If you see a plume of black smoke rising from the crossfader then you know Smoove (a.k.a. Ian Chang) just got off the decks. That was the case again last Saturday night at “Shackled”, a rockin’ up-and-coming monthly at Shine Dance Lounge (http://www.shinesf.com), where Smoove provided the perfect climax to a fantastic party with one of his signature breakbeat sets. And guess who just so happened to be there to record it for your listening enjoyment?
If you’ve spent any length of time in the San Francisco dance scene, Smoove needs no introduction. He’s been igniting packed dance floors (and wearing out crossfaders) with infectious booty-shakin’ beats for almost ten years now. But if you aren’t from around these parts (or don’t get out that often) here’s a little more background on this week’s talented guest DJ.....
Rising out of the 90's Drum 'n Bass scene in San Francisco, Smoove quickly became a fixture on the underground Breakz circuit in 2001 DJ'ing with The Space Cowboys and their mighty Unimog. These days his signature power-funk Breakz sound can be heard every weekend all over San Francisco's night life, from underground warehouse parties to his residencies at The End Up, 1015 and Mighty. All his hard work in the night club trenches has earned him membership in nitevibe.com's DJ Dream Team since 2004 and was voted Best DJ 2008 by the readers of the S.F. Bay Guardian in their annual "Best of the Bay" issue.
Taking his sound to the airwaves, Smoove has been featured on XM Satellite Radio’s Thump Funk show (XM 80) as well as Below Zero on Energy 92.7 and was a frequent guest on Future Breaks on KUSF. Currently, he can be heard on Fog City Funk every Wednesday night at 8pm PST on Nu Skool Breaks Radio (nsbradio.co.uk) In 2004 he, along with Donna Matrix, started publishing the underground magazine NewsBreakz and more recently launched NBz 2.0 (newsbreakz.com) the on-line version in late 2008. Simply put, Smoove is one of the quintessential taste makers in the San Francisco Breakz scene today and can always be relied on to bring a big party fun sound that makes the crowd go giddy on the dance floor.
Smoove's mix is also available on The Gough Street Sessions podcast: http://bit.ly/goughstreet-iTunes
