Lefto

In order to really understand what Lefto is all about, you ´ll have to shape up your French. His name was given by his homeboys when they used to go out ‘writing’. Always the first to awaken the next morning, this early bird was called ´lève tôt´ which literally means ´gets up early´. So there you have the offspring of what this man stands for: being alert and always looking for those fresh vibes you discover at dawn, while the rest´s still sleepin´ on ‘em. In 1996, with his father getting him his first set of decks on a bank-loan and Akro, of Starflam-fame, teaching him the basics, young Lefto had something to prove. And he sure did. Growing up on his father´s jazz-collection and the boombap on the streets; the eagerness to know where it all came from became a passionate quest. In search of a way to support his living, he was offered a chance at the Music Mania recordstore in Brussels. The now legendary chain of three Music Mania-stores steadily made it´s name as being thé spot to discover new talent, new genres and, of course, new releases. Ten years on their payroll made Lefto’s 6th sense for dopeness sharpen even more and so it can hardly be called a surprise, that for nine years, he has been the dj and composer of ‘De Hop’ on Studio Brussel; the only HipHop-radioshow nationally broadcasted. Evidently, the show fed his fame and opened new doors, so he has been co-running the infamous B9000-label (BE) that released music by Count Bass D, Kazi & Ohno, dj Grazzhoppa, Dj Revolution, Kankick, Declaime and many others. He’s also co-programming festivals like Dour (BE) and Democrazy-events (BE). Both are known for pushing boundaries and breaking genre-barriers. De Hop just finished it’s last season, but that doesn’t mean Lefto won’t be on national radio anymore. On the contrary. Every Thursday-night, he will guest-appear and be presenting an album of the week, a special movie on the ‘innernetz’ or an interesting book in a new program called ‘Select’. Even better news is that he’s getting his own show, called ‘Lefto’ on Sunday. So make sure to tune in between 8 and 10 PM. Being so much in love with music, Lefto couldn´t resist starting to produce himself. Releases so far, include the Eardrums EP with Jerboa (still sought after in Japan), a contribution to the Nine-compilation (distributed by Rush Hour) and a remix-album for the world-famous Blue Note-label (also still on high demand). ‘Out Of the Blue’, as it is called, saw him and his long-time companion Krewcial remixing some of their favourite tracks from the Blue Note vaults. Just recently he released a limited 7”, re-editing Fela Kuti and Gyedu Blay into blazing fire! Again available through Rush Hour. So he’s a producer, a programmer and a radio-dj. But foremost, Lefto always will be a dj that goes out to move crowds. Amongst his fans, you’ll find Gilles Peterson, who praises him for his eclecticism and ultratight mixing-skills. So it can hardly be surprising he became an official resident for the Worldwide Festivals, part of the Brownswood family and a regular writer for the Gillespetersonworldwide-blog. After playing literally all over Belgium, Lefto has been steadily makin’ a name for himself worldwide. Last year he’s been invited to radio-shows and festivals throughout the eastern hemisphere and rocked decks from almost every European capital to Seoul and Tokyo. This fall he hooked up with his fam in L.A. and S.F. to play at the reknowned Low End Theory and the Do Over…To list àll the artists who he played alongside and is acquainted with, would just be wày to big a burden, but word on the streets is that he even has a direct line to Lord Quas(imoto)… Needless to say that one has to earn chances like those mentioned and since words can´t tell it all, make sure to witness one of his critically acclaimed sets! If you need a supersolid hiphop-party that takes you back and forth into the dopest breaks, beats and rhymes ever recorded; this man will juggle and scratch them together on high speed, giving your public barely a moment to catch a breath. But, if you´re about giving dj´s artistic freedom, Lefto will tear down the roof with his diversity and your crowd will be bouncing to reggae, breaks, beats, dubstep, deep-house, drum ´n´ bass, broken beats and some wild bossa-fire! All of that, blended by his unique mixing-techniques, firmly rooted in those energetic hiphop-skills. May we humbly advise you to pleasure yourself with this experience? You can thank us later…(By Midleft - Kicksnare.be)