Jus-Ed and Jenifa Mayanja Talk EDJ Records & Share New Mix

A massively respected figurehead of the NY house sound, DJ Jus-Ed and his Underground Quality imprint are not only famed for their consistent and honest output that is well, underground in spirit and always of a certain quality, but we’ve also been privileged to have him represent this sound properly here in Room Three over the recent years. Of late, he’s been putting his creative focus into a new label project with Jenifa Mayanja, who is not only the label boss of Bumako Recordings and an accomplished deep house producer, but she’s also Ed’s wife. Taking their marital partnership a step further and forming a label together, which they’ve aptly called EDJ, it’s this new imprint that’s high on the header of our Room Three this Saturday for which the pair have asked Night Moves and Peg Party orchestrator, Jane Fitz, to join them. So, to gain that extra insight and represent the envisaged journey into their new EDJ ethos, we spoke to both Ed and Jen to find out more about the label’s organisation and what the pair have been up to of late in general. The pair have also recorded us an exclusive vinyl only mix as an extra special bonus with plenty of the gems from the label to enjoy. Download: EDJ fabric Promo Mix Mixed by Jenifa Mayanja and DJ Jus-Ed Hey Ed + Jen it’s good to have you back again, how’ve you been since you last came to Farringdon last year? We are well! We have been working hard at our new distribution, we started selling direct to distributors and record store. We both have our own web stores (www.bumakorecordings.com and www.undergroundquality.com) which sell all music media items as well as merchandise. We have our EDJ fan page up now. We also have a very special release coming at the end of the summer (EDJ-005) which will feature the whole family! We have been playing it out and the dance floor loves it! The title of this track /song is ‘Looking for a Rainbow". We’re still introducing new artists and new music to the scene, not to mention the most important part of our lives raising our children. You’re going to be representing the new label you co-run ‘EDJ’ in Room three on this visit– can you tell us what we can expect? It’s also good to see you’ve brought Jane Fitz back with you again… Our EDJ label nights as you can imagine are very special to us as we don't get to play often together. You can definitely expect one of the best damn times at fabric for sure because you have the best of two worlds coming together to get down on a real raw tip and with Jane in the mix that is a surefire good time as she is one of the music selectors and we are beyond pleased to have her as a part of the EDJ label night. How are you going about the night's curation? Jane will play an opening set, Ed and Jen will play until Judy throws us out! What does having this new label mean for both of your own labels, Bumako and Underground Quality respectively? Having the EDJ label in conjunction with our respective labels means we finally have an outlet to work together on music and DJing as a team. This is an extension of our lives so it made sense to do something that not only had our fans been asking but that we felt we are ready to do collaboratively. It is something we started together for strictly our own creative pleasure. For EDJ two it was a completely collaborated release, can you tell us a bit about how the dynamic works between you in the studio? It is easy, Jen creates in her studio and Ed creates in his studio...and then we decide after listening to each others work what is best for EDJ. We both make music for the sake of making music, we don't make music with a direct purpose. Is this taking up most of your time or do you have some independent projects you’re working on to? O time is always consumed because we are parents. What time is left we have to schedule between our labels and new releases, artist signings, remixes such as in the fall Underground Quality is releasing UQ 055 "Thank you" Also Underground Quality has signed a P&D on select Rudy Ray Moore aka Dolemite releases as well as a continuation of UQ 005 Unity Kolabo series which will include DJ Kosi, Lawrence, DJ Jus-Ed and new comer Diego Gamez. As for Bumako recordings we are working on full length album releases for the fall including a new album from me (Jen)Stranger Things Have Happened of which the title track was featured on the Groove Magazine’s 50th edition. Our full length player is out now from Denis Clifford a new comer from Ireland. Also bringing more cutting edge underrated producers who are women with the Sound Warrior label my newest venture with Dakini 9. Sound warrior 002 will also feature Pursuit Grooves a brilliant producer who recently remixed The Knife" and coming in late summer as well. And what else will the summer hold for the EDJ fam? Well we are on tour right now with the whole family based in Berlin. Educating our children and ourselves about the European culture and lifestyle. Can you also tell us a bit about how this mix was recorded and what ideas went into it? It was recorded at our home studio using CDs and vinyl. It was done in one take, no digital enhancements and recorded to Tascam standalone recorder. We just featured some of the best EDJ releases. Thanks for this opportunity to let us showcase our label Cheers! Ed & Jen