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MIXES DOWNLOAD TEMPORALLY UNAVAILABLE

Ricardo Torres — 2008-04-02T11:31:21-07:00

Due to issues with the host provider all of the mixes are temporarily unavailable. Hopefully I can take care of this within the next 24 hours. In the meantime you can download WCC RADIO as a PodCast through iTunes here. Or download my PestoMix here. Thank you.

WCC RADIO Episode 004 is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-30T21:59:07-07:00

WCC RADIO EP004 (April 2008) is now ready for download. I added a new feature to the track list, a link to buy the individual tracks from the mix. When you click on the track's label it will take you to digital download site (Traxsource, Stompy, Beatport, etc) where I purchased the track. It won't take you to the exact track but it will take you to the label's songs on the digital download site. It makes it a lot easier to find the song and to narrow your search. Give it a try and please go out and support the labels that are giving us such great and beautiful music.

What prompted this new feature was the whole Defected incident that happened to me last week. I figured by including this it will make the labels (and artists) happy. If they still don't want me to include their music it's their lost. You will notice that this set has 2 Defected songs even after I vowed never to play anything from them. Call me a sell out but dam these tracks are good ;) The ironic thing is that one of those tracks is one I removed from the Pesto Mix and both are, as of now, unreleased (you can find them on Traxsource but they are digital edits, these are the real thing). How did I do it? They gave me permission! Go figure... Maybe they think I have something to offer. So if you purchase tracks from their store tell them it's because of Ricardo Torres ;) Enjoy the mix!

So True....

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-28T14:06:39-07:00

On a lighter note... This feels good to watch after the ups and downs of this week.

OK, I like DEFECTED again...

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-28T12:19:10-07:00

Defected has won my respect back. We've been in discussion with them about this whole unauthorized use of their tracks for the last few days. Let me be clear that they are not changing their position and policies. Both parties have now a much better understanding of each other's opinions. I think we both agree that the whole "seeking compensation" might have been premature and I believe it's not going in that direction. We've also agreed to open a dialogue with them if in the future I/we use their tracks for online mixes. Something that would benefit all of us.

They won back my respect because this exchange would have never happened with any of the big commercial labels. They are basically saying that they are also and still part of our small community and they are willing to talk even to us smaller guys to resolve these issues. All of this would have not happened with out your help, the people and headz who visit my site and listen to my mixes. Thank you all for your support.

In other news WCC RADIO EP004 will be up this Sunday. Maybe with a Defected track. Maybe.... ;)

DEFECTED responds

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-28T00:53:56-07:00

I guess some of those messages that people have been sending to Defected due of this incident and what people are discussing across the different house forums must have gotten to them. Pesto received an email from the Head of Promotions and Music exploitation of Defected to address the situation. The tone is very different than the first email. He makes a case for their side of the argument. You can read it here and make up your own mind about this debate.

Thank you to those who email me in support and to those who took the time to write respectfully to Defected about this matter. Long live our community.

PestoMix up again - New & Improved

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-27T01:46:31-07:00

The NEW PestoMix is now up and its IMPROVED since it does not have any Defected tracks in it. If you are wondering why read the post below this one. This whole thing with this major label has left a real sour taste in my mouth and I feel it has tainted something I hold sacred which is the spirit of House Music. I also found out that I'm not the only one of their ex-supporters that they have done this to. Check this out. Please go out and support small independent labels like Pesto, Barcoda, Compost, Poji, Shifted Music and many others that are keeping the spirit of House alive and let's leave Defected and its sub-labels chase bedroom DJs for compensation. I'm sure they will make lots of money and pass the profits to their artists (yeah right). I hope you enjoy the mix.

And I Really Used to Like DEFECTED...

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-26T10:19:00-07:00

Some of you are wondering what happened to the DJ Mix I did for Pesto Music. Well within minutes after Pesto posted the FREE podcast they got this email from Defected:

"I have received a newsletter with a Pesto mix that includes 2 of Defected tracks that are unreleased. Defected has not granted you any authorisation to use them and we control the copyright. Please remove them from this mix immediately. You are giving our music away for free when you do not have the rights. We will seek compensation for this illegal usage."

