Icey's appearance Saturday at Studio A, fresh on the heels of a show there by his onetime protégé, Baby Anne, gives further proof that funky breaks are alive and well. The breakbeat haven of Orlando saw Icey (born Eddie Pappa) grow up, but South Florida can really claim responsibility for his breakout success. His first residency was at the legendary early-Nineties raves at the Edge — now Revolution — in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
The massive crowds he drew, as well as the acid-inflected tracks he put out on his own label, Zone Records, eventually garnered him a deal with Pete Tong's FFRR imprint. In fact in 2000 Icey became the first American DJ to record an installment of the legendary Tong/BBC-spawned Essential mix series. The ensuing years have dampened neither Icey's enthusiasm for playing out, nor his enthusiasm for the music he helped pioneer. Saturday's gig is just one of more than 100 Icey plays in a year, and it supports his latest mix album, Disco Rodeo, released earlier this year on Moist Music.
