This week’s interview & mix comes from Audiojack
Introduce yourself and tell us about the part of the UK you’re from?
Hi, we are Audiojack; a DJ, production and label curating duo from the North of England. Leeds is our city of reference and was our UK home for many years, but we actually grew up in small towns in other parts of Yorkshire, Jamie in Hornsea and Rich in Wakefield.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been working on recently?
We live in Ibiza these days and it’s a bit hot to be stuck in a studio so we’ll spend this summer focused on our live show, jamming live on a nice breezy sheltered rooftop. We’ve had a few EPs out on British labels this year. We did a concept EP for Ralph Lawson’s 2020Vision label earlier this year using sounds only made using noises created by the human mouth. We also released our Vibrate EP on Jamie Jones UK label Hot Creations. Our next release is an EP on another label famed for its UK connection, that’s Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint. You can hear one of these cuts in this mix. We also mixed the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix last month – a huge honour as this seminal mix was also a prominent influence on the music of our youth.
And can you talk us through the mix?
This mix was put together on Ableton over the course of an afternoon and simply represents some of the music we’re into at the moment. We have always been big fans of journey mixes rather than just tracks mixed together without flow, so that’s something we try to keep in mind when mixing.
Which British artists excite you?
The first 15 minutes of the mix feature exclusively British producers, opening with a new track from Mr. G – the London based producer and one time member of The Advent who has been one of techno’s underground legends for the last two or three decades now. Next up it’s another producer who has been involved in the scene for many years and recently reinvented himself as dubspeeka. Hailing from Bristol he was originally part of the group Kosheen. Then it’s our new track Turya, out this month on Crosstown Rebels. After that it’s Denney with Hallucinate – a UK producer hailing from the North East who we’ve known for long time, even before we all started making music. It’s been great to see him make such an impression in recent years. The mix then continues with some of our favourite new cuts before closing on one of our new currently untitled tracks, before finishing on a new cut from Sasha.
Nice, and talk us through some of your British DJ Heroes?
We grew up on Sasha and Digweed’s classic northern exposure stuff around the late 90s, then when we moved to Leeds were hugely influenced by Back to Basics residents Ralph Lawson and Paul Woolford who also had a big part to play in moulding the sound of our early Audiojack years.
Great and what’s on the cards in the immediate future?
We’re focused on creating our live show for the next few months. It’s something we’ve been planning to start for the last few years so it’s really great to finally get the ball rolling! Our next UK tour dates are in London at Ministry of Sound on 13th August, Solar Knights in Darlington on 28th August then Distrikt in Leeds on 17th September. Other than that our main focus is just to enjoy the summer.
And finally, where is the best place in the world you have performed and why?
That’s as difficult a question to answer as what’s your favourite food! The variety is the best thing. Living in Ibiza there aren’t many places which offer better options for raving, but Berlin is on a par, and provides a totally different nightlife experience. Tokyo, San Francisco, Barcelona, Melbourne are four of our favourite other cities for different reasons. In terms of the best club? Impossible to say, but Basics in Leeds, Rex in Paris, D-Edge in Sao Paulo and Revolver in Melbourne have provided some of our favourite experiences…