It’s deceptively easy to get swept away in the constant barrage of new material coming from the post-garage/dubstep/UK-bass axis. Individual stand out pieces of music often end up fading into the background in favour of an unbroken mass of newness. The end result is a feeling of quantity over quality, or at the very least a serious case of split attention span. That feeling has escalated over the last couple of years as the scene’s increasingly gone global and split off into a thousand different strands. But once in a while something comes along that forces you to sit back and take stock for a little while, or holds your undivided love and attention for long enough to ignore the masses of sound streaming past on either side.
Drew Lustman’s music under his FaltyDL moniker is one of those rare things. Nothing he’s released thus far has fallen below the ‘utterly essential’ benchmark, largely because it so rarely stands still. Rather than remaining content to churn out 12” after 12” of re-arranged but essentially identical sounds, everything he’s put out so far - from the US/UK hybrid garage of Love Is A Liability to Endeavour’s restrained house experiments – has stood totally apart from its predecessors. In essence, Lustman is one of the very few musicians operating within this sphere that use their influences like gene pools to draw upon for individual flashes of inspiration, rather than allowing them to restrict the breadth of their ambitions.
That’s the reason he appears to be so strikingly original – with only a love of Luke Vibert and early breakcore binding everything together, his shifts between tempo passing those sounds through various different filters: house, garage, dubstep, electronica. ‘Regret’, his forthcoming contribution to Hotflush’s Back & 4th label compilation, is one of the most sophisticated examples of that approach so far. After allowing a bass-less breakbeat to gather momentum and intensity over a backdrop of swelling ambience, Lustman finally allows all it’s pent up tension to release in a deft two-step groove. It’s both utterly energizing and curiously relaxing, as though by suspending hyperspeed drums in mid-air he strips them of their grounded, floor-filling effect. It’s a similar trick to the one used by ambient junglists like LTJ Bukem and Source Direct - accelerating breakbeats to the point at which they’re faster than the body’s metabolism; when, as Simon Reynolds writes, “rhythm itself becomes a susurrating, soothing stream of ambience.”
And Lustman certainly deserves to be ranked at the same level as the pioneers. He’s not merely regurgitating his influences - he’s remoulding them into the shape of a unique and exciting cross-Atlantic narrative. His new single ‘Hip Love’ for Ramp (his last before fantastic new album You Stand Uncertain is released on Planet Mu) is ample evidence of that, as it’s probably his finest single track so far. Once again set around rapid-fire programmed beats that form a curiously downbeat backdrop, he playfully sets shards of brass and a yearning vocal sample to ricochet across its surface, occasionally colliding in glorious flashes of harmony. The end result is at once exhilarating and exhausting, and imbued with more emotion (both implicit and explicit) than almost anything yet to have emerged from the fray surrounding dubstep. Yeah, it’s that good.
On the flipside, Jamie XX’s remix would always have struggled to match the stunning original, and it’s to his credit that he doesn’t attempt to. Rather, he builds an entirely different sort of track around it base elements, a thick drumfunk that swings unsteadily back and forth before dropping to the floor. It’s a surprisingly unique take on bass-heavy floor music, and bodes well for his upcoming Gil Scott Heron remix album.
Finish producer Desto’s music came as something of a revelation to us. Succintly pushed through Dusk & Blackdown’s radio show, his own fusion of sonics at the dubstep tempo stood out, with his debut release for Ramp Recordings, ‘Disappearing Reappearing Ink,’ pushing that same kind of amped up glitch and offbeat percussion patterning that fellow Ramp artists like Zomby and Shortstuff also did. But it was the central motif of that single's B-side, ‘Broken Memory,' with that juttering synth that dances atop the sub low reverberations, that pushed Desto as far into the elctronic hip hop arena as much as dubstep – something that a lot of artists have positively strived to do since.
With a Noppa release, preceeding his Ramp single, at the turn of this year showcasing a sound that was more conventionally dubstep, Desto was hinting at the diversity of his productions; playing more for the atmospheric side of the club with tracks like ‘Dark Matter’ aiming squarely at the big rigs and beats like ‘Cold VIP’ commanding audience participation with its thick garage influenced skip. Having proved himself adept at both styles and cementing his intentions with a mix for Blackdown’s blog back in September of 2009, he got in touch to inform us of a few projects - including upcoming releases on Ramp again and the blossoming Channel Zero imprint – so we took the opportunity to snag a moment in his company, irking out our 58th Sonic Router mix and learning a little something about his processes as we went.
SR: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Desto: I’m a producer and DJ from Helsinki, Finland. Been making music for ages but started releasing stuff when dubstep came along. This year I’ve released 12”s on Ramp Recordings and Noppa. I co-run two dubstep and related bass music club nights, Slam It and Theory out here with Dead-O of Clouds and Tes La Rok and host a bi-weekly radio show on Basso Radio (FM) with Tes.
Outside of music who are you guys? What do you do on the daily?
Music takes up the majority of my time really. I do freelance work in other fields in order to sustain my independence as an artist, I feel very strongly about keeping financial issues from influencing free creativity in the studio and in music in general.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do so?
