Cedric Woo

I'd like to meet:

Dancin' with Myself

Music:

Cedric’s appetite for eclectic sounds can be traced throughout his musical and physical journeys.
He started to get involved as a radio DJ/music coordinator at Radio Campus Clermont-Ferrand, France, in the mid 90s, a privileged position which quickly turned into a full time job. His original background in psych rock and all things Jamaican quickly expanded to hip hop, funk and soul as he started to play local spots around Clermont, as well as organising his own events.
A one-year spell in New York City introduced him to the magical dance-floors of The Loft and Body & Soul, as well as a new found love in (spacey) disco music. A close friendship with mentor David Mancuso ensued; as a result, Cedric is now part of the Lucky Cloud team who put out the quarterly Journey to the Light parties in East London, which are absolutely unique in the UK.
After settling down in London in late 2000, Cedric founded the collective VOICES with kindred spirits DJ Alex and Ramar, and since then they have been playing and promoting deep house and disco with regular events all across London. The night is now internationally renowned, having welcomed DJs like Victor Rosado or Daniel Wang. After a brief hiatus in 06, the night is now ready to kick back with a new space and bijou sound system. Check this link for more info
Throughout the years, Cedric has developed a keen interest and knowledge in sound, attracted especially by the warmth of vintage analogue equipment. This led Cedric to start a new night in 2005, BEAUTY AND THE BEAT, with co DJs/promoters Jeremy Gilbert and Cyril Cornet, which he describes as “psychedelic soul”(from Pharaoh Sanders to Patrick Adams, the Smiths to Larry Heard, Ebo Taylor to Jay Dilla) played on an audiophile sound-system (Klipschorn speakers, Rogers Deluxe monoblocks amplifiers, E&S rotary mixer...). This venture proved to be an instant success and confirm Cedric’s title as being more of a party organiser than just a DJ. To be part of this family affair, join us here!
Apart from hosting his own parties, Cedric has played goodies in basements in New York, Seattle or Paris, opening for names like Kerri Chandler, Osunlade or Daniel Wang, and occasionally plays at the eclectic Balance club night at Plastic People alongside Abdul Forsyth, as well as other London nights, including Nikki Lucas’ Future Fusion or the (in)famous bigblackfagz parties. A trademark DJ set by Cedric Woo is ideally no shorter than 3 hours, and cannot be defined by genre or bpms. It will instead be an eclectic mix of jazz, rock, dub, brazilian, funk, afro, boogie, disco, italo, deep house and other leftfield nuggets, obscure grooves and forgotten classics, linked together to create an atmosphere of psychedelic heaven...a cross between Francois K’ spaced out sounds and Harvey’s all round eclecticism!
2005 was also the year that saw Cedric jump in the production field. After being selected for the Red Bull Music Academy in Seattle ( search for my mix here ) and sharing ideas/techniques with studio maestros like Osunlade or Marco Passarani, he is now actively aiming to translate his style onto wax. Unfortunately a year of work was lost in 06 due to IT miseries (!), but look out for candies to come out in the near future.
Here's the end of a mix (the last 3 hours anyway) I did earlier this year, during a music session night with Cyril from BATB:

Dancin' with Myself

Movies:

Chungking Express and anything by Wong Kar Wai, Drifting Clouds and anything by Aki Kaurismaki, Down By Law and anything by Jim Jarmush, Close Up and anything by Abbas Kiarostami, Orphee by Jean Cocteau, La Maman Et La Putain by Jean Eustache, L'Annee Derniere A Marienbad by Resnais, The Return by Andrei Zvyagintsev, Badlands by Terence Malick, the masterful Gerry, Elephant and Last Days trilogy by Gus Van Sant, More by Barbet Schroeder, Blow Up and Zabriskie Point by Antonioni, After Hours, Mean Streets and Raging Bull by Scorcese, Jules and Jim and almost every Truffaut, Bande-a-Part and quite a few other Godard...
Also anything by the Dardenne brothers, Park "Old Boy" Chan-Wook and Akira Kurosawa, Agnes Varda, Claire Denis, Bertrand Blier, John Cassavettes, David Lynch; Performance and Don't Look Now by Nicholas Roeg...the list is endless and that's a blessing.
"Seven Burials" by Tommy Lee Jones has to be the best movie that came out in 2006. The masterpiece of the new century so far has to be "Hidden" by Michael Haneke.
Also heads up to the man Robert Altman, one of my fave directors, who even managed to bow out with a little bijou, "Prairie Home Companion". Go back and watch movies like Three Women, The Long Goodbye, Nashville and Short Cuts and pay tribute to a true original. RIP Bob!
Recently "discovered" Ben Hopkins' "The 9 Lives of Thomas Katz": this has to be the most original film I've seen in years. Funny, clever and crazy + amazing job on the editing.
Also Herzog's Fata Morgana, hallucinogenic images for a political statement -amazing, and Bunuel's Viridiana -the man has balls, and is hilarious (the "picture" scene!) Best movie so far in 07 for me is "The Golden Door" by Emanuele Crialese, very subtle, funny, surreal and cruel, and majestically shot by Agnes Godard.

Television:

Only used for sports...not very glorious, but at least no Eastenders or CNN...

Books:

My ultimate masterpiece: "Angels on a Needle's' Pin" by Iouri DroujnikovOtherwise writers like Paul Auster, Russel Banks, Celine, Borges, Beckett, Romain Gary, Jean Genet, Guy Debord, Castaneda, Aldous Huxley, Dennis Cooper, Selby Jr, Will Self, Jonathan Coe, Toni Morrisson ('Jazz'!), Peter Sloterdjik,...plus a lot of reads about music (people and history) and altered states ;)Lately I've been into Mezz Mezzrow - Really the Blues, Don De Lillo - Great Jones Street, Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master & Margarita, Bret Easton Ellis - Lunar Park, Dostoievski - The Double, henty Miller - The Colossus Of Maroussi, Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra (much better read at 30 than 20!)

Heroes:

They all disappointed me...