Throughout 2013 Cirque du Soul has established itself as a feel-good and foot loose party, travelling from city to city bringing with it extravagance, energy and a host of top-drawer line-ups; and the 21st December 2013 was no exception.

The Bussey Building in Peckham provided the location with Boiler Room having hosted their very own show there only a few weeks beforehand. You only get one chance to make a first impression and this is where Cirque never fails, raising the bar from one event to the next. The lucky guests were greeted by steel pan drums, snakes and scantily clad Christmas dancers to whet the appetite of what Cirque had in store for the rest of the night.

Previous Cirque venues such as Islington Metal Works over the summer had been maze-like with ball pits and hidden rooms, but the Bussey Building went back to basics. Being easy to navigate with two large rooms positioned directly on top of one another, offering the vibes and vigour of a festival and providing the perfect backdrop to the evening’s entertainment.

Having flown in from Paris especially for the night, Zimmer was a headliner worthy of his predecessors as he brought the night to a well-constructed climax through stellar song selections intertwined with his own tracks such as ‘Galapagos’. Keeping the crowd bouncing until the early hours with a familiar Cirque sense of belonging and happiness being practiced throughout.

By no means an easy act to follow, the Cirque residents stepped up to the plate as the night pushed on through the scheduled closing time, dropping some real crowd pleasers in the shape of Ultra Nate – Free and You’ve Got The Love by Candi Stanton; the perfect way to wrap up a night of pure and unadulterated entertainment.

For us here at Dos, Cirque du Soul encapsulates everything we look for in a night – going above and beyond securing a strong musical line up, it brings everyone together for a themed night of theatrical spectacles and excess. The principal and underlying premise Cirque has in its favour is that it is not tied down to one venue or one city, fuelling the façade of spontaneity and individuality of each night as Cirque continues to maintain its eccentricity.

We at Dos hope this continues long into the future and are looking forward to Cirque’s first anniversary being held in Leeds and then arguably the biggest party yet as they host Groove Armada at Rainbow Venues in Birmingham over the coming weeks. 

Check the Cirque video of the night here:

Over here at Dos HQ we’ve been tracking the progress of best-mate double act, Just Kiddin’, for quite some time. Established DJs well known for their up-beat set selections and making huge waves with their own productions, Just Kiddin are an artistic duo on the rise. When we heard the two likely lads from the Midlands were down in London for a jam-packed weekend of shows and party’s we couldn’t help but snap up the opportunity to meet up with them and find out how they’ve been getting on...

Just Kiddin: Lewis on the left, Laurie on the right.

DOS: The weekend we caught up you played XOYO on the Friday night and straight on to Freeze on the Saturday afternoon. From Shoreditch to Clapham Common, very different crowds – How do you think they both went?

 JK: Both shows that weekend were great! We had such a good time. It was pretty hectic at times as we’re country-boys we’re not so quick at getting around London – we literally had to run to XOYO to get there on time! Playing with The Magician was pretty surreal as he’s someone we’ve been looking up to for a long time. Then Freeze the day after was crazy; from the moment we got on stage the crowd were very intent on showing us their love, (amongst other things…) and was just a really great atmosphere, I don't think anyone we could see stopped dancing throughout the whole set. Great show.

  “Amongst other things..” eh? – we wont ask. So anyone that hears your music can tell that you have a relaxed philosophy and we’ve heard stories about your party antics! But for those that don’t know - explain a little about the name, and what you’re all about, and how you came to be?

Since we remember we've been making music. Our intention was to make the sort of music that we wanted to hear – I think if that's your mind-set it's pretty difficult not to have a good time in the process. We didn't set out to be the coolest kids on the block, so it was never really about an image and an intriguing name to match. We’re both of the opinion that dance music can sometimes come across way too pretentious, we wanted to stay away from that side of things and instead promote an attitude representative of what our music is to us.

Working so closely with your best mate… how does the dynamic in the partnership work?

 Good question. It’s an interesting dynamic that works well, we’ve been friends for years and we’re doing what we love, so when we’re working never feels like we’re doing ‘work’. It can be strange sometimes when we’ve been in the studio together for days but have no idea about what either of us are doing outside of music - sometimes we seem to miss talking about topics that friends normally would, but I guess it goes to show how focused on music we are.

Wow, sounds like you guys are extremely hard workers.. tell us about where you seek your inspiration?

 Well the thought of not going back to a ‘normal’ 9-5 job for a corporate company really spurs me on (Lewis) – I know I don’t want to go back there. I think a lot of people finish Uni thinking that getting a job or grad scheme for a big organisation is going to make them happy. A lot of the time it doesn’t. I was once told that if you start doing something you love, you’ll never do a days ‘work’ for the rest of your life. I’ve never looked back since.  

Very wise words! We wana hear a bit about how you get yourselves up for a show.. and how do you enjoy winding down after!

  JK: We try to get to the location nice and early and get a proper feel for the city and what’s going on at the venue. Maybe a little pep talk, discuss the vibe we're going for, some moral support and then we’re on our way.

In terms of winding down, all above board!... Lewis might chill a bit, grab a drink and chat to mates and the other artists and so on. For Laurie, the “wind down” doesn’t really exist! You'll find him somewhere, carrying on the party. 

Good man! Part of the reason we wanted to meet you guys was we felt have a lot in common in terms of style and branding. How important do you think the connection between music and style is?

 Well for us music and style are both passions of ours so naturally they integrate. There are a lot of great people in music who prove that you don't need a sense of style, I'll name no names ;) But for us it would be just as much part of our lives and personality if we had nothing to do with music. Not that that's even conceivable.

  Finally do you have any words of wisdom for any young budding selectors following Dos Tracks?

Of course! Just make sure you keep doing what you love and the rest will follow, keep your head down, work hard and don’t get distracted by anyone else out there. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” (Lucius Annaeus Seneca).

    The boys are hitting the studio hard in Jan and their next gig will be in Cardiff on the 7th Feb. Get more details here: https://www.facebook.com/justkiddinfanpage

  HEAR THE MIX THEY DID FOR OUR SoundCloud, Dos Tracks:

Watch the Video of the shoot:

 Thanks to Kai Cem Narin for the photos, check out his awesome work: http://www.kaicemnarin.com

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久しぶり。

いいもの作っておられる。

my monday

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Free Download Via Soundcloud

This is so so so fucking good. This mix is going to take over my music for the next few weeks.