First of all I purchased those "unreleased tracks" on Traxsource directly from Simon Dunmore (Defected's boss) Top 10. They don't even seem to know what tracks they are releasing or selling. Second, a big "respected" label like Defected coming after a small independent one man label like Pesto and threatening to sue them for giving them free promotion just floors me. Defected is in their legal right to do this but is it morally right? I've been a big supporter of Defected for years I have PURCHASED every single release I have from them vinyl or digital. No more. This is a slap in the face to our community. If this is their attitude then they will go down just like all the other main stream dinosaur labels that are crying that their profit margins are shrinking and are coming after the end users. I will re-do the PestoMix with out any tracks from Defected. Only tracks from labels that support and understand DJ culture. If you care to voice your opinion to them you can do to the label manager at their contact page here. The email above came from "Business Affairs and Licensing Manager". If you do contact them please be respectful. Like I said they are within their legal rights, I just feel they don't know how to pick their battles.

Playing live @ Universal City for Mondial

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-25T23:47:22-07:00

There is a new Thursday night happening here in Hollywood called Mondial. The whole thing launches Thursday April 10th, 2008 at the famous Rumba Room in Universal Citywalk. The concept for Mondial is very interesting. The main room downstairs will cater to a more commercial crowd with main stream club music and a live band playing Rock en Espanol but the more intimate room upstairs will be nothing but Soulful House hosted by the West Coast Collective. I will be playing all night on April 10th and if things works out we will be rotating the different members of the WCC for future dates. I personally think that it will do great since the promoters are experienced,they know what they are doing and they are doing it right. I'm also excited of having the crowd from downstairs coming to check us out and discovering the style of house we play and hopefully make a few converts. For more info about guest list and all that jazz check out the front and back of the flyer.

New Mix for Pesto Music

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-25T23:08:58-07:00

Pesto Music asked me to do a DJ Mix that coincides with the release of my wife Sandra's new track coming out on their imprint April 20th, 2008. Sandra's new track called "Higher" will be coming out in two EPs. The first one (Pesto 011) will include Jay-J's (Shifted Music) mixes and Jon Silva's aka The Mulder (Pesto Music). The second EP (Pesto 011R) will have remixes by Justin Michael (Hermosa Recordings), Thomas White (Natural Rhythm), and our own Torin Rea (WCC). We've already passed out some promos to a few jocks and we are getting great feedback. You can hear Jay-J's vocal mix in my set (track 11). If you are part of the Pesto community you will get this mix as an iTunes Podcast. If not you can download right here. You will also notice that this mix is at higher bit rate. The mixes on this site are at 128kps but as of the PestoMix they will be 192kps. Bandwidth is getting cheaper so I'm passing on the savings to you :)

WCC RADIO Episode 002 is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-09T17:08:13-07:00

WCC RADIO EP002 (February 2008) is now ready for download. If you are wondering why it's here after EP003 then read the entry below. The point is that it's here now so you are getting two shows this month :) The first hour is deeper and darker than I usually play but the mix brings the soul back in hour two. Check it out and let me know what you think of it by rating it after you've listen to it. Enjoy!

WCC RADIO Episode 003 is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-02T13:17:47-08:00

WCC RADIO EP003 (March 2008) is now ready for download. Some of you are probably wondering where is EP002? Last month when the radio show was schedule to air on SS RADIO the WCC was also playing live at BALANCE here in LA. We did a live broadcast from the club that a lot of people got a chance to tune into. Unfortunately the recording of the night had some glitches. Torin is trying to fix it and if he can we will post that set. I then promised that I would record a new EP002 and post it even if it was late. My life got crazy during February (read the post below) and I wasn't able to do it. I still want to do an EP002 not to break our streak so hopefully I can get that done with in the next week or two since I'm finally coming back up for air.

I'm really happy with this EP003. It's Deep, Jackin, Funky, and Soulful and I have for you a preview of my wife Sandra's new track "Higher" that will finally be out before the summer on Pesto Music. There will be remixes by Jay-J (Shifted Music), Justin Michael (Hermosa Recordings), Thomas White (Natural Rhythm) and of course Jon SIlva (Pesto Music). There are also a couple of other remixes floating around including a WCC remix by Torin Rea. What you hear in the set is Jay-J's dub mix. His vocal remix is also slammin and has the quality you come to expect from Jay-J. Justin Michael's remixes are pretty amazing also. Think "big room Dennis Ferrer" type. Thomas' version will of course be Jackin' a la Natural Rhythm and I'm sure the very talented Jon SIlva will have some nice surprises for us since he is the one that did the original mixes. I'm also looking forward to hear what Torin is cooking up.

