Samira

With Kirsten in Hawaii & no bi-monthly residencies in effect, last night’s radioshow became quite the guest DJ showcase: Nate Harrison showed up nice and early with a six-pack of Newcastle & his records. The house was nearly undone by the time he finished his second set! Check out both of his one-hour sets–the first one is a nice mix of deep house and the second set some very funky, thumping breaks. AJB joined us to relieve Nate of his duties & closed out the night with a dark electro/breaks set. The last hour of his set, Anthony played Hank and my records: big ups to AJB for keeping it locked!

Sarah gave me a CD with a live set she spun down in L.A. at Therapeutics… I’ve already listened to it 3 times. It’s off the hook! Go check it out, you won’t regret it! Summer Solstice

Pictures from last night are up! Yesterday was a scorcher & continued well into the evening at Jupiter, where people enjoyed the patio without heatlamps. With Brandin in San Diego and Kirsten in Hawaii, Robynn, Samira and Melyss held down the fort at the homefront. We had a BLAST…

Melissa is fucking rad. i can’t really add much in the way of adjectives, because she embodies so many of them, nor do i really have anything witty to say. We co-founded a DJ crew together in 2000; i followed her footsteps by joining Sister SF; we play great music together & damn it! she always manages to keep my feet on the ground. She is the epitome of easy-going, smart and actually quite geeky, a bucket of healthy laughter, and always a dedicated and thoughtful friend. Damn girl, you = da best! MUWAAA!

BOTH Sister SF and Witches’ Brew were nicely reviewed by Nitevibe this week. Yay! Thanks Nitevibe :-) Bay Area Female DJ Collectives The phrase “female dj” has come into being as a mixed blessing for aspiring women djs. SisterSF, a collective of nine female djs from SF had this to say about the public image of female djs, “If we get asked to spin at another ’sexy chick DJ party’ wearing uh, y’know, something tight, we’ll scream.” Their focus on the artistry of djing makes the group a springboard for female creativity in an otherwise male dominated artform. In Berkeley, another female collective, Witches Brew champions a similar gender-breaking spirit of turntablism playing all genres from broken beat to funky house, breaks 2-step, nu-skool breaks and drum & bass.� Individual and group upcoming performances include regular weekly & monthly appearances. This week hear Melyss at the Blue Anniversary. Date: Friday 6/28, Time: 9pm-2am, Place: 111 Minna, Cover: $TBA. More info: Melyss, Amber, ForestGreen, Seraphim, WB Calendar (AK) Nitevibe, Issue 87

San Francisco writer April Jones recently wrote an article about Sister SF for Etc. Magazine. You can read the interview I did with April, by following the link at the bottom of this entry. Go on now! Check it out! :-) sam Read the rest of this entry »

Cody and Dave (the Carbon Community) recently teamed up with Son of the Electric Ghost. Congratulations on getting signed to Bless records, guys! Talk about my production Dreamteam. And it’s all happening in Texas. hehe. I’ve been a fan of both the Carbon Community & SOTEG for some time, and I’m really excited to hear what will come out of their collaboration in this near future. I also just noticed that there’s a page up about Cody & Dave on Nubreaks, which you can check out: HERE

Thanks to Richert and Melyss we have lots of photos from Saturday, when Witches’ Brew held it down at Zebulon. Thanks to everyone who made it out & many thanks to Gabe from RippedNet for booking all five of us. We had a blast! Thanks to Canyon, Richert’s pictures can be viewed on PixelBiscuit: HERE Check out Melyss’s photos: HERE

Sat. June 14th:RippedNet presents Habit @ Zebulon ALL FIVE ladies of Witches’ Brew will be spinning at Zebulon. Come get your groove on, because the witches are about to scorch the place along with DJs Lauren Li and Valerie Sparks! House room:

• 9-11 BRANDIN (Witches’ Brew, SFLNC)
• 11-12.30 VALERIE SPARKS (RippedNet, After 10 Productions)
• 12.30-2 LAUREN LI (Contrast, ThrowDown.com)

Breaks room:

• 9-11 KIRSTEN (Witches’ Brew, PixelBiscuit) vs. ROBYNN (Witches’ Brew, RAW, Mr. Nite’s Groove)
• 11-12.30 MELYSS (SISTER SF, Witches’ Brew, Mayonnaise)
• 12.30-2 SAMIRA (SISTER SF, Witches’ Brew, justsayagency.com)

WHERE: Zebulon, 83 Natoma, San Francisco WHAT TIME: 9pm-2am, 21+ HOW MUCH: $3 INFO: www.witchesbrew.org

Review by Jay Baik

Samira has the rare gift of foresight. That’s right, Samira can peer into the future. See, other DJs merely match beats; Samira pulls beats into the future perfect. I’ve been over it a thousand times and it’s the only explanation for her uncanny ability to layer, meld, bend and magik track after track until she’s standing in the eye of an aural tempest, leaving sweaty bodies in its wake. Samira knows rhythm and rhyme with a supernatural sense of what will incite you to dance. Her sound is mature, flirting with the nuances of emotion. Not sexy (that’s too easy), but rather, sinful. Not melancholy but wistful. Not dark but defiant. Never happy but hopeful. If you like rainbow-trance-anthems, this DJ is not for you. Of all things, Samira is not one-size-fits-all. Her hands flickering as she scries her 1200s, this DJ can divine the future. But don’t take my word for it. Make a pilgrimage to see the DJ of Delphi and ask the rhythmic soothsayer yourself. Just make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes. Jay Baik