Not much chit-chat needed. Wrapping up 2011 on 10th of December this year. A night out where we intend to play whatever it is we played most out there for the past 12 months or so. And also where we would like to see most of you fellas following our activity online.
Same old venue: BASE Cafe(Str. Sepcari 22, centrul istoric). We're starting at 22 sharp and since it's a one-off, there will be no admission fee.
Spinning:
✦ BLACKTEE ✦ (Hsuan Records, No Stranger To Danger)
We had our first encounter with Dan Bazix’s take on House and Techno music a couple of years back. It was in a small club in Bucharest, alongside Cosmin TRG, Seb and his long-term mate – Addo. At the time we were quite mindblown by the fact that he was one of the few DJs around that came from a Drum&Bass background and managed to transpose the influences and energy drawn from 170+ bpm music into sounds at a significantly reduced tempo.
We thought – for one of the last two podcasts of this year – it would be a good idea to recreate the soundscape of what proved to be one of the best nights out we ever had, and showcase Dan Bazix’s take on the same genres at another specific point in his evolution as a DJ, regardless of his still-ongoing activity in the Drum&Bass sphere.
Something a bit different (or not really) from himself – curating takes from the geniuses of Maceo Plex, Crazy P, Maya Jane Coles or Waifs & Strays, to name just a few. It should get everyone with a functional pair of ears and a soul, groovin’ out there.
Tracklist:
01. Oni Ayhun - OAR001-A [OAR] 02. Audiofly - Sunrise BCN [All Day I Dream] 03. Love Girls - Black Sand (Original Mix) [Little Mountain] 04. Maceo Plex - Your Style (Maceo Plex Re-Visit) [Crosstown Rebels] 05. Dekay feat. Nunu - Farewell To Planet Earth [Dirt Crew] 06. Elon feat. Maceo Plex - Floating Faces [ReSolute] 07. Marquez Ill & Leigh Myles - Control [Voltage Music] 08. Maya Jane Coles - Perfect Imperfections [Mobilee] 09. Rodriguez Jr. - Bittersweet [Mobilee] 10. Johnwaynes - The Yeah Yeah (Original Mix) [Cecille] 11. Waifs & Strays - Be Patient [Futureboogie] 12. Teva - I Wanna Be (Original Mix) [Off] 13. Nick Curly - Green Baize [Cocoon] 14. Bicks - Mint (Extended Version) [N/A] 15. Terence (Terry) - Time Doesn't Count (Shaun Reeves & Tale Of Us Remix) [Lowpitch] 16. Schatrax - Restless Nights [Schatrax] 17. Midland - Through Motion [Aus Music] 18. Fink - Move On Me (Marcus Worgull Edit) [Philomena] 19. Greg Paulus - Nightime (Crazy P Remix) [Wolf+Lamb Music]
BASICS:First of all, I’ve come to learn it’s quite hard to find much about Dan Bazix on the internet or wherever else. You don’t really talk about yourself too much and that makes me think there might be people out there not knowing some crucial facts from your yet-unwritten biography. Tell us who Dan Bazix is, as succint as possible.
Dan Bazix: Uh, well, I never tried to promote myself too much. Maybe this is the reason why one cannot find too much information about the so-called “Dan Bazix”. Well, the nickname comes from an early Downtempo / Hip-Hop project that I started at the end of the 90s. I was caught by the vibe of electronic music in 2001, I believe, when I first played in a small club in Tg. Mures (my hometown). To give you a hint of what I was playing back then, see one of my favourite tunes at that moment - Soul Providers feat. Michelle Shellers - Rise (M.A.S. Collective Remix). In the meanwhile I found joy in some higher tempos, listening to Calibre & Marky. Then, soon, came a first 12” order to redeyerecords.co.uk. Bought two belt-drive turntables and did the first mix. First records order consisted of four items, two of them were Marky & Stamina on V, Dillinja on TOV. Nowadays I’m going back to “my roots” playing in the “360 philosophy” – no matter the tempo if the vibe is the same. I think this gives a clue about who I am and what brought me here.
B:So...do you remember the night we’ve just mentioned? Cause we’re talking full-on bullshit in the description above. We actually can’t remember much. Refresh our memory please.
D.B.: At that moment, me and Addo, started a new project. Both playing Drum&Bass for a long time, we thought about trying to go in another direction. We did a mix with some tunes around 135 bpm and we received quite good feedback. The Infamous boys (i.e. Seb & TRG), at that moment, invited us to a small club event, somewhere around the old city centre of Bucharest (n.r. The OtherSide). Well, I cannot remember too many things, we had a few drinks, so… You know, that a “DJ” has good days and bad days. That was one of the best, let’s say. I remember that the feedback was good, and even if there were not too many people, they stayed up late. I think we managed to create a cozy, warm, friendly and fuzzy atmosphere.
