Jonathan Toubin, who VICE Magazine calls “the only DJ we actually like” and Rolling Stone declares “the most liked man in the soul music scene,” was awarded 2015’s “BEST DJ” in The Village Voice 60th Anniversary “BEST OF NYC.” Juxtaposing raw, wild, and uncommon original 45rpm sides by unsung artists on the beat for today’s dance floor, Jonathan Toubin and his New York Night Train party machine’s persistent nightly work has carved out a unique space in contemporary culture and influenced scores of DJs and parties everywhere. While best known for the world’s most popular and prolific soul party, the Soul Clap and Dance-Off, and NYC’s biggest and longest-running weekly rock’n’roll dance, Shakin’ All Over Under Sideways Down!, he’s also spent the last decade turning over 2000 parties at hundreds of nightclubs, rock concerts, and dozens of major music festivals on five continents – many of which had never before hosted a rock or soul or vinyl DJ. Going where 45 DJ has gone before, he’s proved that cool old obscure music, when presented with vibrancy, taste, and showmanship, spices up the party in the most unlikely of settings – from festivals like Bonnaroo and Benicassim to concerts by Kendrick Lamar and LCD Soundsystem.
NY Night Train’s soul proprietor is the first DJ given his own entire night at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night’s Swing and the first DJ with an entire night of official South By Southwest showcases dedicated to his dance party (where his Clap has become the festival’s annual official closer). He’s also also the first 45 DJ with Burger Records cassettes and the first living DJ with compilations on the legendary Norton Records – with four Souvenirs of the Soul Clap LPs released internationally last year.
2016 finds Jonathan Toubin touring the world, releasing two more Norton LPs, recording a live mix at Jack White’s Third Man Records, playing return engagements at Bonnaroo, End of The Road, and Festival Number 6 and debuting at Jack Black’s Festival Supreme, Noisey’s Festival of Independence, and Rock En Seine, sharing bills with Chain and the Gang, Charles Bradley, Irma Thomas, Jonathan Richman, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, King Khan and the Shrines, Lee Fields, Mac DeMarco, Neil Hamburger, Shannon and the Clams, Thee Midniters, William Bell, and other heroes, and throwing his biggest and best parties yet.
