23:30-01:00 : Louis Heel warms up mona and the dance class
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01:00-02:00 : Nickv set 1
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02:00-03:00 : Red Greg set 1
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03:00-04:00 : Nickv set 2
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04:00-05:00 : Red Greg set 2
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05:00-06:00 : Red Greg & Nickv closing the night down
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Firstly my warmest wishes to all for this new year that has just begun. Remember to stay open as our world changes everyday. Talking of change we decided to move things around music wise for the final mona night of the year, just a few days before xmas. We’ve been hosting some serious house nights since the start of the year and it was time to put a little disco, funk and boogie into mona, after all it’s where it all started isn’t it ? Our guest of choice simply had to be Red Greg who has already played for us, summer 2009, back in the days when we never revealed the identity of our guests. It had been such a great night with one of the most impressive disco funk sets I’d ever heard, that we were definitely open to having him back at mona for a disco rewind. It’s always quite a task to follow up on a great one-night reputation, but this time Red Greg delivered once again, playing some of the rarest discofunk gems alongside proven classics and some of his own personnal edits that were released via his ‘under the influence’ compilation recently out on Z records. His mixing skills are spot on as you may hear on the mixes. To top up the bill we asked his ebonite disco partner Louis Heel to warm up the party, and to make things really vintage we decided on a vinyl only night. You might hear a few crackles, skips and approximate mixes from time to time (speaking for myself only) but hey it’s the magic of a live set ain’t it ? Oh and everyone was to dress gold, at least partly. It’s always great when you get your crowd involved in the make up of a night, so good for the collective vibe and atmosphere. Last but not least many thanks to Karl Kane Wung who came down to teach the hottest disco and hustle moves on the dancefloor. Gold all the way!

23:30-01:30 : Warming up la Bellevilloise
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I was asked by Parisian promoters, La Raphinerie, to open one of their nights last month at La Bellevilloise in the north east of Paris. La Bellevilloise has quite a young and cool open minded crowd, mainly into what you could call today’s soul music which includes many forms ranging from classic soul to electronic boogie, from hiphop legends to today’s producers that mix live MPC acts, MCing and DJing. A good opportunity for me to mix the soulful beats I’ve acquired of late alongside some of my classics. On the bill after me were Quantic and Mark de Clive Lowe playing his live show of jacking house and broken beats. Two wicked sets and a good night out indeed. My set starts with nusoul, hiphop beats rolling into broken beat territory and in and out of deeper shades of dubstep. Enjoy the music, turn up the system, dance and share vibes!

Tracklist :

The Anders Hjelmstad Experience – Mystic Brew
Rime – Smoke And Regret
Chris Turner – Liquid Love
Jon Phonics – The One
Lunice – Fancy Forty
Modeselektor – Berlin feat. Miss Platnum
DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah – One Life ft Tona
Visioneers – Rollin’ For The Ride
Omar – Gimme sum
Jill Scott – Lovely Day
Surra – Parousia
At Jazz – Wind and sea
Shokazulu – Part 4
Soulparlor – Is It You
Souled – Waiting (Instrumental)
Inverse Cinematics – Detroit Jazzin
Joe – Rut
Dam Funk – Galactic Fun
DJ Rum - Turiya
Falty DL -Phreqaflex
BB Boogie – Tell Him Again (Bugz In The Attic Remix)
Omar – Dancing featuring Zed Bias
Little Dragon – Brush The Heat
Didz & Chico -Something New
Dam Funk – Hood Pass Intact (feat MC Eiht)
Seiji – I Can’t Let it Go
Pal Joey - Hot Music
Jimpster – Left And Right (Ron Basejam Remix)

23:30-00:30 : Rainer Trueby playing for the jazzfunk dance class
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00:30-01:30 : Nickv
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01:30-02:30 : Rainer Trueby
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02:30-03:30 : Nickv
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03:30-04:30 : Rainer Trueby
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04:30-05:45 : Rainer Trueby & Nickv closing the night down
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German djs have been extremely popular with the mona crowd of late and after Phonique and Andre Lodemann from Berlin, I had the extreme privilege of playing alongside world famous jazz collector and dj, Rainer Trueby from Freiburg. To mark the occasion we had a jazz funk / jazz rock (jazz rock is the french equivalent to the UK jazz dance scene) dance class at the start of the night with a lesson from one of the pioneers of French jazz rock dancing, Alex Benth founder of legendary crew “Jeu de Jambes”. Rainer was kind enough to grace us with an hour’s set of jazz fusion, combining latin, funk and jazz of course, especially for the dancers.

