Get a feel for monthly DJ dance night Body Meta

DJs Nico Sé & Dimitri
 
Body Meta is a year-old DJ night that has occupied ye olde cozy room at Casa del Popolo  monthly, attracting people who love to dance to different beats. The DJs are author and music journalist Dimitri Nasrallah and Nico Sé, who you might know from the Atom Heart record store and Fur Trade Recordings label. Their mandate is simply to get back to basics and mix it up.

“The idea for Body Meta sprang out going  to a lot of DJ nights in the city and seeing how everything had become very super-specialized. You could walk into an evening and walk out five hours later having only listened to the same kind of music the whole night,” Nasrallah explains. “The goal was to go back to the heyday, like in the mid to late ’70s and early ’80s, where DJs could grab from across all genres and piece together something that was danceable for that evening.”

Reflecting on why DJ nights have become so specialized in the age of the Internet’s all-access pass to every style of music ever, Nasrallah pinpoints that very access (unlimited fidget house!), coupled with the splintering of electronic music (“fidget house”?).

“In ’95 you began to see a split between house and techno and the bass-type music that began to happen and branch off into their own separate areas, but that was exelerated by the availability of so much music online so anyone could have anything at any time and chasing down new music didn’t seem to be that difficult anymore.

“I found more interest in looking backwards, to that era of music that was purely obscure vinyl, where you really had to hunt for what you could find and it was about a chance meeting between you and a record.”

Get a feel for Body Meta ahead of this Saturday’s edition with these selections from each DJ:
 

Dimitri

 

Boutaiba s’ghir, “Dayha Oulabes”

 
“I first discovered this Algerian Rai song on a Sublime Frequencies record, a label that did a great job excavating Middle Eastern music for a few years. This is a case of the right song sounding amazing in the right venue, and Casa as we’re warming up is that spot.”
 

 

Sergio Mendes, “Magalehna (Whiskey Barons Edit)”

 
“Tropicalia meets Bostonian edit gurus Whiskey Barons! A supremely festive vibe going on here. Whiskey Barons make great edits and seem to be interested in much of the same music as we are, so playing their updates is a no-brainer.”
 

 

Lord Rhaburn Combo, “Disco Connection”

 
“Numero reissued this one as a 12-inch not long ago, and it’s representative of just how underrated the Latin American funk troupes could be. These guys are from Belize.”
 

 

Martin Circus, “Disco Circus (Lee “The Black Belt” Guy Dub)”

 
“An absolute scorcher! Martin Circus was a French rock group and they recorded this bomb in 1977, right around the time every rock group was doing the obligatory disco track. There are many edits available, but Lee ‘The Black Belt’ Guy’s stands head and shoulders above them all.”
 

 

Xavier, “Do It to the Max (80s Child Xavier Groove)”

 
“Because you can’t take yourself too seriously as a DJ, and this is one of those tracks that’s so good but rides the line between supremely sexy and cheese really closely. Released in 1982, the 80s Child edit leaves much of the original intact while focusing on extending its natural groove.”
 

 

Nico Sé

 

Edu Lobo, “Zanzibar”

 
“One of my favourite Brazilian musicians! This track has a quite complex structure, with that unmistakable sweet, mellow Brazilian vibe.”
 

 

J Dilla – Crushin’ (Instrumental) 

 
“I usually play this track way faster and it works perfectly. ‘It’s all about the looseness of the drums,’ as Madlib recently said in an interview. You hear that? No wonder Dilla had such an influence on so many producers.”
 

 

The Checkmates, “Disco Groove”

 
“I cannot NOT play this. It puts me in such a good mood. There’s like two or three different horn themes that alternate with the crazy synth line. It’s really hard to choose what to play after this one.”
 

 

Emanative & Ahmed Abdullah – Lions Of Judah (Four Tet Re-Edit)

 
“Not what you’d normally expect from a Four Tet edit, but the man has wide-ranging tastes and on this track his mix is right up our alley.”
 

 

Alexander Robotnick, “Problèmes d’amour (Kenny Dixon Jr. Mix)”

 
“An electro-pop cult classic given the Detroit house treatment by one of the genre’s best! Filled with hooks at every turn.”
 

 
The next edition of Body Meta with DJs Dimitri & Nico Sé is happening at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent) this Saturday, May 24, 10 p.m., free