I wrote the 41st edition of Rescued From The Fire for the Red Bull Music Academy. NB: that's not my actual Amiga (I tried to take shots of my PC but the screen looked crap in low light).
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Rescued From The Fire
I wrote the 41st edition of Rescued From The Fire for the Red Bull Music Academy. NB: that's not my actual Amiga (I tried to take shots of my PC but the screen looked crap in low light).
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The Roots of Keysound
The Wire magazine asked me to do a "Roots of Keysound" top 15 so I did. Then I thought it would be fun to make it into a playlist to share. I included Hatcha's Rinse FM sets from 03/04 but there's none on YouTube, so it's a top 14. Enjoy.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Rinse June
Dusk & I were back on Rinse in June.
DOWNLOAD the podcast here.
Dusk + Blackdown + "High Road" [Forthcoming Keysound]
Grenier "Vendetta" [forthcoming Tectonic]
Mista Men "Flake" [unreleased]
Checan "HYTZ" [Uttu Records]
Mella Dee "Lowkey" [unreleased]
Voltron "Play It (Bambounou remix)" [Discobelle]
DJ Pantha Ft Shantie "Love To The Max Hate To The Minimal" (Jackin) [WeRBass]
Teeth "Percolator Meme" [Sound Pellegrino]
Emma "Shoot the Curl" [unreleased]
Blind Prophet & Volatil "Dominoes" [unreleased[
Emma ft Rebel MC "Untitled" [unreleased]
Swindle "Need to Know" [Forthcoming swindle productions]
Damu "Echelon (vocal)" [unreleased]
Voltron "Play It (Gremino Remix)" [Discobelle]
Wen "Tredz" [unreleased]
Visionist "Armhouse" [unreleased]
visionist "Pour Water on a Witch vol 3" [unreleased]
Double Helix "The Uprising" [unreleased]
Double Helix "Illusion of Time" [unreleased]
Trevino "Shorty" [!K7]
Visionist "Why So Rigid" [unreleased]
LAS "Lowout (Teeth remix)" [forthcoming Signal Life]
Mickey Freeze "Carbon"
Wen "Commotion" [unreleased]
Djrum 'Turiya' (Tessela Remix) [2nd Drop]
Monky "L.I.G." [unreleased]
Mala "untitled" [forthcoming]
Mala "untitled" [forthcoming]
MR K-RO "Prevail ft Wiley" [unreleased]
Walton "Rainbow Grime" [unreleased]
Flash G "Pearl (Instrumental)" [unreleased]
Wagon Cookin' "No Bossy Girl (Imami remix)" [unreleased]
Last Japan "East ft Trim" [forthcoming]
Crackatoa "Strange Encounters" [forthcoming No Hats No Hood]
Terror Danjah "Dark Crawler feat Riko Dan" [**bagpipe airhorn** Hyperdub]
Walter Ego "Sidney Street (Original mix)" [forthcoming Senseless]
LV "Sebenza feat Okmalumkoolkat" [Hyperdub]
Sines "You Got Me" [Free download]
Danny Scrilla "Hunch (feat Om Unit)" [Cosmic Bridge]
You can download last month's audio here. You can also download all the Dusk & Blackdown Rinse shows back to 2008 here.
Monday, July 09, 2012
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Wen: what's all the commotion about?
Clustering: it's a word that keeps coming into my life recently.
Beneath, Visionist and Wen are a cluster of producers that I'm especially excited by right now, all of them mining a really compelling seam of dark, 130ish beats. In a second connected cluster you could also look at how Wen, Visionist and Logos are making grimey 130ish beats but while Visionist, Logos and Beneath have had some press coverage, I suspect Wen will be new to many.
In the last year, I've become increasingly convinced the purpose of our Rinse show is to give some exposure to new & emerging producers on our wavelength. Many of the producers that we played when we first joined Rinse and those we knew before now have international profiles & insanely successful brands. Their press officers send us their music: that's not to say that we will or wont play their music, but things like that make me feel like others need what we have to give more right now.
It's felt good to have this sense of purpose with our show, to find and share producers hungry to experiment and evolve who are making beats that hold their own to the current biggest names - but don't yet make the same headlines. And one of those is Wen.
People talk about "bass" music as if the only common denominator in dubstep and it's "post-" experiements is b-lines, but to me you could also easily have reduced '06 dubstep to "dark"; the Metalheadz flavour El-B injected into garage's vocal warmth. But in the period after dubstep exploded and got ruined, I went through a crisis of confidence around whether there was any mileage left in "dark" as a style. Wobble was unlistenable, halfstep now known as "dungeon" was fine but derivative of 04/05. On the other hand UK funky was warm, percussive and fun the wonk/purple synth thing was merging with the Butterz grime strain and producing gem after gem. So for a while, I questioned "dark."
But sounds and scenes are cyclical, as much a re-action as an action, and so the further the colour intensifies the more interesting an absence of light feels fresh again. Coupled with a new tempo and undefined rhythmic matrix, there seems like a really creative cluster of undefined, interesting and dark producers working in the shadows.
Honestly, you should really meet Wen...
Download an exclusive Wen production showcase
Wen "You Know"
Wen "Brisk"
Wen, Lex, J-One "Closer"
Wen "Lo-Fidelity (Original Mix)"
Wen "Road"
Wen "Treds"
Wen "Wind It Up"
Wen "Takin' Over"
Wen "Persian"
Wen "Spark It"
Wen "Nightcrawler"
Wen interview:
B: Can you tell me where it all started for you?
