[EVENT NEWS] WE HAVE A BUSY WEEK AHEAD! FASTEN YOUR SAFETY BELTS!

We have a very busy week upon us people! Amazing artists are approaching Boston and beyond, try an stay awake and keep up with me here!


Wednesday @ The Phoenix Landing we have an amazing guest coming through. The Rogue Element makes his first time appearance in Boston and when I tell you not to miss this. I mean it in the most sincere words possible! This dude is on fire!!!

Thursday @ Axis Boston we welcome Adam Freeland. I put the info below but for formatting sake I will include it here as well. You still hanging in there? Try harder!

Saturday we head to Philidelphia to WHISTLE! I will be headlining the after-party with my friend and the most annoying giant in my life Jack McDevitt.

Sunday!!! Are you still fucking alive??? I know by this time I will hardly be. But ya know what! It's Memorial Day weekend, we're still young and we'll sleep when we're dead! Sunday @ Club Therapy IN THE MAIN ROOM! ONE + ONE TOUR WITH ZABIELA & FANCULLI! ACT LIKE YOU KNOW!!!

[EVENT] ADAM FREELAND RETURNS THIS WEEK!

It's been a few years since Adam Freeland has stepped foot in the city of Boston. On May 24th we will once again have the pleasure of welcoming Adam into one of Boston's best underground venues; Axis Boston! This is one Volume Productions and Boston Breaks collaboration not to be missed. Opening duties provided by Boston's own DJ Melee with a special opening set by Fig making his first appearance on the big room! See you there!!!

"Adam was one of the key founders of the UK breakbeat movement. His Coastal Breaks mix series was the first of its kind by many years. He intially was half of 'Tsunami One' , famous for their hit- Hip Hop Phenomenon. Then later formed his own band 'Freeland' and released the debut album " Now & Them'. The main single 'We Want Your soul', with its anti main stream sentiment, hit a chord with many and ironically became a top 40 chart hit in various countries round the world. His remixes of Nirvana ( Smells Like Freeland) and White Stripes (Seven Nation Freeland), were the first 'breaks/rock' bootlegs of their kind and have become legendary. He established the highly respected 'Marine Parade' label in 96, responsible, for Evil Nine, Ils, Beber amoungst many others and is also one of the most well established and heavily toured DJ's on the planet , he is known for his eclectic taste mixing up, electro house,breaks,rock,psycadelic grunge, Drum & Bass, whatever...Just good music."

[NEW MUSIC] COLLABORATION WITH J-BREAK RELEASED!

Go get it people!!! Featuring the prereleased J-Break & DJ Melee "Time & Rhythm"!!!

Well I have all this new music just sitting around, so why not throw together a new mix CD for you to check out. This mix is all original tracks that I've done in the past year, with a few unreleased tracks on there as well. You can either buy the mix on Beatport.com for $14.99 or if you would like a CD sent to your house, paypal me $20 to JBreak@gmail.com and I will send you one in the mail instead. :)

Here is the tracklisting:

1. J-Break – Club Banger
2. J-Break – The Meltdown
3. J-Break feat. Divine Blaque & ZKI – Twitch
4. J-Break – Rasta Masta
5. J-Break & DJ Melee – Time & Rhythm
6. J-Break – Goin Down
7. J-Break – The Combo
8. J-Break – Blind
9. J-Break feat. Doc Roc – The Battle
10. J-Break – Something I Can Never Have
11. J-Break & Una Slim – Electric Delusions

Audio samples are available on Beatport.com if you would to preview before you buy.

[TENSION] MAY IS THE LAST MONTH! :-(

Soooo, as many of you already know May will be the last month of Tension. The last year and a half have been more than I could have ever asked for a Wednesday night and especially one that we built from the ground up. With that said, we have decided that we just need to put it to rest for while. Some have schedules that are just too damn busy and the weight of the Wednesday have basically run a few of us completely dry and without any personal time to work on music and focus on our personal lives and passions.

I will personally thank each and everyone one of you when I see you but you should all know that I am so very grateful for the support that has been shown to our Wednesday night and just express to you the great times we have had over the last year and half.

