Author Archives: DJcity Staff

DJcity Trends is a monthly collection of tracks intended to help DJs discover new and buzzing club music. They are hand-picked by influential DJs from around the world.

View the January 2019 edition of DJcity Trends here.

January’s contributors:

First Choice, mixer at New York’s Power 105.1
Klutch, member of Electric Bodega
Mind Motion, member of Pirate DJs crew
Play, UK director of DJcity
Santarosa, Latin director at DJcity; mixer at SiriusXM’s Globalization
Scene, recording artist at Fool’s Gold
Styles Davis, national director at DJcity

Related: DJcity Trends for Dec. 2018

Martin Solveig performs at R2 | Le Rooftop in Marseille, France on June 15, 2018. (Source: Facebook)

DJcity’s Spotify playlist update for the week of Jan. 22:

Ariana Grande – 7 Rings
Casanova ft. Tory Lanez & Davido – 2AM
Future ft. Travis Scott – First Off
Lil Pump – Butterfly Doors
Lil Skies – Real Ties
Logic – Keanu Reeves
LSD ft. Lil Wayne, Labrinth, Sia, & Diplo – Genius Remix
Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart – Martin Solveig Remix
Mustard & Migos – Pure Water
Sean Paul ft. Stefflon Don – Shot & Wine
Slushii ft. Sofia Reyes – Never Let You Go

Stream the entire playlist below or from within Spotify.

Related: DJcity’s Spotify Playlist Update: Jan. 15

Below are DJcity Canada’s top 10 picks for January 2019. All of the tracks feature Canadian artists or were produced by Canadians.

1. Meek Mill ft. Drake – Going Bad – KidCutUp Acap Intro
2. 6ix9ine ft. Tory Lanez – KIKA – NXSTY Remix
3. Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd – Lost In The Fire
4. Sheck Wes – Mo Bamba – Nick Bike Seasons In The Abyss Core Bootleg
5. Post Malone – Wow. (prod. by Louis Bell and Frank Dukes)
6. Alessia Cara – Trust My Lonely
7. NAV – Know Me
8. 88GLAM – Lil Boat
9. KILLY – ANTI EVERYBODY
10. Donae’o ft. Belly – Chalice

Related: DJcity Canada’s Top 10 Picks for Nov. 2018

Shelco Garcia & Teenwolf in Las Vegas (Source: Instagram)

Featured on DJcity earlier this week:

– Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – Can’t Hold Us – Kevin D Remix

DJcity’s weekly picks are selected by Kidd Spin. To receive them via email, click here.

Related: Must-Play Tracks for the Weekend: Jan. 11

Mojaxx‘s MacBook Pro is old and needs replacing, but the new models are very expensive. He doesn’t want to spend that much money on a laptop that will only be used for DJing.

So, Mo has been researching Windows devices instead, which he admits is a scary idea. “I’ve been a Mac user for over a decade,” Mo says. “I haven’t had a Windows machine since the Windows XP days. So it really is a bit terrifying for me to make that switch.”

To kick off his journey, Mo takes a look at the SLIM 14 Audio Edition laptop from German manufacturer SCHENKER. Watch above on this week’s episode of Tips and Tricks.

Have you switched from Mac to Windows? Share your advice in the comments section below.

Related: The Best Keyboard Covers for DJs

Party Favor at Omnia Nightclub in Las Vegas on Dec. 7, 2018. (Source: Facebook)

DJcity’s Spotify playlist update for the week of Jan. 15:

Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man – Giant
Future – Jumpin On A Jet
Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd – Lost In The Fire
Halsey ft. Juice WRLD – Without Me Remix
Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes – Don Diablo Remix
Party Favor – 2012

Stream the entire playlist below or from within Spotify.

Related: DJcity’s Spotify Playlist Update: Jan. 8

Thomas Elbers a.k.a. Kypski started out as a turntablist, becoming a three-time DMC Netherlands champion. Eventually, he followed his heart and entered the realm of sound design, music composition, and production, where he has collaborated with artists in almost every genre.

Now, Kypski is experimenting with “syntablism,” a new technique that enables turntablists to create and manipulate sounds on the fly using a turntable, mixer, and modular synthesizer. It was introduced by Luigi SirCut Comito in 2016.

DJcity’s DJ TLM recently spoke with Kypski to learn more about the technique. The Q&A coincides with the release of Kypski’s new routine, which is a syntablism flip of his remix of Fatima Yamaha’s “What’s a Girl to Do.” The video was praised by his fellow Dutchman, Laidback Luke, who tweeted that it “mesmerized” him.

Watch the routine and read the interview below.

How did you get involved with syntablism?

Luigi SirCut introduced it to me. It was so inspiring! When I realized the potential it opens up for turntablists, I was hooked and dived in right away. It also came at a time when I was kind of bored with manipulating samples and pre-producing my own sounds to scratch with later, which is something so many people do. Syntablism is all about creating sounds in the moment, and scratching and playing them at the same time.

The system I have now is far from finished. I doubt I will ever really finish it. I have many more features I want to add to it and then release a full syntablism album. Until that time comes, I will be releasing a lot of singles and videos. Luigi and I have just finished another syntablism live video in which we will be playing and scratching our systems together in a more Q&A fashion.

If Luigi hadn’t introduced it, someone else might have, because the concept is so brilliant yet simple. It’s great to see more and more people trying out syntablism all over the world now.

What equipment do you need to start experimenting with syntablism?

A modular synthesizer is ideal because it’s not prewired like a regular synth. However, a semi-modular like the Korg MS-20 will do the job. Also, I consider an envelope follower, comparator, and pitch to be key modules. You can build the rest around them. My system is set up so that my Traktor control signal plays a sine wave, which is converted to pitch control voltage. I send that voltage to many different destinations. For example, at the beginning of my new video, I scratch the tail of the reverb. It can be anything! Also, the crossfader is set up so that it produces gate signals, another signal which the modular synth is happy to receive. Together, it gives one the possibility to scratch the core elements of the synth in real time.

You’ve done turntablism collaborations with DJs such as D-Styles and musicians like the Matangi Quartet. Do you have any syntablism collaborations planned?

Yes, this year I will be collaborating with the Amstel Saxophone Quartet from Amsterdam, with whom I will be playing a live show honoring Kraftwerk. I will also be bringing my syntablism live set to the Eurosonic festival in Groningen, Netherlands, and to the Superbooth festival in Berlin, which I’m really looking forward to. For collabs and shows that need a more traditional DJ approach, I use my Native Instruments Maschine setup which still works like a charm for that purpose.

Related: Watch: Turntablist and Singer Asian Hawk Performs His Track ‘Fire’

DJ Refresh at Onxy Room in San Diego, California. (Source: Facebook)

DJcity’s weekly picks are selected by Kidd Spin. To receive them via email, click here.

Related: Must-Play Tracks for the Weekend: Jan. 4

Lost Kings perform at NOTO in Philadelphia on Sept. 22, 2017. (Source: Facebook)

DJcity’s Spotify playlist update for the week of Jan. 8:

Chris Brown – Undecided
Future – Crushed Up
Kid Ink ft. Lil Wayne & Saweetie – YUSO
Lost Kings ft. Wiz Khalifa & Social House – Don’t Kill My High

Stream the entire playlist below or from within Spotify.

Related: DJcity’s Spotify Playlist Update: Jan. 1

2DLQTZ. (Credit: Karlo X.)

Featured on DJcity earlier this week:

– Ricky Martin – Maria – DJ Silence Remix

DJcity’s weekly picks are selected by Kidd Spin. To receive them via email, click here.

Related: Must-Play Tracks for the Weekend: Dec. 21