About Me
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Ira K. has been DJing throughout the Midwest and a few other states including his new home of Florida, since the late 90's. Raised just outside of Chicago he spent a great deal of time as a teenager being a member of the local punk, ska, rock and industrial scenes. He sang in several bands throughout his school days, was even a member of the school band. He has always been a singer and played piano by ear. In high school Ira began going to raves almost every weekend where he fell in love with electronic music. He never gave up his passion or interest in any of the other scenes and music that he was into, but accumulated them and used them to his advantage as a way of expressing himself. He found that every area of music has a place on the soundtrack to one's life. Where most of his Chicago peers grew to love House muisc (which he does as well) he really took a liking to trance, techno and hardcore, largely due to one of his local hometown heroes DJ and Producer Dan Efex. When he began making CD's and playing at parties Ira would try and set himself aside from others who he played with by always coming up with interesting openings and combining things that many might not ever consider putting together. Whether it be his Suzanne Vega intro., or mixing The BeeGee's "Staying Alive" with some hard acid techno, or simply starting out with the Rocky anthem "Eye of the Tiger" and seamlessly switching it into dark brooding atmospheric techno, his sets have always been fun, energetic, even borderline evil with an occasional element of cheese. Ira K. loves playing for friends and fans, for it is they who drive him to continue taking his love for music and finding unique and interesting ways to share it with the masses. His sets can go anywhere from trance, to UK hard house, with a little bit of breaks, to hardcore, and straight-up jack'n acid thechno. He has a major love for the British Acid Techno and Trance scenes and is never shy of a 303 line. He is also never afraid to throw in a little bit of industrial here and there. Ira K. goes where the people want to hear him. If he can play for a crowd of 1000 and 100 leave enjoying what they have heard, he is happy and feels that he has done his job. This is never the case however since after he first began really playing out in Bloomington Illinois, he was at a party or rave almost every weekend. His goal is to expose people to music they might not typically hear at a party or club and his CD's are an extentsion of the experience. Some of his CD's reflect his other passions in electronic music showcasing his abilty to mix other genres than he might be recognized for when playing live.
He has released 3 mixed CD's which he has produced and mixed all on his own. Ira enjoys doing his own pressing, sleeve art and distribution. Not that he is a control freak or anything, he just enjoys experiencing a little bit of everything there is to experience, just the way he likes his music! He also has a number of other CD's that he has not made available to the public yet, but will be more than glad to make copies of. Although he has not officially released any original material, he has been working extensively at home and plans to have something available shortly. Ira has made several moves over the past few years and is waiting to officially ground himself and stay put before commiting to any heavyily invested efforts.
Here is a list of the mixed CD's with brief descriptions that Ira K. has released:
Ira K. : Keta-Tonic (CD)
Released: May, 10 2002
Detail: This is a dark and twisted 15 track mixture of epic and acid trance and techno tunes. This one will surely put you in a tizzy as it opens with an acapella version of "Tom's Diner" and heads off in a "Keta-Tonic" direction from there.
Ira K. : aCID cHASER (CD)
Released: Feb, 22 2001
Label: I.R.A. (Independent Recording Artist)
Detail: A mixture of hard acid trance and techno, some epic, some just relentless tweak'n. There is also a taste of NRG and UK hardhouse as well as some hard progressive to spice up the mix.