Thank you for your patience

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-02T12:49:46-08:00

Wow. February was one of the craziest month that I've ever had. Because of this, the site and the mixes have suffered. I've had a few people emailing me wondering if I had disappeared and quit the DJ biz :) I think a lot of the newer people don't know that I'm not a "professional" DJ and that I do this as a hobby. By "professional" I mean I don't make my living out of it (I've been DJ'ing for over 20 years). What I really do for a living is Visual Effects for feature films and mainly TV commercials. I own my own VFX company and I am the main artist. This past month was completely out of control. One job after another non stop. I am not exaggerating when I am saying that I was working 12 to 14 hour days every single day in February (including the week ends). I even had to find somebody to replace me for my residencies because I just could not take myself away for a few hours to go DJ. I was mainly working on a feature film that's coming out this fall called City Of Ember and a Fiat commercial that will run in the European Union. If you live in Europe and see a TV commercial with a bunch of Fiats driving in the Moroccan desert that's my work. Most of the cars are CG (created in the computer) but they look photo real.

On top of that my best friend in the whole wide world, Geronimo my Great Dane, got really sick and ended up in emergency care for a few days. We found out that he has a genetic heart condition that is common in big dogs. I knew this would happen one day (I've had Great Danes all my life) but not this soon. He is only 4 years old. My goal right now is to make his quality of life as good as possible for what ever time he has left. I'm optimistic that he will get better so I'm not writing him out already. My last Great Dane lived until he was 10 1/2 years old (their average life span is 7 to 9 years).

Again, thank you all for your patience. I do this site and my DJ'ing for the love and passion I have for House Music and because I like to share it with the world but sometimes life gets in the way.

If you live in Québec, Canada

Ricardo Torres — 2008-03-02T12:36:39-08:00

Friends of our in Québec City are looking for a missing person that is part of their family. If you live anywhere in the Province of Québec, or Canada for that matter, please take a look at this link for the French info and this link for the English info. You never know, you might have seen Marilyn in your area. I hope you have.

WCC @ BALANCE brodcasting live on SS Radio

Ricardo Torres — 2008-02-02T01:25:19-08:00

Great news about our live gig this Saturday February 2nd at Los Angeles' top and hottest house club, BALANCE. We will be broadcasting our performance live and in real time to the World Wide Web thanks to SS Radio UK. Our live show starts at 10pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday February 2nd and we will be playing for 6 hours. If you are not in this time zone check here to find out what time it starts where you live.

All you have to do to tune in is to go to SS Radio and click on your favorite media player to stream our gig. This performance will go right into our regular WCC RADIO show. We will be recording the whole thing so you will be able to download the full set at a later date. Hope you can tune in.

Guess What's Happening Feb. 2nd?

Ricardo Torres — 2008-01-26T12:35:17-08:00

Click here to find out. It's so going to rock again :)

Not House but at My House...

Ricardo Torres — 2008-01-22T22:10:02-08:00

Those of you who know me know that I love animals. Sometimes more than people. I just wanted to introduce you to our new baby that showed up at our house during the holidays. Her name is Zoé and she is a French Bulldog puppy who is 12 weeks old. The big guy is my best friend Geronimo. He is a 175lbs Harlequin Great Dane who is 4 years old. I've had Geronimo since he was 7 weeks old. As far as I know, and according to Guiness World Record, Geronimo is the second tallest dog alive. The tallest one is another Dane called Gibson. Gibson is 42.2 in tall and Geronimo is 41.5 in. Just to get a perspective here is Geronimo standing next to Jay-J and I wouldn't call Jay-J short.

Anyway, I degress. Geronimo is seeing here bonding with his new adoptive sister and he is very patient but he does show her who is boss at the end. She is the size of his head. Enjoy.

Tracklist is Complete for Balance Live Set

Ricardo Torres — 2008-01-09T22:01:07-08:00

All of the tracks for our 6 hour set at Balance back from November are accounted for. If you downloaded the set and are curious as what those are you can check it out here. BTW the WCC will be back at the best House Club In Los Angeles on February 2nd, 2008. Mark your calendars cause it will be another epic night...

WCC RADIO Episode 001 is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2008-01-06T17:54:33-08:00

The first WCC RADIO show has been posted and ready for download. As I told you in the last posting the format will remain the same as Shameless Sessions it is just the name that changes. The show will air once a month on SS Radio UK but I will try to bring it up to a bi-monthly edition if my schedule permits. The show is not exclusive to SS Radio so if you run an internet radio station and are interested in airing the program please contact me.

The first hour of the show is a mix of newer and older tracks and the second hour is a tribute to my favorite West Coast producer (and friend) Jay-J. It is an hour of some of my favorite remixes and original productions (he has over 300) of this Grammy nominated producer and DJ. I am also keeping the tradition to end the show with a classic track. This month is a dope Michael Jackson underground remix of Off The Wall. This was when MJ was normal and with darker skin... I found this one as I was digging through my crates.

