Q&A :: Deficit [AutomAte D&B]

We've been supporting the AutomAte labels since their inception last year and if you've been listening to our podcasts, chances are you've heard some AutomAte beats in there. With that in mind, we felt it was high-time we got co-founder, Deficit to put a guest mix together for our latest podcast and we recently got hold of him to find out how the last year has been for the him and the labels. Read on for the lowdown!

It's been around a year since we spoke to you last. How have things been progressing with AutomAte? Are you happy with where the labels are at this point? 

Very. It’s easy to forget that AutomAte as a label is only 12 months old. In our first year, we’ve put out 9 releases totaling 20 tunes, every one of which has been well received. We’ve had Radio 1 airplay from Friction, Bailey and Nihal, as well as exposure on well-loved dnb-specific stations such as Origin FM, Kane FM, Rude FM & Kool FM. I think the Drum & Bass Arena podcast deserves a mention and we’ve even been approached by Hardcore Underground to have an AutomAte track featured on one of their DJ-mixed CDs, which will ship over 10,000 units. 

We’ve been overwhelmed with support. Some really positive feedback has landed in our inbox from a variety of people, from DJ Hype, Kenny Ken and Nu:Tone to bedroom DJs from the other side of the planet. I value it all equally, it’s what makes this worthwhile. I pride myself on doing things properly and professionally and this seems to have made a big impression on the people we’ve worked with so far. This works both ways, all we ask from our artists is dedication to the cause and to push themselves, which has resulted in the most important thing of all - wicked music! 

Nuff said I think man! We’ve laid a sturdy foundation which we can build on. Priority numero uno for us in year one was to show that we’re serious, we have what it takes and we’re here to stay. We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved so far. 

You have three labels running under the AutomAte umbrella. Do you have a favourite so far or is that like asking a parent to pick a favourite child? 

That’s a hard one to answer. I probably shouldn’t in case I hurt the feelings of the other labels, haha. AutomAte Deep will always have a special place in my heart because it’s my own experimental playground, it’s very personal to me. I try not to play too heavily on the segregation between the three labels though, it’s not meant to be pigeon-holey. Some people will just think of all the labels as AutomAte and that’s cool. Other people will have a favourite sub-label, or realise over time that they like the blue ones best, or whatever. 

I think of AutomAte as neopolitan ice-cream. Sure, the chocolate is the best bit, but I’ll sit and eat the whole damn tub. Probably in one go. And if I’m feeling picky, well I can just buy a tub of chocolate ice-cream and to hell with the other flavours. You still following me? I’m not… 

We've been seeing a heavy focus on the Drum & Bass long-player in the last year or so. Any plans to break into this market? 

The short answer is not at the moment. 

There’s two main types of LP. One is the artist album, which I feel would be a bit premature for us. We do have several artists on the roster from whom I think an album, when the time comes, would fit nicely into our catalogue. Releasing a full-length artist album is a big responsibility. The amount of blood, sweat, tears and soul that is poured into one of those means that we would need to be in a more powerful position than we are right now, in terms of fan-base and promotional clout, to do it justice. When the time is right though, we will rise to the challenge and make sure the artist gets what he or she deserves. 

If you’re talking about various artist, compilation type LPs, I’m not a big fan of those. There doesn’t tend to be much vibe or common thread about them. When a label’s been around for a while, it makes sense to put the classics, or best-sellers, or just a selection of relevant tunes on a compilation and give them a second wind. But I don’t believe it’s the best way to release new music. I’d rather put out an EP series, I remember how excited I got in the vinyl days when the next Ram Raiders or Hardware Chronicles was out (though in both of those cases, the best tune was on the first volume!). Hence the Depth of Vision EP series on AutomAte! 



What else can we expect to hear from the AutomAte camp in the near future? Are there any artists you're particularly excited about? 

We have a little trick up our sleeve, release-wise, for Halloween, followed by another big remix on AutomAte Tech. AutomAte Deep has a new recruit (from the other side of the planet, not deliberate but I do love how Deep seems to attract people from all corners of the globe). Actually, come to think of it, Deep has 2 or 3 new recruits! 

We also have an EP in the pipeline for Deep from a duo that I’ve been supporting for several years now and who have also recently caught the ears of Ink/Architecture and Loxy/Cylon. I was hoping to have a release date set for that EP but unfortunately they blew up their sub while making it, haha, so that’s delayed it a bit but at least we know there’ll be plenty of bass! 

