Sheyssa is responsible for designing the shop front counter, decorating our window displays and is the gorgeous bouncer at Funky Buddha Lounge. The Novemette of this month also happens to be the mastermind behind Butter Fly Social Club’s Wednesday Movie Nights, where you will often find someone in the Novem Crew chilling. Take the time to come out with us on a Wednesday to support her at 722 West Grand. The weekly event has FREE entry, FREE movies… and you get a FREE shot with every beer. Find out more about our friendly “artistic juggernaut in disguise” below:

Sheyssa Rosado

-Describe what it is that you do artistically?
“What I do… I make dreams come true.
I’m an Art/Creative Director. Which means that if you need a creative mind around, I’m your lady. I work in Print/Film/VIDEO/Runway. I love making Costumes/Styling & Set Design the most. I have a lot of fun doing what I do. I love seeing the smile on people faces, when a project is finished. Warms my heart. Give me any Era (20’s-90’s) and I’ll run with it til’ you say “STOP”. I do Special F/X & Traditional Makeup and Hair too. But I like to have a Crew.”

-When and how did you start?
“I got started EARLY… like High School, Halloween was it. My brother and I had the best costumes in school; I made them with Moms help. She’s the reason I’m so into what I do. She put a paint brush in my hand early. She says she just knew it was my calling to be creative. MAKEUP gave me my start. I was on set in MIA workin as an extra on 2 Fast 2 Furious when this girl comes up to me freakin out… and needed her Makeup done but the crew had no time. So I whipped out my box and did it. I got in SO much trouble, by the Head Makeup Artist, but she liked my fast work. After that I started making $$$$ working with Dancers/Actors/Models, Freelance South Beach love. The Costumes and Set Design came later. NOW I just hustle, get a Crew together if I need one and direct.”

-Name the first Novem item that you rocked?
“I think it was… a skully”

-Name 3 of your favorite musicians and/ bands?
“Now- Little Dragon, saw their 1st state side show at Kinetic Playground
Then- Everything But The Girl, I would dance to “I want your Love”,
Billie Holiday.
Oh… and Pool-of-Frogs (Chicago Band)”

- Favorite flower?
“ALL of them. Lily of the Valley… pretty. I had those outside my window as a lil wee one. I LOVE all things Green.”

-Let’s say you are going out after work for a drink, what do you order?
“Jameson on the rocks…light on the rocks.”

-Silver or gold and why?
“Both. Cause I can. lol”

Submit entries for the next NOVEMETTE to CREATE@NOVEMSTUDIOS.COM
Please include: Name, email address and picture of the candidate wearing their favorite article of Novem gear.
Thank you,
-The Novem Team

So, your genre concentration has been slightly schizophrenic over the years, please explain your musical evolution.
I started playing House and Jungle music as those were my favorite genres within the party scene. I really loved jungle, but most of my friends were Chicago born and bred so they wanted House Music all night long. House was also much easier for most people to dance to so that is what I did for the first 2 years. I also started buying Hip Hop, but I wasn’t exposed to underground hip hop until I went to college and that is when my interest in the genre was born and grew. I got tired of House music and decided to place my focus back onto Jungle. I started producing and played mainly old school ragga jungle. Eventually I grew tired of the jungle scene and the parties, but still collected the music because I truly enjoyed hearing it. At that time I was also very much into Reggae, specifically mid to late 70’s Roots Reggae which was sampled into a lot of the jungle I loved. Soul and Funk was the next genre I got into as they were also used to make Jungle and I wanted to learn where the drum breaks came from. I was then blessed by Jah with a music nerd for a girfriend who edumacated me on all of the things that I missed or may have forgotten. This is the exact point that my djing started to become an actual career. Now I have an eclectic style which is pretty much impossible to sum up with a few concrete genres. I just enjoy good music, no matter what style.

If you could name the mish mash style you play what would it be?
I would call it, “The Booty Up”.

From breaking into the club scene at the very beginning of the year, January 2nd to be exact, to playing out at least four times a week is pretty fucking amazing! How do you explain this?
The creme will rise.

