Welcome to TheMST.com, a New York based online music magazine bringing you gig reviews, exclusive interviews and breaking news. Become part of our team by submitting a review of a gig, an EP or an album. Or if you simply have something interesting to say, get in contact at info@themst.com. For all Americas press enquiries please use americas@themst.com – we currently have reporters in New York and Mexico City.
The Team is as follows:
Christian Pielow – Editor
Having seen many talented music lovers hoarding their musical knowledge and passion, I created TheMST to help others enjoy the bands and experiences they were exposed to. I hope you enjoy the content and feel free to contact me at cpielow@themst.com for any partnership or development ideas.
Donna Mackay
Donna Mackay is the best field partner you could ever have. She knows her stuff, has a great Scottish accent, and regularly gets stopped for her ‘festival style’ (whatever that means). Perhaps more importantly, she has a strong background in festival coverage and reporting back in Scotland. Experience that comes in handy when conversing with hectic PR agents and challenging artists. Her musical taste varies across the board, but has soft spots for post-rock and shoegaze. So watch out for her gliding through festival fields and crowded venues, and be sure to say hi.
Luiz Silveira
Luiz grew up in the south of Brazil and is currently roaming North America for TheMST, capturing moments (while seriously living them too). His up-bringing in the bustling Sao Paulo exposed him to a plethora of images and sounds that drive his passion today. From the homegrown legends Os Mutantes to the British imports Radiohead, Luiz has a very diverse taste (which helps makes a music photographer’s job even more enjoyable).
Over the last few years, his extensive network built from working with Brazilian magazines, has led to him to cover Os Mutantes (the very band he grew up admiring) on their 2009 US tour. Personable and down-to-earth, Luiz is genuinely excited by every gig and band he covers. In summary, simply watch out for his photos, becuase he has found a medium to truly transfer his passion to the music lovers around the world.
DJ Lil Alex
First and foremost lil Alex is a DJ, playing fast and sticky house to the infamously hedonistic crowds of Brighton, UK. He’s an occasional producer & remixer, occasional promoter, occasional writer and a frequent clubber. If there’s big beats, rolling bass-lines and vocals to live your life by, then lil Alex won’t be far away.
His formative years were wisely spent at the back of an orchestra, where the grooves were made and the beats laid down. With a musical background focusing almost entirely on rhythm, it’s hardly surprising that as a DJ he focuses on tribal & balearic house to keep his dance-floors pulsating.
Chris Jacobs
An ardent music fanatic and not afraid to let it all hang out, Chris lives, breathes and eats MUSIC. Whether it be the riffs of Jimmy Page or the minimal beats of Booka Shade, he will be there getting down and dirty. To put things in perspective: Chris has listened to at least one track (usually “Rocket Queen”) from Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite from Destruction every day for the past two years. That album ROCKS! Willing to put his dignity on the line at any festival, he has graced Benicassim, Lollapalooza and Reading to name but a few. Next big destination for 2010: EXIT festival, Serbia.
Tom Dyson
The first album Tom owned was Urban Hymns by The Verve and his first gig was The Fun Lovin’ Criminals; two bands that did very little to shape his music tastes. His teen years were spent dreaming of rinsin’ it in a grimy club to UK Garage but by the time he reached a legal age the reality was chart r’n'b in a converted theatre.
Acoustic folk and minimal house are more representative of his listening now, but if you ask him, he will say he knows nothing about music. Tom put TheMST on the map by completing our first review, and was commended on his band knowledge. Modest?
Amy Van Baaren
After being introduced to soulful House music back in Cardiff, Amy has partied her way around the globe looking for the ultimate underground house scene. Her passion made her a regular at the infamous Sankey’s soap in Manchester where she was a student, and Fabric in London.
Her travels and passion for house music (deep, tech, soulful, acid, old school disco) have taken her to the almighty EXIT festival in Serbia, the Garden Festival Croatia, Sonar in Barcelona, the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Creamfields in Prague, the Southport Weekender and regularly to the party Island Ibiza. Her favorite European spot is Berghain and Panorama bar in Berlin; she also loves nothing better than frequenting the many warehouse parties in Brooklyn, New York.
Maximillian Joseph Helm
Maximillian Joseph Helm was born on the 17th of April 1984, a son of Great British Agriculture, a warm heart begotten of the cold furrows of Suffolk County. In the hospital waiting room his father paced up and down to The Smiths, and it was said Max produced a plaintive Morrisey-like wail as he entered the world. As a child, he listened to the B52s, Bob Marley and Living Colour. As a youth, he listened to nothing and nobody.
These days, in what can be loosely described as his formative years, he likes to listen to Jehst, and considers him to be the best English rapper to put pen to paper, and lips to microphone; he also enjoys Joy Division, Brighteyes, Fairport Convention, cLOUDEAD, The Stone Roses, Erol Alkan, Klashnekoff, Explosions in the Sky, Cannibal Ox, God Speed! You Black Emperor and The Libertines…and if you really pushed him, he’d tell you he even kinda liked Blink 182.
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