W: I really got interested in music, and the instrumental side of things when I started listening to grime with a friend, we heard about Wiley during the Tunnel Vision days and I was well into that sound. Around the same time another friend (J-One) was producing hip-hop, I saw him playing with Fruity loops one day round his. Asked him what it did and how it worked, he kinda showed me the ropes that same day and just made a simple loop, then he sent me samples and everything I needed to get started - I started with hip hop like him, but was using those grimey basslines and quite a lot of Eastern/Oriental samples to begin with. I continued messing about but took the tempo up to grime speed and slowly moved onto more spread out halfstep.
B: Spreadouuut!
W: I heard dubstep in a car with Elz (the one I used to listen to grime with), we were listening to it so loud but only realised when we lost signal of the sketchy station, then I looked in a bit further and discovered Youngsta on Rinse, he was playing Kryptic Minds really early stuff.
B: so do you think of what you do now as "dubstep?”
W: nah I don’t think so, it was and I was 'stuck' in making halfstep for a while, it was all I had been doing and what I was really feeling at the time, whenever I started to make a tune it would be solid kicks and 9th hit snares standard. I guess I did this cos there were so many other things I was learning with production all at once, you know how the learning curve is, its hard to take it all in and be creative with sounds as well as tempo all together Over a year and a half ago I had an accident with my external hard drive, I lost all my samples and all the files for all my beats up to that day. I was devastated at the time, but was still hungry to make new music. Roughly the same time I started to hear alot of 130 stuff, which was well fresh and interesting.
B: So disaster became an opportunity?
W: Exactly, I started from scratch. New samples, was properly out of my comfort zone. So I turned the tempo down a touch, and messed with some vocals and a few 808's and made “Lo-fidelity.” It was a real turning point in my style, opened a lot up. I dunno why I was so scared to try something new before then. But yeah, from that tune I became a lot more open minded with what I was producing. J-one and Lex had always been making garage and 2step, I had dabbled in it before but was a bit refrained if I’m honest. So played with the drums a lot more, started to swing ‘em a lot more and just have fun with them and just tried to move away from the organic Eastern samples I was using, those sounds are irresistible to use and are really beautiful, but admittedly I started to feel a bit trapped in using those instruments. They were taking over my sound, and sorta became it.
B: It’s funny, because “Persia” the eastern sample one in your mix really stands out. I'd not heard you use those flavours before, even though (it seems from what you're saying), that you had used them so much before.
W: Yeah, its not like I was recycling the exact same sample over and over - but that 'Eastern' style of sound was consistently a focal point in my tunes. It became a bit of a habit. I wanted to give my sound something fresh, wanted it to sound a bit more digital. It was becoming really earthy and I didn’t wanna be named under the tribal thing that was emerging. well... that’s been about for a while I guess, in Mala's beats but there were heads calling their music tribal, dungeon etc. I’d rather it was a bit unclassifiable.
B: “Tribal” as different to the UK funky tribal thing? That Brixton funky rave etc...
W: Yeah, I mean I liked that stuff a lot and its certainly been an influence. Early Cooly G stuff was quite dark on the funky side, and I liked that, with the grime esq violin samples and stuff. But I’m still quite fixated on keeping things minimal. I like space between each element, especially when there’s certain stand out sounds. The gaps in the percussion can often tie it together better than an drum hit. At that time i was hearing fresh music, but wasn’t too sure where to look for it. I heard Kode9 play some weird shit, he might of been the first , probably was. It was nice not to know what the expected drum patterns were at that tempo.
B: I was listening to your mix, which is really percussively diverse and wondered, if you ever had the urge to make something more, well, urgent to contrast what you have now?
W: What do you mean by urgent, like 4x4?
B: Yeah, but without defining that exact beat pattern.
W: yeah I have experimented with kinda transitions during tracks where it embraces a predictable drum pattern just to jar people when they hear it go back to how sparse it was before. But I usually end up doing the opposite and drop more of the drums out. I've been really tempted to make stuff where the snare is the driver of the beat, rather than the kick, so fully swapping their roles.
B: UK funky does that to an extent, but its underpinned by a kick.
W: Yeah yeah true, gives the start of each bar a lot of impact. With the right snare I feel you could get the same feeling if it was alone.
B: You sound like you've spent a lot of time getting into sound.
W: Yeah, I know how I want things to sound. I don’t like getting to hung up on mixdowns and stuff though, that technical side of production always detracts something from my beats. Spending hours tweaking things really subtly gets really tedious. It probably sounds like a lazy excuse but I really like a rough quality to music. Not in a vinyl crackle way, more of a pirate radio thing. Well I don’t even know if its that. It might just be a knock on of low quality samples produced in low quality programs. You know like Dizzee beats on made on Playstation. They sound raw, early days production, its got a richness to it. Imperfection is something I like.
B: It's funny, people can have totally divergent opinions on this. It’s funny how a lack of understanding of engineering can become an entire aesthetic
W: Yeah, I can see how people might not like that and want (or expect) music to sound crystal clear or too clean. Maybe its something I learned to love thru using samples a lot because they’re always gonna have a particular roughness about them even if its only subtle, it’s still there.
B: I'm interested in what you said "I’d rather it was a bit unclassifiable". Why is this important to you?
W: I think when people can say 'ah this music is this' it’s cool to be able to differentiate and it does make things simpler when you can pick out genres, but its more interesting when people have to listen hard (and struggle) to put their finger on it. That for me is when something starts to become 'original.' I like people to be able to listen to my music and know that its one of my tunes, but not in a way that they can pick elements out that are familiar e.g. 'Eastern samples, halfstep drums' that could be a number of producers
B: I first remember talking to MJ Cole about this, maybe 10 years ago that perhaps, at their subconscious core, each producer has some or a few fundamental traits - like how you could always tell his arpeggios a mile off
W: Yeah that’s it. Like there’s a way that the tune is assembled or a certain style of sound. It’s weird, when I listen back to my recent stuff. I always visualise this deep purple colour
B: More like that there's certain fundamental ideas hard coded into a producers brain or subconcious, that cant help but come out.
