Archives for the month of: April, 2012
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Brenmar

2012/04/12 //
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The prolific Brenmar has tracks and features goin’ up left and right. A few tracks of his have found their way into many a dj set of mine, including “Be The One” and his remix of Ashanti’s “Fancy”. Today, he’s gracing Disco Droppings with his sultry R&B aesthetic. We talk about his style and participation in the Red Bull Music Academy 2011. Pick up his Let’s Pretend EP on Hum and Buzz Records as well as his remix of W8WTF on Senseless Records.

 

DD Hello Brenmar! I’m so hyped to have you on Disco Droppings. How is the hustle treating you today? 

B Good good, just been in the studio all day, about to head back in a bit.

 

DD Have any hugely established artists contacted you after hearing a Brenmar remix of their track? Ashanti? Rihanna? Jamie Foxx? 

B No one of that caliber yet, people are sleeping! I do have some really cool collabs I’m excited about though.  

DD You were a participant on RBMA 2011.  Was this where you first met Canblaster? He’s a favorite of mine..his track “Chicken Run” cracks me up. 

B I met Canblaster last year at Miami and we had talked online before RBMA for a good bit but it wasn’t until the academy that I got to really know him and work with him. He’s an Ableton wizard, lol.   

DD I am auditioning for RBMA 2012 – I’m interested in what the experience meant to you. How were you challenged by the Academy, and what lectures did you enjoy the most? 

B My favorite lectures were Young Guru, DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn, Tony Andrews and Erykah Badu. The schedule is pretty intense, def. The hardest part is getting up early every morning to attend two lectures, followed by studio time and then late night shows/parties. It adds up, believe me but it’s totally worth it, it’s a great experience.  

DD I want to talk about your fashion/style for a bit. Not only is your music distinct and fresh, I would say the same about your clothes, tattoos, hair, it all works! Have you always been interested in these things? Is it a conscious aesthetic that you focus on? 

B Ha, it’s just me man, it all works cause I’m not forcing anything I guess. Give me some gold, a snapback, and some Jordans and we good.  

DD Do you plan on building a club night in your new city of New York, now that you’ve gained national and international attention? 

B Can’t say I haven’t thought about it. I travel a lot which makes it difficult but we’ll see.

Brenmar: Facebook Soundcloud Twitter

– Jimi Jaxon

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G. Davies – Mechanic EP on ABAGA Records

2012/04/11 //
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G. Davies is back, supporting his new EP, which can be picked up on Juno. Here’s a look into his current mindset regarding his tunes, show on Sub.FM and such.

 

DD To me, your “Mechanic EP” is a strong step forward. It has a distinct mix of energy and technique. How do you feel about the release?

 
GD All the tracks on the EP are at least 1 year old now, so to my ears they sound anything but fresh. Although in saying, this I am still pleased with ‘Crab Riddim’ & ‘Bacta’. Those being two of the better tracks I’ve produced to date.

DD What are your strongest non-musical influences?

GD Non-musical factors that influence my music? Loads really, depends what’s been going on in my personal life to a certain extent. David Lynch films are a big influence. ‘Crowbar’ on the latest EP features a sample from Inland Empire. I’m really into the vibe of his film’s. Proper dread. Would like to hope that carries over into certain tracks of mine.

 

DD How has your Sub.Fm show with Artek been going? I posted an interview with Hoodmode a little while ago, learned about him from Artek..

GD Sub FM’s been going alright. Handing over the reins to Artek for the next few months though. Taking a step away from the DJ thing to focus on writing songs for a band. It’s too difficult to keep up with new releases from within dance music, when my real passion lies in punk & hardcore. I wish I had a slot on a station where I could play whatever, a new dance tune followed by some grindcore or whatever. Bass music in general is hella saturated at the moment in my opinion, so I’m taking a hiatus as such from mixing, until I feel the urge again. Going through the motions is not the one.

DD What would you like to be known for?

