Gerry Read - 'Roomland' (Distal Remix)
23Hz & Numaestro - 'Zumo' (Sully Remix)
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DIN: The Launch Party (Promo Video) from DIN MAGAZINE on Vimeo.
Hey, how have you been? Could you please introduce yourself to those unfamiliar with your work? Hello there. I’ve been good thanks. Busy, but good. My name is Ed Russell, I’m 22 and I write music under the name Tessela. Earlier this year I had a release on All City Records.
You’re from the West County in UK, have you always lived there? Would you say that your surroundings have influenced you musically in any way? I’ve actually only just moved here and If I’m honest I kind of hope my surroundings haven’t had much of an influence on my music. I don’t live in Bristol as people often assume, but in Bath. It’ s quaint and sleepy which is great and suits me down to the ground but you can see why I wouldn’t want that to translate into my music! Being so close to Bristol though is amazing and I’ve been to a few really good nights there recently. There always seems to be such a good vibe in Bristol, and a real sense of community. I’m looking forward to getting more involved and exploring some more clubs and nights.
You’ve mentioned several times that you are inspired by percussion a lot. Is there a similar pattern you follow each time during your creative process while building up a track? I always start with the drums and will often spend the majority of the time it takes to make the track making the drum track. When I feel I’ve got a strong drum/percussion part I usually then think about a bass or hook line. I tend to plan out my tracks pretty meticulously before I actually get down to making them. I like having a really clear image in my head of what I want a track to sound like and then trying to recreate what I hear in my head in the studio. It usually happens via some pretty cryptic visual representations in the form of scribbles and crap graphic scores and its rare that I get down exactly how I imagine it or even close. It’s just nice to know what your trying to achieve instead of opening up Cubase with no direction.
Aside from music itself, what other sources do you draw your inspiration from? Hmm that’s a tricky one. I’d say art is definitely becoming more of an inspiration. My girlfriend studies Graphic Design and we’ve got a load of amazing books around the house so there’s always something to look at, we also share a studio so there’s art all around me when I making music. When I make tracks I’m often very aware of the overall timbre or tone of the music and I’ve always got a really strong sense of a particular vibe I’m trying to capture. I find this overall vibe or emotion is often portrayed in art just as it is in music. It’s something that’s impossible to describe but I think very much present in both.
In another interview, you mentioned that you prefer seing a good DJ set rather than seeing someone play live. What constitutes a good DJ-set and who does it best in your opinion? A good DJ set for me is someone who plays decent tracks in a good order and doesn’t clutter it with unnecessary effects and cheap CDJ tricks. I’m not that bothered about whether it’s bang on in time, if the tracks are generally beat matched then thats good enough for me. Obviously I don’t go mad for clangers, but I wouldn’t really be put off if a DJ lets the tracks slip a bit out of time. In terms of best DJ I’d say Surgeon has got to be up there. I’ve only seen him few times but his selection and diversity is amazing. I also saw Pearson Sound recently, he was really good as he kept it really simple and it was a really enjoyable set. For some reason my most memorable gig was seeing Jamie Vex’d about two years ago in Leeds at an Exodus/Room 237 night. It wasn’t long after his remix of Scuba’s “Twitch” came out, which I still love. I remember just waiting in anticipation hoping he would play. He finally did and I just went nuts. You know when you just lose it in a club then realise that you’ve been dancing like a twat for the past ten minutes? It was one of those.
What are you working on at the moment and what can we expect from you in the near future? I’m working on a fair bit at the moment which is great. I’m doing a 12” for 2nd Drop which I’m really looking forward to and should be coming out early next year. I’m also working on a really exciting collab EP which will most likely be for All City and hopefully also coming out early next year. Me and Hackman have got a collaborative 12” coming out on the new Audio Culture’s label and there’s a few other things in the pipeline which will be surfacing fairly soon.
What has been the inspiration behind the tracklisting for your Truancy mixtape? What’s the perfect setting to listen to the mixtape? The tracks in the mix are basically a little collection of stuff I’ve been listening to recently, a few old favourites and some new stuff by myself that isn’t really finished but I thought I’d include them anyway. Its probably best to listen to the mix LOUD in a club or somewhere with a decent soundsystem but listen to it anywhere really. I’ve tried to include a varied selection of tracks and not just music for clubs so hopefully it can be appreciated on speakers big and small.
Complete this sentence: At heart I’m just a frustrated … man! Off the booze for the next four months and its about as fun as it sounds.
When was the last time you danced? In my kitchen about an hour ago… Fleetwood Mac.
