Who needs vowels?

Brooklynite disco DJ and producer Jacques Renault is signed to the ever-fabulous DFA Records, has released an excellent low-tempo cosmic disco EP on funky Philly label RVNG, has had a few fine cuts featured recently on RCRD LBL, and generally keeps timely and fashionable about his acronyms. That’s not all. His many DJ mixes, readily available to the savvy digital sleuth, as well as his reputation mark him as a man of the club. Sure, his original production, remixes and edits are of a fine calibre. But a disco DJ’s most important weapon is their nighttime prowess, their ability to consistently and deftly deliver the groove.

Here we have a man of such talents. His mixes slide from Gino Soccio’s happy Italo to the dirty funk of the Detroit Grand Pubahs to the wacky robot beats of Lindstrom and the like, without ever feeling like they’re drifting off-kilter, stylistically. Get a load of his original track, “Magic Games” (free on the RCRD LBL website) for a taste of Renault’s slow-burning, ever-so-slightly dubby disco style, and then check him out this Saturday night at Velvet.

MUTEK Preview #2: D Numbers. At times, this Santa Fe, NM trio assemble a surprisingly subtle arrangement of percussive clicks and blips alongside squeaking synths, in a way characteristic of the MUTEK festival. However, most of the time, D Numbers is a jammy stoner-rock ensemble with just a touch of electronic sound to accompany the otherwise very organic, groovy, mathy sound they concoct with live drums, an electric guitar, some synths and a laptop. Having been playing together for eight years now, the group has the loose, comfortably experimental sound that only a million jam sessions together can bring.

WITNESS THE POWER OF THIS ARMED AND FULLY EDUCATIONAL
BATTLE STATION! jack.oatmon@gmail.com