Californian electronic reggae maestro Gonjasufi has a new release out through Warp. Entitled M.U.Z.Z.L.E, it was produced by Sufi and Psychopop in his home studio in the midst of the Nevada desert. It's a 10 track collection of abstruse hip hop tinged reggae that takes in a variety of dark different sounds, all intertwining with Gonjasufi's distintive gravel that will get buried deep inside your conscious.
You can purchase it through Bleep in a variety of different formats.
You can download the track Nikels And Dimes for free by submitting your email here
Here's what's happening gig wise this weekend. All on Saturday. Click pictures for more information.
For those of you in Limerick on Saturday night then there's only one place to be and that's Dolans Warehouse for the Scientific Wax showcase with Equinox and B-Key. Equinox was without doubt one of the most animated DJ's I've ever seen and he always kills it.
I'll personally be up in Dublin on Saturday night to see Ancient Methods in The Twisted Pepper, who are one of the best and most original techno acts around and have never disappointed me once.
If Belfast is your port of call on Saturday night, then Jungle Boogie has a serious line up with DJ Krome and Mr Time being supported by a massive Irish junglist contingent. This is definitely gonna make heads roll.
Corkonian Toby Kaar has been attracting lots of attention over the last few years. Most recently featuring in Faces of 2012 on state.ie, and last year winning Whelan's One to Watch Festival 2011, Toby has gained national acclaim for his music, and justifiably so. Toby's warm, melodic electronica and precise, crackling rhythm is engrossing & will have you moving before you know it. He combines a lushness that is achieved only through seriously good production & mixes a touch of glitchy IDM with skewed hip hop beats. I can't get enough of his stuff! Oh, and lest I forget, his remixes are something else too!
Just back from Eurosonic which was held in The Netherlands last week, Toby took the time to answer a few questions for us…
How did you first get into making electronic music and how long have you been doing it? I've answered this questions loads of times before so I figure I should add something more this time: I wasn't interested in music until I was about 16, maybe. My older brother was into AC/DC and Slayer and all that, so I started listening to those for a while. Then one day my brother has an illegal copy of FruityLoops on the computer and we mess around on it. After a while I'm doing that every day, until my brother tells me to check out Reason, again a cracked copy on the family computer. So I use that for a while, all this time doing it for fun, for the novelty of making noises or something, until one day I make a riff that I really love and spend the next 8 hours making my first real track. And from there I couldn't stop like. I just spent all my time making music. I also started going out to shows and clubs, mostly Electric Underground, those kinda places. That was maybe 7 years ago, so it's been a while....
How do you go about making music; do you have a process? I figure every producer has a process. For me there are a couple of important stages. Firstly I need inspiration, so I'll throw a pile of shit at a wall and see if anything sticks. Then I spend a few days hammering out the main elements of the track, then 2 weeks filling in bits that I wouldn't think the track needed. After that I spend about 6 weeks doubting myself and hating the song, until one day it makes sense and I call it finished.
What's your favorite piece of gear that you just couldn't live without? I guess my computer, unoriginal as that is. I don't use anything nearly as much as it and I actually love using it. It's a lot more comfortable for me than sitting down and playing something on a guitar. That said, I'm always trying to break that comfort zone stuff, so I do use a lot of other instruments. It's just they couldn't come together without the PC.
You've become very well known in Ireland over the last few years and made quite a name for yourself. Featuring in The Ticket, Hotpress and winning Whelans' One To Watch, to name but a few. Well done man! Have you found this has attracted more attention to your stuff and what have you gained from it? It's definitely been good for me in terms of people coming to shows. I never expect people to turn up at gigs, but it definitely gives me courage and a drive to make music when there's a crowd that turn up. So that element of recognition is something. I figure I'd be making music anyway, but when people are coming up telling me they like my music, it makes me more excited to do new tracks, you know? Of course there are the other benefits of getting gigs and that, that I can kinda afford to just make music for a few months of the year. That's great and wasn't something I expected to happen like.
