shut up and dance

Happy Christmas y’all! I’ve had this little interview and mix package from breakbeat trailblazers Shut Up and Dance wrapped up and sitting under my Christmas tree for a while, and have just been waiting for you all to be full of mince pies, nicely tipsy and sitting comfortably before bringing it out (or, more likely story, I’ve been subjected to an internet drought due to moving house and so had to surgically remove myself from the laptop and abandon blogging for a couple of weeks). So sit back, grab another mulled wine if the fancy takes you (work starts again tomorrow so make the most of it!) and read on….

Welcome PJ, welcome Smiley. It’s a pleasure to have you on Noise Porn today.

The aim of this interview is to delve into your musical past, to hear about what you’re up to nowadays, to celebrate the all new mega-album “How the East was Won 1989-2009″ (a showcase of the last two glorious decades of Shut Up & Dance) and to show breaks-heads reading this blog where their music of choice has come from! Over to you guys then!

NP: When/how did you guys meet?

SUAD: We met at secondary school plus we both lived in the same area, Hackney, east London.

NP: Would you say that your local area played a big part in shaping your sound and your musical success?

SUAD: Definitely, cause in our area you could go to so many different types of clubs and hear a wide variety of music…the sound system thing was very big in east London as well.

NP: You started off by hauling your soundsystem (“Heatwave”… with DJ Daddy & DJ Hype) around disused warehouses and holding your own illegal raves. What kinds of music did you guys play at this stage? What did a typical live set consist of?

SUAD: Well you had us on the microphone rapping, DJ Hype was on the decks cutting and scratching, and Daddy Earl was a reggae Mc, so we would play from Hip-Hop to Reggae to rare groove to dancehall, it was a mixed bag, but very exciting cause you never knew what you were gonna get next. We were one of the only sound systems to mix up our music like this, which made us different from the rest.

NP: At what stage did you get into production? What equipment did you record on in the early days?

SUAD: We got into production in about early 1988, back then we had a Digitec sampler, and a Tascam 4 Track recorder.

NP: Which one bit of production gear would you say you could never have lived without?

SUAD: Our S5000 Akai sampler, that piece of kit changed the face of music. Because of the in built effects & filters etc, it suddenly opened up your imagination a bit more, and allowed you to push the boundaries in terms of twisting up sounds etc.

NP: Which one bit of production gear is on your current wishlist?

SUAD: We have it already, the Spectrasonics Omnisphere module. A great piece of kit. Love this baby.

NP: Nowadays, pretty much anyone can produce a track in their own home, for very little cost and comparatively little effort! Do you see this as a positive or a negative thing?

SUAD: A bit of both, on the negative side it’s led to decline in the standard of music, because essentially there’s no longer any quality control, if someone can just knock up a track in their bedroom then rush to put it out, if they haven’t played that track to friends or whatever then who’s to say the tracks any good? On the positive, if you have a home studio at least you can potentially spend a lot more time developing your sound without watching the clock because you know you’re being charged by the hour.

NP: How much harder was it to get your name out back when you guys started? You were pretty much the first people in dance music to self-release a record on your own label. How easy was it to do this? Did you find competition from major labels made things difficult at all?

SUAD: It wasn’t easy, there was a lot of hard work involved cause essentially you were doing everything yourself, from music production, artwork, promotion right through to distribution in the early days. Remember we only did it because we couldn’t get a record deal in the first place. We can be very headstrong, (must be our east London background) so when we couldn’t get a deal, we figured we had no other choice but to do it ourselves, creating a DIY (Do It Yourself) attitude to the music business in the process.

NP: Walk us through the album “How the East was Won 1989-2009″. What does it consist of, tell us a bit about what it means for you and for Shut Up & Dance fans worldwide.

SUAD: How The East Was Won is a compilation representing & celebrating 20 years of the Shut Up And Dance Record Label, And also Shut Up & Dance as recording artists. We started the label in 1989 and are still going strong in 2009, so we we’ve put together a collection of classic tracks we’ve released over that period and trust me….It’s sounding good!!! ☺

It’s 3 Cd’s covering 2 decades because we have so many era’s to cover, like the late eighties to the mid nineties which was the rave era, tracks like: £20 pounds to in, The green man, Hooligan 69, Spiiffhead, & Raving im raving, then from mid nineties up till the millennium you had the drum & bass & Breakbeat era, with tracks like: Bastards, Hip-Hip & Here this. From the millennium onwards music was more about the 2 step garage style, and the harder end of breakbeat, tracks like: Holdtight , Nova, No Doubt, Reclaim The Streets. Basically it’s a chance for all Shut Up & Dance fans to get their hands on any tracks from the label they may have missed.

