Stacey Pullen is one of those rare artists that manages to remain one step ahead of the curve while maintaining a strong appreciation for what's come before him. Putting his mark on the !K7 'DJ Kicks' mix series in 1996, to this day it's still considered one of the most futuristic mixes in the game (more on that later, with insight from Martyn too). As our leg of the D25 tour lies just around the corner (it's this Sunday y'all), highlighting Detroit's 25 years of innovation and artistry, it seems a fitting time for one of its most seminal players to have a moment of reflection. Read on to discover Stacey's thoughts on the last 25 years, his plans for reviving Black Flag Recordings, the new music he's working on, as well as the best bits of his back catalogue that he’s digitally re-releasing...ride through his wisdom - from past, to present, to future, and back.
What are you up to today?
At this moment now, I’m just getting everything together before I leave on the D25 tour. I’m tidying up everything, listening to music, trying to finish up this mix that I’m doing, trying to make sure everything’s squared away for my new release that I’ve got coming out next week, and making sure all the stores and distributors got the record and all that good stuff.
Speaking of which, we’re really digging your new BFR joint, ‘Get Up,’ in the office.
Yeah, that’s what everybody says. I kinda decided to release it that way because I wanted to build up the anticipation – so come out with the ‘Alive’ track and have ‘Get Up’ be even better than the first.
But I don’t think you can really compare them; ‘Alive’ is such a different vibe.
That’s true. I had the ‘Alive’ track done for a while, and I kinda sat on it for a minute – because music is ever-changing, and I’m always being inspired by things. So I sat on it for a minute, and I gave the original to a couple of friends and they played it out. But when I played it out, I felt like there was something missing. That’s the good thing of doing your own music, being your own boss, is that you get a chance to let the work find itself. So I did that track and I did the Hi Tek Soul mix, which was the perfect compliment because I’ve done the Hi Tek Soul parties with Derrick in the past, and I wanted to put that stamp on it just because I’m kinda affiliated with it.
You just mentioned that music’s ever-changing, and that’s along the lines of something Carl said the other day…if that’s the case, how do you know, or decide, that something’s finished?
You know it when you hear it, but it may take a day – it may take a week. I’ve been in the studio recording, recording, recording…and then I'll get bored of it, and take a break – and I’ll come back to it with a whole different energy. So you really don’t know. At the end of the day, you just gotta stop. (laughs) There is such a thing as overproducing. I remember I was working with Derrick years ago; we did a remix for a track called ‘Wiggin’.’ And he said, ‘You know, I like the track – I like the remix that you did – but you did too much!’ That’s what happens when inspiration’s just flowing like that. So now what I do is – if I go too far, I’ll take a couple of parts out and I’ll set it aside for a totally brand new track. So it’s constantly evolving. It never finishes, because if I doing a track off of a track that I already did, then that’s the continuation of that track. I just have to stop sometimes, but that varies – anywhere from two hours to two days!
Right now, I’m working on a mix for Jamie Anderson and K-Alexi – the track is called ‘Cyclone’ and that’s on a label called Mija Recordings. Actually, how that came about was I charted the track on Beatport, and the owner of the label contacted me about a remix. So I’m finished with production - I had to stop (laughs) - so now I’m just finishing and arranging it, and making it that powerful 7-8 minute DJ track that will definitely keep people on the dancefloor.
After speaking to Carl last week, we’d love to hear your take on D25…
I’m really happy to be involved with the whole 25 years of Detroit techno, because to be honest, when I first started out doing music, I had no idea…well, none of us had any idea that the music was going to take off the way it did. And now it’s 25 years later. I can still remember years ago, when I didn’t even know none of these guys. I was just one of those outside guys trying to get in. So for me now to, be a major player in this - and being personal friends with these guys, most importantly – it’s like more than anything I could’ve imagined. And now it’s all about the history – can’t nobody take that back. No matter how many different genres of music come and go, or how many tracks come out per day, or how many promos I get, you can’t erase that history. And that’s really the most important thing that I’m appreciative about.
Speaking of “how many tracks come out per day” - as someone that’s been involved in the game for so long, do you feel as there’s an overwhelming, almost suffocating, surplus of music these days? Sometimes I find myself wondering how many DJ mixes I can listen to in one lifetime, or how on earth I can manage to file all of the tunes I get sent.
Yeah, I was talking to this guy, and we were talking about the whole music world, and releases, and mixes, and everything. Years ago, there was a point where I had a problem with people recording my DJ sets, because it was a copyright infringement – you know, I didn’t want anyone having a mixtape without paying for it. Now it’s no longer about the track of the month, or the track of the year – now it’s like the track of the hour! So that puts a whole new twist on things. But I think, at the end of the day, what we’ve done with D25 is that we’ve made timeless music, so we can play music from 25 years ago and it still sounds as fresh as it did when it first came out. And it still sounds as innovative as a lot of the music that’s being made today, even though there are so many producers, and endless possibilities with making music and different sounds, and being innovative with technology. We’ve kept it that way, and we have that defined sound, just like that Motown sound of the 60s. That sound has been around since the 50s/60s, and you can still listen to a Motown record and instantly know it’s a Motown record.
There’s a lot of really interesting parallels between the two. Actually, wasn’t your dad a Motown singer?
He was a singer in a band called The Capitols, they had a song called ‘Cool Jerk,’ which was a one hit wonder. He sung around in a lot of other local Motown groups, but with that group in particular, he was touring with them as well. Of course, the different path that people take in different lives led to the demise of the group. Have you ever seen a movie called ‘The Five Heartbeats’? That was pretty much the story of my dad and his career: a lot of different personalities together and then all of a sudden, one guy goes this way and another goes that way, and before you know it the group is disbanded. People had families – my dad had me, and now I’m the continuation of that.
Matthew Gonsalves, known as Matty G to the world of music, is a pioneer of the US dubstep scene. Since his debut release on the Argon imprint in 2006, Matty has ceaselessly pushed his unique brand of hip hop inspired, 808 bass workouts, that have been destroying clubs the world over. His 2007 release ‘50, 000 Watts’ shook up the scene with its stripped down breaks and punishing subs, finding its way into the bag of just about every DJ worth his salt, becoming something of an instant classic. Its profound influence on the scene is still being felt today, and it has become one of those tracks that people are still searching Discogs to get hold of, at any price. His 2008 LP, ‘Take You Back,’ cemented his placing in the flourishing dubstep scene, exploring his diverse musical influences and amalgamating the sounds of hip hop, funk, soul, reggae and jungle into a 140bpm template. It still remains one of the most accomplished albums to have been made in the scene.
After linking up with Dub Police head honcho Caspa, who remixed his massive ‘West Coast Rocks’ for Argon, he has recently officially joined the Dub Police crew, the fruits of which we will see over the coming months. In the meantime, he will be touching down at fabric on Friday 21st May as part of the label takeover of Room One. He laced us with an exclusive track (up for DL after the jump) so we decided to get some questions at him to gain a bit more of an insight into the world of Matty G…
Hi Matty, how are you doing?
Great! I’m really looking forward to my upcoming trip to London.
To start from the beginning…When did you start producing and what kind of stuff were you making at the time?
