OSCAR G –Made In Miami (Made In Miami, Murk, Nervous Records) As one
half of the Murk production team along with Ralph Falcon If you
were to get out a map and track the history of house music – with
endless lines sprouting from New York, Chicago and Detroit to points
all over the world – you’d have to make a big, red circle around
Miami, Florida, and start drawing. Miami was never ground zero to a
full-fledged sub-cultural movement. But it is where Oscar Gaetan,
better known as Oscar G, has lived every day of his life. And that
fact alone makes it a hub on the global underground. An
award-winning songwriter, producer, and DJ, Oscar is one of dance
music’s brightest and most enduring stars. As part of seminal
production teams Liberty City, Murk, and Funky Green Dogs, he boasts
hits – Billboard chart-toppers as well as underground smashes – in
every decade, every trend, and every market. “Some Lovin’,”
“Fired Up,” and “Dark Beat” are more than just tracks: They
are moments, shared by clubbers worldwide. They’re the kind of
moments Oscar still creates at clubs worldwide, as he continues to
headline the world’s premier venues and sell out shows with each
appearance. Oscar and longtime friend and production partner Ralph
Falcon grew up in a Miami enlivened by the fresh spirit of hip-hop.
“Break dancing, graffiti and the music that went along with it:
That’s really what got me into DJ-ing in the first place,” he
says. By the age of 12, he was already spinning at school dances.
Oscar and Ralph started working together at the end of high school,
blending the sounds of their youth with the beginnings of house, like
Ten City and Blaze; and the darker Euro bands of the time, like
Depeche Mode and New Order. “We were always big on doing our own
sound, with our own feeling and vibe in every aspect of it; from the
way we mixed things to the sounds we chose,” says Oscar. “I
remember being obsessed with that for years, and then people started
to listen.” The early years bore some of the work for which
they’re still best known, like often imitated, never duplicated
vocals “Some Lovin’,” “If You Really Love Someone,” and
“Reach For Me” (Tribal). Upon their release in 1993, the pair
became instant superstars. “Europe kind of grabbed us,” says
Oscar, so they spent a good amount of time touring overseas,
eventually visiting every major and minor outpost of the global dance
scene, including Zouk Singapore, Ministry Of Sound London, and Stereo
Montreal. “Fired Up!” (Twisted), their biggest hit ever,
followed in 1996. It topped the Billboard Dance chart, and even
cracked the Top 100, peaking at No. 80. They would go on to remix
countless major pop artists, from Madonna to Cher to Donna Summer; and
appear on mainstream outlets like MTV and Top Of The Pops. The boys
also cut two complete Funky Green Dogs albums for major label MCA,
“Star” (1999) and “Super California” (2001). But their own
measures of success were still decidedly underground: “Once Junior
Vasquez played our records at Sound Factory [in New York], we felt
like we could retire, and at that point we were like 20,” says
Oscar. In March 2000, Space opened in downtown Miami with Oscar as
the Saturday night resident, just as the world was paying its annual
visit for Winter Music Conference. The club – with its cavernous
main room, pummeling German sound system and nitrogen blasts – was
the talk of dance world, and the legend of Oscar’s residency began
to grow. Eventually Oscar’s marathon Space appearances during his 8
year residency would become essential rites of passage for anyone who
wanted to experience Miami nightlife. The year 2003 was a big one.
Oscar released the “Live @ Space” (Star 69) compilation, and won
the Club World Award for “Best Resident DJ” (which he won again in
2007). Murk set a new Billboard Dance chart record, with five No.
