Beatport Music Awards 2010

Hong Kong to Tokyo...

Well, my weekend started a little prematurely on a Wednesday as I was due to play in 2 of my favourite cities in the world, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Drop Bar in Hong Kong like to showcase their guests on a Thursday so there I was at Valencia airport catching the first of 3 flights and bracing myself for almost 24hrs travelling. All went according to plan (and to be honest it seems so long ago now I can't remember exactly what happened) but I landed in Hong Kong in relatively good spirits – probably due to the fact I'd stayed in the Mandarin Oriental before and was therefore well aware of the delight to come.
 
After pushing all the buttons in my room, trying on the dressing gowns, slippers and silk robes I met Simon, the manager of the club for an exquisite Italian meal before making our way to the club.

Drop Bar is a great little place (about 150 people max) where I truly feel at home DJing, and I don't really know why. It's quite transitional in that it has a bar vibe where people come and go throughout the night, so it's not a full on, shirts off, hands in the air, sweaty club. I think it has to be the family atmosphere there – it’s members only and you have to be invited to join, so most people truly know each other and you can feel it. I walked in and was greeted by the bar staff, resident DJs and some regulars who all remembered the last time I played and made it feel like a bit of a homecoming.

It's rare that I don't look at my watch at least once in a night but 4am came quickly and it was time to hand over the baton.

The next day I only had one thing on my mind and that was shopping. Cathy, a lovely young girl from the company took me around Hong Kong in my quest for dodgy watches, little pink princess knickers, hairbands etc and some Pokemon toys - yes you guessed it, my 7yr old son is into Panerai watches and my 4yr old daughter just loves Pokemon.......the little pink knickers, however, are a private matter.

OK, so after smuggling a few hotel pens into my hand luggage it was time to fly to Tokyo (I had my suspicions confirmed that the Mandarin Oriental pens are pretty special when I once walked in on my father-in-law saying to my mother-in-law 'Here...feel the weight of that!' I can't explain the utter relief it was to see him holding one of the pens I'd brought back from a previous trip).

After the usual seemingly never ending drive from Narita to Tokyo central I arrived fairly late and knowing I was going to be going straight from the club back to the airport (and despite the Sirens from Shibuya calling me to shop) I decided reluctantly to get some sleep hours in.

I'd heard a lot about the club AIR and there can't be much I can tell you that you haven't already heard from the plethora of Defected DJs that have trodden the booth before me... BUT I can confirm it is a little beast of a club, with state of the art sound system and equipment (the first club I've played in with 3 Pioneer CDJ 2000's, tech spotters) and most importantly an amazing crowd. The Japanese never fail to deliver when it comes to pure unadulterated excitement and overwhelming joy on the dancefloor, something I hope they never lose that the way some countries have. Another 4hr set later and it was time for a quick shower before the long drive to the airport.

So, with thanks to Joel, Simon, Cathy and Liz from Drop in HK and Take, Youichi and Jun from Air / BBQ, I'm sitting here in the lounge at Tokyo with a warm feeling inside and a fixed grin on my face..........ok so the grin is because I've just been upgraded on my BA flight back to Heathrow - let's PARTYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

Aydin

ATFC London Interview

ATFC is a house hold name in House music. The chart topping DJ and producer and the guy that brought us 'Bad Habit' and 'Sleep Talk' - if you are a DJ you will almost certainly have played one of his records or danced at a club he had been headlining at. Now 15 years on Aydin The Funky Chile is still pushing the boundaries of Dance music with his innovative sound and constant releases. Beatport voted him House producer of the year ‘08 and ‘09 and Pete Tong recently showcased his essential mix.

So it’s hardly surprising that he has been chosen by to front his own compilation, a soundtrack that is representative of London’s underground dance floors. The result is ATFC In The House: London ’10. We caught up with him ahead of its release to discuss the mix, the re-emergence of disco and his house music awakening…

Your productions have been riding high on Beatport of late, but for those people who might be coming across you for the first time please could you summarise some of your biggest musical achievements to date. Try not to be too modest and tell us how it really is.

I guess my biggest achievement is that I’m still here. Over the past 15 years I’ve seen many DJs and producers come and go. I’m often wondering ‘where are they now?’ and then put my head in my hands when I realise they must have had to get a proper job! That would kill me! I’ve tried to adapt to musical fashions without chasing too hard and I think that may be the key. Specifically though, I’ve had 3 UK Top 40 hits and even appeared on TOTP twice – I’m a member of a dying race as far as that’s concerned. I ran a successful record label ‘Onephatdeeva’ for many years and have DJed in places such as Southend, Sydney, Miami and Minsk and most cities in between. I’m starting to hear the word ‘legend’ or ‘inspiration’ a lot when I meet DJs on my travels and although ‘legend’ may be contentious I’m flattered that they cite me when giving their reasons why they started on the DJ road. I strapped another rocket booster on my back when I re-joined Defected two years ago and have realised a few more dreams since then. The Radio 1 Essential mix was one and this album is most definitely another.

