by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

If a coy variant on the word “fucking” wasn’t already his adopted middle name, New York City’s James F!@#$%^ Friedman could tuck the term “good judgement” in there—and not just because of the F-word placebo, which probably came in handy when sliding copies of his dope mix CD Go Commando! to fussier family members. His intuitive grasp of what’s hot and/or cool shines forth in the CD’s selections, in his noted DJ sets, in his erstwhile managerial work for the !K7 and Output labels, in his ad-agency day job and in the parties he’s thrown in NYC, the sadly defunct All Wrong live-music sessions and Refuse! parties. Neon’s NYC Invasion this weekend offers a taste of the latter, “a freeform night of upfront music… with a minimum of scenester BS” which brought in the likes of Michael Mayer, Chromeo, 2ManyDJs and Output’s Trevor Jackson.

Mirror: You open Go Commando! on Annie and close with Zombi, thus literally going from A to Z. Was this alphabetical bookending intentional?

James F!@#$%^ Friedman: No, I never noticed that at all, actually. I closed with the Zombi track because I love how hypnotic it is. The Annie track makes for a good intro, because it builds up nicely. Also, the version of the Hush Hush remix on my CD is different from the one released by Annie’s label. I had it on CD, and I’m less comfortable DJing with CDs, so I started off with it so that I didn’t have to mix into another track from a CD any more than necessary.

M: A DJ or programmer’s job, ideally, is to give people the tracks they want, and the ones they need—but just don’t know it yet—in equal measure. Go Commando!’s got that nailed. Among the less-familiar names on there, is there any one in particular that you’d point to and say, “Keep an eye on them”?

JFF: Well, I tried to pick stuff that I actually like and play as well as things that would be helpful for getting the CD into listeners’ hands. That’s why there are some recognizable names like Bloc Party, Tom Vek, Tiefschwarz, the Rapture and Annie. Luckily for me, nobody was telling me what to include, so the track list really reflects my tastes at the time I recorded, which was last September. As for folks on there that I think are destined for greatness, I really think everyone on the CD is super-talented. I’m especially fond of the Knife, M.A.N.D.Y., the Rapture, David Gilmour Girls, Kaos, Gucci Soundsystem, DJ T and Ray Mang.

M: You seem to be a gentleman of discerning and eclectic tastes. Outside of the realm of music, do you have any interests you feel like jawing off about?

JFF: I am a man of many tastes. I work in the advertising industry as “head of cultural insights” for a strategic brand-planning group within an ad agency, so I’m professionally as well as personally obsessed with pop culture, politics and technology, especially the way the three interact to shape the topography of how we live our lives. I could go on and on, so I’ll spare the fair city of Montreal my spiel, but if anybody wants to rap about this stuff, come find me at the SAT on Saturday, okay?

With JDH, Dave P and Max Pask at SAT on
Saturday, May 27, 10 p.m., $15

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