I started producing around 2003. I have a pretty diverse taste in music so I was excited to make all different kinds of stuff right off the bat, but mainly did big bass, hip hop style tunes. I was really into early jungle, and drum and bass before that, and especially dug old No U Turn tunes. I really wanted to mesh the dark basslines and low subs of jungle with some raw old school hip hop beats. My computer at the time, which most of my dubstep tunes were made on as well, was pretty old and limited, so sampling was key as far as conserving processing power. A lot of my early tunes consisted of soul and reggae samples, with some 808 sub and breaks over them.
You were one of the first people overseas to pick up on the flourishing dubstep scene at the time. When did you first come into contact with the sound?
Nick Argon's brother has been into grime for quite a while, and so one day Nick came over with all these mixes his brother hooked him up with around 2005 or so. Some were grime and some were dubstep, and I just spent the next week or two listening to them.
What was it about dubstep that you gravitated towards?
The minimalism... specifically in the tunes ‘Horror Show’ by Loefah, and ‘Nomad’ by Distance. When I heard those two tunes, they really stood out to me. The best part of tunes for me, is when you strip away whatever the melody happens to be, and just let the bass and drums ride, before building it back up again. These tunes were pretty much extended versions of just that... bangin' bass with some sparse drums knockin' out a beat. As a listener at the time, it seemed like a competition between some producers to see who could make the most bangin' tune with the least amount of elements.
Do you feel an affinity with UK music?
Not all kinds...haha, but I have been a big fan of old school hardcore, jungle, and everything kinda down that thread. Jungle and early drum and bass really did it for me though. Back when it was more sample based, producers would flip hip hop, soul, R&B, reggae... The drums would remind me of hardcore punk at times as well, which I was into. It was the combination of all my favorite kinds of music.
An infinite number of titles and adjectives have been penned to describe the legendary Goldie over the years. Some people are (for good reason) enamoured with his immaculate and consummate contributions to the worldofD&B; others choose to speculate on his brushwithHollywood &/or realityTV; others are still catching their breath from his graceful conducting debut on BBC's Maestro; others solely focus on his genius as a visual artist...recently, when Goldie posted some old school photos from the 80s on his Facebook, we were given an inspiring reminder of the latter. Intrigued, we decided to find out more about the stories behind his earliest work - long before the days where Goldie was a household name taking up inches in gossip columns, and a decade before he was sitting on top of the world as one of its most groundbreaking musicians.
We stopped in with Martin Jones (Goldie’s manager and agent from 1984-89), to find out the inside scoop behind the images.
Martin is currently leading a national project to archive photos and video of early UK Hip Hop from the 1980s. If you have any material you think would be of interest, please contact him.
November 1984: Goldie’s graffiti career begins on national TV.
I first met Goldie in around September 1984, just after he’d joined the Wolverhampton B Boys breakdance crew. He was also a graffiti artist and showed me some of his designs - I was impressed and agreed to try and get him some commissions. In this shot he’s seen painting the backdrop to a breakdance battle between the Wolverhampton B Boys and Coventry’s Future Shock (hence the cartoon figures of both crews). The battle was filmed at Central TV’s rooftop car park for ITV’s 'Saturday Starship' children’s show, hosted by Tommy Boyd and Bonnie Langford. On the left is ‘Lewinski’ (Cliff Malcolm), a member of his crew, the Supreme Graffiti Team.
August 1985: Goldie’s Chinatown commission in Birmingham’s Bull Ring.
This was Goldie’s second public commission. It took place in Birmingham’s Manzoni Gardens immediately after the ‘Clash of the Titans’ four way graffiti battle between New York’s Brim and Bio, London’s Chrome Angelz , Goldie and Bristol’s 3D (later of Massive Attack), filmed by Channel Four for the Hip Hop documentary ‘Bombin.' It was commissioned by West Midlands County Council to cover hoardings around the new development area in central Birmingham containing Chinese-owned businesses. Disaster was only narrowly avoided when, as a result of some too hasty research, Goldie proudly presented his design to stunned Hong Kong Chinese dignitaries, revealing the Japanese flag flying triumphantly over Hong Kong harbour.
The Supreme Graffiti Team consisted of Goldie (right) , Cliff ‘Lewinski’ Malcolm (middle) and Gary ‘Birdie’ Burns (left).
March 1985: Goldie and the B Boys breakdance crew meet Afrika Bambaataa at the GLC’s Rap Attack Festival, Shaw Theatre, London.
I saw Bronx graffiti artist Brim on TV-AM and drove the B Boys down to the Shaw Theatre to meet him. He and Afrika Bambaataa were doing Easter hip hop workshops there with London kids. The B Boys really impressed Dick Fontaine, who was making a documentary about Brim and the spread of hip hop culture from New York to the inner cities of the UK. Dick brought his camera crew up to Wolverhampton where he filmed Brim with Goldie on his hometown estate – Heathtown.
On a fashion note, Goldie is wearing an Australian brand tracksuit – I got B Boys a few sponsors back then. There was Australian (for their ITV Saturday Starship national TV appearance), Kappa (for their Electro Rock film appearance), and finally Puma for their Electro Rock promotional tour.
The Boys pictured are, left to right, Keith ‘Kiddo’ Anderson, Gary ‘Birdie’ Burns, Hanifa McQueen Hudson, and Goldie.
1986: Goldie with Birdie at the Stairway to Fame in Heathtown, Wolverhampton.
Carl Craig is a strong, defiant visionary that’s dedicated his entire life to his craft; someone that’s pushed by art, and someone that pushes art back. Continually shape-shifting and reinventing himself under an endless number of monikers (Innerzone Orchestra, 69, Designer Music, BFC, Paperclip People, Trez Demented, to name but a few), Carl has been at the forefront of many important movements over the years. Beyond his obvious contributions to the second wave of Detroit, he’s been largely credited for pioneering Drum & Bass (with Innerzone Orchestra’s ‘Bug In The Bassbin’), he’s presented a link between electronic music and films (creating a soundtrack for Warhol’s provocative ‘Blow Job’ earlier this year at Unsound Festival, for instance) and he’s artfully combined electronic music with orchestral compositions (re-interpreting Ravel and Mussorgsky with Moritz Von Oswald; or their Versus project Francesco Tristano and Les Siècles Orchestra). His latest musical venture, the experimental project ‘No Boundaries,’ fits the name entirely, with productions that are as creative and mind-expanding as it gets. Carl describes the project best himself: "Unexpect the expected!" Certainly a notion that has followed the artist throughout all of his work.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Juan Atkins’ seminal Metroplex imprint this year, Carl envisioned the D25 tour - a celebration of Detroit’s history of innovative electronic music. When discussing D25, he commented: “I think the economic devastation that the city has endured over the last 30-odd years helped us to fantasize about a brighter future, it is this fantasy that we put into our music.” Being an arts commissioner for Detroit’s government these days, Carl Craig’s proactively helping to create that brighter future for the Motor City. The rest of the world may dismiss the city as being trapped in dilapidation or dereliction, but bubbling deep in its roots lies an incredibly vast and wonderful heritage of music: from gospel to Motown, from The Electrifying Mojo to a vibrant legacy of jazz musicianship, from Dilla to Jeff Mills. D25 celebrates the D for all of its beauty and creative force, its progression and influence, and its character and indelible legacy. Starting this year with an immense WMC party (with a lineup that defies description: Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Kenny Dixon Jr., Theo Parrish, Kyle Hall, Kenny Larkin, Kevin Saunderson, Monty Luke, Stacey Pullen), and a variety of events lined up throughout the year, D25 will come to our doors over the course of this weekend’s ‘On & On’ raveathon with Mr Craig, Stacey Pullen and Monty Luke. After that, Carl plans to take on the globe, and incorporate a more visual element to the tour, converging film and art into the concept. Read on to find out more.
