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Deep Space | François K/ Prosumer/ King Britt at Output and Sean B/ Will Automagic/ Nita Aviance in The Panther Room

Output
Sat Oct 3Sun Oct 4 10pm Ages: 21+
François KKing BrittNita AvianceProsumerSean BWill Automagic

About Deep Space | François K/ Prosumer/ King Britt at Output and Sean B/ Will Automagic/ Nita Aviance in The Panther Room


Only Frankie Knuckles can lay claim to straddling a longer span of time in the thick of dance music than François Kevorkian. And though his name is no more than vaguely familiar to many dance fans, Kevorkian's influence is immense. Beginning with his production work for the crucial disco label Prelude during the late '70s and extending through an immense quantity of remixes and productions for legions of pop bands during the following decade, few producers did more to mechanize and refine the disco template into music clearly recognizable as house. After moving from his native France to New York City in the mid-'70s, Kevorkian learned the art of mixing from the era's most influential DJs (Walter Gibbons, Jellybean, Larry Levan). He began producing early reel-to-reel cut-ups, patterned on dub techniques, which pushed bouts of much-needed experimentalism into disco. He then brought the dance treatment to scores of alternative bands and pop stars who needed it during the '80s and '90s. Unfortunately, Kevorkian never spent as much time on his own productions, releasing very few singles though he helmed his own imprint, Wave Records.

Born in Rodez, France in the mid-'50s, Kevorkian grew up in the suburbs of Paris, playing drums in several bands while studying biochemical engineering and pharmacy in college. After deciding to chuck in his studies, he moved to New York and began playing with any pick-up bands he could find. His first important work in the club scene came when Kevorkian took a part-time gig at the club Galaxy 21, providing live fill-in drums for the DJ, Walter Gibbons. Though the club later closed, Kevorkian moved on to another named Experiment Four and became friends with its resident, Jellybean Benitez.

Kevorkian soon began producing his own tracks after he learned that Benitez owned a four-track reel-to-reel machine. Hoping to warp tracks for maximum dancefloor consumption, Kevorkian recorded dub-inspired cut-and-paste megamixes with splice and edit techniques, even adding special effects gained from movies and other sources. (One of his first productions, a version of "Happy Song and Dance" by Rare Earth, was a New York club staple for years afterward.) In mid-1977, he started DJing at a club known as New York, New York -- the premiere disco spot after Studio 54. While working there, Kevorkian met DJ legend Larry Levan and the two became fast friends. After Kevorkian was tapped for an A&R position at the disco label Prelude, he began working at the label's studios with Levan, creating mixes for the West End and Salsoul imprints as well as Prelude. Kevorkian's mix for Musique's 1978 single "Push Push (In the Bush)" went gold -- despite an obvious lack of chart action -- and his productions for another Prelude act, D-Train, resulted in additional club hits like "You're the One for Me," "Music," and "Keep On."

A talent for studio mixing and his requisite dancefloor credentials made François Kevorkian one of the most in-demand producers during the '80s. An increased momentum during the decade for general dance music pushed labels to request special nightclub versions of pop songs for the dance crowd, and Kevorkian obliged hundreds of times, for such groups as Yaz, the Smiths, Depeche Mode, Diana Ross, Adam Ant, U2, Kraftwerk, Matthew Sweet, the Pet Shop Boys, Thomas Dolby, Ashford & Simpson, and Erasure, among many others. In 1987, he founded Axis Studios as well, which provided a home for recordings by Madonna, C+C Music Factory, Mariah Carey, and Deee-Lite.

Essential Mix Given his busy studio schedule, it's no wonder Kevorkian neglected his DJing during most of the '80s. He returned to form in 1990, and traveled to Japan with Larry Levan for several high-profile gigs. Kevorkian became a label owner himself in the '90s; his Wave imprint provided a home for several of his own productions, including 1997's pioneering FK-EP. The best document of his DJing skills, Essential Mix, appeared in 2000.


King Britt is a producer, composer, performer and curator of electronic music.

