DIRTY DAN
Born into a musical family in Edmonton, Canada in 1979, Danielle Landreville was playing piano by the age of two, performing publicly by the age of three, and had attained the Royal Conservatory of Music’s highest degree of proficiency by the age of sixteen. Discovering electronic music by 1996, her evolution as a DJ and producer was greatly advanced by her subsequent move to Montreal in the winter of 2000.

Although originally inspired by artists such as Aphex Twin or DJ Rap, her interests soon broadened from jungle and DnB to include techno, breaks, and especially booty and ghetto-tech. By 2003 Danielle was DJing regularly and, finding herself increasingly immersed in Montreal’s burgeoning underground electronic music community, began organizing raves and club nights with the Charlie Company collective, introducing to the city’s scene such innovative concepts as turntablism, with 2004’s breakbeat event Demz Da Breaks, or ghetto-tech, with 2005’s Konnekt.

In addition to her regular involvement in Montreal’s Women On Wax events and Saphir’s Mix Thursday, 2006 sees Dirty Dan devoting more time to production and songwriting while continuing her pursuit of discovering, buying and mixing the dirtiest beats known to womankind.

RUBY JANE
Although she never really touched a musical instrument in her life (except maybe the triangle in kindergarten), Ruby Jane came to music through her ten years of dance instruction and her lifelong passion for poetry and lyrics. In 2003, when she agreed to help promote a successful weekly called “Culture Thursdays” with a friend in Ottawa, she found herself itching to get off the dance floor and get behind the turntables. 8 months later she played her first official gig: the last Culture Thursday ever.

Back in those funked out days, Ruby Jane gained her initial recognition from playing quirky art events at SAW gallery in Ottawa. When other promoters warmed to her particular taste for beats that run the gamut of soul (funk with a preference for female vocals, classic and oldschool hip hop, breaker anthems, sexy downtempo), she was soon booked all over Ottawa and later gained a residency at the successful Hump Wednesdays at Helsinki Nightclub. Within this time she teamed up with fellow DJ Zattar and new-media artist Darsha Hewitt to form the House of Kitsch crew. This team promoted creatively-themed musical events complete with silly retro audiovisuals.

When she landed in Montreal in July 2005, Ruby Jane’s funk repertoire was well received and she was especially pleased to be taken under the wing of the female DJ collective, Women on Wax. Constantly building her collection of soul-inspired records, Ruby Jane aspires to keep helping people get down with their bad selves on the dancefloors of Montreal and the world at large.