REMIX feat. PHOENIX ORION)
[DOWNLOAD] PHOENIX ORION • SECRET WARS EP
HIVE and TROUBLEMAKER • NU PLANET
[DOWNLOAD]
MIXES:
TROUBLEMAKER • 4
[DOWNLOAD] TROUBLEMAKER • YOUR FACE
[DOWNLOAD] TROUBLEMAKER • NO WINE, JUST WOMEN
[DOWNLOAD] TROUBLEMAKER • MI NOMBRE ES TROUBLE
[DOWNLOAD] BACKYARD BANGERS • GET THAT SHIT OUTTA HERE
[DOWNLOAD] BACKYARD BANGERS • SCION 7
[DOWNLOAD] BACKYARD BANGERS • PARDON MY FRENCH
[DOWNLOAD] BACKYARD BANGERS • SPUNKBUBBLE
ALBUMS:
GOOD CHARLOTTE • GREATEST REMIXES
VARIOUS ARTISTS • 4 - METROPARK
JOHNNY CASH • JOHNNY CASH REMIXED
Z-TRIP • ALL PRO
BACKYARD BANGERS • NEW MATH
VARIOUS ARTISTS • AMOEBA MUSIC VOL. V
LINKIN PARK • REANIMATION
VARIOUS ARTISTS • DUBLAB: SUMMER
[DOWNLOAD] VARIOUS ARTISTS • CONSTANT ELEVATION
[DOWNLOAD] VARIOUS ARTISTS • SCRATCH TOUR SAMPLER
DJ SPOOKY • UNDER THE INFLUENCE
PHOENIX ORION • SECRET WARS
VARIOUS ARTISTS • CELESTIAL SQUADRON
VARIOUS ARTISTS • URBAL BEATS 3
PHOENIX ORION • ZIMULATED INSTRUMENTALZ
PHOENIX ORION • ZIMULATED EXPERIENCEZ
[DOWNLOAD][DOWNLOAD 2]
FILM, TELEVISION & VIDEO GAMES:
SABOTEUR • EA
VARIOUS ARTISTS • SCRATCH: ALL THE WAY LIVE
ENGINEER & MIXER:
DJ HAUL AND MASON • CELL:EIGHT
JAZZY JAY • ALL THE WAY LIVE
PHOENIX ORION, SUPERNATURAL & Z-TRIP • HOLLYROCK FREESTYLE
[DOWNLOAD]
Thank you very much for da Link Up & Sharing the Music Nice to meet you through cyber link Keep up da Great Work Wishes you All da Best in 2009 Enjoy your Weekend
I dunno if I was trippinnnn but I was watching tv and a commercial for the new season of its always sunny in philadelphia came on and i heard your remix of "nothing to worry about" in the background. Am I tripping ?
