So Derrick May played my track PRESSURE in his closing set this year!!  It was the 3rd or 4th from the end.  I cant even explain the feeling of hearing something I created being played at that moment.  Some of you already know that I have been working hard on my production recently and some good things are happening!!!  Stay tuned for more info!!


here is the video!

http://hushsound.com/?p=443


The video is on my other blog note..

thank you for the support!!


This was done with 2 copies of reason, on 2 laptops, 2 controllers, 1 keyboard...NO SYNC...All through a DJ mixer.  This was as analog as I could get using a digital interface...

ALL LOOPS with live manipulation, no finished tracks to just press play!!!

Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erBbxq9O_GQ

A small Part of the live set caught on video!!! Recording coming soon...

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Sorry nothing deep on this one....just an update.... Hush sound sold? not really...info inside

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Update on me and what’s going on with my sound.



So over the last few months I have decided to make some major changes.
I have decided to sell a large portion of my sound system. This
decision has ultimately caused some major assumptions and lots of
questions as to what and why I am doing this.



I've heard everything from....are you done? are you quitting? is it over?



Let me start this by saying 2 things.



1. I am NOT done with music in anyway.

2. This is NOT the last sound system I will own.



Hush Sound and my tech services are not just used with my sound system.
I specialize in AUDIO, whether it be on my sound or anyone else’s.
Audio engineering is 1 of the many things I do for a living.



When it comes to the “the scene” and my Hush sound systems there are a
few guidelines. In order to have a true HUSH sound system, it requires
hiring me to run it and tech it as well as spend enough money to have
enough boxes to create a truly BODY MOVING experience. I have spent
YEARS learning about audio and how to manipulate and push things to the
limit of what they can handle to be able to get the most out of every
different set-up I create.



Over the last 12 years, my sound has really been a major part of what I
do in this scene and what I offer to help others get the most from what
they’re using as well. I am almost always running around at my events
or others fixing and adjusting audio through out the night trying to
get the most out of every set-up.



The time has come for me to sell off the old and start over with some
new. That being said, the UNcensored guys have pooled together and
decided to purchase what I was selling. They are now the proud owners
of 8 custom subs and 6 tops, amps etc. To clarify…THEY ARE NOT
PURCHASHING A HUSH SYSTEM. They are purchasing parts of an older HUSH
system and it will sound great when they use it and should be refered
to as the “uncensored” system? I’ll leave that up to them…



My next step…..



Well, I am also the proud owner of the start of what will be the new
HUSH system as I put it together…Stay tuned, the first 8 boxes are on
their way as we speak!!! (hint...Pink floyd)



You should see this system in action in the next few months. As always,
I am still up for hire and am happy to consult people on their sound
needs.



Just remember that GOOD sound should come before ANYTHING else when it comes to music!!!



Thanks

Zak

Aka DVS

Hosted By: HUSH
When: Friday Jul 25, 2008
at 10:00 PM
Where: LOFT above barfly
downtown
minneapolis, MN 55413
United States
Description:
HUSH

Click Here To View Event



SHELTER ever friday

hosted by HUSH

1 DJ + 1 Large Sound System.

This night is for the dancers and party people to release and listen to the music! Come with an open mind, put your inhibitions to the side, and be one with the dance floor community!!

This night will not be about the progression of multiple dj's. This night will be about the journey,depth and story of just 1.

Join us as we dig even deeper into our crates.

So as some of you know foundation is done.  Below is the official press release.  I am working on writing my thoughts on the last 16 months and what I am doing next.  Dont worry, I'm doing well (a little anxious)and I am excited to be back doing what I do best....creating things.  I am working on a few projects and will expand on whats happening int he next few weeks.  For now, I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me and has understood what it was like to do something like Foundation.  Stay tuned for updates!!!

Zak

Official press release for Foundation.

The time has come to let everyone know what is going on with Foundation Nightclub.

As most of you know, Foundation closed its doors on Jan 1st 2008 with the intentions of re-opening. Unfortunately, things do not always end up as intended. Foundation's ownership group has decided to go a different direction with the venue and the Foundation name is officially retired.