I got hold of Scream Tracker 3 in ’93. I was just a kid and had nobody to teach me how to use it but in late ’93 I managed to make a track on it. The software was nothing like the DAWs you have nowadays, it was 8-bit sample based, 16 channels, no mouse control, no effects. But it was what a kid could get for free in those days to make music on a PC. And working with those limitations was so much fun discovering techniques to work around them. As for what drove me towards making electronic music is difficult to say really but it always came very naturally. I was classically trained as a pianist for 10 years but I was always drawn to electronic music since I was a child listening to Kraftwerk casettes. I always wanted a synth as a kid but never got one so Freudians might have a thing or two to say about that.
What’s your production set up like? What’s your favourite bit of kit in the studio?
I use Cubase SX3, Tannoy Reveals and a 10” Reveal sub which I seldom use though, I do most of my monitoring on my Beyerdynamic DT-880 headphones. And my neighbours love me for it. I’m not too fond of VSTi’s, I make most of my sounds on my synths and Commodore 64 plus some effect boxes as well as mics. I like recording audio and treating sound as samples. It’s a lot of fun. VSTi sounds can be a big turnoff although used right they can obviously be useful too but the majority of stuff out there is done with them so I don’t feel I need to contribute into making more of that sound. These are just personal preferences, in the end it’s not about what you make music with but what you get out of your setup.
How would you describe your sound? I mean it’s as much fluorescent like skweee as it is rooted in big drum kind of Joker/Starkey style productions...
I go about doing my music by for example taking a proto-dubstep approach to rhythm and fuse it with my influences and techniques to come up with something that could be an alternative future for what went on in ’02 or ’04. Or take a now-cliché element like wobble bass and come up with something that has a similar effect but in a completely different way. I’m very interested in the psychology of rhythm perception and the element that changes how we hear a rhythm for one way to the other. Not talking about drum patterns alone but entire tracks. The switches that we have built into us that make us experience rhythm in a certain way and how that switch happens by the change of a single element such as the length of a bass note in a track.
I haven’t listened to much skweee although some of the guys are my friends. I guess with skweee as well as Joker and Starkey things, the similarity in sound is down to similar influences, hiphop, soul and all the afro-American musics, computer games and so on. And the bpm is similar.
Would you say the above are an inspiration when making music? What else is an inspiration for you?
They all make great music and when I first heard Joker coming out with the purple sound it was instantly appealing to me. It definitely made me feel there should be more stuff like that out there. I draw from all my musical influences from Kraftwerk to Vangelis to early hardcore to 90s hiphop beats like RZAs work on Tical to DJ Premier and Jay Dilla to jungle to 90s Warp Records to Commodore 64 game music.
Hearing dubstep rhythms in ’06 was a big influence, Digital Mystikz, Loefah, Benga and Skream tunes in Youngsta’s sets got me back into electronic music and production after having been a bit tired of it for a number of years. Also witnessing the family vibes at DMZ and FWD>> and the genuine interest in music was inspiring. I have to mention the electronic hiphop movement too, the likes of the LuckyMe family as well as Dizz1, DéBruit, Rustie and others have made inspiring music. With the risk of sounding clichéd my part of town, Vallila and its residents inspire me. There’s an energy about the place. Last year I had to stay elsewhere for two months and getting back made me realize how much this environment is a part of my music too.
Where do you see your sound developing?
This is a difficult question as it presumes that an artist has a clear view of what he or she is about to create next. I just want to keep on exploring music through my production and continue to be able to not predict what the next tune will sound like. I find I get writers block if I know exactly what I’d have to do.
I think the first time a lot of people got up on you was with the mix you did for Blackdown around the time of your RAMP release... How did those come about? Did you yourself see the spike in interest when it went live?
I sent ‘Disappearing Reappearing Ink’ to Tom@Ramp and it just went from there really… We’d hooked up with Blackdown earlier, he had spotted me on myspace and asked for beats for his and Dusk’s Rinse show. So month after month they kept playing the beats and eventually asked for a mix & interview which I was happy to do as Blackdown’s writings had inspired me and given context to dubstep before I had the chance to visit DMZ and FWD>>. The mix definitely reached a lot of people, so much thanks to Blackdown for letting me do it.
What’s the scene like in Helsinki? I mean we’ve spoken to Non Person before to talk about it and he name checked you as a player in it; but would be great to get your angle...
The Helsinki dubstep scene is vibrant and audiences and producers here are very open to different sounds and flavours without the need to do ‘mandatory’ wobbles, strict halfstep rhythms and overdone compression on tracks - although all of this has a place and a time too. With our own nights we like to keep the sound diverse. Production-wise Finland has risen to new levels this year with new up-n-comers like Teeth, Jkrl, Kfka, Mikael, Koala, Vesicle and others pushing new sounds while the regulars like Clouds and Tes La Rok have been steadily delivering great sounds. I feel lucky to be a part of our Helsinki scene.
Are there any producers you rate that the world should know about? Any peeps not getting the props you think they deserve?
