THREE’S THE
CHARM!
Can house music’s most unruly and passionate trio, SOS, take unimaginative
DJs to task with their sweeping new double mix CD for Ministry of Sound,
and rescue us from boring compilations?
Applying new techniques to old school values, they’re raising the stakes and
breathing new life into the format. DJmag investigates how Omid, Desyn and
Demi are thinking outside the box…
Words: BEN MURPHY Pics: DAN REID
hree is the magic number. Or at least, it’s a pleasing symmetry and favoured flavours. The first is intended as the most realistic reflection
T
for the tripartite formation of tech-house DJs Omid 16B, of one of their sets at the club, the trio at their most compulsive and fresh.
Desyn Masiello and Demi — who unite as SOS.
Each one is an electronic music heavyweight. Omid 16B has “The concept was really all about the club,” says Omid Nourizadeh, an
been a fixture on the UK dance scene since the early-’90s, Anglo-Persian South Londoner, and the most outspoken and jovial of the
first as producer of acclaimed 12”s like ‘Paris’ and ‘Sex Drive’ on tech-house three. “Ministry wanted to launch a CD series based on some of the great
imprint Alola, then of classic albums ‘Sounds From Another Room’ (Eye Q, nights they have, and some of the DJs they’re really into. Trying to get more
2001) and ‘How To Live 100 Years’ (Hooj Choons, 2002), and now for his interest in the club I guess, although I don’t think they need it! We started
label Sexonwax. doing a residency for them a little while back, and our nights were doing
Desyn Masiello is a huge draw as a DJ in his own right, regularly touring the well so they asked us to start the series.”
globe on a solo tip, and releasing rated mix CDs for Balance and Yoshitoshi, In a manner of speaking the elder statesman of SOS, with 20 years in the
while Demi made an indelible print on dance music history as a producer scene, Omid takes the role of lead spokesperson, throwing in jokes and
and curator of the Deeper Substance label and parties of the same name. comical asides. Despite the importance of all the members of SOS having
But it’s together that the three of them are at their strongest, when their equal billing, it sometimes seems that there’s a deference to him; it may be
combined skills become greater than the sum of their parts. As a trio, SOS his years in the game, it may be his more forceful character, but both the
have become infamous for their monumental DJ sets, where all three have others seem to regard him as the lynchpin of the three.
equal billing in rhythm voyages that traverse all manner of grooves, from Italian-English Desyn Masiello — suited and booted, looking sharp — is a
disco to techno, progressive to breaks, leaving no stone unturned in a little more reserved today than his compadres. It transpires that he’s got to
endless quest to uncover the funk in the most unlikely places. catch a flight in a couple of hours, but fully engages with the interview,
becoming animated when a subject fires his imagination.
Though it’s sometimes tricky to get the lads together in one place at the “It’s a good move of Ministry to do this compilation, especially tied in with
same time, as DJmag discovers, when you do, they’re some of the warmest, the residency. That’s why it makes sense, it feeds back into the club,” he
friendliest and funniest people you could ever want to meet. remarks.
“SOS is the umbrella for everything else,” opines Greek-Cypriot Demi (real
name Artemis Hajigeorgiou), whose normally wild barnet has recently been
shorn back to a neat haircut. Today, he looks every bit the dapper gent, in a Cherry-picking
slick suit jacket for our cover shoot. “SOS is about making ourselves Ranging from the submersible house propulsions of new jack producers
stronger as individuals, it’s about getting together as a trio and being able Andre Lodemann, Glimpse and Motor City Drum Ensemble, to deeper cuts by
to split apart and being just as strong on your own. Anything we do bigwigs Steve Angello and Bushwacka!, the first CD mix cuts a stylish dash
individually has the same effect towards us as a group.” from the opening synthy, breaks-inflected ‘Mauna Kea’ by Satsuma to the
United, the three form a spooky symbiosis, a telepathic link forged through Balearic trance-speckled ‘Breakwater (EDX Ibiza Sunrise Mix)’ from fellow
years of practice and working together that makes them function as one MOS licentiate Funkagenda without breaking a sweat. The first disc
three-headed DJ hydra behind the decks. SOS don’t just pluck the coolest demonstrates SOS’s ability to bridge the chasms between underground and
cuts; they have an ear for what sounds right; an intuitive understanding of more commercial dance, and cherry-pick the best tracks regardless of their
how to bridge musical divides, to mix records properly, find the common provenance — an-all-too-rare thing in a dance music world where DJs too
ground between them, an ability to fashion a kinetic, frenetic surge often play it safe, sticking to what they know and playing their own tracks,
through electronic body moving beats, and make those blends come off ad infinitum.
correctly. “We’re simply sourcing what’s good out there,” shrugs Demi. “We can’t be
That, combined with their natural charisma, is undoubtedly why London’s pigeonholed into anything. It’s crazy when you have three DJs of a night
venerable clubbing institution, Ministry of Sound, has bagged them for a playing the same thing, you might as well just have one of those guys play
bi-monthly residency, and asked the amiable triumvirate to mix the first in from beginning to end, at least you know that you’ll get an interesting ride
their new mix CD concept. then.
‘Ministry of Sound The Club Present SOS’ (out 15th February on Ministry) is “The great thing about there being three of us, is that there’s more to put
a sweeping, panoramic double CD mix, amalgamating their many influences on the table. I must admit that I’m victim a little bit to DJ syndrome —
www.djmag.com
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DJ481.SOS feature.indd 25 11/12/09 13:29:46
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