Ira K. : Above the Table (CD)
Released: Jan, 15 2000
Label: I.R.A. (Independent Recording Artist)
Detail: This first mix album is hard acid techno and trance. An 11 track sample of nonstop 303 energy and a taste of things to come. Music aside, I am originally from Chicago (really Buffalo Grove) Illinois, and have lived in Peoria, IL, as well as in Racine/Kenosha Wisconsin for a minute. I am back in Ocala and working on writing childrens books that are kind of a combination of Dr. Seuss Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton. I enjoy playing the piano, singing, creating music, mixing records, reading, writing, photography working with children, and I have a great appreciation for camping and the outdoors. I would love to teach grade school if I don't become an Mtv rock-star, and would like to get some of my writing published. I enjoy cooking and could enjoy putting some of my culinary skills to the test in a professional setting. I have been DJing at raves as IRA K. for over 5 years, as well as competed on Mtv's failed reality series "FEAR". I also worked as an on-air talent for 99X FM in Peoria Illinois while attending Bradley University. INTERESTS I am interested in the opposite sex because girls are interesting. When I am not found easily amused by woman I enjoy music, listening to it, making it, singing along with it, in any way shape or form. I also enjoy writing in my free time, going out to bars and other more intellectually challenging social arenas such as concerts, shows, museums, Barnes and Noble and restaurants. I'm addicted to Hot Wings, Gyros, Italian Beefs which are nowhere to be found around here and have a zest for ethnic cuisine, particularly Japanese and Chinese. I would like to think I get outdoors enough since I grew up camping in the mid-west regularly, but that aint happening much these days. I am interested in all fields of art and entertainment and spend a fair amount of time absorbed by them as well. Oh, I musn't fail to mention that Halloween is not just a one day a year holiday for me, it is an everyday experience, all year 'round and I find vampires and gothic girls damn sexy. MUSIC Big in to music. I love it all, but am most often found listening to Industrial, Punk (Emo, Pop and the rest), and Alternative with a collection that covers some New Age, scores, Blues, Jazz and show tunes. Barely own any Rap, have a little Hip-Hop and NO country. I am also a DJ who Loves to hear and play Trance, Acid Techno, Acid Trance, anything Hard, Tribal or Psychedelic. I dig House (I am from Chicago), Jungle, Breaks, Downtempo and most other electronic genres. Groups: The Cure, The Misfits, Samhain, The Pixies, New Order, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Jane's Addiction, Morphine, Lords of Acid, KMFDM, The Smiths, Thrill Kill Kult, Alkaline Trio, Slapstick, Less than Jake, Operation Ivy, Oblivion, The Queers, Smoking Popes, Face to Face, Screeching Weasel, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Pantera, Tool, NOFX, Bad Religion, Psychedelic Furs, EMF, Jesus Jones, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Apocalypse Hoboken,Skank'n Pickle, Sublime, Faith No More, 311, Radio Head, Dead Can Dance, Doves, Her Space Holiday, The Sugarcubes, Bjork, Moby, The Postal Service, The Flaming Lips, Ben Folds (with or without the 5), Regina Spektor, Brand New, The Used, Social Distortion, Sunny Day Real Estate, Blink 182, Thrid Eye Blind, Finch, The Starting Line, Taking Back Sunday, Something Corporate, Dashboard Confessional, Beastie Boys, Skinny Puppy, Die Warzau, Front Line Assembly, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb Run DMC, Leonard Coen, Agelo Badalamenti, Danny Elfman, Jaw Box, Phish, Dave Mathews Band, Bob Marley, Sizzla, BB King, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sting, Seal...the list is endless, oh yeah and I own Lion King sdtk. Electronic music: The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin (AFX, Richard James), Sneaker Pimps, Portishead, Thievery Corporation, Orbital, U.N.K.L.E., Future Sound of London, Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook, Mighty Dub Katz), The Prodigy, Kid Koala, The Avalanches, Massive Attack, Noteable DJ's: Dan Efex, Delta 9, Terry Mullan, Hyperactive, Robert Armani, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Chris Liberator as well as Aaron and Julian, Dave the Drummer, Roland the Bastard, Geezer (Guy McAffer) Lawrie Immersion, DDR, Choci, Mishka, Ant and any of the other 303 junkies. NOTED LABELS: Stay Up Forever, Smitten, Routemaster, Choci's Chewns, VCF, VCR, Hydraulix, 4x4, Blackout Audio, Cluster, Infected, Bang On, Bionic Orange, Havok, Cannon, Public House Ltd., Yolk, Eve, Telica, X-Trax, Dust Traxx... I'll get back to ya. MOVIES- I love all types of movies, horror (both suspense and the bloody gory ones), children's movies, comedies, foreign films, anime and most everything in-between. Here are a few.. Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas, True Romance, The Crow, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Donnie Darko, Human Traffic, Natural Born Killers, Twin Peaks -Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway, Trainspotting, The Gift (Perry Ferrell indie), Basketball Diaries, Drugstore Cowboy, Gleaming the Cube, The Hudsucker Proxy, Big Trouble in Little China, The Fifth Element, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th's, Halloween, Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses, Devils Rejects, Hell Raiser (1&2 most), Night Breed, Jacob's Ladder, In Dreams, Event Horizon, Lost Boys, The Exorcist (My cousin directed it), Aliens, The Star Wars films, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Legend, The Goonies, Fantasia, The Lion King, Akira, Ghost in the Shell. Ninja Scroll... TV Haven't gotten too into many shows in recent years, but I have been briefly addicted to shows like... The Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Home Movies and most other Adult Swim shows. I aslo have room on occasion for C.S.I. (original, Miami then NY), King of Queens, The Law and Order shows, Crossing Jordan and I'm sure there are more. My favorite show of all time and I don't know why they don't resurrect it or put it out on DVD is... LIQUID TELEVISION! MY HERO My Grandfather, although he is gone he will always be my irreplaceable hero. Nuff said.