NP: Your tunes tend to revolve around a good breakbeat and a good lyric. What usually inspires you in terms of lyrics?

SUAD: Things that are happening around us, things we or our friends are going through. Inspiration usually comes from needing to get something of our chest.

NP: You were credited with pioneering UK breakbeat, and in turn the genres that it spawned (drum n bass, jungle, breaks etc). What got you started on the whole breakbeat vibe?

SUAD: We hail from Hip-Hop roots, and so we use to chopped them up, speed them up and create our own beats from them.(Nowadays you can just go out and buy a sound bank library). We were the first to do this, and we built our whole sound off of this benchmark. We still stay true to it now.

NP: Which current breaks artists do you rate?

SUAD: We like a whole range, but we’re feeling the Afghan Headspin stuff, we just did a collaboration together, also Mechanoise, Ctrl-Z, the list is quite extensive.

NP: Any new SUAD projects we should know about for 2010?

SUAD: A new Shut Up & Dance artist album in 2010, it doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s sounding FAT!!!

NP: Before you realised your chosen path was to re-write the course of underground dance music, what did you want to be when you grew up?

SUAD: All we knew was we didn’t want to end up working in an office environment; we both like to be out in the open as much as possible. But strangely enough we did anyway, because when taking care of the business side of the label, we can be sat in front of a Pc all day, emailing etc, How ironic is that?

NP: When you are improvising lyrics on the mic, does your mind ever wander to random stuff, like what you’re gonna have for tea?

Naw, im kinda immersed in the vibe, I love my job! ☺

NP: What is your favourite cheese?

SUAD: I’m a big cheese lover, apart from the mouldy looking stuff, YUK!!. I Couldn’t live without cheese, Music & SEX ☺, but not necessarily in that order.

NP: Noise Porn interview challenge… How far can you throw a piece of A4 paper, unfolded?

SUAD: Not very, can we cheat and throw a whole book ☺

Thanks! NP

So there we go, the album is out on Beatport, you can go buy the full release or any of the individual tracks here. Never before has such a comprehensive back catalogue been available for Shut Up and Dance, so now’s the time to get downloading your favourite tracks by the east London legends!

Oh, and you can get their latest mixtape below as well. Download, stick it on, be quiet and boogie.

Shut Up & Dance Winter Promo Mix 2009.mp3

1. Shut Up and Dance feat. A’de – Love Will [Shut Up & Dance Music]
2. Rennie Pilgrem – Somewhere [TCR]
3. Shut Up & Dance – Cream [Shut Up & Dance Music]
4. Zinc – Unknown [White Label]
5. BSD – This Could Be You [iBreaks]
6. Hackney Soldiers – Holdtight [New Deal Recordings]
7. Augur – Unknown [White Label]
8. Tittsworth – WTF (Deekline & Tim Healey Remix) [Rat Records]
9. Kosheen – Unknown [White Label]
10. Bomberman – Unknown (Shut Up & Dance Remix) [Lucky Break]
11. Shut Up & Dance – Gunfinger [Shut Up & Dance Music]
12. Breakfastaz – Acting Wrong [Breakfast Club]
13. Shut Up & Dance – The Green Man [Shut Up & Dance Music]
14. Shut Up & Dance, Afghan Headspin – Suicide [Shut Up & Dance Music]
15. Unknown – We Rule [White Label]

This entry was written by siren, posted on December 27, 2009 at 10:55 pm, filed under Interviews, Mixes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

DirtyBird Records

San Francisco superlabel DirtyBird are celebrating the release of new album ‘Bird Brain’ appropriately at Fabric this Saturday. After 5 years of making underground electronic music and staying true to their unique style, the label are going stronger than ever. We caught up with head man Claude Von Stroke to talk all things birdie.

When you first started DirtyBird did you think you’d make it to your 5th birthday?

Once I decided to actually make the commitment to start the label I had already saved up $25,000 dollars of my own money (at that time that was the most money I had ever seen or saved) so yes I did think we would make it. I believed it 100%. It was the biggest investment I ever made in the best dream I ever had.

How have you managed to maintain the high standard of releases?

