I’m not going to lie to any of you, I can be a bit of a snob when it comes to DJs, especially in recent years. I mean, sure, I have fun at all kinds of shows and if I can dance to it, I’ll probably like it. But hardly ever am I straight up impressed by a DJ’s ability to bring something simultaneously familiar and fresh to the table. Now I don’t just mean to say that this guy plays what I like, but he plays what made me start to dig the scene in the first place. By that I mean he runs tracks that don’t fit the molds, that don’t cannibalize what’s already out there.
Now I’ve known this guy for a while, not just as a DJ, but from his humble beginnings as a random high school kid in Downtown Los Angeles. In my wanderings from stage to stage at various raves in LA, I had the fortune of running into him as he checked out the scene and studied it to a degree. Well, in his travels he’s carried with him an LA rave feel that’s made its way to the east coast. Now residing in New York City, Matt Brown, aka Kid Royale, has been making waves in the New York electro scene. For the past 5 years he’s been putting in the work, honing his skills and getting his attention, and if you’re from New York and haven’t heard of him, well, you’re missing out. 
He’s made mixes and played shows as Kid Royale, but his newest project, Millennium Falkon, shows an attention to what pioneered the underground electro scene. You can find his most recent mix here:
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His mix brings a dirty sound that doesn’t force itself. It’s not an electronic pissing contest that you can find in the dubstep scene, and it doesn’t have an overwrought house sound that you hear pumping out of every massive that rolls through major cities. It has favorites of mine, including tracks from Green Velvet, Paul Chambers & Shinichi Osawa and Mumbai Science, but the quality of the mix comes from its combination of great electro sounds with classic techno vibes. Is he cannibalizing? No. Is he recycling? Of course not. He’s reminding us what put the scene on the map, and that not everybody can just pick up a computer, rehash what’s popular, and call themselves a DJ.
You can find him on Soundcloud here: http://soundcloud.com/millennium-falkon
or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Millennium-Falkon/412621312129711
