STERN* (aka Julien Imperatrice) began as a DJ in the early 2000s. He is a musician as well as a music producer. Sampling both rock and hip-hop, in the summer of 2007 he released his debut album Difunkstruction. Passionate about music production, he has remixed artists such as Major Lazer, Omnikrom, Phoenix, MIA and NASA. His remixes receive buzz on the blogosphere like DJ Vadim, are playlisted on Ninja Tunes (Solid Steel). In 2010, he will release his second album, Digital Bless. 

Q&A

State your name:
STERN*

How did you get into this?
I got into this since 2000 in Madrid when I bought my first turntables and after listening to a Ritchie Hawtin Live set of 4 hours in front of 4500 people.

What’s your ideal setup to rock a crowd?
A laptop, MIDI controler and a pionner djm 800, next a vodka bottle of grey goose in the rocks.

What do you usually bring to a picnic?
Fruits and Weed

What’s the first song that made you go crazy?
Kruder and Dorfmeister – “K&D sessions”

What’s the last song that made you go crazy?
JFK St andrew – “Beehive”

What song will you never drop???
A Celine Dion track or whatever track remixed by Ghetta

Funniest request you’ve ever gotten?
To play Calipso music or Jacques Brel's music

Most memorable DJ experience?
My last tour in Europe, Nouveau Casino in Paris was pretty crazy!

Biggest fail of your career?
A concert for an anarchist group in the mile end, was so boring....

I say Piknic, you say...
Bounce

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Known as one of the hardest-working DJs on the Montreal electro scene at the moment, Mary Hell first discovered the city’s vibrant community in 2002, after a long journey through Asia. Renowned for her ravaging sounds, her buoyant personality and her over-the-top nights, Hell was voted among the Top 10 DJ’s by readers of the Montreal Mirror in 2009, sharing the honour with the likes of Crystal Castles, Guns N’ Bombs, and Jordan Dare. After a two-year residency with Beat Me Up, she has recently moved over to regular nights with the I Love Neon/High Food crews.

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Flosstradamus, the oft-mentioned Chicago DJ duo comprised of J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci) have been dominating the party scene nationwide with their tag-team DJ sets (3 turntables, 2 mixers) for just over a year and show no signs of slowing down. Both established DJs in Chicago prior to their alliance as Flosstradamus, J2K and Autobot bring normally divided crowds together with their unique mixes of Baltimore club, hip-hop, house, obscure remixes, and juke.

 

Q&A

State your name:
Flosstradamus

How did you get into this?
Some friends I skated with had 2 turntables and a vextax 06, and when we'd finish skating we'd go back to their house and scratch. Curt got into it through his older brother.

What’s your ideal setup to rock a crowd? 
A big, dark, sweaty room, full of drunk people never hurts.

What do you usually bring to a picnic?
Wine, cheese, and a girl.

What’s the first song that made you go crazy?
Prince - Let's Go Crazy

What’s  the last song that made you go crazy?
Prince - Let's Go Crazy

What song will you never drop?
Not sure that exists, but probably Yanni or something along those lines.

Funniest request you’ve ever gotten?
Anytime a girl who looks like an extra from the Jersey Shore cast requests a song by humming it or guessing the title by some random lyric of the song, usually provides a good laugh.

Most memorable DJ experience?
So many memorable experiences. I'd say our first Lollapalooza performance was pretty exceptional. We started by playing to about 50 people, and by the end there were a few thousand going nuts.

Biggest fail of your career?
I once introduced myself as Curt over the mic in front of a huge crowd at a Yo Gabba Gabba show. This would be totally acceptable, however my name is Josh.

I say Piknic, you say…
SEE YOU THERE!

