What do you love the most about the mid-tempo breaks (MTB)*genre?
If you break it right down and scratch beneath the surface, you can find lots of influential traits borrowed from many different genres of music in MTB. For example, the flexibility of a broken beat sitting at a tempo of 110BPM (kinda standard) has the advantage of either having a more complex drum arrangement, or a completely stripped back simplified structure. I’ve heard MTB remixes of just about every genre known to man, so I find that the people out there that don’t particularly like electronic music can totally tolerate MTB in the right environment. You just gotta corner them with that new super sick 2013 remix you made of their favourite Beatles tune and they’re smitten.
Who are some of the pioneers/biggest names in the genre?
There’s quite a few producers out there now who have raised the so called ‘bar’ so freaking high, you can’t help but wonder how the hell you have never ever heard of these kids before. When these guys start moving out of their safe zone, forward thinking clicks into motion. It never takes long for the genre you once knew and loved, to all of a sudden get blown wide open and the music progresses to heights you never fathomed as reachable. OK, talk about doing a 180 on this entire question – I guess I couldn’t name the biggest names, there’s just too many of them now. I will happily name the guys that I idolised for years and years. To me and my timeframe of growing with the genre & becoming who I am today, Fort Knox Five, All Good Funk Alliance, A.Skillz, Featurecast, &Basement Freaks were the guys that I felt pioneer and shape the original MTB sound I first introduced myself to. I heard aboutStickybuds & JPOD about a year or two later.
Which artists are you excited about?
Artists won’t excite me because of their music anymore. There’s always gonna be an abundance of awesome music out there for us to get excited about. I’m way more excited to see what lies in store for me & my closer personal friends like Timothy Wisdom, Omegaman, The Spank! (aka Basement Freaks), Neon Steve and Bryx & Slynk.
What tunes have you released lately and what’s coming out soon?
Unfortunately I don’t actually have any releases on the horizon at the moment. At the moment I’m way more thrilled to have a baby coming out soon! So because of this, lately I’ve just been working on my own ideas at my own pace rather than getting all tied up with deadlines for record labels. Keep an eye on my Soundcloud though, I do still let out quite a bit of music for free. But I will say that I did just finish a new original collaboration with The Spank! We literally just finished it the other day, but I’m assuming it’ll see the light of day on Bombastic Jam sometime in the near future.
What is the new night you’re involved in and what does it offer?
Phaturdays (n.) – The largest night of the week. Expect colossal beats, massive hip hop classics, heavyweight bass and an enormous selection of drinks, plus huge amounts of ‘hands in the air’. This tremendous night is getting bigger and bigger with Tom Showtime and DJ Ayna always on rotation.
Why should people come check out Phaturdays: Extra Large Edition?
It’s always a crazy party at BlueBar330, but this time they’re upsizing the weekly dose of booty shakin’ party music and I’ll be slamming a lot of our unreleased stuff.
