A-Trak

A-Trak
A-trak press shot 2009 2.jpg
Background information
Birth name Alain Macklovitch
Born (1982-03-30) March 30, 1982 (age 31)
Origin Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Genres Electro house, hip hop
Years active 1997–present
Labels Fool's Gold
Thrive
Audio Research
Associated acts Kanye West, Boys Noize, Kid Cudi, Armand Van Helden, Jay-Z, Juicy J, Danny Brown, DJ Craze, Kid Sister, Travis Barker, Duck Sauce
Website Official website

A-Trak (born Alain Macklovitch; March 30, 1982) is a Canadian DJ, turntablist and owner of the record label Fool's Gold.

Life and career

Born in Montréal, Quebec and based in New York City, New York, A-Trak was the first DJ to win all three major DJ competition titles (DMC, ITF and Vestax), as well as being the first DJ to win five World Championships.[1] He won the DMC World DJ Championship in 1997 at the age of 15, making him the youngest and first Canadian winner of the competition.[2] He was an honorary member of the prestigious, now defunct DJ crew Invisibl Skratch Piklz,[3] and a member of The Allies alongside frequent collaborator DJ Craze.[4]

Macklovitch is the younger brother of David Macklovitch of the Montreal-based band Chromeo, with whom he ran the record label Audio Research from 1997–2007.[5] He, along with Nick Catchdubs then founded the Fool's Gold Records label in 2007.[6]

In the late 90's A-Trak developed a notation system for scratching.[7] He gave a lecture about it at the Skratchcon 2000 conference and published an article in Tablist Magazine.[8] He has also appeared on the cover of multiple magazines including Billboard, URB (twice), BPM and Status.[9][10]

In 2004 Kanye West recruited him as his personal tour DJ,[11] and he has worked closely with him ever since, including performances alongside the US rapper at MTV specials, the Grammy Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and worldwide stadium shows. A-Trak also recorded scratches on Kanye West’s second and third studio albums Late Registration in 2005 and Graduation in 2007, and was an influence on the overall sound of the latter.[12]

Over the years he has endorsed several brands including Serato Scratch Live,[13]Rane DJ equipment,[3] as well as clothing companies; Zoo York,[14]Lifted Research Group and Circa. In addition to endorsing outside brands, A-Trak himself has become a streetwear culture icon, collaborating with Nike, New Era, Kidrobot, and Zoo York. A-Trak also has a collaborative clothing line called “Sunglasses is a Must,”[15] and released his own toy "Grateful Bear" with Kid Robot in 2009.

He is known for merging the sounds of rap and electronic music through his remix work, his 2007 CD Dirty South Dance,[16] his production for Kid Sister and Lupe Fiasco, and his remixes for electronic artists including MSTRKRFT and Boys Noize.[17] The hit single by Kid Cudi, "Day 'n' Night", was released on an EP by A-Trak's label Fool's Gold.

In 2009, A-Trak collaborated with Armand Van Helden to form a disco house production duo under the stage name Duck Sauce. They released "aNYway" in October on Ministry of Sound. Other Duck Sauce tracks include "Grand Steppin", "The Motion", "You're Nasty", "Big Bad Wolf" and "Barbra Streisand". Duck Sauce has achieved massive success worldwide including reaching the top chart position in twelve countries and attaining the coveted #1 spot on the US Dance Billboard charts.

In February 2010, it was announced that A-Trak will perform live shows with Travis Barker who had previously worked with their mutual friend, the late DJ AM.[18]

In October 2010, he released a song entitled "Ray Ban Vision" with G.O.O.D. Music's CyHi Da Prynce.[19] This song has been used in the 2012 movie Project X.

On December 16, 2011, A-Trak performed an hour long opening set at Madison Square Garden in New York City as the opening act for Swedish House Mafia.

In 2012, A-Trak was featured on the cover of Billboard Magazine alongside Diplo and Skrillex.[20]

In April 2012, A-Trak, alongside Kimbra and Mark Foster, collaborated on a song, entitled "Warrior", together for Converse's 3 Artists, 1 song

In February 2013, A-Trak released the video for his "Piss Test" remix off of the Fool's Gold album. The video features appearances by Jim Jones, Juicy J, A$AP Ferg, El-P, Flatbush Zombies, Flosstradamus and is directed by Shomi Patwary. [21]

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Awards

  • 1997 : Or Technics / DMC World Champion (15 years old – youngest ever)[22]
  • 1998 : Argent Technics / DMC World 2nd Runner Up[23]
  • 1999 : Or ITF World Champion (Advancement category)[23]
  • 1999 : Or ITF Western Hemisphere Scratching Champion[23]
  • 1999 : Or Vestax World DJ Extravaganza Champion[23]
  • 2000 : Or ITF World Champion (Advancement category)[23]
  • 2000 : Or DMC Team Champion (with DJ Craze)[23]
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Discography

