This week @ KILLSWITCH: Keith Kemp (Beretta), Qzen (40 Thieves) & Razvan(Black Market Techno)!

About Keith Kemp:

A Detroit native, Keith Kemp's exposure to electronic music via Industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy and Brian Eno sparked an early infatuation with synthesizers and audio software. Club life after high school inspired Keith's interest in spinning records, connecting the dots to Detroit artists such as Plastikman, Underground Resistance and Carl Craig.

During this time, Keith could be spotted collecting vinyl at various record stores around the metro Detroit area, and later selling vinyl at the revered "Dance Room" of Record Time. With a growing record collection, Keith set out to make his mark in the heyday of Detroit's mid-90's rave scene, cutting his teeth in the Midwest with travels across the country to Seattle, New York, Memphis, Milwaukee, Omaha, Chicago and of course Ohio and Windsor. These years saw Keith develop into a highly regarded technical performer, combining his love of house, Industrial and German minimalism with Detroit techno, highlighted with performances at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2002 and 2005.

After strictly DJing for a few years, he took the next logical step by cutting down his schedule and returned to his machines, working hard on his own unique take on electronic dance music. A self-described computer nerd and gear head, Keith has been collecting equipment since 1992 and has since established a technical prowess manipulating computers, samplers and synthesizers. He has since focused on various creative areas of electronic music: DJ, producer, operating a label, and performing his own music live.

Currently based in San Francisco, Keith continues to push his deep house and techno inspired compositions with digital and vinyl releases on Beretta Grey, D Records, Ferrispark and Gravid Digital.

About Qzen:

After cutting her teeth on San Francisco's underground music scene throughout the 1990s with photography, design, and event promotion, Qzen commenced her DJ career as the decade closed. In her eight years of experience, Qzen's skills as a DJ have taken her to Canada and Mexico, as well as numerous cities in the US.

Originally starting as a drum & bass DJ, she expanded her repertoire to a hybrid of tech-house, electro, and techno, shirking genre to incorporate countless party-jams-waiting-to-be-played.With a nod to the classics, she's delved deep into the forefront of future music, allowing crowd reaction to direct--but not dictate--her selection.

On top of her DJ skills, Qzen provided her synth & vocal talents in her work with the Invisibles, a live "electro-punk" band which released an EP on DJ Hell's ,International Deejay Gigolo label, in addition to working with John Tejada, Claude VonStroke, and most recently with 40 Thieves.

Currently, Qzen works as iTunes's Dance & Electronic Music Editor and hosts the Moxie Musik radio show on West Add Radio (airing live Sundays 9-11PM from San Francisco). With her passion for deep, technical, versatile music and a talent for moving the audience, Qzen's DJ sets are not to be missed.

Razvan was born in Bucharest, Romania but grew up halfway between Detroit and Chicago in Grand Rapids, MI. Though a fan of electronic music for years, it wasn't until returning from a party in Detroit in January of 2004, that he decided he had to spin records himself. Heavily influenced by Paxahau, the Detroit Techno scene of the mid 2000's and Berlin, Razvan became a fan of the deep, dark, minimalistic techno of such labels as M-nus, Plus 8, Ghostly, Vakant, Mobilee, Einmaleins, Foundsound, Traum Schallplaten, and Kompakt. His passion for music, track selection and ability to rock the crowd soon led to gigs all over the state of Michigan. In September 2006 though, Razvan moved to Oakland, with his girlfriend, to be near the flourishing electronic music scene of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, Razvan has kept busy spinning regularly all over the bay area and in October 2007, he started the “Black Market Techno” monthly with friends dcoy, IXD and Farzana. The night has been a huge success and has put Oakland back on the electronic music map by booking dj’s such as Rich Korach (Paxahau, Detroit), Todd Sines (NYC, Planet E) Christian Martin (Dirtybird) Limaçon (Poker Flat) Alland Byallo (Kontrol) Josh Dahlberg (Blank Artists, Detroit)Sassmouth (NBFC, Chicago) and others.