Mixpak Interview Series: Egyptrixx

March 17th, 2010

I once bumped into Egyptrixx as I was getting off the subway on my way to a tutoring job. Recognizing him immediately as the disobedient-dubstep-turned-global-gutter-house DJ hailing from Toronto, I quickly tried to think of something nice I could fit into the two second time period before he passed me and got on the subway. Nothing came, sadly. However, a few months later, I got in touch with him through Mixpak to talk about his eclectic connections to music, Night Slugs, pho, overwrought heavy metal, grad school, and breaking down barriers in dance music.

2010 has already been a notable breakout year for Egyptrixx with the release of an outstanding EP, “The Battle For North America“, and all indications show that he’s just beginning to pick up steam.

Interview by Brendan Arnott (my text in bold)

Untold, who you recently played with here in Toronto, said something I really like: “I hope dubstep continues to be hard to pin down, disobeys its manifesto, gets called stupid names, gatecrashes other scenes, and spikes the punch, elopes, and has lots of children”.  Do you feel similarly about your own music?

Egyptrixx: Haha, yes absolutely. What a great quote.

It’s quite comparatively easy and cheap to make electronic/club music right now.  The software is cheap if you decide to pay for it at all, the distribution methods are largely digital and similarly cheap. These are pragmatic excuses to be experimental, of course there are intellectual reasons as well. It’s amusing to me that everything beyond the traditional guitar/bass/drums/piano configuration is considered experimental or electronic, because even those amplified instruments were considered alien and experimental in the 60′s when they first started popping up. Sonic experimentation is as much a part of making music as coming up with a clever way to say “I love my girlfriend, it sucked when she dumped me”.

Read the full interview below »

Mixpak Interview Series: Mosca

January 25th, 2010

mosca

It is 2010, bloggers and music fans have no idea how to describe anything anymore, and UK based Deejay Mosca sure isn’t making it easy. While Dan Hancox of the Guardian says that his music inpsires “a sense of epic grandeur befitting global house, shuddering dub echoes straight from Jamaica, Latino percussion and still undeniably UK”, I am still somewhat in the dark about what exactly comprises the hybrid sound that Mosca is putting forth in his Night Slugs Label debut “Square One EP”. I caught up with Mosca to talk about “ethno techno”, q-tips and the future of pirate radio over Gmail chat, here are the results.

Interview by Brendan Arnott, my text in bold.

Mixpak: A lot of people are gaining awareness of who you are through your debut release on the new Night Slugs label, but what have you been doing prior to this release? Can you talk about your origins in making this kind of ‘genre destroying’ music?

Mosca: I did a remix of Tempz’s “Next Hype” about a year ago, a kinda Baltimore rub with those UK funky strings off reason. I put that up on my blog and it got played on Rinse.FM and a few other places. So some guys called Kry Wolf got in touch and asked for a B-more remix of one of their first tunes, their first release on their new label called Sounds of Sumo. The tune that got put out was called “Mucky”. So that was my debut I guess, but not an original production.

So you started off as a producer before you were making the transition to DJing at clubs?

Yeah, definitely. I started with drum machines when i was about 15, I was in a band with Unknown Soulja and we didn’t have a drummer so got a drum machine, then started making jungle and hip hop and experimental stuff.  I got into DJing at University, about five years ago, but the production thing has meant way more bookings.

Read the full interview below »

Mixpak Interview Series: Renaissance Man

December 23rd, 2009

Renaissance Man

They’re everything most men wish they could be: dapper, sophisticated, modern, and really, REALLY good at making a new genre of house music that has the world enthralled, ecstatic and confused, all at the same time. They’re also secretly a new breed of super-human warriors who can survive being submerged in lava and can go weeks without sleep. Okay, so the last part wasn’t true, but geeez, Renaissance Man have one of the most impressive work ethics I’ve heard of in years.

They describe themselves as “a platform for contemporary dance music” and 2009 saw a rush of new users embrace the platform. With an onslaught of remixes for Turbo, Kitsune, several classy bootcuts, and EPs on Dubsided and Sound Pellegrino, Renaissance Man arrived in style.

Scandinavian upstarts Martti (Jaxxon) and Ville (Downtown) took some time while they were in the studio to talk about the resurgance of open minded dance music. [Note: this interview took place several months back, apologies for our delay in posting.]

Brendan: What are some of your first memories and experiences of house music?

Jaxxon: The city where I used to live in Finland when I was younger called Turku had a very vibrant house scene in the 90′s. The whole late 90′s deep house thing hit me hard.

Downtown: Yeah, same here. I started feeling it in the late 90s.

