Ahead of the release of Defected In The House Brazil '11, DJ Meme talks in detail about some of the tracks that feature on his mix and his reasons for choosing them. Plus, there's also a little 10 minute teaser of the mix for you to listen to while you're checking out the notes...






Defected In The House Brazil 11 mixed by Sandy Rivera and Meme by Defected Records

Frankie Knuckles & The Shapeshifters ‘The Ones You Love’ (DJ Meme Remix)

I’ve known Frankie for about 18 years, and about 6 years ago we became buddies. Between the laughs, gossiping, conversations about music and our many encounters around the world and online, it always ended up being ‘Look what I just did’. That’s the way we trade our most recent mixes. That was what happened with my mix of The Cure and The Cause in 2007. He was the first and only one to receive it privately, before the release and as soon as I finished he loved it. He loved it so much he sent me a message saying “I am sorry Meme, but I was obligated to betray you and share your mix with The Shapeshifters, and they loved it too and are hoping to meet you!” This resulted in meeting Simon and Max at their studio in London.

Years past, Frankie contacted me on iChat and told me ‘I made a song with The Shapeshifters; take it, but don’t share it with anyone cause it’s not finished!” It made me one of the first people to hear ‘The Ones’ but I thought ‘Damn, I could collaborate to this partnership somehow.’ Therefore, I finally got my turn when Aaron Ross offered me the opportunity to create something new for this album, handing me original parts of the song. What I’ve done was to keep myself as a collaborator, adding only some of the Meme spices into what was already there, complementing to the original elements.


Joey Negro presents Z Factor ‘ The Piano Principle’ (DJ Meme Special Re-Edit)

Dave Lee has always been a very important producer who inspired me in my first steps as a remixer. It is obvious that Disco influences on us both, so that makes us like members of the same musical family. In 2009 Dave asked me to do a remix of one of my favourite hits from his Sunburst Band. It was at then that I knew I had gained his trust. A few months late I heard The Piano Principle and I loved it at first, but I felt that the groove could be a bit different for my own DJ sets. I then decided to ask Dave if I could ask him for the parts so that I could create my own mix. Dave quickly replied and within 5 days I had finished the mix. Every time I play it the crowd goes insane as soon as they hear the first drop. It’s always DJ’s asking me for a copy, or a name of the song so I told Dave he could release it if he wanted to! Unfortunately he said to me that he had no intention of releasing anything else regarding that package, but he allowed me to do whatever I wanted with the mix. Well… here it is and it couldn’t be in better time.


DJ Fopp ‘Discofied Funk’ (Original Mix)

Introduced to me by my good friend Alfred Azzetto, DJ Fopp used to do some remixes and mastering for Alfred, but I had never heard one of his own creations until Alfred showed me a remix he was producing to one of Fopp’s new tracks. I liked it a lot and wanted to hear more of it. When we were all together in Italy in May 2010, Fopp gave me the full album, still unsigned and from that point onwards I played Discofied Funk non stop. It is always one of the first songs I play on my sets, which serves as the preparation track for the crowd’s mood at the start of the night. It is also a track with extraordinary sound quality, which makes a huge difference inside the club.


Studio Apartment featuring Miho Fukuhara ‘Brand New Start’ (Grant Nelson Remix)

More that just playing the music that I enjoy to an audience. I like that it’s coming from the people I like personally and that’s the case of the Studio Apartment team. Masanori Morita and Noboru Abe are two gentlemen whom I like and respect a lot as professionals and their gentle manager Saki Aoygi as she was the one who showed me the mix when she found out I was doing this compilation. To tangle all of that up, the mix was made by the talented Grant Nelson who is my great friend and it is not by coincidence that is one of my top 5 producers. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful songs in this album.




Copyright featuring Song Willamson ‘He is’ (Matos 20eleven Remix)

This track became an instant classic when it was released at WMC in 2006. Since then, no other version has superseded the mix by Dennis Ferrer. Aaron Ross gave me some exclusive tracks for this album, but when I heard this one I couldn’t leave it behind. Eddie Matos told me that he had not done any productions in 3 years and as you can see he talent remains impeccable. It is like riding a bicycle; we never forget!


Fish Go Deep & Tracey K ‘The Cure & The Cause’ (DJ Meme Bangin’ Dub)

There is no doubt that the remix of The Cure and The Cause is one of the most popular among all that I have produced so far. Both by the idea of putting an expensive orchestra in the studio which seemed mental at the time, and asking Simon Dunmore for the acappella parts to create a remix of a song released 1 year before my idea. It was stupid to try something after that huge success that the song achieved with a great remix from Dennis Ferrer. My idea was opposed to all that the song showed and earned until that moment, and I was ‘shittin in my pants’ if my ‘fantastic’ concept turned into a fiasco in the studio. Conceptually, it had everything just to be a bonus or even something not released, but what happened was the exact opposite, and as they say; the rest is history!

The version I use here was never released and not delivered in the package a I created it just for my sets. There was a great demand by DJ’s, but I preferred to keep a slight selfishness and save it for myself until I thought it was time to share it with everyone!


The Boss ‘Congo’ (D Max Mix)

David Morales, along with Sep Pettibone, represents to me something like the starting point in my career as a remix producer and also a fine example of music to be observed. David brought the feeling of underground house to pop music and at the same time, the consistent format of pop to the house music. It enriched the dancefloors with pearls that will never be forgotten for the next 50 years. I could not make this album without quoting him somehow, so I chose something that was also part of my history. In this case it happened in New York when I saw him DJing in the 90’s at the former Tunnel. David had just created ‘Congo’ and at the time he played it with acetate. The moment I heard this crazy mix of samba beats, pianos, organs, minor chords and samples of ‘raise your hands’ I knew it would make the crowd scream. I had no doubt that it was something created by him and it was only a few months after that the vinyl appeared. I have never stopped playing it and not it fits perfectly on this record.




DJ Chus & Supernova ‘Carnavalesco’ (Original InStereo Mix)

I always liked Chus, since his first release on Defected in the early 2000’a. The richness of his percussion arrangements is enviable, even to any Latino producer. This song could not be missed, both for the quality of the programming, the name of the track that leads directly to my country and also the sample of ‘MacArthur Park’ by Donna Summer, one of my all time favourite tracks. When I heard the sample mixed with percussion, I had no doubt that it would be a timeless track for me and now this feeling is registering to this album.


Hanna Hais ‘Rosa Nova (Produced by Sergio Flores)’ (Sergio Flores 2010 Re-medix)

Couldn’t be more perfect; my dear French friend and my dear Austrian/Brazilian friend. It is a good starter and Sergio managed to improve the original version that he produced in 2005 which I now use as a ‘dance-floor saver’ whenever it is needed! Nobody can resist when the bass appears from the sound system. One word: Classic!

Defected In The House Brazil '11 is out 31st January - click to listen & pre-order