1’s in a single year: Four singles from their self-titled artist
album on Tommy Boy Records, and “Dark Beat” (Twisted), tribal
house’s first real vocal anthem, which found its way from dance
floors onto mainstream radio. “We came up with ‘Dark Beat’ in
about 15 minutes. Whenever things come that quickly, you know
there’s something to them,” says Oscar. “But we didn’t think
radio or anthem; we were thinking more like, ‘Oh man, Danny
Tenaglia’s gonna be all over this!’” In 2006, Oscar became
one of Pacha New York’s only non-NY-based monthly residents,
strengthening his bond with his home-away-from-home, and its rich
dance history. He released a second installment in the Space series in
2007, starting new relationships with Nervous Records in the U.S. and
CR2 in the U.K. CR2 also snapped up the Murk catalog, and commissioned
new remixes of the classic tracks, including Paul Woolford’s takes
on “If You Really Love Someone” and “Reach For Me.” While
visual content in connection with music has been vital since the
emergence of MTV, Oscar had the foresight to see that this would soon
play a role in DJ mixed packages as well. In 2007 he released a
documentary / long form music video included in the Oscar G / Space
Miami audio release on Nervous and CR2, and he went one step even
further in 2009 in releasing the Oscar G / DJ (DēJā) CD / DVD. The
DVD for that package was a complete visual recording of 70 consecutive
minutes of one of Oscar’s legendary Space Miami sets, and is
considered the definitive visual rendition from this seminal venue.
The DJ (DēJā) release was also the source of three Oscar G singles
that became anthems at clubs worldwide; specifically “Back To
You,” “What You Need” and “Your Love,” all of which featured
vocals from his long-time collaborator Tamara Wallace. In addition
to the two DVD’s, the year 2008 marked the release of Oscar’s
debut album as a solo artist. Released on both physical and digital
formats, the release of “Innov8” on Nervous Records would also
mark the beginning of an especially prolific production period for
Oscar G in terms of album releases. 2010 saw the release of “Live
From NYC,” a DJ – mixed compilation recorded live at Pacha NYC; in
2012 Oscar released a mixed CD entitled “Beats” to great acclaim
and followed that up in 2014 with Beats Vol 2; in 2016 Oscar released
the double CD Beep My Boom artist album, which was also the source of
another immediately embraced anthem entitled “Rain feat. Seri.”
While his reputation as a solo artist has continued to grow along with
his well-known persona as one of the world’s premier DJ’s, Oscar
has also continued to do special collaborative projects with his Murk
partner Ralph Falcon. Together they produced one of the definitive
underground house anthems of 2012 entitled “Amame feat. Jei” under
the artist alias Intruder. This single was released worldwide on
Defected Records. And he and Ralph also re-activated the seminal label
Murk Records. At the same time Oscar in 2016 also launched the Made In
Miami record label, which has emerged as a premier platform for both
veteran and new Miami talent. Even though his passion for music
creation is undeniable, it’s in his DJ booth where Oscar feels most
at home. “On the music side, I’ve felt pretty energized lately,
because the changes in the industry really enable you to be a lot more
experimental and take more chances,” he says. “But DJ-ing to me
always comes first: I really believe in it as an art form. Having a
residency like Space, with a regular crowd, it’s the ultimate.”
His connection with the house music fans of New York has always been
strong, and the past few years has seen residencies at Output in
Brooklyn, and Space Ibiza New York in Manhattan, both of which lead to
multiple sold out appearances. With Brooklyn the new epicenter of
nightlife in America, Oscar has been invited to play virtually every
significant club in the borough, and has continued to sell out shows
with each appearance. In his hometown, his annual Made In Miami Pool
Party in March is now known as one of Miami’s most important events
celebrating homegrown talent. In addition he maintains two weekly
residencies in the 305. Fridays he is at 1-800-Lucky with his Rice &
Beats Party, and Mondays he is in Coyo Taco’s event room in Wynwood
with his Murk Mondays event brand. Earlier this year in Feb 2019 Oscar
released his “For The Culture” album on Nervous Records. For this
project Oscar presented 12 original recordings that musically expand
the boundaries of what fans typically expect from the genre, but at
the same time retain the tribal house based, thick and layered
percussive house elements that he’s known for. For The Culture”
included musical contributions from several of Oscar’s music
collaborators in his hometown of Miami including DJ / Producer Lazaro
Casanova, live percussion specialist and vocalist Oba Frank Lords,
producer Stryke, vocalist Katiahshé and brass player Ronald
Rodriquez. January 18th 2020 lets welcome Miami's premier ambassador
of HOUSE! Oscar G
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20/01/2020 Last update