Rad Medicine

Dave Pianka

by A.D. Amorosi

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Published: Mar 7, 2007

Photo By: Michael T. Regan (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)   Read Michael T. Regan's commentary

There are a few things you'll pick up on when talking to David "Dave P." Pianka, Philadelphia's primary proponent of "cocainesexjamspartytrainanthemsbeautifulrainbowssparklemotionnitemusicbangers."

The first thing is that nearly everything the DJ/producer/remixer/party thrower/RVNG label owner says and does comes with exclamation points.

"This year is gonna be a rager!" says Pianka, 31. He's got DataRock and Presets booked for March 30's Making Time at Pure, and Klaxons and Bonde do Role scheduled for April 14's Soulwax party at Transit.

Pianka is equally excited about his monthly Click Saturdays at Medusa ("It's like Berlin!"), his Fixed events at Studio B in Manhattan and Miami ("Massive!"), and his festival hotel parties with R5's Sean Agnew during SXSW Winter Music Conference and Coachella.

"Oh shit! The party Sean and I are doing in the desert for Coachella is called Sandstorm after the infamous trance track. We have 2manydjs booked. I think it could become the next Burning Man!"

And? "Oh ... I think I might start wearing glasses."

So the second thing must be that he likes to list all the things that he does. And the third thing is that everything Pianka does is either rad, or it's going to get rad very soon. "I'm getting rad right now," he says with a laugh.

That radness would include not only the thick, fast electro tracks that appear on his new mix CD Go Commando for the Defend label, but those remixes he and his production partner, Adam Sparkles, have coming out on other labels — like Bloc Party's "Hunting for Witches," Holy Hail's "Big Guns" trek and their Klaxons' "Atlantis to Interzone" remix for the French label Kitsune.

RVNG's also got a new mix CD from Justine D of New York City's notorious Mother Fucker parties and a 12-inch by Mock and Toof of DFA fame. The igetrvng.com Web site will also host scads of rad, hot Pianka mixes.

More lists. "More mixes!"

These raging remixes are in demand for their spine-tingling highs, bone-rattling lows, freakish speed gulps and melody-conscious breaks. On Go Commando, the way Pianka rethinks 120 Days' "Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)" and the effortless way that remix trickles into Brazilian techno master Gui Boratto's "Like You" is priceless.

"Hmmm ... other than that ... I've really been into morning classical on WPRB," says Pianka.

All of the above would just be braggadocio if it weren't for his 10-year stand in Philadelphia clubland, where Pianka has made a case for himself as this city's sexiest spinner. That is, if you — like me — go for hard, fast drugs and dank, dark clubs. Pianka's music isn't for the faint of heart or the "Ray of Light" crowd. There is no light to Pianka's music. That is, unless you mean black light.

Pianka's cocainesexjams etc. are meant for that cold-sweat moment after you've stumbled from the dancefloor after sucking up nitrous into your nostrils, chewed a chunk of amber crystal meth, swallowed a Sparks with a Jager chaser and are ready to get blowjobbed in the bathroom.

 

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