Audio: Hear Archie Hamilton’s introspective house trip

FUSE is one of Europe’s most established parties, and its cast of resident DJs might just be the main reason for its success. One of the party’s longest-running residents is Archie Hamilton – alongside his long-time DJ partner Rossko, he’s been playing at FUSE since they first started out in East London in the late 2000s. More recently he’s also become known more widely across Europe – if you first discovered Hamilton’s music in the last couple of years, there’s a good chance this would’ve been after stumbling upon one of his dub techno rollers on YouTube, or getting played by a prominent house DJ. Rumour has it he’s also the mystery figure behind Digwah 02, the huge Nightmares on Wax re-edit that got rinsed by Ricardo Villalobos and crew over the summer. Ahead of his set in RM1 alongside Rossko this Friday, we contacted Hamilton to ask for a mix to demonstrate his sound. When he got back to us, we were pleased to receive an hour of trippy and meditative soundscapes that we’ve come to know him for. Download: Archie Hamilton x fabric Presents Promo Mix Did you have a theme in mind for the mix? I wanted to mix classic and contemporary sounds, with a subtle but definite level of energy. From where did you source most of the records? Discogs, Juno, Beatport, music from me and music from friends. London is known for its record shops. Where do you most frequently buy your records? Probably online at the moment. I was a Black Market and Phonica regular when I lived in in Kilburn and then I became a Kristina regular when I lived in Dalston, but sadly I’m not in London enough at the moment to have a shop that I regularly visit! You’ve spoken briefly about coming to the club on a Saturday for the first time. Can you tell us more about the night this was and any inspiring sets you saw? I wish I could remember who was playing, but I distinctly remember hearing Black Water by Octave One in Room One – it was a massive turning point for me. I remember looking at my watch and it being 6am, pleading that the party wouldn’t finish. When I staggered out into the midday sun with a satisfied grin, I knew I’d got my wish! How do you remember London in your early party years? It was absolutely unreal. Bouncing around from club to club without a care in the world. I remember listening to Passion FM once and the DJ saying “shout out to the Retox crew; they go out Thursday and don’t come home until Tuesday”. It was all about discovery for me at that point - I remember going to Mulletover with my cousin at Hewitt Street Car Park off Curtain Road and we started to walk home after it finished. We got so engaged in conversation about music that we walked all the way home to Kilburn. What do you think is the main reason FUSE grew so big? Guti put it really well recently in saying that we are all ravers. We’ve all come from the same dance floor and I think that gives us a unique connection with each other and the crowd. I also think we have stuck to our guns musically as well, and that has built an extremely loyal following. When did your relationship with Rossko start? Do you think you play better with him or on your own? I used to go to his party Cerca Trova years ago, and I used to see him play at FUSE a lot. We got chatting and hit it off immediately after finding we had similar interests and music tastes. Tony put us to play together at a FUSE Saturday night rave we did at Hearn Street Car Park and it was as if we’d been playing together for years. I would say we certainly play differently when we play together; we push each other, which is a good thing. We mess around with vocal and drum tools which adds an extra dimension to our sets – many hands make light work! This summer we heard Ricardo Villalobos and Sonja Moonear dropping the latest Digwah release produced by an unknown artist – can you tell us if you had anything to do with this release? I heard it was Peter André? ;) What do you have planned for the rest of the year? ADE will be massive, and then I’m touring Australia, Asia and North and South America for most of November and December so I’ll mostly be on the road. I have a new solo EP dropping early in November as well as remixes for Alexkid and Cosmjn and finally a collaborative EP with Enzo Siragusa and Subb-an on FUSE in December so it’s going to be a busy close to the year! I’m looking forward to some studio hibernation in January.