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Meek (aka Mike Baugh) has been creating unexpected dance music for nearly 15 years. He has released tracks on various imprints such as Fat Cat, Cocosolidciti and Mutek_Rec. While he generally tends to fly under the radar his lives sets are imminently memorable and he has played around the country and beyond with the likes of Luke Vibert, Apparat, Pan Sonic and Stewart Walker. While sometimes difficult to pin down, his musical style lies somewhere between a wonky mutation of micro house and an innovative concoction of abstract beats and fluttering meoldies.

Q&A

State your name:
Meek/Mike

How did you get into this?
I started listening to electronic music when I was around 15 and fell in love with making music out of strange new sounds. I got my hands on a small synth and kept experimenting and making it do things it wasn't made for and gradually taught myself about synthesis and production.

What’s your ideal setup to rock a crowd?
I use Ableton Live and a Nord Modular. The Nord allows me to create my sounds from scratch, my sets wouldn't be the same without it.

What do you usually bring to a picnic?
"Beer, chicken and snacks"

What’s the first song that made you go crazy?
“Age of Love”, Jam & Spoon Mix

What’s the last song that made you go crazy?
Ryoichi Kurokawa's A/V performances

What song will you never drop???
If by "never drop" you mean love forever, then Autechre "Corc". If you mean never play, well I don't usually DJ other people's music so I don't have to worry about that!

Funniest request you’ve ever gotten?
"Can you play more like you were 10 minutes ago?"

Most memorable DJ experience?
Tie between Mutek 2005 at Musee Juste pour Rire and Festival Echos Sonores in Tunisia

Biggest fail of your career?
When the windows error sound played during a set in an ambient room

I say Piknic, you say...
church

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Monsieur Seb's philosophy about electronic music stems from his 25 years as a DJ and is quite simple: all of its nearly infinite guises are part of a single continuum, despite the sometimes confusing nomenclature of its genres. In other words, you can expect to hear everything during one of his sets!

Q&A

State your name
Monsieur Seb aka J. Sébastien Chicoine, formerly known as DJSC (switched monikers when I moved back to Mtl in 98)

How did you get into this?
I've been DJing for 25 years and I got into it first because music has been the central part of my life forever. So, when I started going out to clubs (WAY before I was of legal age), it was perfectly normal to me that I was drawn to the DJ booth where I would watch the DJ do his thing all night. So I equipped myself and started practicing and doing re-edits with a tape deck. Eventually, that DJ he asked me to step in for him one night and voilà...

What’s your ideal setup to rock a crowd?
After schlepping record crates around for years (my back still hates me for it) and later whole books of CDs, I now play with M-Audio's Torq Xponent, a MacBook Pro and an iPod as the track database. Other than that, just a good PA and proper monitoring.

What do you usually bring to a picnic?
Food, wine, my girl and my kids.

What’s the first song that made you go crazy?
“Careful with that Axe, Eugene” by Pink Floyd, but not a good crazy. I was about 2 and being babysat by my very young uncles who got high and played that very loud. I was so scared by that scream in the track... 

What’s the last song that made you go crazy?
There's one every day, but today's was Jam Hot (Tensnake Remix) by Johnny Dynell

What song will you never drop???
Nothing. Everything has its place, if brought in properly, but there are some I'm totally sick of after playing commercial clubs for many years... First that comes to mind is ABBA's fucking “Dancing Queen.”

Funniest request you’ve ever gotten?
Same as every other DJ, I guess: "Hay! Do you have that track that goes *imitates a 4/4 beat*"...

Most memorable DJ experience?
Quite a few, but the standout is definitely a morning set at a rave in Quebec City, back in 1995. It was on the 10th floor of an empty office tower and while the sun rose, there was a very light snowfall. Riding up the elevator when you got there and hearing the music grow louder and louder was quite an experience in itself! Plus, as far as I remember (and was told afterwards), it was one of my best sets ever.

Biggest fail of your career?
Me, fail? :) I often stop the track that's playing because I'm distracted. And there's that time where I played a really shitty venue and had to play my monitor so loud that it caught on fire. I was almost totally deaf for about 24 hours after that...

I say Piknic, you say...
Yay!!! 

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