  • Gangsta Breaks (12")
  • Buck Tooth Wizards (CD)
  • Enter Ralph Wiggum (7")
  • Monkey Boy Breaks (12")
  • Don't Fool With The Dips (12")
  • Oh No You Didn't! Live From Vancouver (CD)
  • Drive Slow Mixtape w/ GLC (CD)
  • Sunglasses Is A Must (2006) (DVD)
  • Dirty South Dance (CD), Obey's 4th mixtape, limited to 5000 copies.
  • Running Man: Nike+ Original Run (2008) (Exclusive to iTunes)
  • FabricLive.45 (April 2009) (CD)
  • Infinity+1 (2009) (CD)
  • Dirty South Dance 2 (2010)
  • "Ray Ban Vision" feat. CyHi Da Prynce (2010)
  • "Stingray" w/ Zinc (2011)
  • "Warrior" with Mark Foster and Kimbra (2012)
  • "Piss Test" feat. Juicy J & Danny Brown (2012)
  • "Ray Ban Vision" (2012)
  • "Money Makin'" w/ Dillon Francis (2012)
  • "Like the dancefloor'" w/ Zinc feat. Natalie Storm (2012)
  • "Tuna Melt EP" (2012)
  • "Landline" feat.GTA
  • "Landline 2.0" feat.GTA (Adidas Originals 2013)
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Remixes

  • Laidback Luke & Sander van Doorn – Who's Wearing The Cap (A-Trak Remix)
  • Kanye West – Stronger (A-Trak Remix)
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix, Radio Edit, and Dub)
  • Tiga – What U Need (A-Trak Remix)
  • Robyn – Indestructible (A-Trak Remix and Radio Edit)
  • MSTRKRFT – Bounce (A-Trak Remix)
  • Sebastien Tellier – Kilometer (A-Trak Remix)
  • Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
  • Digitalism – Idealistic (A-Trak Remix)
  • The Count & Sinden – Beeper (A-Trak Remix)
  • Justice – D.A.N.C.E (A-Trak Remix) [For DJ Hero 2 Only]
  • Naughty By Nature "O.P.P" vs. Jackson 5 "ABC" (A-Trak Remix) [DJ Hero 2 Only]
  • The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love? (A-Trak Remix)
  • Martin Solveig - The Night Out (A-Trak Remix)
  • Surkin - Never Let Go (A-Trak Remix)
  • Justice - New Lands (A-Trak Remix)
  • Zedd - Spectrum (A-Trak & Clockwork Remix)
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See also

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References

  1. ^ "A-Trak Bio, Music, News & Shows". DJZ.com. Retrieved March 6, 2013. 
  2. ^ "1997 World DJ Champion – A-Trak (Canada)". Disco Mix Club. Retrieved Oct 1, 2009. 
  3. ^ a b "A-Trak". Rane Corp. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved Oct 1, 2009. 
  4. ^ "4idols.com DJ A-Trak Bio, Photo Gallery, and Videos". 4idols.com. MadCool Network LLC. Retrieved Oct 1, 2009. 
  5. ^ Audio Research Records[dead link]
  6. ^ "Fool'S Gold". Foolsgoldrecs.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  7. ^ "Online Turntable Music Resource – A-trak". Spin Science. 19 November 2004. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  8. ^ [1][dead link]
  9. ^ "A-Trak : Fat-free since 1982! » Blog Archive » Cover of Billboard Magazine!". Djatrak.com. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-05. 
  10. ^ "A-Trak : Fat-free since 1982! » Blog Archive » Cover of Status magazine". Djatrak.com. 12 May 2009. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  11. ^ "Featured Artist Profile: A-Trak : Frequency New York". Newyork.joonbug.com. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  12. ^ "A-Trak : : HARD New Year's Eve : December 31st, 2009". Hardfest.com. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  13. ^ "Artists – A-Trak". Serato.com. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  14. ^ "A-TRAK INTERVIEW – Articles – Sneaker Freaker Magazine". Sneakerfreaker.com. 23 November 2008. Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  15. ^ "Invalid Friend ID". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2010-05-12. [dead link]
  16. ^ "RA Reviews: A-Trak – Dirty South Dance (Album)". Residentadvisor.net. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  17. ^ "A-Trak Discography at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  18. ^ Montgomery, James (17 February 2010). "Travis Barker, A-Trak Talk About Their New Project, Tour – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News". Mtv. Archived from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  19. ^ Music: A-Trak Feat. CyHi Da Prynce “Ray Ban Vision” | Highsnobiety.com
  20. ^ "Skrillex, Diplo & A-Trak: The Billboard Cover Story". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-04-14. 
  21. ^ Minsker, Evan. "Video: A-Trak's "Piss Test" Remix With Jim Jones, Juicy J, El-P, Flatbush Zombies, Flosstradamus". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 26 February 2013. 
  22. ^ "DMC World DJ Champions". Dmcworld.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
  23. ^ a b c d e f "A-Trak". GigLocator. Retrieved 2010-05-12. 
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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: A-Trak
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Invisibl Skratch Piklz
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Last modified on 30 April 2013, at 20:05