Next Wednesday, amid the glide and slide that signifies mainland Miami, the Electric Pickle will go off with a soul-stirring spectacle courtesy of the cats known as Champion Sound. It'll be a birthday of sorts, because Champion has been sounding off at the Pickle for one full year. But it'll also be a continuation of a tradition that began in 2004 and sees no signs of abating.
Champion Sound was formed by DJs Sire Esq., Kems, and Lumin as a collective featuring a rotating cast of topnotch talent, one that owes as much to the beat on the street as it does to the mood of a bedroom. In other words, the Champion sound is both sinuous and sexy. And it makes for one mad night out on the town.
In fact, Lumin takes his name from the Latin word for light. This light has led Lumin's way since before he got out of his teens. The place was Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Lumin, an Army brat born in Newport News, Virginia, and raised all over the country, was asked to step in on the decks while a DJ pal of his took a break. Lumin didn't have his own records on hand; still, he was equipped with enough know-how and daring to pull it off. And once he saw how innately he moved the crowd, the spin was in him for good.
Eventually, he made his way to the M.I.A., where he has spun for the past 14 years. Among the many highlights of his gigs, he counts the 2010 WMC Intricate Beauty party, put on by Nervous Records at the Pickle. There Lumin spun alongside King Britt, adding to a handful of occasions on which the two had met for a full night of funky, good vibrations.
Lumin owes his soul to Miami, where he has set up the soon-to-launch Oddinhuman Music, whose sounds will spring from his own vintage-equipped Slowdown Studio. At first, the label will unleash all the stuff he has raring to go solo, but eventually, he plans on teaming with the best and the brightest the 305 has to offer.
In the meantime, Lumin is staying boothed up among the hotshot head spinners of Champion Sound. It's there where he can lend his patented blend of illumination to this thing called the night. So if you're looking for the way to a new cool soul, you need look no further than Lumin.
Lumin's top five disco tracks:
1. "Over and Over," Sylvester
2. "Running Away," Roy Ayers
3. "Danger Zone," Midnight Express
4. "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)," GQ
5. "The More I Get, The More I Want," Teddy Pendergrass
