Original art, live drum 'n bass by SOL-I, exclusive recipe cocktails, fresh decor. Sound good....? Thought so. The Gemini Lounge has it all.

The Gemini Lounge, found at 221 2nd Ave. (between 13th and 14th) NYC, is concentrically located allowing easy access to the host of Irish Pubs, restaurants and cafes to the north in Gramercy and the eclectic bars, clubs and lounges to the south in the East Village.

Only a couple to blocks from Webster Hall, moments from the Key Club (former System), a hop-skip-and-a-jump from club 13, the Gemini Lounge often attracts clubbers wearing their pre-game warm-up hats. However, the lounge is classy, sophisticated, chic and caters to a diverse group; the fashion conscious and the trendies frequent the lounge as well as more casually clad artists, performers, and NYC socialites. The programming at Gemini Lounge is equally diverse, with live performers, visual extravaganzas, art shows, and DJs. The garden area in the rear offers a great summer experience (unless it's 108 in the shade) and the interior design and layout, while compact, is creative without being boisterous. The project comes from the wallets and minds of innovators Patrick Fahey and partners Jeff and Rod Surut, and Marc and Ken Sferraza, the same group who brought New Yorkers 'Naked Lunch' in SoHo. Working in conjunction with designer Peter Sibilia and his team, they created this mid-modern "cubesic" African-style lounge.

The Gemini Lounge recently hosted a phenomenal night of see- and sound-scape: The Art Release Party 2.0! Twenty-one artists offered an eclectic and versatile mix of photography, mixed media, mosaics, textiles, and experimental art forms. The rear of the lounge was plastered with skillfully and provocatively formulated pieces all from local artists who may use this exposition to aid their difficult journey climbing the NYC ladder of artistic success or in hopes only to fuel their wallets to facilitate the purchase of two weeks of oil paints or textiles, or quite possibly, for the sole sake of expression: ranking second behind the artistic masturbation of actually creating the work, having their works seen by others is the one of the purest forms of satisfaction and fascinating visual experience.

To complement the artist's exposition, the air was filled with the soundwaves of a full cast of performers and musicians. SOL-I, the main event, mixes live and synth elements. Spit Stix, a punk drummer who played for years with FEAR. Supported by Noah on bass, Enrique with keys and synthesis, Tai dropping lyrics, and da Hiro on lead guitar.

I had the honor to sit down and jam with a couple of individuals who wowed me first through their incredible musical talent, exposition, and knowledge. Spit StiX and Tai, mainman superhero drummer and colorful lead vocalist (respectively), make up 2/5 of SOL-I. The sound is a mix of dub, mach-speed drum Jams, roots funky bass, mystical vocals and harmonies, and intense middle keyboarding.

SOL-I was born in New York City. The conception took place some three years after Spit and Phylo (the lead guitarist) left their longtime band-mates, Fear. Spit moved from the West Coast to NYC in '92, and proceeded to produce some songs for local artists, was involved with some good projects, some decent shows. He bounced along, doing ok, writing a bit, producing, playing around with friends, ripping up some gigs. Not bad, but then. In 1994, Spit found Jungle. And a beautiful marriage was began; a relationship with a music that only a musician can know, the way a composer feels the crescendos and decrescendos, the way a kayaker develops a true love and understanding for the river through his/her immersion in it. A relationship that will allow Spit StiX and SOL-I to develop indefinitely and to expand, advance, and magnify the realm of drum-n-bass as we know it. SOL-I takes the dark, sinister mach-speed beats of Spit and injects them with a little sugar; bridging the gap between clubs and the masses, SOL-I parlays the deep, dark hardcore with poppy choppy 'rub-a-dub-dub 1989 reggae' choruses. The result is a style that is all-new, ultra-fresh, mad-funky, and ear-able to almost anyone.

In Tai's words, Spit is a power player, a master musician [he has] the knowledge, the know-how, and the discipline. Spit began it all in the drum & bugle Corp, under the instruction of a Marine sergeant and Dean Hagan (whose father Earl Hagan, was a famous composer); his drills would include playing 200-400 bpm (beats per minute) while marching up to 5 miles. That's where he developed his "million mile an hour foot", which can tap in sequence as fast as his right hand! Adapting to the requirements of d-n-b actually meant slowing down for Spit slowing his mach-speed windmills down from 400 bpm to the 200 bpm found in jungle. Long story short, this man is a fucking maniac an athlete, a muscleman, and a master of his art. All he needed was the right crew, the right combination of power players, funkmasters, and trendsetters.

