Hey everyone our vacation is over! We have had off most of June. All of the hanging out with friends, flipping into pools, bbqing, master cleansing, swamp meets, and sweet base coats are over. We will be back on the road in July with some sweet merch, music, and mixtapes. While were out we have been working with chicago's finest.
Hey everyone our vacation is over! We have had off most of June. All of the hanging out with friends, flipping into pools, bbqing, master cleansing, swamp meets, and sweet base coats are over. We will be back on the road in July with some sweet merch, music, and mixtapes. While were out we have been working with chicago's finest.
If you've ever been to the Town Hall Pub for a Flosstradamus show, you know to wear attire you won't mind getting beer poured over and shoes you won't lament being stepped on to hell. That's because these shows are always crammed to the gills with what seems like Chicago's entire hipster population -- white kids in gold chains. Grown men in Hypercolor shirts. Cute girls in side ponytails and a fresh coat of bright pink lipstick. This, folks, is the Chicago 'juke' scene.
Floss, as the young duo is called by their fans, are Josh and Curt -- both twentysomething Chicago residents who whip crowds into a frenzy with their style that's akin to DJs like Diplo, Low Bee, and other "kitchen sink" mixers. The two take to the turntables with records ranging from the latest and greatest hip-hop cut to a cheesy, inexcusable old 90s dance track. At this particular show they ended on a crazy note with Kernkraft 400's Zombie Nation, but not before sending hands in the air with old "ghetto house" tracks by DJ Funk and a cut by Bloc Party.
Hitting up a Floss show -- like the one I just went to, called "Get Outta The Hood" -- is like stealing the life of the party's iPod and chopping it up into a 2-hour-long song -- then playing it in front of crazies who act like they've been on a musicless diet for years. It's great.
All kinds of people are into Flosstradamuss monthly dance parties. The only problem is getting in.
By Jessica Hopper August 4, 2006
THE LINE OUTSIDE the Town Hall Pub in Boys Town was filled with the young and aggressively fashionable last week, all anxiously waiting to get into the packed monthly dance party thrown by the local DJ duo Flosstradamus. The bars proprietor, a gruff white-haired man in a beat-up hat, was parked at the door, barking no at anyone who tried to hustle their way past him. People sent text messages to friends inside begging for help. After standing in the same spot for 20 minutes, a young bike messenger gave up, announcing fuck it to no one in particular. Even honchos from Vice Records and editors from Pitchfork stood idly on the curb, unable to schmooze their way in, while a crew from MTV that was barreling toward the door was told to queue up alongside everyone else. The sweaty throng on the dance floor inside was pressed skin to skin and all hands were in the air. There were hip-hop headz, art-school weirdos, and queer crews, an equal mix of ladies and dudes of every race, and anyone trying to cut through them met the tightest squeeze this side of being born. One guy tried to launch himself on top of the crowd and wound up spilling a dozen peoples drinks. Two years ago most of these kids wouldnt have been old enough to get into a bar; anyone older than 25 was most likely an A and R rep, a journalist, a publicist, or bar staff.
On a small stage in the corner, stationed behind a bank of turntables and laptops, were Curt Cameruci, aka Autobot, and Josh Young, aka J2K. Rick Rosss Hustlin was booming out of the speakers and the party kids were screaming. A crowd surfer kicked a tile loose from the drop ceiling and Young quickly stepped out to put it back. The MTV crew, finally inside, flicked on their camera lights as Flosstradamuss MC, Kid Sister, in giant gold earrings and a brace of charm necklaces, emerged onstage with a mic in her hand. How yall feeling?! she asked, and the slick bodies in the crowd hollered back.
Young, 22, and Cameruci, 25, started hosting once-a-month events as Flosstradamus last fall, and it quickly became a full-time collaboration. The two DJs routinely sell out every party they play, have already cracked Urb magazines Next 100 list for 2006, and recently hooked up with Biz 3 publicist Kathryn Frazier, who booked them on her agencys stage at the Pitchfork Music Festival and brought Kid Sister--whos actually Joshs big sister, Melissa--to the attention of her clients at Vice. I see a lot in them, Frazier says. I help them now, and later theyll buy me a fur-covered, diamond-encrusted Rolls Royce. Wed like to take what were doing and turn it into a worldwide movement, says Josh, who now makes enough money DJing that he was able to quit his promotions job at the Metro. (Cameruci willingly hangs on to his job selling mopeds.) Theyre heading out to the west coast for a few shows next week and are working on remixes for the Eternals, Jai Alai Savant, and Walter Meego, while Kid Sister is recording a mix tape with Kanye Wests DJ, A-Trak. She was also the draw for MTV, who decided to include her in the upcoming Chicago episode of My Block, featuring West, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and others. I know Kid Sister is still about a year out from a solid release, but shes got real star quality, explains show producer Joseph Patel. Kids like Flosstradamus are a new type of DJ. Theyre not going off records, beat matching and mixing. Theyre doing mash-ups, playing unreleased downloads and stuff off blogs, old stuff, newwave records, and spitting it out from their laptops. Thats why all kinds of kids from all kinds of scenes are excited about what theyre doing.