New to the site is a rating system for the mixes. At the bottom of each track list page you are able to vote on the mix from 1 to 5 stars (5 being best). After you listen to the mix please rate it so I get an idea of what people are digging. The rating is also available for the old mixes so if you have a favorite one go vote for it.

In other news the WCC will be back at BALANCE LA in February. Stay tune for the date and details. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

6 hour live mix for your NYE from the WCC

Ricardo Torres — 2007-12-27T14:43:50-08:00

First of all Happy Holidays to you and all of your love ones. I want to thank you for the support that you have given me through out 2007. I can't believe this year is already over. It certainly flew by for me.

As a "Thank You" and a late holiday gift I would like to offer you the full set from our last gig at Balance here in Los Angeles. This is kind of rare that you will find sets like these online because it is 6 hours long! It is our full night un-edited. If you are looking for music for your NYE party this year you just put this on and you are good to go. It starts off smooth and then just peeks with some old, new and rare tracks that we like to take out when we play live.

You will find the tracklist for all 57 tracks on the download page with who was playing what. Basically Torin Rea, Dustin Brown and myself were rotating every 4 tracks so we kept it fresh. We compliment each other when we play but we all have a little bit different style (in a good way).

This download is pretty big, 317 MB. On a standard broadband connection it could take from 10 to 20 minutes to download so please be patient when you do. I need to thank Pablo Godel of Server Grove Networks for letting me host the mix on his servers. If it wasn't for Pablo's help I wouldn't be able to offer this mix to you because of the amount of bandwidth it would eat up with all the downloads that it will have. If you need any kind of hosting solutions please check out Server Grove Networks and give them a try.

Again thank you for 2007 and have a wonderful, safe and fun New Year Eve and stay soulful trough-out 2008!

Last Shameless Sessions of the year is up

Ricardo Torres — 2007-12-01T22:49:08-08:00

The last Shameless Sessions radio show for 2007 is now available for download. For this one I actually took out some of my old vinyl that I haven't played in a long time. These are a bunch of old white labels that I hardly take out anymore since turntables are hard to come by at clubs these days. For the last few years I've been playing mainly digital files from CDs on CDJs. You will probably hear the sound difference from these old records when you hear them in the mix. I played the hell out of these tracks and they are a little worn out. Don't be alarm if you see Michael Jackson or Diana Ross on the track list... You might be pleasantly surprise ;)

Balance, this Saturday Nov. 17th

Ricardo Torres — 2007-11-12T14:25:02-08:00

I am very excited to announce that I will be playing this Saturday November 17th with the my WCC family at the prime house club in Los Angeles, BALANCE. The cream of the crop of house DJs play at BALANCE when they come to LA. It's one of my favorite clubs in town and where I like to get my groove on. It's an intimate venue with an amazing sound system. Dustin Brown, Torin Rea, and myself will be rocking a 6 hour set until 4am! Check out the flyer for more info and check the pics from the last time we played there together.

The Mailing List is Back

Ricardo Torres — 2007-11-04T19:26:17-08:00

In the last few months I have received quite a few emails from people wondering what had happened to my old mailing list or why I wasn't sending any updates. They were wondering if they had been dropped from it. I would send an email once or twice a month to let them know about new mixes or gigs. When I re-did the new site and I included a blog I didn't think I would need the list anymore since people can subscribe to it and get the updates right here. Well, the list is back! New and improved. When you join now you can chose your interest so I can send you an email that is relevant to what you want to be informed about. For example most people want to know when I have a new mix up but not necessarily when I have a gig in Los Angeles if they live in Barcelona. The emails are also in HTML format now so they look much better than the old ones. You can join on any of the site's pages by entering your email and clicking join on the sidebar to your left.

Shameless Sessions Mix For November is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-11-03T20:11:20-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of Novermber is available for download. It aired Sunday the 4th on SS Radio UK. This is one of my favorite one from the year. I'm getting a lot more adventurous with the accapellas ;)

Playing at Balance November 17th

Ricardo Torres — 2007-11-03T19:52:39-07:00

The West Coast Collective is back at Balance on November 17th 2007. Dustin Brown, Torin Rea and myself will be rocking the prime house club in Los Angeles for 6 hours from 10pm to 4am. This is with a doubt my favorite place to play in Los Angeles. The energy from the headz there is amazing. Check out some of the pics from the last time we played there.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Ricardo Torres — 2007-11-03T19:06:16-07:00

