Lost City Nights

Justin Marshall

Justin started buying records in 1996 simply because he liked them and as a natural progression, bought his first set of decks on his 19th birthday half a year or so later. His inspiration were the great epic-house DJs of the early 90s such as John Digweed, Sasha and Dave Seaman, and his tastes have since moved through trance (before it went mainstream!), big beat, progressive house, break beat and onto the uplifting funky house sound he champs today. Todays heroes could count Darren Emmerson, Pete Tong and all less-famous funky DJs who rock the smaller venues in London week in week out.

His first gigs were in an all-girls university halls of residence in London, in the bar managed by his friend Dinah. Parties such as the Halloween special where he played all night dressed in a Scream mask are now legendary, and established a fan base amongst the students of London who came and supported him as he played around the unions of LSE, Kings and ULU as well as countless messy parties! He organised a one-off Neverneverland party at the White Horse in Brixton whilst waiting for Simon to return from the jungle.

Justin enjoys playing to the crowd and likes to play at different times of the night each month, be it a commercial edged set early on or some more driving numbers towards the end. You'll often see him going back to back with co-promoter Simon building up their set from techy breaks influenced tunes to full-on rocking house anthems. You may have even been lucky enough to witness them doing just that in Miami this March during the Winter Music Conference, poolside at the famous Creek Hotel.

You can catch Justin at venues like the Whitehouse and Bar Local in Clapham or at his own Lost City Nights parties, and also on www.code.fm radio show, Wednesdays at 10pm (GMT).

Current top ten (October 2006):

Young Punx – Young and Beautiful (Laurent Konrad mix)
perfect for the Clapham crowd!!

Lifelike and Kris Menace – Discopolis ( Vulture )
Moody “big room Ibiza” tune

Last Rhythm - Last Rhythm (Martin ten Velden remix) ( Renaissance )
Just cant stop loving this remake of a classic

Christopher and Raphael Just – Popper ( Kitsune )
bouncy bouncy bouncy

Infadels – Love Like Semtex (Mr B remix) ( Wall of Sound )
Love the band, love the remix

Lo-Rider – Skinny ( Absolution )
electro house with vocals that work!

Sessomatto – Movin' On ( Z Records )
Joey Negros latest (but one) offering maybe if you don't count Akabu…

Hoxton Whores – Lost In Ibiza
Constantly producing tunes with fat basslines, this double sider doesn't disappoint

Jody Wisternoff – Cold Drink, Hot Girl ( Distinctive )
Way Out West man delivers electro prog

Trophy Twins & Funkagenda (FATT) – Pete Loves Rat ( Pop Pop )
what does the name mean?

and have to squeeze in

Keane – Is It Any Wonder (Tall Paul and Dave Parkinson remix)
really good floor filler - chicks love stuff like this

Old top ten from September 2004 but with sound clips you might enjoy!

Faithless - No Roots (Cheeky)
The whole album I'm listing here, as the sleeve notes say, their most melodic to date, the title track being my fave at the moment

Shpongle - Beija Flor (Twisted)
Jazzy uplifting breaks with a summery feel.

Freestylers - Push Up (Against The Grain)
Slightly obvious choice, but a guaranteed floor filler, Bomba/Paolo mix for the funky house heads, Plumps for the dubby breaks mix

Spektrum - Kinda New (Tiefschwarz Mix)
Massive Ibiza club tune, sounds so good on a huge system!

NERD - She Wants To Move (Basement Jaxx remix) (Virgin)
Been after this mix for a while, and it was worth it, great reaction at the last LCN!

Tears for Fear - Change (Joey Negro remix) (Mercury)
Great evolving electro disco funky acid tune!

Junior Jack - Stupid Disco (Defected)
Hands-in-the-air funky house at its best!

Groove Hustlers - Upfront! (White)
A vocally old tune given an up to date remix

Spoiled - All I Know (D Ramirez "Old School" Mix) (Intra)
More old school feel with a sound unlike anything I've heard in a while!

Chable and Bonnici - Ride (Alternative Route)
Needs little introduction - a future classic!

Contact Justin through his Don't Stay In page - click here!

Simon Ross

Simon caught the house music bug in the mid-1990s and has been DJing for over four years now. His style ranges from pumping progressive to more laidback house, and he is building a strong following for his unique ‘Space Age Breaks’ sounds. It’s too hard to describe so you’ll have to listen to the mix below to get a flavour!

His first foray into the murky world of club promotion came at university, where he organised Re-Educate, a successful charity club night at his Students’ Union. Gracing the decks were Graham Gold, James Holden, Ashley Casselle, Rowan Blades and Andy Morris – probably the best line up of DJs ever witnessed in a Student’s Union!

Simon currently runs a record label called Heavy Rotation (www.heavyrotation.co.uk) which has been described as "one of the best progressive labels to emerge from the UK in recent years" (M8 Magazine) and is getting support from the world’s leading DJs (Hernan Cattaneo "wicked stuff…thanks a lot!").

Email: simon "at" heavyrotation.co.uk
Mobile: 07905 888865

You can check out Simon’s "Space Age Breaks" mix here: http://www.streamload.com/sross/SpaceagebreaksII/spaceagebreaksII.ram

…and a more progressive mix here: http://www.skoolhouse.com/realaudio/intercontinental2.ram

How it all started

Justin met Simon in a DJ competition they both entered, and this led to Justin getting involved in, and playing along side the pro's at Simon’s star-studded Re-Educate night as mentioned above.

Inspired and ready for more, they had ever since been promising to set up their own regular night to showcase their love of all things house and give other new DJs the chance to experience the joy of playing out. Lost City Nights is the culmination of months of searching out the perfect bar in the right location, and after two Thursday night “trials”, they were finally let loose on Saturday nights in February 2004, feeling somewhat that there is a lack of decent progressive house nights on a Saturday. Justin and Simon made a good attempt to rectify this problem by hosting these inexpensive lively nights once a month with the music keeping a fresh mixture of all styles of house music.

But as all good things must evolve to stay alive, so did Lost City Nights. So starting from July in Clapham, the new idea is to try lots of varied parties, details of which you will find elsewhere on this site! But wherever it is, as they say, you’ll probably like it!