W: Yeah couldn’t of put it better.
B: Music and colour is a whole different thing i.e. synesthesia! I have that very strongly, or at least the association between tracks I write and a colour – though some people are said to literally see colours when they hear music. I've told video directors to change the entire palate of a video as the track "wasn’t that colour."
W: Haha yeah fully understand you on that! It’s almost a mood that comes attached to the music. I think something as simple as putting a colour in front of you as you listen to something can change the depth of that tune a lot or in fact no colour at all, dark room and loud music, you just get lost in it.
B: I have found when DJing or listening to DJs the light levels in a room are key. If it's too bright there can be no vibe.
W: yeah, the less light you have the more comfortable you are. I think this applies when producing too, or at least when you first get ideas rolling. I feel like I have more room to breathe when it’s dark. The vibe thing is cool too. I find my better tracks are made when I shouldn’t really be focusing on making music, can be really creative when you drop everything else. It’s a bit of a cliché thing to say but channeling that energy into music becomes an escape. It actually does though, hours fly by when your in that zone. And when that happens its hard not to take advantage of it. The amount of times I’ve had open opportunities to get in the studio, have nothing else to worry about yet my output is so dry, its frustrating. But it’s certainly not about forcing stuff out when I find the pieces in my tracks they tend to just fall together. Sometimes these things happen by accident too.
B: So can we talk about some of the tracks in the mix?
W: Yeah sure. “Closer” is a track i made a couple of years ago with Lex and J-One - they've both been massive influences on me since day one, this track was an eye opener for me of what can actually be done.
B: I don’t really know them, can you tell me a bit more about them?
W: J-One consistently produces mad high quality music, really crisp drums that float over any synth/sample/vocal he puts beneath it. His tracks are really soulful, but not in a slow way, his drums are properly swung and he’s been on the 2step flex for ages and Lex sources these well delicate samples every time, also been on the 2step thing since day. He told me about you two, think he recommended “Margins Music.”
B: Good man! He sounds alright to me.
W: Hahaha
W: yeah I really look up to them both, they’ve always been really open to listening to my tunes, giving me feedback, showing me new stuff they’ve learnt, makin’ tunes together. Everything they could to help me progress quickly. I’m heavily influenced by them both, I properly started the eastern sampling thing after we made “Closer” and my drums seemed to get solid after that tune, I think I just started looking for stuff that would help me make something on par with that track. Cos honestly it was way ahead of me at that time helped me step up though I’ll pass some tunes on from them once I get permission.
B: Tell me about your interest in grime MC vocals...
W: yeah, I got into grime through my mate Elz. He showed me some random set one time and I was hooked straight away. It just sounded interesting and different, had loads of energy and was to be frank, cool music he started MC'ing, and got good real quick. So I really started to appreciate the lyrics and how clever some of the things the MC's strung together were, even just the vibe that was given off by the choice of words and way certain words were said, that’s before you even consider flow.
W: Quickly got attached to listening to Wiley, Young Dot and Trim in particular. Dizzee was sick too but at that time he was on everyone’s lips. I loved the instrumentals, maybe a bit more than the bars we would sit in his room listening to Logan Sama and sometimes he would turn to me and quote a bar, I couldn’t remember that bar but could hear the beat that was underneath it clearly in my head.
B: OK but what about sampling them?
W: Yeah, the sampling is a kind of way of revisiting those tunes/sets that we listened to including snippets from those tunes is almost handing it to people and sayin’, yeah this is why I started makin’ music, this is a big part of my influence. Sets a mood. If I was 16 again sittin’ listenin’ to those sets I would love to be able to pause it and play my tune that samples it.
B: But, to play devil's advocate, a synth can set a mood. So why sample a vocal?
W: Haha, yeah that’s true. But a vocal in my opinion has a much more presence than a synth (there are synths that I will agree have more, Logos stuff does this really well) but a vocal has words that can have multiple meanings, that is said in a certain tone.
B: Multiple meanings eh?
W: yeah like metaphors. “Road.” That word means loads of things even within the 'grime' language. “On road shotting, clued up.” The original sample says 'good as Road' – that’s another twist, rhetorical question – “good as gold?” But then its fully styled out, 'Nike-d out… hoody’s low… good as road.'
Its offering you to read it how you want. There’s not necessarily a right way to take it, its kinda what I want to come thru the tracks. Trim is just a boss.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Do you heart music?
So, I was hoping some of you lot could help me out.
An exciting startup is looking for people who are passionate about expressing their opinions on music. Any type of music - it doesn't matter - all that's required is some genuine enthusiasm. (Don't worry, they're safe: trust me.)
If you're into music, to a certain extent open to trying new types of social media and are interested, leave your email in a blog comment. I won't publish the comment but will be in touch directly. Alternatively you can Tweet me or send me a FB message.
Nuff said :)
[UPDATE] WOW, you lot are up for it!!!! If you left a comment, thanks I'll be in touch.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Trim v James Blake: the story
"Lemme tell you the low down..."
Today Fact broke the news that two of the lost James Blake v Trim tracks would finally hit vinyl on R&S. While it’s amazing news for music enthusiasts all over, it’s bitter sweet for me. I’d like to explain why.
Trim v Harmonimix is the lost Keysound EP that never was.
Now, this is the kind of thing people in music don’t normally talk about. I can think of dozens of stories that artists tell off the record and behind the scenes; you hear them daily. So-and-so is collaborating with this elusive artist for example: but it never materializes.
And so judgment says in these scenarios perhaps I shouldn’t say anything; typically I don’t. But this EP is so exceptional and so personal to me, that on its arrival in the world – whatever label releases it – I’d don’t want it’s story to pass unmarked.
