Join The FADER's newest weekly columnist, A-Trak, who will be sharing with us the life and times of a superstar DJ and globetrotting gentleman. His column is called Around the World until he tells us otherwise.
Part VII: paintball, Daft Punk, Nike Air Max, Slick Rick, Kanye West, Catchdubs
Before I get into my usual travel narratives I have a major announcement to make. Am I wearing my pants? Yes? OK, here it comes. I'm launching my new blog today! (Applause, applause, hug the runner-up, smile for the camera, aaaand scene.) I've been blogging my bum off lately, but my posts don't have a place to call home. The old djatrak.com was turning into a desolate, barren no man's land. So we decided to give it a total facelift (Dust La Rock the surgeon) and make it into my master blaster blog. The best part is, I kept all my old posts from the last 4 years. Every Kanye tour, every tidbit of nonsense, every exhaustive road recap, they're all there waiting to be rediscovered. Oh and I'm giving away a pair of super duper rare Nike x Fool's Gold Air Max's. Check out djatrak.com for more info.
I have another present for you today. To celebrate the release of Kanye's album, here's a video of me and him in the studio a couple weeks ago talking about our beards:
And now, back to the program.
When I wrote last Monday, it was the last day of my 6 week stay in Paris. On that evening I went to have dinner at Guy-Man's crib. Of course I don't have any pics... Duh, who has pictures of Daft Punk? It was ill though, and pardon my selfishness but I don't even really feel little telling stories. I'm too much of a fan, I gotta keep this one in my little mental cabinet. Dude is mad cool and he remembers seeing me DJ at WMC in 1998 when I was 16.
On Tuesday I flew back to New York and then I spent most of the week settling back into my apartment, throwing out halloween decorations that obstructed my closets and catching up with my Fool's Gold brethren. We have a new office! I also joined twitter, around the same time as Shaq. I'm hooked. I'm happy to be back in my home studio, especially since I have so much recording to do. I'm finishing up my Sébastien Tellier remix and I'm recording a mix CD for the label Thrive.
On Friday I went to watch Catchdini and Michna DJ at the Museum of Natural History, where I played last January with Kid Sister and the Cool Kids. It felt like a big office party, but in a good way. A break from the usual hipster steez. People smiling, enjoying themselves, dancing like they're on the show ElimiDate. Good, healthy fun. Later that night my Dutch homie Laidback Luke was playing at Pacha. I had never been to Pacha in New York and I loved the idea of going to the ultimate commercial house club. So after the museum I went with my friend Denise and met up with Armand Van Helden over there. We hung out for a bit and then we dipped to this Slick Rick party at Imperial. I think that's when it sank in that I was back in New York. It was one of those classic clubs that try to be grown & sexy but are just a bit too grimey. The bouncers are impossible and the people in the club are old enough to know the words to "Flow Joe". I peeped Lord Jamar and DJ Red Alert walking around. Then the Ruler grabbed a mic and made his presence known from the VIP. He performed 2 songs and for some reason his DJ was playing the instrumentals really fast, at least at +8. The whole thing was strange. Incidentally there's a great article on him in the new Waxpoetics.
On Saturday we did something I never thought I would do in a million years. We went paintballing in the Poconos for Diplo's birthday. I even dragged my brother out. Road trip! We drove up with Catchdubs and Duster. It was ridiculously cold. My gun didn't work during the first game. I quickly realized that I'm very prone to being shot. But not quite as prone as the great Catchdini who caught one in the neck!