You have been quoted as saying ‘I thought House Music was rubbish until I was 23’. What changed?

House really was a dirty word to me until then. There were two rooms at a club I used to go to (Dance Wicked at The Arches in Vauxhall). The main room hosted by Trevor Nelson was where I heard Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, Soul and Funk classics etc etc, the 2nd smaller room was where I passed through to go to the toilet and guys like Nicky Holloway or Judge Jules would play. It was all pony-tails, white gloves and acid house T-shirts and I hated it. Probably due to the fact I didn’t do drugs or even drink at that time. I was so into Hip Hop and black culture that House seemed to be the antithesis of it all.

Then literally overnight I understood it. I was playing my usual back room, scratch it up set at my residency at Bump ‘n’ Hustle in Bournemouth, tried my first disco biscuit and decided to venture into the main room to hear Simon Dunmore and a guy from New York called Larry Pena play. I eventually found myself pumping my fists on top of a speaker stack to Barbara Tuckers ‘Beautiful People’. A switch flicked in my brain that remains on to this day. Shallow isn’t it?!

How come you haven’t jumped on the minimal bandwagon or any other of the uncountable house music sub genres? What is it about house music that has made you so faithful to its sound?

Well your question quite rightly implies that House music is the all-encompassing term for the different styles. So, I’ll go back to what I said earlier. I have jumped on many bandwagons in a way, just not obviously, and always within the realms of ‘House’. I’ve never strayed too far from the centre line and that’s where you happen to please the most people – it makes sense. I hope that DJs who sit in all camps have played an ATFC record at least once. Over the years I’ve dabbled in electro, minimal, disco, tribal and deep house to name a few but never jumped in with both feet. I believe the moment a producer changes their style really dramatically, they not only lose their core fan base but also attract murmurs of suspicion from fans of the genre they’re trying to imitate. It’s best to take the best elements from any style and combine them with your own. That way you create your own ‘sound’ and please a lot more people, including yourself.

Why is London so important with regards to influencing the rest of the world?

Of course London is a huge influence worldwide on almost every part of life, so it’s only natural that that should apply to music as well. It’s one of the most diverse cities culturally and the capital of one of the most influential countries in the world.

Do you think London’s club scene is still leading the way or has Berlin put a stop to all that?

Hmm…it’s difficult to say because I don’t actually play in London that much. I guess Fabric and MOS are still world leaders but I’m yet to experience matter or *insert another new club here*! London is always going to influence and initiate purely because of the diversity of cultures and therefore music in the city. Places like Berlin might spawn a new fad like ‘minimal’ but they can’t sustain it due to the simple fact of their size and cultural diversity. London is best when it takes ideas from other cities and germinates them – not when it comes up with the idea itself – what is UK Funky all about I ask you? And UK garage before that – come on let’s be honest, it was shit.

Tell me about some of the most influential London DJ's that set up the scene to be what it is today.

I can only speak for the DJs that influenced me and I think when focussing on London I have to regard the original Kiss FM DJs as the main players. All dance music styles were represented and (because they were paid a pittance at Kiss) all went forward and organised seminal club nights in and around the city. Each name, from Norman Jay, Gilles Peterson, Danny Rampling, Trevor Nelson, Judge Jules, Tim Westwood, Fabio & Grooverider, Bobby & Steve, Soul 2 Soul … all had a great club night in their own right and were the pioneers of the modern London club circuit. It’s noticeable that I haven’t mentioned Pete Tong because I don’t think he every ran a London club night back then and I just don’t regard him as a ‘London’ DJ – he’s more national than that.


You have been of invaluable service to the House scene over the past decade. How do you think your sound has evolved in that time?