3 € before 01:00 am -> 5 € thereafter DJ RUM (2nd Drop, UK) FONIK (Music Manifesto / EDJ, UK) Turrican (Urban Poetry / Abyssal) Visuals by Sensationalist |
Text: Milly McMahon
Photography: Oliver Clasper
Transcending genre, BPM and all other kinds of musical typifications, DjRUM is the ground-breaking talent, breaking mixes unlike anyone else on the scene. Boldly going where many DJs don’t, RUM explores garage, techno, reggae, funk and dub, in every set he lays down, all in the name of his unequivocal love of music. Embracing every fast-moving, break beat he self-produces, Rum, real name Felix Manuel, first began making his own music ten years ago. Then more interested in jazz, Felix’s signature sound has developed and evolved organically over the past decade, as he pushed forward, continually piecing together his unique, lo-fi samplers. Recently putting out his first release via British label, 2nd Drop Records (also home to Ramadanman) his EP Mountains was received with significant acclaim, earning him serious time on underground airwaves. Working away on Ableton, this bearded, bedroom DJ prefers to not use synths, instead favouring bass to keep his feel all the more filmic and immersive. Making it up as he goes along, Felix has his fingers in a lot of pies; currently grafting in the studio, he is also collaborating with singer/songwriter Shad[]wb[]x, as well working on his own debut album.
Backed by the taste-making likes of Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson, this boy has a bright future ahead and he ain’t even begun to bare his best stuff. Felix got i-D online in the mood for some Friday fun, letting loose with the steeze, jam and funk, vinyl style. Fancy a splash of RUM? Don’t mind if we do!
Click here to see our i-DJ series in full.
http://soundcloud.com/djrum
Read the interview below or visit the Sonic Router website here:
http://www.sonicrouter.com/2011/10/sr-mix-102-djrum-2nd-drop/
DjRUM's recent suite of music released by 2nd Drop Records stood out to us for a number of reasons. Given that there’s a certain propensity within electronic dance music for stylistic shifts, bittersweet vocal chopping and super tweaked, soundsystem ready cleanliness, Rum’s three part ‘Mountains’ odyssey should stick out like a sore thumb – but it doesn’t, it caresses most categories with ease. His music is deep, layered as much with restraint as it is palpable sound, but it kicks low, hitting your gut in a similar way to the work of a lot of his peers.
“I work almost exclusively with audio samples so my music has quite an organic, non-synthetic sound to it,” he tells me, as we begin our conversation discussing his processes. “I don’t just sample from records though, I also record myself playing instruments and even singing; although you probably can’t notice it, it’s very heavily processed.”
The two 12”s that combine to form the Mountains EP fully embrace that strictly imposed production style; re-textured samples and static drenched drones crawl over each other behind an array of stringent drum work on the first plate, which is populated by ‘Undercoat’ and ‘Mountains (Part 1).’ Parts 2 & 3 of ‘Mountains’ come separately, backed by the more straight forward garage clip of ‘Turiya,’ but they take the baton from the first part’s strung samples, re-phrasing the intonations with a more trip hop rhythm that over eggs itself suddenly upping to a more hardcore stomp, bringing the gabber-esque kick drum expression to the brittle layers and metallic shards of delay.
“Mountains’ is obviously the lynchpin of the EP,” Rum explains. “The three separate parts were all written at the same time. As I make tunes I tend to generate a lot of material that lands on the cutting room floor as I experiment with different elements. During work on ‘Mountains (Part 1)’ it became clear that there was way more scope in what I was doing than just a 140bpm tune so I started putting together parts 2 and 3. ‘Undercoat’ was similar, although there I managed to keep all of my ideas within one track.”
It’s Rum’s wealth of ideas seem to be the main benefit of this EP. Across the ‘Mountains’ triumvirate he touches on rhythms and moods that it takes most producers an array of releases to touch on, and that’s undoubtedly something that his history as a core component of Yardcore can be thanked for. Being, as he is, relatively new to releasing his productions, one can assume that he’s been toiling away behind the scenes, finding his feet and sharpening his oft-tagged cinematic approach to music; but through Yardcore (a club night and radio show on Sub.fm that’s been going a long time now) it’s easy to trace the sounds that Rum exposed himself to, archiving a whole lot of everything…
“We did our first party back in 2006,” he recalls. “We had Ed DMX, Equinox and Boxcutter booked, but when Boxcutter missed his flight we called in a favor last minute and were lucky enough to get Jamie Vex’d instead. Wow, that takes me back… but it’s hard to say when I got into ‘dubstep.’ I remember a garage head mate of mine playing me ‘Fist of Fury’ by Horsepower back in 2001… is that dubstep? Maybe it’s 2-step… Anyway, I started hearing the word dubstep around 2005 I reckon. That year Monkey Steak’s ‘Grim Dubs,’ Burial’s South London Boroughs EP and the Rephlex Grime compilations got me really excited about that kind of music and I started getting properly into production like a year later. I’ve only ever been into dubstep as part of a balanced musical diet though…”
And that definitely shows in Rum’s music. There’s a carefully weighted balance between movement inspiring drum work and searing atmospherics, but the key to what really caught our ear was his evolutions and the sprawling nature of his composition. By rite ‘Mountains’ should be three separate tracks and as it stands he and 2nd Drop made the cut between the 140bpm aspect and the remaining beat experiments, but the panache with which Rum reaches these tangents really smacks of a hankering for prog music – not in the grandiose 30 minute sitar wigout way, but in the way it shifts slightly and constantly progresses.
