FREESTYLERS interview with Aston Harvey

The lovely Aston Harvey, founder of the Freestylers, caught up with me before heading to Spain later today.

You were brought up and lived most of your life in the suburbs of London – how does that lifestyle contradict your constant touring. Do you enjoy it?
I love doing what i do.I guess i'm in a very fortunate position to be in.Think it keeps me quite grounded,but i was a Suburban Boy when i was younger....


How did you get into music scene?
When i was 16 i got my first set of decks and that changed my life.I used to jam in my bedroom with these rapper friends of mine and one day i turned round and said to them maybe we should go to a studio and lay some of these ideas down.We started using this studio quite regularly but at the time i didn't know how to use the equipment,so i wanted to learn.I got a job working at this particular studio and soon i picked up a lot of the technical side of things quite quickly.After a while i really got into the whole beat making process and was flying at doing my own productions,my first outing being an underground classic which i recorded under the name Blapps Posse.I started making music at the time when it was the birth of the whole Dance Music scene in the UK.


How has music production changed in the 30 years since you’ve been involved?
Production has changed so much since when i first began.The first sampler i used you only had 8 secs sampling time,which is a blip in todays terms.The programs you use nowadays are so powerful along with computers.There's no restrictions with what you can do now.20 years ago you would have a studio full of drum machines, keyboards and a big mixing desk,but now all you need is 1 keyboard with one big computer and you're sorted.


You do live shows as well as dj sets - which do you prefer and why?
I enjoy both for different reasons but they are both as rewarding as each other,although doing band shows involve at lot more effort with team work and rehearsing.


You've just had a new track come out Bounce to This (Pete Jordan Rmx)is there anything else in the pipeline?
We've got a single coming out called "Cracks "in July which features the vocal talents of Belle Humble and another single in Sept called Frozen.We've been working on an Album that we hope to be out early next year as well.


When can we expect to see you on our sunny shores again?
Hope to be back at Xmas.....


Thanks Aston - we hope to see you soon!

Rich Jones – Noreuil Sessions

Keep your eyes peeled for this techno wiz kid. Producing since 2002 Jones has released tracks on labels such as 8-Sided Dice, T-Bahn, Backwater Community and Evasive. His tunes have been have been responsible for the development of a new wave of sound played by the likes of Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills and Derrick May, to name a few.

In this podcast Jones takes us on a tribal journey into the depth of a techno jungle with his signature deep driving bass and hard hitting beats. Jones surprised me with his amazing track selection and technique. His levels and beat matching were immaculate through and through.
Check it out at :

http://noreuilaudio.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

Moments Missed @ Movement

For those who, like me, weren’t at Movement in Detroit, USA, here is a slice of the festival cooked up by none other then John Acquaviva.

Dance music legend Acquaviva has had a srting of club hits to his name since the 90s. He is most known for establishing record label Plus 8 with Richie Hawtin and recently also launched the infamous beatport.com. With a collection of over 50,000 vinyl Acquaviva always has a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to mixing up a storm.

This podcast is full of surprises boasting a wide range of tech house tracks. Starting with a bouncy "Kaiserdisco – Aguja", progressing into the dirty and deeper sounds of "D-Formation and Fererros What you want” and ending with the crisp "Uto Karem – Body Move". Other artists on the mix include: Tim Green, Olivier Giacamotto, Seth Troxler and Pleasurekraft.

Although the mixing is slightly off every five or six tracks he quickly recovers his mistake. The glitches are easy to overlook with a track selection like this. It’s not quite the same as being at the festival but it softens the blow.

Download free on http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/john-acquavivas-definitive/id251199576

Detroit Movement – the look and feel of the festival

I was chatting with a friend about how I really like Derrick May’s views on techno and how passionate he is about it. If you’ve ever read or watched an interview with him, he’s got strong opinions and a don’t-mess-with-me attitude. In Facebook-speak, this is an “I like". Detroit Movement is his baby. There's a whole back story that you can find on Wikipedia if you care for some light history.


When I first booked my ticket to Detroit, Michigan to attend Movement, I hadn’t actually heard of it before. A friend had mentioned that they were going and I thought it might be fun to tag along given the epic line up. In previous trips to the States, I had attended a party or two in New York City and had left with the feeling that the true techno scene was relatively small. They do like Deadmau5 and all thing Dim Mak though. I booked my ticket and a month later was landing in Detroit.


I’m not sure what images you have of Detroit but it wasn’t what I expected. Coming through customs at LAX, the customs officer asked curiously, “why would you want to go there?” It really was deserted like he had said except that the buildings are grand – think New York without the insanely huge skyscrapers and a third of the size. I’m sure that once upon a time in the not too distant past, this city was heaving with people and life. The death of the car industry has really taken its toll on this city. In any case, all this hadn’t really changed what I expected of this festival.


The opening party the night before the festival’s first day was held in St.Andrew’s church. It’s an old converted church that regularly holds club nights. Its renovations are more Q-Bar than Greenwood, just for the record. It has three levels: a basement, ground and an onlooking mezzanine floor and a top floor chill out room. Despite feeling the full effect of jetlag, Speedy J impressed as did Ryan Elliot, a Canadian based out of Berlin and Seth Troxler. I hear that he’s a Detroit native. One of the girls behind the bar told me that the reason they have bouncers standing in front of the girls bathroom is so that guys can’t enter the bathrooms and rape the girls. Great start to my stay in Detroit – thanks.


