Michael & Scotty – Simply Two Of The Best!
Neo is the place to be this weekend for DJ perfection. With Gramaphone’s Michael Serafini and DJ Scotty Brandon (aka The Cushion) in the booth for this second-Friday-of-every-month party, quality is guaranteed.
Serafini, who has been a buyer at Gramaphone since 1995, now owns the store and its collection of 5 million records. Synonymous with House, Gramaphone has been the source for the music of Chicago with such clubland luminaries as Derrick Carter, DJ’s Sneak, Heather and Colette, all having worked behind the counter at the world famous store before setting off on their own DJ careers. Serafini himself has been DJ-ing since the late 80s, though he didn’t start clubwork until 1993, and then that was as a “video-DJ” mixing various music vids to the same BPM (beats per minute). But back then that was the music scene, and it was only when that started to wane that Serafini took to the vinyl. Progressing to Berlin nightclub in ’94, Serafini gradually built up a following as a jock (along with DJ Ralph Rosario) so much so that it wasn’t until 2002 that they decided to let him go. By then Serafini had become a much-loved feature of many of the city’s clubs…and still is today. An all round god guy, Serafini has helped so many upcoming young DJs since his time at Gramaphone and enjoys imparting his dance music knowledge and sharing the availability of the records he owns to keep the sound of music alive for generations to come.
Brandon, meanwhile, was reared in the footsteps of Detroit in the 90s but now calls Chicago his home as he follows in the footsteps of “more legends” – i.e. Serafini – bringing with him his crates of deep House and Techno, although for Brandon all talk of genres is beyond his understanding as he seeks to explore and discover new cross-over sounds from all music. “Music is music,” as he says, “and dancing is dancing. Keep it deep, keep it soulful, keep it fun.” Dwelling and playing in the Underground scene is Brandon’s favourite location, but his all round knowledge of music is second-to-none and is just as passionate about rock, pop, soul, alternative, indie dance, hip-hop and more. An accomplished guitarist, vocalist, drummer and bassist, Brandon simply lives for music and enjoys playing at all kinds of venues and events, producing dance and music happenings to fit the ambience and location of each gig for unique one-off experiences that linger long in the body and soul.
And one can’t really argue with that, can one?
The duo are at Neo this Friday, March 11th , from 10pm, with DJ Ross Kelly (and his leathers) providing some synthpop, disco, and 80s electro.