There’s a lot of undiscovered talent about like always, but I think it’s also up to them to get their music out there if that’s what they want. I don’t see anything wrong in doing music without any intention to take it further than your hard drive having done so for 15 years myself. But nobody is going to do nothing for you, come to your doorstep to request for your music unless you’re very very lucky, so you shouldn’t be scared of putting in a little work yourself to earn your stripes.
Desto - Can't Take It/Aquanaut [forthcoming Channel Zero]
In your pitch to us you say your working on projects with “Jimi Tenor as well as solo, got releases coming out on Noppa (Ice Cold) and Ramp (Glass Clouds/Stay Strong) and Channel Zero (Can't Take It/Aquanaut).” In your own words can you tell us what other projects have you got in the pipeline?
Well, that sums a lot of it up nicely. I have a feeling Desto will go live next year, I haven’t done electronic live performances since the few ones I had with an electronic project I was doing around ’98 but it intrigues me now. I’d have to scrape up the money for a few more pieces of equipment and I’d be all set. What I’d like to do is leave the computer at home and go all out hardware just because it’s fun, unpredictable and an electronic live without a laptop would be something that I’d definitely go out to see myself.
Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve put together for us…
When I play out I play about 50/50 of my own exclusive stuff and music that I’m feeling from other producers. I like to drop in a few old bits and try and connect them into new stuff in a fresh way. There should be a number of my tunes on there that people haven’t heard yet and the recently released bits from the likes of Ramadanman, Hypno, Bok Bok and Mensah were just too good not to be put into the mix.
Becoming Real’s new EP for Not Even, Spectre, is a match made in heaven: two wonderfully abstract Eski-styled riddims, a guest appearance from one of grime’s finest lyricists, Trim, and a remix by juke/footwork maestro (and current hot property) DJ Rashad. Grime is in good shape right now: Elijah & Skilliam’s championship of new producers; Terror Danjah’s resurgence and upcoming Undeniable album for Hyperdub; the genre’s huge influence in shaping the more forward thinking ends of UK funky; Hessle Audio’s absorption of its early experimentalism, and hybrids like Untold’s ‘Anaconda’ achieving airplay far beyond the usual circles. Becoming Real is another name to add to the list, then. His music takes the minimalist principles behind Wiley’s eski instrumentals and applies a thin sheen of the future, still working within the most stripped-back template possible but also sounding distinctly of 2010.
Spectre’s lead track, ‘Like Me,’ has been doing the rounds for a while now, but still hits like a ton of bricks. Beyond the instrumental itself - which is one of the best abstract grime tracks to have emerged for a while, beats stripped away to nothing and replaced with menacing blasts of sub and arabesque descending chimes – it finds Trim in characteristically scathing form, flinging withering put-downs with a seeming minimum of effort. As ever, his flow strikes a peculiar balance between straight-faced aggression and sarcastic humour, leaving an undercurrent of menace that’s quite difficult to place. Even better is ‘Showdown In Chinatown,’ where he revisits similar themes to those he explored on Dusk & Blackdown’s ‘The Bits’ – shifting loyalties, the nature of friendship and dogged self-reliance – while Becoming Real’s jagged synths detonate all around. The title certainly couldn’t be more appropriate if it tried. DJ Rashad’s take on ‘Like Me’ meanwhile, is a little too one-dimensional for comfort, heading straight for relentless, wearing pace; it’s a mirror placed alongside the originals, which are potent reminders that grime can still manage to be both subtle and hype at once.
Ramp are really flexing their muscles of late. Unsatisfied with only being one ‘buy on sight’ label they’ve had to spread out into three with both BRAiNMATH and PTN leeching off Tom Kerridge’s veins, and making waves of their own with the former being enigmatically understated and the other pushing hyper colour UK funky hybrids. With both now starting to find their feet its become easy to forget the mothership that is: Ramp Recordings.
Working in a reverse process to Numbers, who morphed three labels into one, Ramp has bled across three platforms. It seems there really is no concrete formula when you’re running a label... all of which brings us to Maximillion Dunbar, an artist who represents how Ramp felt before it fractured, and Cool Water vibes off that hip hop energy the label really birthed itself with, when releasing records by people like Count Bass D, Flying Lotus & Declaime and Computer Jay.
Dunbar really hits his stride when he reaches for the boogie, that no-man’s-land between house and hip hop. Tracks like the acid house drum workout ‘Rhythm Track For Rashied Ali’ or ‘Girls Dream’ and ‘Pretty Please’ meet in that middle ground between the two, a place where labels like Ramp and Eglo have really flourished. Its a place where retro drum machines, catchy samples and analogue synths bump heads in some sort of slow-mo funk and waggle dance an area where early house and heavy handed boom bap collide, but you know, about 30 years later...