The initial intentions of the shut down were to offer an opportunity to buy out some of the majority owners in the group and continue with the Foundation ethos. Unfortunately an agreement could not be reached and the majority owners are moving forward with a different concept, different management and a much different direction than what Foundation was pursuing. We the minority owners are currently in the process of being bought out. We will be sure to let you know if this ends up being a smooth process and that we either do or do not give our full support to the new owners.

Although all of us involved are sad to see it go, we feel very strongly that Foundation, during its 1.5 years of operation was able to unite many different people from many different walks of life. It offered a unique place that both music enthusiasts as well as weekend warriors could enjoy. We thank all of you for your support and understanding throughout the last 2 years.

All of us are continuing on with our lives and below you can see what each of us has planned.

With the utmost respect.

Zak, Bill and Beecher


ZAK â€" Is going to continue doing Music related work, including audio, lighting and video work. He will mainly be focusing on Hush productions. To read more of what Zak is doing in his own words. Check out myspace.com/thedeviousonempls

BILL - Is going to continue to work in the mortgage industry. He has now been in the business for 6 years. He appreciates any referrals and can be reached at bill@lendingbybill.com He will also help out periodically with different events.

BEECHER - Accepted the Booking Manager position at EPIC (the old Quest) www.epicmpls.com

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better late than never.....

.. (Post ) -->

WOW...I could write for hours.

This will go off on a few tangents, but I'll try and keep it cohesive.  I recently wrote this on a local internet message board in a discussion about dj and their roll's currently...it ended up hitting the topic of digital versus vinyl and I figured it was really how I felt and was written cohesivly enough to post for others.....
_______________________________________________
Unlike what most people assume...There are not many DJ's that are good promoters and not many promoters that are good Dj's. Most venues are looking for both and most up and coming kids have to be both to even survive in this game. I would consider myself as one of the people who is good as both, although alot of the time I wish I could just DJ instead of worry about the other side of things....

What happens because of this expectation is that you get a lot of shitty Dj's doing regular nights and people who are "popular" due to their ability to myspace and socialize currently. Now dont get me wrong, 10 years ago, I was that same guy out every night, socializing. My friends would actually give me shit for the fact that I spent so much time validating who I was and what I did to just about anyone who was willing to listen.

After you pass that faze you start to see waves of trends and people come and go..you start to deal with people a little more jaded than in your past. You seem to try and wade through everyone and see how long they actually stay around before you give them acceptance for being "down" and credit for not just using and abusing what you love and have been apart of for years.

In terms of Dj's, you look at another DJ's record collection and gain understanding of where they came from and what level of dedication they have put into this with absolutely no way of ever re-couping the amounts of money and or time they have put in.

Nowadays a dj seems to be judged by something much different as stated above. Although I have been lucky to consistently play out in Minneapolis for the last 12 years, it hasn't happened by accident. Even still today I have never played a weekly or had a residency somewhere. although I would have loved to have a residency at foundation(due to it being my room), I have attempted to keep people interested in what I have to offer by limiting the places and amounts I play in this city. I still let everyone know when I play and I still get excited about playing because I LOVE WHAT I DO....Due to the fact that I dont drain myself and almost tease myself with the time I put between gigs, I constantly put a lot into my Dj sets. I DIG though my own collection each time and spend sometimes hours if not days listening to music and visualizing myself playing that track....

Whats interesting to me with the whole digital age and serato is that it has put the Dj in the position to kill the DJ, by eliminating what a large part of this culture has been about.... Now understand that I am NOT saying this for all people who play serato. There are good musicians and there are bad ones. I feel that serato just seems to dilute the whole DJ community even more. Now someone that is good, is good and serato is another tool for them to be better potentially...I cant argue that.

Recently, someone that I look up to musically, Theo parrish, did a redbull academy interview and he basically summed up the digital and vinyl issue from 2 persepectives, the Dj and the crowd. As a patron who pays cover and expects the DJ to do something and potenially "blow your mind" he is disappointed by the amount of DJ's who have nearly 50,000 songs at their disposal at any given gig and still cant seem to BLOW minds, when the vinyl DJ's have a limited amount of material in front of them and are forced to be creative with what they have and do what they do. I guess I really agree with him on this. Other than a few people who are using the forward thinking technology of serato and traktor to do things out of the box, most people are just using this shit to not carry records?????They are using it to become a DJ over night with a collection that it should have taken years of time to build, than get pissed when we purists get jaded and tell them they dont get it.