On the 2nd of January 2010, James Litherland wrote to me. I’m not going to print the email, that’s creepy and weird, but the gist of it was that he’d been listening to “Margins Music” and Trim YouTube videos and here was a track I should hear. In the email was a link to “Saying.” Obviously it was pretty amazing.
It’s hard to imagine now he’s really famous but I’d only vaguely heard of his music, probably via his Hemlock release that we’d played on Rinse. He certainly hadn’t got near the heights he would later scale. I wrote back saying thank you and trying to share the sense of wonder I get when I reflect that you never quite know who’s listening to your music; which you don’t.
We kept in touch and over the months realized we shared a fellow admiration for Trim, who he sampled on “Saying” and we’d written a tune with on “The Bits.” James supported us as a DJ on the “Margins Music Live” date we did with Trim, and we began talking about whether we could put together a Trim v James Blake EP. James was unsure if he wanted to do something quite like a straight grime tune but definitely wanted to work with Trim’s voice. I remembered that on one of the Soulfood mixtapes there was an acapella, so I sent it over to him, alongside a “best of” Trim zip. I also dug out and recorded my interview with Trim that I did in IoD when we did “The Bits” photoshoot.
The interview tape became a third track that looks like it’s not appearing. The acapella became “Confidence Boost,” one of the most incredible productions of the last 5 years. Proper “wot do you call it?” in its own right. As he was sending over different versions of “Confidence…,” I strongly remember James explaining that he was trying to manipulate Trim’s (spoken) voice so it sounds like he’s singing backing harmonies with himself. I’d guess he used a plug-in that layers different harmonics on top of themselves but to this date I’m unsure how he did it. It’s genius in both its ideas and execution.
Then, with the acapella licensed from Trim’s camp and as the three tracks shaping up to be an amazing Keysound EP, events began to unfold. There was tense if not entirely exceptional conversation, that I now regret, around when “Confidence Boost” was being played on radio. In the same conversation, James expressed the view – which I respected - that he wanted the tracks to remain as lost dubs, perhaps caught in the same kind of mythical limbo as fans had experienced with dubstep’s lost anthems. Then of course events began to accelerate for him in a different direction. After graduation, the vocal album he’d mentioned he’s been writing… well we all know how things panned out for him, but as a consequence, he was beyond reach.
I’ll be honest, I always held out hope that one day the dubs would have been “lost” enough and we’d follow through on what we’d started, but, as you might expect given James’ success, our paths no longer crossed and it wasn’t to be. But here they are, masterpieces finally “lost” no more. I'm happy everyone can finally “Strike a pose…”
[UPDATE 25/6/12]
So, since this post was written James got in touch the old fashioned, normal way: picked up the phone to talk. So that's me looking pretty dumb about saying "beyond reach" then.
Chatting to him, it became clear how differently we see both past events, which explains how much of this could have come about. I didn't write this post to cause offence and if I caused it unintentionally, I'm happy to say sorry, because I don't write a blog to be a rude to people. I wrote the piece to mark the emerging of some incredible music. So while our versions of events diverge, I respect the fact that James took the time to call and talk: I hope the 12" sells 100,000 copies.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Lost Rinse FM show ft LHF recovered
The lost Rinse FM show by me and Dusk ft LHF from March this year is recovered. Bigup Dusk's badman PC skills each and every time. A second chance at life... it lives again.
- All Dusk + Blackdown Rinse shows are archived here. Photo by Nico Hogg.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Amen Ra v RA
"Letting dubstep go was important though, it was the last scene that I felt properly "involved" in, if you know what I mean. Now I listen to and am involved in everything equally, with no real ties—that shit is all an illusion. The real tie between all of us is the search for harmony that we all seek through music. Fuck a scene."
Amen Ra, LHF.
PS Download Amen Ra in the mix from Sunday Night's United Vibes show here.
Rinse May
Dusk & I were back on Rinse last Thurs 11-1am. Download the audio here
Damu "Echelon" [unreleased]
Mite and E-Walk "Body Tap" [forthcoming B YRSLF]
Hissy Fit "Buried" [unreleased]
Cooly G "Playin' Me" [Hyperdub]
Mista Men "Relentless" [unreleased]
Falty DL "Encompass" [unreleased]
Mistamen "Corner" [unreleased]
DJ Funeral "Poeng Ka Poeng" [unreleased]
Cooly G "Trying" [Hyperdub]
Mickey Pearce "Tempted" [forthcoming Ten Thousand Yen]
Cooly G "It's Serious (feat. Karizma)" [Hyperdub]
unknown "Vybezin" [unreleased]
Kanvas "Forget The Future" [unreleased]
Dobie "Hustle With Speed" [Big Dada]
Wonder "Something You Should Know Feat Trim (Kozee Graver Remix)" [forthcoming]
Threnody "Tribal" [unreleased]
Benin City "Baby (LV remix)" [unreleased]
Girl Unit "Ensemble (Club Mix)" [Night Slugs]
Girl Unit "Club Rez" [Night Slugs]
Mr Mitch "Superfreak" [forthcoming]
Moleskin "Murmurs in the Booth" [unreleased]
Wen "Nightcrawler [unreleased]
Bloom "Quartz" [forthcoming]
XLII "Rasclap" [Civil Music]
Moleskin "That time we stole a car and drove it to Jupiter" [unreleased]
unknown "Downtown" [unreleased]
Visionist "Coldharbour" [unreleased]
Visionist "Rise Again" [unreleased]
Visionist "Dank" [unreleased]
Swindle "Under the Sun" [forthcoming]
Girl Unit "Rezday" [Night Slugs]
Terror Danjah "Fruit Punch" [unreleased]
Rude Kid "Get Busy ft Skepta (Funkystepz Loveshy Vocal Mix)" [forthcoming]
Sight "Piigs (Walton remix)"
Luna Bedouin (LHF family) "Inner thoughts about the man"
You can still grab last month's show here and download all the Dusk & Blackdown Rinse shows back to 2008 here.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Meet the Mista Men
Mista Men: Exclusive Production showcase
DOWNLOAD it here.
