wordplay by orange peel moses
image by Sean Hartgrove

Pharmacists don’t just pull random pills off the shelf each time they need to fill a certain prescription, and DJs don’t just pull random records out of their bags each time they need to fill a certain dance floor.  Just as haphazardly mixing pharmaceuticals without extensive knowledge of the potential consequences can be dangerous (even lethal in the worst case scenarios), haphazardly mixing records without extensive knowledge of their individual contents can be a short cut to Train wreck City (never deadly, but definitely an embarrassing buzz kill).  Any DJ worth his or her salt knows every single beat of every single track they own, both inside and out, and backwards and forwards.  Even if their set programming isn’t entirely pre-planned, the good ones have a rock solid idea which records compliment each other the most.  If DJs, like pharmacists, had their own accrediting organization, Kaya, founder of Denver’s own Sound Pharmacy, would be licensed to prescribe aural medication in no time.

“Knowing your music is like knowing how to masturbate.  It’s something you’ve gotta learn early on and it’s something you get to enjoy mastering for the rest of your life.”
 Made in Korea, Kai Estey didn’t quite realize the life-changing importance of music, or the impact it was capable of having on people’s lives until about 13 years later.  It was that year that a few older friends invited him to attend his first live concert.  Fate led them to a Damn Yankees show, where they caught Ted Nugent firing a compound bow at a life-size cutout of Saddam Hussein.  So damn insane is right.  Nugent’s music is not necessarily Kaya’s preferred bag, but witnessing a sea of Yankees go bananas during a drum solo while a seven foot giant indulged his trigger finger was certainly a revelation of sorts.  Music that ended up actually mattering included the likes of Depeche Mode, Front 242, Henry Rollins, KMFDM, NIN and Skinny Puppy.  You know, the dark and industrial kind.  All of it ended up influencing what he plays now.

“I’ve always been a bass brat.  Started with drum and bass, went to house, and then breaks.  Now I play a mixture of all of it, stuff with a really dirty, bass hit and synth influence.  Mostly new school electro breaks, a little bit of electro house and a splash of drum and bass to accentuate the moment.”

While Kaya has been playing around town for years, this year has definitely seen
him on quite the roll, thanks primarily to his weekly Wednesday residency in The Milk Bar’s Green Room with tag team partner Random Intent.  What began in January as a one-off birthday party thrown by his SoCo-employed girlfriend Angel, has evolved into the most reliable and happening goth and breaks night in the entire Mile High City.  Facilitating the intermingling of the two scenes is a wet dream come true for the scenester couple.  While the two first met years ago as Rise employees, it wasn’t until Kevin Larson’s Victorian Fetish Ball last October at Tabu that the sparks finally started flying.  The pair has since channeled those sparks towards reinvigorating Kaya’s long dormant Sound Pharmacy production company.     

“We are starting to do some stuff with Can’t Say No Productions and hopefully we will be throwing an independent party in the near future.”     

Angel’s Birthday August 18th @ Shelter (Groovetop)

Wednesdays @ The Milk Bar (Green Room)

myspace.com/SoundPharmacy