DJ Spotlight
Systematik
BY Elizabeth Mitkos July 30, 2008 21:07
WHO East coast expat Ralf Ehses, a.k.a. Systematik and Dr-Dur-A-$ell, has wholeheartedly embraced Toronto as his home in the six years he’s been spinning in the city. One quarter of the Eclectic Groove DJ collective since 2002, Ehses is known for spinning downtempo, trip-hop and breaks on CKLN 88.1FM, playing at Mixed Bag Weekly every Friday night on College Street and his regular offerings of ghetto booty breaks at Eclectic Groove events.
Also known for his mixes Suburbanurbia and Recent Developments, Ehses and good friend gl.tch, a.k.a. DJ Stud400, tackled the ambitious project of making an 80-tracks-in-80-minutes “audio assault” called Nut Busters Parfait. The pair just celebrated the official CD release earlier this month at their Nut Busters Ball event, dishing out beats on four turntables to a rammed room. Originally from Halifax, Ehses started DJing seven years ago, just before landing his first gigs in Toronto with Kazoku Productions. He, gl.tch and Kris Hernandez then formed Eclectic Groove [www.eclecticgroove.com] and recently welcomed new member and local trance-cum-electro mainstay Chiclet. Steadily mixing new music, Ehses has both downtempo and breaks CDs in the works.
WHAT “It’s all about beats for me. I’m a sucker for the breakbeat in particular — the tempo is irrelevant,” says Ehses, who always focuses on connecting with the crowd. “If people are really feeling and enjoying the music I’m playing, that’s the most enjoyable thing.”
WHERE July 31 at Mixed Bag Weekly Downtempo and Breakbeat Sessions, every Friday at College Street Bar (574 College).
WHAT IS YOUR WEIRDEST DJING EXPERIENCE? “Having an equipment problem and not being able to play any records for like 10 minutes during my set, and having two of my friends pick up microphones. One beat boxed while the other freestyled to fill the silence.”
FAVOURITE RECORD OF ALL TIME Deltron 3030.
FAVOURITE RECORD RIGHT NOW Tittsworth, “Broke Ass N+gga (DJ Assault Remix).”
FAVOURITE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW http://thaipografik.tumblr.com “It teaches me about good design, which is something I want to know more about.”
DIGITAL OR ANALOG? “I started DJing with vinyl, two turntables and a mixer and went this route for the first four years or so. Now I use Serato, which is digital but still uses your turntables as the control surface. I use more digital than analog now but there is definitely room for both — the versatility of the digital realm is what causes most DJs to go digital, I think.”
WHAT IS VITAL TO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE? Coffee and my iPod.
WHAT GLOBAL ISSUE CONCERNS YOU MOST RIGHT NOW? “How long it will take Del Tha Funkee Homosapien to record the lyrics for the new Deltron record, Event II.”
WHAT IS THE LAST GREAT FILM YOU SAW? Running With Scissors.
WHAT ACTOR WOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC? Robert Downey Jr.
WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? “[Eric Weiner’s] The Geography of Bliss. My mom sent it to me; sounded interesting.”
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1