GD Music wise, I’m not too bothered. Ideally to be in a self-sufficient touring band within the next year. Getting too old for this stuff, and don’t want to be one of those ageing hipsters you see hanging around at gigs chatting about how they saw some band 15 years ago. Aside from that I’d like my gravestone to say “Died Tragically Whilst Rescuing His Family From The Remains Of A Sinking Battleship.” Just like Royal Tenenbaum.

G. Davies – Twitter Soundcloud

– Jimi Jaxon

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Hoya:Hoya Club Night / Label Profile

2012/04/10 //
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Many regard Hoya:Hoya as one of the top club nights in the world. It’s progressive mentality coupled with the open-mindedness of the audiences keep things consistently fresh. A few artists who have performed there include Rustie, Kode9, Hudson Mohawke and Actress. Holding it down as resident dj’s we have Illum Sphere, Jonny Dub, Eclair Fifi, Jon K, Lone and Krystal Klear. Today I’ll be speaking with Jonny Dub! His mix contribution for the Hoya:Hoya podcast (below), is one of the slickest things I’ve heard in a while. Wonderful variety. So listen up, in this feature you’ll hear tracks from some of the artists that help make Hoya:Hoya grand.

 

DD Welcome Jonny! What are you doing right now? 

 JD Right now I am listening to the new Brownswood compilation from Kutmah, writing responses to these questions, and enjoying the few days of downtime we get between having just put on one Hoya event before we have to start getting the promo out for the next event.

DD Let’s talk about your Hoya:Hoya Podcast Mix #2. I instantly became amazed by this. Very unique atmosphere, what an impressive mix! What was a recent set of yours like? How did it sound in comparison to the podcast mix? 

 JD Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. My last set was on Saturday at the Hoya 4th birthday which was a fantastic night and part of our secret series of events. On this occasion I started the night and played a mellow mix of tunes ranging from psych, folk, hip hop, electronica & some beats just to tease the crowd and ease them into the dancing vibe. I usually like to go in hard on a crowd and get the energy up as there as much as possible, however when your starting a night off its best to keep it cool and mellow and allow the place to fill up and get bubbling before going in to much. The podcast mix was fairly typical of one of my sets in a number of ways due to the fact that very little planning went into creating it. I’m an impulsive person, so when I approach a mix I just jump in there, get it done in one take and see how it sounds. I take the same approach when dj’ing ina club or wherever, and tend to play instinctively with no planning, opting instead to read the crowd and see what they are feeling and base my music choices of their reactions.

DD Explain to those who haven’t been to your Hoya:Hoya night what the environment looks like. What kind of sound system are you working with? 

 JD Hoya takes place monthly in the Roadhouse, a legendary Manchester based venue with a rich musical history. It’s not a shiny venue with amazing lighting and all the trimmings like many other places, but instead it’s a darkened room, with a low ceiling and a great sound system. (the subs were taken out of the Hacienda after it closed). The beauty about having a neutral venue is that we can make it what we want to help create the vibe we are after, and with EMN on the visuals and Chunky on the mic it really transforms into a brilliant environment for playing in as well as partying. Our set up is fairly straightforward in terms of 2 turntables, CDJ’s and a mixer however we opted for a formula sound mixer instead of which we bring in every month due to its incredible sound clarity which just blows the doors off most club mixers that seem to do the rounds. The system is a bit dated compared to a lot of new venues, however the sound engineers at the venue know our sound and what we want and can pretty much nail it most of the time. When it’s running at full pelt its a pretty devastating system that can shake the fillings out of most people.

DD Who do you look up to as a DJ? 

JD For me that’s an easy question, as it is something I have thought about a lot over the years. I would say in no particular order..

Peter Parker from Fingathing – For making me realize the turntable could be an instrument.

Mr Scruff – For teaching me about how to DJ many styles and genres as well as opening my eyes to so many different sounds.

 

Mr Thing –  For showing me how to dj hip hop better then anyone else (in my opinion).

DJ Woody – For showing me things that can be done with a turntable that I would have never had thought possible.

