This Week’s Interview & Mix comes from Etch
Selector Afterdark – Etch by The Selector on Mixcloud
Introduce yourself and tell us about the part of the UK you’re from?
I’m Zak and I’m from Brighton, born and bred, I studied sound design in London for 3 years, kinda love/hated London so came running back. Brighton’s great, it’s had its lows and highs but it’s definitely on another high at the moment as far as the music scene is concerned.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been working on recently?
A lot… I have a few releases to get out on wax this year, which are all basically done, just in the process of getting them out, so while that’s been happening I’ve been really re-assessing my sound, I’m getting really influenced by people like FIS, Clarity, Gantz and then more trappier and footwork kinda sounds. Jlin’s album on Planet Mu really took me off my feet. So I’ve been really working on changing my approach to rhythms, I’ve become known for using breaks and while they linger and I love them, I’m getting drawn into different things. So yeah… We’ll see how these tracks I’m working on at the moment pan out when they get out and about.
And can you talk us through the mix?
This mix was done on Ableton, mainly because I wanted to just throw in loads of stuff I love. I do a series of mixes on my Mixcloud called Altered States, which I usually put out to coincide with releases, and the idea behind them is that they show a side to me that people may not know about, for example, it’s easy to say my core influences are Jungle, Hardcore, Garage, Dubstep. And while their STRUCTURES influence me, I’m a big fan of more obscure things such as bands from the 60’s like HP Lovecraft, Brainticket, Vanilla Fudge and Jazz like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Gabor Szabo and Charles Kynard… & Just general out there stuff like Coil, Wolf Eyes, Autechre. Mo’wax & hip hop aswell. So yeah I guess this mix is trying to cover all corners of me to an extent (or as much as I can fit in) as well as repping music from people around me that I love and my own unreleased bits.
Nice, give us a taste of some of your favourite British artists at the moment?
It’s odd there’s not THAT much British music, particularly new British music in this mix, it’s kind of all over the shop which is how the music scene is now, Big love for all the 160 not quite drum & bass not quite juke not quite jungle crew as well, I’m loving that in the UK at the moment. Itoa, Moresounds, Om Unit, Sam Binga. But of course I got to shout out Facta probably the most on the UK front, he’s just got it down, he can meander through different styles with his own traits effortlessly and has done for a long time, Alex Coulton is making some wicked sub heavy sludgey broken techno beats too. It’s hard to say who I’m excited about… Ilk is killing it at the moment, I’ve been working alot with him because he lives a 5min walk away from me, also from my hometown a guy called Foamplate who is making some wicked 140 stuff. It sounds dumb me saying “they don’t make it like they used to”, being only 22 myself, but I listen to old UK tunes and they just have something that’s missing today, and this isn’t just me romanticizing jungle and hardcore, or breaks or whatever. I think it’s a combination of things, things loosing their magic because of the Internet, overpopulation “everyone wants to be a DJ every body wants to be in the scene” hahaha, basically. It’s too easy these days. But having said all that UK Hip Hop is really really vibrant at the moment with Blah Records, High Focus & Levelz, basically the North are taking over, but it’s a good thing. Lee Scott, Black Josh, T-Man, Sparkz, Skittles, Chimpo… All that lot are sick, also Onoe Caponoe always been a top favvy of mine and as I said, what’s been developing out of Drum & Bass (which was my first love) lately has been astounding.
Cool, tell us about some of your British DJ Heroes and influences in general?
Where do I begin!! I love out of most old Jungle DJ’s, DJ Trace, his show’s with Rhyme Thyme on Kool.fm that have been archived are out of this world, in my opinion even stepping on Randall and Groove’s toes. Of course through growing up around dubstep and predominantly it’s splintering into other niches, I’ve always got time for DJ’s like Oneman and Ben UFO. I really love Tim Parker as well, after seeing him out a couple of times and tuning into his NTS shows, I really love his selection and approach to music, it reminds me a lot of (my favourite DJ in the WORLD) Gaslamp Killer. But overall DJing isn’t particularly something I focus on.
Great and what is on the cards in the immediate future?
In the immediate future I’ll be working with a spin-off of Well Rounded called Gully Records which has some sick stuff coming and also my first full length, I’ve also got stuff coming with Spanish experimental label Lapsus, Sneaker Social Club (shout out Jamie! been a huge guide over the past few months) and then hopefully working more on projects amongst my mates, info of one of those is soon to come, shouts to Dom The Saviour and Ilk, we got some big things in the cannon. I’ve also got an oldie but goldie coming out on DJ Barely Legal’s new label “Pretty Weird”, which should be out soon. Of course I’ve always been constantly working with Soundman Chronicles and whatever Parris does, I owe the label & Parris allot for where I stand now, so I am set to see that out for the forseeable future.
And finally, where is the best place in the world you have DJ’d and why?
New York OF COURSE, and not only New York, Reconstrvct. I don’t give a shit what Joe Nice is pranging about, it is without a doubt, from the perspective of someone from the UK, one of the best parties on the planet, the vibe, the people, the sound. I’ll never stop pining back to that second I pressed play on my first tune, it was an amazing experience for so many reasons, meeting guys like Karma, Clarity and Mikael was great. I loved it. Shouts to Luke, Katya, True Nature, Vik, Patrick, Nina & everyone else I met out there. Playing in Prague with my Breh from another Meh, Epoch was wicked too, alot of manly bonding was done over too much tequila in a child’s play park, the party was great, cross club was mental, shouts to Dmitrij for the hospitality!