Timber Loft presents Giles Smith & Friends

Giles Smith

Giles’ love affair with all things House and Techno was sparked at the beginning of the 90’s after hearing it on the radio. Before long the voodoo lure of the dancefloor and club life was too much to resist and he fell head long into his obsession. Despite collecting records from the age of 15, it wasn’t until moving to London in 2000 after completing his degree that Giles began DJing. Within a very short space of time he made his mark, earning a coveted residency for the Junior Boys Own affiliated Faith parties. Here he played alongside UK stalwarts such as X-Press 2 and Terry Farley and international guests such as Doc Martin, Kerri Chandler and Dubtribe. Soon after, inspired by hedonistic cutting edge clubs both in the UK and Ibiza, Giles and a group of friends launched secretsundaze in 2001. In a short period of time, secretsundaze became the hottest ticket in town for both guest DJ’s / Live Act’s (Ricardo Villalobos, Carl Craig, Steve Bug, Luciano, Ame, Losoul, Ivan Smagghe, Jay Haze, Rhadoo, Cobblestone Jazz, Mountain People, Keith Worthy and Jus Ed to name a few); and party people from all over Europe. These colourful summer Sunday daytime parties have also made secretsundaze the darling of the UK media with it being voted “Best Club Night” by readers of Time Out in London in “The Time Out Live Awards 2005” and awarded the accolade “Club of The Year” in the January 2006 edition of Mixmag. secretsundaze also became known for taking risks with bookings, breaking new, fresh talent in the UK, something which Giles was largely responsible for. The buzz about secretsundaze has also spread across Europe with hugely successful parties taking place in Ibiza (2005 / 2006), Sonar Festival In Barcelona (2005 / 2006/ 2007/2008/2009). Miami (2009) and Snowbombing in Austria. During this period, Giles’ reputation has soared with him being named “Best New DJ” in 2003 by Time Out magazine. He has played many of the UK’s most respected parties / venues from smaller more underground venues such as The Key, Plastic People, 93 Feet East to larger venues such as Fabric (Room 1), Back to Basics, The Sub Club and internationally Panorama Bar, Watergate, Robert Johnson , The Rex, Priviledge and The Underground in Ibiza, Love in New York and various clubs in Tokyo to name just a few. Musically his style is focussed around Deep House and Techno with a warm, hypnotic feel. However his sets draw on many styles from Chicago to Detroit to more modern European influences. Most of all though, Giles’ sets are noted for their strong programming, passion integrity and his unwavering ability to uncover hidden gems both new and old. In 2005 Giles was approached to join the reviews team of the internationally renowned magazine DJ, reviewing the “Techno” section, something which he did for 5 years until very recently. His first record was released in 2006 alongside Dan Berkson but its his “Two Armadillos” project with Martin Dawson that has gained the most attention,. Over the last 3 years the duo have made a significant dent in the consciousness of most underground House and Techno DJs with their deep, warm and natural sound appearing on labels such as Dessous ,BangBang!, Sthlm Audio, Buzzin Fly, Motivbank, Four:Twenty and secretsundaze music. They have also completed remixes for Dessous (Dan Berkson and James What ft. Robert Owens) The Discowboys (Steve Bug and Vincenzo) and Mood Music (Kiki) and their releases have been remixed by the likes of Sascha Dive, Tobias and Andomat 3000 and Jan. Giles and his secretsundaze co-resident James Priestley also got together to remix Tobi Neuman and Onur Ozur’s Sensitiva Project. Giles’s tracks have been licensed to compilations such as Arpiars mix for Circo Loco’s 10 Year Anniversary; Steve Bug’s “Bugnology 3”; Mathew Dear’s “Body Language” and Claude Von Stroke’s “At The Controls”. He has also mixed and compiled two critically acclaimed mix CD’s for secretsundaze alongside his co-resident James Priestley. secretsundaze Volume’s 1 and 2 have both been hugely well received by the public and journalists alike. Both showcase Giles’ exemplary selection skills and deft mixing. Refusing to go down the well troden generic ableton route Giles chose to mix Volume 1 live at homewith no software just 2 1210’s and a mixer wanting a raw, natural and 100% real vibe. Mid 2009 Giles was asked to contribute a mix to the hallowed Resident Advisor podcast series which received huge praise from the international community once again eschewing the ableton route for a raw, natural and honest approach. 2010 looks to be another strong year for Giles and indeed Two Armadillos with them recently completing a remix for legendary 90’s label R&S remixing regular Planet E artists Psychotron soon to hit the streets. Giles has also been approched to mix the 11th edition of the next instalment of the AudioFamilies download / podcast series with other artists previously being Damian Lazarus, Jacques Renault and John Tejada. With gigs forthcoming in 2010 in Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Lisbon, Zurich, Gothenburg, Munich, Israel to name a few there seems to be no stopping this English gentleman.

D'Monk

D’Monk (pronounced duh’munk) is an instrumentalist, producer and selector from London with heavy ties to Berlin. His music emanates the raw and the soulful — representing an eclectic collage of his influences — whether in the form of recorded songs, DJ sets or his body-stirring live performances. It’s an approach which has seen him gain support from a varied who’s who; from Brainfeeder’s Flying Lotus and Dorian Concept to DJ Spinna, Rush Hour and ADE 2024, where he is set to perform his trademark live set blend of analogue driven grooves and luscious, soulful soundscapes. In October 2024, he drops his debut EP ‘Shine’ via London’s well-respected Touching Bass. Across six tracks, D’Monk makes a strong claim for strongest introduction of the year, falling somewhere between warm-n-fuzzy electro, LDN broken beat, beatdown and the drunken, undefinable soul-dance of Detroit. With Ken Okuda, Orlando Rosé, Amirah Aziz and Annalisa La Mela, D’Monk runs the Berlin-based party and soon-to-be label, Shush. Alongside their community, the crew are developing an essential foothold within a brimming scene of Berlinites who favour groove over the robotic ‘oontz-oontz’ so traditionally linked with the German capital.

DREY (UK)

DREY is an up and coming London based DJ originally hailing from Birmingham. She’s a music lover period but is most drawn and influenced as a DJ, by the deep and groovy, low end sounds of deep house and garage. Moving to London just over a year ago, Drey has already carved out a reputation playing at a number of iconic parties and hot spots in the capital. Highlights include being invited by Keyrah to play at her sold out Misc party at the Jazz Cafe; Night Tales, OONTS, Floorjam, BBE store and JUMBI. DREY is also passionate about radio and stepped in to cover for Giles Smith’s NTS show no less, guested on Rinse FM for Utopia and also made appearances on Foundation FM (b2b with her friend Blissy E) and Voices Radio. 2026 promises to be DREY's best year yet with new exciting projects on the horizon.

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