Moussa Clarke

I was in Sochi in Southern Russia for SWMC at the beginning of February. SWMC (Sochi Winter Music Conference) is Russia’s answer to the Miami Winter Music Conference, smaller in scale, but now an essential part of the Russian clubbing calendar – if only to witness the drunken antics of Russia’s superstar DJs in a concentrated space

Sochi is a seaside resort on the Black Sea, and was popular as a resting place during Soviet times. These days, it resembles similar resorts in other parts of the world in both positive and negative ways – great weather, nice beaches, fantastic nightlife, a lot of tourist-oriented construction projects, garish hotels, hideously expensive seafront restaurants and more. It’s also going to be the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics (snow-tipped mountains are a short drive away), so it’s currently the recipient of a lot of government investment. It seems to be thriving, no visible signs of the financial crisis here.

The conference itself was very interesting from a local dance music industry aspect and from a networking point of view. The daytime forums seemed to be little more than self-promotional platforms for the guest speakers, but then this is the norm for music forums (and I do have a slightly cynical viewpoint, and maybe a touch of conference fatigue, having done the rounds of Midem, WMC, Popkomm and ADE during my tenure as A&R at a large indie during the late 90s).

The real action (as always at these kinds of events) takes place in the hotel lobby or during the night-time events. Particularly fun was a vodka and khimkal’naya fuelled get together at the local stalovka, with Agent Smith, Bobina, Denis A and a whole crew of DJs and promoters. I also played a great little party for Dewar’s on the friday night, and a short but sweet set at 8Nebo on saturday. Also managed to check out Plotforma, a really cool club on a seafront pier.

All in all I’m definitely up for coming back in 2010, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more and network in what has become one of the major nightclub markets in the world!

Here’s a link to my most recent mix set, featuring some of the tracks that I’ve been hammering over the last few months…enjoy!

Moussa Clarke’s Winter Warmer Mix Session 08/09
http://www.mediafire.com/?jbmtcdnzyfz

Tracklist:
01. Upfade – “Panga (Gui Boratto Mix) – Symphonic
02. Sudha – “Leche” (Way Out West Mix) – CDR
03. Tune Brothers – “Make Your Body Pop” (TV Rock & Luke Chable Mix) – HouseSession
04. Evil 9  – “All The Cash” (Alex Metric Mix) -  Marine Parade
05. Ellektra vs Ting Tings & Midfield General – “Shut Up The Disco Sirens” – CDR
06. Tim Healey & Marc Adamo – “Ghetto Blaster” – CDR
07. Moussa Clarke & John Ashby – “Body Music” – CDR
08. Trisco – “Musak” (Piece Process Remix) – Positiva
09. Yoav – “Club Thing” (Fontano Remix) – Universal
10. Paul Thomas & Funkagenda – “Thrapp” (Amin Golestan & Marco G Remix) – LMR
11. Wonderland Avenue – “Idol Eyes” (Dumb Dan Remix) – Slammin Muzik
12. The Outrunners – “These Girls Are Dressed To Kill” (Russ Chimes Mix) – Valerie

There’s a few interviews of mine online which I haven’t linked to yet, so I’m rectifying that now.

First up is one for French blog freeyourmind, in which I shoot the breeze over email with Fantomas about past & forthcoming projets and coffee preferences:
Free your Mind Interview (in French & English)

I also recently did a video interview for russia’s biggest internet tv portal Russia Ru, talking with Nikolay Ledebev about some of my impressions regarding life in Russia:
Russia Ru Interview (in Russian)

Finally there’s an interview with Czech Republic’s biggest dance music site Techno Cz (this one conducted with DJ Breeth via the medium of Skype!):
Techno Cz Interview (in Czech)

Big thanks to Thomas, Kolya and Michal!