“That’s definitely the intention,” he agrees when I finally let the ‘p’ word fall out. “I always found it interesting listening to music like DJ Shadow’s first few of albums – he sampled a lot of prog, but also took influence from the music’s composition. As he sampled the music to make hip hop he was putting it into a structure of his own, but those structures he created usually had an extended, evolving, progressive approach more akin to prog than to regular hip hop. I listen to a lot of jazz from that prog era, and I think it has had a similar influence on me…”
This notion of expansive and fluid structure is one that he explores further on his contribution to our ongoing mix series: “I did it in Ableton. It moves about quite a bit through different moods and genres. There’s reggae, techno, garage, dubstep, classical, funk, soul, hiphop, house… and it goes from quite an upbeat dancey vibe, through some really mellow spaciousness, into some really dark introspection, and ends with a round of applause. I’m pretty pleased with it actually. I think it sets the scene well for my own productions.”
Listen to the mix below:
From championing dubstep and grime, to letting girls wear trainers, FWD>> has gone down in clubbing lore. Here's why …
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of FWD>>, the iconic British club night that created a space for British Underground Music to thrive. Before grime and dubstep had an official name, it was at FWD>> in east London that you could hear bassy beats, and skank with the skinny teenagers who would later become some of the most influential dubstep artists of their generation. It was where Mala, Coki, Skream and Benga were first heard. For many discerning clubbers, FWD>> is the stuff of legend, and here's 10 reasons why …
FWD>> showcased Ramadanman, Coki, Skream, Kode 9 and Benga but it was more than just a dubstep night. It also paid homage to grime, garage and house, pushing through some of the best British talent over the last 10 years. "I saw FWD>> as an incubator of new ideas," says Ramadanman. "As the sound system was so good, there were no worries about your new tune not being faithfully reproduced, which I think led to more experimentalism." Without this, it seems unlikely that James Blake, Katy B and countless others would have made mainstream waves today.
People felt fine venturing out to FWD>> on their own, because they felt sure they'd meet people they knew inside. There was a terrific sense of community. DJ Zinc recalls celebrating Skream's birthday together drinking shots at the bar, while Benga commented on "how familiar it all felt". It's unusual to consider how attached people can be to a club. It wasn't unheard of to have a favourite spot in the grimy corners of the Velvet Rooms (the night moved to Plastic People in 2005). According to Ramandanman: "Plastic People is an intense club. It's no frills, no fancy lights, smoke machines. Just a big pair of speakers and decks. But FWD>> changed my life." Journalist Emma Warren recalls: "There was a real community. The only time I ever saw someone not turn up for a set was Joker, and that was because he missed his train from Bristol. When Martin [Clark] played for the first time, he was so good that people started a petition to get him back again. There was a sense that people felt as if it was theirs. You didn't go along in a passive way – it was active, you were part of it."
If you were partying in the 90s and you liked "urban" music, it was highly likely that you went to Garage Nation. Remember Craig David? Wookie? Sweet Female Attitude (they'd bring you flowers, don't you know)? Garage dominated the pop charts, and the girls at Garage Nation were slick and sexy. FWD>>, on the other hand, embraced a completely different style. The girls wore trainers, a sign that the polished, commercial garage era was nearing the end. As Benga puts it: "People didn't watch for what each other was wearing." The dress code was an anti dress code, and DJ Zinc fondly remembers "suits being turned away at the door because it wasn't an after-work, getting smashed kind of thing ... FWD>> was for people serious about the music."
Well, Croydon-based DJs such as Skream and Hatcha, who travelled from south to east London in limousines for the simple reason that they were cheaper than taxis. The irony being, of course, that there was no sense of celebrity attached to any of those DJs – according to Zinc they'd often "get it to stop round the corner, 'cos it was a bit embarrassing".