Josh and Melissa, whos 26, grew up on the south side. She loved musical theater, which rubbed off on her younger brother; she once embarrassed him while he was in junior high by playing a tape for some of his friends of him singing a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In high school Melissa traded in her Phantom of the Opera tapes for jukehouse mixes and Casjmere singles, and turned Josh on to them as well. When I was in college, in like 1998, I would be up late cramming and Josh, who was about 15, would call me and play me beats, or music he was working on, she says, teasing. Hed be like Melissa! Check out this freaky mix I did of J. Lo and the Charlie Daniels Band! Though her brother started mixing and making beats at an early age, Melissa only started writing rhymes six months ago, after Josh and Diplo, one half of Philadelphias Hollertronix DJs, encouraged her. Her first song was bad--it was totally an emo song, Josh says. One day Im going to leak that to the Internet.
Three years ago Josh started DJing around town as a member of Life During Wartime. He met Cameruci, who grew up in Michigan and moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College, when they DJed the same house party last summer. They liked each others styles, and soon started mixing together. In September they put on their first event at the Town Hall Pub, which they simply called Dance Party, and it went well enough that they decided to do it the third Wednesday of every month under the name Flosstradamus. With heavy word of mouth the parties--originally called Get the Fuck Outta Wicker Park, later changed to Get Outta the Hood--started selling out almost immediately, attracting the sort of crowds Cameruci says would never be caught dead in the bourgeois environs of a club club. Nick Barat, who recently covered the duo for the New York-based magazine the Fader, says their early success wasnt a lucky accident: Theres nobody else in Chicago doing what they do, as well as they do it. You can flyer all you want, but dance parties only become successful through word of mouth. Its happening for Flosstradamus because they know what theyre doing--they have the acumen.
Flosstradamuss MP3-heavy sets are always anchored in hip-hop, but last weeks included plenty of mash-ups, obscurities, and aesthetic curveballs. They followed Cha Cha Slide with a classic acid track from the halcyon days of rave, while chopped-and-screwed raps as slow as molasses were cut with double-time juke tracks. It was a mix as diverse as the crowd that came to hear it. We want everyone to be able to come and feel welcome, Josh says. It sounds corny, but we just want to show people a good time. Thats our goal, and maybe thats why people are hyped on what were doing. We got 1,724 plays on MySpace today, he adds, laughing. Thats ghetto gold!
Genre mixer Flosstradamus creates some heat with Get Outta the Hood
By Maya Henderson
In the words of Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, "it takes two to make a thing go right," and local duo Flosstradamus, like fashionable faves 2 Many DJs or Hollertronix, is no exception. Composed of Curt Cameruci (DJ Autobot) and Josh Young (J2K), the outfit has been packing clubs with its mix of booty house, hip-hop, crunk, indie, '80s, and anything else that might rock a party. As if you couldn't tell by the name, Flosstradamus is more concerned with its audience's good time than impressing serious DJs. "Like Nostradamus predicted the future, we're on some future flossing," Cameruci says. "We're trying to be taste makers, to see what's next and bring it to the people."
Trying new things is a big part of what Flosstradamus is all about. "Our whole thing is to bring a performance aspect back to djing, to give people a great time out and get them to dance to something they never imagined they'd dance to," Young says.
The hipsters are raving and the girls are fawning. The duo just played Funky Buddha Lounge, and while Autobot spins with the Opaque Project at Liar's Club and J2K is a Life During Wartime regular, its Floss's monthly Get Outta the Hood party in Boystown that's the real news. What makes Floss so fresh? Teamwork. "Being a DJ means being a solo artist. You play for yourself," Young says. "I can play a four-hour set of whatever i want to hear and do everything my way--conducting it, deciding what goes where; you become very selfish. Even w hen friends who are DJs come out and spin with you, it's like you're doing your thing and I'm doing mine. It's not really a unified deal. But Curt and I are on a unified front."
Cameruci moved to Chicago from Michigan five years ago to attend Columbia College, while Young, a native of south suburban Markham, has been here nearly as long. A mutual friend suggested they join forces, but there was aprehension at first. "Our friend Markus was like, 'Man, you've got to work with this kid Curt; he DJs off an iPod,' and i was like, 'Fuck that DJ-off-an-iPod bullshit,'" Young laughs. "But when i finally heard him play records at a house party, i was like, Damn, this kid can get down." They realized they both had an affinity for crossing musical genres, "like really ghetto dirty-South shit with '80s tracks" Cameruci says.
With three turntables, two mixers, two laptops running sound-file turntable-control software (Final Scratch for Cameruci, Serato for Young) and a microphone, it's nearly impossible to stage a one-man Flosstradamus show--which is exactly how they like it.
