INTERVIEW: Jamie Grind [Infrasonics]

Summer 2010 is proving to be a fertile hotbed of awesomeness and its been made easy to enthuse about things now that the sun is blessing everything with its UV loaded rays. Tunes are coming thicker and quicker and there's a multitude of great producers from across the spectrum of the bass music void whose work is steadily piquing our interest. At the forefront of this last few weeks has been two tunes from Leeds based producer Jamie Grind, included on his debut release which takes the form of a split 12" with Irish funky producer Gon for Spatial's Infrasonics label.

'If You Want' is a perfect example of using drum shuffles, that repetitive Scuba style synth stab and choppy vocals, but its in the woefully aborted synth progressions of it that it really blossoms, veering from colourful warbling to a distorted splash; and in a similar way the flip side, 'Balloon,' uses a careering lead line behind those lush Martyn pianos. On the strength of these tunes its obvious that Grind's is a step that positively uplifts; a feel good bump that suits this sudden heat wave gloriously.

The inclusion of the afore mentioned tunes on Spatial's FACT mix, coupled with a mix he did for ItsAlllAbout.com and the track he just dropped for free over at XLR8R last week, 'Keep Wondering,' spiked immediate interest, resulting in a bout of AIM cold calling and an eventual satisfying pang of relief when he agreed to drop us an exclusive mix; number 48 in our ongoing series.

Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?

Jamie Grind: I’m Jamie Grind, I’ve just released my first record on the Infrasonics Label, hopefully the first of many! When I’m not eating king prawn curries you will usually find me in a poorly lit room in the centre of Leeds making beats and wondering what happened to my youth!

Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?

I’m a web designer - I’ve been working at a company here in Leeds for the past 3 years or so. My job takes up most of my time so I try and fit in music whenever possible. 


How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?

Since my mid-teens I’ve been involved with music in some form, I’ve been a vocalist in various bands, I’ve been a hip hop MC and I’ve experimented a bit with other forms of electronic music but it’s only in the past year or so I think I’ve finally found my feet. I was always more into the vocal side of music and production just kinda passed me by, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago I actually decided to give it a shot and it turns out I actually quite enjoy sitting in isolation for hours on end listening to looped drum hits!

What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?

I run Logic 8 on an Imac; my set up is fairly basic though, I could use an upgrade to be honest. I’ve currently only got some very average Wharfdale speakers, a MIDI keyboard and a Yamaha MW12 Mixing desk.. but it works OK for now. Next venture for me will be to get some decent monitors and an analogue synth of some form…

Where do you take inspiration from when making music?

Because I have a full time job most of my ideas come to me during the day when my mind is at its most active, so I might have a sudden idea for a tune and then have to wait 8 hours til I get home to finally put it into practice, by that time I’m pretty tired and can’t be arsed. I find I’m at my most creative first thing in the morning, so weekends give me chance clock in at my second job… making bangers blaaad!



How would you describe your sound?

I wouldn’t say future garage – I think that term sounds pretty corny to be honest… Genres seem to mean less and less to me these days, when I make a tune I’m not trying to achieve a certain sound I’m just combining elements of different styles of music I enjoy, which usually sounds pretty garage-esque to be fair, at least percussively anyway.



And how did you get into this current flux of dubstep?

I remember hearing stuff by Pinch and Loefah and thinking it was the heaviest shit I’d ever heard! At the time, the hip hop nights I used to go to gradually turned into dubstep nights as it got more popular. Later on, people like 2562, Geiom, Ramadanman, Kode9 & Martyn seemed to be making interesting music which was loosely dubstep with elements of garage, hip hop and house and probably had a lot to do with me wanting to start producing the type of music I do.

Leeds seems to be on it right now, with Midland, Stray and people like Blawan all making the dope shit. What’s the scene like up there?

I’m not sure there’s much of a scene to be honest, now Ruffage has closed its doors the only decent monthly club night in Leeds is Tropical; which is sick, but most other ‘dubstep’ nights are just mid-range wobble wankery so don’t really interest me – There’s a bunch of people up here making sick music though, good to see them getting the recognition they deserve. On top of the people you mentioned there’s also Skips, Hackman, Gatto Viola and Jera doing their thing up here aswell.


Jamie Grind - Balloon

Your first release on Infrasonics is out now. What’s the deal, what can we expect from the release?

It’s a split with Gon from Ireland, I’m half Irish so we’ve got that shit in our blood already! I’m glad to be on the Infrasonics squad, they’re all absolute badmen producers, Spatial, xxxy, Hot City, Ike Release… I’m glad my first release is with this lot. On my side of the 12”, ‘If You Want’ is one for the clubs and ‘Balloon’ is on a bit of a more upbeat wonky-synth tip.

What other projects have you got in the pipeline? What’s happening with you in the rest of 2010? Gigs, releases, personal growth etc?

Next thing I’ve got coming out is a 4 track EP on Fortified Audio, expect to see that emerging in the following months. I’m looking to start playing gigs when I can, so hopefully I’ll get on that soon. 



Any words of wisdom for our readers?

If in doubt, smash their face in.

::

DOWNLOAD: Jamie Grind – Sonic Router Mix



Tracklist:

George Fitzgerald - Fernweh
Ramadanman - Glut
Hot City - Another Girl
Dubbel Dutch - Throwback
Sony - Sugar Rush
Terror Danjah - Code Morse
Guido - Mad Sax
Ike Release - I'm Gone
Todd Edwards - Who You Are (Salvador Edit Remix)
Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers (Sunship Edit)
Jamie Grind - Bad Attitude (And You Know It)
Shortstuff - Tripped Up
Jamie Grind - Footwork
VVV - Back To Life
DJ Rashad - In Da Club Before Eleven O' Clock
Nastee Boi Feat. E Man - Mussy Mad (Witty Boy Remix)
Blawan - Fram
Spatial - 100402
Jamie Grind & Hackman - Saw The Light
Mista Men - Automatic Groove
Jammer - Champz And Weed (Ft. Diesal, C. Gritz & Blacks)
TRG - Broken Heart (Martyn's DCM Remix)

Infra12003 featuring Jamie’s ‘I Want You’ & ‘Balloon’ is in all decent retailers now. Its backed with two tracks, ‘Chaka Mad’ and ‘Riddance’ from Gon.

Link:
www.myspace.com/undiscloseduk
http://infrasonics.net
http://infrasonics.net/dubs/infra12003