Almost a month with out any updates.... I feel bad. It's the same for the West Coast Collective site. I've been stupid busy since I got back from Ibiza. Some of you know that I own a Visual Effects company that I founded almost 4 years ago. I don't just work there, I run the company with my partner and I am the lead artist. When I started Below the Radar I figured I would work less and have more time for my favorite hobby (DJing of course) since I would make my own hours. Boy was I wrong... Being successful means that you are working non stop with lots of returning clients. That's where we are right now. In a business where a lot of our competitors are down sizing or closing we are expanding. This year we've double in size and are well off to make more than our numbers from last year. When I got back from Spain I had to jump right away and finish a big television campaign that I had started before I left for Suzuki Cars. If you live in the US and you watch TV you've seen some of the new ads that are running. As soon as that was over I was on two BMW commercials for the Chinese market that had tons of visual effects and CG. I was working 12 to 14 hours a day for three weeks straight (including week ends). The only break I had was when I was playing at my residency Glow. After that it was back to more Suzuki and right now I'm finishing a job for Bridgestone that is a real funny commercial. We are also bidding for three really good commercials for the Italian market that involves people who turn paper thin but live in a 3D world.

October is also a big month because all of my close friends have birthday in that month including me. Sandra, my wife, is in October and so are 9 other of my friends. Two of them on the same day as me, October 23rd. For my birthday we celebrated at Glow since I was playing there and since it was close to Halloween everybody dressed up in real great costumes. Every girl was dressed as a "sexy (insert what ever you can think of here)". I loved that my wife Sandra came as a "Crazy Ho". She had a real sexy asylum straight jacket costume. The biggest surprise was that my good friend Jay-J came all the way from NY with his girlfriend to attend the party. I love Jay-J. He has become a close friend. One of the perks of that is that I get to hear and have a chance to get my hands on a lot of his new productions and remixes that he is working on for the launch of Shifted Music. Unfortunately I can't play these on any of my radio shows or online mixes until they are officially release or come out as promos. I do play them at live gigs and I can tell you that the reaction I always get is "OMG what was that?!" Be on the look out for a real sexy track with Michelle Shaparow that will remind you of the good old days of Naked Music, a peak time dance floor destroyer with Jay-J's partner in crime Latrice Barnett, a track with Random Soul that just oozes soul when you play it and of course Jay-J's artist album. Anyway the party was a blast and I will put up some pics as soon as I can gather them from all the people who were there.

Finally I would like to apologize to all the people who have email or contacted me and whom I haven't reply to yet. My goal this week is to catch up with all of that and if you wrote to me I will reply even if it's late. Thank you all for your understanding and support!

Shameless Sessions Mix For October is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-10-07T13:12:17-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of October is available for download. It aired Sunday the 7th of October on SS Radio UK. Just to make it clear; My Shameless Sessions shows airs every month on the first Sunday of the month not necessarily the first week of the month. I had quite a few emails this week asking me where the mix was. I even had one that said that "it's been more than week and where is the fuckin' October mix?". Wow, did not know that people got so emotional about these sets. I hope it's clear now when they come out. Peace and enjoy the "f@#&ing" mix ;)

How Cool is This?

Ricardo Torres — 2007-10-05T00:26:11-07:00

Didn't even know that there was a video for this classic track. The video has reminiscence of Madonna's Vogue video but the music is so much better. How good does India also looks? This was 1993. I didn't even recognize her. Is it a stand in? Thanks to DJ Menny for pointing me to this video.

New mix "Glow Nights"

Ricardo Torres — 2007-09-23T22:21:20-07:00

I posted a brand new mix that is not a radio show. It's been a while since I had done one that's your standard 70 minutes set that fits on a CD. "Glow Nights" captures the vibe of the residency I had for about a year now in Marina Del Rey, California. The tunes are high energy and they are meant for the dance floor. You will recognize a lot of the tracks in the set but these remixes might be brand new to most of you. Let me know what you think and enjoy. Also a new Shameless Sessions coming up in the first week of October.

WCC T-Shirts are here

Ricardo Torres — 2007-09-23T22:12:13-07:00

A lot of people have asked me about the t-shirt I'm wearing in the bio page. The truth is that we had 4 of them custom made for all of the WCC so we can wear them when we all play together. There has been so much demand for these dam t-shirts that we decided to start selling them on the WCC site. So if you are interested in one of them go to the the WCC store and check them out (we even got some cool tank top for girls). They are selling fast.

Shameless Sessions Mix For September is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-09-03T03:03:04+02:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of September is available for download. It aired Sunday the 2nd on SS Radio UK. If you want to the listen to the online stream with the voice overs you can do so here on SS Radio and you can also vote and leave comments on it. Fun with acapellas , some unreleased promos, and some nice classics. Enjoy!

