Details
THIS HALLOWEEN, THE DOLPHIN INVITES YOU TO A MISCHIEF NIGHT ACID BATH
featuring the terrifying combo of LAUREN FLAX b2b MIKE SERVITO w/ The Dolphin's resident vampire G I N A leading us into the night
COSTUMES HIGHLY ENCOURAGED
Lauren Flax is a Detroit native and long time Brooklyn resident who has been performing internationally for many years in a variety of projects and genres.
Lauren Flax has been a lifelong musician, starting to play the drums at 8 years old before continuing on to guitar and bass in high school. She began her DJ career in the underground dance and rave scenes of Detroit as a resident at the Motor Lounge, playing every Tuesday night along with resident DJs Mike Servito, DJ Dilemma, Jason Kendig, and Derek Plaslaiko. Flax played the very first Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000 on the Motor stage. While originally starting off as a jungle DJ, Flax evolved her style into a variety techno, house, and electro music. Flax moved to Chicago in 1999, where she honed in on music production while continuing to DJ. By 2002, she relocated again to Manhattan, which shortly followed the release of her first remix, "Much Finer" for Le Tigre.
In 2018, Flax was introduced to DJ Haus by fellow Detroit musician and friend Jimmy Edgar, to which he quickly signed a record, resulting in "Dance Trax Vol. 16" (2018).
In 2019, Flax joined the mostly Detroit-born New York collective The Bunker New York,[1] on which she released "One Man’s House is Another Woman’s Techno EP" (2019). The EP was highly successful and sold out quickly.
Flax met with Brooklyn-based record label 2MR in 2019, curious to explore beyond the realm of dance music. She remixed 'Breathe' by label-mate Pale Blue, and that ended up inspiring Flax's new style of music. After the remix was released, Flax took to writing a 6 track EP, merging genres of ambient, acid house, and much more, set to come out in Summer 2021.
Flax started touring the United States and Europe as a solo artist in 2019, performing live analog sets, pushing the boundaries of what a DJ is defined as.
MIKE SERVITO | THE BUNKER NEW YORK | BEYOND BOOKING
Some DJs burst upon the scene like a supernova, fading just as quickly. Others take years, even decades, to make their way—but those are the ones who make the most impact, thanks to a lifetime of accumulated musical wisdom. Mike Servito is a prime example of the latter. His career is one that’s defined by a slow and steady rise to upper ranks of the deejaying realm—and along the way, he’s perfected a jacking style that equal parts house, acid and techno, a sound that pays homage to the past while being very much of-the-moment.
A Detroit-area native, Servito got his early education by tuning into the Electrifying Mojo and the Wizard (Jeff Mill’s radio moniker). By the early ’90s, Servito was primed to try his hand at the deejaying arts, “I was just kind of cocky about it,” he says. “I knew I could do it.” And he was right—in the DJ hotbed of Detroit, internalizing knowledge gleamed from the likes of Mike Huckaby and Claude Young, he kept working at it until he established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Motor City circuit, eventually becoming a member in good standing with the inner circle of Ghostly International.
But Servito felt the need for a change from the sometimes insular environment of Detroit. By the late ’00s, he was living in NYC with no real game plan in place. As it turned out, he didn’t really need one—he soon fell in with the city’s premier techno party, The Bunker, becoming one of its mainstay residents. Around the same time, he was beginning to make his presence known on a global scale, packing dance floors with gigs around the States and around the world. But it was a hometown festival snub in 2014 that really got things going.
Servito had played Movement once before, in 2011. “And between then and 2014,” he recalls, “I had been playing so many Bunker parties, playing so many great gigs and my profile was rising—so I was sure they would book me again.” The invite never came. Instead, he booked himself at every Movement after-party he could, one of which was the annual No Way Back, a legendary throw down hosted by The Bunker New York and Detroit’s Interdimensional Transmissions label. The set, a riotously sweaty bleeps-and-beats affair, was recorded for posterity; unexpectedly but deservedly, it garnered a nod as the year’s No 1 online Mix of the Year on Resident Advisor.
That was the spark that set Servito’s career aflame, the push that took him to the top. Since then, he’s cemented his status as one of the most respected spinners around, regularly manning the decks at such hallowed halls as Berlin’s Panorama Bar, London’s XOYO and Tokyo’s Contact, not to mention the world’s best festivals—including, of course Movement. And to this day, his approach to deejaying is refreshingly simple: “I really don’t think about it,” he says, “When I’m playing, I just dive in, and I’m OK.” He’s far more than okay—he’s one of the best around.
