The corner strip of clubs between Park West and Wynwood has long been the scene of some of Miami's best DJ action, at venues such as White Room, PS14, and The Vagabond. But of the many DJs to have dropped beats where North Miami Avenue meets 14th Street, perhaps no single head-spinner has spun away as many nights as Mike Deuce.
Before Deuce began dropping the kind of beats that make Miami bop, though, he was a man of metal. Yep, you got it, one of those loud, proud disciples of volume for whom roar is a state of being. In fact Deuce spent 10 years making a racket with a succession of bands until he got "fed up with the local live music scene — what little there is," and switched to mastering Serato.
But his past is also responsible for his range — who else would cite Slayer and Santogold in the same breath? — as well as his deep appreciation for the action that occurs within the liberating confines of the clubs he now calls home. Wouldn't you rather play for a packed house?
Which seems to be what Deuce is doing every time he's on the decks, whether he's kicking an old-school rap rarity, a new crunk classic, or the latest in indie-cred cadence. But these nights, metal isn't much on the menu, just as the mainland is not the only land mass where Deuce does his DJing. Yes, that means he also now plays on the Beach, and yes, that means at Purdy Lounge. But those Ohellnah Tuesday parties at which he reigns are so boisterous, and so close to the causeway, you wouldn't be faulted for thinking some sort of mayhem was trickling off Miami's core.
Call it urban hip, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It's the well-rounded sound of a song-slinger as adept at being in the place to be as at making wherever he is just where it's at. Kinda like a cat named Mike Deuce.
Mike Deuce's current top five:
1. "The Big Kazoo (Nacho Lovers' "Limb by Limb" Edit)," Style of Eye
2. "White Knight Two," Surkin
3. "Radio (Shinici Osawa Remix)," Felix Da Housecat
4. "Cross the Dancefloor," Treasure Fingers
5. "Everything in Its Right Place (Andi Müllers Looong Mix)," Radiohead