B:Ok...it’s been quite a while since then and, in the meantime, you’ve been insanely busy in almost every single way there is. What keeps you preoccupied and how does it reflect in your music?
D.B.: Pff, once you grow up, priorities change. And unfortunately the word “job” comes in front of “hobby”. I must say that music was always connected with the second one, never took it really seriously. Well, besides being DJ I’m now a teaching assistant at TUC-N, working as a freelancer in structural design and recently received my PhD (doctorate) in Civil Engineering (which I’m quite proud of). I think this excuses my very sporadic presence on the DJ scene. To equilibrate, I focused a little bit on producing. I am running the “Dan Bazix” project and started a new one - called “Bicks”. I know, tunes that I produced by now sound a little bit rusty. I haven’t found the patience to stay one full day on a tune to finish it, yet. Even If I was a perfectionist before starting my doctorate studies, now after graduating, is even worse. And, unfortunately, this reflects in my DJ-ing & producing activity.
B:There are two areas of sound you feel most at home with as a DJ. There’s Drum&Bass and there’s House music. What’s more likely you’d spin nowadays and why?
D.B: After a few years of DJ-ing, the genre that one plays is probably just a façade for continuing what one has started a long time ago. I am sure that many of the DJs that are well known would try playing some other genres but they are limited because of their already-chosen path. Well, probably just Laurent Garnier has the balls to switch from Deep House to Drum&Bass in the same set. In my case, as a (hobby) DJ, I will continue to play Drum&Bass because I spent many years and it would not be fair to totally lose the connection. Fortunately, in the last month I had two Drum&Bass gigs which went very well. This gave me the strength and energy to continue with 170+ tempos.
On the other side, I will play House, but I think I will use the other nickname, so people can know what to expect. Let’s see what the feedback for this mix will be.
B:There seems to be common ground between your Drum&Bass and House selections. It’s quite obvious you’re looking for the same elements and reactions in both these genres. What’s that something you always hope to find in a track when you’re digging for fresh music, regardless of its tempo? And more important, how often do you manage to find it?
D.B.: I was always driven by positive, warm and cosy vibes. I like my sets to have, not only funk, soul and the proper amount of deepness, but “a little rate of hooliganism” as well. I think I am looking for the same receipt in both genres. Unfortunately, Drum&Bass (and Dubstep), at a large scale, lost a little bit of this vibe, so maybe this is the explanation for why I changed “roads”.
Fortunately, I cannot forget old habits and I am checking online record stores almost on a weekly basis, to see what fresh beats have been released. Of course, as many, I am listening to mixes of the artists that influence me.
B: Personal favourites at the moment? Drum&Bass tracks and their correspondents in House music or vice-versa.
D.B.: Oh, that’s quite hard, to find a connection. Let’s see!
170+ DBridge – Since We’ve Been Apart [Shogun] 120+ Daniel Bortz – Boyz 2 Men [Suol] ___
170+ Lenzman – Broken Dreams [MDZ] 120+ Mano Le Tough – Baby Let’s Love (Midland Remix) [Dirt Crew] ___
170+ Marcus Intalex – Stark [Dispatch] 120+ Todd Terje – Ragysh [Running Back] ___
170+ LSB – Beep [Demand] 120+ Pan-Pot – Captain My Captain (Rodriguez Jr. Remix) [Mobilee] ___
170+ Foreign Concept & Kasra – Show You [Critical] 120+ Jichael Mackson – Gti (Zimbabwe Mix) [Stock 5]
B:Let’s focus on Bicks for a moment here. It’s something new both for yourself and for us. Give us the proper insight.
D.B.: I think Bicks would be Dan Bazix at 110-130 bpm; mainly, at a producing level. I have noticed, it comes much easier for me to put the ideas together at lower bpms. One of the tunes, “Mint”, is on this mix. Thanks to Sergiu Nadasan who actually made an extended / DJ-friendly version of the tune (as I told you before, cannot find the patience to finish tunes). You can take a look on soundcloud.com/danbicks to draw a conclusion – “A tune is worth a thousand words”.
B:I’m sure some releases are foreseeable in the future. Did you come to think about what labels might act as the perfect hosts for your productions? Who would you send a demo out to and why?
