Hot sets on the Net from Dubai

To the uninitiated it could seem Dubai already has more than enough people with made-up names playing music that goes thump thump thump. Actually, according to Vassiliy Anatoli, aka Vas Floyd, there is some truth in that.

"We get all sorts of acts coming over and they go down really well," he says.

Yet this is not the whole story. For a combination of reasons ? including a restrictive licensing system ? it is a different matter when it comes to Dubai's own disc-spinning talent.

"But when local people try to play the same stuff, or even better, they don't succeed," he says.

Overcome

To overcome Dubai's cultural cringe, Anatoli has got together with his friend Neil Andrew to create an environment for Dubai-branded beats. Since December www.lushdxb.com has already brought together a sizeable collection of talent ? putting all their sets into cyberspace and available to clubbers and bored office workers at the click of an icon.

"We've dug up 25 DJs so far," says Andrew. "Some of them gave up DJing to come to Dubai to earn some money, then discovered us. Others are professionally in the scene. At the moment it's mainly breakbeat and electro but we'd like more of everything else ? even disco."

Keen

Unlike the louche, wild-eyed DJ of popular perception, Anatoli and Andrew are fresh-faced, unpretentious and keen "to portray a really friendly image" for Lush Radio. Anatoli is a 23-year-old Russian with a striking resemblance to David Arquette. Andrew is a tall, 27-year-old Brit with the heavy-lidded air of a man permanently reaching for his first cup of coffee.

Both, outside a mainstream 9 to 5, inhabit the city's lively underground of house parties and share a total dedication to dance. Under the name DJ Solo, Andrew has won awards as a scratch DJ and collaborates with the jazz combo Abstrakt Collision.

Bleak

But they paint a fairly bleak vision of the current situation for Dubai-based DJs, overshadowed by overseas acts and ripped off by unreliable promoters.

"We've really got a bad opinion of some promoters," says Andrew. "They want something for nothing. You phone them the day after an event to ask for your money and they don't answer the phone."

Now, they hope the word of any promoter's dodginess will spread between DJs as swiftly as bird flu. As well as an outlet for frustrated musos, its founders see their site also as a community.

"At the moment it's really blinkered. People don't know what they like to listen to because they haven't heard it. We'd like it to be a bit more developed and a bit more diverse," he says.

Rule

Currently, house and R&B rule in Dubai's clubs. But Andrew and Anatoli are thirsting for the full panoply of styles ? funky, electro, trance, tribal and minimal. They plan to open opportunities for new talent, despite a licensing system that encourages clubs to play the same DJ day in day out.

"We aren't primarily looking to promote ourselves," says Andrew. "It's about making the whole cocktail of things happen in Dubai. We're trying to make a playground for local DJs and bands whatever they do."

"Hopefully, through the radio people will also start to see through the hype," says Anatoli. "Instead of saying, 'well, he's from England so he must be good'."

The selection

Some of Lush's online stable of talent:

Shadi megallaa (minimal house): An Abu Dhabi-based Egyptian who developed his DJing in Kansas and helped launch the Leftroom label in Nottingham, UK.

Rone Jaxx (R&B Funk Dancehall): A resident at the Apartment and IBO with a familiarity with Dubai crowds developed from growing up here and DJing for many years.

Dirty Larry (Electro): Recently arrived in Dubai from Glasgow with a long history of DJing and event-organising in Scotland.

Danny Neville (Breakbeat): A long-established act in the Middle East and now a resident at the apartments.

Sticky Fingers (Lounge): A Dubai musical institution.

PreRoll (eclectic): A Norwegian DJ bringing a totally new genre to the city: the sound of diverse tracks being skillfully mashed together. Eclectic is a very new genre pioneered by the Belgian brothers Steven and David Dewaele of 2 Many DJs.