Talking with Team Rojas

The annual CMJ Music Marathon is so packed with events that its hard impossible to pick what to see. This year, though, one show has us more excited than the rest — the Cassette NYC CMJ Showdown tonight at Santos Party House, one of our favorite spots in New York City. The event features acts like Ninjasonik, Machinedrum, and the dynamic duo of EDG4R (Edgar Rojas) and STRAVINSKY (Erick Rojas), better known as Team Rojas. Tonight’s event promises to be one of the season’s best dance parties, so before we hit the club we hit up EDG4R to find out what Team Rojas is all about.
 

 
Museyon Guides: Tell me about Team Rojas. What’s your sound and what are your influences?
EDG4R: We’re influenced by a lot of the older dance music. Mainly we dig for late disco, boogie and electro. These were the sounds that were being played at dance clubs all around New York in the early 80s. We both have been DJing since we were teenagers, so we have an open mind when it comes to music selection, but I’d say we specialize in those genres.
 
MG: What’s on your playlist now?
EL We’re both really into that wave of bedroom pop/summer pop coming out. Memory Cassette/Memory Tapes, Washed Out, Neon Indian. I’d say that’s been dominating the playlist for the last month.
 

 
MG: How do you find new music?
E: One word: Internet.
 
MG: Are there any artists/venues/websites/whatever doing their thing that you think more people should know about?
E: Our good friend running the event, Travis Stewart aka Machinedrum is a talented guy. He’s been producing since he was a teenager. He hasn’t stopped since. He has like 9 records. It’s crazy. Percussion Lab ran by our buddy Praveen is a great site that allows people to submit mixes of their favorite music. Ever since we did a mix for the site, I’ve been addicted to checking out other people’s music. You can stream it. Pretty neat.
 
MG: You guys are based in Miami and NYC. How do the two scenes compare?
E:This is something we debate about all the time. NYC knows about the music; Miami not so much. It goes both ways, we might be seen as doing the same old thing in NY, or we might be seen as doing something different in Miami. Both cities are nightlife cities. People like to go out. Miami has been up and coming for a while. Things just take time down there. People are starting to get down. We’re happy we’ve played in both places.
 
MG: Where’s the best place to hear live music?
E: New York. Live music anytime of the week.
 
MG: Where’s your favorite place to perform?
E: Rooftops.
 
MG: How’d you get hooked up with CMJ?
E: We’ve both have been either independently djing or simply attending CMJ since 2005. For the last couple of years we’ve been jumping on Cassette NYC events for CMJ. It’s ran by Machinedrum. We like that people come out and dance.
 
MG: What can we expect at your show at Santos?
E: A lot of high energy dance and a good variety of artists. A bunch of dudes doing what they like doing. Santos is a great venue. People stay out and hang late there.
 
To find out more about Team Rojas, check them out at last.fm, or download their Before We Meet mix. The Cassette NYC CMJ Showdown is Thursday, October 22, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.,. at Santos Party House (96 Lafayette St., New York City; 212-584-5492).