About Me
Orale, Hola, Che, Biatch, What's Up, Hello,
My names is. . .well that depends on which of my Gemini personalities I am. I can be the notorious El Flaco from the Echo Parque Perahnas, or the ever-so-sexy Pepe the latin lover, then there is Chaplin MXR. . .always in the mix and yada-ya, Uncle Joe. . .the favorite uncle who is still playing in the school yard, Coach Manahan. . .always trying the bring the boy's high school volleyball team, and myself, to the highest level possible. . .and there there is just plain old Joe. . .but that is who contains all of my personalities as one.My name is Joseph Manahan but most people just call me Joe. My dj name is Chaplin MXR but some people call me Pepé or Pepécito. I was born and raised in Echo Park. I am a dj, a musician, a producer, a teacher, a loving husband, and a coach. As a dj I first had access to turntables in elementary school. My best friend’s older brother was a dj that played old school hip-hop, rap, early electronica, and booty party music. I first began to spin, like most, for friends and family; sometimes for a buck but other times at any cost. . .me and a friend once had to roll his brother's equipment home at night, on skateboards, and through Echo Park during the late 80's.In 1996 I finally became serious and acquired my first turntables. I then began to build my electronic music collection. Since that time I have been consistently djing locally between Echo Park and Ojai. In town I have played various clubs and parties, for example I've played the Echo, Short Stop, Tangiers, Club SoHo, Hollywood Athletic Club, Deep, Falcon, Cinespace, and Borders; plus I have played countless house parties in great locations all over Los Angeles and abroad. Away from home I played in cities like Cozumel & Cabo San Lucas (México), Manuel Antonio (Costa Rica), San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Rosa, New York City, Seattle, Costa Rica, and Vancouver (British Columbia).More recently, I have been playing Burning Man related venues. I played the 2004 LA BM Decompression Party, OBOP, or Ojai Bureau of Pleasure’s Decompression Party, and events with projectalma.org (a.k.a. Cat’s Cradle & Prism Series).What makes me special as a dj is my ability to mix. I have a unique style of mixing that I refer to as MXR. In it, I create live vinyl remixes by playing one record through the next. I play two songs as one, as opposed to transitioning from one record to the next. I find two tracks that complement one another well, keeps them in the mix, and then play with the sounds. I have a labeling system that I mark my records with and it gives a good idea of what kind of music I play: MXR mixer, Gr groover, Dp deep, Pg progressive, H house, F funky, Bn bouncer, Cr creeper, St stomper, D desert, R raver, T trancer, Pt party, V vocal, Pk peaker, At atmospheric, Sp spacey, Ph phat, Bs bass, Jz jazzy, Bk break, U up, & Fn fun to name most. The MXR in Chaplin MXR represents this style of being 90% in the mix.Along with being a dj, I have been a musician in one form or another for most of my life life. Coming from a family of musicians, I first played guitar, then saxophone, and finally piano before settling on. . .the bassoon! After playing my bassoon into college, I began to play my turntables, and now, my laptop. Transitioning into the producing and recording world has been smooth, and after completing my first projects with Compound Sound and Tiger Sun, I have finally sold my first track. My music is a combination of progressive electronicic beats, live bass, percussions, and avant-garde female vocals. This has been my primary focus for over a year and as I move forward in the mix, my records and laptop are become more and more intertwined, or. . .MXR
