Kan Kick - Pop Tunes, Morning Paper Illum Sphere - Never Lie Twice J88 - Stupid Lies Harmonic 313 & Wiley - Scar Ackie - Call Me Rambo Illum Sphere- Go Killum Oddisee & Ken Starr - This Is Hip-Hop Salma Agha - Come Closer Don Leisure & Rodski - Loose Women Joker - Tron! Africa Hitech - Glangslap Three 6 Mafia - Tear Da Club Up Someone - Just A Sketch Computer Jay - Maintain (Falty DL Remix) Lab Rat XL - Lab Rat 1 Illum Sphere - Titan Sole Fusion - Bass Tone Alfredo Y Su Salsa Montanera - La Escoba Anthony Shakir - Roaming Rainbow Team - My Darling Exquisite Taste - It's You That's Happening Lone - Once In A While Krystal Klear - Since Then Untold - Flexible Africa Hitech - Said Speed Jammer - Better Than (Lorn Remix) Illum Sphere - Supercharged The Beatles - Polythene Pam Champion Soul (feat. Ronyx) - Holdin' On (Dr. Who Dat? Remix) Dabrye - Gimme Lowlands
A busy 2010 seems to be getting busier from Manchester's Illum Sphere: a 2nd 12" hungover from December (a 3rd is due in the next couple of months btw), a mix and profile on FACT, this SHOOK magazine podcast and a forthcoming term at Red Bull Music Academy.
If you hadn't heard of him, chances are you have now (and not just because you just read this post).
xxxy hails from Manchester and produces bass music that sucks in elements of house, techno and all the other good stuff that’s been perforating dance floors at the tail end of 2009. He’s released on the Formant, Mindset and Open Earz (alongside Indigo) labels and also has a track, ‘Sing With Us,’ forthcoming on the new fabric compilation, ‘Elevator Music Vol 1.’
To mark the eve of the New Year we grabbed him for a chat and managed to snatch our final exclusive mix of 2009…
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
xxxy: I'm a bearded man from Manchester who makes electronic music in between 120 and 140 bpm.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I work in local government. It's not very interesting but it contributes to the bills…
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I had just dropped out of Uni and managed to steal an aging pc off my folks and at about the same time I'd got quite into the early dubstep tunes my mates had been buying. I was messing about a bit and my missus bought me a midi keyboard to get me out of the way while she finished her dissertation. I started getting more serious about it after that. It's been about 5 years but I am finally starting to be a little happier with my tunes.
What’s your production set up like?
A mac book pro and some headphones usually. My neighbour isn't very sympathetic about bass so I don't get on my monitors as much as I wish but they are there when I mix down.
In terms of software I use Ableton for production and for playing out. Sometimes there is a lot of stigma aimed towards DJs who play off laptops, I don’t know about anyone else but I go to clubs to listen to music dance and have a good time. I couldn't give a flying fuck if someone plays off a laptop, CDs or vinyl as long as I enjoy the tunes.
I can do a lot more interesting things with Ableton and a midi controller than I can with a set of decks and some 12"s. I still buy records, I love records and it’s an addiction I don't think I will ever shake. Often I will buy both the 12" and the mp3 release as I am too pressed for time (lazy) to rip the tunes myself.
How would you describe your sound to someone zoning in for the first time?
I dunno maybe a mix of techno house and garage with a smattering of other sounds…?
Whats the deal with the xxxy moniker? You keen on chromosomes or sommat?
It was a name that came into my head when I was walking home one day, I liked the ambiguity of it at the time and it stuck.
Also I’ve seen it written in numerous different ways. Whats your official line, XxXy, XXXY or xxxy?
xxxy - pronounced triple x, y
You used to produce as forensic (mcr), what made you change names/directions?
I produced as forensix (mcr) and released ‘1st Dynasty’ b/w ‘Solace’ on Revolution music in ‘07 but whilst it went down very well I had only just started making music properly and I wasn't happy with my sound; so I backed off for a while and wanted to start afresh so I came back with some better productions and a new name.
Your productions fuse house, garage and techno what is it about the slower than 140bpm tempo that you prefer?
I love the grooves and shuffle of house, garage and techno. Really rigid tunes can get a bit dull after a while.
Is that the kind of background you come from?
Not at all, I grew up listening to britpop and indie and I still listen to a bit of it. I would say some of my influences at the moment would be Rhythm and Sound, Carl Craig, Karizma, Modern Love releases, Theo Parrish and many, many more.
You’re involved with the Mindset label, further than just releasing on the label, right? What does this involve for you?
I assist Indigo with promotion and anything else he needs help with, it's a label that means a lot to me. The belief and enthusiasm he has for the music he puts out is very infectious.
You are a Manchester resident I believe, what’s the scene like up there?
The scene is hit and miss, as I am sure it is in most cities. There are some really good nights; Strange Fruit which has the finest array of residents anywhere in the country in my opinion - Rich Reason, Inidigo, Synkro, Andro and Dimit and Fantastic Mr Fox… Hit and Run, Curve, Soul:ution (which made it’s long overdue return this year) and Sicknote (which I help promote and I'm a resident at).
