Friday 4 June 2010

Interview with DJ Cubist

An article I wrote for Knowledge magazine. View the original here.


Australian DJ / producer Cubist was recently named as one of our top ten producers to watch in 2010. When not busy in the studio making tunes for the likes of Zombie, Advisory and Allsorts he finds time to run a drum & bass night in Melbourne and hold down a radio show on Australian Kiss FM. As he was kind enough to offer us an exclusive mix to promote his UK tour, we thought it was time we caught up with the man himself...

You're a classically trained musician with a Bachelor of Music Performance degree. Has this had an influence on your sound?

In all honesty I think the people with no formal musical training create the best music. People like Goldie and Roni Size. Because when you know about music theory you can't help but refer to your knowledge. When you don't have musical training you write just on vibes. But at the same time it does help with an understanding of notes and frequencies. I didn't discover drum & bass until I was at the end of high school. In Australia drum & bass and most bass driven dance music is very underground, so I just wish I'd discovered it at an earlier age.

How did you first get into DJing and producing drum & bass?

After high school I went to university and did a music degree, studying cello. At uni I found this unused music computer room with sequencing programs. I started skipping classes and just sat in there by myself learning how to sequence beats. At the same time I was going out to a local drum & bass weekly called Just Rite. Shouts to DJ Dopebeat and MC Wasp!

So I started to spend my weekends getting blazed and dancing to drum & bass. Then I'd spend my weeks at uni trying to write beats. I had no idea what I was doing. I probably spent five years getting my beats sounding pretty lame. If I'd known someone who knew something about writing beats to give me some advice I could get to the same level in about six months, no jokes.

At the same time I bought some decks and started collecting vinyl. Then a mate and I started a monthly party called Audible Level. It was pretty small key, just at a local pub.

You ran the Local Lineup parties in Melbourne, aimed at showcasing local producers. Do you think it's hard for drum & bass producers to get their tracks heard?

Well, in Melbourne it is. We don't have much public or internet radio. But the fact is not that it's hard for people to get their tunes heard, but that it's hard to get your production to a good standard. There are people writing beats, but not many mentors or people able to give advice. Also, there's not as much incentive for peeps to work hard at writing beats, as there's no labels in Australia and so not much of a scene. So over in Melbourne we see drum & bass as very much a UK thing.

Do you have any tips for aspiring producers?

The same old things: use high quality samples and try and be original. Peeps in the UK don't need my advice, but for all the Aussie heads reading this just put your head down. You've got to make some sacrifices if you want your music to sound good. More doing and less dreaming. Are there any other Australian producers that we should look out for? Personally, we've got the whole Pendulum thing going on in Perth. There are some dudes over there that are writing that type of sound. But for the music that I really like, rolling deep and dirty bass lines, I don't know anyone else in Australia writing that sound. It's weird.

Are you looking forward to coming over to the UK, and how do the crowds differ to those in Australia?

Well I've only done one date so far, in Bedford. It was a pretty rowdy crowd. Melbourne is a pretty conservative place, so I'm looking forward to getting down with the UK scene. Your current night Wobble is billed as Melbourne's top drum & bass night.

What do you like about Melbourne as a city, and would you ever consider moving?

What do I like about Melbourne? Not much to be honest. I mean the laws there are crazy. The government is getting out of control in my opinion. They need to take a step back and let people be people. I would like to get out of there some time. It's just that my night Wobble is so popular. I can't really leave at the moment.

I've got to send shouts to Heartical Hi Fi Soundsystem. It's what I use for Wobble. It's a proper Jamaican style sound system, the only one like it in Australia. Wobble has been great for Melbourne because it's the first proper party to use proper sound. It's a shame when people go out and can't experience drum & bass because the sound systems aren't moving any air.

As a radio presenter yourself, do you think drum & bass gets much coverage in the mainstream media in Australia?

Just in the last year. Since Pendulum really blew up commercial radio has started playing drum & bass for the first time. So the future is definitely looking good.What's next from Cubist? Just keep writing beats. I really think I'm starting to get my own little sound happening. I want to get in the studio and keep working. I've got about 60 finished tunes. I want to start an Australian label as releasing vinyl would lift the profile of drum & bass in Australia. It's time it happened, and I'm ready to do it.

And finally, what can we expect from your mix?

A selection of my tunes. It's definitely on more of the jump-up tip. A few dirty bits there to, and some mellowness at the end.

Glegg announces plans for 'extreme makeover' of politics

An article written for the satirical news website cultsa.com. View the original here.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has announced plans to perform an ‘extreme makeover’ on British politics if his party achieve power in the election today. Although details on the policy are hazy, it is assumed the makeover will involve British politics receiving a complete transformation at the hands of a team of plastic surgeons, dietary technicians and style gurus.

After a traumatic amount of facial reconstruction, which will hopefully transform British politics’ expression from a wistful smirk into a permanent leer, she will then receive a tortuous amount of dental work, as her mouldy molars are replaced with a blindly bright set of prosthetic teeth.

Once her lips have been pumped so full of collagen it looks like two salmon are flirting around her mouth, she will then be subjected to the merciless attention of an army of hair and fashion stylists, under the command of fashion zealot and inexplicable cultural sensation Gok Wan. The asexual enigma described his philosophy as “all about the confidence. We’re going for less Queen Liz and more Queen Latifah. We’re going to make sure British politics is confident in her own skin, and by that I mean force her to get her baps out on national TV”.

