QZEN

After cutting her teeth on San Francisco's underground music scene throughout the 1990s with photography, graphic/web design, and event promotion, Qzen commenced her DJ career as the decade closed. With a nod to the classics, she's delved deep into the forefront of future music, allowing crowd reaction to direct--but not dictate--her selection.

In her eight years of experience, Qzen's skills as a DJ have taken her to Canada and Mexico, as well numerous cities in the US. In the early '00s, she expanded her repertoire from her drum & bass roots to a hybrid of tech-house, electro, and techno, shirking genre to incorporate countless party-jams-waiting-to-be-played.

Qzen spent many years investing in drum & bass culture with the female-run production collective Groundscore and their internationally recognized weekly, Eklektic. Since 1997, the ladies of Groundscore have pushed the music far and wide: in addition to producing one of the longest running drum & bass weeklies in San Francisco's history, they orchestrated various one-off events--including a handful in Miami during the Winter Music Conference--featuring top headliners such as Kemistry & Storm, Andy C, and Grooverider, as well as favorites Fierce, Marcus Intalex, and Klute.

2004 saw success with another project: The Invisibles, a live "electro-punk" band comprised of Alex Posell (a.k.a. renowned producer/DJ Abstract) on drums/production, vocalist/keyboardist Kimi Recor, and Qzen on synth/backing vocals. After the release of the "BlahBlahBlah EP" on DJ Hell's International Deejay Gigolo label, the group continued to receive great response to their live shows before geographic circumstances created their current hiatus. Also in 2004, Qzen's vocal collaboration with techno producer John Tejada, entitled "Sweat (On the Walls)," was released on Poker Flat; the record ranked number one for two months straight in Germany's Groove Magazine and continues to get play worldwide.

2005 saw the release of three more singles with Tejada: "Paranoia" & "Sucre," available on his own label Palette Recordings, and a remix of Christopher Just's "Disco Dancer" out now on the aforementioned Gigolo. ("Paranoia" was called out as one of Pitchfork's Top Ten Techno tracks of the year.) Qzen launched a new party, Moxie, with partner Bryan James and in conjunction, has a weekly radio show, Moxie Musik, on westaddradio.com (airs live Sundays 9-11PM from San Francisco). She traveled to France & Germany to perform with Tejada and had the opportunity to rock the SF Love Parade on two floats, playing both drum & bass and tech-house.

In 2006, she appeared on Dirty Bird Records as the voice on "Lullabye" by Claude VonStroke, currently available on his Beware of the Bird album. She also decided to scale back on promoting parties and DJing to focus on being a student of music production. 2008 has seen the release of her first studio work, alongside the 40 Thieves, for revered label Permanent Vacation. Currently, Qzen works as iTunes's Dance & Electronic Music Editor and continues to host the Moxie Musik radio show. With her passion for deep, technical, versatile music and a talent for moving the audience, Qzen's DJ sets are not to be missed.

Mixes:

Discography:

Apr 2008 Permanent Vacation Records - 40 Thieves Don't Turn It Off EP
Jul 2006 Dirtybird Records - Claude VonStroke feat. Qzen "Lullabye" from the album Beware Of The Bird
Dec 2005 Palette Recordings - John Tejada feat. Qzen "Sucre"
Nov 2005 Int'l Deejay Gigolo Records - Christopher Just "I'm A Disco Dancer (John Tejada Remix)"
Apr 2005 Palette Recordings - John Tejada "Paranoia"
Nov 2004 Poker Flat Recordings - John Tejada "Sweat (On The Walls)"
Note: All track names are links to iTunes, though these releases should be available on Beatport, as well.