I cant argue for better ways of doing things. Although I can argue for the mentality at which they being used.

This past weekend I had a chance to sit and talk with mike huckaby (detroit) and he put this all into perspective for me. He basically said that I need to stop comparing myself and or trying to keep up with digital Dj's. What we do is different and if I continue to try and keep up or even always compare myself to them I will inevitably lose because I will be the minority. I have enough records and good enough taste and enough passion to continue to dig for music and search out vinyl to satisfy my appetite. The reality is that most of these kids who use serato are playing the top 10 on beatport and are only thinking in a 6 month time span about music. I am thinking about music in a TIME-LESS span...I have so much music on vinyl that people will overlook to incode and upload. I have things that will never make it to the digital world cause they wont seem relevant when people are digging on line through the last 6 months of music....and until it is so out of my reach financially and/or turntables disappear from the booth permanently I will continue to play vinyl.


Read this anyway you want, and please exclude yourself from being a target of my opinions if you dont fall into this category. Go on playing music anyway you want...seriously...because I will continue to play it my way and continue to stay pertinent....at least I hope



Thanks for reading...

Zak...aka theDEVIOUSone

This is a magazine I write the Electronic section for every 2 months.  Industry Magazine www.industrympls.com is a local Zine for Minneapolis, MN.

 

Industry Article #7

 

 

Rhythm Section

 

It feels like we have suddenly lost a lot of good electronic music outlets in the last month or so: First Ave dumped Saturdays (Ba-Sik) for a Top-40 format; attendance at the Quest has seen an all time low on Fridays for Plush; and for the most part, summer has been kind of slow. It felt like we had a strong beginning, but now it seems pretty vacant around town for our music. What happened to the dance music revolution?

 

By definition, a revolution is described as a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving. The dictionary calls it an activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation. I choose to reinterpret revolution: It is caused by a need or desire for change, an upheaval of sorts intended to displace trends created in the surrounding environment.

 

Keeping all this in mind, I ended up having a discussion with some folks about the state of music and what's happening to it now. As far back as my knowledge goes, musical revolutions have been happening every 5-8 years on average; this includes everything from the early swing era to rock, blues, jazz, disco, punk, hip-hop, and more. Take, for example, our parents (most in their 50s or 60s now): They had a chance to witness and be a part of the hippie era. I had a chance to grow up in the electronic music era. If I were ten years older, I probably would have been a part of the disco era, or maybe the real beginning of the hip-hop era. If the time line is correct and electronic music had its revolutionary period in the mid-'90s, then the time for the next musical revolution has already passed. Do you think it already happened? Did we miss it? Is it about to happen?

 

Is the next revolution a re-visit of sorts to the roots? It's definitely time to search for the soul again. In a recent trip to Detroit during the electronic music festival, I decided to search out a DJ/producer, whom I had heard a few times in the past and whose records I had been buying for a few years, named Theo Parrish. In the process I came across another artist named Omar S. After hear-ing of a loft party where these guys were supposed to play, I ventured out with a few friends away from the bigger parties and ended up spending the night observing these guys and waiting to hear the music they were presenting. After seeking out Omar S. and sneaking in a short conversation with him, I continued my ascent up the stairs into the party. The atmosphere was so thick and raw that I could feel my excitement gaining momentum every couple of minutes. Watching these guys, the way they carried themselves and the energy that they put off, was refreshing. I felt like their world still had that struggle and definitely had the soul that I had been searching for. Although some technical difficulties at the party hindered the delivery of the music, the feeling that I walked away with was inspiring. During the cab ride home, the three of us didn't have anything to say each other—we were stunned. What I realized was that these artists were not the older generation of Detroit icons that I had been listening to for years that came up in the time of revolution: These guys were my peers. They were around my age, maybe three to five years older. What was it about their lives or their environment that produced that raw soul that I was feeling?