In Barcelona and Ibiza this week

Ricardo Torres — 2007-09-03T02:36:24+02:00

Sorry for the lack of activity on the site lately. I got slam at work with a huge campaign from one of our biggest client and I was trying to get everything done before my trip to Spain. I was working 12 to 16 hours days but I got everything done and now I'm here in Spain with my wife Sandra and my mate Jay-J and his girlfriend. We are in Barcelona till Wed the 5th and then we are off to Ibiza. If you live in Barcelona and know of any good parties with good soulful house please let me know through the contact page.

Shameless Sessions Mix For August is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-08-05T17:48:03-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of August is available for download. It aired Sunday the 5th on SS Radio UK. If you want to the listen to the online stream with the voice overs you can do so here on SS Radio and you can also vote and leave comments on it. The shows includes that great track from Vernon & Dacosta "As Darkness Falls" that I was talking about in the post below. Enjoy!

Track 3 solved!

Ricardo Torres — 2007-08-05T12:51:34-07:00

Track #3 was finally solved by Alexandre from France. It is "I Heart Bougie" from Ken EBC (East Coast Boogiemen). The track is not out yet but will be release on Amenti Music (as track 1 that I was also looking for) in September. The mix you hear on the sample is the Toka Project Coast To Coast Mix.

To recap here all 3 tracks with their respective IDs. Thank you to all who helped.

- "As Darkness Falls" (Glom Remix) by Vernon & Dacosta feat Apple Rochez available on Amenti Music (thank you Mourad from France):

- "See Yo Face" by The Inland Knights available on Flavor Records (thank you Joe M from San-Francisco):

-"I Heart Bougie" (Toka Project Coast To Coast Mix) from Ken EBC available on Amenti Music (thank you Alexandre from France):

Last Minute Gig Change. At GLOW Tonight.

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-27T15:20:37-07:00

I was suppose to be at the Ritz tonight but I will be at Glow instead. It's going to be a beautiful warm night at this chic outside lounge / bar in Marina Del Rey. I'm playing from 8:30 pm to 1:30 am (loooong set) so if you are in the area come get your groove on.

Track 2 solved.

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-26T09:15:15-07:00

Alright we are on a roll. Mystery track # 2 was ID by Joe M. It is "See Yo Face" by The Inland Knights on Flavor Records. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks Joe! Just one more to go... what is track #3? To me it sounds like something Mark Farina used to play back in the days but with an updated sound.

Track 3:

Track 1 solved.

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-24T12:06:47-07:00

Mourad from Paris contacted me to give me the ID of track #1 from the post below. It is "As Darkness Falls" (Glom Remix) by Vernon & Dacosta feat Apple Rochez. You can find the track on the Amenti Music label. Thank you Mourad! One down two more to go. Anyone?

Need Track ID help

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-20T11:01:02-07:00

My friend Torin Rea from the West Coast Collective turn me on to a great DJ set called Inspiration from Oriental Funk Stew. Great funky set but I can't find a tracklist anywhere for it. There are three tracks that I really in this mix and I'm hoping that some of you might ID them for me since I never heard them until now. They might be old, they might be new and that's the beauty of house music, it always sounds fresh not matter how long it's being around. Here are some snippets of the unknown tracks that I'm looking for. If you have any info on them please let me know through the contact page or leave a comment right here with the link below. Thanks for any help!

Track 1:

Track 2:

Track 3:

Divine Love made the top 20 on Traxsource

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-20T10:46:16-07:00

A big thank you to all who supported Sandra's release on Traxsource last week. We made it all the way to number 11 in the top 100. Not bad at all. Of course the track is still available there so if you want to get your own copy got o Traxsource to get it.

Divine Love Available on Traxsource!

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-12T10:16:45-07:00

I am so happy and proud on my beautiful wife Sandra. Her first single on Barcoda Recordings was just released today for purchase as a promo on Traxsource. I am stoke also because Barcoda is one of my favorites labels with an amazing catalogue of hits in the short period that it's being around. The head of the label is Andy Lee, aka Central Avenue, who is also one of my favorite producers from the UK.

"Divine Love" is an uplifting tune perfect for those warm summer nights. The track was produce by Russian duo White Caviare composed of DJ Asya and Denis Teremski. Sandra performs and wrote the lyrics for the song. There is a total of 7 mixes. The original mix is very melodic and smooth. For the dance floor duties two big hitters, Central Avenue and M.o.D., come really strong with their remixes. My personal favorites are the Central Avenue vocal remix and the Deep Headz Dub Remix. I will be rocking these tonight in San-Diego. You can hear previews of all the mixes and purchase them on Traxsource. Go support Sandra (and House Music) cause she rocks!

