This week’s interview & mix comes from Understate
Introduce yourself and tell us about the part of the UK you’re from?
We are Understate a Tech House duo from Leeds
Tell us about some of your British DJ heroes?
Carl Cox is the number 1 British DJ hero in our opinion! He has pioneered one of the biggest clubs in the world, space Ibiza for 21 Years. For a residency to stay that relevant throughout all those years really shows his skills as the best DJ. The beauty of Carl is that he has remained on the underground scene and never sold out. We respect that a lot.
Latmun is another brand new British DJ hero. He has brought a new big sound to the table – people say he has been the most copied artist of 2016 – we agree, but he took the genre of Tech House down a new avenue and we think other artists are embracing that.
Eats Everything is also a British DJ hero. He plays literally every genre within his sets and the crowds go mad for it. The guy is a joker and we feel his personality really hits home with the ravers.
What have you been working on recently?
We have been working on heaps of tracks for smaller upcoming labels. Were a big believer in getting our music heard quickly and these labels cater for this. We enjoy the idea of growing with them so when they’re suddenly the ‘Label’ everyone wants to get on; we were one of the first. So we support these people 100%. The bigger labels will come, we have been approached by a few now but we like to be asked for a release as opposed to bombarding them with tracks. It’s more real that way and a great indicator that they like your sound.
Tell us about the mix, how did you put it together, what did you want to represent?
We have a lot of friends doing the same kind of thing and they are very talented people who are not necessarily getting the exposure they deserve. We wanted to represent these producers in our mix so we carefully selected some of their best work to showcase. With that, a few exclusives from us are in there also and some big hard-hitting rollers from more established artists. It’s a good blend of high energy, bass rolling bangers that will keep the crowd on their feet. We also loosely structure the set out with a starting/ending tune and certain big drops in specific places. By doing this we can control the journey along the way.
Talk us through the British music featured in this mix? Which British artists are you most excited about?
The mix is made up of mostly British music, as we really wanted to capture the talent going on in the scene right now and have features artists like:
Mad Villains – Really excited about what he’s doing at the moment, he’s is also a Leeds producer who’s one of our really good mates! He makes wicked tunes, has a very original sound and is very underrated in our opinion.
Linier – They’re another Leeds based duo, we are also really good mates with these boys. They’re making a lot of really diverse music and we have been playing their tunes in our sets for a while now. We have also written a track with them, which is coming out on a really good label. So keep an eye out for that!
Cloonee – We featured one of his tracks from his recent Elrow EP, which is awesome! He’s also sitting on some really good material at the moment, definitely one to watch!
Motion Sky – A duo from Edinburgh who have been sending us loads of music recently. They’re tracks always go off and are an essential part of our sets at the moment.
Tommy Vercetti – Another British artist, we didn’t use any of his tracks in this mix. But we are really excited about the tracks he is making right now. He’s an amazing up and coming DJ, we saw him recently in Leeds and his set was unreal. He played for 2 hours and we physically couldn’t move from the dance floor!
What is on the cards in the immediate future?
This month were all over the place, we are playing Wildlife Festival on June 10th, then Elements Festival, Thirty3hz in Guildford before we jet of back to Hideout where we will be opening the BBC Radio 1 takeover alongside some of our favorite artists such as Eats Everything, Solardo, Dusky and B-Traits. We have a couple releases on Detection and Alledged coming up soon so keep an eye out for that.
Where is the best place in the world you have DJ’d and why?
Hideout, Croatia. We opened for Elrow on the Kalypso stage, which is one of the biggest on Zrce Beach where the festival is held. We began the set with no one and ended with 500 upwards going mad. It was the most exhilarating experience ever. We have been asked back to Hideout this year and given a residency there, which we are thrilled about.