D.B.: Firstly, I have to finish some of my 80 sketches that I have started. Secondly, the tunes have to sound perfect. Just, then, we can speak about releases and labels. Anyhow, few of my favourite labels are Exit, Soul:R, Metalheadz (on 170+) and Mobilee, 8-bit and maybe Crosstown Rebels (on 120+). Probably Exit & Mobilee are two of the big labels that I dream to reach. But the road is veeeery long…
B:How’s the future gonna split between Dan Bazix and Bicks? Any specific developments planned for these two characters?
D.B.: Regarding the producing part, I can say that always depends on the mood, what I have seen in the last days, where I have partied last night; just leaving my soul & mind to choose the path. It is true most of the tunes that I have started in the past three months are 120+, but I will go back to the 170+ soon.
When it comes to the DJ-ing part, well, I will go wherever I am called. I love to play both as much the same way. I like playing Calibre to kids that expect Kill the Noise aka Pendulum and as well to play Deep House to musically “untrained” spontaneous crowd in cafés or small clubs.
B:Share some thoughts on the mixtape you just recorded for us, please.
D.B.: I have selected a series of vibes put together in a positive mix, that hopefully will be appreciated by listeners. I know that I have changed the tracklist entirely for at least 3-4 times. At the end resulted what you have heard. Don’t know if the tunes are fresh or popular, I tried to create a story “readable” by anyone, as I always tried with the any of the mixes done. I have a theory that a mix has to follow a Gaussian trendline, but this is a discussion that has to take part after a couple of beers… haha. Hope you, all, enjoy it.
B:Something you’re most looking forward to in the near future?
D.B.: Concisely: a trip back to Barcelona, where I’ve lived for almost one year. Stamina was right when he said: “all I wanna do is go back, back, back” (i.e Marky & Stamina – Barcelona). Luckily I will catch James Blake, Jamie XX & Jamie Woon in a live concert. Since winter is here: snow, snowboard, Christmas, gigs and all things related with this period of time (as they say: “the small things that bring joy”).
Professionally speaking, hopefully, I will get funding for an 18 months post-doc scholarship in Switzerland.
As for the rest, “go with the flow”.
B: Thanks for taking some of your time to do this. It’s brilliant that we get to share your first mix after a long waiting period. Cheers for that and best thoughts from our corner!
D.B.: Thanks for asking me to record this mix. If it weren’t for you, probably 2011 would have quite dry from the mixes perspective. I never was a good friend to recording mixes and doing them up to the deadlines. Hope you all enjoy it! Peace and #occupyeverything!
As for the next step, keep in touch with Dan's works as Bazix - SoundCloud and Bicks - SoundCloud and keep an eye out there for him on your local Drum&Bass rave or House jam line-up.
Restartam seria de podcasturi dupa o pauza relativ lunga alaturi de un DJ / producer cu o personalitate puternica, cu un trecut interesant si al carui viitor arata din ce in ce mai bine.
Showcase House, Disco si Techno in jurul barierei de 120 bpm, influentat de clima calda, din partea lui Reash.
Stream via Mixcloud, link de download, articol / interviu in limba engleza se pot gasi la doar cateva scroll-uri mai jos.
Born and raised in Bucharest, currently a resident in Palma de Mallorca, Reash has been lurking around for quite some time now getting involved in pretty much any music-related activity there is, whether it’s producing, DJ-ing, hosting radio shows or throwing club parties in his home town.
We found his evolution as an artist in the past months quite interesting, so we asked him to state his current favourites through a podcast and sat down with him for a quick chat about the weather in Spain, a day at the beach, his debut EP that surfaced earlier in June and his plans for the future.
Tracklist:
01. Huxley - Shower Scene (Mic Newman Remix) [ANR002] 02. Jin Choi & Walker Barnard - I'm Just The Rain [PG002] 03. Lars Leonhard - Atropurpureum [CR008] 04. Mason feat. Aqualung - Little Angel (Kolombo Remix) [MOO012] 05. Youandewan - 1988 (Jimpster's Second Summer Of Love Remix) [LRISE0051D1] 06. Roman Rauch - Bio Rhythm (Erdbeerschintzel Remix) [PHP053] 07. Lonely C & Baby Prince - Your Mom's House [WLM14] 08. Heiko Laux & Teo Schulte - Sound Hug (Daniel Bortz Remix) [SUOL027] 09. Reash - We Know It's Right [CDR] 10. Toomy Disco - Since I Feel For You (Golden Bug Remix) [SSR044] 11. Girl Unit - Wut (Claude Vonstroke Butt Naked Mix) [NS008R] 12. Indie Jules - Tulip Fields Dub [CDR] 13. Reash - Total Control Of The Heart [CDR] 14. Helge Kuhl - The Rainbow Snake (Florian Meindl Remix) [PAINTWORK06]
BASICS:You’re a bearded guy with black and white glasses. Correct? Anything else you’d like to share about your identity as an artist?
