Bargrooves Summer Sessions ’10 aims to bring a bit of bar culture into your lives, but what with the overwhelming amount of compilations on offer at the moment, do you really have room for another collection of songs on you iPod? Is it the kind of thing that would appeal to you? And why exactly should you be interested? Valid questions indeed; and exactly the kind of thing we asked the guy who compiled and mixed this assortment of choice cuts…we hope he can provide some clarity.

It’s been a while since we spoke to you; how’s your year been so far?

It’s been good thanks for asking. It’s been very busy on the A&R side for Defected & Bargrooves. We have been signing some really awesome tracks and working on some very exciting this.

How did you approach selecting the tracks for the new Bargrooves compilation?

I try and find tracks of real quality and try and find a good split between new and old records. The main thing for me is the record have to be great. Highlights for me on this album are records like Bent – Magic Love & House Of House – Rushing To Paradise.



What kind of people do you think would it appeal to?

I’d hope it appeals to people who appreciate good music...haha! I try to find a balance between tracks that are useful to DJ’s, maybe record that haven’t been released on dance download sites before, and tracks that sound good on the ipod for a more home listening/ipod vibe.

How did you put the compilation together? What hard/software did you use?

I use iTunes to figure out the running order for the compilation for the unmixed portion. This lets me know the timing to make sure everything fits on to a CD. For the bonus mixes I use Ableton Live on my Mac. I figure the mix out and then use a midi controller to record the mixes in live.

Is there really enough room in today’s crowded market for another house comp? What makes this one stand out?

It’s a tough market out there for house compilations. As I’ve mentioned above, for me its trying to find real quality music and records that have maybe been hard to find before. I think there can be a lack of compilations that try and dig that bit deeper and find forgotten gems. Especially ones that offer the tracks unmixed and are so DJ friendly yet with bonus mixes for the non DJ who just wants something cool for their iPod/car.

It’s a digital-only comp…in your opinion is this the future? How long before physical versions of music become obsolete?

I don’t think physical music media will ever become obsolete, I’d think it will continue to diminish in market share though. Music download stores have made purchasing music so easy. Click a button and there it is. No need to pop to the shops. Also digital media tends to offer better value for money. In a shop you’d buy a mix CD perhaps, but if you buy it digitally, you get the mixes & all the tracks unmixed. Personally I still buy a lot of physical product, but that’s just personal perferance.

What are the big tunes for you this year? Any particular producers we should be looking out for?

For me one of the biggest tunes of this year has to be Tensnake – Coma Cat. I featured it on the previous Bargrooves compilation and we have now signed it Defected. We are working on the remixes on it now which is very exciting. Ridney is certainly another producer to really keep an eye on.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about..?

I could tell you some interesting theories on quantum physics but it might take a while :-)

Bargrooves Summer Sessions '10 is out 12th July - click to listen & pre-order