Playing This Thursday in San-Diego

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-09T22:51:15-07:00

This Thursday July 12th I will be playing in San-Diego, CA at an event hosted by my good friend DJ ALA called DIVE. Dive is located at Candelas in downtown San-Diego. If you live in SD why not stop by and get your groove on.

Artwork for the Mixes is Complete

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-07T21:00:58-07:00

I finished putting all the artwork together for my mixes that are online on my site. Not only does the artwork show up in the mixes page for downloading but also in the MP3 file itself. This means that when you play the mix from iTunes, an iPod or an iPhone you see the artwork in al it's glory. Pretty :)

New Single from Sandra on Barcoda

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-07T14:25:01-07:00

My beautiful wife Sandra has a new single coming out on Barcoda Recordings from the UK. "Divine Love", produced by the Russian duo White Caviare drops in a few weeks with dope remixes by Central Avenue and M.O.D. You can get a preview of the original mix on Sandra's MySpace page. You will be able to purchase it on Traxsource and other legal digital download sites.

Tomorrow, Sunday, at Dragon in Hermosa Beach

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-07T13:46:41-07:00

My WCC crew and myself are taking over Dragon in Hermosa Beach for 6 hours tomorrow Sunday July 8th. No cover, you just need your bathing suit and shorts. Charles Feelgood is playing before us (opening ? :) ) from 1pm to 5pm . We are on from 5pm to 11pm. All the info is here.

Pictures from Balance in Los Angeles

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-02T01:33:04-07:00

The WCC had an incredible night at Balance in LA last week. The place was rocking until 4 am. Blink Of An Eye Productions have posted some pics from the night. Check them out here. I'm the dork with the grey "Trust Your DJ" T-shirt.

New Look to the Site

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-02T01:14:07-07:00

You're all probably wondering why I changed the look of the website again in less than 3 months? First of all it is to have a common look with the West Coast Collective site. I'm working on that site right now and the layout will be the same but with a different color scheme. Check out the new mixes section, a la iTunes, that now has artwork for the mixes (eventually the art will be imbedded in the MP3 file). Some mixes still have artwork missing but I'm working on those. Secondly, it's because it's real easy thanks to CSS. Basically I change a couple of common files in the site and voila. The back end stay the same, I basically just change the "skin". I know nothing about web development but I've been able to achieve this by using an amazing piece of software on Mac OS called RapidWeaver. If you want to quickly build a professional looking site check out RW.

Shameless Sessions Mix For July is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-07-02T01:10:05-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of July is available for download. It aired yesterday on SS Radio UK. If you want to the listen to the online stream with the voice overs you can do so here on SS Radio and you can also vote on it.

Glow tonight and Balance tomorrow

Ricardo Torres — 2007-06-22T09:25:16-07:00

I'm playing at Glow in Marina Del Rey tonight for a 4 hour set. The weatherman says it will be a beautiful clear night (since it's an outside lounge) and it will a great way to warm me up for tomorrow night wich is our big West Coast Collective event at BALANCE in Hollywood. Glow has no cover charge but Balance does so if you are one of my supporters and you want to come on Saturday please e-mail me me through the contact page with your name and how many people you are bringing and I will put you on the guest list. Please do this before 5pm Saturday. Try to get there before midnight because the place will probably reach capacity by that time. We are playing until 4am ! It so going to Rock :)

Playing at SPACE Ibiza in September!!!

Ricardo Torres — 2007-06-09T01:26:12-07:00

I just got news this week that I will be playing with my friend Jay-J at club SPACE in Ibiza, Spain September 7th, 2007. You guys have no idea how excited I am. This will definitely be the highlight of my DJ career. I'm still waiting for the details but it looks like it will be a new terrace that they have at the club. There will probably be more dates during that week and in Barcelona. As soon as I get all the details I will post it on the blog. Yikes!!! :)

Playing at Glow tonight

Ricardo Torres — 2007-06-09T01:21:12-07:00

I'm playing tonight Saturday June 9th at my residency Glow in Marina Del Rey. If you live in the LA area come and chill at this beautiful outdoor lounge. No cover. You can check out the pics from the grand opening in the galleries page. Hpe to see you there.

New Photo Galleries

Ricardo Torres — 2007-06-09T01:16:04-07:00

I started including new photo galleries to the site. They are mainly of events that I played at or that I have attended. More will be coming up as soon as I sort more of the photos. Check them out in the galleries page.