This will be nothing to get sad and upset over as we will still be doing occasional one-off parties and have also made arrangements with the new Thursdays at Axis that Volume will be hosting to help bring in some of our favorite guests that we have had the pleasure of bringing to Tension over the time.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who have supported! Let's lay Tension down to rest this month with a fucking bang!!!

[LIFE] THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS HERE....

Where do I begin.........

Over the last few years I have been working a ridiculous amount. With the new shop, Wednesdays at the Phoenix Landing, my job at Red Bull, Avalon, DJ'ing and trying to find time to get into the studio I have run myself into the ground. After draining myself to the point of getting pneumonia last month I have finally had my wake up call.

When I first began working at Avalon while managing Satellite Records, it was simply a part time job. In order for me to have my world revolve around music. I believed it was the best thing to do at the time. And for a while, it was..........until my life began to revolve around my job at Avalon. Which were never my intentions at all. I have always been about the music and left my previous life years and years ago to focus on just that, music. Ultimately, I believe my pride for my work and determination blurred my vision away from my real passion.

So after contemplating for many long evenings with the support of Jade we decided what would be best after the balancing was done. I would re-prioritize my life, get it back on track and submerge myself once again into my true desire.

With that said, I have given my notice to my job at the club, picked up some office hours during the day, will remain with my Red Bull responsibilities, and of course DJ'ing. I already feel like a ton of weight and aggravation have been lifted off my shoulders. I have never personally been so unhappy in a job and I have worked many jobs. Not to mention have been in the studio already more in the last week than I have been in months. It feels good........

[NEW MUSIC] BJORK'S NEW ALBUM "VOLTA"

One of my favorite artists is about to release another album. Completely amazing musician! The closest she is playing to Boston is NYC and all the shows are sold out of presales. Hope she comes to Boston again soon! Go buy the new album!

"On Friday, Björk opened her music box and revealed its latest treasure: Volta, the Icelandic powerhouse's forthcoming album, due out May 7 on One Little Indian/Atlantic.

The record was produced by Björk herself, and features a globe-trotting all-star cast of contributors, including Timbaland, Antony, Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale, percussionist Chris Corsano, African collective Konono N°1, kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, Chinese pipa player Min Xiao-Fen, and a ten-piece Icelandic brass section."

[LAB NEWS] SHEPARD FAIREY x's 'A-TRAK' RELEASE!!!

NEW A-TRACK AND SHEPARD FAIREY RELEASE!!!

TODAY LAB BOSTON WILL BE RELEASING THE NEW A-TRACK AND SHEPARD FAIREY MIX TAPE!!!!!










A-TRACK AND SHEPARD FAIREY have released a new Mixtape, limited screen-printed poster and a limited t-shirt exclusively sold in only a handful of premiere music and clothing shops worldwide, including LAB BOSTON!


Music is a huge influence in the design and overall aesthetic of OBEY Giant and OBEY Clothing since it's inception in 1989. At this year's SXSW in Austin, OBEY will release it's fourth mixtape installment featuring DJ A-Trak, 5 time DMC World Champion and currently Kanye West's tour DJ. With this launch, OBEY's mixtape series continue to build it's own musical catalog with tastemakers around the world.


A-Trak and Shepard Fairey had known about each other for years, but only actually met in the Summer of 2006 at a DJ battle in San Francisco. From that point on, they would run into each other in the strangest places, from airports to events in different parts of the world. They knew they wanted to collaborate on a project, and A-Trak was already familiar with OBEY's mixtape series. So when he told Shepard about a new project he had started, which was a collection of remixes, blending new electro tracks with crunk/rap acapellas and added production, it felt like the perfect fit. These remixes started with A-Trak experimenting with ways to integrate more up-tempo, electronic tracks in his sets while keeping a gritty rap feel. Not satisfied with simple blends, he would chop up parts of the rap tracks and beef up drums here and there. Next thing you know he had 15 of these remixes and spent weeks assembling the mix itself.


When Shepard heard A-Trak's concept for the mix, it seemed like a great opportunity to mix up a couple visual styles in the same spirit as the music. Shepard pulled from A-Trak's love of subversive animals and poppy colors and mixed it with an electro/disco version of his iconic OBEY aesthetics. The result is something unique, but distinctly A-Trak/Obey.