And resultantly, the most phenomenal thing about this band and this story, is the challenge it has been for Spit and Tai (who have been the two instigators, managers, promoters, and agents for SOL-I from the beginning) to construct SOL-I piece by piece, musician by musician. It was very difficult and disappointing for the couple to play with second-rate musicians. Hence the stories of rehearsal woes could fill this page: musicians who were talented, but couldn't mix, who were talented and could mix it up, but didn't fit in, who were ideal, except they wanted to run the show, who were academic but had no soul, who had the vibe but were too heavy on the bottle, etc etc etc.

For two years now, Tai and Spit have experimented and explored options and opportunities with numerous bassists, guitarists and keyboardists. Tai acted as a tough HR manager, often dismissing people show knew would never work even when Spit may have offered them another rehearsal. Together, they formed an effective yin-and-yang of musician-finding mayhem. Spit needs an athlete, a madman, a maniac, a muscle man, a marathoner, a wicked player at all positions. The bassist, obviously, is one of the most important elements of drum-n-bass. Without a power player in this spot, the band suffers greatly. But I have no desire here to detail their human resource struggle in devising and building SOL-I; I would rather rejoice in the fact that the positions have been filled, and filled well: Tai says Noah is a "wicked" bassplayer and a reggae/roots/punk funky athlete. Enrique, key, and ex-musical director for Ricky Martin, attended Berkeley for 6 years and brings an interesting mix of academia and a surprising douse of soul. And Hiro, the slamming-down-stroke lead guitarist, and the only other members who has been with SOL-I from the beginning.

SOL-I does have a couple of secrets. And I'm gonna give them away. One, when show-night comes around they are pristine clean. No booze, no this, no that, no nada. One members was release for (among other issues) slugging a brew down while the other members set up. "If you're gonna run a marathon, you don't chug down a Guinness. I need athletes" Spit said. He went on to say that this trade requires crazy concentration, that he must be straight and have "no doubts"; that he has to know that "the next fill, the next impossible thing that I'm as healthy as I can be, something's gonna come up that's impossible wicked ass hard, and I'm gonna be able to do it. The band is comprised of serious musicians who are sharp, tight, and alert. The party's for post show.

Secret #2: How does Spit make all those drum sounds that sound just like synthesized drum beats? They ARE synthesized drum beats. Spit plays a digital drum kit (although the acoustic badboys still come to the shows for mega-quick acoustic d-n-b jams) which has 16 preprogrammed kits, or pitches. One pad allows Spit to switch from kit to kit, allowing him massive musical flexibility and diversity. However, every single drum beat you hear represents a tap of one of Stix's sticks against a drum pad. After the pad has been hit, a RE-Mark2 drum machine produces the sound. Interesting enough, the relay takes place at a slight delay, so Spit has to synchronize beats with his ear, not his hands, and to play just ahead of the beat. Juggling these challenges, Spit manages to perform 200+ bpm fills and thrashes with machinelike precision, creating on of the only truly live drum-n-bass shows in the world.

SOL-I is fresh, and they are truly a drum-n-bass phenomenon. Their music reflects more choppy Caribbean, African, and West Indian beats (surely influenced by Spit's time spent with the Black Pirate Posse); their music at times reflects the style, rhythm, power, and spontaneity of the toasters. They have capitalized on Noah's ability to mesh reggae/ragga basslines with d-n-b mach madness, spliced it with Enriques technical expertise, ambient chops, and midrange exploration, Tai's periodic bursts of lyrical color, Hiro's power downstrokes and Spit's super-comic book hero skillz to create a music that is almost unreal. If you heard it, you'd think it was a DJ. If you saw the video, you'd think it was looped. If you watched it, you'd become skeptical. But oh. Let me assure you, I've watched it happen before my eyes and it is oh so real, oh so sick, ad oh so drum-n-bass.