1. Mella Dee - The Way It Was (Unreleased)
2. Loki Boi - One House (MIsta Men's Mr Bumps House Remix) (Young Gunz)
3. Mista Men - Relentless (Unreleased)
4. Mella Dee - Confetti (Unreleased)
5. Mista Men - Hard Drive (Unknown To The Unknown)
6. Mista Men - Babycham (Greenmoney)
7. Mella Dee - Gourmet (Unreleased)
8. Mista Men - Forget U (Unknown To The Unknown)
9. Palace - Mandy (Mista Men Up Norf Mix) (Unknown To The Unknown)
10. Mista Men & Clientele - Juice (Unreleased)
11. Mella Dee & Squarehead - Untitled (Unreleased)
12. Mista Men - Lambrini (Unknown To The Unknown)
13. Mista Men Ft Detboi - I Move Closer (Deep Thrills)
Blackdown: Well to start, it would be good to know some of the basic facts about you guys, how many people produce as Mistamen, where you're based, when you began producing etc?
Mista Men: Mista men is me, Ryan (aka Mella Dee) & John (Woozee), from Doncaster. We’ve been producing roughly about 5 years probably, but under the Mista Men guise for the past 2 or 3 years.
B: Do you produce solo too?
MM: Yeah both do under own separate names
B: Interesting that you guys have the classic 4x4 garage influences but started after UKG had stopped being so active...
MM: It’s probably largely to do with dubstep having such strong roots in garage from my side, it made me really dig deep in, after only really touching on it in my younger days. Plus I'm a big bassline fan being from South Yorkshire its was a big thing here, so that’s definitely played a part as well.
B: Do you see what you do as being part of garage, baseline, both, neither?
MM: Depends on if its Mista Men or solo, I’d definitely put the Mista Men stuff under the bassline name, but I'd say the solo stuff, is more heading to the early days of garage, where it crosses into house territory as well.
B: So what inspired you to go down this particular musical route?
B: OK so, how did niche influence you?
MM: For me there’s a heavy influence, being from South Yorkshire, at the peak of bassline it was always around, and the sound was something I really took to, driving 4x4 that was focused around being fun. And that’s something we've took from the sound now and try to bring it back up to date
B: And when was that? When was the peak?
MM: I'd say probably 2008 regards like when commercially bassline was most popular and well known
B: Was there an interaction between Sheffield and Doncaster, did people make their own 4x4 in Doncaster or was it mostly listening to Sheffield stuff?
MM: There wasn’t much in the sense of producers that I've ever know in Doncaster, and to be honest a lot of the stuff wasn’t even coming from Sheffield after a while, it was all over Yorkshire, Manchester and also the Midlands. Sheffield was just the home for the sound basically with Niche being pretty much the starting point of it all.
B: And for people that don't know about niche, can you explain how it was distinct from garage and how is was similar too I guess?
MM: I think its hard to really describe what makes it different from garage, essentially, its just the continuation of the 4x4 & speed garage sound. I suppose it comes from the basslines themselves, lots of warping sounds, not essentially low end stuff either, it also started to differ later when it got a bit darker and became very MC based, almost like the up north version of grime.
B: And can you explain what happened to niche after 2008 and how it affected you?
MM: Well bassline & niche has always had a bad reputation regards violence with the police, and after the club closing, then reopening as Vibe and yet again having to close, its created a problem of not being able to advertise playing bassline in and around Sheffield and some other cities.I definitely think this affected the scene and people making bassline, it was all around the time the boom in UK funky was coming about, and a lot of people, myself included started swaying towards making the more funky sounds, I think it also had a problem with a lack of quality control at points as well, certain DJs just playing stuff that wasn’t really up to a standard. It's always kept on going, but I think now there is a rise in people who are heavily influenced by bassline, putting there own twist on the sound again.
B: Your stuff seems really close to 4x4 UK garage too, do you feel niche and the interest in garage have converged in 2012?
MM: Yeah, that’s a large part of the change, in some peoples eyes what we make wont be bassline, as its not 140 & does lean towards 4x4 garage sounds, but its the heart of it that makes it bassline for me. There's a few producers such as DJ Q, Checan, Clientele as well, all doing stuff that the main backbone of the sound is bassline, its just adding something different to stop it just being a repeat of what was being made before, I think.
B: This for me is the biggest question with regards to your sound. You're obviously very talented producers, both in ideas and engineering and you've nailed the garage swing when most people can't, but people might ask you, how is it different to 4x4 garage that has come before it?
MM: I don’t know for sure that it exactly is, I think of it more as a continuation of the sound. There was a distinct lack of anyone really trying to make anything that really touched on actual garage, far too much of what was being made didn’t really work how garage should, mellow pads and chords etc, where as for me garage should be a bit sexier and more dancefloor orientated so that’s more what it is all about, bringing back that feeling, if anything the most distinct difference is the combination of the original 4x4 & garage sound with the bassline sounds that have influenced me heavily.
B: You do stand out from the crowd in the way you totally "get" how to make those styles right.
MM: Thanks. I just think a lot of producers don’t really understand what garage is about regards a dancefloor, and specially in the 'future garage' bracket, there seems to be a real lack of the swing and groove needed for it to accomplish what its all about and get people moving.