You can stand Maxmillion next to the likes of Funkineven and Arp 101 on one side, and - this is where the flip is really felt - Aphex Twin in ambient mode on the other. ‘Lemon and Lime’ feels like a laid back variant on classic Aphex track ‘Film,’ it’s airy melodies playing off that camera click, machine funk drum patterns in a track that oozes a lethargic beauty. The catchiest flute loop since... well PTN unleashed ‘Fatherless’ is found on ‘Original Soundtrack Flutes’, a track that gets a lo-fi bump going while it plays about in a eastern panpipe-fashion and then ‘Breathe What You Say’ goes all new-wave vocoder, beatless synth fun. Both ‘Sno Mega’ and ‘Way Down’ really feel like they where built in a boogie neverland where Wiley and disco-funk met with those crystalline synths stabbing like icicles as the slinky electro grooves slow enough to get the head nodding.
PTN are seemingly very much ‘on it’ right now; the freshly minted offshoot of Ramp Recordings specializes in the house orientated heaters that have been heating up the wider, for want of a better word, bass music scene. With previous releases from 'Elevator Music' earmarked artists like Hackman, Doc Daneeka and Hypno the label’s 4th release stems from Breach, the house alter ego of producer Ben Westbeech, and the tribal anthem ‘Fatherless.’ Having worked dancefloors over for what seems like months it was only recently confirmed the tune would be seeing wax on PTN and Breach’s mix for Mary Anne Hobb’s Radio 1 show only cemented the appeal of this new wave of Westbeech’s productions.
It’s the raw physical power the simple elements of the hard hitting tribal drum workouts combining with the looping flute phrases that make ‘Fatherless’ such an instantly gratifying tune. It keeps rolling and rolling pretty relentlessly the booming kicks, snare splashes with the tribal percussion you can pretty much sing-along to never letting up, making it a lot more powerful in the mix than on a solo listen. The icing on the cake though, is the quick fire sample declaring the mantra “Fatherless,” playfully pitched it pipes up on the offbeat, providing a knowing call to the dance.
The much in demand Doc Daneeka brings the original’s almost dubstep sounding lilt, given the prominence of the bassline and super simplistic layer arrangement, further into house territory with a four four kick, relentless fizzling snares and pulsing bassline. It doesn’t add that much but it doesn’t detract either, conveying that slightly different vibe Daneeka’s excelling in of late, perfectly. The b-side cut ‘Man Up’ is a subtler production from Westbeech but its just as tribal, looping chants and swirling tabla’s that get twisted out of all proportion and really bring the energy rush before the drop.
The A side is pure dance floor fire; and even though it’s been rinsed for an incredibly long time, it’s still as big, brash and seriously addictive as it was when you first heard it.
This one sided super limited platter comes to the public from the mysterious Brainmath label who have been carving a ghostly niche of their own over the last year or so with music from a diverse bunch of producers. Zomby, SBTRKT, Spiders, Airhead & James Blake and Untold have all brought tracks to the table that sit with the Brainmath's other worldly aesthetic but never mark it down as just one sound; it's as if the label simply provides a service, an outlet for small nuggets of vinyl brilliance released with no fuss or hyperbole.
The latest release comes from Brackles who as a producer, DJ, Rinse.fm regular, and label curator with Shortstuff for the Blunted Robots imprint has been pushing the flexible broken garage meets UK funky sound, bringing bumpy beats and plenty of energy to the dance. The first Brackles 12” to drop was a quality number called ‘Glazed’ on Berkane Sol which somehow harnessed the grimy attitude of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ in its bumping’ drum patterns as well as harnessing a deep dubbed out techno-like atmosphere. Well, ‘6am El Gordos’ – named after a Nottingham boozer that saw numerous after parties laced with frantic sets of new and weirdly interesting music which helped shape some of the now prevalent Notts explosion - feels like the tropical cousin of ‘Glazed’. Brackles layers shuffling soca laced kick drums, pulsing bass tones that shake the floor with skipping snares and hats getting quirky on top, with synths that sound like they’ve been made under high air pressure for maximum energy. In typical Brackles fashion he underpins it all with soulful, loved up vocal snatches that bring am exceedingly summery edge to the production.
According to his twitter Shortstuff is stranded at an American airport, his flight delayed, his blackberry running low on power and he's left his suitcase in a cab someplace... So please spare a thought for him and his plight while you download his latest mix he made in promotion of the Icee Hot night he played at recently.
01. Dizzee Rascal “Brand New Day” (XL) 02. Terror Danjah “Air Bubble (Geiom RMX)” (Butterz) 03. Guido “Mad Sax” (white) 04. Machinedrum “SXLND” (white) 05. Roska “Squark” (Rinse) 06. Jam City “Let Me Bang RMX” (white) 07. Lemonade “Lifted (Shortstuff RMX)” (True Panther) 08. Egyptrixx “The Only Way Up(Ikonika RMX)”(Night Slugs) 09. Shortstuff “Fig Rolls” (Ramp) 10. DJ Dom “UCSM” (white) 11. SBTRKT “Sleep in Tokyo” (white) 12. West Norwood Cassette Library “What It Is” (white) 13. Untold “Come Follow Me” (white)
Look out for Blunted Robots (his and Brackles label) 3rd release featuring them two and Bok Bok - in shops now, and Shorty's 'Tripped Up' 12" coming soon on Ramp Recordings.