Jaxxon: Actually we are now working in the studio one of the O.G Finnish house guys, Sasse, aka Freestyle Man in Berlin.

Read the full interview below »

Mixpak Interview Series: Sticky

December 8th, 2009

sticky

Richard ‘Sticky’ Forbes built his reputation as one of the United Kingdom’s leading club music producers at the height of the UK Garage scene. His productions not only kept the clubs on lock, but they also launched the careers of a number of the UK talents, including the Mercury Award winning Ms. Dynamite. Sticky has re-emerged on the scene in 2009 with a recent embrace of UK Funky and the “Jumeirah Riddim” is his biggest statement yet.

Sticky’s sound is intended to “forge a blend between credible street sounds and the pop music industry” and his discography bears this out. He has collaborated with Kele Le Roc, Stush, Tubby T and Twista, and been called on to remix pop stars like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah, Sugababes, Hot Chip and Erykah Badu.

I caught up with Sticky to discuss music, his musical roots and where he’s headed in the future.

Tell me about some of your first DJ gigs. What was the atmosphere like when you started?

I started DJing in the late 80s when I was a teenager, and most of the places I would play in were house parties. They were very dark rooms, hardly any lights, and the atmosphere was electric because nobody saw each other!

Tell us about one of the first songs that had a big impact on you, and why.

One of the tracks that had a big impact on me when I was young was Soul2Soul’s “Keep On Moving”. The reason why I love this track is because of the fusion between a reggae singer, hip hop beats, reggae bassline and live strings. Wow!!!! That’s what made me want to start producing.

Read the full interview below »

Dexplicit Interview

December 2nd, 2009

Dexplicit

Dexplicit is a London-based producer and DJ known for his mastery of heavy bass, and his tuff as nails remix for Sticky’s Jumeirah Riddim EP only confirms his rep. Check out his recent interview with Vibezine to see where he’s at and what he has in store for 2010.

Mixpak Interview Series: Harvard Bass

November 19th, 2009

Harvard Bass

Harvard Bass has been making a name for himself using minimal house inspired building blocks to build catchy, layered tracks with substance. Hot off the heels of his Sound Pellegrino debut EP have come an unrelenting series of remixes for Drop The Lime, The Toxic Avenger, Mom & Dad, Sinden, Acid Girls and Teki Latex.

Even though he was writing everything to me from his iPhone, and, despite the fact that my internet kept spontanously signing off (my apartment may be haunted), I got a chance to chat with Victor and get a look into where he’s at and where he’s headed next.

Interview by Brendan Arnott, my text in bold.

When you were growing up, what were your big musical influences?

My musical influences when I was young spread a bunch of varieties. It moved from Weezer  to Tupac to The Beatles. But in the house scene I began to listen to a lot of Mark Farina mixes, I was maybe around 13 when I got into dance music.

You say Weezer are one of your influences… they just did a song with Little Wayne, how do you feel about that?

I think it’s awesome that different genres can work together like that.

Read the full interview below »

Short Pomp&Clout Interview On Making The “I Want You” Video

October 20th, 2009

UK magazine Digital Arts checked in with Pomp&Clout and got a behind the scenes look at how they made the video—including the secert on how they bypassed three weeks of render time to get the “I Want You” video finished on deadline. Check the interview and get the details here.

Inside The Mind Of Vybz Kartel

October 19th, 2009

Vybz Kartel Yuh Love Still

According this study from the University of the West Indies, Vybz Kartel is the most popular dancehall artist right now. And yet, even with Kartel’s single “Rompin Shop” getting heavy radio spins and grabbing Billboard Hot 100 placement in the US, for a number of reasons (including not being able to get a visa to travel to the US), he doesn’t always get in depth coverage in the magazines, so you might not be getting a good look at who he is and what’s going on in his world. Luckily, Boomshots has tracked down Kartel for an extensive two part interview in which he thoughtfully discusses the current state of dancehall and how he chooses to focus his energy. On the issue of getting a visa to travel to the US, he explains.

I know, well a lot of people is trying but as I said I’m just concentrating on music. When they send for me I will appear. Otherwise, me just focus on music. Portmore Empire is signed to us. We have a digital distribution deal for them and locally we have a physical distribution deal. We’re doing videos for them, promoting them as much as possible. Trying to do things like a real business. Y’nawmean? Yeah, and you know we have the Vybz Rum and the Daggerin’ condoms. We’re just concentrating on Jamaica right now. You done know anything that’s big in Jamaica always spread across the world. Just keep it real from the root, and then then blossom will drop inna America, it will drop inna England, drop inna Europe.

Read “Reasoning With Di Teacha” (Part One)

Read “Reasoning With Di Teacha” (Part Two)