B: Swing and other things: no rudeness or those dynamic contradictions that made garage so sick. The challenge is though is if you are to reverent to the past you become beholden to it…
MM: Yeah, I agree, I don’t want it to become a case of “we just sound like old garage,” we have to keep progressing the sound but its always going to be important for me, that what we do works out in a club, that’s where the element of combining the more original garage drums, with the more day bassline sounds works best for me, really enjoy doing this in the form of multiple switches and drops to keep the track moving and people guessing.
B: What sort of things do you think about when you write beats?
MM: I mean I've said a few times but its always about how I think a track is gonna feel when your in a club. Because what we make is so dancefloor orientated its got to get me excited, make me personally want to dance, because if we cant achieve that, then I don’t feel were doing what we should be.
B: How do you feel, when immersed in a good dance floor to a really good DJ, can you describe that feeling and what it means to you? Becuause thinking about it, for all of us who are so hooked on club culture, it seems to be something that pulls us back again and again…
MM: I guess its just that feeling of being fully immersed in the moment, where nothing really matters but the music, when the vibe is right, with the right crowd. There’s no better feeling than that. Losing hours without even realizing.
B: Can you tell me about any other acts you rate and relate to in your area?
MM: Not so much Doncaster, but Sheffield for sure, Squarehead & True Fiction as Clientele and on there own are worth checking, some really good speed garage vibes, Checan as well even though he's down in London now is from Sheffield, he's on more of a straight bassline tip, I reckon there all worth watching.
B: I don't know those guys, what's one track from each people should know about?
MM: Checan has to be "Hytz" which dropped on Unknown To The Unknown. Squarehead on his own going for "Steer Me Wrong" its got that bumpy garage/house vibe I tend to run a lot and then the Clientele stuff probably a track called "She Knows" - serious speed garage vibes on that. It's the first track in this video.
B: nice, anyone else?
MM: Off top of my head not really, i mean there's Beneath but he's a given and not from these ways. Walter Ego, his stuff is really good. This is a track he did with a couple of Sheffield MC's.
B: So with these guys do you feel a sense of community or do you all work on your own thing?
MM: Its a community thing these ways I feel, like me & Squarehaed doing tracks together and myself & Checan doing a bassline alias as well. There's a lot of love for local stuff up here for sure, which I think is important build our own up north thing
B: And how did the Detboi collaboration come about?
MM: Just sending Des some bits a while back, mentioned he was planning to get some collabs for Detboi’s last LP 'Curse of the voodoo Drums 2' and we ended up making 'Sanctuary of Love' which was the single release from that, and then we spoke with Herve about doing a release for Deep Thrills, and just decided we would do a EP with Des for that, which became the 'Happen to You' EP. I think our collaboration on the 'Happen to You' EP is the better part, I'm biased towards the speed garage/4x4 sounds though.
B: if you had to be one of the Mister Men, which would it be and why?
MM: I like to choose one of the cool ones, like Mr Impossible or something, but if I'm being honest the one that suits me is Mr Bump, I'm overly clumsy, and to be fair the names kind of fitting with the music i guess.
Friday, May 11, 2012
The return of Okzharp
Two years ago Okzharp aka Gerv from LV returned to his native South Africa. The people he met and the music that soundtracked it became the Okzharp mix - one of the best received mixes I've ever posted.
Well recently he went to South Africa again, so with his Okzharp party at the Last Refuge in Peckham Rye tonight ft Errol Bellot, Will LV and more, and with a SA-tinged LV album "Sebenza" due on Hyperdub this year, the time was right for a new mix.
Okzharp's Night Drive After-Party Bumble Taxi mix in Gerv from LV's own words...
"I was thinking back to this night drive I did with a friend years ago, returning to Cape Town from a town a few hours away. I was remembering how the landscape disappeared under cover of darkness and we were left with a road and occasional landmarks. I remember how different it felt from the outward journey. The feeling of not being 100% certain we had taken the right turn back there. I remember the roar of the car as the tarmac turned to gravel at points, shocking us out of our road trance."
"I remember going round a bend in the middle of nowhere and suddenly seeing flashes of purple light to our left and realising it was the Indian Ocean. For some reason I also remember we only had three CDs with us. 'The Beginning' by The Infinite Boys, an Afrotainment compilation CD mixed by DJ Tira and a Patsy Cline best-of. I remember we played the Tira CD twice and then the Infinite Boys cd twice."
"I still don't really have that clear an idea of what 'taxi music' is but I've heard people use it quite alot and they seem to know what they mean by it. I think I just like the idea of it. My mate Smiso aka Okmalumkoolkat aka Sjambok aka The Zulu Compurar aka DJ Partytime always tells me about this underground bumble rave scene in the areas around Durban. People don't need to ride the taxis into the city any more, they just go bumble raving nearer to where they live. And now people leave the city to go to the bumble raves."
"I like the idea of a night drive back to reality after one of these parties. I think that was what I started out trying to soundtrack with this mix. There are bits of what i think of as taxi music and bumble kwairave house type music in there but but I'm not a house DJ so inevitably other stuff crept in via reedits and blends, glossy wav and dutty MP3. It arrives at the LV remix of the new song by Benin City, Josh Idehen's group."
"It's just over an hour. It's full of tunes I love and it is what it is and I hope people like it."
Okzharp's Night Drive After-Party Bumble Taxi mix
DOWNLOAD HERE.
Professor - Imoto
Mogrigo (Okzharp reedit) - Heavyweight
Lepyata - DJ Killer
Track 7 - ?