And finally I have to do shouts to Kutmah, Illum Sphere & Jon K who continue to inspire me every time I watch them play and teach me so much about music and mixing.

DD Your music partner Illum Sphere seems extremely cool and dedicated. How do you guys relate to each other, as the heads of Hoya:Hoya? 

JD He’s a really inspiring person and has a clear vision about where he is going in terms of his own musical direction and that of Hoya, and things have been going really well for him over the last year or so which is great for both him & Hoya as an entity. In terms of our working relationship we always try and discuss things with each other and aim to keep a singular vision for what we would like to achieve with the night and the label and neither of us will do things unless we are both happy about the decisions. We try and get together fairly regularly to discuss any issues and make sure we keep on top of things to ensure the events run and people enjoy themselves.

 

 

DD What’s next for your label in 2012?

JD We are looking into our next few releases at the moment, however we wanted to allow the first ones a chance to breathe a bit before rushing the next lot out. Today’s musical consumer society is so quick and throw away with new labels popping up daily and the average lifespan for labels getting shorter and shorter that we wanted to try and do something with longevity. I hope for us to have some more releases coming out in the not so distant future and I am also working on some of my own music at the moment, however it may be a bit longer before any of that hits the streets, as I feel I have a long way to go with my personal development.

 

 

http://www.hoyahoya.co.uk/ + Facebook Soundcloud Twitter

– Jimi Jaxon

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Skyence talks collabs with Hecq & YAK Films

2012/04/09 //
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It’s a pleasure to have such a masterful artist on Disco Droppings. He’s got a lot of wonderful things to share with you. The tracks I’ve chosen to showcase start off slow and steady, followed by some massive tunes and ends with a diverse Skyence live set. P.s. The above picture is his sexy studio!

DD Welcome back! What’s going on in Hamburg?

S Thanks for having me! ;] We’re just having the last snowy hours for this year in Hamburg. The first flowers are out and the cherry tree in front of my balcony is in full bloom.

 

 

DD The new remixes collection on your Soundcloud have a dark and emotional feel. I was struck by the delivery with your “End Scene” and “Eating At The Void” remixes. Some forward thinking shit right there. What attracted you to these original songs?

S Troels Abrahamsen‘s “End Scene” has been one of my favourite songs since it was released in 2009. He offered the vocal tracks to remixers on MySpace one day around the WHT album release and since then, they have been laying around on my hard drive. Until end of 2011, when I wanted to backup older projects and stuff and stumbled upon the file. Some hours later I found myself with a finished remix, snow outside, foggy hamburg – melancholy, haha…

As for the Taprikk Sweezee Remix – Nikolai is a good friend of mine and I love his productions as he always pushes the boundaries of what I can take regarding glitches, clicks, cuts and crackles, but he delivers that chaos with a shitload of soul which glues it all together and totally makes sense. So when he asked me to do a remix for his forthcoming REPOLYX Remix EP, I didn’t have to think about it for one second. When remixing, I mostly like to use just the vocals of the original track – same here. I had that piano progression in mind and recorded it with a lot of reverb as a main element on which the remix is built, besides the vocals. I really like the idea of having a heavy bass on a smooth and soulful track and so I developed that whobbly bass sound for the chorus which is always a little surprise to the listeners, haha… Take that with a lot of handmade glitches and stereo modifications on the vocals, some minimalistic drums and there you go. Nikolai loved it and so it got released digitally and on casette via Error Broadcast on the REPOLYX EP, alongside remixes from B-Ju, Pixelord, Montgomery Clunk, kidkanevil, Digi G’Alessio and many more.

DD On to the Encheladus EP with Hecq..the track “Instaheat” is tough! What is your relationship like with Hecq? For fans of your individual work how would you describe this collaboration?