How’s everything in Detroit today?
Great. I’m just driving to the car wash right now and it’s a sunny day. To me, Detroit is the most beautiful place in the spring or autumn. We have such beautiful trees, especially in my neighborhood – magnolias…and in my back and front yard, we have a lot of Japanese maples that are a burgundy, purple-ish colour. The city’s full of really rich colours.
We’re honoured to be given a chance to celebrate the city’s richness here…
Thank you. It’ll be great to keep it going because D25 isn’t just about me, Stacey and Monty; D25 is definitely about the other guys that started the whole shebang – Derrick, Kevin and Juan, of course. But it’s also about the guys that you might’ve seen a resurgence from recently, like Shake and Dan Bell. And of course KDJ and Theo Parrish and Mike Clark, Mike Grant, Mike Huckaby, Mike Delano Smith. And I wanna put guys out there that nobody knows – for instance, there’s this guy Al Ester that has been around for eons, you know – the guy has never left Detroit basically. And I can honestly say that he’s one of the best DJs that I’ve ever heard, not just one of the best DJs from Detroit, not just DJs from the US. I’ve known him since we were all going to the Music Institute back in 1988, ’89. So we’re talking serious stuff. That’s the plan with D25: we bring out people from the woodworks that have been some of the best in the aspect of music playing as well as the guys that are the best at music making. It’s to introduce people to all of the talent that comes from here in Detroit. Also, because we started this agency, Detroit Premiere Artists, the opportunity of having this booking agency is finding new raw talent as well from Detroit. Of course a new talent that’s out there already that a lot of folks already know of is Kyle Hall. But there’s the next step of guys that come from backgrounds like Kyle’s, and people from completely different backgrounds, that we have the opportunity to expose.
How did D25 all come about?
This year is the 25th anniversary of Metroplex Records. So that’s technically the 25th anniversary of techno. We have plans to do events around the Movement Festival here in Detroit, but also expose the music in a way that is relevant to both 25 years of techno. There’s also the idea that we’re going to show films as well, like some of Jeff Mills’ films that he did his work to. There’s a wonderful film by Jacqueline Cole that’s about the relationship between electronic music and gospel in Detroit. That includes Electrifying Mojo, who was a big influence here on the radio, and it’s just a really fascinating piece of work. And also some other projects – one of them is Versus that I did with the symphony. And a friend of mine has done some animated art – not animated in the sense of manga cartoons, she’s a painter that does some really beautiful and sophisticated work. At some point, it’d be good to integrate that visual aspect of what we’re doing with D25 as well. Hopefully we’ll develop it into a whole multimedia kind of thing. I’d like to see it documented in some way that we can have this as a legacy.
Steve Bug has long since been a favourite here at Fabric. He has been around since the beginning, watched and played a part in our development and even helped us celebrate a milestone or two along the way. So it seemed fitting that a DJ/producer (not to mention great friend) that has lasted so long at the top should be on board for our tenth birthday party last October. More recently, with his impressive new release, “Flight 111” out on his own Poker Flat imprint, Steve Bug shows no signs of letting up. As he continues to develop his already glittering career, we just get the sense that he’ll be around for more celebrations long into the future.
As his set from the 10th birthday party became available here on our blog last week, and after his incredibly slick set in Room One this past Saturday, we decided to catch up with The General to talk about the epic birthday, longevity in dance music and...his skills as a hairdresser!
How did you enjoy playing at Fabric’s tenth birthday a few months back?
It was definitely one of the best gigs I had last year. The vibe was very special - when I heard the set on a link sent to me by fabric just recently, I felt all that massive energy again.
The party was over thirty hours straight. What are your survival tips for making it through such a long time?
I had another show on Saturday night and flew in to London from there. I had some spare time to catch some sleep before I was playing. And to be honest the only way for me to make it through such long parties is leave in-between for a while have some food, and one or two disco naps at a quiet place. I don't really do parties more than 10 hours straight in one go, especially when I have several gigs on the same weekend and am travelling.
Why do you think fabric is still such an important venue in its 11th year?
fabric always has really interesting and well thought out bookings, fresh and up to date, but they're still true to the roots of electronic music. Some old school and some new school. fabric is still top notch when it comes to sound and technology, and the location is also still amazing.
You have been at the top of your game for even longer. How, in your opinion, have you been able to do this?
I don't really know, but loving music purely because of music (and not because of the success attached to being a DJ), not getting carried away with success, constant work and investing a lot of time and energy into the music and the business are key.
As such an established artist, of such a length, do you feel a responsibility for the scene and its next generation of DJs and producers?
In a way I do, but since becoming a DJ and overnight success has become so easy, I feel like a lot of DJs/artists got into the business for other reasons than what motivated me in my beginning. Luckily there are still enough young and upcoming artists that have a sound of their own, but a lot of the so-called underground DJs and producers are more interested in increasing popularity than anything else.
Incidentally, which new artists would you suggest we keep an eye and ear out for at the moment?
It is always hard to name only a few, but i'd say Matthias Kaden, Andrade, Kink, Geddes are the ones that pop up in my mind, especially out of the new London scene!
Despite dance music’s inherently transient nature, do you feel that at the minute, it has a better chance of embedding itself in history more than it ever has done before?
Not really, as there are too many tasteless followers in my opinion. And since sales take place more and more online (even vinyl sales) it is a lot about top ten, top 100 and chart followers. I don't think that is really helpful for music/sound to develop/evolve. Instead of actually searching for music, most people consume tracks that are big already because some big DJ is playing them...unfortunately I am not only talking about clubbers and buyers, but also other DJs. I know a lot DJs that are only playing promos, from a pile of promos that have been sorted out for them by an assistant - lot of DJs don't even go record shopping online. Success has turned them into comfortable couch potatoes. On the other hand there are alot of really talented people no one really cares about, and for whom it seems like it will be forever to ever be able to live off of making music or DJing.
Ahead of his Numbers collective's second Room One takeover on the 2nd April (full line up and details about entrance offere here) we asked Jackmaster to put together his own top 10 youtube clips; and all gumpf aside I dont think any of us expected him to come through so poignantly. We spent about an hour - the best hour of our office lives to date I might add - trying to YouTube beatmatch all of the below; an incredibly detailed summation of Jackmaster's all time favourite 90s commercial house bangers...
I used to be into some of the most un-cool dance music ever: Ministry Of Sound, Defected, Subliminal, Planet Perfecto... all that nonsense. Pretty whack right?