Ses Khatele - T'zozo
Device - LR Groove
Baby Jelly - DJ Killer
Tribal Seagulls (Radio Slave reedit) - Kenny Dope
Childs Play - LR Groove
Jana - DJ Killer
Murder (Okzharp reedit) - Minister
Antural - My Aim
Sorry - Sgicha
Zimba (Okzharp reedit)- Shifty
Warrior - Funkstepz
Imoto (dub) - Professor
Dirty Paraffin - Primustof
Ukuta (Nompumelelo Groova mix) - Sdunkero
Only - Jumping Back Slash
In Da Market (Okzharp everlasting dub) - Wiley
Ngomso (Das Kapital reedit) - DJ Clock
Ngitsandza Wena (Okzharp reedit) - DJ Steavy & Mr Edu
Track 6 - ?
Ama Lights (Okzharp edit) - Big Nuz
Im So Confused - Jumping Back Slash
Just Be Yourself - DJ Steavy
Off The Wall (Tshwara Lebota) - DJ Mphulo
Feel (Vocal Mix) - Trackheads
Owethu Wena (Okzharp reedit) - DJ Fisherman
Daka - Jook 10
Bad Gyall Fi Dem - Maxwell D & Badness
Long Wait - Mapeps
Get Low - Jook 10
Mallet - Walton
Output Stereo Out - Cat's Eyes
Watch This - Kenny Dope
Calango version - XXXY & Samrai
Sankaa - Walton
Nomhle (Okzharp reedit) - DJ Killer
Swagger (Dub Mix) - DJ Naughty
Totem - Output Stereo Out
King Of The Dancehall (DVA rmx) - Rudi Lina
Baby (LV rmx) - Benin City
- Okzharp & Errol Bellot, Will LV, Micachu, D££monds and Mothy appear tonight at The Last Refuge, Peckham Rye.
Monday, May 07, 2012
Rinse April
Dusk & I were back on Rinse Thurs 26th 11-1am.
DOWNLOAD the audio.
Rudimental "Deep In The Valley ft. MC Shantie (Woz Remix)" [unreleased]
Marcus Nasty and Funk Butcher "Public Service Announcement" [WeRBass]
Visionist "Danger" [unreleased]
Ill Blu "Late Night" [unreleased]
Roska "You Dun Kno" [forthcoming Rinse]
Walter Ego "Messeh" [Bootlegs]
Beneath "Witches"[unreleased]
Sleeepin' Giantz (aka Zed Bias & Rodney P) "Badungdeng" [forthcoming Tru Thoughts]
Jon E Cash "War (Grievous Angel refix)" [unreleased]
Mr Casual "Sublotec" [unreleased]
Roska "Badman feat. Sweetie Irie" [forthcoming Rinse]
Nocturnal Sunshine (aka Maya Jane Coles) "Meant to Be" [DJ-Kicks]
Roska "OnRinseSinceZeroEight" [forthcoming Rinse]
Emma "Marina" [unreleased]
Grievous Angel "Your Love Will Never Be Enough For Me" [unreleased]
FBOM "Hoods Up" [forthcoming]
LokiBoi "One House (Mista Men Mr Bumps House Remix)" [unreleased]
Wen "Spark It" [unreleased]
Logos "Devils" [unreleased]
Moleskin "Slow Dancing with Ms haversham to Moments in Love in Satis House" [unreleased]
Moleskin "Thru the Rain" [unreleased]
Comma "Mezcal Hologram" [Frite Nite]
Octaviour v LDM (LHF) "Retitled" [unreleased]
Buzzin10 "StringTing" [forthcoming Frijsfo]
Octaviour (LHF) "I Carry Message" [unreleased]
Cluekid "GRIM" [forthcoming Aquatic Lab]
Baobinga & ID ft Rider Shafique "Gun Talk (Kahn RMX)" [Build]
Phon.O "Slavemode" [forthcoming 50 Weapons]
Guido "Flow (Instrumental)" [unreleased]
Whistla "My Father and I (Remix)" [forthcoming L2S]
Gremino "Rupi (140 VIP)" [unreleased]
SRC "Red Shirt" [unreleased]
Guido "Africa" [unreleased]
Mr Mitch "Junior" from "Searching, Volume 1: Venus", free download - send
"searching" to music@mrmitchmusic.co.uk to get it]
Dusk & Blackdown "Don't Stop (Give it to Me)" [unreleased]
SRC "Milkshake" [unreleased]
Joss Ryan "Melancholy Dreams (Slick Shoota remix)" [DVA Music]
Kowton "Jam003 (Desto refix)" [unreleased]
- Download all the Dusk & Blackdown Rinse shows to 2008 HERE.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
How do I get started in production?
I’m
no production expert, honestly I’m not. If you want the info on every VST ever,
the secret to world’s most mind blowing mixdowns or how to record to 5.1 surround sound, then
there’s tons of people out there who can help. But Dusk and I have been
producing for over ten years, written an album and some singles and I
co-engineered about half the LHF album, so periodically people ask on Facebook
or whatever about how to get started in production and this is something I
overcame, so I thought I’d share my thoughts. Who knows whom it will affect and
what music might, down the line, come of it? Just that idea alone, of all those
possibilities, makes me want to write & share this post…
Get
hungry, find a way
Learning to produce from scratch is hard,
it is like learning an entire language in itself, so the first thing you’ll
need to be is hungry. I could probably explain how to how to beatmix (DJ) in ten steps
and teach someone in an afternoon. I don’t think this is possible with
production. So a hunger to overcome obstacles and find a way to your sound is
essential. If you’re not sure, it’s probably not for you: this is not the path
of least resistance.
Make
music, a lot.
This is something I say to people when they
ask me about getting started and perhaps it sounds a little strange but as a
guiding principle, it’s true. Whatever you do, find a way – any way - to make
music and do it a lot until you progress.
My advice, if you’re into studio based
music, is to beg, borrow or steal one of the soft studio packages. Reason,
Fruity Loops or Ableton are a great start. Why not Cubase, Logic or ProTools
straight away? In my experience the learning curve is too steep. You’re busy
looking for your sound, learning about chords or arrangements, positionising
and rhythmic composition – the last thing you need is the most advanced sound
engineering package to master too (been there, lost months or years to it).
