TONIGHT, 12.02.11 AT L2 LOUNGE
Spinning tonight at L2 in Georgetown, one of my favorite places to play in DC. Extra-legit space and rock-solid cocktails (ask for Mike to concoct ‘em for you). Normally admission is set aside for members, but give me a shout and I got you taken care of…
SHADOWGRAM
Gigantic congratulations to DJ White Shadow for snagging a couple’a good old Grammy noms for his work with Lady Gaga last night!! Get them trophies, son!
(Pic above taken during sessions at Hovercraft studios back in October of this year)
MANY STYLES, MANY STYLES
Infinite shouts go to Complex magazine for putting my Missile Command compadre Chad Hugo in their “10 Most Stylish Hip-Hop Producers Right Now“ list. Rounding out the countdown are not only the usual suspects (Pharrell, Kanye, etc.), but also some surprises with Diplo and Chad’s Virginia neighbor, Lex Lugor, also making the cut. Still not sure why I’m not on the list, but I’ll just have to assume my inclusion was implied.
KID SIS TELL ‘EM
The indomitable Fool’s Gold label and Chicago heavy-hitter Kid Sister grace us with the long-awaited “Kiss & Tell” EP today, making good on the deal the team promised us years back when “Pro Nails” first hit. To make things extra-sweet, the first track (“Mickey”) is available as a free download, and is produced by none other than bass champions and D.Biltmore dawgs-for-life Nadastrom to boot. Perfect for working off those post-Thanksgiving pounds.
“Kiss & Tell” is available now on Beatport and iTunes.
Soundcloud streams for all tracks below.
Kid Sister - Mickey (Produced by Nadastrom) by foolsgoldrecs
02. Hide & Seek feat. Riff Raff (Produced by Sinden & 5kin&bone5) by foolsgoldrecs
03. Cliq Claq (Produced by Scoop Deville) by foolsgoldrecs
04. Gucci Rag Top (Remix) feat. Danny Brown (Produced by Scoop Deville) by foolsgoldrecs
POINTS FOR STYLE
My absolute favorite person in the world is the new Style Editor at Baltimore magazine, America’s oldest “city” magazine (the first issue rolled off the press in 1907). Along with her duties manning the style desk, Hilary also is heading up the mag’s Talk Shop blog, which is currently running a great “31 Days for Gift Giving” feature, spotlighting great holiday gift ideas every day from Black Friday right up through Santa Claus day.
(Note: my girlfriend is the astonishingly beautiful girl smiling in the banner at the top, not the enthusiastic gentleman grinning on the right-hand side.)
DANIEL BILTMORE ON FACEBOOK
You can now follow the new Daniel Biltmore page on Facebook to stay up on all the most important things happening in the world that also happen to involve me.
If you like me in real life, like me on the internet too!
THE NAME CHANGE GETS COVERAGE ON THE NEPTUNES.ORG
The solid dudes over at TheNeptunes.org were kind enough to help spread the news of my name change from “Hip Hop Dan” to “Daniel Biltmore.” If you’ve never had a chance to check the site out, it’s a great resource to find out everything going on in the Neptunes/Star Trak universe. There’s also this relatively unknown guy who goes by “Tyler, The Creator” who got his start as a forum member on the site…
Moonshine.
Mansions on the Moon have been quietly building masterpieces and are gearing up to unleash them on the public…so stoked for these guys!! Free tracks from the upcoming “Light Years” EP will be released for here for a limited time, so check back frequently! Helmed by Shae Haley and executive produced by Pharrell Williams.
I’m changing my DJ name.
While this may not be earth-shattering and mind-altering news to everyone out there reading this, it’s a big step for me and is going to require a significant amount of changes, tweaks, and adjustments.
A little backstory. During my undergrad days, I co-hosted a radio show at the University of Maryland, College Park with my buddy Jake called “Independent Thought”. We were riding the big indie-hip-hop boom of the late ’90s and early 2000’s, and primarily showcased unsigned hip-hop artists on independent labels. Therefore, some of my close friends began calling me “Hip Hop Dan”, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. The name stuck.
Fast-forward ten years or so, and the musical landscape has changed drastically. What started with mashups and genre-bending dance tracks finally gave way to a world where Rivers Cuomo is doing songs with Steve Aoki and B.O.B., John Legend is collaborating with MSTRKRFT, and Rihanna and Beyonce have slowly nudged their BPMs up to the 130-range.
Simply put, despite my love for hip-hop and the strong musical foundation it has provided me with, the name “Hip Hop Dan” has become a bit of a head scratcher for promoters and booking agents. I feel as though by branding myself with a specific genre, it’s become a hindrance in my efforts to ascend the ranks of the DJ world. “Hip-Hop Dan? Does he just play hip-hop? Then why is that his name?” — I’ve encountered this exchange far too often.
Which leads me to a crossroads. Do I keep chugging along and hope that new opportunities aren’t lost, or do I cut my losses and do some rebuilding in order to move forward?
So with great deliberation (and some reluctance as well) I’ve decided to do the latter.
This will probably elicit a few chuckles from my readers, but about a year ago Chad, my partner in Missile Command, started calling me “Daniel Biltmore” as an inside joke. I thought it was a little silly at first — but after revisiting, I have to admit it has a pretty nice ring to it. And to be honest, what DJ names aren’t silly?
So there ya go. My nom de guerre is now “Daniel Biltmore”.
In the coming days/weeks/months/I will be changing my web site, twitter handle, business cards, etc. to all match up with the new name change. It may prove to be a bit more difficult than I am anticipating, but hopefully this (seemingly) small change will be a hugely positive one going forward.
Please feel free to offer feedback (good or bad), comments, criticism, and anything else in between. What do you guys out there think??
Thanks again for taking the time to read.
Regards,
Dan