I only have one criteria for demos and releases. Do I reach over to the blank cds and burn the track right away and put it in my cd book for the club?  If I don’t do it we don’t sign it.

With the electronic music scene constantly changing do you think it’s necessary to adapt or is it more important to stay true to your own sound?

Always stay with your own vision without question. The rest of the world will influence you naturally but it is so important to keep your particular vision and not become yet another copy cat.

Your DirtyBird party is at Fabric this Saturday, they’ve shown you some amazing support over the years is it your favourite club in England?

It is certainly the best sound system in England. And the staff are some of my favorite people. They really care about quality and they go to their own parties. I love Fabric.

Are there any new producers coming through the ranks now you’re excited about and might be signing in the future?

This whole group from Germany doing caveman tech-house. Sascha Braemer, Philip Bader, Heinrichs and Hirtenfellner, Nicone, etc.

How heavily involved are you in the running of your record label?

About as heavily as I am involved with breathing oxygen.

Would you say you prefer producing your own music or seeing the artists on your label become successful?

Nothing would make me happier than to see one of our guys (or girls) really break out and be a huge success. Of course I enjoy some success as well. I am in it to make music after all.

Where do you see DirtyBird in the next 5 years?

I feel like everything we put out is a hit and the public just decides to wake up every once and a while and acknowledge it. I do not see us expanding that much because I feel like the only upward track is too more commercial cheesy material.  I rather like where we are sitting right now and I will try to keep us riding this line of underground/overground material. I really just want to release good music.

This entry was written by sophie, posted on December 3, 2009 at 11:11 pm, filed under Interviews. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Mowgli

Italian DJ/producer Mowgli is coming to London this weekend to play at new night Musiq Concrete, and we asked him a few questions ahead of his set tonight:

We know you play for some massive nights in London (Bugged Out), and elsewhere internationally, are you looking forward to playing at Musiq Concrete on Saturday? It seems everyone in London is buzzing about it already.

Oh definitely looking forward to it, I’ve had so many calls from friends who want to come!  Much more then usual, they think it’s gonna be massive!

Your Nu Skool ep has received huge success, in particular ‘London to Paris’, from not only your fans but also other massive DJ’s, where did you get your inspiration? How long did it take you to make?

Yeah that track is going really well, especially cos it’s very crossover. It has been played by DJ’s like A-track, Annie Mac, Fatboy Slim, but also more traditional house DJ’s like Guetta, Angello etc.

I don’t usually get inspiration to do a track, I just sit down and start something.

It didn’t take so long, but when I finished it I tried it out in a few clubs and then I changed the build up in the breakdown, now it works better ;-)

Your sound is versatile it seems you can do no wrong – is it difficult to always create original material and stand out from your peers?

I see my self as a 360 degrees producer, so luckily I can do a bit of everything. That way it’s impossible to bore people by releasing always the same type of music.

2009 has been big for you, has the response surprised you at all? Is it still hard to believe this is your life now?

Yes if I stop a second and think where I was a year ago, I find hard to believe, but unfortunately you get use to it.  I probably spend more time thinking about what to do to get to the next level, then actually enjoy what I’ve achieved

Which producers are doing it right now for you?

I have to support the rest of the DeadFish family so Solo, Round Table Knights and Camel… and believe me I’m not saying this just because they are on my label…They are really top quality, original producers!

What made you call yourself Mowgli? Favourite childhood film the jungle book by any chance?

Mowgli was a nickname my friends gave me when I was around 20, for reasons that I’d like to keep private ;-)… so when I had to decide on an artist name it was easy…now it’s what people call me all the time, there are many friends that don’t even know my real name…

Finally what’s next for 2010, can you give us any idea of what kind of tracks you’ll be remixing / producing?

I’m going to release a couple more EP’s on my DeadFish label.

I am working on a track with Sidney Samson that is going to be massive!! And I’ve also produced a couple of singles, a bit more pop, but still dance that will be released on bigger labels.

The first one features Tara McDonald it’s called “Can’t Stop Singing” and will be released on DATA around February. The second one features the Virus Syndicate called “Your Life” and we are negotiating with labels right now…

This entry was written by sophie, posted on November 28, 2009 at 7:28 pm, filed under Interviews. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Zinc

DJ Zinc’s transition from drum ‘n bass to house has been well received by all heads in the industry, his initial aim to create  a sub genre and develop so called “crack house” completely took off, and he is getting booked up left right and centre as a result.