The people in Detroit are really friendly. The locals called it “that techno fest” and love it that you’ve come to their city for it. A girl I met from Manhattan called it “dimpf” – I guess that’s how you say DEMF. In the marketing material, the festival was described as a showcase. Personally, I dig that way of pitching the event. It’s almost like Carl Craig, this year’s event director, is saying that these are the acts I like and maybe you’ll like them too. The festival is notably located in a small venue. It’s about the size of a football field. It doesn’t take half an hour to walk from one stage to the other. In fact, the layout and overall sound production of this festival was medal-worthy; five stages all within no more than ten minutes walk of each other. On the first day, I saw DJ Sneak in amongst the crowd enjoying the tunes of Marco Carola. The Movement stage was pretty neat. It wasn’t a deep stage. I didn’t need binoculars to see the decks. The stage faced the main road so all noise from this stage escaped into the deserted streets of downtown Detroit.


There is an underground stage. The stage is literally in a car parking lot under the main festival. Rolando mixed up a storm here on the second day. He’s a talented one behind the decks. Given the amount of concrete surrounding this stage (in fact, if you exclude people this was the only thing surrounding the stage) the sound was really decent. The party had lots of young ravers and dressed so you knew they were ravers. Fluro is clearly still popular in some parts. No worries, I'm still all clad in black. Phew! I should add that I also spotted a lady over the age of 70 in a wheelchair waving her glowsticks.


The Red Bull stage probably had the sweetest spot of all. It had a nice view of the river on one side. I had met the girls running this stage in the hotel that morning and they told me that each year they try to introduce a new sound to the audience. This year they said they were trying to introduce some more dubstep. New? Oh well, it's North America. They are still resisting dubstep a little I think.


The main drawcards of the festival were Plastikman on the first night and Inner City on the second. Ricardo Villalobos cancelled at the last minute due to visa issues. Fuck me but in his place, we were treated to a rare set by Hawtin on the Beatport stage but I will come to that later. The Vitamin C stage is the main stage at the festival. It’s a man made amphitheatre so good views are everywhere. Plastikman wasn't really for me. Everyone else seemed to be going off to the visual extravaganza but I must have missed the memo. DJ Sneak’s sunset set on the second day was a notable stand out. I like his DJ-ing style. You can tell he is really loving it out there. He was happy, totally rocking out and it was very infectious. At this point, I met another guy from Detroit who was probably in his late 30s who told me that he comes to one day of this festival every year. He said that he’d been coming for the last ten years – mad!


Jamie Jones, Cassy, Paco Osuna, Martin Buttrich and Chris Leibing all played on the Beatport stage. It’s not hard to see why this was my favourite stage. Cassy played an all vinyl set. I love it when female DJs play really dark and hard tracks. As mentioned earlier, Villalobos was supposed to close this stage on the Saturday night but instead Richie Hawtin in his capacity as Richie Hawtin did. It was k-crazy! And so this I did like very much! Venue sidenote - this stage faced the water. No issues with stages being so close together when the sound is facing away from each other.


So I can’t not mention the two after parties that I attended. One of them was located at a rollerskating rink far into the suburbs of Detroit. We had the coolest taxi driver. I was the only Asian. Byron the only red head and Nicola the only blonde. Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodymann played at this one. He went for a rollerskate later as well. I also attended a day party on the third day at Old Miami. Old Miami must have been an old western saloon in times past with real cowboys. The party was held in the backyard of this old shack. Think a garden that someone who lives in the Blue Mountains might have. Totally insane party. It started raining and then raining hardier at around 1pm. No one left and the music just got louder. Then it got too humid and started hailing and so I left. Matthew Dear and Lee Curtiss played at this one amongst others. Most memorable moment – walking into the pile of human-ness that was Hawtin and his beautiful model lady partner canoodling on the grass – I swear I did not see them. How embarrassing.

That’s all. Cool party. Did I drop enough names? I didn’t get to see everyone. I slept through Moritz Von Oswald and Model 500 (sad!) but not to worry since there is always next time. I'd totally recommend this festival and maybe head to Mutek in Montreal the weekend after as well if you're a real keen bean. Next festival I’d like to attend – Labyrinth in Japan. I guess I really just love observing how different cultures party.


(I'm looking forward to heading back to Sydney. Looking forward to partying with you soon! xxx)

Pier Bucci

I was listening to a We Love podcast and heard his name mentioned after a tune I quite liked... and yep... it's fresh and I like-eth his work.


http://www.myspace.com/buccipier

Sunny Sydney Sundays

London is the notorious club capital of the world. Every music connoisseur can find their niche from small local clubs like Inigo in Clapham Common to the world wide famous Pacha which has hosted some of the biggest names in dance music’s history from Carl Cox to Deadmau5.

Since last year, however, Londons nightlife has been on a steady decline. It started with three clubs closing in The Cross (The Key, The Cross and Canvas), followed by Turnmills shutting for re-development. Hope returned when a new super club Matter was open in September but even that is now closed for the summer with rumors that the close will be final.

Fabric has fired all staff until further notice and Ministry of Sound is fighting a losing battle to stop the building of apartments next door. It seems the clubbing scene has hit rock bottom.

The Sydney scene, however has been banging on with new parties and venues opening. First Spice moved venue from The Bunker leaving room for a new day club to open in its place. Now punters have the option of either the dark and twisted sounds of the Bunker or to watch the sunrise from the top room of Sydneys infamous Home club. This doubled the techno day club parties in Sydney.

Then another wonderful thing happened. Enter Church. A Sunday afternoon chill out club where people can chill and have a few beers to mind boggoling techno in a location perfectly located in between both Bunker and Spice. Perhaps now we know why there’s been an influx of English to our shores.