My ‘sound’ has got slowly tougher over the ten years but then that’s because peoples taste have dictated that. Ultimately I have to feed a family and while I don’t think I’ve ever sold out (not completely anyway), part of my job is making as many people move as possible. I also used to be very reliant on sampling but that’s more difficult today. Before you could use a hefty sample in a track, press up a cheeky 1000 white labels and test the water. If the record generated a buzz you could be confident that clearing the sample would pay off. Now almost all of my records are 100% my ‘own work’ – I may cover other records but rarely use samples. Also the technical aspect of how I work has changed quite a bit. I used to have an expensive acoustically treated studio with fancy outboard gear and vocal booth and a digital desk etc etc. I suffered a bit from the kitchen sink syndrome and my records were quite busy, and while that’s fine, when I moved to Spain I downscaled my equipment a lot and took things back to basics. Just me a keyboard and a Mac. If you listen to my music over the past 2 years I think you can hear the fact I’ve been having a lot more fun in the sun.

In your opinion can you tell me if you believe that there is a sudden resurgence of disco house? Reboot’s ‘Enjoy Music’ on the compilation would be a good example...

Well there’s that and Pitto. I don’t know. If you mean are disco sampling records coming back I don’t think so. Not for any length of time anyway. Because of the reasons I just stated, sampling is lot more difficult and many if not all of the best disco records have been rinsed. The disco vibe, however, is another matter and I think that’s on the way back. Over the past five or six years, the advance in music technology and availability has meant that anyone with a laptop could make a record. Producers with less knowledge or talent would make darker, harder music because in my opinion that’s easier. It takes a lot more work and experience to work with a vocal and make records that are uplifting and joyful. So, the market has been flooded with moody music. I think clubbers and especially women are deciding it’s time for some music that makes you feel happy again. For the first time in a long time recently I’ve been asked to play ‘more vocals’ and although there still aren’t many good songs around right now, when one pops up like ‘Hey Hey’ you can see the impact it has on dance-floors and download charts. This can only mean the public are crying out for more of them.

Tell me about your own productions that you have included in the mix…

I actually only have two of my productions on there. ‘I Called U (The Conversation)’ and, the forthcoming ‘Computer Love’. I think that’s relatively little compared to other DJ/producer mix comps, but then I do have a couple of other remixes on there too. They work because it’s a pretty good reflection of what I may play in a club. It’s strange because when I did the last mix CD – Defected In The House Goa ’09 I think – the mastering engineer called me up to tell me how much he could hear of me in the mix – even though I’d only used a couple of my own tracks. He said that all the records in the mix had that ATFC sound. I suppose my taste runs throughout including what music by other producers I choose to include. Computer Love is the next production of mine to come on Defected and I’m in the process of recording a vocal for it. This is the very early instrumental version that’ll probably never get a full release!

What have you done with this mix? What is the vibe and tell me about some of the tracks that you have included are particularly working it on the dance floor for you right now.

I tried, as usual, to make it a good listen for the car, the party and the iPod – there’s possibly a couple of songs in there for sexy time too!

It’s a good reflection of ATFC the DJ and the producer and, in the process, represents a side of Defected too. Dennis Ferrers ‘Hey Hey’ was the only record that was definitely going to be included all the way through the mixing process. The mix changed quite a bit over a few weeks as new tracks appeared and old tracks resurfaced. It was quite difficult because there aren’t many decent vocal records out there at the moment and I just had to include a few. I got around this by doing special edits with existing acapellas and older tracks to create something new from the combination. My edit of Helvetic Nerds and Juan Kidd & Baumgartner works particularly well by giving ‘Now You’re Gone’ a whole new spin, as does East Young’s ‘Reveal’ with the acapella of Erick Morillos ‘I Get Lifted’. The Conversation is another peak point in the mix but even that wasn’t definitely included until the last minute.

I didn’t set out for the usual chilled out daytime CD1 and banging nightime CD2 but rather let them take their own direction during the mixing process. The way it turned out, CD1 is quite hands in the air and euphoric while CD2 is a little dirtier and groovier. It’s not an upfront selection of hot new tracks or a showcase of classy forgotten ones but a bit of a concoction of both.

Finally – what’s your best general London tip for anyone visiting?

My favourite view of London is from Waterloo Bridge. I used to walk over the bridge from Waterloo Station into Covent Garden every day when I worked at The Royal Opera House. From the bridge you can see the financial heart of London with Canary Wharf and St Pauls, ahead of you is Theatreland and Drury Lane, to the left is the Political centre at Westminster with Big Ben and Parliament and just behind you is The South Bank, which is arguably the cultural heart of the city. I don’t think there are many views, in any country, which encapsulate as much as this one.

ATFC In The House London '10 is out on the 1st of February.
Click to listen & buy.

ATFC In The House: Album Preview

February 2010 will see the release of the next of the In The House series, and while all the compilations have been special, this next instalment sees us combining two elements very close to our hearts; ATFC In The House: London ’10.