Today Rainer plays not only jazz but a great mix of soulful and deep electronic music, a sound championned by labels such as compost, drumpoet community, mojuba or innervisions, coming out of Germany over the recent years and strongly influencing the new wave of enthusiasm that house music is currently enjoying today. You can definitely hear this in his later sets at mona. Rainer also produces great pieces of house music himself, alongside Danilo of Motorcity Drum Ensemble on Compost Black (listen & check) and you can hear their tracks at the end of his second set.

I really had fun playing that night. We combined the old with new, the New York scene with the Berlin sound, the New Jersey Garage divas with UK deep bass music, disco into house into jazz into dubstep. I hope you enjoy the mixes and once again maximum respect to the mona crowd who gave us all that crazy energy that we were able to give back. I love them!

Next mona :

Saturday 17th december 2011 – Golden xmas disco boogie – w/ Red Greg (Ebonite – London) & Louis Heel (Ebonite – London / Paris) – Disco, funk, soul & vinyl only – Dress up in gold ! – event on facebook – party at La Java Paris

Photography by David Volants

02:00-02:30 : Nickv
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02:30-03:30 : Greg Gauthier
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03:30-04:30 : Andre
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04:30-05:00 : Nickv
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05:00-06:00 : Nickv Andre & Greg Gauthier all together
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Voilà un bon moment que l’on voulait inviter Greg Gauthier et DJ André deux pionniers Parisiens du Garage House sound. A eux deux ils ont fortement contribué à la diffusion de cette musique énergique et spirituelle au groove profond directement issue de la bande son disco des clubs gays et noirs du New York des 70s. Aux côtés d’une poignée d’autres djs, ils ont tenu les clés des principales soirées de la capitale durant les 90s : Cheers depuis 1994, les GTD (Gay Tea Dance) du Palace les dimanches après midi et surtout les mythiques afters Kit Kat au Privilège (quasi sous le Palace) avec ses colonnes couvertes de mosaïque et son booth perché tout en haut sur la gauche et parfois barricadé par une rangée de sièges empilés pour un dérangement minimum du dj. C’étaient des temples du garage house sound et on y dansait jusqu’au dimanche soir, voire le lundi matin, sur ce son importé directement de New York. C’était aussi le reflet de toute une culture nocturne avec ses looks, codes et personnages parfois marginaux mais toujours festifs : travestis dealers, gogo boys, call girls et d’innombrables fêtards toujours en quête de sensations. Les djs n’étaient pas eu centre de l’attention, la musique et la faune si.

Plus de 15 ans plus tard le public a changé bien sûr, mais on aime encore et je n’ai jamais arrêté de jouer ce son. Il était temps pour Mona de rendre hommage à la Garage et de laisser une place d’honneur à ces deux djs que l’on remercie du fond du coeur.

PS : ce mix commence en plein milieu de la soirée … I don’t know what happened!

Next mona : samedi 12 novembre “from Jazz to Techno” avec Rainer Trüby à La Java – facebook event – places offertes si vous arrivez à identifier le premier track du Set de Greg Gauthier (easy!!!)

23:00-01:00 : Andre Lodemann dance class warm up

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01:00-02:00 : Nickv

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02:00-03:00 : Andre Lodemann

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03:00-04:00 : Nickv

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04:00-05:00 : Andre Lodemann & 05:00-06:00 Nickv & Andre Lodemann close down

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If you come to Mona regularly you will know that we like to keep our djs deep. From Parisian house masters My Love is Underground to Detroit heads like Alton Miller or Terrence Parker, it’s all about covering the spectrum of deep house music. For the past two years, in my house sets, I have been playing quite a few tracks from Andre Lodemann out of Berlin who has developed a unique, hypnotic style of production, combining deeper sounds with strong electronic beats. Thus representing a very modern interpretation of the deep house sound. This is my favourite track of his – also a mona peaktime classic.

Not all producers are good djs though, and the art of mixing the beats and creating an atmosphere on the dancefloor is always number one criteria on the list when it comes down to choosing our guest djs. However when I found out that Andre had been djing for over 18 years in Berlin in clubs like the Watergate or Panorama bar on those very special Sunday afternoons, I was instantly persuaded to invite him over to play at Mona.