We caught up with him to talk about his new Crack House EP, and we’ve also included his track ‘Because’ and ‘128 Trek’ for y’all to hear.

Zinc – Because

Zinc- 128 Trek

Your transition from drum and bass to house has been pretty swift, how do you think your previous audience has reacted?

Tbh it took a while.  I stopped making dnb in early 07, stopped playing it late 07, took 2008 off and started playing house in 09.  I didn’t shout about it til I had started doing it! I don’t really know what the previous audience thinks, probably a mixture of ‘what a cunt’ to ‘I really like this new stuff’

What made your decision to play house music rather than drum and bass?

I was finding it really hard to find dnb that was interesting to me – it had always been a scene that moved forward but it seemed to stall from 04 ish

Which takes first priority for you, playing gigs and producing music or running Bingo Beats? Or do the two go hand in hand?

I hate running a label, I only do it cos I don’t know what else to do with my music, and I can run a label. Making tunes and djing defo takes priority!

As music is so easily accesible over the internet these days how has your record label as a business survived whilst others have failed?

I dunno really. I don’t focus on money, more on beats.

Finally what’s your opinion on blogs such as Noiseporn? Do you agree they’re beneficial in promoting good music?

I like blogs – they’re like the magazines for the online generation.  There’s so much music we need filters, and blogs do that job well.  Giving away full quality copies of tracks seems unfair to me. I think it would be better if blogs gave away low q copies, or 3 minute edits, so people can really check the tracks then buy them if they want. But in reality that’s not always gonna work, we’ll get there in the end.

And a few randoms- if you could be one place in the world right now, where would it be?

Right here

How far can you throw a piece of unfolded A4 paper?

About ten foot I’d say.

Three bits of advice to UK’s next Prime Minister, whoever it may be?

Ah man where would you start?  I’d like it if they in some way represented me, even a little bit, but them lot are so far from normality i dunno where to begin.

Maybe ‘employ normal people’ 3 words!

Zinc’s Crack House EP is available now.  You can buy it from iTunes.

This entry was written by sophie, posted on October 27, 2009 at 4:45 pm, filed under Interviews. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Nerve Recordings

The Scottish drum n bass scene is alive and kicking, says Nerve Recordings main man Paul Reset. He runs drum n bass label Nerve Recordings and it’s breaks based sister label Nerve Breaks (releasing downtempo beats, ambient and other general weirdness also).

They’ve been in operation since October 2001 and have released over 30 vinyl releases since then as well as countless digital exclusives. Releases have included the debut releases of artists such as Noisia and Psidream amongst others.

Last month they decided to give away their entire back catalogue for free, all in glorious 320kbps, and all available at their new website.

Here’s some words from the head honcho -

Can you sum up Nerve Recordings in a sentence?

Funky but techy drum n bass, breaks and downtempo weirdness

Thanks for giving away the back catalogue – what can we look forward to from you guys for the rest of 2009?

Well next up we’ve got the giveaway of Morphy’s “Dubtopia EP” – as well as the original EP track we’ve also got a “bonus disc” of remixes lined up in a dubstep and downtempo vein. Following that we have Pyro’s “Collaborations EP” – featuring a few techy monsters created in collaboration with producers such as Amex, Mundane and more. After that we’ve got new material from Linden and Morphy as well as material from new Russian producers Megadrummer and Receptor. I’ve also made two new signings – both from France – Kantyze on a dnb tip and Diazepam who’s producing some absolutely amazing downtempo beats.

We’re always on the lookout for new producers making drum n bass and also downtempo material. Nerve Breaks had a bit of a lull after our last vinyl release in 03 (NB007) but the new site has revived it and we’ve already had three new releases this year.

How would you describe the state of the dnb scene in Scotland right now?

The dnb scene in Scotland just now is doing ok – with regards to events, there are a couple of free weeklies doing well to bring the sound to new audiences and on a bigger scale there’s Xplicit putting on some amazing guests and events.

There are also lots of producers about just now doing good stuff – as well as Linden and Morphy there’s a lot of good new producers coming through – most notably LM1 and Y2D – defo recommend checking these guys out!

What about your top 3 artists to watch out for in 2009?

Morphy is gonna do some serious damage with his new live project – he’s taking his material down a bit of a deeper route and the full live show has to be seen – rocking some nice old skool gear alongside the newer technology.

