Extrawelt/ John Acquaviva/ Greg Gow/ Nikola Baytala at Output and Sublimate Presents Birdsmakingmachine/ Dahlia/ Sagotsky in The Panther Room

With an unparalleled legacy in the annals of analog and digital electronic music John Acquaviva can boast and list pages of accomplishments in just about every aspect of the music world. But letÕs not talk about the past right now. Surging to the very top of the production and DJ world in the past handful of years with a steady stream of club anthems and chart topping tunes, his productions have won over and set the mood for an entire generation of clubbers and clubbing worldwide. Not satisfied with just his own work, Acquaviva has also relaunched the seminal Definitive Recordings imprint, taking it to its highest levels ever, fostering new artists, DJs and producers such as Olivier Gaicomotto, Kid Dub, Robot Needs Oil/Greg Kobe, to mention but a few.

The tireless Acquaviva is perpetually on worldwide tour, trying to keep up with all the requests. Due to incredible demand the past year he has been featured at some of the key Spring and Summer festivals, including BENICASSIM, Global Gathering, Kaballah in Brasilas well as key summer dates such as the Privilige 2008 season opening party in Ibiza, Space with Danny Tenaglia, Nikki Beach in Marbella, Cocoricco in Riccione, TitoÕs & Abraxas in Palma and closer to home at Toronto, CanadaÕs new mega-club CiRCA with a host of others in between and all over.

As a quick refresher course, John began his international career in 1989 with Richie Hawtin by founding one of the world's best known and influential techno labels, Plus 8 Records. In 1993, Acquaviva and Hawtin also founded Definitive Recordings and the label is now celebrating 15 years of legendary club and underground anthems. An acknowledged pioneer of new music and ideas, John was one of the first people to take notice and embrace electronic musicÕs digital future at the dawn of 2000 by championing Final Scratch. And following that success, John took another enormous step to help launch Beatport.com, the biggest dance-music download site in the world.

His international career has spanned 2 decades now, having DJÕd professionally for almost another decade before that. Throughout thousands of parties millions of people have heard him play and continue to keep him in demand. Get in line or get on the guest-list if you can, and get into the sound and vision of a new generation.

For more information, DJ dates, new charts, videos, images and a monthly podcast, and information about releases on definitive recordings check out:

www.john-acquaviva.com
www.myspace.com/acquavivadj
www.definitiverecordings.com
www.myspace.com/definitiverecordingsmusic

contact: [email protected]


DJ Nikola Baytala has become a crucial component of the minimal-techno collective known as Kontrol. But don't typecast him as a one-dimensional droid with a M-nus Records logo tattoo. He's been exploring the upper echelons of the techno/house continuum since the early '90s (including the last 10 years at The Top, a weekly event hosted by S.W.A.T., aka Special Weapons and Tactics), gaining a reputation as a DJ's DJ, with acclaim coming from house-music legends like Derrick Carter and Doc Martin. Moreover, Baytala's list of musical influences and loves is vast, eclectic, and impeccable. The following roll call just scratches the surface: dub/reggae (Lee "Scratch" Perry), jazz (Pharoah Sanders), world (Ravi Shankar, Mulatu Astatke), funk (Cymande), soul (Bill Withers), hiphop (Gang Starr), Krautrock (Can), electro (Egyptian Lover, Kraftwerk), disco (DJ Harvey), Latin (Tito Puente), soundtrack/new age (Vangelis), rock (Steely Dan), post-punk (ESG, Liquid Liquid), and post-rock (Outhud). As for his bread and butter, Baytala similarly displays excellent judgment, with a heavy preference for quality-pushers like Jeff Mills, Gas, Monolake, Robert Hood, Theo Parrish, and Mr. Fingers. When you see a DJ possess such wide-ranging, outstanding taste, it instills confidence that he/she will rarely, if ever, veer into wackness. Baytala clearly has put many hours of study into his craft, and it's paid off with smooth mixes and world-class track selection. Besides his formidable technical skills and profound knowledge, Baytala reportedly exudes a lot of personality and passion behind the decks, which must have served him well while opening for acts like Jane's Addiction. Everything I've heard by Baytala suggests that his sets avoid the supposed pitfalls of minimal dance music. They're kinetic, dynamic, and, of course, cheese-free. I can't believe I've only just recently found out about this mensch.


Birdsmaking machine is a collective of wandering artists interested in music, designmand "birds", of course.

Back in the second year of the no time era, in an old distant continent, after long and dangerous journeys on their own, three wandering artists met in a deserted pub in the dullest walled city ever imagined. They spent one thousand and one nights drinking and talking and they heard no sound. The city was in complete silence, except for the distant noise of the factories where all the people in town gathered and spent their days and nights.
The idea of a life between walls, surrounded by machine noise was a burden for them.
They agreed it was not a coincidence their meeting there. They felt deep inside the desire to stay. They knew they were up to a big revolution. Freedom was about to come. It was time to break the silence.
After some deliberation, they came up with an idea.
Each of them had a special talent, some sacred tools they used to develop a never before seen machine. They spend a long second immersed in the process until they finally built a machine capable of making birds…
The joy of the gypsies, the wonder of the forest, the craziness of the south and the nonsense of the world were now making sense and sounds.
The birdsmakingmachine started to free musical birds that spread the language of the soul in the winds. The birds flew away in the distance and their singing never stopped.