Reash: I think a lot and tend to have a rum based diet when I go out. Therefore I’m a weird mixture of deep, rolling grawls and strong lurking concepts. I will change the glasses for some tiger brown-blue ones.
B: Since your relocation you’ve been on a creative spree. I’m curious, is it the weather? Or?
R: It certainly played an important role although I got a terrible flu as a result of the climate change. I guess lately I’m able to arrange the ideas I always had. And yes, free time is a must (...guess I’m lucky).
B:You’re a producer for how long? A quick walk through your software and hardware progression over the years?
R: Tough one... My notion of time is slightly bent. 10 years, I guess, if we count the first time I installed Impulse Tracker (mind-bending at that time, thanks to Mesmer). After that I bought ReBirth. A mutual friend of Roby’s (yes, the one from Livio & Roby) told me he was using it so I played around with it as well for at least a year. Then Reason came along and completely changed everything. I’m still using it since I found it to be the one for me... It offers the freedom and ease of a software DAW but has the hardware way of thinking, if you ask for it. At least that’s the way I use it. I did try out other VST based DAWs but I breathe through Reason.
B:You come from a solid Drum&Bass / Breakbeat background both as a producer and as a DJ. That’s quite far away from what you’re doing now in terms of genres. How did the transition occur?
R: Backwards. I found out that Breakbeat existed by accidentally landing at a party. I thought it was a 4/4 based line-up since my diet consisted of classic House at that time. As for Drum&Bass, I really don’t know why it got me hooked. It’s just that I found the Liquid part close to what I had in mind at that time.
B:What’s your production algorythm? Do you focus on a specific genre, tempo, rhythm or you just build a track and it is what it is?
R: Last option. It starts with an empty rack, drums, melody and so on... I did want to save some patches at some point but I’m glad I forgot to.
B:Your debut EP - Unfuse got a release in June on Room Music (n.r. Room Music on Juno Download). The interesting fact about it is that every single one of the four tracks has a different vibe to it, but without compromising the integrity of the release. You have All At Once – kind of a deep aquatic House experiment, the Tech-House dancefloor tool - Here There Everywhere, Left Side on a Dub-Techno-ish tip and What If, ending the list as a laidback Tech / Deep House hybrid. Practically whatever you’re playing as a DJ in the 120-130 bpm range, you could squeeze something off this EP and get it in your set. Was this your original intention – putting out a first release as diverse as possible? Was it the label’s call? Can we get an inside view?
R: It was supposed to be a 2-track single but the label and the guys around it belived in all of them. It might have been the diversity that won them. At the time I wrote the tracks I did not have in mind an EP but when the label contacted me I was sure this was the form I wanted for it. The name itself is a statement and a hint for what I’ve been up to.
B:You seem to love playing around with vocal samples. I’ve seen it in many of your tracks and it’s a characteristic of Unfuse as well. The thing is, they always sound a bit different than what you usually hear in most tracks out there and there’s a catch about placing them in your tunes as well. They’re never exactly where you’d expect them to be. A word on the procedure? And while we’re at it, what’s your sampling philosophy?
R: The vocals are present as part of the story behind the tunes, which in most of the cases, you have to listen to in full-length (no fast-forwarding). I don’t ever think them through, just add them wherever I feel the need. Since I loop a lot of the sections I’m never sure I picked the right moment. As for sampling I don’t use it directly (I browse through sample banks, so i can’t be sure). If I don’t achieve what I want through synthesis I start from a preset or a sample and morph it, add as many effects needed or do what they call sample synthesis (the old-school way...load it into the sampler, route that into a synthesiser and so on). But I’m against butchering others work.
B:Your tunes have a powerful personal touch and you seem to put a lot of soul in each and every one of them, but is it the same when it comes to DJ sets? How hard is it for you to showcase such a personal sound and entertain the crowd at the same time? Flexible selection or no compromise?
R: It's tough. Every tune of mine starts with a strong emotion, a deep thought I have. It’s part of what shapes my personality as an artist / song writter. As a DJ it’s slightly the same. I never think about the playlist, I always carry most of the music I own with me, since the crowd feeds me the mood I’ll have during a good part of the set. Fitting in something I felt at some point with something I feel while mixing, it’s always surprising.
