Discography of DJ Karo's independantly-released mix CDs and mix tapes
The Sound of the Police, 1998 (punk and hip-hop live on pirate radio)
Dub Sound Clash, 2001 (dub reggae)
Heavy Funk and B-Boy Breaks, 2002 (funky breaks)
Sunday Morning Coffee and Jazz, 2003 (soul jazz)
LIve in the Bedroom, 2003 (mash-up)
Shellshocked, 2004 (80's pop)
Electro Boogie Throw-Down, 2004 (Electro-Funk Turntablism)
C.R.A.S.S. mix 2004 (punk, turntablist)
In the Land of the Lost, 2006 (hip-hop, electro, mash-up)
A Little Poison, 2008 (international mash-up)
Bollywood Bangers, 2008 (bollywood soundtrack funk)
Razor's Edge, 2008 (international booty beats)
Pirate Booty, release-date 2009 (international booty beats)
Influences
Portrait of a Graffiti Artist
A Métis, dirty south (south-eastern USA) native, Ozone-504 first started painting graffiti in the late 1980's when he was in a punk rock gang doing anarchist and gang graff (ATL PINS). Back in those days, the foundation was beginning to be laid down for what is today the contemporary street/urban-art explosion. Ozone's instinctual talents grew over the years, led on by the rich art underground blossoming in the states over the last two decades.
Watching his father paint when he was young, and heavily-influenced by Minneapolis' Heavy Metal Crew as well as Chicago and San Francisco Bay Area graffiti artists, Ozone's style coalesced while living in Nouvelle Orleans in the five years leading up to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The catastrophe leveled the black, working class parts of the city, and it still hasn't recovered today, the local communities struggling against a wave of neoliberal "disaster capitalism" preying on schools, housing and hospitals. Picking through the toxic floodwaters to salvage what little he could of his art works and rare vinyl collection, disgusted by the state of things in the US today, the hurricane's winds blew Ozone all the way to far-off shores, painting his way across Europe.
From the rues of New Orleans to the rues of Paris, his art found a welcoming home, and since early 2007 he has sold hundreds of pieces in Paris' art quarter at the Georges Pompidou Contemporary Art Museum.
His first Paris art exposition, Sublime Negation, was in June 2008 at Le Saint Sauveur in Menilmontant. From the press release: "With echoes of Dada, Dondi White, and the art of Crass, Ozone504's debut European art exposition Sublime Negations reads like a scrap-book manifesto of joie de vivre, resistance and urban decay."
Splattering spraypaint; layering electric acrylics; stenciling iconic images from the urban-political underground; collaging the layered, wheat-pasted story of the walls of cities around the world; this emerging provocative urban artist weaves a melange of mediums for the senses, hearkening back to the days when art meant something more than a price-tag. The pieces are created with a focus on recycled materials, at times transforming advertisements and garbage into insurrectionary art; a re-contextualization of the natural art debris which the city holds.
To see photographs of Ozone-504's work, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozone504/
To sign up for his art email list, send an email to:
ozone504@yahoo.com
I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)
A dirty south native, DJ Karo got hooked on spinning vinyl in 1994 when he was a pirate radio deejay on Free Radio Asheville 89.4, bringing the listeners eight hours a week of punk, new wave and hip hop. Back in those days, hip hop scratching was pouring from the liberated air waves of San Francisco, and DJ Karo followed the echoes.
DJ Karo's turntable talents grew, led on by the music itself. After time in the San Francisco Bay Area, his crate-digging exodus led him in 2000 to New Orleans, music's Mecca. There he played in clubs, smoky seedy bars, block parties in the streets, alley-ways on many-a-Mardi Gras–even backing up a Circus cabaret with his scratching–all the while sharpening his skills into a well-rounded DJ.
Karo also spent time in Manchester, U.K. during this period, where he was exposed to northern soul, Factory Records and the Hacienda legacy.
Returning to his roots in the south, and New Orleans, Karo continued the funky break studies, and toured on both the east and west coasts of the US. For two years he DJ-ed a weekly Jamaican music night in New Orleans with the Domino Sound System.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, DJ Karo lost 1,000 records of his rare collection to the toxic flood waters, cleaning and salvaging what he could. But this is a small loss compared to the scale of tragedy and suffering which the city faced, and continues to struggle with now, 3 years later.
The hurricane's winds blew him all the way to far-off shores, cut/scratch/mixing his way across Europe.
DJ Karo mixes old school breaks, electro, booty-bangin' dirty south beats, and club music, with a heavy dose of Jamaica riddim. The result is a dance-floor-friendly fusion which defies a label, and gets the party jumpin'!
Big Bounce Fireworks on the 4th in 3D! In the French Quarters at One Eyed Jack's on Toulouse! SISSY NOBBY - BIG FREEDIA - RUSTY LAZER - D. LEFTY PARKER!