NO - ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Just to be clear, if you come see us at fabric or anywhere else, we are not going to be playing music like this, BUT if I'm at a party and there's a laptop with wi-fi in the house, then you're getting subjected to at least two hours of this shit, with Youtube rewinds and everything. Myself, Rustie and Hud Mo have long dreamt of putting on a one off party in Glasgow dedicated to tunes like this but we haven't had the guts yet.
Here are my top 10 selections of the un-coolest tracks in the history of dance music, in no particular order:
David Morales - Needin' U (Manifesto, 1998)
I fucking love this tune and it reminds me of staying up late and watching Ibiza Uncovered on ITV. I actually went to Ibiza when I was about 14. I was too young to get into the clubs but I was about the right age to get tanked up on San Miguel, so I used to buy myself a 40oz of the good stuff and sit outside the Space terrace listening to the reverberations of DJs like Pete Tong. Cool huh?
Armand Van Helden - You Don't Even Know Me (FFRR, 1999)
Aside from being the world’s best Ali G impersonator, Armand Van Helden has produced some of the hottest House tracks to date. I think maybe that battle he did with Fatboy Slim inside a boxing ring had a serious effect on his mental state because what he does these days is 99% cheese-ball pish, but in his old days he was a treasure to the scene! This is one of his more commercial moments but that's what this thing is about isn't it?
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Intro (Vulture, 2000)
I was always really into French House and after Daft Punk, Alan Braxe was top boy on the scene in my opinion. Spencer and I used to take a set of Gemini belt drive decks and hi-fi speakers up to our mates house parties, birthdays and the like every weekend and this was one of our big tunes. It would get rinsed at every available opportunity. Even our hardened hip hop pals who listened exclusively to ‘36 Chambers’ on repeat every day were feeling this one.
Robin S - Show Me Love (Champion, 1992)
Basically if you drop this at a house party and people don't lose their mind then you are fucked. It's time to call it a night and pass the headphones to the next DJ. I think there's about 4 or 5 versions of this track but the Geeneus remix aside you should always stick to the original. Even Steve Angello and Laidback Luke couldn't ruin this one for me which says a lot.
“Wonky,” “glitch,” “blip-hop,” “the beat scene;” or – to put it a little more simply - a chorus of bleeps and blurps over disjointed breaks and sampled drums, resounding from smoky bedrooms and teenage myspace pages the world over. When it comes to this particular strain of seemingly new music, much has already been said and written, but very little has actually managed to decipher or to understand it. Dimlite is an artist whose work on the Sonar Kollektiv label allegedly laid the foundations for the current movement, spearheaded by people like Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke and Zomby; but it’s only recently that his connection to it has been revitalized and reclaimed.
Dimlite’s music has always been about swimming upstream, dabbling a little in those murky waters of off key sound textures, bringing together elements of darkness and shade. Much like the current crop of beat smiths irking out mixtapes and semi quantized productions there is no recognizable genre tag to mark Dimlite’s work, his sound has - and always will - exist in a wilderness of his own making, measurably isolated from the music of his closest peers
Perhaps his upbringing in rural Switzerland may offer some explanations; although very little personal information exists on the web about the artist born Dimitri Grimm. Locals will tell you he grew up in the countryside in the Swiss-German region of his native land, an area renowned for its spectacular natural beauty, superb cuisine, the impossible kindness and warmth of its villagers and the total and utter lack of any kind of contemporary club scene. Under the surface there is an alternative history however: a lively graffiti movement adorned every otherwise well-kept train station and concrete hard shoulder for miles, and Bern - where Dimlite is rumoured to have been based for a time - has a rich relationship with hip hop, remaining a popular tour-date for modern day hip hop icons such as J Dilla, due in part, no doubt, to the semi-legal availability of high quality marijuana there.
The key recordings that first broke Dimlite were two 12”s, ‘Sponsored By The Alphabet,’ released on the Zurich based label, A Few Among Others, in 2003 and a subsequent 6 tracker entitled ‘A/DD’ for Sonar Kollektiv. ‘Sponsored...’ was an underground smash at the time. Caned hard on the airwaves by Gilles Peterson, its popularity relied heavily on word of mouth as music fans enthused about an artist who sliced samples as thin as miniature cucumber sandwiches, whilst maintaing that Pete Rock bounce, that Marley Marl handclap and a sense of humour plucked straight out of The Goonies. ‘A/DD’ followed suit, quickly becoming a favourite of DJs seeking to bridge the gap between the gulfs of hip hop and electronic music – it was a fresh banger, reminiscent of Detroit hip hop and of what Dabrye had done with Instrmntl a couple of years earlier, but it had an offbeat sensibility all of its own. Dim subverted the beat to a different end, as if he was half Matthew Herbert and half Terry Riley, engineered by Dr Dre.
Dimlite’s production signifiers were born with these records – mechanical clicks, found sounds, distortions and details that make the beats stutter and whirr like mechanical toys; strange interruptions that break the mood sporadically, causing the track to collapse in on itself like a house of cards. Its hip hop, but not the type canonized by tastemaker publications of the time like The Source. It was hip hop for those with a sense of humour and a complete dislike for the banal, much like the work of the aforementioned Hudson Mohawke for Warp Records. With the gift retrospect it comes as no surprise that HudMo is one of Dimlite’s most ardent supporters and that the Glasgow Lucky Me collective has hosted him more times than they’ve had a deep fried mars bar.
Other key moments from Dimlite’s discography to check out would be the albums ‘Runbox Weathers’ and the follow up ‘This Is Embracing,’ both released on Sonar Kollektiv. The former is simply essential, in particular the awesome single ‘Back To The Universe,’ with the flipside ‘In Groups To The Hydrandd’ hitting so hard it could seriously bust your speakers (note: this track is where all that “godfather of wonky” rhetoric began, with the beat in question banging hard enough to move your neck autonomously but sounding puzzling enough to have you pressing rewind over and again to properly sift through the layers). Meanwhile ‘This Is Embracing’ pushes Dimlite’s loosening of the conventions of beat making to the max, with tracks like ‘Lullaby For Gastric Ulcer’ and ‘Cosmic Echoes In The Mockery Room’ sounding like John Cleese’s rubber face expressed as a post-modern work of musique concrete.
And whilst you’re shopping, check out the All City 7” ‘Quiz Tears’ - which seems to have passed everyone by last year; his remixes of the always over-emphasised but still very worthy Flying Lotus, and all the stuff he did under his Dadaist alter ego Misel Quitno, whose dress sense I seriously admire. A sense of fun, a disdain for the obvious and a fart in the face of rhythmic convention is what Dimlite is all about.
Catch Dimlite at RBMA presents Brainfeeder London next Wednesday (10/03) in Room One, appearing alongside Flying Lotus, Kode 9, The Gaslamp Killer, J Rocc, Martyn, Daedelus, Nosaj Thing and TOKiMONSTA.
Careering away from the rest of the pack with a certain kind of die cut beauty and a label roster that would make any self respecting musical futurist weep, the Apple Pips label turned 10 releases old recently with the release of Greena’s ‘Tenzado’ b/w ‘Actual Pain;’ and in a kind of unintentionally fitting masterstroke, the bastardized hybrid of Greena’s music, a sound that fuses as much house and funky as it does garage and dubstep bassweight, perfectly represents what Laurie Osbourne aka Appleblim’s label is all about.