We chose to bill him for the first party of the new 2011-12 season at La Java (saturday 17th Sept 2011) and he definitely delivered. Not only was his music (mixing and selection) spot on, he also has great energy to share with the crowd. This is very important. After his sets Andre could be found getting down on the dancefloor alongside the crowd, spreading that same energy he was sharing behind the turntables. This is not something that happens each time and something to learn from. Nights are not only about the music that is being played, but also, and maybe more importantly, about the vibe in the room and on the dancefloor, and djs have a lot to do with that.

The night turned into a great party with a mixed crowd of dancers and party heads staying through till the end. Many thanks also to Damalek too for her excellent “jacking” house dance class at the beginning of the night. Such a perfect start to the new season !

Next mona night Saturday 15^th October with Greg Gautier, DJ André & myself for a garage (US & UK) special.

Photo by David Volants

Armelle Sainton’s Danceclass funk mix by Nickv / July 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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DJ Skillful / July 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Chris Thomas (Qalomota) / July 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Nickv / July 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Malik & Chris Thomas close the night down / July 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :

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Mona is a night based on the positive relationships between the crowd, the djs and the dancers. It’s not about showing what you can do or showing who you are it’s all about being who you are. So we always try to make sure that the djs that come to play for mona are above all good friends to ensure an all round positive vibe. This was the final mona party of the season last July with three friends coming in to play with me : DJ Skillful, one of the main djs who represented the Playing for the City deep house collective from Paris in the late 90s, Chris Thomas, who has been playing US produced house music since the late 80s and one of the most respected Parisian DJs around and Malik excellent house music DJ originating from Caen Normandy and one of the main players at the infamous Kwality after parties at Batofar. Also our good friend and modern jazz dancer Armelle Sainton came down to give a very high on energy dance class at the start of the night based on funk and jazz steps.

Here are the five sets of the night. I couldn’t stay all night having to fly early in the morning, so I did a short set which features a resumé of the main tracks that have made mona one of Paris’s favourite dancefloors this year. It includes Brawther from My Love is Underground, Donna Summer, Doug Willis, Tony Lionni, X-press 2, Lemy Leopard, Bugz in the Attic, Joy Orbison, Shed, Little Dragon, Ready for the World, Elements of Life, KC Flight, Fingers INC

Photo by David Volants

Nickv : summer chill live mix Villette Enchantée Paris by Nick V Paris on Mixcloud

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When you dj to an empty room always be positive, play your favourite tracks and simply enjoy them. This is what happened to me two weeks ago at La Villette Enchantée. Sunday afternoon, the sun was blazing and everyone was outside. What can you do with an empty dancefloor? I grabbed a drink, pressed the record button and this is what happened …

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ENTERTAINMENT
Thursday 4th August
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A mid week special at the ever sunny Favela Chic. I will at last be able to welcome Jase Nguyen from The beats Saigon to play a two hour set with me. Jase is one of Vietnam’s most active djs and runs wicked nights and sound systems in Saigon playing dubstep, dancehall, drum & bass, hip hop and reggae. Also billed on the night : Gringo da Parada, Digikid 84, Coni, Lazy Flow.///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
J’ai enfin l’honneur de pouvoir accueillir Jase Nguyen de The Beats Saigon pour jouer avec moi durant un set de deux heures à la Favela Chic. Jase est l’un de djs les plus actifs du Vietnam. Il apporte un souffle nouveau à la ville grâce aux soirées et aux soundsystems qu’il y organise régulièrement. Attendez vous à un set dubstep, dancehall, drum & bass, hip hop et reggae. Egalement à l’affiche ce soir là : Gringo da Parada, Digikid 84, Coni, Lazy Flow.
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Favela Chic – 18 rue du Fbg du Temple 75010 – FREE
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GUIDO’S BIRTHDAY
Sunday 7th August
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Guido Minisky journalist, dj extradordinaire and general affable and fun loving guy celebrates his birthday at La Villette Enchantée, the fresh new club placed in the middle of Parc de la Villette. 10 hours of music from 2 pm to 2 am with djs : Blackjoy, Boombass, Guido, Jean Nipon, Jef K , Manaré, Nick V, Remain
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C’est l’anniversaire de Guido Minisky, journaliste, dj extraordinaire et nice guy in general. Ce sera à la Villette Enchantée, le nouveau club qui monte placé à moitié dans la grande halle, à moitié dans le parc. 8 djs ces succéderont pour 10 heures de musique de 14h à 2h : Blackjoy, Boombass, Guido, Jean Nipon, Jef K , Manaré, Nick V, Remain
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La Villette Enchantée – à gauche de la grande halle de la Villette – FREE
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Nickv warm up / March 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Terrence Parker part 1 / March 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Nickv part 2 / March 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Terrence Parker part 2 / March 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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Nickv part 3 / March 2011 / Live mix at Mona – Paris :
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I haven’t posted anything in a while as I’ve been overly busy moving house and working hard on different projects some of which will appear here soon (night club acoustics, the paris technoparade, Edit my other residency at Le Rex…). There are hours of music waiting in the vaults to be shared. First up is the long awaited dj mix from mona’s march edition when Terrence Parker flew in from Detroit to play with me. I have to say many thanks to my agent Bryan who put in a lot of hard work to set up this gig at mona. Terrence Parker has been djing for over 30 years, he is one of the original pionneers out of Detroit, and one of the only djs able to succesfully combine hiphop turntablist skills with the smooth mixing of house music. It’s actually very exciting to see him as much as listening to him, so you must check out the videos that Jenny (2thegroove) made below also. For those in Paris who missed him, I’ll be playing with TP again on tuesday 21st June for Fête de la Musique. I’ll also be playing later in the evening with Cassius at Le Coeur Fou rue Montmartre. Feel free to join in!

