This week at Killswitch: Mikebee (KUSF/Amoeba)-Techno set & Raf_One (Gold code/Nude Photo)!

About Mikebee:

DJ mikebee aka Michelangelo Battaglia has been active in SF's electronic music community since 1994. Raised on a diet of music as a child, Mike studied Opera at Carnegie Mellon University in 1991 before leaving in 1993 to pursue a life of dance music, inspired by his early-90's adventures in the East Coast rave scene. Moving to SF in 1994, Mike immediately reimagined himself as an atmospheric drum'n'bass DJ in the mid-to-late 90's, being involved in countless regular parties, most notably Ikon Massive at 330 Ritch St. (1995-1996) and La Belle Epoque Saturdays at The Top (now Underground SF 1996-2001) where he was a resident. After LBE's demise, Mike and his True Intent crew kept the night going as promoters from 2001 to 2004 playing 2-Step Garage, Broken Beat and more under the names Bottom Heavy (2001-2002), True Intent (2002) and Safe (2002-2004) before The Top's demise in 2004.

Mike has also opened up for the cream of dance music in nearly every venue in town again and again, including LTJ Bukem on the main floor of 1015 Folsom (and in other venues), Grooverider at the now-defunct Justice League, Mark Farina, numerous Sunset and Bulletproof boat parties and campouts and many, many more including regular work for the Blasthaus production crew. Mike also is co-owner of the SF-based atmospheric D&B label True Intent (1999-2003) and has been a regular producer of two different shows on KUSF since 1996: Future Breaks (1996-2002) and The Friday Night Session (2002-present) where he continues to co-produce to this day along with Andrew Jervis (Ubiquity Recordings) and Tomas Palermo (Forward Ever).

In the early part of the decade, mike pioneered the sounds of 2-Step and Broken Beat in SF, being responsible for the first local appearances of many forward-thinking acts like Bugz in the Attic (Afronaught, Daz-I-Kue, Seiji), Domu, Horsepower Productions and Kode 9 at Safe and his massively popular underground Rewind (aka REW) at Tenderloft. His support of the emerging 2-Step scene put him in a place where he was a stalwart and original supporter of then-evolving Dubstep subgenre, now blossomed into a worldwide phenomenon. As a result, the local SF dubstep scene considers mike a sort of elder statesman.

In addition, Mike was a staff writer for XLR8R magazine (1996-2005) writing features and regular reviews, and has been published by the SF Bay Guardian and Urb magazine, where he helmed his own column from 1996-1997 called The Bee's Buzz in addition to writing regular reviews from 1997 through 2000, as well as writing for a slew of now-defunct music magazines like Sweater and Revolution.

Since 2006 Mike has been feeling the sounds of house, disco, techno and downtempo and as a DJ has been concentrating his energy there on the few occasions he does play out (aside from the occasional gig playing classic Drum'n'Bass or 2-Step for the Grime City kids). In 2008, he was featured in the SF Weekly as a "tastemaker" and "music maven" where he was called "a true vanguard in the S.F. music community". (http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-03-12/music/making-a-buzz/) For his day job, Mike works for Amoeba Music (since 1998) as the new product buyer and manager of the electronic/dance section since 2004.

Upcoming projects include a live music venture conducting a 12-piece house music orchestra which includes Jonah Sharp and Warren Huegel of Tussle, podcast mixes for a slew of people including DC Recordings' Samurai FM radio show, and a few upcoming DJ appearances.

About Raf_One:

Raf Zevallos aka Raf_One has been a staple of the underground dance music scene since the mid 90s. He played his first warehouse rave in 96' and graduatiedg a couple years later to residencies at some of San Francisco's most infamous house, techno and electro parties such as Mainframe, UP, Vehicle, Impulse, Tokyo Electric, Activ and FreeRange.

After 14 years on the decks, Raf's tastes and repertoire continue to evolve, with his sets embracing the full gamut of techno, house, electrofunk and disco.

In 2007, Raf founded Gold Code, a music blog covering past, present and future classics as well as featuring exclusive edits and mixes. A music producer for several years, Raf is set debut his first ep as Gold Code on Nude Photo Music later this year.