African beats, Jazz, Soul and captivating vocals are all part of the Osunlade sound, a sound with uncommon depth for house music but one that remains focused on the dance floor. 

Here he tells us why he is so in love the work of  the contemporary surreal artist Wangechi Mutu, his grumbles on remixes and why you won't be able to stop dancing to his new Strictly Rhythm Ibiza mix...

It’s been a while since we last chatted, so what have good things have been occurring in the past year?

Oh, everything! I’ve just taken some time off to live and relax, working on the next album and doing this mix! It’s been quite a big production, and having a few small tours here and there.

You say you’re working on your new album after ‘Rebirth’. Is this a new artist album?

Yes it is. It’s actually complete, but I’m still living with it. I’ve done about maybe 23 tracks but it’ll be about 11 or 12. It’s pretty much done, just making the final selections, tweaking mixes, sequencing the entire project. Getting art ideas and just trying to formulate a product. When I do an album I try to get a full idea completed so I can live with it and see it as a full album. It’s called ‘Romantique’

Will you be creating the artwork as you did last time?

Yes. It’s going to be a difficult one, I’m trying to incorporate some art of a very lovely artist. I’m in love with Wangechi Mutu she does really strong, some people say dark, collages. It’s really amazing and I like her work because it’s not your typical idea of beauty. So I’m trying to formulate a situation where I get in contact with her to use some of the images. I hear she’s quite difficult to deal with! She’s Kenya born and New York based.

I read somewhere that you have a pretty definite opinion on remixes…

Yeah, the one thing I dislike is how in the house music genre, everything comes with the ‘Original Mix’. The actually title of the said says ‘Original Mix’. That’s kind of discerning to me.  There are so many versions of the song that the original version has to be called ‘Original Mix’. If a song is good then you don’t need a package with 7 remixes! It’s just quality versus quantity. It’s an over load of nothingness! I’m adamant about spending at least 30 hours a week searching for music whether it’s house, jazz, whatever. I’m a big supporter of dying music and finding new artists. It’s important for me to stay on top of what’s going on. I’ll spend so much time looking through electronic music and I may find maybe 3 tracks that I’ll actually use, and that’s kind of sad. Whatpeopleplay.com is my favourite site, the referencing is great, the pack shots are good, good reviews. Whereas with others sites, you spend hours and hours going through these genres and the genres are incorrect! There’s just too much.


So, why do you think Osunlade and Strictly Rhythm are such a good match?

Well it goes back to quality. Strictly Rhythm is a name people associate with quality. It has a long standing catalogue and it’s the new house label for people like myself, Quentin Harris, and these kinds of artists have built careers with quality music. There aren’t many other labels doing that, you hear about these artists who are coming up and getting a great buzz, then you listen to the music and it’s just 12 minutes of drum loops and that’s not a song!

So let’s talk about Ibiza. You are doing the Ibiza mix for Strictly Rhythm. For you, what tracks would you say would sum up Ibiza for you?

I really like Johnny White ‘Desensitise’ which is on the first mix CD. ‘Kinky e79’ is good - there’s something wrong with you if you don’t dance to that! –  and I also like the new version of ‘Warning’.



Have you spent a lot of time on the island?

No, not really. I was there 2 years ago with Simon Dunmore and we had a great time. I’ve gone about 3 or 4 times. I love it, I love the locals, there are a lot of hippies and I’m basically a hippy at heart so I totally understand the culture there. But I think with Ibiza you think of a club scene which is totally not my thing.

There are a lot of your productions on the mix, which would you say are you most proud of?

‘Momma’s Groove’ and  ‘Butterfly’ I’m really proud of, plus the new mix of ‘Pride’ I just did; I’m really loving that one.



So tell me about the feeling of both CDs and how they flow…

Well the first one is more of deep soulful kind of thing and the second one is like a club. My idea was one preparing for the club and then one at the club. So one where you are having dinner, in a restaurant, at home or on the beach and the other is like, yeah, let’s do it!

Strictly Ibiza Mixed by Osunlade is out 5th July - click to listen & pre-order