HIPSTER OVERKILL PAYS TRIBUTE TO DJ MEHDI (1977 - 2011)

Mehdi Faveris-Essadi may not be the biggest name in the music scene but to those that truly have been emerrsed in EDM for at least the past 5 years understand why the man, professionally known as DJ Mehdi, garnered such a strong outpouring of respect from both Electro/House Music fans and his many peers in the Dance industry.  Prior to his rise in the Dance music genre he was known within the international Hip-Hop community for his work with several rap groups based out of his home city of Paris, France.  His collaborations with big names such as MC Solaar, among others, put him in league with legends like DJ Premier as they toured the world in the early 2000's.  At this same time, Parisian Electronic acts like Daft Punk began to dominate the world which lead to the robotic duos manager, Pedro Winter, launching the now infamous Ed Banger Records.  Mehdi became one of the premier artists on Ed Banger along with label mates Justice, Uffie, Mr. Oizo, SeabastiAn, and Cassius to name a few.  Although his production was in league with his label mates and leaned towards the Electro genre, his DJ sets always maintained a core House element that separated him from his contemporaries.  More recently, he has been collaborating with Riton under the group name Carte Blanche to both produce and DJ.  On this past Tuesday, September 13th while celebrating Riton's birthday on the top of a building in Paris, the roof collapsed, fatally injuring Mehdi.  The HipsterOverkill staff would like to extend our condolences to Mehdi's family, close colleagues, and the many people who have been impacted by his presence within the Dance music scene, as well as be affected by his absence.  He will live on through his music and we encourage you to head to itunes and beatport to get up to date on his catalogue of tunes.

As the editor of this site I have a predisposition towards harder Electro House and similar styles of EDM.  This lead me to attend the Hard New Years Eve Party in Los Angeles at The Palladium on the eve of 2010.  Headliners included A-Trak and Boys Noize who, as expected, brought heavy sounds to the mostly early 20's rave crowd decked in florescent tank topsand new wave burlesque, rolling on E as they jumped up and down as if the world would end at the strike of midnight.  For the crowd that came to enjoy the entire show, they were treated to a deviation from the expected when Mehdi took stage for an hour of House music that opened my mind to what the international Dance scene may be like.  As with popular music, Europe doesn't always praise the same styles of House that we Americans do.  While we were listening to Justin Timberlake and Timbaland by day, then attending underground venues by night to get a fix of Simian Mobile Disco and Deadmau5 as if Dance music was some new thing, Europeans never gave up on the Electronic genre and continued to treat House, Trance, and Techno artists as the pop stars they so deservingly should be.  That night, Mehdi brought House music back to this DJ (and fan) who had long thought the genre was dead.  Song after song I danced as if discovering the funky club rhythms for the first time, giving me an oasis of balanced tones and steady grooves before an onslaught of buzzing synths and punchy drums that were to come later that morning.  From that moment on it was obvious that as the bit crunched sounds of Electro began to cross over (via the Black Eyed Peas and LMFAO) that the inevitable return of House to the American underground was in our not so distant future.  Almost a year later as if by serendipity, the day after moving to Los Angeles perminantly, our buddies from Dim Mak Records brought Mehdi in to guest DJ their weekly Cannonball party at Drai's Hollywood.  As expected, he brought the soul that Electro was missing to a crowd that usually wants to rage as they are punched in the chest by the biggest rave style tunes.  Unlike the Hard New Years Eve crowd, the Drai's audience fell into the hypnotic groove without prejudice, their feet embracing the rhythm, moving non stop until the house lights came up.  What a difference a year makes.  With more and more Electro, Fidget, and Indie producers moving closer towards the various forms of House (Tech, Deep, Funky) these days I fondly remember DJ Mehdi as the harbinger of what was to come.  An unintentional prophet to at least this one fan.  RIP Mehdi!  You will be missed.

Sadly, Mehdi did not release a great deal of mixes but we are happy to re-post our former Mix Of The Week, Carte Blanche's (Mehdi and Riton) House Party Mix from December 2010.