S Working as a sound designer for commercials and films myself, I’ve always been a big fan of Ben’s work – he’s able to put so much detail into music and sound that I always think of giving up when I hear his stuff, haha… I did a 1mn piece of heavy bass music for an audiovisual project in early 2011 which worked well as a temp-track but didn’t make it in the final film. But I really saw some potential in that short piece and so I sent the tracks over to Ben for a collab and told him to do whatever he likes with it – and some days later, I have that absolute BANGER in my inbox which was an early version of “Enceladus”. I see myself sitting there with headphones on, not even able to nod my head to those crazy edits he came up with – goose bumps. Basically, after some more changes we sent it to Nicolas who is running the Ad Noiseam label in Berlin and he was into it. So, backed with “Instaheat” and two remixes by the Knight Riderz and Mobthrow, the Enceladus EP was born. Regarding “Instaheat”: I only knew an early version of this tune Ben sent me one day and the whole thing just got me confused – those uncontrollable whobbles really made my braincells clip, haha… And the final version tops that again. This track feels like absolute chaos for the first 5 rewinds – and suddenly you begin to hear detailed structures behind the chaos, and more and more… I love it!

 

DD I have seen some awe-inspiring videos from YAK Films. Your track, “String Theory” is featured in a performance by Neguin. So rad! How much do you follow the YAK Films? Did Neguin personally contact you about using your track in his video?

S I’ve tried breakdancing when I was around 13, but after some time it was more bruises than fun and I had to admit that I’m not gonna be the best dancer, haha… (But I still have my old school Adidas dress with the superstars in blue and gold, hahaha….shit.) Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but good “street”-dancing always leaves me stone still and amazed. I really like that the movement or scene seems to get more and more attention and I have great respect for all the dancers. And if you show just a bit of interest in what’s happening on the parquet, you’ll end up with YAK Films sooner or later – those guys have a lot of love for the scene and you feel that in the movies. One day Ben of YAK Films contacted me, asking if I had any music to share for their movies as he’s been really into my stuff. Yessir! So I sent him some tunes and “String Theory” is the first one they used for the introduction of Neguin in the latest vid. He’s unbelievable! We’ll see if there will be more features with YAK. ;]

DD After hearing the Skyence Live piece on Mixcloud, I’m especially fond of the second half. Has a nice edge to it. When you recorded this live set in Hamburg, what was the party like?

S It was the 12th birthday celebration of the Hoch10 party series, which is founded and organized by a friend of mine, Gerald Steyr. He’s one of the few organizers that don’t just focus on big acts and hardcore rave hours – he’s up for experimenting with styles and genres, all covered by the word “bass” maybe, hehe… Honestly, I was a bit scared to stand in front of a crowd that is maybe 50% dubstep heads, desperately looking for “the drop” and 50% drum & bass heads that came to see what Rawtekk has in his pockets. When Roluxx, who played before me, had the crowd shaking and screaming I had to get me a beer because I knew that when I start my 3 minute intro, they’ll be like “WTF? We want to paaaaarteeeey!”. But just the opposite happened. I found myself playing my live-set in front of a really open-minded crowd of all ages and got a lot of positive feedback afterwards – I loved it! And there is no better feeling than playing the intro of INSCT and hearing someone in the crowd scream “Yeah, that’s the tune – he’s playing it, whooohooooooo!” Hahahaa…I was laughing out loud on stage at that point. Lovely night!

DD Last words?

S Hmm yeah, I’d love to thank you and all the other blogs, websites and music lovers for supporting my music! I feed on that! And second, I want to point you to some future releases: First we have a forthcoming remix for Triberg, which will be out soon on Hiperbole Records, a small and lovely label from Germany with a taste for Jazz and everything beyond. You can get a glimpse of the remix in the Live recording we were talking about. Later this year there will be a 12″ EP of myself on Origami Sound featuring two original tracks called “Azoic Zone” and “Pain Call”, including remixes of Hecq and others… I’m really looking forward to this!

Besides that, my new studio is almost finished and I’m really looking forward to making the first tunes in there. More soon, hopefully… 😮 Cheers!

