Name: James Chesterman
Home Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/...ix-Club/100273420420
Member Since: May 03, 2006
Rank: 1
Rated 43 releases, average: 4.58
Location: New Zealand - Auckland
Profile: I grew up in Auckland and have always loved music.
I was always dubbing stuff off the radio... a young analog-tech enthusiast.
My brother Marc had a record collection, and in 1989 I heard a rap song by Tone Loc "wild thing" which really grabbed me. A school friend of mine -
DJ Mark Emerson - had the 7" which I borrowed & dubbed onto tape. It was the phat beats on this track that I liked more than anything else. I do remember Kraftwerk "tour de France" as well. That made quite an impact on me, I thought it was awesome.
In 89' I was only 14, and it was at that time I discovered club/dance music. There was a cool radio show called 'Beats Per Minute' on 95BFM (with Simon Grigg, Jon Davis, & Rob Salmon) that I began listening to religously, and recorded the show's every week. This is how I learnt so much about where this music came from, it's roots etc. BPM was practically a classroom if you were that interested in it.
In 1990 I bought my first dance 12" by LL Cool J - "I'm that type of guy / it get's no rougher".
By this time I was buying quite a few LP's & 12"'s of all the music I had previously been into, partly influenced by my brother Marc. So this purchase of LL, was a shift in a new direction.
I began trying to scratch on my Mum's turntable which I thought sounded really neat, & buying 2nd hand and new hip hop & house records. Over the next 2 years of attentively listening to BPM just about every week, my music taste expanded out into soul, funk, ragga, acid jazz, garage, techno, & jungle.
In 92' I started a radio show at school during lunchtime on Fridays, and I got the opportunity to do a proper DJ Course organised by Jon Davis (originaly from UK, and who was runner up to Chad Jackson in a DMC DJ competition, around 87'). It was held at the only import shop in Auckland, 'Bassline' run by DJ's Sample Gee (Grant Kearney) & Sam Hill. (DJ Rob Warner also attended this DJ school).
For me, DJing has always been about the artform of mixing your favorite music - and sharing music with everyone. So, the next step for me as a lover of fine music was to learn how to play it & present it. Jon had intended to continue this DJ school, but it was a one off.
From then on I started buying heaps of import tunes & reguarly buying 2nd hand stuff from other shops around town. I set up 2 stereo's in my room so I could practice hearing how to mix - from record to tape deck - and it was enough to learn how to tell if your record was either too slow or too fast.
My first club DJing was at 'The Box' in High St. Auckland in late 92' early 93', playing warm up sets for Sam & Grant at their Thursday night techno gig called 'Headstrong'. I played at the Box nightclub until near the end of 95'.
An added feature of the Box was Cause Celebre` where Nathan Haines would play, as well as some of the best underground up & coming local artists like rappers Zane Lowe & Ollie Green (Urban Disturbance), Sani Sagala aka Dei Hamo (who features on 'Lady J' by Nathan Haines), Joel Haines and many others...
Celebre` was a kind of jazz lounge with the finest in rare groove, soul, & good hip hop mixed together so wonderfully by DJ Manuel Bundy, who Paul Oakenfold said that of his whole world tour with U2, Manuel was the best thing he'd seen.
It was such a treat listening to Manuel dj at that place, he is a true master of the artform.
Manuel took me under his wing and granted that I play with him sometimes on Thursday nights during 94-95'. He revealed to me some of the psycho-dynamics of dancefloor science...
Also accompaning the Cause Celebre` repetoire was the great Roger Perry, and another trusted devotee of Manuel's, DJ Steve Usher.
An addition in 95' was the 'Icebox' which was actually a huge walk in freezer converted into a chillout space, where they offered alternative refreshments like smoothies & juices etc..
Jason Howson and myself would play in there Friday & Saturday nights.
In the Box, Rob Salmon was commanding the dancefloor with expertise, playing the absolute best in garage, house, & progressive house with sprinklings of techno, & also acid jazz and ill hip hop. Denver McCarthy and Dean Webb would often be hanging out there, and later after Rob left, Gregg Churchill took over as main DJ in the Box.
The Box (co-owned by Simon Grigg) was the #1 club in New Zealand. You could say it was like the Renaissance parties; it made such an impact on those people there at the time. Manuel took leave, & Rob left for New York at the end of 95' and the sensation also departed...
At the Box nightclub, I had the good fortune of playing support for :
Farley & Heller (Junior Boy's Own)
Norman Jay
Justin Robertson (Lionrock)
and had my own Thursday night gig called 'FLUX'. I learnt key lessons about this musical expression from Manuel and Rob, and consider them both to be of a worldwide standard.
Over 1994-95' I released 3 mixtapes :
"FLUX" - Volume 1 & 2
& "Garage Bar Sessions"
and played a few guest spot sets on Beats Per Minute with Simon. I also began my epic mixtape series of selected headnodding meditations called "Dope Beats". I'm currently remastering these classic mixtapes & others onto CD... check it out.
(...to be continued...)
--- FAVOURITE ALBUMS...
Gang Starr - Moment Of Truth
Denver McCarthy - Rise And Shine (Statra Records)
Nathan Haines - Squire For Hire
Micronism - Inside A Quiet Mind
Module - Remarkable Engines
Nuyorican Soul, debut album.
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Prince - Purple Rain
The Orb - uf.orb
--- FAVOURITE TRACKS...
William Orbit - Water from a vine leaf (Spooky remixes)
Orbital & Angelo Badalamenti - beached
Kaskade - feeling the night (JTM)
Golden Girls - kinetic (Frank De Wulf remix)
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - hi tech jazz
Spooky - new light
Kenny Dope - Unreleased Project EP : pick it up / jump (TNT)
CJ Bolland - camargue (orig. mix)
Eminem - lose yourself
KRS-ONE - step into a world
Jody Watley - I love to love (produced by Masters At Work, & feat Roy Ayers)
Buckshot LeFonque - breakfast @ Denny's (produced by DJ Premier & Branford Marsalis)
Pete heller - simpler
Nick Holder - summer daze
Underworld - 2 months off (orig. mix)
Benga & Coki - night
--- FAVOURITE DJ MIXES...
Rob Swift - Soulful Fruit
Kenny Dope - Favorite Grooves
Kenny Dope - Breakbeats
DJ James Chesterman - Prema {Love}
Derrick May - The Mayday Mix
Rob Salmon - Selections
DJ Cash Money - Old School Need Ta Learn'o, Plot 2
Matterhorn mix - "All Class" with DJ James Chesterman
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100.0% positive (18 ratings)
George and John Lennon had been listening to Srila Prabhupada's album that he recorded in New York in 1966, and were hooked on it. They especially enjoyed the main Hare Krishna chant on that album, and were interested in finding out more...
When the ISKCON devotee's went to London to expand the society,
it was destiny for them to connect with George & John.
George really liked Krishna Consciousness, and after reviving his bhakti (love) he invested more of his energies into it.
He produced the entire album that this is from (with some guidance from the devotee's), and is actually playing bass guitar on the Hare Krishna mantra.
The B side is excellent too.
Production still sounds very good to this day, and has a characteristic signature sound of that time.
This is the bridge between western culture and Vedic civilisation.