Drawing from 26 years of collective DJ-ing experience, Chek & Mindub have helped develop Nashville's electronic music scene into one of the country's upcoming hotbeds. Formerly hosts on WRVU-91.1 FM, Chek & Mindub brought the best in drum-and-bass and house music to Nashville's airwaves with their shows "Abstractions" and "The Underground Alarm Clock." In 1999, they helped form The Elevator Music Collective, which has gone on to nurture one of Nashville's most successful monthly house parties, Audity Central. Always on the last Friday of every month at The End, Audity Central has redefined Nashville's underground house scene for over four years with its tremendously funky vibes. Chek & Mindub have also been instrumental in other successful events, including Hump at Mercy Lounge, Spin Echo at Basante's in Green Hills, and Tea Dance at Merchants Restaurant. Their mind-blowing sets have been heard in cities across the U.S., and they've performed alongside such talent as Mark Farina, Derrick L. Carter, Halo, Justin Long, Colette, Monk and Jask. Count on Chek & Mindub as they continue to create the perfect musical environment while exploring funky, fresh sounds that will stimulate your mind as well as your feet.
DJ Ron Slomowicz has been spinning on Vanderbilt University radio station WRVU-91.1 FM for more than a decade. The city's first exposure to the emerging rave scene was through DJ Ron's weekly show, and he has always been the source for diverse playlists and the most cutting-edge of vocal songs and tracks on the air. Ron has spun at after-hours and primetime clubs in Nashville since 1996. He has also spun at clubs and parties in cities around the country. Following his 1998 debut at the San Diego Pride Festival, Ron was invited to spin at the city's Pride Festival for the following three years. He has spun the Nashville CARES Artrageous party every year since 1997. DJ Ron's Web site, where he posts his playlists, charts and upcoming events, receives more than 20,000 hits each day. He was recently added to the Billboard Club Chart panel. This panel of 170 DJs' feedback and charts is used to compile the Dance Club Play chart, published weekly in Billboard. You can listen to DJ Ron live every Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m., spinning the best of club dance music on WRVU.
Terry Grant's lifelong obsession with music began at an early age. Nursed on a steady diet of R&B and soul records by his parents, he developed a passion for all things rhythmic and funky. At the age of 15, he began to play guitar, and four years later he was touring the East Coast in various blues and R&B bands, as well as teaching guitar. At 22, he moved to Nashville; in between stints in various rock, country and R&B bands, he found time to learn the drums, bass and also dabble in the keys. He bought his first turntable, and it would prove to be a watershed moment in his life. The year 2000 would see Grant embark on a new career path as a DJ. During his time spinning at Liquid, Grant would discover a love for house music. In 2002, he released an album of original electronic material entitled Crack Smokin' Hooker, a concept album about a secret organization of pop-culture super-agents battling the evils of corporate control over the arts. The album features a chaotic mixture of electronic styles, including house, downtempo and breakbeat. Grant is currently concentrating on DJ-ing house music exclusively and pouring his efforts into producing the kind of tracks he would like to play as a DJ. Grant recently signed with UK dance label Bedrock Records. His first single is slated for release later this summer.
Jensen Sportag is a MAN from Copenhagen, Denmark. Jensen Sportag is also a two-man electronic BAND from Nashville. Jensen Sportag the MAN, an ex-tennis pro-cum-avant-garde composer, has an outstanding ability to visualize and illustrate complex musical arrangements in the form of MIDI notation. Benji Craig and Austin Wilkinson, who comprise Jensen Sportag the BAND, exercise the endurance to decode and construct the maddeningly circuitous arrangements. Jensen Sportag the MAN has devised a set of unique and effective sound design theories specifically for the post-techno dance floor. Jensen Sportag the BAND refine and master these theories in their instrumental selection and sample application. (What a funny way to work! Why? Could the MAN not do it all?) Jensen Sportag the MAN understands the indefinable value of collaboration and the importance of the human element in all music that the BAND, with their own unique perceptions of sound and movement, help to provide. The BAND allow the MAN to maintain his ascetic lifestyle and perfect serve.
In the last year, Nashville's most notable (and perhaps only) electronic pop trio Venus Hum have gone from a basement concoction to an internationally recognized entity. Their songs have been used in major ad campaigns in Europe and the U.S. In addition to U.K. and European tours and festival appearances, Venus Hum toured for seven months with the Blue Man Group, traversing the entire continental U.S. Venus Hum appeared on The Tonight Show twice in support of their major-label debut, Big Beautiful Sky. They also headlined the Dance Star Awards at the 2004 Winter Music Conference in Miami, a performance that will be broadcast in more than 54 countries. Big Beautiful Sky produced two Billboard Top 10 Club charting singles, two MTV2-shown videos, and a mountain of press from Q, The New York Times, Paper, MOJO, The London Times, Interview, CMJ, The Washington Post and The Word. On the horizon is an innovative tie-in with the hit television show Alias and Apple's iTunes. The lead track on the band's new EP, Songs for Superheroes, was co-written with Alias creator J.J. Abrams and is due to appear in an upcoming episode.
