Vettaluv

House music, like life, is as much about intent and purpose as it is about fate and destiny. If you believe in that kind of stuff, at least.

I do, and I suppose that’s what converged one day in the year 2000, when a young raver who had the idea to be a DJ walked into Lesmen’s Music here in Albuquerque, to buy her first turntables.

We’ve all had that dream, I suppose. Of being a DJ. If only for an instant. I was having a similar moment around that very same time when I walked into Grandma’s music and bought my first turntables, but that’s where intent and destiny start to come into play.

As I tried and tried and tried, I found I wasn’t a very good DJ. I just didn’t have it. And trust me, I tried. I really did. It just wasn’t for me. But as soon as I accepted that I started on my path towards being a writer. The one I’m on now.

But see while I went down that path, this other DJ was off somewhere practicing too, but unlike with me, this DJ had the sound, and the ability, and the drive, and that’s always going to be where destiny takes over. With the help of intent, of course.

That’s how I feel when l listen to two very different and unique mixes by one DJ known as Vettaluv. I hear many of the same inspirations and influences that I have also grown up with, and yet I admire her ability to show such distinct sides to House Music as a DJ.

First, is a deep house mix that catches me immediately, named Sweater Weather. I suppose it caught my eye with the memory of cooler times now that we are deep into the heat of the New Mexico desert summer, and yet that’s perhaps also why this mix affects me as well.

I have spent years and years and years lost in the wasteland oasis that is Albuquerque, and yet always with house music. Always with this subtle, jazzy, deliberate bounce that I know so well as home.

I just don’t know how to tell the world that the sound I hear in New Mexico, is one you can only hear here, and part of that is because this is still a place filled with people that have experience from all over the world, and they choose to be here.

They all contribute based on where they’ve been and where they’re from, and this first mix shows that with Vettaluv. This ability to catch that rhythm, and to keep it is not something to be taken for granted. This DJ has that.

It definitely reminds me of some of my Chicago House Music all-time favorites, Mark Farina and DJ Heather, who are both long time favorites of New Mexico, and the world.

I spent my teenage years listening to Chicago Deep House, and somehow, by listening to this one hour mix, I know DJ Vettaluv absolutely did the same. I love how soulful this one is.

The second mix is a bit of up-tempo jacking house, and it reminds me a lot of another DJ from my teenage years that still rocks the dancefloor, DJ Dan, who is a legend of California House Music. It also kind of reminds me of Gorgon city too. The sound and the bounce. I love Gorgon City, and I think maybe this DJ does too.

This one is called Late Night Sessions 002 and It shows this DJs uptempo and higer energy side. More like peak hour house music, but also still soulful again, and keeping that rhythm so well.

A sound I have no doubt she picked up from her time in San Diego, which is always a great place to hear all types of good house music in a beautiful environment. I love the beautiful vocals layered all throughout the mix.

DJ Vettaluv is playing two shows coming up that I am just so excited to write about it. First, is a collaboration she has been doing with the Rev, called House Proud.

With the next installment happening on Saturday August 27th, at Insideout with a full lineup of some great House DJs, including The Rev himself, Chris Losak, Aimie Jane, and Ali Romero.

The best part about this is that there is no cover, so all you have to do is show up and enjoy the music, which is meant to be a showcase of nothing but great New Mexico local DJs.

The idea of hearing locals is something I find myself supporting more and more as time goes on as I see so clearly they are the DJ’s keeping the music and our culture going.

That always necessary lifeline not just to where it began, but also to where we can still find it. House is our home because we chose for it to be, but also because we know deep down, it also chooses us. Isn’t that what love is? Choosing each other?

Before the House Proud show, though, Vettaluv is playing the Effex rooftop on August 12th with one of my absolute favorite DJ’s in the whole world, known as Carlo Lio, and I am very excited that this DJ was picked to represent New Mexico on such a night.

I will have more to say about that one, I’m sure, but after hearing both these mixes I am even more excited to see Vettaluv welcome him under the beautiful stars we always seem to take so for granted.

From there this DJ is just gonna keep going, as she has bookings all summer long. But that’s House Music isn’t it? No matter where we go, what we do, or who we meet, House Music carries us there, and I’m grateful that it brought me to this DJ and her music, which I enjoyed so much on this hot July afternoon, as I typed quickly at my computer.

I’m excited to see and hear where Vettaluv goes from here, and I ask you the same I always do. Don’t just read these words. Play this music, and most of all, go to the show.

Support the culture and be thankful intent got us through this life, but fate was what led us to this music, and to each other. That’s what happened for Vettaluv that day at Lesmen’s Music. Her purpose led her there, but she knew exactly what to do after that.

See you on the dancefloor.