This month at DARKROOM: Qzen - Back from Argentina!(M.A.S./40 Thieves ), plus residents dCOY, Fil Latorre & Javaight!

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About Qzen:

After cutting her teeth on San Francisco's underground music scene throughout the 1990s with photography, graphic/web design, and event promotion, Qzen commenced her DJ career as the decade closed. With a nod to the classics, she's delved deep into the forefront of future music, allowing crowd reaction to direct — but not dictate — her selection.

In her ten years of experience, Qzen's skills as a DJ have taken her to Canada, Mexico, Argentina, as well as numerous cities in the US. In the early '00s, she expanded her repertoire from her drum & bass roots to a hybrid of tech-house, electro, and techno, shirking genre to incorporate countless party-jams-waiting-to-be-played. In the years that followed, she's begun to play an even greater variety of music, from spacey disco to the grimey end of dubstep — whatever suits the mood best!

Qzen spent many years investing in drum & bass culture with the female-run production collective Groundscore and their internationally recognized weekly, Eklektic. From 1997 to 2003, the ladies of Groundscore pushed the music far and wide: in addition to producing one of the longest-running drum & bass weeklies in San Francisco's history, they orchestrated various one-off events — including a handful in Miami during the Winter Music Conference — featuring top headliners such as Kemistry & Storm, Andy C, and Grooverider, as well as favorites Fierce, Marcus Intalex, and Klute. The ladies put their heart into their work, and the vibe achieved is still talked about lovingly by those lucky enough to have experienced it.

2004 saw success with another project: The Invisibles, a live "electro-punk" band comprised of Alexander Posell (a.k.a. producer/DJ Abstract) on drums/production, vocalist/keyboardist Kimi Recor, and Qzen on synth/vocals. After the release of the "BlahBlahBlah EP" on DJ Hell's International Deejay Gigolo label, the group continued to receive great response to their live shows before geographic circumstances created their current hiatus. Also in 2004, Qzen's vocal collaboration with techno producer John Tejada, entitled "Sweat (On the Walls)," was released on Poker Flat; the record ranked number one for two months straight in Germany's Groove Magazine and continues to get play worldwide.

2005 saw the release of three more singles with Tejada: "Paranoia" & "Sucre," available on his label Palette Recordings, and a remix of Christopher Just's "Disco Dancer" on the aforementioned Gigolo. ("Paranoia" was called out as one of Pitchfork's Top Ten Techno tracks of the year.) Qzen launched a new party, Moxie, with partner Bryan James and in conjunction, a radio show, Moxie Musik, on WAR 93.7fm and WestAddRadio.com, building on her experience with Groundscore, programming and playing on their radio show on Groovetech.com. She traveled to Europe to perform with Tejada and played to thousands at the San Francisco Love Parade on two floats, playing both drum & bass and tech-house.

In 2006, she appeared on Dirtybird Records as the voice on "Lullabye" by Claude VonStroke, available on his Beware of the Bird album. Since then, she's changed her focus in a few ways, deciding to scale back on promoting parties after many years of event production, focus her DJing more on the techno/house end of dance music (although she's still quite a multifaceted selector), and say goodbye to Moxie Musik after three years of weekly co-hosting. 2008 saw the release of her first production work, as one of the 40 Thieves, for revered German label Permanent Vacation. Her vocals on the title track, "Don't Turn It Off," continue to receive acclaim, and the track continues to spread its magic two years later, having appeared on a Hed Kandi summer compilation and been remixed by Brennan Green and edited by Greg Wilson both in 2009.

From 2005-2009, Qzen was the voice of the dance and electronic music sections of the iTunes Store, working as their sole dance/electronic music editor. In that position, she also curated events for Apple around the US. She left in April to focus on artistry full-time and debuted a live set in June 2009, which led to an appearance at MUTEK Argentina in November. She is currently living in Buenos Aires, continuing to work remotely with the 40 Thieves, as well as producing her own material, remixes, and rustling up songs with other collaborators. It remains that one of best ways to catch her is live behind the decks, however. With her passion for deep, technical, versatile music and a natural talent for moving the audience, Qzen's sets are not to be missed.

Originally from Washington DC, and after years of playing at nightclubs and raves around the country and South America, Fil Latorre settled in San Francisco in 1999, and shortly thereafter helped start the party known as Stap[e. Stap[e's focus has always been on deep, quality dance music, what Fil and partner David "dj Javaight" Javate call "Future house and Deep techno". Over the years, Stap[e has featured acts like Layo & Bushwacka!, Stacey Pullen, Kenny Larkin, Dan Bell, Jori Hulkonnen, Common Factor, Mark Ambrose, John Tejada and Alexi Delano, culminating in being awarded "Best House Night" by the SF Bay Guardian. Passionate about music all of his life, Fil currently works as an Audio Engineer, and has been working on his own production work, which he regularly plays in his DJ sets.

About dCOY:

Tim dCOY was raised in the Cleveland suburb of Elyria, OH where he spent many a day on a skateboard, strumming his guitar, and playing in psychedelic/alt/Manchester influenced bands.

In the late ‘80s, Tim began going to dance clubs, and found himself being more and more influenced by the electronic sounds of Meat Beat Manifesto, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb and 808 State (to name a few).

In 1996, being heavily influenced by the more raw, stripped down sounds of the Midwest, Tim started DJing in Gainesville, Florida, playing sets of pure techno - contrasting heavily against the local standards of breaks and trance. Always in search of a home, Tim would eventually leave Gainesville to follow his heart to the West. By 2007 Tim was in San Francisco and DJing on a steady diet of minimal techno and tech-house. Alongside fellow DJs Razvan, Farzana, and IXD, Tim helped establish Oakland’s now legendary Black Market Techno.

In February 2008, Tim decided that everyone needed more techno and co-founded Killswitch with DJ Javaight, a weekly techno happy hour in the Lower Haight where Tim continues to push the envelope and the rhythm into the hearts and minds of listeners. Over the years, Tim has played alongside artists such as Dan Curtin, Seth Troxler, Josh Wink, Meat Beat Manifesto, Todd Sines, Reference, Eric Johnston, and Sassmouth, among others. Always keeping the dance floor a priority, dCOY drops with a solid mix of tech and textures, vibrations and aftershocks.

About Javaight:

David Javate aka DJ Javaight aka JV8, is a DJ, event promoter and writer for Nitevibe and 365Mag. A veteran DJ from Washington DC and lifelong dance music aficionado, David's love has always been towards the deeper side of house and techno. As is evident in his contributions to SF nightlife with the deep house night, Staple, the ground breaking techno event, Optimal, and the techno happy hour, Killswitch, David continues to showcase deeper styles with a DJ style which acknowledges house and techno's pioneers while also welcoming today's innovators. Showing the diversity of being able to play during different moods of the night, David always strives to take the listener on a journey, and make an audio collage which moves the mind and body.