B:Frankly we haven’t heard you play out in a while. What does Reash spin nowadays and who are the producers he constantly plays tracks from, in his sets?
R:I started an irregular podcast (I know, it’s a weird concept) (n.r. Insatiable) so that serves as a showcase. I follow the same impulse as when producing, it’s the sensation you get at the end that I’m after. People like Indie Jules, Steve Mills, Diskjokke, Little Fritter, Forteba, Den Ishu, Jay Bliss, Cosmin TRG and many more that aren’t famous yet make it into the heavy rotation.
B:You have the beach practically in front of your house, but we all know a day of sunbathing is nothing without a proper soundtrack. Care to recommend something?
R:Youandewan – 1988 (Jimpster’s Second Summer Of Love Remix) as you walk away and one of my latest called Total Control Of The Heart, once you can feel the sand.
B: A couple of words about the mixtape you just put together for us?
R: It’s on the fly and...take your time with it, let it play along.
B:Last but not least. Any confirmed gigs or forthcoming releases you’d like to give us a heads-up about? Plans for the rest of 2011?
R:So far it’s been a year filled with studio work (apart from some local gigs), a forthcoming EP (one single and 3 remixes) on FLY Recordings (Italy) and some remixes I must do (including Mesmer’s impressive Stereo Rainbow).
B:Nice one! Cheers and thanks both for the mixtape and the time!
R:The pleasure was all mine, I can still reash you everywhere.
You can check Reash's tracks out on Soundcloud, listen to more of his mixtapes on Mixcloud and download one of his tunes for free here via HDMusic. We'll leave you with the same tune fitted nicely over some footage from Scott Goodson, which we seem to love in a weird way.
Sambata seara, 30 litri/m² si un moment in care, noi unii, aspiram la deep rollere. Asadar trecem in revista un release - cel mai recent - din catalogul Echocord Colour.
Sublabel-ul cu ajutorul caruia gigantul Dub-Techno: Echocord isi face damblaua pe orice gen muzical patru pe patru in spectrul 120-140 bpm nu se dezminte nici de aceasta data si lanseaza intr-o forma, ca de obicei, al naibii de atragatoare - blue-ish gray vinyl - o contributie semnata de producerul francez Tech-House si Techno: Sebastien San. In cazul sau a patra pentru installment-ul Colour din 14 posibile, pe langa release-uri la label-uri ca Rush Hour si Planet E sau colaborari cu Aaron Carl, San Soda sau Carl Craig.
Asa cum va veti da seama, la prima mana, nimic extravagant. Side A lasa loc unui hibrid Tech-House liniar si melodic de peste 10 minute cu variatii superbe ale elementelor secundare din structura piesei: Shades, in timp ce pe Side B, Darker Shades re-dub-uieste si restructureaza totul pe baza unei formule technoida, organica foarte apropiata de sound-ul specific Echochord, creand in jurul sau o atmosfera mult mai densa. Late night blanks filler.
Critica scurta? Nimic special?
In oarecare contrast cu sound-urile despre care am vorbit pana acum, Shades EP nu este genul de release care sa uimeasca, insa a lasa ascultatorul cu gura cascata de la prima ascultare este si a fost mereu printre ultimele obiective pe lista unui label ca Echocord, extrem de bine si la sange targetat si care pare sa functioneze pe un set de principii de neclintit.
Asadar, daca beat-urile sparte fac parte din meniul vostru principal incercati sa nu disperati dupa doar cateva minute. Relax, asezati-va comod, aprindeti o tigara, luati-va ceva de baut si mergeti pe mana lui Sebastien, pentru ca pana la urma, va promitem, release-ul este absolut esential dintr-un punct de vedere rudimentar: al faptului ca face parte din acea specie pe cale de disparitie a moodsetterelor adevarate destinate dancefloor-ului. Genul de piese care fac ceva uimitor folosindu-se de minimul posibil de resurse. Sound-ul simplu si eficient pe care nimeni nu mai pare sa-l bage in seama intr-o epoca in care, in mod eronat, evolutia este sinonima de cele mai multe ori cu complexitatea sound-ului.
Pe de alta parte, daca prin gentile voastre de discuri se gasesc 12"-uri semnate Mike Dehnert, Ben Klock, Quantec, Andy Stott, SCB sau Brendon Moeller si printr-un absurd, inca nu aveti discul...stiti care este miscarea obligatorie.
Piesele se asculta cap-coada mai jos, 12"-ul se gaseste pe Juno iar varianta .mp3 se gaseste pe Boomkat.