What’s your take on the death of vinyl in sets?
No one way is better than the other. I personally feel that someone cannot be called a dj if they do not jockey any actual discs. I don’t hate on those who just play sets off of Abelton or Traktor (anymore), but I do refer to them as performers and not djs. Serato has changed my views on djing and has brought the performance aspect into a new level. I still collect vinyl and record shop on the regular. The fact that I now use this program does not take away my passion for record collecting. Now I don’t have to bring my rare records out to the club and risk damaging them in some way.

Top five tracks in current rotation?
Hall and Oats – I can’t go for that
BBD – Poison (Tittsworth Remix)
Mr. Oizo – Patrick
122 Bob James – Natalus
Mike Love – My Girl Got a Girlfriend

Who would you pay to play with?
Robert Nesta Marley

What is your all time favorite track?
I dunno… what’s yours?

I’m sure it’s ever changing, but where do you currently draw your inspiration from?
My music nerd girlfriend

When did the idea of doing “We Likes” dawn on you?
I always wanted to sample that Cricco Casteli track and I built the track around that sample. It took me forever to find a vocal that worked with it perfectly.

“We Likes” has been praised by some definite heavy hitters! How does it feel to get props from those you look up to?
It is quite nice.

Better yet, how does it feel to hear your tracks being played by the aforementioned heavy hitters at an event?
It makes me think that I need to work on my masterings skills a bit more.

Producer whose style you wished you originated?
Raffi… I would be crazy rich.

Favorite sample ever & why?
The Koto sample used in “Tried By Twelve” by East Flatbush Project.

What string of lyrics do you use as an expression in conversation?
Too many to list.

Everyone has an era in time that they wish they were apart of musically, what’s yours?
Reggae in Jamiaca in the late 60’s to later 70’s.

What musician did you like pretend to be when you were young?
The Boss

Take the dominant dance movements such as Disco & Rave, what’s in dance music’s future? How will it’s patrons express themselves?
Musical trends can and usually do go in circles. We will see older genres recycled in new ways.

What’s beyond DJing and producing for you in the future?
I hope that djing and producing will always be my future.

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- *Courtesy Eudora Talent

1. When did you start producing music?

J: Probably around 20.

P: I got my first phrase sampler when I was 15 and bought turntables, per Jarrett’s suggestion, when I was 16.

2. What are your musical roots?

J: In terms of collecting and real serious nerd-like habits, hip hop, from the Early-mid 90s, was the first thing that I became totally obsessive about. That and The Beatles.

P: I was really huge into Bad Boy Bill and Julian Jumpin’ Perez — freestyle music, commercial house and whatever was being played on B96 when I was young. Jarrett got me into death metal and golden era hip-hop (Premier, Pete rock, Wu-tang) respectively when I moved to the suburbs in the mid 90s…when I lived in Miami I got versed in electro, booty bass and a heavy dose of idm.

3. You take the term “mash ups” to a new level; please describe your direction and thoughts on this:

J: Like most people, I’ve never been crazy about the term itself. In principle, I like the original idea of collage and re-appropriation (although I think original cut-and-paste artists did it a lot better than most people today). I’ve always identified more with the idea of “mash-ups” from a performance or turntablism-based approach. People like The Avalanches, DJ Food, and Coldcut are so good at combining 2 records with their own hands that they can put just about anyone’s studio mash-ups to shame live on stage. Our attitude is that if you’re going to do it, it better be clever, multi-tiered, musical, and well produced. In other words, bring something else to the table rather than just slapping an acapella over an instrumental. Put some thought into why two songs deserve to be playing at the same time. Are they in the same key? Do they share themes in their content? Is there some kind of historical link between the various artists? These sorts of things need to be considered.

P: I always loved the idea — but we want to take the methodology further…really just as a tool for us as DJs and to promote our talents as listeners, taste makers and producers.

How do you feel that you can work together in different cities? What advantages and disadvantages does this create for you?

