Jonathan Toubin Benefit Concert Set for 1/18

By: Kelsey Denette Jan. 09, 2012

rock'n'sock hop for Jonathan Toubin
Wednesday Jan 18th

With
TY SEGALL
SHANNON AND THE CLAMS
HANK IV
LENZ (members of the Cuts)
DJS Primo (Oldies Night) & more TBA

@ the Mezzanine 444 Jessie St. SF CA
8pm. $10/cover
All proceeds go to the benefit of Jonathan Toubin

Ticket link: http://jonathantoubinbenefit-mezzsite.eventbrite.com/

About Jonathan Toubin

A former musician, academic, and writer, Jonathan Toubin is best known for both his current role as an internationally touring 45s DJ and as the proprietor of the New York Night Train music production, promotion, and recording company. In less than five years he's gone culturally and commercially where no other rock and soul DJ has gone before, packing rooms beyond capacity-worldwide-deejaying, promoting, and producing parties like the Soul Clap and Dance-Off (all soul 45s and a dance-contest), Shakin' All Over Under Sideways Down (raw maximum rock & soul), New York Night Train Happening (underground multimedia spectacle), Polyglot Discotheque (exclusively foreign language freakbeat and psych 45s, dancers, and visuals), Boogie Night (minimalist blues dance party), and now Land of 1000 Dances (60s dance craze party/class). He also does weekly residencies everywhere from boutique
hotels like the Ace to infamous dives like Motor City Bar.

New York Night Train's Soul Clap began as a way for Toubin to play his soul 45s to a small north Brooklyn underground art/rock social community in the spirit of the mid-1990s indie/punk scene in which he cut his teeth as a musician. The humble makeshift neighborhood effort evolved into an institution as Toubin got people to dance to music most of them had never heard before. He now draws hundreds of fun-seekers who dance all night not only in New York, but also in cities across North America and around the globe. It isn't an overstatement to suggest that he is the most popular, prolific, and highest-earning rock and soul DJ on the North American nightclub circuit.

Toubin has managed to keep one boot in the counter-culture from which he emerged (punk bars, DIY basements, loft parties, art galleries, music venues, and shady afterhours spots) while crossing over to dance clubs, prestigious festivals, boutique hotels, museums, colleges, fashion parties, gay events, arena pop/rock shows and even raves. Aside from dreaming up the concepts behind his various acclaimed spectacles, he also handles virtually all of the promotion for his enterprise, including up to five fliers a week that are themselves works of art.

Along the way, Toubin has shared the DJ booth with the likes of Kool Herc (who is credited with founding Hip Hop music), David Johansen (New York Dolls), Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Ian Svenonius (Chain and the Gang, Nation of Ulysses, Make Up) Kid Congo Powers, Simeon Coxe (Silver Apples), Andy Rourke (The Smiths) Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance), Dale Crover (The Melvins), Devendra Banhardt, Gabriel Roth (Dap-Tone Records, ShaRon Jones and the Dap Kings), House of House (DFA), Jared Swiley (Black Lips), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys etc), Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion, etc), Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), Moses Archuleta (Deerhunter), Mr. Fine Wine (WFMU's Downtown Soulville), Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Paul Ryder (The Happy Mondays) and The Shins.

New York Night Train parties have featured performances by…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (2-piece hardcore lineup), A.R.E. Weapons, Andrew WK, Calvin Johnson, Chain and the Gang, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Excepter, Grass Widow, HEALTH, James Chance, Jim Jones Review, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds, King Khan and the BBQ, King Khan and the Shrines, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, The Slits, Suckers, Surfer Blood, Talk Normal, Vietnam, Vockah Redu, and others.

Toubin has also DJ'd at shows by artists as diverse as Black Dice, Black Keys, Black Lips, and Black Mountain and Erykah Badu, Mission of Burma, MGMT, Odd Future, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Katy Red, Dinosaur Jr., Spank Rock, and Les Savy Fav. He recently followed Kool Herc at All Tomorrow's Parties and has appeared at other festivals including SXSW and Ponderosa Stomp.

The touring Soul Clap party brings communities together not only on the dance floor, but also on stage via with the Dance-Off judges Toubin selects. Juries have included popular locals as well as cultural figures like Satanic Priestess Karla LaVey, Green Party vice-presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez and musicians like Mike Watt, MGMT leader Andrew VanWyngarden, Royal Trucks' Jennifer Herrima, Jello Biafra, the Avengers' Penelope Houston, and Monotonix' Yonatan (who has judged in three countries),Yeah Yeah Yeah's Nick Zinner, etc.

Toubin's sound is a deliberate attempt to offer a higher quality, more challenging approach to nightlife by battling obvious hits, contemporary dance trends genres, and tinny mp3 files by exploring high quality unheard music, delving into timeless dance music, and spinning sonically supreme authentic original 45rpm records and cutting them together with a playfully beat conscious fluidity. Not only is Toubin fighting the laziness, mediocrity, and predictable lack of originality that makes up the formats of most current dance parties, but he's also out to shake up the sound of typical mod, garage, northern soul, and funk formats by developing a playfully unique DIY sound and mixing style that growls meaner, thinks deeper, and runs faster than all of the tired generically-constrained archetypes. Over the course of his career, he stepped away from all of these traditions to show how, without playing hits, a variety of cultures and subcultures can dance together.

Videos

Don't Miss a Music News Story Sign up for all the news on the Winter season, discounts & more...