Titts, Tats, an Octopi: The Tittsworth Story

Jesse Tittsworth (via HipsterOverkill.com)

Our nation’s capital has always been a major cultural hub, fluctuating with the popular sociopolitical, economic, and artistic movements of the given moment. Musically, DC has always been a thriving hub of innovation, giving birth to internationally renown legends like Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye. In the 90′s, dance music had established a firm foothold in the club community, with haunts like Dupont Circle’s Red at the forefront. Shortly thereafter in the early years of the new millennium, the scene hit a dry spell, its popularity taking several steps away from the spotlight. As cities like New York and Chicago edged their way to the forefront, Washington DC took a back seat. Now with the birth and rapid rise of the moombahton craze, DC has returned to the spotlight with the popularization of names like Dave Nada and Tittsworth, two DC natives who are making some serious waves and reestablishing their home town’s position among the ranks of EDM-rich metropolises. We recently got a special chance to sit down and converse with Tittsworth and his peers about the rise of moombahton, and get their impressions on the overall EDM scene.

Tittsworth art at Webster Hall

Jesse Tittsworth grew interested in music during late 80′s, and in the 90′s became enthralled in the rave culture and its associated genres, particularly drum n’ bass. After the turn of the century, the Chinese-American began to hone his skills and his reputation both as a DJ and a producer. The octopus aficionado launched himself into higher echelons with the birth of T&A Records, a label founded by Tittsworth and his colleague DJ Ayres in 2006. Following the release of several successful EPs on Vicious Pop and Ammo Records, he made his massive debut in 2008 with the release of his first full-length album, Twelve-Steps, welcomed with much critical acclaim on behalf of Billboard and DJ Mag, among a variety of other publications, as well as international radio play from stations like the UK’s BBC Radio One. His hunger for musical perfection, community connectedness, and entrepreneurship fueled his 2010 partnership as a co-owner of U-Street Music Hall, a world class night club that has rocketed to instant success with a consistent sold out lineup of electronically focused DJs and producers. With support from internationally recognized artists like Dave Nada, A-Trak, Kid Sister, Subfocus, Steve Aoki, Fatboy Slim, Pitbull, and Q-Tip among many others, the tattoo covered moombahtonista is activating the dancing shoes of people around the world, and converting the masses into pendejas faster than the walking dead in the impending zombie apocalypse. While we Dubconians could profess our love and appreciation all day, I’d rather just let the man speak for himself.

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This whole crew is full of amazing people. Take a look at some awesome outtakes!

Here are some highlights for the video impaired:

On “Pendejas”,

“Pendejas” is a result of me and Alvin Risk just kind of hanging around and being part of that movement when Moombahton Mondays started at Velvet [Lounge in DC], and just going to these things and being like, “Yo, this shit is cool, let’s try to do our own version,” and really try to give something that’s not just a DJ tool and kind of put our DC stamp on it.

On the vibe at U Street Music Hall,

I wanted to separate myself from places that basically had crowds that needed nostalgic references, or pop references, or things that were recognizable [in their music]…

…You look at the place, it’s no frills in a lot of places. It doesn’t have fancy sofas or anything like that. [The sound system] is the major investment.

On eating a live octopus,

I like the idea that eating something alive makes you face what it means to be a carnivore. It’s not like pre-packaged veal or anything like that. It’s like this fight or flight thing kind of kicks in and the octopus is the epitome of that.

On the recent mainstream recognition of EDM,

A lot of people might come into the game listening to something sent on the mainstream tip. Somebody who went to a Rusko concert all of a sudden becomes a really legitimately good dubstep producer in a few years, or whatever producer. The same thing probably happened with the Chemical Brothers, or Fatboy Slim, or The Prodigy in previous generations.

We were pleased to have Willy Joy appear in our interview with Tittsworth as well. The Chicago based club master has recently made a name for himself with support from the likes of Diplo and Drop the Lime, having dropped several releases on behalf of Drop the Lime’s label Trouble & Bass. A good friend and colleague of Tittsworth’s, Willy Joy has slowly immersed himself in the moombahton scene and proven himself as a multi-faceted producer and DJ with plenty of potential. While the brevity of this blurb does not do him due justice, it’s only because he will be covered in more depth in the near future; stay tuned for that!

Now for those of you not familiar with Tittsworth’s music, here’s a brief musical intro for the unknowing:
Tittsworth & Alvin Risk - Pendejas
Tittsworth & Alvin Risk - La Campana
Nadastrom - Diabluma Theme (Tittsworth Remix)
Tittsworth - Drunk As Fuck (Meterhead Dark Disco Mix)
Tittsworth, Kid Sister, & PaseRock - WTF (Nadastrom On Drugs Remix)

And since we know you love freebies, here’s a full set from Air Tokyo in the Fall of 2010:
Tittsworth - Live at Air Tokyo 2010

As we continue to make connections and develop valuable friendships throughout our various ventures, we shall never fail to recall appreciation for those who have supported us from the beginning and will continue to spread the movement in the future. This interview is just the beginning of many great things to come from the Dubco team, so establish a firm grasp because we’re pleased to take you along for the journey.

~ Jules