You've been studying Creative Music Technology in Bath, has this widened your musical scope and helped you develop your sound? Definitely. The course is great, and I feel like I'm in a totally different place from when I went in. I don't know how to describe it, but it was very humbling. I realised I'm not anywhere near where I want to be, musically. I've learned huge amounts about creative direction, sound quality, even just the nature of making music. It's been a great few years, really. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Being a true Cork man do you like, miss the place and how does the music scene compare from here to Bath? I miss Cork every day! Cork's so good for music and a lot of people don't see that. Bath is probably bigger than Cork, but there's nowhere near the diversity of music available to me here. There's music that makes money, nothing done for the love of music, as far as I've seen. So when I'm in Cork I always try catch even some DJ night or something, because those kinda things shouldn't be taken for granted.
Touring with Gold Panda and playing on the same stage as Flying Lotus is an accomplishment in itself, what was it like to be on the same platform as such big names? It's... I dunno. It's all part of a much larger machine. People see those things and think I'm in some way better than any other producer, but I'm not. I look at it that I've been doing stuff for enough time that some people have decided to put me on those stages. I've been to enough shows with crap support to know that being on stage with a big act doesn't mean shit.
I think you should just think about music as a two party thing - you and the music. Once you bring in promoters or bloggers or any other person's view, you lose focus of the fact that it's just music, and it's just something that you hear, not some social movement (for the most part, unless we're talking political music and all that but I've nothing to do with that).
You've done some brilliant remixes for Neavounoise, Funeral Suits and Ten Past Seven, to name some of my favorites. What is it about remixing you love and do you get a kick putting your stamp on songs? I do like remixing, but I've had to shelve it to work on my own stuff recently. I like getting material that you HAVE to work with; with any other production you can throw away bits you don't like. So I like that, that it pushes you out of your comfort zone. I also like that there's almost a dialogue there, that one band makes something and ask another act to re-interpret that. I think it kinda... tightens musical bonds or something? Like I've done a good few remixes for different styles of music and I love that I feel kinda connected to them because of that.
All of your tracks are available to download on soundcloud; it's not often you come across that. You're obviously very generous with your work. How come? It's not like I don't think I should be paid for my work, but I do think I should only pay for my work when I ask to be. That music is from a while ago, it's old and I don't care so much about it anymore. That said, I'm working on releasing something in the next while, and I'm hoping people will pay for that. It's not so much the monetary thing (although obviously that helps) but more the.... kinda respect from it? Can I say that? Because when you buy something, digital, physical, whatever, it's not so much about the music, it's more a token of respect to the artist. Well, that's how I figure the whole piracy thing has ended up.
What are you listening to at the moment and what was the last music you bought? RIGHT NOW I'm listening to a new track I made, trying to figure out why it sounds shit. In terms of new stuff, I was in Holland last week and I bought a load of jazz, mostly for sampling. One great guy out of those was a guy called pheeroan aklaff, I got a record that's pretty much a 40 minute drum solo. How can you not love that? Other stuff I got recently was the new Oneohtrix Point Never record, which was great. I can see him reaching Tim Hecker-level albums if he keeps at it. I also got a double LP of Pakistani synth cinema music on Finders Keepers that's really really great. Like you wouldn't expect the sounds considering the time and place.
What's on the cards for Toby Kaar in 2012? Long term: keep making music, keep meeting interesting people, keep playing shows, keep my values Medium term: finish an EP, finish university Short term: finish this mojito, make another, dance like an idiot in some shitty club
Toby Kaar is most definitely on the way up and we're bound to be hearing much more from him, and indeed about him, in the future. He's back studying in Bath at the moment but we'll keep you informed on his much anticipated, forthcoming EP & on when next to catch him playing. Much thanks to Toby for the interview!
Dublin's own Michael Brophy posted up an absolute whopper of a mix last night. Mixed on all vinyl, it's an all out four to the floor, arms in the air, techno assault and I love every second of it and had to post it here. Keep an eye out for more of his mixes in the future because I can guarantee you they're gonna get better.
As you may have noticed the blog has undergone a design change. We felt a change was needed and we're very happy with the new look and we hope you like it too. It's not fully complete yet and, in the coming weeks we'll be tweaking and adding and changing things so bear with us. Please let us know what you think of the new design or what could be improved/changed and any other suggestions by leaving a comment below.
The mighty Aphex Twin has been announced as the first act to play Bangface Weekender 2012. This is music to my ears (literally) as Aphex managed to play possibly the best gig I've ever seen at Forbidden Fruit last year. Cannot wait to see who else they announce.
Bangface takes place from September 14 to 16th in Cornwall.