Releasing music from artists as varied in style as T++ and Instra:mental the label has seen physical releases from Jus Wan, Martyn, Ramadanman, Brackles, Al Tourettes and the aforementioned Greena over its relatively short two year tenure, a feat which in terms of diversity and quality control has been seldom matched by any label, irrespective of genre.
“I see Apple Pips as a way of getting some of the amazing music that I am surrounded by on a daily basis,” Blim reveals, “either from the people I work with closely in Bristol, or from the producers round the world who give me their music to represent in my sets... I see the label - and the Apple Pips nights - as a way of giving something back to these talented people, to give them a platform and perhaps a step up so they can get more recognition and opportunities themselves.”
“I guess the label kicked off because Skull Disco [the label co-run by Appleblim and the elusive master of percussion, Shackleton] didn't seem appropriate to release certain music on...” he considers when probed on the inception of the label. “Myself and Shackleton always thought of Skull Disco as just being an outlet for our own strange experiments, and whilst it later came to bring in some people as remixers and collaborators it wouldn’t have seemed right to release other peoples music on it. Towards the end of Skull Disco I was chatting with Martyn who had expressed a love for Skull Disco, and whose 1st 'dubstep' release on DAT:music I had been battering at FWD>>. We were chatting about labels, about how I wanted to start one to release other people’s music, and how he was setting up his own, 3024 imprint. I loved his 'Suburbia' track to pieces, and he was like, ‘have these two tracks to start your own thing.’ I owe a lot to him!”
Working, like his artists, on a continual axis of discovery, Appleblim cites a kinship of music as his main proponent to keep pushing his label wares forward - “It’s just the love of music, and it’s the power to change people’s lives” - but within that undying appreciation of all styles and, what is imaginably a constant influx of submitted music, how does one pick what makes it onto the release schedule?
“Just something that gets me buzzing...” enthuses Blim, “the tracks all came from different connections. Sometimes it’s just a tune someone has sent me, sometimes its hearing a tune in a club and being like ‘what the *&^%$ is this?!’ and it’s the DJs tune. Sometimes it’s something I’ve worked on with someone in their studio, sometimes it’s a track I’ve heard on a mix and I try and hunt them down...that’s the exciting part of a label really, that thrill of finding a tune you know other people are going to buzz off..."
Much has been written about the emergence of Berlin’s Berghain/Panorama Bar mecca and the parallels with our own home from home in EC1, not to mention the artists that have spawned from the success of the now legendary club.
The Berlin hotspot has acted as a perfectly formed catalyst and showcase for its elite residential squad. Two in particular, Ben Klock and Steffi, bring their unique Berlinesque flavour to Room Two tomorrow; we caught with the pair to dig deeper than the hype and discover more about two of the most influential stars from one of the most influential venues in the house and techno scene.
Berghain and Panorama Bar seems to have acted as the perfect catalyst to boost your reputations within the techno scene, yet Ben, you have been playing in Berlin since the mid-90s right? And Steffi, you conquered the Amsterdam music scene before re-locating to Berlin? Tell us a bit about what you were up to pre-Berghain/PB…
Steffi: I was living in Amsterdam before I moved to Berlin. I used to have my own club night there in Mazzo (rip), had several residencies and organized loats of parties. Always wanted to bring the people quality and stay underground. One of the highlights was Boem Tsjak festival I did with Marsel from Delsin Records. We organized this during Amsterdam Dance Event because they were not focusing enough on the Dutch labels and their talents in our opinion.
Ben Klock: I used to play in clubs like Cookies, Tresor and WMF in Berlin. Although it was a great time and I had a few residencies here and there, I never really felt home anywhere before Berghain. That's where it all really changed and where I felt that the right people and the right place came together at the right moment to give me the inspiration that I needed.
You each run your own labels, Klockworks and Klakson respectively - what made you decide to set up your own imprint and do they represent you as musicians/DJs?
Steffi: Klakson started really naive, more like a fun thing to do. Dexter's first release hit the market quite well, it turned out to be. We always kept Klakson as a low profile label and only released stuff we really liked. It was never created to become a huge label with many releases, but more to work with people we liked and music we really wanted to be out there. This is how it will continue in the future. I just started a new label called Dolly! This will be an exclusive label that features people I am working with at the moment. I am very excited and the first release by Jacob Korn just came out a few weeks ago!
Ben Klock: When I started the label in 2006/07, most of the music around was very clean, a bit overproduced and well arranged. I wanted to have my platform for a bit more raw approach. I always liked first sketches, in graphic design or art as well. That is also shown by the artwork of the label. Tracks for Klockworks will always have that kind of raw feeling which is one side of me as an artist and DJ.
Steffi, you are known for throwing parties in Amsterdam. Do you cast a critical eye over each place you play, or is it nice to relinquish the responsibility of filling a club?
Steffi: No that’s not in the back of my mind. I do know the feeling of doing a club night and have to deal with the nerves on the night itself :) So it makes me understand promotors better and makes me support smaller parties who try to give people a chance to listen to quality music because we need this!
Ben, I read that you were a graphic designer before switching to music; do you find one helps the other in terms of generating inspiration or being creative?
Ben Klock: For quite a while I was doing this parallel. So I didn't really switch. I stopped working as a graphic designer when I was working on my album. I realized that I couldn't do both anymore timing-wise. There are similarities in the process of finding ideas and then developing, finalizing them. But I really have to say that I'm glad that I am able to concentrate on one thing now. Music is really on first place for me!
The finest purveyors of deep house have decided to expand their repertoire and cut their cloth from an alternative material to wax. Berlin’s Innervisions empire, led by fabric 42’s Âme and Room One regular Dixon, have turned to paper to unleash one of the most hyped pieces of Techno literature ever to be released. Tobias Rapp’s book ‘Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno and the Easyjetset’ investigates the city’s love affair with electronic music and seeks to answer why the world is flocking to the German capital to get a piece of the action. Innervisions have taken the innovative step of releasing a limited number of copies exclusively via their website in English, as originally it was only available in German. You can check it out here.
Catching up with Âme ahead of their Innervisions Room One invasion next Saturday, we found out why they though we should be swotting up on techno.
It’s not often that a record label diverts from releasing music to releasing literature. Tell us why you felt it essential to translate this book into English and publish it?
Tobias Rapp, the author, is a good friend of us so the connection was already there before. When we all read the book, we felt that it would be definitely a very interesting project for the international market. We asked Tobias straight away and he said that we would a great partner for this project so this is why it happened.
For people that might not know about the book, what is it all about?
The book describes the situation and energy in the Berlin techno scene at the beginning of this century. Tobias was very inspired by his club experiences around these years so he wrote a book about it. He writes about the big and famous clubs and afterhour locations, some key players from the Berlin scene and the Easyjet ravetourism in a very eloquent way.
The original version of the book had a huge impact across Germany, thrusting techno back into the German media. What do you think sparked the swell of homeland interest in the book?
At the end of the nineties, the whole techno thing went back to the undergound so in Berlin around and after these years, something new grew up without media support or any other hype stuff. At the end, of course, a wider audience took notice of that and the success of the book is pretty much a result of this attention.
