We
are proud to present the Toronto debut of San Francisco's Kaskade
to Garage 416! This edition will celebrate Kaskade's new
CD release "It's You, It's Me" on Om
Records. The party will also feature the Garage 416 regulars
Blueprint and
Moreno.
Meeting
a life long friend is always a highly electric and mysterious
occasion, felt but not easily described. Such is the feeling of
hearing San Francisco producer and DJ Kaskade for the first time.
Whether on the sweat drenched floors of West London's LAZY DOG
in the sets of DJ's Jay Hannan and Ben Watt or the intimate setting
of Los Angeles' premier house music night DEEP with Marques Wyatt,
there is definitely something special about this young man's music.
On his debut artist album, "it's you, it's me", Kaskade
introduces himself and invites us on a journey into his deeply
sensual songs that are a celebration of life, love and happiness.
Although his
12" releases on Om Records, Afterhours, Low Down, Hed Kandi
and Naked Music Recordings have earned him support from some of
the biggest taste makers in the music industry, not much is known
about the man behind the music of Kaskade. Born Ryan Raddon in
the house music capitol of the world, Chicago, IL, Kaskade and
young DJ's Derrick Carter and Mark Farina frequented clubs like
Medusa's, Limelight and Metro where they gained their education
from the forefathers of house music. Remembering back, Kaskade
explains, "They were not only mixing, but segueing, busting
out sound-blasts, using reel to reel machines and early samplers;
it was all the way of how it was being delivered that intrigued
me." Kaskade subsequently discovered the now legendary Gramaphone
Records, and began to search through the stacks of vinyl (weekly)
for what he was hearing at the nearby club, and hence the DJ to
turn producer was born.
Kaskade soon
found himself disjointed from the musical innovation of Chicago's
late night house scene upon moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, which
"was a shock musically" laments Kaskade. Refusing to
let this get him down, his commitment to house music drove him
to found, promote, and DJ the only house night in Salt Lake at
the Manhattan Club. This infamous night ran for 5 years, not only
gaining a following of the uninitiated, but also changing Kaskade's
life. Remembering those years, he reflects "It was perfect.
It was small, intimate, and a place where I could play really
deep stuff to a crowd of 250-300 people." The success of
this night enabled Kaskade to pay his tuition, get a degree, purchase
a local record store called Mechanized Records, and begin laying
down his first original tracks. The record store remains open
to this day, but after 2 years of ownership, Kaskade decided it
was time to take his music to the next level, sold Mechanized
and moved to San Francisco.
Upon reaching
the house heavy scene of the Bay Area, Kaskade immediately contacted
his favorite record label, Om Records. It just so happened that
Chris Smith at Om was looking for a production assistant, and
Kaskade was more than qualified for the job. While working at
Om, Kaskade began slipping in his demo's anonymously into the
stacks of music being reviewed. Working under cover, these demos
began turning heads around the office. "There was a time
when Chris was calling my cell phone and leaving messages for
Kaskade, but nobody at Om knew who that was." laughs Kaskade.
The positive feed back for his demo material was so great that
eventually Ryan Raddon the production assistant had to admit that
he in fact was Kaskade. "It was getting too hard to play
two people at once, I eventually had to let them know what I'd
been up to" admits Kaskade.
Tapped to
mix the third edition of the highly successful series "Sounds
of Om", Kaskade joined the likes of other Om Records mix-masters
Andy Caldwell and DJ Fluid and was soon signed to a three album
deal. Gaining strong buzz support from Billboard Magazine, Radio
One (UK), KCRW (LA), BPM MAGAZINE and URB along with constant
touring through over six countries in 2002, Kaskade stands poised
to be a 2003 break through artist following in the foot steps
of Zero 7 and Miguel Migs. For the debut album "It's You,
It's Me", Kaskade brought in three gifted young vocalists
Joslyn (an incredible R&B talent-featured on tracks 1, 2,
4, 7, 11), Rob Wannamaker (pure soul tracks 3, 8, 12) and Amy
Michelle (the deep and captivating siren on tracks 6, 9, 13) to
join him in completing a deep house debut that transcends the
genre, a true masterpiece of smooth vocal gems and soulful compositions.
- CLICK
HERE to check out the Kaskade interview on Deep House
Network
- CLICK
HERE
to listen to clips of the new Kaskade CD
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