Skyence – Facebook Twitter Soundcloud

– Jimi Jaxon

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The ZenBat EP – Collaboration between Crazy Old Bat and Zenjungle

2012/04/08 //
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Taking you on a journey with this one. Deep breath..

 

DD Phil, you are half of ZenBat, and live in Athens, a very tense environment. Has the current cultural and political upheaval influenced this release?

P Of course. it affects our life. The economical struggle, the cut off of salaries, pensions, people next to you that are losing their jobs… It isn’t possible to not have an impact on me. I can’t separate my every day life from my music, I never did. I’m here, my feet are on the ground, I have anger, sadness, the will to fight and I fight to gain back the real moments of a life that drowns in apathy. Music is one of the vehicles, one of the ways to do that.  

DD Individually you are Zenjungle and Crazy Old Bat. What do each of you bring to this duo?

P Phil Gardel (Zenjungle) My main instrument is the saxophone. It’s my voice. Apart from that I mix the sax with electronics, I like to create sounds from nothing and to not use samples or factory presets. In the EP, our work was 50-50. One of us would start a song and send the stems to the other. Then the other was playing on it or creating something totally different from that. It was very fun and a great experience to work with Don, and there was good communication between us. In a few words, I played sax, synths and used my voice. Also, I created the artwork for our EP. 

D Don Wilkins (Crazy Old Bat): I think both Phil and I have seen way too many films, the language of cinema infects our process, both as individuals and in our collaborations.  This is very apparent on the ZenBat EP, songs like, “At The Cinema (Death in a Parking Lot),” and, “Death is Overrated,” could have been ripped out of a movie, as far as I’m concerned. We both have a similar approach to music, but as an individual I guess I bring a certain skewed perspective to the project, just a way of approaching electronics, I suppose.

DD How do you guys interpret the meaning of this EP?

P History is repeating itself; fascism, wars, economical crisis. It’s happening, transformed to something else sometimes, but it’s happening. People fight or soak into misery. The story of the EP is our decade illustrated, our past and our future.  It’s also the dream of a better world, a life that is not ours, a world that we must build from scratch, a world in which we’ve chosen our leaders and put our hopes on them, proven that it was a mistake, proven that we needed to believe in ourselves. Our escape from reality is to build a new reality, beyond and against religion, hate, exploitation, injustice and a materialistic lifestyle. It was good that our spaceship crashed eventually.

D I wrote the story that accompanies the EP, but I didn’t intend it to be didactic.  I just view it as one of many possible ways of interpreting our current reality and our past/future.  I personally don’t believe that we learn anything from history, but it is interesting to try and discern the patterns and allow them to shape your existence.  Like the wicked witch says, “I’m melting.”

DD What got each of you into electronic music?

P The great electro stuff of the late 80’s. The new wave synthpop, dark, gothic songs of the early nineties and of course the great mid 90’s period of the rave movement. A period that is rather blurred into my mind for obvious reasons. I started experimenting with synths and electronic sounds in the mid 90’s, I never stopped, but there were periods that I was playing and listening to mostly free jazz of the 70’s. 

D I really don’t know, I started out as a drummer and then became fascinated by electronic music, the possibilities with today’s technology are truly limitless, which is both good and bad.  The ability to trick the listener with an electronic palette is something I find attractive, it’s just another way to mess around with identity.

DD What’s next for the two of you? Together and/or individually?

P I will continue creating music with Don, that’s for sure. Apart from that I have a very good collaboration with an Irish guitarist and electronic artist, Tunedin52/John Daly who is also the narrator in the ZenBat EP, and we’ve already released two experimental jazz albums together, available here and here 

D I’ve got a few projects I’m working on, including an audio/video project with Phil and John.  I don’t like to predict the future, everything has a funny way of going to hell, but I’ve been lucky to have been able to create my own music and work with people like Phil.

 

Crazy Old Bat – New Release on Bandcamp + Soundcloud Twitter 

Zenjungle – Soundcloud 

John Daly – Soundcloud Twitter Facebook 

– Jimi Jaxon 

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