Biography
An ardent musician from an early age: playing several instruments varying from mandolin to drums; participating in marching band to rock band - Tolgar's history clearly depicts an amalgamation of musical sensibilities and his desire to share with others the music that he loves: breaks. Writing and performing freestyle as a hip-hop MC in New York was his introduction to electronic music. Afterwards, it extended into funky breaks and jump-up jungle while in Florida. Encountering artists like DJ Icey, Baby Anne, Huda Hudia, Rick West, DJ Trixie etc. and befriending many other DJs along the way, he was inspired to spin and began practicing on his friends' turntables. By 2000, Tolgar was back in Chicago practicing on turntables of his own, spinning all forms of breaks: from funky to nu-skool, as well as spinning drum 'n' bass, tech-step and jump-up jungle. Over time, breaks became his main focus. Breaks, rather an obscure genre of electronic music, was sparsely showcased in Chicago. Motivated by its absence, Tolgar and his friend and fellow DJ JohnEVolution decided to promote it by launching Recess at Katacomb in the summer of 2002. Together with John and Marcel, Tolgar retained a monthly residency at Katacomb until they joined Chris Gin and Localsound's weekly party Hard Candy at Big Wig (now known as Four), as a monthly breaks event. In 2004, Tolgar left Recess to pursue his own promotion/record label company Base10 with the initial focus to cultivate an enjoyable environment in which to exhibit breaks. Teaming up with Local Hero, Base10 was invited by Bass by the Pound to run a monthly breaks party (every 2nd Friday) at Lava Lounge (859 N. Damen Ave.) called Algorhythm. It is in its 8th-month-running this March 2006 with 30Hz as their guest. One of their most recent guests, Smithmonger, a breaks DJ and producer from the U.K. stated, "Chicago is in good hands. Their breaks scene needs this dude at the controls." In addition to promoting others, Tolgar's own reputation as a DJ has grown. He has opened up for U.N.K.L.E. on Halloween 2004 (Pure at Soundbar); headlined in Seattle at The Spot (Pleasuretown) in March 26, 2005; that same year was ranked the 42nd breakbeat DJ on www.thedjlist.com; opened up for DJ Hyper at Soundbar, Chicago (Jan.'06); continues his worldwide-reaching online radio show on www.ravetrax.com - 2 years running; shares an internet radio show with Local Hero which airs every Friday on www.nuskoolbreaks.co.uk; and is presently collaborating a live PA production project (The Grind) with Tod Miner who has produced tracks for Terry Bristol and Psycho Bitch including "TeenageWasteland" and currently has a track listed on the top 25 Billboard's Breakout Artist chart. Future plans include throwing and playing more parties, producing new tracks, and melding his experiences to create Base10 into a record label.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
