Getting to Know You: Greco-Roman

A record label as well as a party slaying DJ outfit, the Greco-Roman Soundsystem revolves around a few core players, namely Joe Goddard - yes, he from Hot Chip – Full Nelson, Mr Mentsh and Raf Daddy, but it incorporates so much more, in terms of people and in terms of influences. Having thrown parties around the globe in venues with a varying degree of theme and high profile guests the international wrestiling match theme of their makeshift raves spilled over into their record label, one which has to date released music from Drums of Death, David E. Sugar, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and of course, Joe Goddard’s debut LP, the food themed ‘Harvest Festival.’ With the Greco-Roman soundsystem in full effect this Friday night in Room Three we caught up with Full Nelson, to get a little behind the scenes info to read while we bang out their recent mix for French magazine Trax (tracklist after the jump). Hello Mr. Nelson, before we start, are you Half or Full today? Big weekend so a little less than half today but I’ll definitely be in full effect for fabric. Can you tell us a bit more about the Greco-Roman ethos? Greco-Roman is the art of wrestling performed for the Gods at the seat of Mount Olympus. In their eyes everyone is equal and artistic experimentation is encouraged. Zeus brings the speakers and Bacchus brings the ladies. After running parties for 5 years and playing the most random venues around the world, from a backyard swimming pool in Texas to a mill in Manchester, are you ready for fabric? Let's just say the soundsystems aren't always the best when you throw off-beat parties in peculiar places, so we are really looking forward to experimenting with plenty of sub on fabric's system. Last year we toured a fair deal together as a soundsystem and worked out how to recreate our parties on other people's turf, so yes we feel ready for this Friday. Can we really expect homo-erotic sweaty business delivered by men in leotards on the 4th? No leotards I’m afraid but there will be plenty of male to male hugging going on. You’re known to have had a variety of artists from Bassment Jaxx to Four Tet and Jesse Rose drop by your parties for cameo sets – do you have anything planned or should we just expect the unexpected? No special guests.... yet! But now that you mention it we might put in some calls. We are definitely going to be trying out some new tunes and I think the mic might get passed around a bit… You also run the Greco-Roman label, releasing music from an eclectic roster of artists, most notably Drums of Death, David Sugar and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, can you tell us more? What’s coming up from Greco-Roman in 2011? Yes, I A&R and manage the label and we sure have a busy year, the success of our last signing TEED has really boosted our morale and it feels like we might be hitting our stride. We have a skweee infused EP from our new boy Enchante, some tropical 2 step from Hackman, woozy melancholica from Joe Goddard and an amazing single from Drums of Death with Gonzales playing piano. And maybe some Danish heartbreak and French wobble thrown in too... as always it's a rich musical mix: we make music and then we see if we can dance to it, rather than the other way around if you know what I mean. So, what tracks are making you dance right now? These new TEED demos, old Todd Terry side projects, Blawan and anything on Production House. Oh and ‘Pulse & Thunder’ by Day V Lately of course. Full Nelson & Joe Goddard – Trax Mix 143 Tracklist: 1. Cassetteboy 'Greco-Roman Intro' 2. Drums of Death 'Everything All At Dub' 3. T.E.E.D. 'Critisize' 4. T.E.E.D. 'Household Goods' (Justin Martin remix) 5. Joe Goddard 'Apple Bobbing' (Four Tet remix) 6. Joe Goddard 'Apple Bobbing' 7. T.E.E.D. 'Waulking Song' 8. Enchante 'A45' (dub) 9. Drums of Death 'Won't Be Long' (Joe Goddard remix) 10. Mums of Death 'Golden Axe' (Mumdance vs Drums of Death) 12. T.E.E.D. 'Move On' 12. Enchante - Reggay