DBR are doing some amazing stuff – they’ve signed a few tracks to new label Broken Audio amongst others and their deep yet dancefloor vibe is going down a treat in the clubs.

Finally Chook on Full Force – his album “Cocoon” is due to drop in December and his brand of techy dnb has been filling floors for a coupla years now. The album’s a lovely piece of work and flows well from start to finish – taking in some downtempo vibes alongside the dnb.

HEAD OVER HERE TO GET THEIR ENTIRE BACK CATALOGUE FOR FREE!

This entry was written by NoisePorn.com, posted on September 25, 2009 at 1:47 am, filed under Interviews, News. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

giant pussy records

Heads up peeps! We were delighted to hear that booty-breaks master Deekline & ex-Coburn electro-house legend Tim Healey have formed a new label under the moniker Giant Pussy. It’s a marvellous hot pot of booty-bass, ghetto-house and dub-step, or in their words, a vault of sleaze, trash and bass. Just what we think the music scene needs! We managed to hook up an interview with Tim Healey and Nick Deekline themselves to find out what exactly to expect from this beautiful union, check it out below!

Also, to mark the label launch they’ve laid on a feast of new exclusive tracks in the shape of this DJ mix, featuring the first release on the label, their official remix of hip-house legend, Fast Eddie’s seminal 1988 hit “Yo Yo Get Funky” (watch the video of this excellent remix further down). The release also features a brilliant dubstep remix from BBC 1xtra heavyweight DJ Crissy Criss. Download the mix here.

Tracklisting:

1. Intro with Bubbz & African Boy
2. Fast Eddie – Yo Yo Get Funky (Tim Healey & Deekline remix) [Giant Pussy]
3. Pure SX – Shout Booty [Booty Breaks]
4. Tittsworth feat Kid Sister & Paserock – WTF [Rat Records]
5. 321 – Bring It Back (Tim Healey & Deekline Re-Rub) [CD-R]
6. Wow edit [CD-R]
7. Kissy Sell Out – This Kiss (Jack Beats Remix) [CD-R]
8. Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow Medley [CD-R]
9. Rye Rye – Bang Bang [Interscope]
10. Foo Fighters – Times like these (Albin Myers Remix) [CD-R]
11. Boltan – Nine to Five (Rico Tubbs Remix) [Party Like Us]
12. The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (Stanton Warriors Edit) [CD-R]
13. Goshi Goshi – The Lock Shot [Southern Fried Records]
14. Crazy Love – The Drummatic Twins [Fingerlickin]
15. Tomcraft – Loneliness (Tim Healey & Tai Remix) [Kosmo]

So, the new label…. it’s a winning collaboration – how long have you guys been working together and what inspired you to formulate this new project?

TH: We had both clocked each others productions, and finally met at a gig in Kazakhstan in 2008. We just have this vibe going on in the studio and it also translates to running our own label. Nick came up with the name, and I got the legendary Vince Ray on art duty…

ND: I really admired Tim’s production, and I figured the combination of what we both had to bring to the table would make grounds for an exciting project, and that’s exactly what has happened. We seem to bounce off each other creatively.

Sum up your vision for the label, what can we expect to see and hear over the coming months?

TH: Giant Pussy is Ghetto House and Dubstep… It’s a vault of sleaze, trash and bass. It’s bang on the sound of now.

We’re working with the best talents in both the electro scene – Felguk, Stupid Fresh, T.A.I., and in the dubstep scene Crissy Criss, Tes La Rok – and lets not forget we’ll be releasing our own music on the label too, including new tunes with Bad Laydee, Bubbz and African Boy to name a few…

And then there are our remix packs which so far include reworks of our tracks by Ed Solo, Krafty Kuts and Nick Thayer.

ND: I’m hoping with the label we can find a middle ground with fans from all different scenes, and get to a point with the tunes where people can’t quite categorise them!

I hear there’s some tour dates coming up for the label. Where can we catch you play and where are you most excited/intrigued about playing?

TH: This summer’s highlights for me include Fuji Rock, Japan in July and Burning Man, Nevada Desert, USA

ND: It’s a busy few months ahead, and I think Glade in the UK and Shambala in Canada will be two of the highlights. I’ll be touring America, Canada and Europe, which are all equally as exciting.

So for your first release you’ve brought us two absolutely jumpin’ remixes of Fast Eddie by yourselves and Crissy Criss, we love em! Do you feel bound to a particular musical formula with the label or is it going to be fairly eclectic?