 

I have written about this before, about where the passion and attitude has gone in our music. Are we out of new things to create? Are the music skeptics right in assuming that every musical note has already been played and that everything created from here on in is just a regurgitation of what we have already heard? The thing that was so great to me about electronic music was that it used the raw elements of beats and rhythms to get the attention of the listener. It allowed the listener to create his or her own mental image, thought, feeling, and sensations based on the vibration and soul of the music.

 

Taking this nostalgia to heart, I thought back to my conversation with friends about the state of electronic music. We were all feeling that the passion and the attitude was not there anymore for many people. The need for change had been stifled. It seemed the problem was we have everything: food, water, shelter, and too many options in our lives with different paths to choose. People are way too accepting of what's out there and are either being complacent or just simply lazy or tired and too comfortable in their lives to want change. So here we are with many choices in front of us for music, entertainment, places where we hang out, things we support, and what challenges us as people. How do we decipher what is garbage and what is real? We can sit around all day thinking about change, but how many of us are willing to sacrifice something for that change? Are you truly happy with what you are experiencing? Do you want change? Is there a need for revolution?

 

Till next time…theDEVIOUSone

 

 

 

 

This is a magazine I write the Electronic section for every 2 months.  Industry Magazine www.industrympls.com is a local Zine for Minneapolis, MN.

 

Industry Article #4

 

RYTHYM SECTION:

 

While most of the major cities in the US have a wide variety of boutique-style clubs and venues, Minneapolis still feels limited in its choices. Although there is a handful of venues that play our music, we do not have a place that is dedicated to it, as of yet.

 

With all the new clubs that have already opened and are currently opening up around the Cities, you would think I 'd be excited. But I'm not—not even the least bit. Since the days of warehouse parties turning into club nights, we have only had a few spots that have truly catered to electronic music. While most clubs have DJ nights, they are not truly DJ-oriented venues.

 

A lot of these places where electronic music ends up are mainly "what's hot right now" clubs. The truth is these clubs are driven towards money and not music. Regarding the size of a venue, what may seem obvious to some and yet irrelevant to others is to realize that the bigger the venue, the more mainstream and commercialized it is forced to be. The bills are harder to pay at this level, therefore, the music and the crowd is based on how much profit it can turn. The smaller venue is faced with different problems, but its integrity is usually easier to uphold. Smaller venues face the issue of not generating enough revenue to take advantage of creative opportunities to really do something different or bring in bigger acts consistently.

 

From first glance some of these new places seem to have all the necessary pieces to have a proper club. Sound, lights, lounge, bar—all there. But wait, it seems a lot of these newer venues are lacking on main ingredient: SOUL. Money can buy you all the nicest toys and surroundings, but if you have no soul or meaning other than profit, it doesn't take long for the truth to come out.

 

Recently, many venues that had jumped on the electronic bandwagon over the last few years are choosing to cut back their support and even completely drop their electronic nights. This is all due to one factor: For the last 4-5 years, club owners have flooded the market with half-ass DJ nights, spreading the support too thin. The upside to all of this is that as many of these nights disappear, the support for this music will redefine itself. The meaning of this music will re-emerge and the people and venues who stand by it will succeed.

 

Electronic music was based on a freedom, created with the simplicity to go anywhere with your emotions, yet with the complexity to be respected as true music. What Minneapolis needs is a medium-sized forum that truly embraces this music. We need a place that is created from the elements of the music. To me, it is a simple formula that is about allowing freedom, both for artists and the people who support the art, to let go of all their inhibitions and immerse themselves in it.

 

Is it only a fantasy to hope for a venue like this? The truth is that a place like this has been in the works for a few years. The space, the layout, the legal issues, and everything else that comes with opening up a new venue have been accomplished. The last and most important step is raising the capital. The problem is that this dream balances on a thin line, tipping toward being too musically driven and not financially driven enough. This alone makes it one of the hardest steps to overcome. In the real world money talks, and the people behind this future venue have held on to their integrity and their vision while trying to come up with creative ways to get this project of the ground. It is closer than ever before and with every day forward the dream becomes more of a reality.

 

 

Till Next Time… theDEVIOUSone