Brian Mlodzinski aka “DJ GOURD” is a lover of all things music. Originally starting out as a kid growing up in New York City recording radio shows to cassette tape during the ‘80s on KISS and WBLS during the golden era of hip-hop with DJ’s like Red Alert, Chuck Chillout and Marley Marl, DJ Gourd has always dug deep into the roots and history of music, being a collector of records and music in all formats. After starting to make and share around cassette mixtapes in the ‘90s, it was around 2003 that DJ Gourd started to DJ at parties and local bars mixing his choice selection of deep cuts and crowd favorites to move any dance floor in any place at any time. Fast forward a few years and with the help of some friends, the legendary CRAQ Barn parties were born and DJ Gourd became a staple on the late night DJ scene closing out many events with marathon 6, 8 or even 10 hour sets until 8 or 9 am.

In addition to performing in New Orleans for Jazz Fest house parties, Telluride, Colorado, New York City and all over New York State, DJ Gourd has set the vibe in many environments including DJing Dap Kings after-parties and opening for many local and national acts such as Break Science, Tony Touch, Rich Medina, Mad Professor, Tony Allen, Turquaz, Big Sam, Big Mean Sound Machine, Jimkata and many others over the past 17 years. To keep the dance floor moving, DJ Gourd pulls from his diverse record collection of Funk, Soul, Afro-beat, Rock, Country and Old School Rap comprised of over 4,000 7” and 3,000 12” records. Not being one to only be stuck in the DJ booth, as a guitarist DJ Gourd started the 10 piece funk/soul band Mutron Warriors in 2006 as a way to recreate some of the rare records in his collection and has now continued that tradition with a new band called the Comb Down, based around the sounds of the Hammond B3 organ and soul jazz music of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.