As a producer/composer, he fuses his knowledge of music history from many cultures and genres with electronic compositions, which redefine and re-contextualizes the past into the present. This is best shown in his work for Preservation Hall's release King Britt presents Sister Gertrude Morgan, which combined, the gospel evangelist's vocal recordings from 1970 with contemporary composition. This recording went on to penetrate the pop culture divide, by appearing in Michael Mann's Miami Vice and HBO's True Blood tv show, who's soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy. It was this and many other projects from his vast catalog that helped him receive the Pew Fellowship for Composition in 2007.

He has remixed and produced many diverse artists including Miles Davis, Curtis Mayfield, Radiohead, Alison Moyet, Everything But the Girl and Chic, as well as scoring commercials for Rolex and L'oreal Paris.

As a performer, King is best known as one of the top globetrotting dj's in the world. From cutting his craft as the wax poetic for the Grammy Award winning Digable Planets to traveling solo to different cities and countries, bringing cultures together through his eclectic taste and live improvised dance/experimental sets.

In addition to the dj sets, he brings many projects from studio to the stage environment.

These include, Sylk130 Collective (which sold over 500k copies), Saturn Never Sleeps and The Sister Gertrude Experience, performing in spaces as diverse as The Whitney Museum, The Corcoran Gallery and Winter Garden in the NYC Financial Center. King has graced the stage at festivals well, such as Kernel Festival (Italy), Moogfest (Asheville) , Glastonbury (UK), River to River (NYC), Camp Bisco (upstate NYC) and Voodoo Fest (New Orleans).

As a curator, he has done events for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Knitting Factory NYC, The Getty Museum and most recently an entire day at the MoMA PS1, which was a historic gathering around the subject of Afrofuturism.

Recently remixing Merideth Monk, Saul Williams and King Sunny Ade. King continues to be an important force in the shaping of contemporary music.

His new album, The Phoenix, under the guise Fhloston Paradigm, is being released on Hyperdub. He is pushing the boundaries of sound, time and space with his sonic palette of beauty.


Nita, having made a name for himself performing as a member of the House of Aviance in the 90s, landed behind the decks in the early 2000's and past residencies include the East Village's AREA10009 at Opaline & TUBWAY at the legendary Mr.Black. He currently holds a residency at the award-winning WESTGAY. In his relatively short production history, he has already logged remixes for Beyonce, the Scissor Sisters, Le1f, Automagic, & Adam Joseph. He can also be heard as one half of the production teams BOOKWRMZ and Brooklyn Is Burning.
Together with Will Automagic he formed The Carry Nation created a production and DJ sound that is unique and singularly exciting. Recent guest DJ appearances include the Paris' Acid Ball and Horse Meat Disco parties in London and England's Glastonbury Festival (where they plan to continue to appear), Club Berlin in Chicago, and Honey Sound System in San Francisco, as well as numerous guest appearances around NYC including DFA's Crystal Ark Party Machine event and CatWalk at Marquee. In addition, they put on their own recurring Brooklyn loft party, appropriately titled: The Carry Nation. Their first single "This Bitch Is Alive" (ft. Viva Ruiz) was released last year on Batty Bass (U.K.) to excellent worldwide reception. This was followed by their 2nd single for that label, "House Like This," which garnered wide critical acclaim. In collaboration with London's The Cucarachas (Tom Stephan & Borja Pena) The Carry Nation has released "Warriors" on Get Up Recordings and "The Oracle" on TRIBAL Records (which relaunched their label with this release). Their remix work includes "Face Love Anew" by Stereogamous ft. Shaun J. Wright on HNYTRX/Cocktail D' Amore, "Guess Who" by The Ride Committee ft. Roxy on Batty Bass, "Rain" by The Crystal Ark on DFA, "Sushi Darling" by The Cucarachas ft. Kevin Aviance on Kinetika, and "Let Love Ruin" by Josh Caffe & David Newtron on Batty Bass. Their productions have been remixed by the likes of Tedd Patterson, Fatherhood, DONKEY, Al B, Hannah Holland, Gavin Russom, Sveta & Tokoloshe, Johnny Dynell, and Severino & Luke Howard of Horse Meat Disco. Forthcoming are original productions with both Escandalo and Tigga Calore and remixes for The Ride Committee ft. Roxy on Nervous, Automagic ft. N'Dea Davenport on K.I.D. Recordings, Hannah Holland ft. Xander on Batty Bass, and Stereogamous ft. Shaun J. Wright on TRIBAL Records as well as a DJ mix for TRIBAL.

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