Featured DJ Chart: Stopmakingme

It’s fair to say a restless urge for creativity has punctuated everything Stopmakingme aka Dan Avery has done to date. Having grown up on and been influenced by the risk taking DJ sets of Messrs Weatherall and Alkan and their inate ability to make guitar sounds sit perfectly next to disco, house, techno and electroclash in a club environment, his own DJing style has seen him glide into a residency at Fabric for the Kill Em All night overseen by The Filthy Dukes as well as being called upon to entertain the masses at Bugged Out and Durrr on a regular basis.

Not one to rest on his laurels, this creative urge has in recent times found a new impulse in production with the first baby steps of remixing the likes of Boy8Bit, Kisses and We Have Band  demonstrating a keen understanding of what makes a dancefloor sweat. A dovetail into original productions has naturally followed when his first original productions, the Wrapped In Plastic EP,  dropped late last year on the Kill Em All label.

A measure of his growing reputation as a producer can be demonstrated by recent remix commissions for Punks Jump Up, OMD and Hercules & Love Affair. Furthermore, Dan will soon be unleashing more original material in the shape of the Rattle EP on Bang Gang 12s which is due out February 28, as well as Battery Life, a collaborative release with the legend that is Justin Robertson on Southern Fried next month. Expect news to filter through of a Stopmakingme full length album soon too. But it is on DJing that Dan cut his teeth, so that’s why we invited him to contribute the latest featured chart.

1 – Telephones – Kanal [Prins Thomas Sure Oppstat] (Full Pupp)

“Prins Thomas on staggeringly good form, I  love how this record has so much energy. It’s all about those live handclaps. I’ve been playing it constantly.”

2 – Shadow Dancer – Lo Fighters (Boys Noize)

“Easily my favourite Shadow Dancer release yet, including a top remix from Justin ‘The Deadstock 33s’ Robertson. The track Lo Fighters really encapsulates that amazing, scuzzy feeling of the electroclash era. The kind of record which would’ve made the Trash dancefloor throb.”

3 – Das Moth – Moon (Cutters)

“A beautiful modern disco that comes to life in a club. The current trend for ‘polite’, deep records does nothing for me at all but this has something special to it. It must be that bassline.”

4 – Jimmy Edgar – New Touch [Jimmy Edgar’s Hard Makeover] (Studio K7!)

“I’m really into what Jimmy Edgar is all about – he fits somewhere between Prince and Soulwax. Everything he makes has such a distinctive pulse to it. Check his new Tahiti 80 remix too.”

5 – Stopmakingme – Hot Pepper Sauce (Kill Em All)

“From my Wrapped In Plastic EP, my little ode to the ARP2600 synth and unexpected live drum fills. I have lots of new music coming out this year, keep your eyes peeled.”

6 – The Time & Space Machine – Set Phazer To Stun [Sioux City Boy’s Club Lips On Leather vocal re-edit] (Tirk)

“I’ve been going on about this record for months now but the fact that I’m still playing it means I had to include it. It’s a really driving psyche track built for the club – something to really lose it to. It sounds like some of the best Primal Scream moments.”

7 – Discodeine – Grace (Psychent France)

“Ah, the messed up genius of Discodeine, every track of this album is a belter. Big club music to soundtrack dark deeds. And very, very French.”

8 – Fernando – Endless Disco (Redux)

“There’s a great feel to this record: pretty grubby disco – the vocal almost sounds like The Clash in their more dancefloor moments. I love synth lines that feel as if they’re never going to end. It’s very New York but also very ‘now’.”

9 – Darabi – Truckin’ (Clouded Vision)

“I always trust Matt Walsh’s taste and this is a perfect signing for his Clouded Vision label. It’s a big, weird record – exactly my kind of thing. It actually works surprisingly well at a much higher tempo in the thick of the action too.”

10 – Trentemoller – Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!!! (In My Room)

“An original to tear the clothes from your back, a fantastic (and pretty out there) Trentemoller remix and two great reworkings from Andrew Weatherall’s Midas touch. Quite the package.”