Strike a pose: the prince of modern ballroom touches down for a FACT mix.

For those unfamiliar with the ballroom house scene: we’re far from experts ourselves, though Chantal Renault’s recent photo book Voguing: Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 98-92 and accompanying compilation for Soul Jazz – not to mention Steve Shaw’s excellent recent piece on MikeQ for FACT – makes us wish we were.

In short, it’s a mostly black, gay dance scene synonymous with New York and New Jersey and competitive dancing; in the ‘90s, the scene’s emphasis on “throwing shade” – one queen giving attitude to another – reached new levels, and dancers battled on the floor for the glory of their house, in the spirit of a model representing a fashion house on the catwalk. In recent years, MikeQ has emerged as the voguing new-school’s most celebrated DJ and producer: his sample-heavy tracks combine the stepping feel of classic ballroom with a razor-sharp modern edge (often built around the Masters At Work-sampling “ha” crash that appears on many of his tracks), throwing nods to UK Funky and Night Slugs-style club music in the process; Night Slugs artist Kingdom, in fact, recently released some of MikeQ’s music on his new label, and sister label to Night Slugs, Fade to Mind.

MikeQ’s FACT mix doesn’t yet have a tracklist – we’re working on it, don’t worry – but for those interested in the minimal, ultra-sharp modern ballroom sound it’s invaluable, and pretty much the definition of a neck-snapper, full of MikeQ’s edits and original productions. You can stream and download it below.

Update: Now with tracklist.

FACT mix 318 – MikeQ

Tracklist:
Mikix The Cat / MikeQ – Vibes
MikeQ – Vogue 2012 Ft. Madonna
Grand High Priest – Mary Mary (Bok Bok Remix)
T-Pro – What’s The Message
MikeQ – The Master Blaster
Mikix The Cat / MikeQ – Catwalk
Bok Bok – Silo Pass (Vjuan Allure Bootleg)
Crazy Cousins – Bongo Jam (Bok Bok/ L Vis Remix)
Dj Tim Dolla – Trina Bytch
Zebra Katz / Njena Reddd Foxxx – Ima Read (B.Ames/MikeQ Remix)
B. Ames – Que Que Mix
DJ Sliink – Pon Di Floor(Bandit Remix)
MikeQ – The Ha Dub Rewerk’d (DJ Sliink Remix)
Schwarz – Lose Your Fvkin Mind (Vjuan Allure Remix)
Jay R Nuetron – Cray
Kingdom – Stalker Ha
Divoli Svere – Is This What You Want?
Beek – Written In The Stars
Beek – JNGLE Feevah
Vjuan Allure – Count Da Pussy
DJ Sliink – Let It All Out Edit
MikeQ & Angel X – Let It All Out 2012 Ft. Jay Karan
Robert Hood – Ha Clash Bok Bok Edit (MikeQ Extend)
Vjuan Allure Ft. Dashuan Evisu – O.S.N
Gregg Evisu – Bitch Who Are You?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 27th, 2012 at 11:05 am and is filed under FACT Mixes, Top Slider and tagged with Ballroom house, Fade to Mind, MikeQ. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.