We’ve also started work on Volume 2 of the Depth of Vision EP. The first one was very well received so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of following it up and officially making it a series.

Artist-wise, I’m immensely proud of everyone we’ve represented so far. But if I must single some out, Philth & Wreckless are killing it, Fearful clearly have a bright future and I love Ortokore’s distinctive style. D.R.O.P.S are very promising too and PRTCL has had a great Summer. 

Vince Grain came out of nowhere with Roswell Eyewitness, and what you hear is exactly the demo he sent me (apart from the mastering of course). There was no discussion or tweaking, one take, job done. Now THAT’s German efficiency for you! 

Current top five tunes? 

Current top 5 tunes or top 5 current tunes? Haha. 

Philth – Overload [AutomAte Tech] 

Fearful & Keosz ft. Black Louis - Scars [Citrus] 

Ruffhouse & Clarity – Persecute [Critical] 

Vince Grain - Roswell Eyewitness [AutomAte] 

Raiden – Roentgen [Architecture] 

You put a guest mix together for our latest podcast. Can you give us a little insight into that? 

To be honest, I really went to town on this one. Blackdub have been very supportive of us from day one so I wanted to pull out all the stops. 

I thought about the words ‘black’ and ‘dub’ and the original idea was to go in really deep and dark but, as with all my mixes, I wanted to show off a range of styles and eras – it ended up spanning 20 years, from 1993 – 2013! Then I heard Wreckless’ Face of the Deep EP on Peer Pressure and just had to use the title track as an intro, I love that monologue. I wanted to represent a little bit of all 3 of my labels without being a stereotypical label man and turning it into an AutomAte dubcast. A bit of Raiden always finds its way into my sets. You’ll notice a slightly disproportionate quantity of Ram classics in there… they recently put their back catalogue up for sale digitally and I couldn’t help myself, even though I already own every Ram tune in this mix on vinyl. 

This is the first mix I’ve ever made in Ableton Live, which is my weapon of choice for production these days. With the label workload plus starting my own engineering business, I haven’t had a lot of time to make my own music these past 6 months but I did buy Live 9 and Push on release day so this seemed like a good opportunity to go in balls deep, do something new to me and get to know the new Ableton a little better. 

There’s a long, boring, endless debate that goes on about the death (or not!) of vinyl, whether new technology takes the skill out of performing etc etc. I’ve been DJing for 12 years now (8 years of vinyl, 4 years of digi – time flies) and I remember being scared of switching from vinyl to digi because I was so comfortable on the 1210s. But you can’t push forward and keep things exciting if you sit firmly entrenched in your comfort zone. And it turned out the Pioneer CDJ1000 was a marvelous piece of kit, I fell in love with it instantly. It’s the same with Traktor, Ableton and whatever comes next. Sure you can use new technology to do the same old shit quicker and easier than ever before, but you’ll quickly be overtaken and eclipsed by those that push themselves and take things to the oft talked-about ‘next level’. I won’t be selling any decks or doing the majority of my mixes on the computer from now on, nor will I be turning up at a club with a laptop anytime soon, but this has opened a new door for me and the possibilities fascinate me. 

I’d need 4 decks and more arms than an octopus to pull this mix off on decks, and even then some of the effects I’ve used aren’t possible in real-time. Most of it isn’t really obvious in-your-face FX like you’d find on a DJ mixer, it’s more about chopping tracks up, lots of layering and blending different aspects of 3 or 4 tunes together in a way that sounds natural. It’s more of a techno attitude to mixing than D&B. I wanted to really ‘produce’ a studio mix. I sure hope you enjoy it now I’ve talked it up!

As always, do you have any final thoughts or shout-outs you'd like to add? 

My partner-in-crime, Esion. Our resident computer whizz (and wicked DJ) Nathan E. And my girlfriend Julie, without whom life would be meaningless. 

A special mention to our mastering engineer, Chris Jarman (aka Raiden / Kamikaze Space Programme). That man has the magic touch, I’m tellin ya. 

Flexout Audio, Peer Pressure and Fractured Foundation crews. I love hanging out with those guys. Philth can eat twice as much as me and never puts on a pound. Git! 

Katie Taylor (aka Shiny Biscuit) for helping us on the PR / promo side of things. 

All the artists that have worked with us, sent us music or shown an interest. And everyone who’s supported us by buying or playing our music, spreading the word or just offering encouragement. You know who you are. 