Brighton party crew In The Face kick off the first Mutant Bass release of 2012 with the aptly titled In The Face EP. Residents Hadean, Simtek and Gash provide a track each on the release with Heapy and Skirmish favourite Yeahhbuzz tackling remix duties on Hadean's Psycho Skank. Each track is an all out Mutant Bass orgy with Yeahhbuzz turning Hadean's tune on it's head making the bassline even heavier. Have loved every release on Mutant Bass so far and this one is no exception. I've a feeling I'll be playing this on repeat for a while. As with all the other releases, you can pay what you want, including downloading it for free, but it's well worth throwing some cash towards,
Saturday saw the release of Bulletproof, a new 6 track E.P. by Ukraine producer Koloah on Russian label Hyperboloid, who have gotten a few mentions on here as they've been consistently releasing quality producers. Bulletproof sees Koloah retain a crunk feel to his tunes but exploring more elements of juke mixed with floaty synths. It's a solid release with the last three tracks really holding the EP together and is another good release for the Hyperboloid team. It's available for download through their bandcamp below for $5.
One of Ireland's finest bands Private Underground Residence make a welcome return to the gigging circuit on the 9th February in An Realt Dearg on Barrack St in Cork. The band have been on hiatus for a year working on their album, which is due out soon and looks set to be an all out post rock jamboree . They're a band that very much have their own sound and are always brilliant live. Support and the night comes from The Handless Organist and Brian Dillion. While it's free in, they'll be accepting donations towards the album. Click the poster for more information.
This has been doing the rounds on the blogosphere for the last month or so and boy is it good. Antoynm is a five track EP by illusive Dublin producer FAWS. Nothing more is known about the project other than he/she/they are from Dublin, as little is given away through the facebook and bandcamp pages. This mystery adds something more to the project as Antoynm is very arcane sounding in itself. This is also true of Burial's debut release, whose an obvious influence on FAWS. It would be unjust however to merely write FAWS off as a Burial replica because rather than sounding like Burial, it sounds like it was influenced by him, which is a great thing. The whole EP is driven by tight rhythms and eerie vocal samples drifting over foley sounds and lavish keys. Opener Take Notice sets the mood for the rest of Antoynm with a haunting melody and soft piano loop laying the foundations for a tune, that, when you close your eyes, takes you to somewhere else altogether. This feeling flows throughout all 5 tracks and while they won't make you want to take to the dance-floor and groove, you'll just sit back, listen and take it all in-which is I'm sure the aim of the EP.
This is certainly one of the most original releases by an Irish producer I've ever heard and although there's no release yet, you can stream the EP through the bandcamp below. Time will tell whether gigs will happen and whether all will be revealed but the only thing that really matters is the music and I hope that FAWS keep's making it because it's just simply lovely to listen to.
If there's two things I love in tunes it's big bass and catchy riffs. Radioactive Man knows how to do these very well. Having been on the scene for 20 years, he's brought out some great music, from creating some quality tracks with Andrew Weatherall as Two Lone Swordsmen to collaborating with Billy Nasty as well as putting out his own solid releases. Growl is an album that I know inside out and I was lucky enough to catch him play twice last year and both times he was epic. I thought my brain was going to explode at his set at Bloc which was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. With a new EP this month and and album in February for Wang Trax, 2012 looks set to be another busy year for the veteran producer . I'm delighted to have an interview with him to pick his brain and find out more about the upcoming releases.
I suppose
firstly, what was it that got you interested in electronic music and making
your own tunes?
Well, turning 20 in 1992 and being in the midst of
the most exciting change in music was the main thing...
The free parties were kicking right off, every
single weekend there was a massive rave somewhere, I had a big blue van and
every weekend I would fill it with mates and off we went..
Culminating in the beast of a rave that was
Castlemorton, estimated 50,000 people by word of mouth that went on for
10 days..
It was a truly amazing time, the birth of Jungle
/Drum n bass as we know it, all fuelled by a new drug called ecstasy - it was a
recipe for adventures and going completely mental for days on end...
But before all that I was going to clubs like the
Drum club,(thursday) Sabresonic (Friday) and Full circle on a Sunday where it
was mainly Techno /House vibes..
I was playing guitar in a band ,so I wanted to
experiment with electronic music too, and it was great cos you could do it all
on your own, which after playing in a band is very refreshing...