How does the book particularly resonate with you? Obviously that played at part in your decision to publish it through Innervisions?
As I said, Tobias is a good friend of us and Innervisions had a small part in his book. We are publishing music, why shouldn’t we publish a book about the music scene from our town?
No doubt the hype surrounding this book will further fuel techno tourism to the German capital...as Berliners yourselves, are you conscious of the influx of people seeking the magic of Berlin? Do you think it’s had a positive or negative influence on the city’s music scene?
I think Berlin clubs already showed that they can handle the ravetourism as they are pretty good in selecting voyeurism from passionated hedonism.
How do you feel Berlin and its music have developed over the last decade?
Berlin is probably the only bigger city in the world where the government recognised that there is also an economical power in their own music scene. So they even support the clubs with all the help they can give them. So there is less a danger of sellout and commercialisation then anywhere else.
Kyle Hall is currently sending mad vibrations through the scope of quality new house music. Having already released a record on Omar-S’ FXHE label at the staggering age of 16, he has more recently remixed Darkstar’s somewhat seminal ‘Aidys Girl Is A Computer’ track on Hyperdub. He is currently working hard on his own imprint ‘Wild Oats,’ on which you can hear him lay down deep, twisted Detroit grooves injected with funktastic, Dilla’esque beats and shuffles. With mentors and teachers such as Theo Parrish and Mike Huckaby, the future is looking very bright for the young prodigy as he prepares to take the reins for Detroit’s new school house legacy.
We caught up with him ahead of his debut set in Room Three - where he'll be appearing alongside Jus Ed and DJ Qu - and he took the liberty of dropping us an exclusive promo mix, which you, oh faithful readership, can download from our juicily stacked soundcloud account here:
What did you do today? Take us briefly through a typical ‘Kyle Hall’ day… Well today honestly I was bit under the weather. Normally my day consist of me waking up at 11am and checking emails. Then I make some music, maybe hop on Facebook, then call up some friends and go hang with them downtown. Get some junk food. Crash out. Then I’ll go to a party later that night or play a show. Go home. That gives you an idea but sometimes I have mellowed days or days where I just do work.
What music are you working on at the moment? At the moment I'm working on remixes for a few artists. I just finished a remix for Planet E and Warp. Also working on some hip hop joints.
When did you start being drawn towards electronic music? You grew up in Detroit, so was it always in your life? I started getting into electronic music pretty early. Amongst my generation it's not really popular so I just inquired on my own. Plus some help from some local cats who I bothered.
You’re only 18 and are already becoming an established part of the new Detroit sound. Did you ever have to choose between music and school, or did you balance both? After high school I chose between college and music. Obviously I chose music. But in high school, music production was part of my curriculum so it wasn't hard to balance
What was the first record you ever bought? And what was the last one you bought? That's pretty tough I bought so many records when I got started. Probably was some Chicago house record I got from the used bins at my local record shop. The last one I bought was the ‘Ghostbusters’ soundtrack, I think it had Bobby Brown on it. Pretty dope record.
Who/what are your biggest inspirations musically? What about outside of music? My biggest inspirations musically change depending on where my head is. Last month it was Gucci Mane and OJ the Juice Man. Then it might be a Drexciya record. I don't know I like just listening to different crap. Outside of music, maybe my Dad. Or my wonderful booking agent.
What album/LP would you play to a chick if you were trying to seal the deal? Hmmm....Simon Grey ‘The Galactic Suite’. That shit is so smooth. Probably some smooth groovy deep house joints if I'm trying to get layed. Some Sade or some shit might work. The Domu remix of ‘The Galactic Suite’ is sweet, just work the EQ on that shit, hoes be wet for days. That's for pulling girls off the floor into your bed son.
Hudson Mohawke, known to his familiars as Ross Birchard, is responsible for producing some of the most fluorescent and experimental forward thinking hip-hop of the year. Alongside the LuckyMe collective he’s representing the Scottish beat scene to the fullest and despite him having only just released his long awaited debut long player, ‘Butter,’ on Warp Records, its already on some of the biggest and best of 2009 lists.
Born and raised in Scotland’s second largest city, Glasgow, Birchard - alongside the likes of Flying Lotus, Samiyam and his sometime sparring partner, Rustie - are pushing the notion of instrumental hip-hop into the furthest cataclysms of the experimental electronic dimension before ripping it straight back out again. But despite the obvious and hugely complementary comparisons to his contemporaries ad to the current wave of dubstep, thugstep and funkstep, trademarked by Geenus in an interview with XLR8R, he’s managed to capably carve out his own unmistakable ‘sound.’
“I hate that I have to call it anything to be honest with you, but I know it can just exist on its own. I’ve heard a lot of really bad names, but my main problem I have is people calling my music is wonky. Just because it doesn’t fit into a category and it has a slight rumble of bass they say its ‘wonky mate,” he says in an a hilarious mockney accent. “But you know what I mean though? Labels, labels, labels... It gets boring very quickly. I like to call it Turbo Soul”
Birchard’s adoration for music began from an early age, practically surrounded by vinyl since birth, his dad held down an American “top 40” style radio show in his hometown in the early eighties. He began mixing when he was just eight years old on a “shitty little hi-fi turntable and cassette deck” that he spent hours on mixing between vinyl and tape. “I owe my mixing skills to that basic set-up!” he proclaims with a wide eyed grin on his face but that tireless attention to detail paid off as Hudson went on to become one of the youngest finalists in the UK leg of the DMC World Championships, spinning under the name of DJ Itchy. When asked if he scooped the top prize he deftly responds, “Nah. They’d never let a Scot win.”
It wasn’t until he was thirteen that he made his first beat and like a lot of the new generation of beatmakers -Skream, Gemmy & Benga have also cited this method for the earliest audio dabbling - Birchard cut his first track on Playstation’s Music 2000 game. “That’s how I first learnt to sample” he recalls, “It was completely laborious and stupidly complicated, even more than traditional methods of sampling. It was really time consuming to find that little bit you wanted; but it makes you a perfectionist and was really good training for sampling.”
His debut album, ‘Butter’ follows on from where his ‘Polyfolk Dance EP’ - also on Warp Records – left off, packed with the same careering melodies and chopped drum textures. It’s a journey from the depths of traditional hip-hop melodies all the way to Prince-esque funk, and beyond. Aiming to feature a handful of artists across the collection of dazzling instrumentals, Hudson hooked up Olivier Daysoul, LuckyMe’s first lady Nadsoric and he called on LA’s Ambassador of Boogie, Dam Funk to lay down some vocals. “I was a fan of Dam and I liked what he doing for a while. I had a track of his that had his vocals on it and although he’s not an incredible singer, he has a sort of charm which really appealed to me, we were gonna do some instrumental collaborations together but I wanted to do some vocals and luckily he was up for it.”
