The 125-Plus People, Places and Things Ruling the Rock & Roll Universe : Rolling Stone

BEST DJ

Flosstradamus

Chicago's Flosstradamus are the perfect DJs for impatient Web surfers accustomed to having the entire history of recorded music at their cursor-tips. "We're like MP3 bloggers, but with skills," says twenty-six year-old Curt Cameruchi (a.k.a. Autobot). Armed with four turntables, two laptops, two mixers, two sequencer/samplers, a Serato MP3 "scratcher" and more than 5,000 tracks, Cameruchi and twenty-four-year-old Josh "J2K" Young craft brain-frying live sets that fuse jiggly Windy City club music, gritty crunk, cheesed-out R&B and the occasional indie-rock remix: a Flosstradamus gig features blends of Michael Jackston and Justice, Full Force and Bloc Party, Daft Punk and Jay-Z.

Flosstradamus distinguish themselves not just with track selection, but with the way they tweak, fiddle,and freak every cut — it sounds like the songs are being ripped up and sewn back together again in real time. "In the blog era of DJing, everyone has everything," says Young, whose older sister is underground rapper Kid Sister. "Now, you have to set yourself apart with your performance, and by creating your own stuff."

After forming in 2006, Flosstradamus started out small: their first regular gig was for twenty friends at a dive bar with $1 shot specials. Now, you'd be lucky to get in, as their "Get Outta the Hood" night at the Chicago dive bar TKPUB attracts long lines. And thanks to some well-seeded mixtapes (seek out the "3 Peat Mix") and ingenious mash-ups (Sigur Ros meets Twista), the duo have become an in-demand touring act, playing nearly 200 gigs since the beginning of 2007. But even with a full-length album in the works, loads of remix requests and a busy summer touring schedule, Flosstradamus remain steadfastly low-key. "We're not wearing Dolce & Gabbana shades in the club," says Cameruchi. "We're just nice Midwest dudes. It's to our advantage, I guess. People appreciate niceness." MICHAEL ENDELMAN