Mr. Dibiase just dropped a fresh little beat showcase for BTS Radio neatly dropping alongisde his split release on All City Records with fellow beat merchant P.U.D.G.E.; the first in a series of 10 x 10"s coming on the label, with the simple premise of two producers on each release.
Unless you've been locked in a toilet for the last 6 months - fending off starvation through the consumption of toilet duck tablets and Imperial Leather - you'll have no doubt heard of Ramp Recordings; and the constantly mesmerizing roster of artists - including trailblazers like Shortstuff, Slugabed, Desto, Tokimonsta and Zomby amongst numerous others - that releases music on the imprint.
Kmag have just upped a guest mix from label lynchpin Tom, which features a whole heap of exciting ass material that's forthcoming on the label.
As a prelude to a couple of forthcoming releases on Noppa and Ramp Recordings - and as a hello 2010 gift - Finish producer Desto, is giving away a track.
'Level Up' is the perfect introduction to Desto's mixture of unintrusive percussion and dancefloor savvy lead lines.
Yep, the time is here... today's the day we can bring you that exclusive Slugabed track taken from the super limited 12", '251109' (which features a track from each of the 6 artist on the bill), being pressed for all of those lucky Londoners attending the Ramp Recordings jam at The Lightbox in Vauxhall next Wednesday with Tokimonsta, P.U.D.G.E, Shortstuff, SBTRKT vs Sampha and the White Sugh Knight.
'Thump Ass' is a straight shot of Sluggo; contorted computer squeals pitted against super tough drum pumps and erratic melody lines. An insight into the hype and the studio of the young Brighton based beatmaker.
We just got wind of something very special. Ramp Recordings are organising a super treat for all attendees of their soiree at The Lightbox in Vauxhall on the 25th. They're pressing up a free EP cleverly called '251109' which will include tracks from those performing on the night, namely P.U.D.G.E, Tokimonsta, Shortstuff, SBTRKT, Sampha and Slugabed.
Cue intriguing gumpf: "The vinyl features tracks from every act playing on the night, and will be signed and decorated by each of the artists. This 12” will only be available at the Lightbox, so get down early to secure your free copy!"
We're happy to be able to present to you an exclusive stream of the P.U.D.G.E contribution today - and, thanks to the White Sugh Knight, if you keep your browsers locked right here, we'll have the Slugabed track for you to hear next week.
If you've listened to Mary Anne Hobbs' Radio 1 show of late you'll have more likely than not heard the beats of Tokimonsta, her productions have littered the tracklists since the West Coast Rocks special back in January. An affiliate of the Brainfeeder camp, she's a big part of the LA beat scene and kindly offered to put together a mix for us in exchange for a few words ahead of her UK tour later this month...
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Tokimonsta: In short, I’m a female beat maker repping Brainfeeder and all my LA-liens.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I have a strange obsession with cooking shows, documentaries, and cartoons. I wake up in the afternoon because I go to sleep at 6-7 in the morning... I have a tendency to work on music late at night, or would that be early in the morning...? Clothes, shoes, clever music gear and sick vinyl are my weaknesses.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I was always a purveyor of music—you know, a bit of a music snob. One day a friend suggested I tried making beats of my own, so I did. BAM! That’s how I ended up where I am today. Now I get to create music I enjoy that other people can enjoy with me.
What’s your production set up like?
Messy! I have my monitors, mixer, 1200s, handytrax, sp 404, computer, various midi controllers... etc etc. I can’t give all my secrets away :)
How would you describe your sound to someone zoning in for the first time?
It’s strongly hip hop influenced, spiked with electronic sounds and a lot of spacey Asiatic/Latin jungle vibes.
What’s your take on being part of the LA beat scene? I bet it gets the creative juices flowing with so many quality producers in the community, is there a sort of friendly rivalry between you all?
I love it! I don’t believe there is any rivalry because we’re all so different. Though we might have similar roots, we have branched out into our own unique sound. I always get to hear something fresh from my LA music fam.
Being picked up by Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label is very cool indeed, what do you have in store on that label for us all and what’s it like being the first lady of Brainfeeder? Do you get a crown or anything cool like that?
No crown for me... I’m fine just knowing I’m associated with great people. I will have something out on BF, but not quite yet. I want that project to be personal and something special, so I will be taking my time. In the meantime, I will have other releases that will be out sooner and the rest of the BF fam will be putting their albums out - it’s going to be sick!
How did your live show come about, what’s the set-up like and what do you like about the freedom of having controllers to tweak as apposed to turn tables and all that?
My set up varies, but most times it includes my laptop, a midi controller, audio interface, footswitch, and every now and then my SP404. I feel as though it’s not just the controllers that give me freedom, but the software as well. You can literally create new music on stage verses just mixing songs on a turntable.
What music are you feeling at the moment from inside and outside the scene?
I love the new Kings of Convenience album. I have a thing for very spacey, soulful, and romantically-twinged music.
What other releases have you got dropping soon; I spy a Ramp Recordings plate on your myspace?