My 1st release was a 12" on Full circle records
with a mate, we were called 7Hz..
The new
album and EP Engine have been a while coming. Was this a conscious decision?
Did you purposely take your time with them?
No, some of these new tracks have been done for 3-4
years. It was going to come out on my own label Control Tower, which was being
funded and run by Fabric records.. to cut a long story short, they had to wind
things up on the record side of things, as a lot of small labels did, because
people just weren't buying enough to justify the cost.It’s not that much better now really, but
things have got better and hopefully still are.
After that happened I was very disillusioned with it
all and decided to just sit back for a bit and see how things panned out. Good
music will still be good music in the future, and that can also be a good test
- the test of time.. I was just about to release it all on Digital, (
begrudgingly because it sounds so much better on vinyl ), when my good
friends at Wang told me they were starting a label with vinyl and would I
like to put my music out with them..
So now I have a big backlog of tracks to release
which is good.
Growl has
a different feel to your other releases in the sense that it feels more
experimental. Was this intentional?
I don’t think it was experimental when u compare it
to things like Autechre for example, but for me – I don’t really want to repeat
myself too much, you got to keep things fresh for yourself otherwise you're
just going over the same shit. That’s why it always amazes me when people
just make 4/4 music or DnB or one kind of any music - it would drive me
nuts.
Do you think electronic
music is progressing through incorporating different genre styles or do you
think sticking with the old-skool methods are enough?
Yes its defo progressing, I think thats what we do
best on these isles - we are generally the ones who push things forward and
some of the stuff coming out now is well warped... But sometimes simplicity is
the key too, I don’t like tracks that sound like a technology competition when
sometimes a good groove is all u need..
Having said that, there are people that do that
kinda stuff exceptionally well.. Aphex being one of the untouchables..
What do
you find more satisfying – a DJ set or playing out live?
Both are really enjoyable, but playing live defo has
the edge.. theres more room to jam and Ad lib etc..
The new
EP is being released through new London label WANG Trax. How did this deal come
about and what’s the story behind the label?
Wang is Lou and Nathan Hernando, really good friends
of mine whom I've know for years.. I grew up in same area as Nathan. They've
been doing parties indoors and out for over 12years, really musically
enthusiastic people so when they said they were doing the label I jumped at the
chance because i know they're hearts are in it 100% . I always liked to
put my music out with people I know cos its a really personal thing too, and
you can always trust your mates to give you an honest opinion.
Do you listen to non-electronic music and if so, who?
Yep, loads. I've got a staple diet of roots reggae
(Lee Scratch Perry being one of the most inventive producers ever in my
opinion). I learned to play guitar when I was young by learning blues so I
still love all things bluesy like Jon Spencer, R.L Burnside, Howling wolf,
The Kills, PJ Harvey, Hendrix, etc to loads of 70's funk and soul,
The Meters being a fave... to dirty rock n roll like The Cramps, Nirvana etc.
Most new music is shite and over cooked, and don’t get me started on the
karoake competition which is X factor etc. shocking. They should at least be
encouraging people to write their own music ffs. But the public seem to
lap it up, so who am I to argue ?
How do you
approach writing a tune? Any gear and routines that are always a must?
I normally start with the drums, inevitably the 808
as I just love that sound so much. I cant believe no-one's invented a drum
machine that is so immediately brilliant sounding.. The kick drum alone has and
still is in all genres from DnB to house to hip hop.. unbeatable. And I
love using arpeggios cos you always end up with unexpected stuff happening..
What are the benefits of using hardware over software?
Hardware sounds much fatter, especially the analogue
kind, and generally the clock is much tighter..
EG an Akai Mpc sounds totally different to a
computer clock. And computers are generally much thinner sounding than machines
which are built to do music specifically.
What kind of reaction do you want your music to evoke from the listener?
Crying, Laughing, Raving, shagging.
What producers are you into at the moment?
Boddika is doing some great stuff, Neil
Landstrumm, Jerome Hill, Cisco Ferreira, Ed Rush and Optical, Carl Finlow,
Dexorcist, AFX, Luke Vibert , and Paul Blackford + all things Detroit
like Model 500, Carl Craig, Mad Mike, to name a few..
What is your favourite piece of music?
