by PETER LIGHTBURN

Stoked by a burning passion for the diversity of soulful house, the Montreal e-zine Deepvibes.org marks its fifth anniversary with a refreshed and re-energized portal. Co-helmed by founder Yannick B and DJ Michael Terzian, aka Sinister (who recently made the top-20 DJ list of Robbi, promoter for NYC's Shelter club), the site comprises buzz charts,12-inch reviews and streamed mix shows provided by Sinister and other guests, and they've recently brought in Japan's DJ Kuni K to help the revitalization process.

Mirror: What is Deepvibes.org about, and what makes it stand out among the plethora of other sites dedicated to the same thing?

Yannick B: Providing an outlet for education about and appreciation of cutting-edge, unadulterated, soulful deep house music. By never intending to be a commercial venture, we're always opting to play exactly what we live and love.

M: How will this latest edition differ from the preceding one?

YB: The new version offers a more sophisticated look with simplified navigation, a full music-shopping area, a picture gallery, live show feeds, visitor contributions and more interaction, unlike the previous edition.

M: What does Kuni K bring to the table? Does he represent global reach for Deepvibes.org?

Michael Terzian: Over time, we discovered we have similar views on music. Based out of Japan, Kuniyuki is privy to records that have either never been released here or have long been out of print, but are still available in Japan. He also handles contact info with our Japanese visitors, who represent our third-largest contingent of visitors, after Canada and the U.S.

M: Congrats to you, Michael, for cracking Robbi's list. How did it happen?

MT: I met Robbi briefly at Shelter in the fall, and sent a couple of my friends to Shelter. They handed him a few mix CDs of mine. The rest is history! I'm flattered to be ranked number 11 on his yearly top-20 list, along with other DJs like Louie Vega, Joe Claussell, Ron Trent, Tony Humphries and David Morales.

M: Can you cite the biggest challenge in store for Deepvibes.org?

YB: To keep growing, and to try to do our part to bring some vitality into the Montreal scene.

Yannick B and Michael Terzian join Jojoflores, Misayo and B'ugo at Therapy at Stereobar tonight, Thursday, Jan. 22, 10pm, $8

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