Just get something up and running so you can make music, a lot. That’s the
single biggest, most fundamental step: all other music making after that is just an iteration.
Don’t
let the machines master you
At first music production programs are
confusing, they are. Most presets are crap and the tracks you make don’t sound
right. Essentially the technology is having its way. You need to fight those
crap pre-sets away, throw out default samples and most of all, don’t let all
your music fall on the grid. Most software programs lead you to making music in
regular intervals: 1 beat, ½ beat, an 1/8th a 1/16th or
32nd. But stick to these and your music will sound stiff and
lifeless. Master the machines and find a way to your sound, not the sounds you
first find in front of you.
Find
a good source of advice but…
Wheel re-invention is an admirable pursuit
for which there are no prizes. In the
early days what you’re technically trying to do has probably been done hundreds
of thousands of times before. One of my regrets is that when Dusk and I in 2001
decided to start producing that we didn’t ask enough for advice. Most producers
I now know are more than happy to talk about production, often at length. Some
of them prefer talking about sound engineering than music (though that’s
another story). Find one of these people who’s on your wavelength and ask if
they’ll show you how to get up and running. Trust me you’ll save yourself
years. But remember you will need to…
…
decide what to ignore.
Producers often present subjective opinion
about sound engineering as fact. They describe their single data point as an
incontrovertible rule. Absorb from them for a while but never forget to log
what you’ll take on board and what to ignore. This will prove vital in
developing your sound. What sounds you refuse to use or techniques you wont
touch are as vital a those you do. Later
on when you have a sound of your own you may want to question what you’ve
questioned and rejected, if you get what I mean, so you can evolve your sound
(I swore for nearly a decade I’d never use a 4x4 kick, but after UK funky
decided that’s exactly the reason to use one and see if we could still make it
sound right for us) but that’s a bridge to be crossed when, well, there’s some
water under it.
Find
your own way
As an extension to “decide what to ignore,”
finding your own ways to make music is also a great route to individuality.
Working out weird new things to sample, time signatures to work in, odd
hardware configurations, mutations and fusions of otherwise un-connected styles
will all help set you apart from the pack. Your sound is a reflection of you. So, who are you?
Take
inspiration, don’t clone.
Often at the beginning of your production
career your hunger will be fueled by producers who have inspired you. You want
to make music because of the way their music makes you feel (in my case it was
El-B). In the process of getting up an running, you might well find yourself in
a phase where you – consciously or subconsciously – start to sound like them.
This is normal but you should probably get over it as quickly as possible.
Honestly you should, no one is going to play weak clones of Burial and your
J-Dilla tribute? They're not.
Now I’m all in favour of “scenius,” the
idea of producers collectively vibeing off each other, that a scene works as a hive, honestly I think it’s
vital. And equally while some individuals contribute more than others, few
exist in a vacuum: they are just probably less overt with their influences than
others. So my advice is look deeper into
what inspired you about the producer in the first place and look deeper into a
few others, then combine them in your own, unique way. Then it’s greater than
the sum of its parts.
When I say “look deeper,” here’s an
example. My inspiration was El-B circa 2000, so a cloner’s approach would be:
right, let’s get a woodblock and put it on the 2 & 4, few hats & kicks,
maybe get a bassline and some r&b vocal samples. There: a shit Ghost clone.
Instead, I’d say what I loved about Ghost
records was their delicious sense of tension, perfectly balanced between dark
and light. Their juxtaposition of masculine and feminine, rude and gentle.
Finally they were percussively funky, all swung and skippy, i.e. they had
elements off the grid. Now all these learnings can be applied in quite varied
contexts, tempos and to different sounds, arrangements and types of percussion. Do this
and it won’t sound like a Ghost clone but it might be in part inspired by it.
The other part inspiration is all yours.
Same applies to jazz. Jazzy = shit sax sample, walking double bass line, failed attempt at sophistication. Jazz-inspired: use of free improv melodies, live interaction between different elements in the track, a free spirit & mind.
Get
honest feedback
This is useful once you get up and running.
I had this teacher at school that said “your first idea will be your worst one”
and while it may not be incontrovertibly true, it stuck with me. Certainly
when I’m first sent unreleased tracks by producers I can hear if someone’s "got
something" but they invariably get better over time. Having someone near you who
can give honest feedback can help you make this progression. Super famous DJs
will probably be too busy to give you detailed feedback, but a good A&R,
producer or DJ you connect with should be able to help. If it sometimes hurts a
bit, it may end up being useful in the end.
Be in it for the right reasons.
Learning to produce well and find your
sound takes ages: years of dedication at the expense of other things that are
more fun like drinking, clubbing, sex, drugs and Xbox. It’s also a terrible
way to make money: people don’t buy music anymore. You can make more money DJing
for 1 hour than a four track EP makes in a year, and four good tracks could take
you months to write. Now as Bun Zero points out, as a DJ you increasingly need to produce to "make it," so the two path's are interlinked, but making it as a DJ is a separate article entirely. So my position is: make music because you love it; honestly it’s not a good
“career” move and if you write beats from your bank balance not your heart,
people can tell.
[UPDATE:] Buy monitors
Hear your sound. Nuff said.
I
think that’s enough for now. Other follow up topics are kinda subsequent issues
to the above, so I’ll leave them for now, but they include in no particular order…
- Compression
- Mixdowns
- EQing
- Arrangements
- Mastering
- Sound sources – VSTs, hardware etc
- Getting your music “out there”
- Publishing, Distribution, PRS/PPL, licencing and other industry issues.
- others I'm sure I'll think of later...
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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