Je n’ai rien posté par ici depuis pas mal de temps. Le temps libre s’est fait rare dernièrement avec un déménagement et de nombreux projets professionnels dont certains figureront par ici bientôt (l’acoustique des discothèques, la technoparade à paris, Edit mon autre résidence au Rex …). Du coup il y a de nombreuses heures de musique en archive prêtes à être partagées. En premier voici le tant attendu dj mix de la soirée mona du mois de mars précédent où j’ai eu le plaisir d’inviter Terrence Parker de Detroit. Un grand merci à Bryan notre agent à tous les deux pour son aide dans ce booking. Ca fait plus de 30 ans que “TP” s’exerce derrière les platines et c’est l’un des seuls à réussir à combiner avec justesse la technique d’un dj/turntablist hiphop avec les mixes fluides d’un dj house. C’est aussi épatant de le voir que de l’entendre comme vous pourrez le voir sur les vidéos réalisées par Jenny (2thegroove) en dessous. Pour les Parisiens qui l’auraient raté, je joue à nouveau avec TP pour la Fête de la Musique mardi 21 Juin. Je jouerai également plus tard dans la soirée avec Cassius au Coeur Fou rue Montmartre, n’hésitez pas à vous joindre à la fête!

Facebook event fête de la musique à montmartre

Nickv / April 2011 / Soul train mix for Salah :
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Salah asked me to do this mix for the next party he’s doing here in Paris. Salah is one of the best and most friendly promoters on the Paris soul music scene (along with FreeYourFunk and What the Funk). On Saturday the 22nd of April he’s invited me to play at La Bellevilloise with a host of amazing nu soul and future boogie acts : LADI 6 (see pic) who will be performing live with JULIAN DYNE on keyboards, DJ NATURAL SELF from the UK and my friend PSYCUT. If you get in touch via this post I should be able to sort out a few places on the guest list. Hit me back quick though first come first served !

This is an electronic soul mix here’s the tracklist, a mix of old and new, disco, soul, r&b, soulful dubstep and broken beats. Hope you like it!

Crazy P – Warm on the inside

Davina – Give me love

Rime – Smoke and regret

Andreya Triana – Lost where I belong

Dwele – Too fly

Radek Azul Band featuring Chynna Blue – Since I let you go

Jessie Boynkins III – B4 the night is thru

Robert Owens – Hearts and soul

Hercules and Love affair – It’s alright

Richy Pitch – Visa Connection Man feat. Reggie Rockstone

Vakula – intro ?

BB&Q Band – Time for love

Slow Motion Replay – Think Better

Diana Ross – Your love is so good for me

Electric Wire Hustle – They don’t want

Space Dimension Controller – Transatlantic landing bay

Alice Russell – Could Heaven Ever Be Like This (Bugz In The Attic Mix)

Colonel Red – Sweet Liberation (Yellowtail dubtek mix)

Joe – Rut (Hessle Audio)

Didz & Chico – Something new

Brand New Heavies – I Don’t Know Why (I Love You) (A Tom Moulton mix)

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