Dirt Girl has come from the future to put our priorities in order. Her weapon: Thai-Pop laced electro.
Santa Fe has its fair share of DJs, and I want to meet them all.
I sat down with some of them over the last week and discussed their sounds, their lives and their futures. Be sure to catch these guys and gal at Corazón (9 pm Saturday, Oct. 17. $5. 401 S. Guadalupe St., 505-983-4559).
Name: Emily Montoya
DJ Handle: Dirt Girl
Affiliation: Meow Wolf
Origin: "The name Dirt Girl is a cyber-punk term I invented for people who are from Earth and not from Mars."
Story: Though relatively new to the local DJ scene, Dirt Girl is already making waves. In her sets, she uses pop to draw in the audience, and then introduces them to all kinds of fantastic international sounds. "I like to keep my sets as colorful and blippy as possible. It's mostly electro, but I'll throw in some J-Pop or Bollywood or Thai-Pop," she tells SFR. Her first mix, "Amoeba Breakfast," is available on her MySpace page.
Name: Paul Feathericci
DJ Handle: Feathericci
Affiliations: D Numbers, Team Tuesday, Team Everything, The Clubhouse
Origin: "My roommate in college was a hip-hop DJ, and I figured if he could do it, then I could too."
Story: If you've ever seen a DJ set from our hero, you know that his bag of tricks is seemingly bottomless. From poppy dance remixes of Prince and Michael Jackson to underground techno and house, Feathericci has it covered. For years, Feathericci played underground house parties and guerilla events. His first foray into professional DJing began as an ongoing gig at the (sadly) now-defunct Paramount. "I had this weekly DJ gig, and it turned out that I was really good at putting on shows and realizing what people liked," he tells SFR. These days, Feathericci runs popular weekly events at Cowgirl and Corazón (and he'll be DJing SFR's Halloween party), but still maintains his underground roots. "We'll still put on underground shows where we make no money, but we do it for the love of the music and to dance till dawn in the desert."
Name: Paul Senet
DJ Handle: Toast
Affiliations: Team Tuesday, Team Everything
Origin: "My mom told me [that] when I was about 2, I took apart a kiddie record player to see how it worked. As for if it worked when I put it back together…"
Story: Toast fell in love with electronic shows during his college years in Chicago. He met some DJs, picked up some turntables and never looked back. Toast always spins sounds one might not hear very often. "I'm riding a fine line between house and techno, but still have a love for IDM [intelligent dance music] and break beats," he tells SFR. Toast has some DJ mixes floating around, including a remix of a live show called "Denumeration." "I think the next step is to move into the production realm," he says of his future plans. "[I'm going to] try to get these beats out of my head and incorporate them into a DJ setting."