All my personal experiences of FWD>> have been dancing to bass and marveling at how many of the DJs end up on the dancefloor themselves with no sign of fans asking for autographs. The clubbers were too busy getting lost in the music, which is why it became a common practice for people in front of the DJ to lean forward and "pull up the track" (ie reload a song that was particularly great). Kode 9 recalls his favourite reload moment: "I remember hearing Classic Deluxe by Horsepower Productions and running from the back of the club to the DJ booth, just to rewind the track. Standard."
FWD>> attracted a host of industry veterans. Chock full of photographers, A&Rs and journalists, the night was well documented through the underground media. One photographer of note, Georgina Cook (aka DrumzoftheSouth) was a FWD>> staple, documenting the scene. She took the above photo in April 2005 and comments: "At that time there were a few FWD>> regulars getting anxious about the introduction of grime DJs and MCs to the FWD>> lineups. So it was pretty special when Mala (Digital Mystikz) and Wiley (Roll Deep) were billed on the same night and even more special to watch the reaction of Jammer, Wiley and Skepta when Mala dropped Skream's phenomenal Midnight Request Line.
FWD>> was known for embracing the new. So new, in fact, that not everyone was initially up to speed with, say, the breakneck 140bpm of grime, or the heavy bass wobbles of dubstep. Writer, DJ and FWD>> regular Martin Clark comments that: "There were a few times when we'd do a mix and look up and there were, like, two or three people left on the dancefloor, or no one at all, but we'd carry on because it was about getting lost in the music." Journalist and clubber Chantelle Fiddy adds: "The girl count was about five in the early days: me, Ms Dynamite and a few others on the dancefloor, but none of that mattered because we were embracing the excitement about these new sounds."
Mark Gurney of 2nd Drop records says FWD>> inspired the name of his label: "Mala from Digital Mystikz didn't play at FWD>> on that many occasions and he never allowed recordings of his sets, so it was a real moment in 2007 when he graced the Plastic People controls and played his dubstep anthem Lean Forward. For those who know this tune, it has the most beastly second drop, which would get rewinds even though it came two thirds of the way through the record. I remember muttering to myself in a haze of weed smoke and Guinness that it was "all about the second Drop". I texted my best mate James to tell him I had a name for our new label whose first release would be a then little-known producer called Ramadanman, in May of that year."
It was at FWD>> that a new secret production outfit called Magnetic Man debuted. Well, it was supposed to be a secret, anyway. As Mark Gurney remembers: "The core dubstep cognoscenti had been caning their tunes Everything Cool and Soulz for months, but nothing was officially known about them. As you walked into Plastic People and on to the dark dancefloor, the decks had been covered by a white mesh screen, a ruse to conceal the identity of the act. But as the hardcore fans had been there since the doors opened we'd seen everyone who'd come in and out of the club. Also, the fact that Benga's Afro was strikingly outlined behind the screen probably didn't help …
FWD>> came close to closure at the beginning of last year, following moves from the Met to review the licence of the club. Although their reasons concerned the prevention of crime and disorder and public nuisance, Kode 9 claims "there were no fights in FWD>>". A petition was quickly issued, with fans celebrating the club's diversity, and the infamous Plastic People survived. As a result, the night has lived to inspire a new generation, collaborating with the radio station Rinse, and continuing to do what it does best – celebrating young talent. Elijah, of grime label Butterz Recordings, says: "I was going before I started to DJ, it was part of the reason I started to buy records, then part of the reason I wanted to take DJing seriously, then once I did that it was my aim to play there myself." Long may it continue.
The musical compositions of London’s Felix Manuel first came to our attention by way of a remix for enigmatic dub-kwaito experimentalists, LV. Having enjoyed their wild card catalogue for quite some time, it was with delight we discovered DjRum’s remix of their recent minimalist beauty, “Explode”. Orchestral string arrangements, twinkling chimes, and a classicist sense of structure gave Zaki’s sublime vocals the perfect complement, creating a gorgeous piece that stood out from the rest.
LV feat. Message To Bears and Zaki - Explode (DjRUM’s remix) teaser clip by DjRum
The Kort chased down Mr. Manuel as we were eager to learn more about this mysterious artist; it’s not every day you come across a seasoned, old school composer in the world of bass music…
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The Kort: So to begin, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How’d you get into music?
DjRum: Well I started out Djing, and production came later…actually I started out playing jazz piano. I was really serious about that, but then I got my first pair of decks when I was like 18 and that was it. I started producing at around the same time, really lo-fi sample based hip hop. I began getting technical with my production maybe like 5 years ago, but I still feel like my production is pretty lo-fi.