Yes! I have an EP coming out on Ramp very very soon—maybe this month or the beginning of next month. Then I have a shared 10” on All City. There’s also the collab project with Suzi Analogue which will be on Jazzy Sport (JP) and I have another solo album in with Art Union (JP). Of course, I have my BF project as well, the date of that is TBA though.
You’ve got a UK & Europe tour coming soon, have you been to the UK before and what are you looking forward to the most? Apart from playing loads of awesome music of course…
Actually, I have never been to any part of Europe at all. I’m looking forward to the eats, people, architecture and culture. It’ll be great to see more of the world that has a richer history than the US, which is more an infant compared to other places.
Tell us a little bit about the mix you’ve done for us, what tracks did you just have to play?
I threw in the type of joints I love... grimey, bangin’, dark, funky, dancey, soulful, nerdy, all of it! I just had to make sure I mixed them in a way that made sense. What’s the fun of only liking one type of music right? Plus, I actually want to see if people can manage to recognize the songs (so no playlist). Of course, I stuck my tunes in there as well.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us? Have you got any words of wisdom for our readers?
Don’t let society tell you what you should or shouldn’t be listening to. If you dig something, just stick with it. Another good tip bit, a good dose vitamin B helps prevent or alleviate a hangover from too much boozing... just thought a few people might appreciate that. ;)
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UK residents can catch Toki at the Ramp Recordings showcase at the Lightbox in Vauxhall, LDN on the 25th November, Donky Pitch in Brighton on the 26th, New Bohemia in Leeds on the 27th and Hoya Hoya in Manchester on 28th.
With a couple of projects well on the way for Ramp Recordings and a DJ schedule thats shaping up impeccably, Shortstuff is back, this time handling a mixtape for SuperSuper which you can read about and download at the convenient text link below.
SBTRKT is giving away his 'Kaoss' track for the price of a couple of mouse clicks over at the fabric blog. In the accomanying interview the masked producer reveals a little information on his live performances and upcoming projects too.
Drew Lustman’s ‘Love Is A Liability’ long-player stands unchallenged as one of the finest electronic releases of this year thus far, regardless of genre. His beats as FaltyDL tread a strangely instinctive line between pleasingly complex and downright awkward, yet somehow manage to avoid falling into the trap of losing their intrinsic sense of groove and danceability; hence the dizzying spirals and sudden twists of his debut album’s highlights, ‘To New York’ and ‘The Shape To Come,’ hold a melodic and rhythmic intricacy that sets them in as good stead for late-night headphone listens as for a packed floor. In fact, in the four months since its release ‘Love Is A Liability’ has more or less usurped Burial’s first record as my post-club journey home soundtrack.
Never one to rest on his laurels, during the next month or so the man’s got a new 12” to come on Ramp, ‘Party,’ as well as ‘Bravery,’ his follow-up proper on Planet Mu. Immediately striking is the divergent movement of the two releases – in ‘Party’ he’s further channeled the restless UK garage spirit of his earlier material into a melancholy dancefloor mover, but the other material is different somehow. The ‘Bravery’ EP is a far less immediate listen than its predecessor, stripped of its devotion to a straightforward skip and seemingly more interested in exploring the outer reaches of its parent genre. Opener ‘You Made Me Feel So Right’ is a case in point – the mournful vocal sample of the title rides over an entirely reversed two-step beat. It’s an uncomfortable and introspective listen, its down pitched voices and nocturnal ambience a million miles from a tune like ‘Human Meadow.’
Still, it feels as though detaching his music from the pressures of the floor has allowed Lustman the stylistic and melodic freedom to travel far beyond the self-set limits of ‘Love Is A Liability’ in search of deeper treasures. The expedition has unearthed some real gems - the title track in particular is heart stopping, an opening drunken swagger parting to allow room for a gorgeous sliced vocal breakdown, before a 4/4 kick suddenly sweeps it into space for a few blissful seconds. ‘Tronman’ sets a foreboding drone against escalating percussive aggression, and much of the record shares as much common ground with LA glitch-hop as with its more overt garage and dubstep influences. That said, it’s impossible to miss a warped cameo from Mary Anne Hobbs on ‘Mother Beam,’ no matter how much he messes with her distinctive voice.
In their latest issue, Wire’s main criticism of ‘Bravery’ was its supposed ‘bloodlessness’. I’m not entirely sure how they came to that conclusion. It’s not an easy listen, nor is it slavishly devoted to a single sound, but to call FaltyDL’s music bloodless is to deny the human heart that obviously beats at its core. Only a living being could have made music this brilliantly weird.