This CD marks yet another step in A-Trak's growth beyond the turntablist realm and into a party-rocking style that falls somewhere between electronic music and hip hop. He has just founded a new label with Nick Catchdubs called Fool's Gold and is currently working on Kid Sister's debut album, his own solo album, various remixes as well as his mini-line of collaborations with Streetwear brands, Sunglasses Is A Must.
Along with the Mixtape, OBEY will release a limited screen-printed poster and a limited t-shirt exclusively sold in premiere music and clothing shops/boutiques worldwide.

***LIMITED QUANTITY!!! FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS!!!!***

[LAB NEWS] This Saturday we getting down!

We just found out yesterday afternoon that Kenji will not be leaving after all. I suppose the US has realized what an amazing artist and person they would be losing if he was to leave. So instead of hosting his "farewell party" this Saturday it turns out this is going to be his "welcome home party" instead. Very happy that he is staying in the city! Congrats to Kenji!!!

Slowwww Down! (My Battle with Pneumonia this year)

This is the schedule starting from March 2nd and moving to March 12th that landed me in bed with pneumonia this year! Slowwwwww Down!:


March 2nd: Guetta w/ Sergio @ Avalon

First off, Sergio is one of my favorite locals and he always come correct to every floor. He warmed the room up properly and had the floor bubbling over for when Guetta jumped on. Guetta played half bangers and half cheeky tracks but from the amount of international ladies we had to basically fight off the stage to keep off this guy, I know why he plays some of them. Over all, the night went offfff! 2 months promotion and arrangements


March 3rd: LAB BOSTON "Grand Opening Party"

After myself and my best friends spent the last 4-5 months renovating the whole place and every piece of furniture in it, we unleashed our hard work to the city and not only did the Artist Showcase go off with DJ KC Hallet playing some funk but even the after party went off downstairs at the Kells. Loooong night but worth every bit of sweat, blood and tears! 2-3 months of organizing, press and promotional prep

March 3rd: downtime before departure


March 4th: Departure to Denver Colorado for the annual Red Bull Music Academy Meeting

Got into Denver and immediately went down to Mynt to have drinks with some friends. Berry Banana Mojito's.....nuff said. Early night.


March 5th: Daytime meeting @ CLUB CHURCH

Long ass meeting, lots of things discussed, all surrounding music and the academy in general, cold as hell in the building. Later we departed back to our hotel rooms and prepared for dinner. I wasn't feeling well, so I headed back to the hotel and took a nap.

WOKE UP COVERED IN HIVES!!! THIS IS WHERE IT ALL GOES UP AND DOWN HILL!

Went Back to bed, skipped dinner........

March 6th: HOLYYYY SHIT I AM SICK!

Covered in sweat, bones were aching, Skipped meetings went to hospital, they did nothing, walked out and was held up in bed all day long. I was scheduled to play The Shelter that night and had a daytime meeting with fellow mates and Doc Martin regarding Academy. STAYED IN BED!

hours pass, phone rings: ohhhh lord!

FAST FORWARD OVERVIEW STARTS NOW.....KEEP UP!

GATORADE GATORADE

AIRBORNE ADVIL

GATORADE WATER

ADVIL AIRBORNE

8pm: Head over to Nine 75 for Dinner

10pm: Over to Club Sutra Opened up for Doc Martin

Leave Sutra walks around the corner to next gig

12:30am: Over to Club Shelter rocked their Wednesday night Headrush.

1:30am: I need a cab and quick

2am: Hotel.....sleep.......


March 7th: Departure back to Boston!

THE WORST FLIGHT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED! COMPLETELY SICK, CAN HARDLY WALK, SHAKING COLD!

Get home, hit the bed..........

March 8th: BED

March 9th: BED

March 10th: BED...DOCTOR...NOTIFIED OF UPPER RESPIRATORY INFECTION...BED

March 11th: BED

March 12th: First Day back on my feet

8am: Phone call notified that I DO NOT have upper respiratory infection, but I do in fact have pneumonia!


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downtime starts now........................

God Bless my finance Jade for taking care of me! xoxoxo