This week’s interview & mix comes from Lindo Man.
Introduce yourself and tell us about the part of the UK you’re from?
AIreet! This is Lindo Man, aka Chris Chambers, aka Chimpolata. I’m from The Salt, aka Northwich, aka a little one-horse, market town in the middle of Cheshire; but I’ve moved about a bit. Currently residing in Chorltonia, in Mancunia – the place I feel most at home.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been working on recently?
I’ve been working on some material for the next album, and a semi-live ‘futuretablist’ (that’s right, I’m making it up, but hey, it might catch on) setup using NI Maschine & Traktor Stems. It’s coming together swimmingly.
And can you talk us through the mix?
So I had a good old root around in the proverbial beats box and found that, to my great pleasure, I had a solid selection of British tunes to present. It’s always a complicated affair, putting together a good mix, as it’d be shy not to flex the breadth of my influential vernacular, so to speak. So I have to forge a path through the wood, that is, the different styles, tempos, and vibes. Not to mention cramming it all into a 15-minute mix.
Nice, talk us through the British music featured in this mix? Which British artists are you most excited about?
I found that there were a decent array of Brits that have put out music spanning the cross section of my musical heritage – from future beats, to jungle-juke, to bass-house, to electronica. It also wasn’t hard to slip in a few choice beats from old beat maker chums of mine, without having to shoehorn them in, which is nice.
I’m a sucker for those soulful vocals & melodies, and forward thinking beats & ideas. For that reason I’m buzzin’ about Guernsey’s newest musical whiz kid Mura Masa. Right up my boulevard!
Even though it’s pretty reminiscent of Jai Paul’s offerings from a couple of years back, I’m digging the quirky, soulful vibes of Ben Khan (may not be related whatsoever, in which case, soz Ben). Jai Paul’s Jasmine is an absolute gem too, while we’re on the subject.
On a banger tip, Redlight has put out a few blinders over the past few years. I wish there were more of these ‘bass-house’ type tunes knocking about. Really dig that vibe.
On a jungle-juke tip I’ve gotta mention the one like Fracture. He manages to freshen up the largely explored genre of jungle / D’n’B.
The thread running through these choices is the gap-bridging, ‘throw em in the pot’ mentality, I reckon.
Cool, tell us about some of your British DJ heroes?
My first DJ hero is, in fact, DJ Hero, the game. Naa, it’s not! I’ve got a plethora of influences, as you’ll probably notice in the mix but if I was pressed into choosing a couple of British jocks which I couldn’t go without a mentioning; Mr Scruff – a Tea-sipping leg-end. He’s created his own thing that’s led him to being a solid name for many years. To me his nights feel like a homecoming in Manchester, although I do miss the old Music Box.
Great and what’s on the cards in the immediate future?
Last month I released a single on Jalapeno Records entitled Goldilocks. For the occasion I decided to dust-off and don my old filmmaking cap. A few words that sum up the video/track – Earth’s screwed, Sci-fi glory, Planet Trump, Dystopian Future. Voila!
I recently released my debut album Lingua Franca on Jalapeno as well and I’ve been working on a new, semi-live, futuretablist set, as mentioned. Watch this space for vids via YouTube / Facebook.
And finally, where is the best place in the world you have performed and why?
Defo gotta shout my Berlin fam, for one thing, because anywhere that has clubs that start on a Thursday and end on a Monday is ok in my book. Having said that, I HATE the exclusive elitist door policy in certain joints. Fortunately, however, I know there’s much more to Berlin than that.
You also can’t go wrong with a good old rave in the middle of god-knows-where, North West England or house parties in Manchester.