With releases on Ramp and Rwina Recordings to his name already, as well as a collaboration with the veritable feast of an emcee, Durrty Goodz and an EP forthcoming on Numbers (as well as an album well on the way for Rwina) we thought we’d have a virtual sit down with the man who’s got probably the best alcohol sanctioned production moniker in dubstep, Taz Buckfaster.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Taz Buckfaster: Well, I’m a 26 year old, Glasgow-based dubstep producer/DJ and I’ve been playing out and making music in one way or another since my mid-teens. Had a few releases out on various labels (Dubkraft, Ramp, Rwina) and have a load of things planned for the year ahead.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
On the daily, I do music. It’s hard to stop. I’ve just begun writing Dubstep reviews for a magazine (www.core-mag.net), so I’m looking to cut my journalistic teeth on that then perhaps expand on that. I’ve been on an extended break in the countryside while making this album, testing new material on the free-party scene (big up the Bass Alliance system and the Electrikal crew), away from the city lights, and I’m now looking forward to getting back to the hustle-and-bustle.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I’ve always had a passion for music. I was into hardcore rave, 80’s metal, synth-pop and gangsta rap/g-funk in primary school and added jungle, house, breaks and trance to the list when I started high school. The time eventually came when I wanted to see if I was capable of making something that I would otherwise pick up off the shelf and listen to. I’d started playing guitar by that point, but buying my first decks at 16 was really the catalyst. That was when I knew I wanted to do more than just spin other people’s records.
Started off messing with the Ejay series (as you do) and then started importing my own loops from Propellerhead software’s ReBirth soft synth, moved onto Cubase and kept progressing.
You mentioned to me before that you fell out of love with computer based producing for a while. What was it that sucked you back in? I mean, was it this new type of music being made that inspired you?
To be honest, the main reason I 'fell out of love' with it was the fact that I was broke and my equipment was failing me, big-time. I started working after college, but was barely making enough to get by, so splashing out on new gear just wasn’t an option. During this period, I got into writing guitar based music, listened to a fair bit of breaks, garage and dnb, and eventually, along with some other mates, discovered the emerging Grime sound.
I ended up getting back in touch with a friend from back in Castle Douglas who I hadn’t seen in a while and he was messing with a few programs and coming up with some alright sounds, so I took out a loan to get a new comp, fired up the cylinders and soon enough he was coming to me asking how to do things. I tend to be my own worst critic, so when I let some other people hear tracks I’d made and they were very enthusiastic, so that inspired some confidence in my abilities and I carried on.
What aspects of dubstep connect with you, and similarly spur you on to continue producing?
I have quite a varied taste when it comes to dubstep. I’m not one of these elitist internet moaners who decides that he doesn’t like something because so-and-so’s blog says it’s shit or whatever. I hate to repeat the cliché, but what makes dubstep special is the lack of boundaries or hemming-in that certain other genres suffer from. Unlike some other genres, almost everyone I meet who is involved with this is friendly and ego-free, which is refreshing (although I do stress the ‘almost’). There is still the danger of being pigeonholed by certain sections if you churn out the same old drill-like wobbles time after time, mind you.
What’s your production set up like? Has it changed a lot since day dot?
Primitive and makeshift! Up until a few months ago, I was working with an ancient desktop PC that was far beyond its last last legs, so I was in a bit of a technological rut insofar as what software I could run. My new lappy has been a godsend. Current setup looks like: Laptop (4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Core 2 Duo), software (Cubase 4, Reason, etc), shitty powered speakers and an M-Audio Axiom 61 that I borrowed off a mate who owes me money. I’ve got some catching up to do software-wise and there are a few bits of kit that are sorely needed.
What’s the Taz Buckfaster moniker about? An ode to the thick wine of Scotland perhaps? Or is there more to it than that…?
Nah, you’re spot on. Everyone calls me Taz, and Buckfaster just came about through excessive consumption of the dark stuff. Couldn’t escape it really, and I suppose it gives me, and the name, a bit of a Glasgow identity; an ode to its grimey underbelly.
Who do you consider to be of great influence on your output?
There are too many to mention. Far too many.
You’re a Scot and as geographically such, you’re tied in nicely with the Numbers crew. What’s your area like for you to make music in and what’s it like having that network around you? How does Glasgow differ inspirationally from Castle Douglas…?
Glasgow’s a sick place to make music, there’s plenty of good patter, and it’s great to have people in the extended family of mates and acquaintances who are on a similar wavelength and all making their own respective marks on what they do. Glasgow and Castle Douglas are polar opposites. “Castle Douglas”, to paraphrase Vic Reeves, “is where people go to die.”
Your older productions have that kind of dark edge and bass impact that really suits grime emcees. Was that an intentional thing do you think or did it just turn out like that?
I got into Grime in 2004/05 and I guess its influence just stuck with me. Almost everything I do is self-taught, so some habits die hard.
How did the track with Durrty Goodz come about? He mentions you approaching him. Did you manage to get in the studio together? What was it like seeing/hearing someone spray like that over your beats?
I added him to myspace after realising I’d not done so before and a few hours later I had a message in my inbox telling me how much he liked the beats in my player and that he’d like for me to produce some tracks for him. It was around this time that I was making my transition between grime and dubstep and I just kept passing stuff his way and I’d get honest opinion and good advice back.
Ended up going on a road trip last summer to Bristol to check out Bodynod as the lineup was sick (Goodz, Slimzee, Zed Bias, El-B, Joker, Blazey) and got talking to Goodz again there. It was good to hear him tear it up on ‘Destruction’. I guess it was time for certain naysayers to button their lips.