Shameless Sessions Mix For June is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-06-03T18:56:29-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for the month of June is available for download. It aired earlier today on SS Radio UK. If you want to the listen to the online stream with the voice overs you can do so here on SS Radio and you can also vote on it.

Official Grand Opening of GLOW

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-29T23:40:27-07:00

Some of you know that I've had a residency at Glow in Marina Del Rey for a few months now. Well, this week end is the official grand opening and it's going to be awesome. This will be a 3 night opening starting this Thursday with our down tempo night followed by our mid tempo / deep house night on Friday and finally Kevin Christopher and myself will bring the heat on Saturday with a night of soulful house. The heat will also be with us since the weatherman predicts a warm and clear night this Saturday for this upscale outside lounge. Click here for the flyer and all the info on Glow's Opening Night(s).

BALANCE Los Angeles June 23rd

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-14T22:22:10-07:00

I am very excited to announce that I will be playing with the my WCC crew at the prime house club in Los Angeles, BALANCE. The cream of the crop of house DJs play at BALANCE when they come to LA. It's one of my favorite clubs in town and where I like to get my groove on. It's intimate (300 capacity), amazing sound system and it goes until 4am!

Grammy nominated producer and the godfather of the San-Francisco sound, Jay-J, will be playing there this Saturday May 18th. If you live or are visiting LA you have to come to this club. Check out the pictures from previous nights.

Shameless Sessions Mix For May is posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-13T22:20:00-07:00

My Shameless Sessions show for May is available for download. It aired earlier today on SS Radio UK. The versions on my site is with out voice overs but if you prefer to hear me talk (why?) you can catch the stream right here on SS Radio and you can also vote on it.

Radio Shows For 07 Are Posted

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-11T18:28:22-07:00

All of my Shameless Sessions radio shows are now posted. On my old site I used to replace the one that was online with a new show every month. Now I will leave them all available for the whole year. I will post the show for May this coming Monday after it airs this Sunday the 13th on SS Radio UK.

Comments For The Blog

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-11T08:16:47-07:00

I just fixed some issues with the RSS feed that would send you to a "Page Not Found" error when you click on a link from the feed itself (thank you Peter). I also added the availability to add comments on the specific entries that I post on the blog so go ahead and leave me your feedback. Just click on the Comments link under an entry to speak your mind.

All Archived Mixes are up

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-10T10:45:08-07:00

I just finish posting this morning the rest of my legacy mixes going all the way back to 2002. These were available on my old site except for one that I added called "Later At The Loft". I'm also re-mastering some of the first mixes I posted on the web which were on Deep House Network back in 2001. They were only available in Real Audio back then and the quality was poor. Next up are the My Shameless Sessions for this year and the guest mixes. Hopefully I can have this done in the next few days.

Archived Mixes Are Coming Online

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-10T00:09:25-07:00

I just posted 7 mixes from the archives that range from 2004 to 2005. Included in there is my most downloaded mix, BLANC, and two live sets that I did back in the days for Planet Soul Network. Those were my first radio shows. I still have another 7 to upload in the archives and also, on a seperate page, all of my Shameless Sessions radio shows for 2007.

Main Mixes page is up with new mix

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-08T12:42:37-07:00

Sorry for the slow update of the site but work has been crazy busy lately as we got awarded a couple of big jobs. I just posted the new main mixes page. You will find in there the current mixes. I will create other pages for the archived mixes (before 2006), guest mixes, and Shameless Sessions radio show. Check out the new interface and let me know what you think or if you have any problems. If you are on a mac (or PC for that matter) the mixes should NOT open in a blank page with Quicktime like they used to. No need to do a key combination when you click on download mix. The link should automatically download to your desktop (or where ever you download files).

At the top of the list is the live set I recorded from the Jay-J and friends party we did in Miami WMC 2007. I will also so post soon my May set from Shameless Sessions.

New site coming soon

Ricardo Torres — 2007-05-01T15:32:35-07:00

I'm completely redoing my site from A to Z. New look and new functionality. I am also changing to a new web host provider that is offering me more bandwidth. That means that I will be able to offer you more mixes at a better quality. With more bandwidth I will also be able to keep online all of my Shameless Session mixes for the year with out removing them from month to month.

You are looking at the home page which also is a blog that you can subscribe to through an RSS feed. If your browser supports RSS or if you have an RSS reader you will know immediately when new mixes are online, when I have new gig dates or anything else that I post in here. Just click on the RSS link to the right of this page.

As more pages for the site come online I will inform people through the blog. For now it's only this home page and the contact page. Keep watching this space.