BUBBLESand BASS Obey City’s popping new ‘Champagne Sounds’
HAVING CAUSED Astir on the New York underground for the past few years, producer and Astro Nautico label boss Obey City is ready to take it up a level. After getting serious props from Machinedrum, he’s found himself signed to trailblazers LuckyMe. His forthcoming ‘Champagne Sounds EP’ is a synthesis of everything that makes his sound uniquely compelling – heady with unexpected tempos, syrup-rich slow jam aesthetics, soul-filled melodies and gloopy bass that drops like ripe, sweet fruit. We wanted to know more…
What in your studio couldn’t you live without? “I enjoy using a mix of digital and analog sounds — but to be honest, Ableton Live is probably the single most important component in my studio, as everything is recorded and arranged in there. A close second would also be my turntables and vinyl; a constant source of
inspiration and sound.” Have you any plans to work with vocalists? “Yes, working with vocalists is definitely my focus at the moment. The second EP in this series for LuckyMe, entitled ‘Merlot Sounds’, will be heavy with vocal features.” Is there even a genre name for what you’re making? Does it matter? “I constantly find myself struggling to describe the music I make to others, so at the moment I’ve been calling it ‘soul’ because that’s what it is, at its essence. At the end of the day, I think it’s just important we give music a listen without expectations and let it speak for itself, right?” Do you feel like you’re part of a new New York ‘scene’? “I do feel privileged to be a part of a new group of
artists becoming more prominent within NYC over the past year or so. I believe a big part of my involvement is a result of Astro Nautico. We’ve been throwing underground parties and releasing music for the last couple of years, and through these outlets I’ve been able to connect with older and newer crowds within NYC.” The music on the latest EP is crazy, quite unlike anything else out there, so we’d love to know what your influences are... “My influences are extremely wide-ranging and always changing. I really look up to people like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, who were able to produce for popular artists but still constantly innovate. On ‘Champagne Sounds’ I was aiming to make songs that were uplifting and joyous, but at the same time contained these scattered moments of intimacy. They were also meant to be surprising and unpredictable at times — something that forced you to listen intently.”
‘Champagne Sounds’ is out now on LuckyMe
FRESCO-NOVA New Mexican house producer/DJ is fresh and fly
LOUIE FRESCO got into making music through the video game ‘MTV: Music Generator 2’ before progressing onto professional software, and has slowly built up his name in deep house/tech circles to become well-known outside his home country of Mexico. He confides to DJ Mag USA, though, that he used to be part of an EDM project in the mid-to-late noughties. “We’d been touring all over the world, doing lots of ‘big room’ shows and festivals while getting good money, but at some point I started to feel that I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons,” he says. “The music was too fast and too loud, everything started to feel superficial and pointless. So, in 2010 I decided to hit the reset button and just make music without any pressure, without thinking about goals, touring, music genres or anything; just music that felt right.”
After starting to make his own more considered stuff, Jonny White from Art Department came across one of his tracks, ‘Cruel’, that Louie had planned to release on his own label with a remix by his pal Russ Yallop. “It ended up being a part of Lee Foss’ EP on No.19 instead, and that was a good move because the track got played and charted by almost everyone I looked up to,” he says. Since then he’s had a string of releases on labels such as Suruba, Exploited and No.19 again, and ‘The New Hateration EP’ has just dropped on his own Mexa Records, with remixes by Kolombo, MK and Jakkin Rabbit. He’s also giving over his debut artist album to No.19, as they’ve helped him so much along the way. “The album will consist of 13 songs, and I emphasize the word ‘songs’ because most of them are a bit more emotional than your typical dancefloor tune,” he tells DJ Mag USA. “It’s got techno, house, hip-hop, trip-hop, classical music, and basically any kind of music that I felt like doing at the time that fits that No.19 vibe.”
djmag.com 007
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