Nik Weston (Mukatsuku)
Although Nik has been collecting vinyl for over 20 years and dj'd at parties for the last 17, it wasn't until 1995 that his first venture was born in the shape of the co-run monthly jazz and hip hop tinged "Phony"-session which ran for a year at Ormonds in West-London.

In september 96 he broke away from the Phony collective with two partners Mikkel Togsverd, Marlon Celestine and Japanese guest DJ's to start the highly acclaimed "Mukatsuku" which ran for 18 months @ the Clinic in Chinatown-W1. The night was nominated as club night of the year by the London Evening Standard Newspaper in '97 and had the cream of the jazz / hip hop / beats underground play, including a whole host of japanese dj's who he consistently supported over the various clubs he was involved in guested.

Other club nights he co-run were "Shinkansen" @ Open (with DJ Krush) / "Ookami.cuts" @ Nottinghill Arts Club / "Those Kids" @ Ormonds / "Retreat" @ Tactical / "Smoke" @ Clinic / etc.

Today, Nik busies himself on the UK circuit and up until May 2003 he held a residency for 3 and half years at his weekly "Bite Your Granny"-session which had weekly international DJ guests. He currently holds down 3 dj-residencies including the world famous "Jazz Rooms" at the Jazz Place - Brighton (now in its 16th consecutive year!) where he has been monthly resident fot the last 4 years, and currently spins all over the world playing jazz, funk 45's, boogie and nu jazz/bossa. Bookings for 2001 included gigs in Spain, Canada, Northern and Southern Ireland, Scotland & Norway, plus a full dj tour with Victor Davies in september 2001 around Japan. In the past he dj'd at Brazilian Love Afair with Patrick Forge & in july 2001 he played at the jazz rooms 10 year anniversary with Phil Asher and Mr Hermano live band. He's been DJ-support to United Future Organisation, Richard Dorfmeister, Domu, Faze Action, John Kong (Do Right!), Jazzinho, Jimpster, Raw Deal, Tricky, Courtney Pine, Fertile Ground, Us3, Marlena Shaw, Nathan Haines, Gilles Peterson, Spacek and many DJ support slots at the Jazz Cafe.

In January 2002 he toured Japan again and amongst other things did a mix for Tokyo fm broadcast in feb 2002 plus mixes for BBC Radio / Galaxy / Down Low in New York / Magnetic in Scotland, Broken & Beat in Philadelphia / Stylin in Melbourne, Australia etc.

International gigs for 2002 included Russia, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium & Norway. In November 2002 he did his first show for Groovetech.com. January 2003 saw his forth visit to Japan for gigs in Tokyo and gigs scheduled for 2003 include Spain, France, Austria, Brataslava, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and all over the uk.

Up until december 2000 Nik worked for 5 years for Island / Island Blue records doing club promotion. For the last 3 years he's been running his own press / radio and club promotion company called MUKATSUKU PR doing freelance promotion, marketing, consultancy, remix co-ordination for cutting edge labels from around the world out of his london office & is the A & R man for Exceptional Records.

Known for his Japanese connections (and vinyl collection!) Nik's first compilation was the 'Inner Flight' lp by the artist Jazztronik from Tokyo on Counterpoint records and this followed with several compilations (mentioned below) all which generally were exclusively Japanese or had Japanese tracks included. Rainer Truby did the sleeve notes for his compilation & 12'' sampler 'Take me aosis-a nite out in London'.

His new compilation (and third Japanese only one) is out now for USA label Kriztal Entertainment called 'Sakura Aural Bliss' on cd with a 4 track vinyl album sampler and he is set to compile a compilation release on Japanese label, Routine Records which should see a release in 2004.

DOM SERVINI. DJ, LABEL OWNER, CLUB

A BRIEF HISTORY

Started DJing: 1989

Musical Style: anything rooted in jazz with a soulful flavour..

DJ history:
1989-93 began djing in Brighton. Resident @ Thank Funk It's Friday @ The Escape (funk, jazz, hip hop, breaks) and Bombassa with DJ Snowboy (latin, latinhouse, barrio funk)as well as lots of one off's and guest spots.

Mid-90's moved back to London and became resident @ Jazz Cafe on Sunday afternoons around live bands; resident on Wednesdays @ The Blue Note (drum'nbass, acid jazz, breaks); and @ Stoned Monkey @ The Clinic; plus a number of other one off's and parties in and around London.

1998 took over the Stoned Monkey night and changed it to Mouseorgan. The club has now been running for over 4 years and guests have included Gilles Peterson, Raw Deal, Jazzanova, Quantic, Earl Zinger, Attica Blues, Modaji, Spacek, Phil Asher, The Underwolves, Strut, BBE, Cornershop, Nicola Conte, Mad Mats, Joseph Malik, Quantic, Butti 49 and The Amalgamation Of Soundz. The club has now moved to the bigger venue of Herbal in Shoreditch and has recently celebrated its 5th birthday!

1999 Met Chris Goss from London Elektricity (Hospital Records) when he guested @ Mouseorgan and soon joined forces with him and his brother Simon first @ the weekly Wah Wah club session that they'd been running @ The Jazz Cafe since 1997, and then in their Wah Wah 45's record label.

The 45's label is about to put out its 7th release and have sold roughly 10,000 records worldwide so far. The boys have also recently set up a Norwegian offshoot to the label called Wah Wahmoose which had its second release last year, a cover version of Herbie's "Watermelon Man" from Norwegian songstress Karin Krog complete with a deep jazz remix from Espen horne of Bobby Hughes Combination fame.

Present: right now Dom has his fingers in many pies. Mouseorgan is rocking Herbal and Dom DJ's @ his weekly "Speedy's Audio Repair" night at The Retreat, Smiths in Farringdon, The Notting Hill Arts Club, The End (DJ'd with Gilles Peterson), Grand Central and the Sosho Match in Shoreditch regularly as well as Mouseorgan and Wah Wah related nights. He also regularly guests @ Russ Dewbury's Jazz Rooms in Brighton and Pete Isaac's Jelly Jazz in Plymouth, and also spins often in Europe, recently playing in Helsinki with the Nuspirit and Wahoo! guys, and in Italy with Nicola Conte, Gilles Peterson, Minus 8, and Rainer Truby.

Coming up are gigs @ Fabric, Herbal, Cargo (with Alison Crockett live), Smiths, The Jazz Cafe, 291, Cargo, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway.
Label wise, the last Wah Wah 45's release, Nappy/Like Rain" by Alison Crockett (played by Norman Jay, Gilles and Benji B) has been a big underground hit this Summer, and a 7th single, Bliss" by Rosie Brown with a remix by Quantic, is out now. Wah Wah's first twelve inch release (featuring a Yam Who remix!) is out in a couple of weeks and a compliation cd is planned for 2004.

Dom also hosts three radio shows on the internet (the Mouseorgan show on freaked.co.uk ; the Wah Wah slot on The Downlow and the Speedy's Audio Repair show both on milkaudio) plus an FM show on Samurai FM in Japan with Nik Weston and writes the "Soundin' Off" singles review page and articles and LP reviews for jazz mag Straight No Chaser too!!

Blimey.

samu...@hotmail.com