A-Trak: From Torah to Turntable

Michelle da Silva

When I was thirteen, I would save my money to buy Spice Girls bubblegum. When a certain Montreal-born Jew named Alain Macklovitch was thirteen, he used his Bar Mitzvah money to buy a Technics 1200 turntable and mixer. One of these kids is now a world-famous DJ. Guess which one.

After being the youngest competitor to win the DMC World DJ Championships at age 15, Macklovitch - better known as A-Trak - went on to win two other major world titles and was invited to be one of the front men of DJ collective, The Allies. In addition to a busy tour schedule, A-Trak ran the now-defunct indie hip-hop record label, Audio Research, with his brother David Macklovitch of Chromeo. Having toured extensively for the past ten years, A-trak now splits his time when between Montreal and New York when he’s not on the road spinning records as Kanye West’s official DJ.

Today, A-Trak runs another label called Fool’s Gold, and is currently on tour in Europe with West. A DVD compiling his busy touring life entitled Sunglasses is a Must was released in April 2006. Although the DJ has released several singles under Audio Research, he is now focused on doing official remixes for his first full-length album. While he was scheduled to rock the united throngs of indie hipsters and hip-hop aficionados in Vancouver back in June, A-Trak came down with the flu and was forced to cancel the show. He has promised to bring his technically progressive mainstream appeal back to Canada soon, and, until then, his admirers - particularly a Spice Girls bubblegum-blowing girl - can’t seem to get enough of this talented party-starter.