Brian Eno 'An ending ascent' is one of them... I
could listen to that on loop for hours.
What does
2012 hold for you?
Hopefully lots of gigs and good times, as i'm
not cut out to get a 'proper' job. :)
Big up to Radioactive Man for the interview. His new EP drops at the end of this month with an album to follow in February so make sure and get your hands on em.
Sheffield nuthob's The Squire Of Gothos have a new release out, We Do Jeff Goldblum Things on their own label, Off Me Nut . It a 6 track collection of mega bassline madness with some MC's thrown in for good measure. You can download it for the very reasonable price of £3.
The Squires play Galway and Cork on the 3rd and 4th February and having seen em a few times they always put on a savage show and have the place hopping.
Some gigs going on in Cork this weekend!! Click pictures for more information!!
Cian Finn of Intinn plays his first solo show in The Pavillion tonight with Hibernian Dub Foundation and guests taking over for a night of heavy dub reggae .
The excellent Skeptical plays in Cyprus Avenue tomorrow night for Rise Up and promises to be a balls to the walls drum and bass assault. Have only heard good things about him live!!
If your looking for some house music tomorrow night then the Realt Dearg is the place to be with an array of guest DJ's and live performances in store and it's FREE!!
Well, this is brilliant news altogether. Clark is set to release his new album through Warp on the 2nd April. I've been waiting for this for a while so I'm thrilled it's on the way and he's giving away a free download of a track from the it, the absolutely lovely Com Touch. Clark had this to say about the record:
"I've been hunting down that elusive paradox. To create something that didn't sound like what I've done before. But was also unmistakably me. It's quite a maddening task."
"I don't think I've ever recorded in so many diverse locations; there was a lot of field recording going on in Snape, Sussex, harpsichords and orchestral drums. All recorded with a variety of tools. From £8k Cold War microphones, bling studio set ups, to laptop microphones, crumbling cassettes, Dictaphones. It all got used."
"Then a massive recording session in Wales with Bibio, only some of this is used on the album."
"I played a lot of guitar after leaving England, played pretty obsessively everyday for about a year. I never played it before but I picked it up pretty quick I reckon. I'm just stubborn with stuff like that."
"It feels like it's been a massive test, a huge, all engulfing self imposed boundary that I had to step over, can I transform all this wild instrumentation and confounding, chaotic will into something with a monolithic unity, can I bring all of these seemingly contradictory shifts in mood into a homogenous whole? I hope I've nailed it"
Clark - 'Iradelphic' WARP222 - CD, Vinyl & Download Released 2nd April 2012 On Warp Records
Tracklisting
1 - Henderson Wrench 2 - Com Touch 3 - Tooth Moves 4 - Skyward Bruise / Descent 5 - Open 6 - Secret 7 - Ghosted 8 - Black Stone 9 - The Pining pt. 1 10 - The Pining pt. 2 11 - The Pining pt. 3 12 - Broken Kite Footage
This is an article that I wrote for Drop D but I said I'd post it here so as to have it on the blog as well. It's with Limerick promotions crew Macronite
The Macronite crew in Limerick have been throwing immense nights for the past year bringing big name acts such as Surgeon, Equinox, Goth Trad and Loefah and Chuky to name a few to the city. They're also responsible for one of the best festivals I've been to, Bump which saw them take over Clonnarra in Co. Clare last summer and throw an almighty session for two days with a wicked line up. 2012 looks even brighter with Equinox kicking things off this month on the 28th Jan and then Oscar Mulero taking over Dolans for their first birthday on Feb 18th. I caught up with them to find out more about the club and they recorded a wicked promo mix for the night that you can listen to below that showcases what the club has to offer.
We’ll start at the very beginning I suppose.
How did Macronite get started?
Speaking as the Hivemind, some of us were already running nights, most in fact, and then two
promotion groups became suddenly homeless... Micronite was already established
in Dolan's, and we decided to throw in our lot together and become a
collective... it turned out to work much better even than we thought, instead
of single-genre nights, we can now play the gamut of quality underground
electronic music... Nobody only listens to one kind of music, right? So you get
a broad range of music, in a great venue, on a serious sound system, once a
month... and we took it from there, or maybe it took us there, we're not sure!
Whats the basic ethos behind the club?