We are blessed with some great record shops too; Eastern Bloc, Piccadilly Records are great for house and techno and you can always pick up some second hand bargains at Vinyl Exchange.
Tell us a little bit about your mix, how did it come together, what tracks had to be in there and what other tracks are you digging right now?
I was off work sick with the flu and started listening to a lot of deep house and I thought it would be interesting to combine it with some of the new UK house which I had been making and have been sent as well as some dubstep which I am really feeling at the moment along with some classics.
What have you got coming up that the world should know about? (releases, gigs, bowel movements etc)
‘Rain’ should be out on Pollen soonish, ‘Sing With Us’ is coming out on ‘Elevator Music Vol 1’ - fabric's dubstep/post dubstep unmixed compilation which is a brilliant representation of bass music right now and there will hopefully be a release on Mindset in the new year.
I will be popping up regularly in Manchester in the next few months and I’m playing at fabric on 8th January for the ‘Elevator Music’ launch party which will be fun.
Have you got any words of wisdom for us, and our readers?
Look after your ears; imagine a world without music before you stick your head in a bassbin; oh, and always wear a bandit hat.
Missing Linkx - Who To Call [Philpot] The Machine - Fuse (Ame Remix) [Innervisions] Martyn - Elden St (Sebo K Watergate Edit) [Watergate] Dirty Culture - Doua Puncte Ics EP [Loco] Junior Boys - Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) [Domino] Doc Daneeka - Drums in the Deep [fabric] Coyu and Edu Imbernon - Morena [Diynamic] Mario da Ragnio feat Abell - Curcuma (Milton Jackson Remix) [caballero recordings] Martyn - Friedrichstrasse [fabric] Canard & Lauer - Vibration [Peppermint Jam] Karizma - Groove A K Ordingly [R2] Atjazz, Domu & Yanna Valdevit - Info People (Atjazz & Domu’s Bruk Mush Remix) [development music] Spencer Parker - You Got Me [NRK] Hot City - If That’s How I Feel [fabric] L-vis 1990 - Run [Dress 2 Sweat] The Discowboys - At Midnight (Steve Bug’s always late mix) [Dessous] xxxy - Blue Flashing Lights [dub] Forsaken - Be my vice [dub] Synkro - Digital Soul [dub] xxxy - Flew [dub] Hypno - Telescope [dub] Joy Orbison - Wet Look [Hotflush] Mr Gasparov - 1975 [Steakhouse] Spatial - 90729 [Infrasonics] Fantastic Mr Fox - Sketches [Black Acre] Octa Push - Ai Nadia [Steakhouse] Geiom - No More Tears [Berkane Sol] Groove Chronicles - Stone Cold [DPR Recordings] Octa Push - Laika Likes it [Steakhouse] Brackles - Lizards [Applepips] F - Untitled Dub [7even] Appleblim - Vansan (Gatekeeper Remix) [If Symptoms Persist] xxxy - You Always Start It [dub]
Catch xxxy at the Elevator Music launch party on Friday 8th January at fabric:
With his first vinyl EP, the aptly named ‘Incoming EP,’ Ryan Hunn'sIllum Sphere project caught our attention, so much so we interviewed him about his processes after hearing the record in full about twice. Choosing to compose on completely analogue equipment – his myspace photographs show a desk littered with red LED bearing samplers and grooveboxes – he manages to inject his productions with a bleak, machine hummed venom. And it’s definitely the case on this, the first in a two part vinyl album, with third track ‘Psycho’ offering the first moment of ‘melody’ on the EP; if you can call the confused plonking of a glockenspiel underneath torrents of electro current just that.
What precedes it is a swamp of static and swooping strings on ‘Long Live The Plan…’ and ‘Better Late State,’ a slow pulsing snare crackler reminiscent of LA beat smith Ras G with whom Hunn seems to share a holy-atmospheric kinship. The Illum Sphere world of awkwardly slipping beats over thick, often bleak backdrops and minimalistic arrangements is as dense as any of the beats contorting themselves out of laptops in dark Californian clubs, but his music doesn’t scream about its golden sun tan as much. His music is darker, more rabid and paranoid than some of his US contemporaries and its this edge that keeps you going back once you’ve connected to the lopsided snare pattern and swirling lambaste of ‘Never Lie Twice.’
‘Chasing The Midnight Moth’ is undoubtedly the EP’s centerpiece, crackling into earshot with quicker snatches of percussion and simple one note keys that ooze atmosphere, pursing up into waves of distortion propelled by the ride cymbals before the settled rhythm returns, each time easing things back into the groove with aplomb. ‘Shadowman’ furthers the sense of calm amongst a sound palette seasoned heavily with grain, as the the four four kick drum and cymbal spray pulses under an impossible to tame synth line that conjours up a little of that arpeggiatedZomby madness.
Completed with a Samiyam remix of ‘Psycho’ which reconstructs the simple kick/snare loop into a more of a tumble, adding those enlightening chord stabs and woozy elements of G-funk that Samiyam does so well, ‘Long Live The Plan’ is a deft and clever follow up to such an emphatic debut 12”. Building his productions sensibly and planning the tracklist like you would a journey up through moods its easy to hear what people like Martyn (whose commissionedHunn to remix his ‘Brilliant Orange’ track) are starting to take notice of.