Philth & Wreckless :: Poison (The Sect Remix) / Poison (Fortitude Remix) is out now and you can grab it by clicking this link.

Q&A :: Caine [IM:LTD]

IM:LTD could call 2013 a good year. With a full-length LP project under their belts as well as a host of quality single releases, the French label seems to be going from strength to strength.

We decided it was high-time we got hold of bossman, Caine, to find out what makes the label tick. Read on for the lowdown.

Hi Caine, thanks for talking to us. Can you give us a little background into how IM:LTD came about? What made you want to set up a label?

Hi, thanks for having this interview.

I was already deep into music production and designing visuals for some other labels when I got offered to run my own imprint.

I saw an opportunity there to promote young upcoming producers such as Mortem, Atmospherix & Glen E.Ston.

People I was already in touch with that couldn’t actually fit the sound of the labels I was already working for.

How would you describe the music policy/ethos of  IM:LTD? Is it difficult crafting a product like a record label?

“Let the music do the talking” is what we stand for. We didn’t really make it easy for ourselves, we wanted the label to be as true to the underground and the Drum & Bass fans as we could, putting upfront almost unknown producers coming from barely known local scenes.

Now when it comes to the efforts of putting on a decent label, I already knew regarding my former experiences what it would demand to do it to the fullest. I knew it wouldn’t be a piece of cake, but overcoming obstacles is already a reward in itself…now I’m broke, I’m tired but I’m content as it seems we have some bright days ahead aha!

We hear you have a background in graffiti. Has that translated at all in the way you run your business?

Actually yes, it did a lot. Graffiti being all about “getting up”, I realised later the way I worked on this label project was actually with the same competitive mindset I had when I was bombing when applied to another media.

IM:LTD has quite a prolific release schedule compared to some labels. What's going on at the moment and what can we expect to hear in the near future?

We’re going to get back to a more reasonable release pace this year. Last year was all about having projects we initiated over the former years to finally come out.

But there are some pretty things already lined up starting with a forward thinking dubstep album from Kantyze which we’ve been working on for a year,

a couple of 12”s we are gathering remixes for and you can also expect something special from the IM:LTD camp to mark the 5 years milestone, so keep your ears open. 

You dropped a various artists album recently. How was the response to that? Are there many differences in the way you work towards an album compared to a single or EP release?

The response was super good…it actually always does when it’s a ‘VA’ project, I call it ‘the bundle effect’ aha.

Then it’s all about picking up the right music together, depending on what’s the release concept.

Are there any artists that you're really feeling at the moment?

There are loads, besides the label regulars such as Mortem, Arp Xp, Glen E.Ston and co, I am pretty excited about newcomers I have onboard such as Inertia from Madrid and Alpan Aytekin from Istanbul.

When it comes to what’s out there, there are a lot of people going from strength to strength I appreciate such as Foreign Concept, Villem, Fracture, the whole Manchester thing …

Current Top 5 tunes?

Derrick & Tonika :: Session [Forthcoming IM:LTD]

Phil Tangent :: We Don't Talk Anymore [Forthcoming IM:LTD]

Gerwin :: Soul Truth [IM:LTD]

Chimpo :: All Over [Soul:R]

Foreign Concept :: Paper Cha$er feat. Punchline [Critical Music]

Click this link to go to the IM:LTD store at Juno Download

Q&A :: Clive Ingredients

A little later than planned but no less relevant, is the second part of our Ingredients Records feature. Coming in the form of this interview with label boss, Clive, we find out how he got involved in Drum & Bass, what made him want to set up the label and what drives him to move forward in the scene. Read on!

Clive, thanks for talking to us. Can you give our readers a little insight into how you originally got involved in the Drum & Bass scene as well as the inception of Ingredients Records?

Well I am a firm believer that if you dedicate enough time to something you should look to get something back and I guess I felt that I needed to explore the industry after buying records avidly for 8 years. So much so that I quit my career as a chef to go and work at Redeye Records. That was in 2000 and from there I went and worked at Southern Records Distributors (SRD).  I was on a London pirate station between 2001-2005 and had met many people during this time. I left London to work for ST Holdings and I guess all this experience and networking led me to starting Ingredients confidently. I'd studied the music for 14 years by now so I found something I felt I could do quite well at and launched the label in 2009. 