We represent the
underground.We feel it's not just
a clubnight, it's a proper experience, and also a community... we're constantly
working on production and details and, well, everything else, and trying to
make the night the best it can be... we want everyone there to go home (at some
point after the weekend!) having had one of the best nights ever, by pooling
all we have as a collective and working together as a family to do what we love
doing.... with some of the soundest people in the country, too!
Ye’re also responsible for my personal favourite
Irish festival the past two years, Bump! Was this always a plan from the start,
and how difficult is it to run a festival in this current climate?
We went to
festivals and said... we can do this! Bump! predated Macronite, but really it
was inevitable..... we're far from festivals in Limerick and we wanted to
showcase both the artists we've loved and the talent Ireland has to offer... As
to the economics, just don't ask.... it's like everything else in this country,
it's tough! It's a learning curve, it's an experience, and a challenge, but
with the right group of people behind it, you can do anything!
What have ye learned as promoters through running
Macronite/Bump?
The learning curve
never stops.... everyday we learn more, from each other as a group, and the
people we meet. And as a collective, we can achieve so much more, passing
skills around, sharing and growing ideas, and that the only limits are the ones
you impose yourself!
Ye work closely with other promoters throughout
the country such as Dubculture and Electric Underground. How important is it do
you think to have a good relationship with other promoters especially in a
country as small as Ireland?
Well it benefits
everyone, we all go to each others gigs, and we really want to see the
electronic scene as healthy as it can be, and we can all help each other out,
sharing ideas and such... and there's such wicked crews in this this country
with such a strong ethos, that it's just natural... I think we all share the
same ideals and values, and it's almost like a big, and growing country-wide
family!
What’s been the highlight since starting the night?
At the start, when
we came together, we joked about booking Surgeon... and when we were all
standing together in front of the stage when he started, well, it was
emotional, and quite a moment for us! Apart from that, the atmosphere on the
night is always something special, and it just keeps getting better... We'll
take this opportunity to thank all the people who make that happen every month,
we're privileged to have such a genuinely sound crowd!
Ye seemed to have filled somewhat of a gap in the
Limerick scene but as of late there seems to be more happening of late which is
great for such a small city. Do ye feel partially responsible for this?
No, we just did
what we wanted to, and had to, really, do.... we're part of a bigger picture
and we're proud to be part of it, and we're proud to be representing our
city.... there's so much happening and it's amazing, from all the nights doing
all kinds of music, to the arts scene, Occupy Limerick, and the general feeling
of community here.... There's so much happening around the city at the minute,
especially in electronic music, and people are really into it... maybe it's the
recession causing the session? It's worth checking out, in our humble opinion.
The electronic scene in Ireland seems bigger now
than it ever was. There’s more local talent and more dj’s and producers coming
to these shores. Would ye agree with this and why do ye think this is?
Yes, we agree!
Technology is cheap these days, music is easier to find than ever, the internet
has enabled a total rewrite of how music is dispersed, as well as the community
aspect... if you're good, it's easier to get heard, really. Also, Ireland has
always been full of talent, and electronic music production enables a single
person to make complete records with equipment they already have with access to
an infinite world of sounds...
What’s the best thing about running a clubnight?
Quite simply,
seeing the faces of the crowd at the end of the night is one of the most
satisfying feelings in the world.... Getting to see acts
you love on a big system is unreal, and the, uh, unwinding after the night!
Why should people from outside Limerick make the
trek and check out Macronite?
We think that the
experience, vibe, people, and atmosphere are different to the point of unique,
and that makes it something truly special, and something to be seen & heard
to be believed, really.... so.... get down and schnare on!
What does 2012 hold for the club?
We're always
looking to push on up to a higher level with our events, so we have some
bigger, better, and badder plans in store... keep an eye on what we're doing on
Paddy's Day, especially, cos that's going to be siiiiiiiick! There's been a lot
of activity in Macronite Studios too, so expect more tunes! We recently got
featured in DJ Mag, which was nice, and we intend to keep on pushing this up
and up.... as we said, we don't do limits!
Big up to the Macronite crew and below is a promo mix for the club packed full of quality tunes. Make sure and check em out anytime your in the Limerick area!!