TH: We are passionate about cutting-edge party music – Nick’s really on it with current style and sound and has an awesome network of vocalists. There’s no official formula but we’re digging this ghetto-house, booty breaks and dub-step thing right now.

ND: Ditto!!

See it for yourself… check Deekline & Tim Healey’s remix of “Yo Yo Get Funky” below.

Between you both, you’ve done a pretty good job of conquering the breaks and electro-house scenes. What are your musical goals nowadays?

TH: To make sure we stay at the credible forefront of club sounds, but to also continue doing production for mainstream acts too. The two go hand in hand.

ND: For me, it would be really cool to find a hybrid, where somebody who is listening to our music finds it difficult to define it in to a particular genre.

Which blogs do you read? Are you a fan of blogs in general?

TH: For sure, In Brazil, for example, most of the dance info is exchanged through blogs and chat rooms. My gigs are reviewed over here with a microscope and huge debates can ensue… I toured Brazil with MC Junior Red and a live band in April, and this generated much discussion… Which was the idea ;)

I think that blogs are the place to hear about new music first.

ND: I mainly listen to the Beatport charts at the moment, as I don’t have much time on my hands, but I know that blogs are the one place to find hot new talent.

Any producers you’ve particularly rated in 2009? Anyone to watch out for?

TH: The guys we have on our label are the ones to watch.

ND: Felguk…..my one to watch!

What’s the most memorable live show/DJ set you’ve seen?

TH: Live show – tricky to pick one… But I think The Pixies are spectacular live, but I also totally loved Nick Cave’s Grinderman live show… As for a DJ, I was lucky enough to catch RUN DMC with Jam Master J on the decks, when he was still alive, so he’d probably get my prize…

ND: Watching my best friend JFB win the 2007 DMC Championships was a wicked moment for me!

Calling a label Giant Pussy can only mean a love of all things feline. If you were a big cat, which one would you be? ;)

TH: Tony the Tiger or Shere Khan-age

ND: A black jaguar, because I want to be the largest and most powerful cat in the Western Hemisphere!! Lol!

And finally, the noiseporn interview challenge: how far can you throw a piece of A4 paper (unfolded)?

TH: I’ve just tried it out of my 16th floor hotel window in the Intercontinental Rio – so that was about 200 feet – maybe more… Do I win anything?

ND: Not very far!

Sorry Tim, no prizes for that one… just the glory of it! Thanks guys!

This entry was written by siren, posted on July 7, 2009 at 3:53 pm, filed under Interviews, Mixes, News, Video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

The Blogs Ask Digitalism

Here are some questions that some top notch blogs (including us) posed to the fantastic electro duo that is Digitalism:

1. If you could have any artist (alive or dead) to collaborate with, who would it be? and why?
Maybe Vincent van Gogh because his paintings are so beautiful. As for musicians — that’s hard to say. Changes daily.

2. Which is your favorite remix that an artists has done for you? Do you like it when artists remix your work or would you prefer it to go untouched?
At first we didn’t like the idea of getting our songs remixed, but then people started just doing it, and the results were really cool, so we went along with that. There’s lots of good ones, but one that’s outstanding could be WhoMadeWho for “Idealistic”; they replayed the song with their band rather than doing a classic “remix” — dope.

3. What keeps you excited about music these days? How do you keep it fresh for yourselves?
We haven’t been to the studio for like three years while we been touring, so that definitely excites us now, doing new stuff, working with new synthesizers, getting new songs ready, playing them on our DJ sets that we’re touring with at the moment….. It’s great! We couldn’t wait to do new music, and after a while, you want to present these new songs and you’re looking forward to touring again.

Here’s what the other blogs asked –

4. When I sing in the shower, it’s usually:
basslines

5. My favourite place to play on tour is:
on stage!

6. Press play on your iPod/media player and list the first three songs that come up:
-taxi girl -mannequin
-azzido da bass – i want U JENCE remix
-a digitalism unreleased song

From The Culture of Me

7. I’m interested in artists’ perceptions of mp3 blogs. Of course, there’s some out-spoken opposers - like Radio Slave and Duke Dumont – but do you think the better blogs (who are careful not to thoughtlessly post high quality new releases) are helping or damaging the scene?
we like blogs and respect them for their work; they can show people things that they normally wouldn’t have discovered. the major labels have lost their grip on sales and downloads anyway, so there’s no point in blaming blogs for damaging the musical industry. people just have to be careful when there’s so much stuff out there — they tend to “zap” through songs rather than appreciating a single song like they used to, back then.