Mr Thing rocked Doctor’s Orders in Room Three a few weeks back when we were all reminded what a great DJ he is. He’s in the middle of releasing a series of albums featuring the best breaks from the 60s and 70s. And being a bit of an expert on such matters, we asked him to give us a little lesson on some classic breaks and where they’ve been used in hip hop. The results make for some interesting reading, listening and watching; Shaft in Africa, Big Daddy Kane and Ghostface all in one article. Boom…
We’ve got three copies of ‘Strange Breaks & Mr Thing II’ to give away, to win, just email hotdesk@fabriclondon.com with another classic break and a hip hop track it’s used in – the more unique the better! (more clips after the jump).
Baby Huey - 'Hard Times' (Curtom Records)
This track is an instantly recognisable tune, mainly due to its heavy usage in 90s hip hop, most blatantly on Ghostface Killah's 'Buck 50'. It was also used by Ice Cube, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest and many other huge names.
Bob James - 'Take Me To The Mardi Gras' (CTI Records)
The first four measures of this track laid down the fundamental breakbeat of hip hop. It was later used by Naughty by Nature, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys & Wu-Tang Clan. Not bad from an artist recognised as a smooth jazz musician. Nowadays it's best known for the Missy Elliot remix.
After Jeremy P Caulfield filled us in on his going-ons last week, as promised he's given us a full, bustling report of his recent trip to the German/Austrian Alps with the Vakant fellas. Sit back and enjoy their vivid and gripping journey through the Alps...and then come join the Dumb-Unit crew as they journey through our cavernous Room Two this Saturday. Both journeys are of equal weight and importance, naturally.
It’s Tuesday morning, after a long weekend hosting our DU/Vakant party at Watergate we are pumped to exit Berlin for a while. Our mission is to head deep into the wilderness and climb high above the clouds. We are flying to Salzburg where we will catch a bus into the Alps and through to Berchtesgaten. Alex and I thank Ingo for doing the planning duties for this adventure and I promise to add equal effort to our VEGAS EXTRAVAGANZA 2011! Here’s hoping…
Our flight to Salzburg is less than an hour and after a few well timed bus connections we arrive at Königssee, a pristine and picturesque village at the base from where we’ll catch the lift up a portion of the mountain. At the local grocery store we choose food to last two days and feed three distinct appetites, one of which is Vegetarian. It’s all about the basics: bread, cheese, and of course, the important Snickers bars - King of Instant Energy. Ingo and I (who are not vegetarian) also indulge in the acquisition of some locally made Leberkase, basically a loaf of liver...a tasty treat I know we’ll deserve at some point on the hike.
As we arrive at the offloading point, the wind is getting brisker and the view more spectacular. The valley where we disembark is deep with a convergence of 5 or 6 peaks, all of which seem to be fighting for attention. Hohes Brett, the ridge we will be attempting, is both magnificent and intimidating. Today, though, it is only a short 45-minute hike to our lodging. Tonight we’ll bed at the Carl-Von-Stahl-Hau, a small chalet located on a ridge that straddles the German/Austrian Border. It is a breathtaking location and as we arrive the cool valley mist is slowly creeping its way past the sun lit house. Built in 1923, the chalet can fit up to 75 people, but luckily tonight it is less than a quarter filled. Alex, Ingo and I score a comfortable, 4 person bunk room and we thank the Mountain Gods that some snoring lumberjack will not be sharing our roost.
Over the last couple of years, Icelander Ólafur Arnalds has been one of a handful of young composers shining light on the modern classical scene, a collection of musicians re-casting both the content and listenership of classical music. His releases to date, all on Erased Tapes, from debut ‘Eulogy for Evolution’, to his breathtaking follow-up EP ‘Variations of Static’, to the recently released ‘Found Songs’, have seen this multi-instrumentalist compile a collection of unforgettable, swooping, soaring, cinematic soundscapes. Forget whether classical music is your bag, this is for anyone with a penchant for songs that are as heart-wrenching one minute as they are edifying the next, tranquil and placid one instance, setting your pulse racing the next. It’s raw, evocative and challenging in all the right ways, and you’d be hard pushed to find an artist making more touching or more soul-stirring music than this in 2009.
We’re sharers by nature here at fabric, so we caught up with Ólafur so both you and I could get to know him a little better…
Being both a classical musician and an electronic artist, what was your route into music, and what kind of a journey have your tastes been on since then?
I studied a number of instruments through my youth and ended up with drums as my main instrument, I played drums in a few punk and rock bands as well as some jazz. So I’ve always been listening to some more underground music. I was always playing some piano on the side though and listening to classical music as well. Basically I listen to pretty much anything…As long as it’s good, I don’t care what people call it.
When did you decide you wanted to devote yourself to being an artist?
I guess I’ve always wanted to be an artist. When I was studying drums, I really wanted to be a session drummer, I also wanted to be a producer…But me ending up as a neo-classical composer was much more of a coincidence. I was just playing around with it at first, released the first album more for fun. But people really liked it and things started happening, so it’s become my job.
Sascha Dive does not care whether a record is 10 years old or 10 days. What counts is that the music is warm, deep and expressive. His label, Deep Vibe Recordings, melds the groove of American shores with the empiricism of the European club scene, keeping the dancefloor at its focus always.
Before he takes over Room Three with the Tsuba crew this Saturday, dive into the grooving mix he created for Juno: LISTEN HERE.
Firstly, can you tell us a bit about the promo mix you created for Juno?
I recorded that mix during a quite night at home a few weeks back. Instead making a slick Abelton mix I decided to do it the old fashioned way. I was using my Allen & Heath xone 62 (which I really like), two technics and one CD player. It's a really straight and groovin' mix, so I hope all the people at fabric will groove to that sound just as much as I did when recording it.
What are you working on at the moment?
I just finished a remix for Knarf Skipson, which will be out on Quint Essentials next year. I'm also working hard on my debut album, which I hope to release in summer next year.
How much of your focus is on producing for pure artistic expression, and how much is for the dancefloor?
That's a good question! Let's say this way: since I'm a DJ, most of my productions have a strong focus on the dancefloor. I guess that's just what comes out, when you picture a dancing crowd whilst working the knobs of your machines in the studio!
The drum & bass world has been experiencing a process of reinvigoration of late, yielding some of the most forward thinking and innovative sounds we've heard in years. In no small part responsible for this are the Autonomic crew. Their series of podcasts, plus their labels Exit and NonPlus+ have been leading the way for cutting edge drum & bass this year.
Their latest signing, ASC, is no newcomer to the scene. Having been releasing some fantastic music for nigh on a decade, on labels including Nu-Directions and Looking Good, as well as running his own imprint, Covert Operations, he looks set to take the next step up in his career over the coming months with a new album due on NonPlus+ early next year and a new approach to making music that has shifted the boundaries and removed the limitations. His first release on the label 'Porcelain/Focus Inwards,' due out very shortly, sets the blueprint for his new direction, and it's breathtaking.
He makes his fabric bow on November 20th when Autonomic host Room Three, so we got together for a chat with him…
For those that don’t know, can you introduce yourself and your music?
I write electronic music, mainly at drum & bass tempo under the name ASC.
How did you first get into drum & bass, and then on into production?
I got into it from the old hardcore days. I started listening to local pirate radio stations around about 1992 and I was hearing these amazing tracks. I ended up getting deeper into it and started DJing on pirate radio when I was about 15. I was getting curious as to how these tracks were being made, so around about the same time I started messing around with early programs on the Atari ST, such as Cubase, Traxx & Noisetracker. I've been hooked ever since!