Do you feel like you've kept in touch with the values the label was originally set up on? How do you see Ingredients evolving as time goes on?

Yes I do, although it's sometimes quite difficult to. The aim was always to find new artists and give them a platform, and some self-belief. But as has been the case throughout the catalogue, I've always released music from established artists too. I guess sometimes it felt like a mission statement rather than a record label but that's the pressure I put myself under and every now & then I just wanted it to be a credible label whoever the record was by. I've put on some really good events  in the last 3 years, notably the 1st one at XOYO & recently at Fabric. That shows the progression but I have slowed the release schedule down, there really is no rush to release good music.

The last release came in the form of another appearance from Response. Can you tell us a bit about that? Can we expect to see any more Ingredients bits before the year is out?

Yeah he sent me about 8 or 9 tunes, some were decent & he released his 1st record alongside ST Files in March this year "Nailbomb / Hard Times"  which was a great way to launch his career! We kept in touch regularly and pushed for his first solo 12". But literally one day he sent me 6 tracks & I signed them all! "Creep / Resistance" is out in the stores now as well as "Surveillance / One Nation" . They've had some terrific support across the scene and I'm really pleased for him. He's been doing this for over a decade and he's finally in the zone. Also out now is another unknown to most, Dominic Petrie. Some different flavours on this one, a lot deeper and chilled but I felt he needed a platform, he's very talented and it's a 7 track digital EP with a 12" to follow.

Any plans for another album project?

To be honest I am put off by them. There are far to many compilations anyway, but if I was to do one it would be a solo album. Too early to say at the moment but I'm not ruling that out.

Who are your favourite producers at the moment? Are there any new guys coming through who you have your eye on?

I'm liking Pennygiles stuff of late, always been a fan of that style and sometimes he absolutely nails it. Skeptical always writes interesting Drum & Bass for me and I am really into Stealth, he has some killer tunes up his sleeve. But Response is someone I'm glad to be working with, 'One Nation' is bloody great.

You recently branched out into artist management with the formation of Evolution Artists. What made you want to get into that and how did it come about?

Yeah myself & James (Chroma) used to talk a lot and we both wanted to get into artist management in some capacity, and when he heard i was managing Symmetry Recordings for Break, we talked in depth about starting an agency. With a fair few artists already into what I was doing with Ingredients and James' experience in being a promoter for Turbulence in Newcastle, I think that experience alone was enough for people to take us seriously. We've been running it for almost 2 years and we both really enjoy it.

Any final thoughts you'd like to add?

Well I feel lucky to be working in the one part of the industry I love (Drum & Bass) and I encourage anyone to follow their desires and never let anyone put them off.

Click this link to go to the Ingredients Records store at Juno Download

Q&A :: Earth Leakage Trip [NexGen Music/Moving Shadow]

Some of you may remember Earth Leakage Trip from Moving Shadow's glory days back in the early-to-mid nineties. 

He's recently returned to the scene with an EP of spacey 140 BPM beats for the Nexgen Music Group so we thought we'd get hold of him to find out what's been going on between then and now.

Hi there, can you introduce yourself to our readers and give us a little background into Earth Leakage Trip?

With my first record release in 1992 on Moving Shadow I formed Earth Leakage Trip, the name comes from a device to prevent electric shock. Since a young age I've been playing piano and around 1990 I bought a drum machine and a few other devices and recorded my first electronic works. 

You're most likely known for your early releases on Moving Shadow and Rising High Records back in the nineties. What have you been up to you between them and now?

I met Rob Playford from Moving Shadow before the label was formed and played him some of my demos. He invited me to his studio to record some new pieces and had a plan to release our first recordings on vinyl. We called it Psychotronic, a three track EP that featured the now legendary track "No Idea" which has since featured many times on compilations. I then signed up with Rising High Records and released two more EPs featuring another acclaimed piece called "The Ice Cream Van from Hell" which featured on a Telstar compilation called Kaos Theory.

A few years later I released some more pieces on Cooking Records which was a subsidiary label of Good Looking Records run by LTJ Bukem. Soon after that and since then I've still been composing, experimenting with playing live drums and recording live sessions and mixing it with electronics in my own studio space. 

You recently dropped an EP on US label, Nexgen Records. How did that come about? Was there any concept behind the EP?