With the economy the way that it is at the moment, I always
find it very commendable when promoters book underground acts to play on these
shores that often times make a loss. Oisin O Brien is someone, who, along with
every other underground promoter in Ireland, is fighting through the hard times
and bringing acts to these shores he truly loves. Having started DSNT in 2010, he’s
been consistently putting on excellent nights in Belfast which always have
savage line up’s. In November of last
year, DSNT hosted the Belfast Electronic Festival which saw Michael Forshaw, Broken Note, The Advent and Perc to name a few take over the city. 2012 looks
set to be an even bigger year for DSNT as the label side of things kicks off
with a release by Belfast producer Mark Rogan which features remixes by Jerome
Hill and Bas Mooy, the latter whose playing the label launch night with Mark
Rogan on the 4th February. Oscar Mulero is also booked for the 17th February. It’s
really admirable to see someone doing all this for the sheer love of music so I
caught up with Oisin to find out more about DSNT and shine some light on the excellent
label and club.
1. How did DSNT get started?
It originally started as a party I was running called Freakshow, which was mostly breakcore and gabba, I then ran the first Belfast Electronic Festival which catered to a diverse range of tastes and I then started DSNT which has been host to a fairly diverse range of guests. Recently my bookings have been leaning close towards a dark techno sorta buzz though.
With that said though I'm keen on keeping an open mind and theres a heap of acts that wouldn't be considered techno that I really want to book as well.
Recently DSNT has been doing a fairly wide variety of other stuff as well as just putting on parties, Its also an outlet for the graphic design work I do for people and recently we put on an art exhibition showcasing some of our favourite visual artists. I've also recently been doing a bunch of motion graphics projects for other clubnights in belfast and hope to have a full showreel online in the next few weeks.
Once I get the website online it will be much more effective for showcasing everything DSNT is doing at the moment, been up to my eyes with a heap of different things and I keep putting it aside.
2. As well as the clubnight, ye’re also starting a label. Was this always going to be the case?
The label is the newest addition to what DSNT does, it wasn't always the plan but it just seemed right, I was hearing a lot of music that I wanted to showcase and it seemed like the right time to do it. Hopefully as it grows it will create a platform for some of the artists that are making absolutely amazing stuff but aren't getting the exposure they deserve.
3. What releases have you planned for the label? Will it be vinyl and digital?
Our first release is by local producer Mark Rogan, it features two originals titled Anxiety/Paranoia, with remixes from Paul Mac, Bas Mooy, Forward Strategy Group & Jerome Hill, the first release is going to be a digital release though its my goal to be releasing vinyl by the end of the year! Have a few pretty big names lined up for vinyl releases that I can't really mention yet.
Depending on how the coming parties go its possible that the vinyl releases will happen sooner, the only restriction is money more than anything mate. If I had the cash our first release would probably be vinyl but it probably makes sense to let the label grow organically and do the vinyl release when we're ready for it.
I've been talking to deadsound about doing a release and we're looking at tracks for it at the moment. He makes some seriously good tunes and anyone that hasn't heard him should check his stuff out, got a class style!
Another Irish producer thats making some great stuff at the moment is P-Hocto, hes living over in London at the moment and I've had him as a guest a few times, plays an all vinyl set and produces some quality techno.. He's studying music production over in London at the moment and it seems to take up a lot of his time but once he has a few tracks ready its likely that he will be doing a release for us as well. Check him out!
4. What’s the most important aspect when booking an act for the club?
Ah theres a heap of variables, i've recently had to take a step back sometimes and ask myself will this actually work in belfast, for instance I would LOVE to book otto von schiarach, but a flight from miami and a fairly high fee isnt really viable for a show that will interest a fairly small audience.
Recently the bookings I have been doing have all been a reflection of the sort of stuff i'm planning on releasing on the label in some shape or form, our next party is the label launch on the 4th of Feb with Bas Mooy, this is a show i'm particularly excited about as Bas Mooy is one of my favourite producers and dj's. Check out the podcast he did for us below.
Next off is a party that I'm completely stoked about with Oscar Mulero, I seen him at the surge stage when I was like 17 and it was one of my first experiences of proper techno, man completely destroyed the place was unreal. Cant wait for it!
Back in October I took an initiative to only use Funktion1 at my parties which is kindly provided by Hertz-U Soundsystem, ran by Collie Hertz one of the nicest guys in the industry, since its made such a difference, the artists prefer playing over a system like that and it really adds to the party. This will be the same for the bas mooy party & the mulero one. I'm fairly excited about getting to hear some of my favourite producers kill it over Collies Rig!
