This weeks interview & mix comes from UK producer Murder He Wrote
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Hello James, can you start off by introducing yourself?
Hello, I’m Murder He Wrote, I’m a producer and DJ, originally from the countryside in the South West of the UK, but now living by the sea in a city called Brighton.
Cool, what have you been up to recently?
Most recently I’ve been very busy setting up my label Kasenote, we had our first release on the 24th March, which was an EP by me called Work It. I featured one of the tracks from that in this mix so keep an eye out for that.
We will, talk us through the mix that you mentioned….
I started by getting 50 or 60 tracks, way too many. And really it was about picking a track that I thought would be good to start with, pressing record and seeing where it took me. It’s quite an organic flow through the tempos, starting with house music, through to garage, grime, some footwork and ending on drum and bass. So really it’s a snap shot of some of the electronic music styles that I’m enjoying and that I would play live.
Nice and talk us through some of the British talent in the mix?
I feature a lot of British artists, some of them established, so people like Calibre, Bok Bok and on the other hand some up and comers. Firstly there is a new track from Etch, he’s from Brighton, and he’s making a lot of waves with his sound, its very jungle influenced but more of a 140 bpm 130 tempo. There’s also a brand new thing from a producer called Kimi, he’s a producer from London and that’s someone who I only became aware of recently, but he’s making a lot of really cool stuff. So keep an ear out for those.
Exciting stuff, who were the British DJ’s that really inspired you in the first place?
When I was growing up the DJ’s I was looking up to were, firstly Fat Boy Slim. He was the first artist I was kind of aware of, that kind of made me realize that you could make music with a sampler and a synth; you don’t have to have a band. That was very enlightening. As I grew older, I got in to Drum And Bass, so producers like Marcus Intalex and Bad Company, just people that were doing amazing things with sound design, and things I couldn’t comprehend. So they shaped my path with getting more technical with it all.
Definitely good references to have! Now what’s on the cards for the immediate future?
In the immediate future, the thing taking up all my time is the stuff I’m doing with my vocalist Lilly Grey. We’re putting together a live set, so as apposed to DJ-ing we’re going to be doing more of a live performance, so that’s quite scary but very exciting and obviously we’re hoping to tour that around a bit. I think we’ve only got 15 minutes of music so far, so the next few weeks will be interesting.
Aside from that I have lots of music almost finished, so it’s a case of tying up lose ends and sending that to people and seeing what happens with that.
And finally this being a global show where is the best place in the world you have played?
It’s really hard to pick a best place that I have DJ’d really. You know a set can be special for loads of reasons. Some of my favourite sets are just house parties with friends. The one that stands out most recently would be Cape Town in February, it’s always interesting playing abroad, seeing what works and what doesn’t and also there was a really great bunch of people there. I met a lot of really good producers; two of them are in the mix. Daddy Warbucks and Maramza, so watch out for those!
Selector Afterdark – Murder He Wrote by Selector After Dark on Mixcloud