Dan from the Nexgen Music Group called me up and invited me to release my latest work with his label and since then I've been compiling a mixture of projects. Earth Leakage Trip is me as a solo artist and ELT-Sessions is a group of us recording live performances in the studio. My solo work is right now experimenting with cinematic Dubstep, and ELT-Sessions in a future psychedelic funk style.

The concept for my latest EP release has been to evoke the mood of aliens and UFO's in semi playful cinematic style, and to also highlight the seriousness of the subject and need for disclosure in this area. Inspired by the work of Project Camelot it has been my desire to expand and help the ongoing movement of truth within the alternative media.

Any final thoughts or shout outs you'd like to add?

I would like to give a big shout to Kerry Cassidy from Project Camelot for all her hard work in revealing the truth and to all musicians who are helping in spreading the word. 

Q&A :: Mako [Utopia Music/Metalheadz]

Utopia Music's first release was back in 2009. Since then, label owner Mako has been working hard, establishing an imprint built on a solid foundation of good vibes and a strictly no-cheese music policy.

We got hold of the incredibly humble bossman to find out more about what we can expect to hear from the Utopia Music camp and how he feels about the label's progress over the last four years.

First off, can you introduce yourself and give us a bit of background on how you started producing as well as the inception of Utopia Music?

Hello, my name is Stephen Mako, I am the owner and label manager of Utopia Music.  I currently write music for Metalheadz, Symmetry, Warm Communications, Dispatch, Horizons and my own label.  
Utopia was born out of a need for the family to have their own imprint and for other artists who have a similar style and approach, not just to music, but life ethics in general.  I started making music when I realised that it would help the label a lot more if I could actually write music by myself and use other labels as promotional tools for gigs and vibes.

   

Utopia has been running for a good few years now and you're part of what is arguably one of the more exciting collectives in Drum & Bass at the moment. Do you feel like you've managed to carve out your own niche in the scene? Has it been difficult setting yourself apart from the crowd?

I don't really feel like that - but I don't 'not' feel like that if you get me.  I haven't really given it much thought.  My 'thinking energy' tends to go on the making of music and the operation management side of the label.  Have we set ourselves apart from the crowd?  I don't know.  All I know is that I love the music.  I will gratefully let others decide the rest.

You have a few releases upcoming in the next couple of weeks as well as more from Utopia. Can you tell us a bit about what we can expect to hear?

Well there is the Andyskopes jungle 12" which is out now, the new Fields 12" is coming at the end of September and then we have a DLR 12" coming in November time.  After that we have a Break 12" and then a Villem 12" and then a Hydro, War, Habstrakt, Mateba and Sam KDC 12".  Then we have more from Mikal, Survival and myself.



So many of your collaborative tracks often read like a who's who of modern underground Drum & Bass. You've been working with names like DLR, Hydro and Linden to mention a few, as well as the Utopia crew. Do you find it easier working together with so many heads? How does it work?

When I was first writing tunes I was lucky enough to work with some talented producers from the start like Fields and Villem.  Then Break came along and taught me some really important vibes.  It was hard in the beginning to write with them as I felt really nervous most of the time and would feel most comfortable if they left the room when I was working on the track!  Now I don't feel like that and am a lot more confident and relaxed, so its a far more enjoyable process for me….and the others!  For a lot of my recent improvements I have to thank DLR as he instilled control and confidence in my tunes by helping my compression techniques and general vibes.  As for how it works, its all rather simple, people come to the studio, sometimes music is made and then they leave.  We tend not to put much pressure on ourselves, make sure our diet is good and we exercise regularly.  Its all part of the studio ethic.  A great deal of sarcastic banter is also part of the system, as is co-op Fifa and Trials Evolution.

Last year was a big year for the Drum & Bass LP. Any future plans for a Mako and/or a Utopia artist album?

No set plans, but there is talk of getting some of these older tunes out on a couple of 5 track EP's which would make up a mini album.

The ubiquitous current Top 5 tunes question!

1. Break - The Way Things Are (dub)

2. DLR & Mako - Your Mind (Metalheadz forthcoming)

3. Fields - Colours (Utopia Music forthcoming)

4. Degrees of Freedom - Children of the Sun (dub)

5. Mako & DLR - Meditation Vibes (Metalheadz forthcoming)

Any shouts or final thoughts you'd like to add?

