by RAF KATIGBAK

New York City’s Nick Catchdubs, née Nick Barat, is a DJ first and a blogger second. “It’s a little weird to be doing an interview that centres as much around blogging as DJing,” he explains by e-mail. “People come to the club to hear me play music and dance to it, not to watch me type.”

Actually, if you want to get technical, Barat’s more like a DJ, graphic designer, editor at the urban culture mag The Fader—and then a blogger.

Accomplished on all fronts, for the last three years, DJing has been his life. “I fell in love with the idea of how you could link different songs and styles together, and how DJing could create moods and let people have a good time.”

Of course, it helps when you learn from the best. Barat’s DJ schooling included sessions with Philly DJs Diplo and Low Budget from Hollertronix, and the Rub’s DJ Ayers, Cosmo Baker and DJ Eleven, who imparted more than a taste for blending everything from crunk and grime to indie rock, dancehall and reggaeton. “They’ve taught me to work hard at this and stay focused. My goal is to rock parties in a clever way and bring good music to people, mixed well.”

With such a solid legacy, Barat is of course a little wary of being lumped into the ever-growing community of anonymous online bloggers. There’s something inherently unglamorous about someone sitting in front of a screen, spilling their guts. Or perhaps, in Barat’s case, oozing cool, since his Web site, www.catchdubs.com (which started merely as a graphic design portfolio and testing ground), has been cited by many as one of the finest portals of hip springing up in the blogosphere.

Written in a quick, casual, funny style, Barat’s site, like his sets, brings together choice cuts of pop-culture ephemera, hip hop MP3s, design, articles, mix CDs and style into one entertaining mish mash. “I think it’s great any time there’s an outlet for people to express ideas and share the things they love with others. It creates opportunities to be creative and surprising, and all the best blogs do exactly that.”

With Ghislain Poirier at Zoobizarre
on Saturday, Nov. 26, 10 p.m., $5

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