BumpShop presents DJ Soulpusher (aka Franc O, Vampyros Lesbos) with residents Mr. Fine Wine, David Griffiths, Jared Boxx, and Chairman Mao June 2, 2007

This month’s party marks the illustrious return to the Big Apple of DJ Soulpusher. Soulpusher first came to New York during the summer of 1996 when under the name Franc O. he established his legendary and decadent night “Vampyros Lesbos” featuring exotic dancers, French ’60s pop and obscure Euopean soft porn soundtracks. But under the Guiliani crackdown on nightlife it became more and more difficult to continue a night that included scantily clad go-go girls, ’70's soft porn projections, and a notoriously misbehaving clientele. So in August 2000, Franc O., along with Go Go Girl Manuela, packed their bags and moved back to old Berlin where, now as DJ Soulpusher and Boogaloo Pussycat, they together started a party called “Soul Explosion” which soon became Europe's biggest night for rare and hard-hitting funk 45s.

This continued until 2005 when again the two felt an urge to change the scenery; they got married and moved to Conakry, the Capital of Guinea on the coast of West Africa. Here DJ Soulpusher dedicated all of his time to building up an incredible collection of rare Afrobeat and African funk records.

After digging for old vinyl in various local stores, DJ Soulpusher started traveling all over West Africa. His first trips led him to Sierra Leone where he explored the cities of Freetown, Bo and Kenema. The largest finds he turned up, however, were in Benin – the only country in the world where Voodoo is officially recognized as state religion and practiced by the majority of its people. The Funk music that was recorded in Benin from the late 60’s until the late 70’s was partially influenced by the hypnotic dance music of the Voodoo ceremonies, most notably the Sato, a traditional rhythm that sounds pretty much the same as what later was called Afrobeat. Benin had a multitude of record labels and two even operated their own pressing plants, a very unique feature for such a small African country.

Soulpusher’s adventures across Africa (as well as lengthy mixes featuring his most coveted finds) are documented on his highly-traffic-ed blog, www.voodoofunk.blogspot.com. Joining the Bumpshop crew’s resident team of funk junkies at APT, expect Soulpusher to drop a mix of super-heavy funky African funk and Afrobeat the likes of which are rarely heard Stateside as well as the occasional “Vampyros Lesbos” classic.

10p / $10 / email [email protected] for reduced entry / (deep funk, vintage soul, boogaloo and early 80s modern soul on 45s)

Official Website: http://aptwebsite.com