J: From a production standpoint, we’ll just have to develop some kind of system that keeps us both productive and utilizes our individual strengths. As far as performance is concerned, it could potentially be very cool to represent the group in two different markets that we both share.

P: I’ve done tracks and even albums with people without ever have been in the same studio…its not even necessary these days with home studios being so affordable.

You have been described as trendsetters and tastemakers, how do you take that? How do you plan to live up to that?

J: I would consider a tastemaker someone who’s superior knowledge validates their opinions. Perhaps someone like Ian Mackaye is a tastemaker because his work, knowledge, ideas, eloquence, and ability to communicate his principles are so sharp that he can dictate peoples’ tastes. I would certainly not consider myself remotely close to that. Would I be proud to reach that level of achievement? Absolutely.

P: Jarrett is a fucking tastemaker! Don’t let him tell you otherwise- the entire premise of this project revolves around him always being at the forefront of music. He was always into the hot new sounds first — even when we were 10 years old!

Do you feel that the hipster movement is an exploitation of other long-standing subcultures?

J: Ultimately I think it will look just like any other trend that comes and goes. It is a high-speed bastardization of a lot of different things (almost like some kind of post-post-modern). At times, it can be clever, but most of the time it looks to me like a bunch of people who, ten years from now, will be really embarrassed about the way they dressed in 2007.

P: Hipster is just a word. There always were hipsters and there will always be hipsters…the only reason an actual trend is categorized as such is because the music and fashion that is popular now is such a parody of itself. Things move so fast — next year, everybody will have thrown away their members only jackets, stunner shades, new era fitted hats, nike sb collectors editions, bandanas, etc.

What are you consistently listening to right now?

J: Blonde Redhead – 23 The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur The Dubsided, Made To Play, and Counterfeet labels The Pipettes and recent records by Gui Boratto and The Field on Kompakt

P: Anything made in France. Yeah. I just contradicted my rant against hipsters.

What are your guilty pleasures?

J: I love girl groups from the 50’s and 60’s but I’m not sure if that counts. There’s this song I love called “Love Is Surrender” by The Carpenters, who are about as cool as getting kicked in the crotch. Aside from that:
Armand Van Helden – “U Don’t Know Me”
Artful Dodger – “Re-Rewind”
Boney M – “Ma Baker”
Wham – “Everything She Wants”
Scandal with Patty Smyth – “The Warrior” (what a fucking awful song! – “Shooting at the walls of heartache. Bang! Bang! I AM THE WARRIOR!”)

P: It used to be commercial rap music, but I can’t even find any of that I like these days.

What songs past & present make your ass involuntary shake?

J: Basement Jaxx – “Romeo” Azzido Da Bass – “Doom’s Night (Timo Maas Remix)” The Beach Boys – “Darlin’” Junior Senior – “Move Your Feet” The Jackson 5 – “The Love You Save” Stardust – “Music Sounds Better With You”

P: Anything by 2 Live Crew, Daft Punk, The Cars, J Dilla or Giorgio Moroder.

What song do you get “Mariah” to in the shower?

J: I’m purely a beatboxer in the shower. I use the water hitting my lips to act as a sort of compression for my snares and it sounds SO tight. Plus the acoustics give my bass tones some real warmth. Some day I will record it all.

P: Pretty much Boyz II Men, ABC and BBD — the east coast family.

Favorite heavily sampled track?

J: Ouch, that’s a tough one. I LOVE the horn loop from Instant Funk’s “I Got My Mind Made Up”. I love “Uptown Top Ranking” by Althea & Donna, which has been sampled a million times. A lot of Stax stuff. And more than any individual songs, the way that J. Dilla used samples was really unique and special.

P: Google Roy Ayers once.

Where do you see yourself in two years?

J: Doing everything I do now (DJing, production, graphic art, writing, etc.) a lot better.

P: Tucked away in a bigger and better studio making bigger and moves and better music.

MYSPACE

myspace.com/popstat
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– *Courtesy Eudora Talent