British politics admitted to mixed emotions when she heard the news: ‘Initially I felt it was a bit of a back handed insult, volunteering me for an extreme makeover. I mean what’s wrong with me as I am? But then I realised that at the end of the day it’s a free tit job. I mean 65 years of a two party system has left me with breasts down to my knees’.

While Politics is busy being made over, Colin and Justin will be secretly ushered into the House of Commons with the aim of giving the bastion of British democracy a much needed ’60 minute makeover’. The tired combination of green leather and varnished wood is going to be ripped out and replaced with a tasteful ‘moon safari’ theme.

Clegg defended the decision, saying “It’s time to drag British politics into the twenty first century. I think we can all admit that British politics is definitely looking its age, and the parliamentary system needs a shake-up…not to mention a bikini wax and an arse lift. It’s the only way that she might look attractive enough for the electorate to take an interest in her again. In fact I’ve got a semi just thinking about it…’.

Profile of Darkvibe Recordings

An article I was commissioned to write by Knowledge magazine. View the original here.



Although only a fledgling label, Darkvibe Recordings has already made its presence felt on the d&b scene. Formed in September 2008 by British producer Plex, the label has been pushing its own brand of 'electro jump up' through releases from an international roster of artists. Tracks such as Hypnotized by Plex and Extraterrestrials by Ravager have been assaulting the d&b charts, with Extraterrestrials receiving radio play on Crissy Criss' 1Xtra show. We caught up with Plex to find out what the label is about and what they have planned for the future...

You were previously signed to Blame's 720 Degrees imprint. What made you decide to set up your own label?

It all started in 2002 when I signed my first release New Episode and Speedfreak. Blame was well established at that point and I was going to all the big nightclubs with him promoting my release. I was meeting all the top artists in the business and passing round CDs. It gave me a good look at how things worked and a proper insight into promoting a label. I then spent a few years promoting Darkvibe Recordings and when the name and logo started to get noticed I launched the label.

'Dark vibes' seems to accurately describe the tone of most of your releases. Is this a deliberate theme?

Yes it is. My music has always had that edge to it. New Episode was a very dark track, but I naturally find myself drawn into dark underground rollers, and this is what the label is all about.

What is happening with the label at the moment?

I have five artists onboard now which are myself, DBRuk, VTech, Ghost, Ravager and a vocalist, Jeffie Dillard, and we all bring our own dark flavours to the table. I have my new single Drug Bust out at the end of May and a new single from Ravager called Satellites out at the end of June. Right now I'm working on a new album called Psychotic Lullaby which is out this summer.

What are your plans for the future of the label?

I'm still focusing on what I've been doing for the last few years: pushing the sound in the right direction, but also giving artists a chance to get their music heard, as a lot of them struggle to find a label that will take them on.

Have you got any plans to expand the label?

Yes most definitely. I'm not just about drum'n'bass, I'm about music. It's in my blood. I have recently been producing the final mixes of an unsigned post-punk band called Dutch Order who many people, including myself, believe are gonna be big news. I also get so many demos sent to me from artists of all genres like dubstep, house and most categories of drum'n'bass, so I decided as I have worldwide distribution I should be looking into setting up some sub-categories on the label to cater for all this.

Profile of Dysphemic for Knowledge magazine

An article I was commissioned to write for Knowledge magazine. See the original here.



Dysphemic is an Australian drum'n'bass and dubstep producer who has recently finished a live tour of Europe. With a debut EP about to be released on his self-titled label and an album in the pipeline, we thought it was time to catch up with the man himself…

What made you set up a label?
I never wanted to have to compromise my sound by having to deal with a bunch of industry people, so I set up Dysphemic Productions. Now I have complete creative control over my music and I can manage the way I promote myself. I love being my own boss.

How do you feel you fit into the Australian d'n'b and dubstep scenes?
Dubstep is alive and growing fast in Melbourne, but I like to think my dubstep differs from the standard wobble-heavy basslines. It's definitely more glitchy and melodic than your average dubstep. As for my d'n'b, it's a lot darker and nastier than the standard jump-up classics. I'm generally booked to play when the crowd is ready to get crazy loose. I'm not a DJ: all my sets are 100% original material, so I have heaps of control over the direction of my sets.

Are the scenes closely linked there or are they quite self-contained?
Yes definitely. They go hand-in-hand here in Australia.

Were any producers or labels a particular influence on your sound?
Computer game music (especially Amiga) was pretty much my original influence. Blood Fist records were the crew who actually got me into writing electronic music in the first place. Their use of trackers was a massive influence on how I used to (and still do) write most of my tracks. Squarepusher was also another major inspiration for me.

You used to be a member of a speedcore group. Has this had an influence on how your approach music?
Yes. Even to this day my tunes still have a heavy use of vocal samples from B grade horrors movies which was a direct influence from speedcore and gabba. I’m always experimenting and cross connecting different styles. I guess this has freed up my style a bit and made it less formulaic.

What are your plans for the future?
After this Hypnosis album is released my next album, which is already underway, will be a return to some darker drum'n'bass sounds. I’m thinking of a corrupt cops / politicians theme, but we’ll see what happens.

As for touring, I’m interested in touring America and eventually Europe again. It’ll be large.