Duke Shin

Twitchy, with the soul and bump of hip-hop and (fittingly, like one of his many monikers) married to a Solid Groove, Dave Taylor aka Switch, has had an increasing presence in carrying new sounds to the forefront of underground house music over the last couple of years. So how does one hip-hop-loving Brit from Essex go from a chef at his parent's restaurant to cooking up beats for M.I.A.'s hotly anticipated next album, and sprinkling a heavy hand of aural seasonings on anyone from Les Rythmes Digitalis to Kelis?

"I had a demo CD with around seven or eight tracks before I set up Dubsided [his own imprint], and sent it out to a load of labels that I hoped might find it interesting," Taylor explains. "Jimpster from Freerange picked out `Get Ya Dub On.'" That initial release marked Taylor as a new house talent to watch and, as Switch, subsequent releases on Freerange Records like "Get On Down" and "Just Bounce 2 This" caught fire.

Then came Switch's Bongo Band-sampling club smash "A Bit Patchy," one of those rare, ubiquitous tracks that popped up in record bags of DJs from breaks to twisted house. "I heard someone play the original in a set and realized that no one had really done it in a contemporary house fashion," Taylor recalls. "I was surprised by the wide range of DJs that liked it. I've heard hip-hop DJs and trance DJs play it, which was nice!"

Now attracting the attention of artists and A&R types alike, Switch soon became as renowned for his remix work as his productions. Using the same deft ability to craft danceable rhythms from piercing squelches, buzz-saw rhythms, and surgically dicing up vocal snippets for maximum effect, the secret to the Switch remix according to Taylor is simply "finding parts of records that were never meant to be the lead elements and switching it."

After citing legendary second-generation Chicago DJs like Derrick Carter and DJ Sneak among his reigning influences, Taylor is predictably excited to make his Windy City debut. "I'm far too over-excited about coming to Chicago. It's one of those places that's been such a musical inspiration since forever." So what can be expected from Switch's debut Chicago date? "Lots of exclusive and new material mixed up with some new styles of club shit," Taylor concludes.

Dave Taylor aka Switch, with Lee Foss at Smart Bar, 3730 North Clark, (773)549-0203, on February 9 at 10pm. $10 before midnight, $12 after.

(2007-02-06)

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