Martin Stimming is a bold innovator of the German techno machine. Self-reflective and wildly imaginative, you can spot a Stimming track a mile off by its sheer force of originality. With a suprisingly young discovery, he has already dropped a number releases for LiebeDetails, Freerange, Buzzin Fly as well as his own family, Diynamic and his debut artist album 'Reflections' released earlier this year magnifies his electronic wizardry down to the underground.
Before the Hamburg producer washes the dancefloor with his inward-folding melodies and quivering synths live next Saturday (the 7th), we stopped him for a quick chin-wag.
How would you describe your music, to the uneducated?
It's a mixture between house and techno, somewhere in-between. Sometimes a little harder (especially when I'm playing live) and sometimes more emotional. And also with a groove that's mainly created by acoustic, self-made signals - but tweaked in a very "techno"-way.
As a child, you played various instruments, including the violin, piano and the drums. What made you move from this classical background and decide to DJing and producing electronic music?
Two things - first, for me electronic music right now is the most interesting and forward-thinking kind of music. Nothing against a band and a singer, but we've had that for a couple of years which is enough for me ;) And then - when playing in a band, I always found it very difficult to express what I thought music should be...mainly because you depend on the people you play with. But when I found out that working on a computer is possible and through that I´m able to do exactly what I want, I just knew that it's my way of working.
They say good things come to those who wait...
Many apologies to those of you who have been holding tight for this second instalment of our interview with the illustrious Scott Grooves, the follow-up chat after his gig here at fabric (his first UK appearance for over 10 years). At long last, Scott and I both had a moment to sit down and talk through our respective phones in Detroit and London.
So Scott, it’s been a while - sorry it took us so long to connect. Maybe the best place for us to start is the airport...
The airport. Well, actually I recorded all of that and put it on that FACT mix; I recorded getting off the plane, talking to the driver. He’s a really nice guy. The ride was good, the flight was good and, believe it or not, the weather was good - in London, well, you know...
And how was customs - did they ask you why you hadn’t come back in 10 years?
Customs was no problem at all. And no, they didn’t ask me - but I think it was because I had a brand new passport. The other one had expired since the time I was there last, so they might have through it was my first time in London!
If only they knew...
I had a spanking brand new passport. You know, it made a noise when they opened it up, it was all new and fresh...not all worn out like Derrick May’s passport, which looks like it's been run over by a truck! It was pretty good flying in. I got to the hotel, got settled down and the in-store at Phonica was really good. I had a chance to reach people and get some good feedback, just about my music and also Detroit music in general. At Phonica I also found out about what was going on that night, because I had a night to settle in before playing, which is always good. I had told Judy that I wanted to go by fabric and just see the club because I hadn’t been there in so long, I just wanted to see. When I got there, it was really a madhouse - the dubstep had taken over.
Oh yeah, that was actually a Dub Police night...
Oh man, so the Dub Police - that’s like a big outfit there in London?
For sure – they do a bi-monthly night here...it’s big.
Oh ok, it was really a madhouse there and I was like, ‘Wow.’ So when we left there and I heard about Kristian from Âme from Innervisions was over at Plastic People so we went over there and hung out. Judy came on over and I got in a good vibe for the next night. That was cool, Plastic People was really good. Looking at the aesthetics of the place, looking at the ambience of the place I see why Theo [Parrish] likes to play there a lot. It’s right up his alley. That was the first time I ever went.
Plastic always feels a bit like a good house party – such a nice vibe.
Yeah exactly, it was like a house party in someone’s basement. So my first night was cool. Got back to the hotel, and called it a night and just looked forward to the next day. I couldn’t really get to sleep, for obvious reasons, but I just put started listening to CDs and things that I might want to play, or that I might not play...it’s usually what I do a lot of time when I’m in the hotel and I don’t really have anything to do; I either read, if I have some reading material, or I pop in some music that I might want to play. It just reminds me of what I might have brought with me. So I was listening to some music and, next thing I know, it’s Saturday. The big day.
So how about Saturday night – what did you do right before the gig?
I was really eager to speak to Lerato. I always like to - if I can - speak to the person that’s opening up or, as they say, warming up before me. So I spoke to her, she met me at the hotel and we talked...that was good, I got a chance to meet her and kick it with her. And then we met Judy and we went to dinner. And I finally met up with Omar - he came in that Saturday and we all went to dinner – him, myself, Judy and A Guy Called Gerald too. Then I came back, got my records and we went to the club. Lerato did a good job opening and played some nice music. I came on around 2 and it was good, it was very interesting. I was trying to play some good music to keep people dancing, then I started kicking it with the light guy, he was cool. And the sound engineer, he was really cool too. The night before, on that Friday night I had talked to him and I gave him a mix CD – and when I got there on Saturday, he had already listened to it! He was really nice, and he had everything sounding good. Everyone on the staff – well, if you can call it that - to me, their job seems to be a real cool job especially if they enjoy your music. It feels like everyone loves what they do.
Stacey Pullen is one of those rare artists that manages to remain one step ahead of the curve while maintaining a strong appreciation for what's come before him. Putting his mark on the !K7 'DJ Kicks' mix series in 1996, to this day it's still considered one of the most futuristic mixes in the game (more on that later, with insight from Martyn too). As our leg of the D25 tour lies just around the corner (it's this Sunday y'all), highlighting Detroit's 25 years of innovation and artistry, it seems a fitting time for one of its most seminal players to have a moment of reflection. Read on to discover Stacey's thoughts on the last 25 years, his plans for reviving Black Flag Recordings, the new music he's working on, as well as the best bits of his back catalogue that he’s digitally re-releasing...ride through his wisdom - from past, to present, to future, and back.
Carl Craig is a strong, defiant visionary that’s dedicated his entire life to his craft; someone that’s pushed by art, and someone that pushes art back. Continually shape-shifting and reinventing himself under an endless number of monikers (Innerzone Orchestra, 69, Designer Music, BFC, Paperclip People, Trez Demented, to name but a few), Carl has been at the forefront of many important movements over the years. Beyond his obvious contributions to the second wave of Detroit, he’s been largely credited for pioneering Drum & Bass (with Innerzone Orchestra’s ‘Bug In The Bassbin’), he’s presented a link between electronic music and films (creating a soundtrack for Warhol’s provocative ‘Blow Job’ earlier this year at Unsound Festival, for instance) and he’s artfully combined electronic music with orchestral compositions (re-interpreting Ravel and Mussorgsky with Moritz Von Oswald; or their Versus project Francesco Tristano and Les Siècles Orchestra). His latest musical venture, the experimental project ‘No Boundaries,’ fits the name entirely, with productions that are as creative and mind-expanding as it gets. Carl describes the project best himself: "Unexpect the expected!" Certainly a notion that has followed the artist throughout all of his work.
Much has been written about the emergence of Berlin’s 
The finest purveyors of deep house have decided to expand their repertoire and cut their cloth from an alternative material to wax. Berlin’s 
It’s not often that a record label diverts from releasing music to releasing literature. Tell us why you felt it essential to translate this book into English and publish it?
They say good things come to those who wait...