Who else are you rating in the grime scene at the moment? Production and MC wise?
If I’m honest, I don’t really keep up-to-date with the grime scene at the moment. When certain heads started falling off and doing grime-pop and dodgy electro, chasing chart money and writing bars about girl trouble and watches, I tuned right out. I still rate Goodz because he thinks outside of the box, and Tempa T is sick (even if ‘Next hype’ is beginning to grate a little from over-play).
Production-wise, I rate Nocturnal. His stuff sounds sharp and has a real musical feel, which some producers really seem to lack (no names mentioned). Rachet, from Outtakers, is coming with some big things these days too, although it’s more of a departure from grime than his earlier stuff.
Your newer stuff seems to be more in key with the ‘purple’ twisted synthesized sound of Bristol... What producers are you really feeling right now in dubstep?
Without getting into a debate about semantics as these things generally end up (re: Dubstep or not Dubstep); in no particular order - Joker, Gemmy, Ginz, Guido, 501, Starkey, Numan, Raffertie, Silkie, Emalkay, Synkro, 2000F & J Kamata, Reso, Ikonika, Untold, etc. I could go on, and on, but endless lists bore me to tears and I’ll inevitably leave someone out.
Your debut album has been announced, forthcoming on the Dutch label Rwina. How did you link with them? What have you got in store to keep ears interested over the long player format?
Chafik got in touch earlier in the year, we had a chat and it turned out we shared some ideas and some background, so I sent him a handful of tracks and we planned out some releases. After getting a taste of the newer material I was coming up with, he suggested I put together an album and I’ve been working on it since.
The album basically comprises of different ideas around the 140 bpm mark, not sticking to any one formula or style and it reflects the thoughts I had at the time. I’d like to think it covers a few roads, as opposed to just plodding along in one lane. It’s not as obvious as previous releases may lead you to believe.
You mentioned an EP on Numbers as well, can you take us through that and whatever else have you’ve got coming up?
Yeah, I’d been talking with Jackmaster for some time about a release and the ‘Bare Grills’ EP is the result. It comprises of 4 tracks and is one of the first releases on the new label. Release details will follow in the near future.
‘Half Man, Half Trout/20 Red’ 12” drops at the beginning of October on Rwina. There are a few releases that I’m not supposed to talk about yet, so I’ll keep it hush for now. Some remixes by other people that will rock your socks.
I’m in the planning stages of a quick jaunt to the west coast US for a show or two in October (tbc), I’ve been invited to play at a night in London run by grime (and now purple-drenched dubstep) producer Rachet on the 14th of November (the details of which are pending), and I’m heading out to Patronaat in Haarlem, Amsterdam, on December 5th to play Dub Infusions with Stenchman, Nicon (Subway) and Akkachar (Rwina), so those who missed me after my passport trouble earlier in the year will get a chance to catch me this time round (bigups to Nicon for covering last time).
Tell us about the mix you’ve done for us, what tracks just had to be there? Any exclusive business?
I put a fair bit of my stuff in there for the heads who haven’t got familiar with my music yet, some exclusive cuts from the album, a couple of past releases, and some tunes by artists I rate. Things like 501’s ‘St Ives’ and Rachet’s ‘80’s Substep’ were definite picks because they’re great tracks and on a similar note, Starkey’s ‘Rain City’ had to be the opener because it’s just simply massive and sets the pace nicely.
Have you got any words of wisdom you’d care to share with the interweb?
“Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen
Following on perfectly from the Texan label Formant’s last 12” platter from the much discussed Hyetal, Shortstuff, known to the copywriting world as Richard Attley, hits out at the market with his second solo 12” after the superlative ‘A Rustling’ b/w ‘Stuff’ offering on Ramp Recordings.
This three track single manages to take his broken tech infused, nearly funky sound into deeper territory; the opener ‘Progression’ jitters into life with its punctuated echoes and soulful, hot buttered bleeps contrasting the computerised bass warbling until the broken groove Shortstuff is fast making a trademark hits. Taking the garage template and twisting it into new shapes he ebbs up the drone synths, adding familiar chimes and time stretched percussion before the saw waves finally erupt.
With a synth lead reminiscent of early Planet Mu or even some of the more Boards of Canada-esque Warp releases, ‘Relapse’ displays perfectly how to create tension through melody as Attley gears up to his first breakdown with rolling chord stabs and persistent percussion; the kind that absolutely drives the whole rest of the song when it re-appears after it makes way for the low end riff.
‘A,’ the longest track on offer here, again fuses Attley’s penchant for snatches of melody with thick, sweetly compressed kick drums with the kind of wandering bass you’d more likely find accompanying 170bpm drums. Its sawing pierces your belly at high volume and really does leave the lead synths and the high end of the drums completely alone, letting them flitter and twinkle respectively showing a deeper and somewhat more subtle side to Shortstuff.
New clip from the one FaltyDL, which is in fact taken from a forthcoming project on Ramp Recordings, rather than from his imminent follow up to his 'Love Is A Liability' album, the excellent EP, 'Bravery' on Planet Mu.