"I feel like when we play together, I read the audience better," Cameruci says. "Playing solo, I dont have as much time to vibe off the crowd. But when I'm with him, I can sit back, feel the energy and figure out the next best thing to play." Young agrees: "Instead of me trying to change a record, put another one on, queue it up and play it, he's got it ready so all i have to do is cut my record out."
Granted, the Town Hall Pub is an unusual spot for a dance party. It may be in Boystown but it's not a gay bar; the regulars are dark liquor-drinking rockers and middle aged men. Get Outta the Hood, however, overruns with art-school kids, hipsters and freshly 21s. Occasionally, even that crowd gets lost ammid sets that include Dizzee Rascal, JJ Fad, Bloc Party, Cajmere's "Perculator" and Radiohead. "We're hitting so many genres in one set, hopefully no one is disappointed," Cameruci says.
The duo maintains flawless transitions as it fulfills a responsibility to create the best party experience possible. "When people come see us, they need to understand that they're going to get on the dance floor and get all sweaty and nasty," Young says. "When they leave, it's going to be all cold outside and they're gonna be like, 'Holy shit, what just happened?'"
Flosstradamus spins at Get Outta the Hood at Town Hall Pub Wednesday, December 21st.
(in Listings)
Get Outta the Hood Town Hall Pub. 10pm, $2. Chicago duo Flosstradamus has enchanted the fair youths of our city. Whether it be for the sake of irony, or just lascivious good times, the lads and lassies pack this monthly and get down. The duo spins MP3s of crazy genre mixing sets with its turntable-control software. If you don't know what that means, it's okay--your bootie will.
MIXTAPE: FLOSSTRADAMUS This duo brings Southern crunk to the indie rock masses.
words: Stacey Dugan
Forget what you think you know about spinning records. In 2005, DJs no longer need be characterized by n arrow labels like "hip hop," ghetto tech," or "house." Jocks can sweep across all of those genres, mash them up together, and create something wholly new--something that can't be easily pigeonholed. Take it from Flosstradamus, the newly formed but already dynamic DJ duo comprised of Josh Young (J2K) and Curt Cameruci (Autobot). Like the emerging generation of post-millennium dancefloor crashers of the same ilk (see: Major Taylor, locally, and Diplo and Low Budget of Hollertronix nationally), Flosstradamus are more interested in getting the crowd moving--and grinding and sweating and bumping and shaking--than impressing any music elitists in the audience. They cut through genres indiscriminately, likely to play during any given half-hour: Le Tigre's "Deceptacon," Killer Mike's "My Chrome" and the Cure's "Lovesong"--perhaps sequentially, if you're lucky.
With two men, a three-turntable setup, and an impressive catalogue of sounds (Young and Cameruci use programs called Serato and Final Scratch, respectively, which allows them to transfer all of their vinyl--at least 20 crates' worth--to MP3s and treat them as records on the turntables), Flosstradamus is already packing their Wednesday night monthly at Town Hall Pub regularly, playing to a crowd of mostly indie rock hipsters who seem dedicated to dancing till they drop, even to Southern crunk songs they've probably never heard before.
"With the Internet, a lot of people are not just into one genre nowadays," Cameruci says. "People put 20 different genres on one iPod and listen to it in a day. We kind of do [that] on the dancefloor."
"We look at ourselves as a future for DJs," Young adds. "I think eventually it will become the thing for top 40 club DJs--they'll start playing Willie Nelson mixed with Whodini because it's fun. I'm not downing DJs who are trying to express their artistic ability, but when we go up there our intention is to get kids to go crazy."
Here's a little sample of how they go about doing just that--a tracklisting for a mixtape, Flosstradamus style.
DJ Sujinho - Mais Sayin (dubplate) - A screwed and chopped baile funk track with some Mike Jones vocals on it, sure to get the crowd baile crunk!
Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly - Did a mix with this and an Outkast track, people got so insane they knocked the turntables over mid mix.
DJ Deeon - The Freaks - This simple ghetto tech anthem is a good call and response track, one to mash a half time beat or acapella over.
Spankrock - Put That Pussy On Me (Low Budget Remix) - Low B kills it on this one with that Sega Genesis-ass break down at the end.
Lady Sovereign - Random (JmE Remix) - Guaranteed to make booty's shake and top shelf liquor rattle off.
Bubba Sparxxx - Back in The Mud - It's like that one song Hey Ya, only not terrible.
Dead Prez - Hip Hop - True school track with dance floor appeal, an all around crowd pleaser.
David Banner feat. Twista - On Everything - They sampled the music from that part of Coming To America where King Jaffe Joffer comes to New York to bring Akeem back to Zamunda! Best Movie Ever!
Debbie Deb - When I Hear Music - Bringing it back to the 90's with this hot freestyle track, warped kicks and erie bells so necessary.
KP and Envyi - Shorty Swing My Way - Total girl pleaser, also bonus points for intentionally spelling "Envy" incorrectly.
Flosstradamus play the Town Hall Pub (3340 N. Halsted. November 23rd.
refreshed
accomplished