K: We first heard of your work through the recent remix you did of LV’s “Explode”, how did that come about?
D: Hmm…well Second Drop Records got in contact through a mutual friend, wanting to work with me and it just sort of fell into place! I’ve been a big LV fan since their first Hyperdub release so i was honored…plus Zaki’s vocal is unreal! There’s no way I could turn that down.
DjRUM - Plead with me by DjRum
K: Your use of a thumping electronic beat with more organic samples and textures is what drew me in, do you really strive to bring some human element into your productions?
D: I don’t use synths at all…well maybe for bass sometimes. I’ve never been that keen on really electronic sounding instruments, brash synths, etc. All of the synth-like sounds you hear in my music are made by layering heavily treated samples. I wish i knew how to use synths well but I’ve never been interested enough to get to grips properly! I spend far too much time crate digging for that…
K: Definitely feel you on that one, it can be infintely more fun to sample cheap vinyl than tinkering with a software synth! Do you use a 404 or any sampler for your work, or sample directly to computer? Any particular programs you stick to?
D: ABLETON IS THE DADDY. It’s very quick and easy, which means ideas can flow out much more quickly. I find this really important, I made my first tune on a 4 track with a Dr. Sample and a belt drive turntable. I’ve used lots of different software though, I used Cubase for a while but I’d much rather use something that keeps it simple.
K: That’s a good way of looking at it, I have Ableton but haven’t cracked at it yet…much more a Record/Reason diehard, for better or worse.
D: Give it a go! I’ve never come across anything better for manipulating audio.
DjRUM - Bucky (lo-fi mix) by DjRum
K: So what are your thoughts on DJing, are you a vinyl devotee or are you willing to DJ with mp3 programs, and/or Serato?
D: Having spent 10 years working on turntablism techniques, I’ll never turn my back on vinyl Djing. I’m much more accomplished behind the wheels than I am doing an Ableton live set, but for practical reasons I do find my self playing out on Ableton. I do most of my mixing on my radio show on Ableton as well. I think that certain genres of music suit different platforms… hip hop needs turntables, techno needs digital precision. If you wanna use turntables to delicately blend tunes, you should probably fuck off and get yourself on a laptop. Turntables like to be pushed around!
K: That’s a valuable distinction between genres and DJ styles, I like that a lot! Who are some of your favorite DJs?
D: Strictly Kev is probably the best Dj I’ve ever seen, absolutely amazing style, proper showmanship, acute taste and obviously a wicked crate digger. He just drops pure knowledge. Most of my favourite producers I wouldn’t really rate as Djs particularly…
K: True that…who are some of your favorite producers then?
D: Scuba, Murcof, Andy Stott, Svarte Greiner, Madlib…oof and Rockwell!!!
K: Yeah, that Andy Stott record is nuts, the recent one…
D: I’m not so keen on the recent one if i’m honest…
K: Oh really?
D: Yeah i hated it at first, then it kind of grew on me…but for me the Daphne records stuff, Hate, and his more solidly dub-techno stuff is where it’s at. BIG fan.
K: For sure, Modern Love knows what’s up…and so you live in London, whereabouts exactly?
D: SOUTH London, love it down here!
K: How long have you lived there?
D: Hmmm don’t really know, maybe 5 years or something like that…I first moved to London maybe 9 years ago, but south London for like 5 years. It’s nice, you should visit! I think Peckham might be the center of the world…
K: Haha, yes indeed…I’ve been to Brixton and Clapham, went to a DMZ night at Mass in 2009…speaking of, you got a favorite venue in the city?
D: To be honest, I generally prefer squat parties to clubs, but clubs do tend to book better lineups. I like unpretentious venues: a room with some speakers in it, that’s it. Corsica Studios is good. They’ve got an AMAZING sound system!
K: I’ve heard good things about Corsica…
D: Yeah, they got a nice Funktion One rig set up well by people who know what they’re doing and care, and it shows. And again, it’s just a room with some speakers in it…job done! I think that really struck me when I first went to DMZ actually…lights off, music up, no mucking about!
K: Yeah, they’re serious there. All about the tunes, the way it should be…
D: I’m all for having a party, but sometimes you do just want to find a space to skank out!
K: Eyes down, ears up…
D: That’s it!
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DjRum’s remix of LV’s “Explode” is available on vinyl and digital now, and his two digital releases from 2010 can be found here. You can also tune in to his monthly show on Sub.fm, Yardcore, by clicking here. Cheers to Felix for the interview, we’ll be keeping an eye on this like-minded producer’s stellar work for a good, long while…and we strongly recommend you do too!