A-TRAK with TORRO TORRO, SMALLTOWN DJS and more at the Hoxton (69 Bathurst), November 7. 9 pm. redbullthre3style.com.
Montreal DJ A-Trak (aka Alain Macklovitch) has a long history with DJ competitions. He won the 1997 DMC World DJ Championship at the tender age of 15, making him the youngest person and the first Canadian to pick up that prestigious prize.
After cleaning up at all the major contests at the time (DMC, Vestax, ITF), Macklovitch developed a notation system for transcribing scratch routines as sheet music and gave lectures on it – all while still only a teen.
In 2004, Kanye West hired him as his personal tour DJ. Not surprisingly, A-Trak’s career took off.
Not only was it a major boost, but the relationship also influenced West’s own musical direction. (West hired him for his turntable prowess, but Macklovitch also exposed the rapper to electronic acts like Daft Punk.) The increased visibility was the perfect platform from which to launch his record label, Fool’s Gold, which has become one of the world’s biggest independent dance imprints.
The taste-making label has been a key force in bridging the electronic and hip-hop worlds and is still a huge force in today’s club music. A song he wrote (Duck Sauce’s Barbra Streisand) has even been performed on Glee.