London is Defected’s literal and spiritual home and ATFC is one of our most dynamic and creative artists, having been with us pretty much from the beginning and showing no signs of going anywhere any time soon. 2009 was an exceptional year for the London-born DJ and producer so he was the natural choice to front the compilation.

The following are his sleeve notes for the forthcoming release and we think it’s a great way of introducing what we’re sure will be one of the strongest collaborations we’ve ever put together.

As I'm speeding towards London at 600 kmph and trying to think what the city means to me, my mind swims its way through a fog of thoughts and images. The streets where I grew up, the rush hour traffic, does The Apple Store open on a Sunday?... and then as I start to focus on how the city has shaped my career in music, the fog thins and the outlines sharpen.
 
For an aspiring DJ, living in London was like a wannabe Priest growing up within the walls of The Vatican City and my holy men were Trevor 'Madhatter' Nelson at Dance Wicked in Vauxhall, Soul 2 Soul at The Fridge in Brixton, Rob Acteson and Rhythm Doctor at The Gardening Club in Covent Garden, Norman Jay at The Blue Note in Hoxton, Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge at Dingwalls in Camden, CJ Mackintosh at Ministry Of Sound, Paul 'Trouble' at The Loft, Tim Westwood at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill and Bobby & Steve at Bar Rumba.

The city was (and still is) soaked with world class DJ's and clubs and I'm certain that I wouldn't be writing this had I not been able to mop up the inspiration pouring from them.

At any point in time I was only half an hours train journey away from the best nocturnal experiences around, and my friends and I made it our duty to sample the full set.

From the wide array of music I heard in those clubs, it was House that gave me a purpose in the music world professionally and London that provided the opportunity. Well, London and a certain record label based in the city with whom I joined the fast lane of dance music 10 years ago.

This album is a snapshot of my House Music world in 2009/10 - a year that has been my most successful and enjoyable to date, thanks in large part to that label, Defected, and I'm honoured to bring you the latest ITH instalment. The first album after their 10th anniversary year and, in other words, the first one of the new decade.

Other cities may have their flings with House Music. Sure, some may even have invented it, but London has always stayed faithful, been there through the good and bad times and still represents the full 360 degrees of four to the floor vision...the same could be said for Defected.

ATFC In The House: London ’10 is released on the 2nd of February 2010. Check back soon for full tracklist and audio samples.

ATFC Ups the Pace

Check out how ATFC got on at NB in Portugal; fast cars and faster wit from the man himself...

OK, so I'm sitting here on my first flight home (yes, strangely, I always have to catch a four flight round trip from Spain to Portugal) having had no sleep, and thought I'd be a good boy and write a blog for my whip-cracking DJ agent.

I arrived in Porto (via Madrid) at around 8pm and then took off with my driver for the final hour and a half drive to Coimbra.

Now, every time I'm a passenger in a Ford Focus I'm really impressed by them - seriously. This particular time, its ability to handle motor-way bends at extreme speed was at the forefront of my attention. I thought I'd draw light to this by mentioning the Brazilian Grand Prix to my driver but the hint failed to bring the needle back down below 230kph. I should add at this point that my driver Paolo was actually a very nice fellow and a damn fine driver but also the first person to take my body over 230kph on land.

Occupying my mind by preparing myself for a possible future Dragon’s Den appearance where I present a revolutionary speed restrictor, (I do actually have an idea...you wait I'll be a millionaire this time next year!) I took up smoking, closed my eyes and prayed for us to reach the hotel.

Ironically the hour and a half turned into two hours after we made a wrong turn, so the only real benefit to the pedal being so in love with the metal is that I'm going home with a mild but nevertheless slimming facelift. Once at the hotel, my driver and I grabbed a couple of hours sleep and then made our way to the club.

'NB' is a spanking new venue in Coimbra, a picturesque city pretty much in the centre of Portugal which also boasts Europe's oldest University. The night went really well with the 1,500 strong crowd holding firm until I played my last record at 6am. I got the feeling they had a penchant for tunes they knew so I threw a load of bootlegs at them for the last half an hour which they seemed to dig.

Within five minutes of the resident taking over again I was back in the car (after we'd changed to slicks) and was skimming like a pebble on a lake back to Porto. The journey back took an hour (work that out!?) and before long I was through security and waiting in the plush surroundings of Porto's gleaming airport.

I don't feel I can leave you without sharing the piece of nutritional advice I've just been given by Iberia's cabin crew over the flight intercom. Apparently, if you are a transit passenger and in possession of a boarding card with seat assignment, there is no need for chicken again.

So, as I embark on my new poultry free diet, I bid you adios!

ATFC x