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 Qzen in the mix. Los Angeles, January 2009. Upcoming Gigs See the calendar below for details on Qzen's upcoming performances. Links
blog.qzen.dj / Facebook / Myspace / Resident Advisor / Soundcloud / Twitter Listen Up Current mixes are up on Soundcloud.December 2009 - Del Jardín Latino Podcast 042 "All My Mistakes Are Belong to You" on Modyfier, a fantastic blog. This is a recording of Qzen's debut live set from June 2009 with commentary on its creation. July 2009 - Exclusive interview and mix for Berlin Kreuzberg Institut on Proton Radio with the Donk Boys (two-hour 192kbps mp3) Contact To keep up with Qzen, including detailed gig information, charts, upcoming releases, and more, please join her mailing list by entering your email address below. If you want to get in touch, shoot her_at_qzen_dot_dj an email. |
Qzen at Cocoliche January 9, 2010 on soundcloud
After cutting her teeth on San Francisco's underground music scene throughout the 1990s with photography, graphic/web design, and event promotion, Qzen commenced her DJ career as the decade closed. With a nod to the classics, she's delved deep into the forefront of future music, allowing crowd reaction to direct — but not dictate — her selection. In her ten years of experience, Qzen's skills as a DJ have taken her to Canada, Mexico, Argentina, as well as numerous cities in the US. In the early '00s, she expanded her repertoire from her drum & bass roots to a hybrid of tech-house, electro, and techno, shirking genre to incorporate countless party-jams-waiting-to-be-played. In the years that followed, she's begun to play an even greater variety of music, from spacey disco to the grimey end of dubstep — whatever suits the mood best! Qzen spent many years investing in drum & bass culture with the female-run production collective Groundscore and their internationally recognized weekly, Eklektic. From 1997 to 2003, the ladies of Groundscore pushed the music far and wide: in addition to producing one of the longest-running drum & bass weeklies in San Francisco's history, they orchestrated various one-off events — including a handful in Miami during the Winter Music Conference — featuring top headliners such as Kemistry & Storm, Andy C, and Grooverider, as well as favorites Fierce, Marcus Intalex, and Klute. The ladies put their heart into their work, and the vibe achieved is still talked about lovingly by those lucky enough to have experienced it. 2004 saw success with another project: The Invisibles, a live "electro-punk" band comprised of Alexander Posell (a.k.a. producer/DJ Abstract) on drums/production, vocalist/keyboardist Kimi Recor, and Qzen on synth/vocals. After the release of the "BlahBlahBlah EP" on DJ Hell's International Deejay Gigolo label, the group continued to receive great response to their live shows before geographic circumstances created their current hiatus. Also in 2004, Qzen's vocal collaboration with techno producer John Tejada, entitled "Sweat (On the Walls)," was released on Poker Flat; the record ranked number one for two months straight in Germany's Groove Magazine and continues to get play worldwide. 2005 saw the release of three more singles with Tejada: "Paranoia" & "Sucre," available on his label Palette Recordings, and a remix of Christopher Just's "Disco Dancer" on the aforementioned Gigolo. ("Paranoia" was called out as one of Pitchfork's Top Ten Techno tracks of the year.) Qzen launched a new party, Moxie, with partner Bryan James and in conjunction, a radio show, Moxie Musik, on WAR 93.7fm and WestAddRadio.com, building on her experience with Groundscore, programming and playing on their radio show on Groovetech.com. She traveled to Europe to perform with Tejada and played to thousands at the San Francisco Love Parade on two floats, playing both drum & bass and tech-house. In 2006, she appeared on Dirtybird Records as the voice on "Lullabye" by Claude VonStroke, available on his Beware of the Bird album. Since then, she's changed her focus in a few ways, deciding to scale back on promoting parties after many years of event production, focus her DJing more on the techno/house end of dance music (although she's still quite a multifaceted selector), and say goodbye to Moxie Musik after three years of weekly co-hosting. 2008 saw the release of her first production work, as one of the 40 Thieves, for revered German label Permanent Vacation. Her vocals on the title track, "Don't Turn It Off," continue to receive acclaim, and the track continues to spread its magic two years later, having appeared on a Hed Kandi summer compilation and been remixed by Brennan Green and edited by Greg Wilson both in 2009. From 2005-2009, Qzen was the voice of the dance and electronic music sections of the iTunes Store, working as their sole dance/electronic music editor. In that position, she also curated events for Apple around the US. She left in April to focus on artistry full-time and debuted a live set in June 2009, which led to an appearance at MUTEK Argentina in November. She is currently living in Buenos Aires, continuing to work remotely with the 40 Thieves, as well as producing her own material, remixes, and rustling up songs with other collaborators. It remains that one of best ways to catch her is live behind the decks, however. With her passion for deep, technical, versatile music and a natural talent for moving the audience, Qzen's sets are not to be missed. Discography
Apr 2008 Permanent Vacation Records - 40 Thieves Don't Turn It Off EP |
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