5. How hard do you find it running a club and label in this current climate?
It can be fairly hard but I think the main thing is to stick at it, the last few parties I've ran I've lost money from, if I didn't have the graphic design business side of things to fall back on i'd be a lot worse off.
6. What is the Belfast electronic scene like in general? Any producers/DJ’s to keep an eye out for?
The Belfast scene is fairly tightly knit but there's quite a lot of great stuff coming out of it. Acroplane for example are doing brilliant things, puttng out so many good releases and that it's all coming from Belfast is great. There's also a heap of great producers & DJ's to look out for. The ones i'm really liking at the moment are;
Makes some lovely techno, his release Silhouettes, Shadows & Reflection has been getting support from the likes of Chris Liebing, Dave Clarke & Psycatron to name a few...
Katrina makes some lovely electronica and we have been lucky enough to have her play a few live sets are our parties, she played a live set at our belfast bleeps event with Kyle hall and he was loving it! Great stuff all together, think border community meets autechre with a little dark techno influence! Shes supporting at the Oscar Mulero show and I cant wait to hear her over that funktion1!
These guys have played host to a heap of great guests recently, their biggest show to date was New Years Day with Robert Hood. Samaans just had a few releases on fullbarr digital with remixes from heavy hitters Mark Broom & Vince Watson.. Detroit techno buzz.
Cave Djz are great as well they regularly play the support at our parties, check out crickys most recent mix, it features a serious tune selection, and even a track fourth coming on DSNT.
The other half of the cave djz is Blacky, whos style of techno is generally referred to as blackno among fellow belfast techno aficionados.
This guy plays the sort of techno i'm really digging at the moment, the mix above features 2 Mark Rogan tracks, one due to come out on DSNT. I'd love to book him as the stuff he's playing really suits the guests we're putting on at the moment but he's exclusive to stiff kitten.
7. You’ve hosted the Belfast electronic festival which had some serious names such as The Advent, Broken Note and Michael Forshaw to name a few. Is this going to be an annual occurrence?
Yeah, took a bit of a hit on the last Belfast Electronic Festival, got a bit carried away with the lineup and i'm still paying for it now. It is going to be a yearly occurrence though, i'm already thinking about acts for the next one in November.
When you listen to this mix you will see theres a reason why it got chosen as Resident Advisors mix of the day, its quality, the erratic podcast series in general is worth checking out great stuff consistently.
We released this podcast a while ago but its still quality, this is a live set he sent me to release on DSNT, great set, check out our podcast series in general some great sets from jerome hill, neil landstrumm, bas mooy to name a few.
Other artists that I'm loving at the moment are pretty much everything out on Acroplane
Ohhh and this is quality, hip hop buzz from Jerome Hill's FatHop label;
Another great label worth checking out is Killekill been following their stuff for a while now and they have a really cool style and are putting out some seriously good vinyl releases. Everything about their label is to my taste, their releases and particularly their artwork really makes it stand out. Even the flyers for their parties always look great, the artist that designs them is quality.
9. Have you any advice for people looking to start their own labels and nights?
Emmm, the main thing would really be to stick at it, if its something you believe in then just stick at it a lot of the time things don't work out the way you plan but its best to be open minded and play it by ear.
With events one of the things it took me a bit of a while to be conscious of was the sound quality, when I first started doing parties we where using a really crap p.a and it didnt do the djs any justice, its always worth getting a good sound-system in as it makes a hell of a difference.
10. What does 2012 hold for DSNT?
2012 holds a lot of big parties, So far the shows we can announce are Bas Mooy on the 4th of Feb, Oscar Mulero on the 17th of Feb and Xhin on the 31st of March.
I've been working on developing the motion graphic stuff ive been at and ive been chatting with a few people about working on AV sets for them so its likely ill spend a bit of time on that.
I hope to put on a few more art exhibitions and release some great music. Will still be sticking at the graphic design stuff as well as I really enjoy it, come summer its likely we're going to be doing some showcases at festivals so I'm looking forward to that. Should be some craic. I'm looking forward to a heap of great parties with nice soundsystems and hopefully minimum tinitus (fingers crossed).
Big up to Oisin for the interview and make sure and check out the facebook and the night if your ever in the Belfast area.