8. I always used to enjoy a good Digitalism remix. 2006 saw you bang out a lot of top notch remixes, but that seems to have petered out now? Will we be hearing any new remixes or original material this or next year?
there’s lots of new Digitalism stuff coming up soon, but it’s our own music rather than remixes. we want to concentrate on the Digitalism stuff first before we point attention on other bands’ works.

9. Who are your favourite up-and-coming artists right now?
hey today! and drums of death might be amongst them.

From You Can Call Me Pelski

10. Have you ever heard a remix of one of your own tracks, that you liked more than your own original mix? Or maybe a remix that inspired you to make a track?
It was usually the remixes we’ve done for other bands that inspired us to own songs. Like, we would have ten different ideas and approaches to a remix, and we pick one but might work on another one for an own song. It’s pretty inspiring.

11. Do you like music blogs and the blogosphere in general? And do you think music blogs have had any part of your success today?
We respect blogs for their work on spreading interesting things, combining music, text and videos, for promoting stuff and all that. It definitely must have played a part in where we are today, no doubt. There’s so many interesting sites out there, and everyday you can discover new stuff or read reviews. Our only concern is the fact that people nowadays tend to just zap through all this content — including music –, because there’s just so much out there. You don’t have your favorite song or album for a month anymore, it’s maybe for a day or a week. But that’s just about how you handle blogs and all the media as a consumer.

From Data Sapiens

12. How would you describe your music to a deaf person reading this interview?
We once had a family’s friend at a concert in San Francisco. She’s deaf, but that didn’t matter because she could actually sense the music, sense the basslines and the air pressure coming out of the speakers. Music of course is hard to describe in that way, but a good analogy/visual description would be a picture of an ocean sundown and the smell of spring at the same time.

13. What are three words to explain what’s different about your next album and when can we expect it?
Faster, not black-and-green, better mixdown. We’ll release it as soon as it’s ready of course! Please hold the line.

14. What is your favourite music festival moment so far and why?
Any festival that’s got goooood, sunny warm weather. Just because.

From Ears of the Beholder

Digitalism will be appearing live at this year’s Wireless Festival, held in London’s Hyde Park on the 4th and 5th of July – for further information on the line-up and how you can get tickets please visit www.wirelessfestival.co.uk

This entry was written by Dubious, posted on June 30, 2009 at 11:43 pm, filed under Interviews, News. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.

Major Lazer

We’re lucky enough to be able to present you with an interview with Major Lazer, the Jamaican commando who lost his arm fighting in the Secret Zombie War of 1984. This guy’s also some sort of bastard almagamation between two of our favourite artists – Diplo and Switch – and has been pumping out some of the freshest sounding dancefloor fillers since the makers of sliced bread decided to open up a music studio in Brooklyn.

Major Lazer – can you describe the thinking behind your music in three and a half words?

me nuh know.

Not sure there’s been a musical sensation that’s swept through the blogs with quite so much explosive speed since blogs began – what do you put that down to?

me nuh really deh pon di intanet and dem ting deh suh mi caan really chat too much bout dat. but mi know seh di album hard, so di people aguh love it.

You fought in the Secret Zombie War of 1984 – are there any tales of derring-do or daring escapades that our readers should know about?

half di ting dem whe happen nuh de-classify yet, and di next half mi naw rememba.

When are you coming to the UK and what can we expect from you for the rest of 2009?

mi deya uk inna august, fi celebrate notting hill carnival wit mi fans dem. big tings ah gwaan fe 2009, just tour off di record and try sell ah million.

Top three favourite blogs?

mi nuh really read too much ah dem ting deh, but mi love go pon maddecent.com and afflictedyard.com website.

First song you remember listening to?

mi granmooma love miriam makeba, so mi know pata pata from me’s ah likkle yute.

Most inappropriate thing you’ve ever said in the bedroom…

wha appen inna bedroom haffi stay inna bedroom.

Thanks Major!

Major Lazer – Mary Jane (Mapei feat Dr. Evil).mp3

Major Lazer – Album Sampler.mp3

Major Lazer – Hold The Line (NROTB remix).mp3

Major Lazer – Hold The Line (LehtMoJoe Remix).mp3

This entry was written by NoisePorn.com, posted on June 25, 2009 at 12:48 pm, filed under Interviews, MP3. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.