As always, big ups to all the family.  I am eternally grateful for everyone's vibes and music.  Its a privilege to be here and be surrounded by the most talented yet non cheesy members of the drum and bass community.  Also shouts to Ant TC1, Heath at Warm Communications for showing a brother love and encouragement, Neil at Horizons, James my amazing press dude who works at Example Media and Alex at the Bassic agency. Shouts to T Dog and Ethel kitten and my little but big brother Robbie.  Also shouts to the universe for being full of flavours.

Q&A :: Hex [AutomAte/Symbiosis Glasgow]

Our special guest this month came in the form Scotland's Hex. We got hold of him recently to find out what makes him tick and what we can expect to hear from him in the future.

Don't forget, you can check his mix out in the seventh episode of our podcast here: http://blackdubpodcast.blogspot.nl/2013/03/blackdub-podcast-7-feat-hex.html


For those of us who don't know much about you, can you introduce yourself?

Hi, I’m Hex! I’m a Drum & Bass DJ and producer based in Glasgow, Scotland. I help run Symbiosis (Glasgow’s longest running active Drum & Bass club night) and I run the DNB Dojo blog.

How did you get into the Drum & Bass scene and what made you want to DJ/produce?

My path into the D&B scene started back in 2004 or so when I started getting into electronic music via the likes of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and the jungle-tinged IDM/breakcore scene. After that I started getting into Dubstep (back when it was still good) via the early Fortified Sessions nights in Glasgow where I saw guys like N-Type and Vex’d play, and I wanted to buy the tunes I was hearing so I started to buy vinyl records. Once I had a stack of 12”s I began to think about getting decks and learning to mix, which I eventually bought after finishing University and getting a proper job.

Around the same time as I was finishing Uni, I went to Shambhala festival in Canada and caught Ed Rush & Optical and Evol Intent throwing down on a 100,000 Watt soundsystem! Needless to say I was pretty much instantly converted to D&B, and found that I enjoyed mixing it far more than I enjoyed mixing Dubstep, hence my start as a D&B DJ. Neil and the Symbiosis crew gave me a set at one of their events in 2010 and I’ve been playing out as much as I can ever since.

As for production, I got interested in that more recently; I know quite a few producers who make all sorts of music and plenty of them encouraged me to give it a go, and once I’d learned the basics I found it pretty addictive…nothing quite beats the feeling of sitting in front of your laptop nodding your head to a beat you’ve actually constructed. 

How would you describe your sound/ethos both in the studio and the club?

Broadly I lean towards the techstep and neurofunk sounds both in my productions and DJ sets, though I also appreciate the deep halfstep and soulful liquid vibes. I think ultimately I’ve always been drawn to dark, angry music, all the way from listening to punk and metal as a teenager through getting into electronic music via tracks like Come To Daddy. Sometimes it’s fun to make or mix deeper tunes but more often than not I want something hench. It’s all about feeling that sub growling in your chest on a good rig! 

Can we expect to hear any releases from you in the near future?

I’ve got a pair of tunes signed to Automate Tech which should be coming out sometime this year, one of which you can hear in the mix. I’m aiming to get on it and write plenty this year so hopefully there’ll be more coming soon…watch this space!

Away from D&B, I took some time to write a four track EP of spacey, chilled out electronica leaning towards garage and dubstep which is available as a free download here.

Current top 5 tunes?

Always so hard to pick…right now I’d say: 

• Black Sun Empire - All Is Lost (Memtrix Remix) 

• Optiv & CZA - Bring It Back 

• Telekinesis & MC Coppa - Pocket Full Of Drops 

• Fourward - Street Knowledge 

• Command Strange – Regrets 

That list will probably change by next week though! 

Can you give us a little insight into the mix you put together for our podcast?

For the mix I wanted to try and go on a little bit of a journey, starting deep and then building things up into the harder, nastier tunes, and also showcase a couple of my own bits. The mix opens up with my remix of Lethal’s Seductive (which you can grab as a free download via my Facebook page) and goes through some other deep ones (like the excellent Fracture remix of Phantom Force and the sublime new Dub Phizix tune Rainy City Music) before hitting into harder territory with new cuts from Telekinesis and Memtrix. I always try and get a few classics into the mix too, and some lesser known artists/labels like the stuff from Audio Habitat on Sidechain and the tunes from Arkaik and Arclight. Hopefully the Blackdub listeners will feel the vibes! 

Any final thoughts/shouts you would like to add?

Big shout outs to Stu, Jules, Neil and Altron (the Symbiosis crew), shouts to the Automate crew, biggups to everyone who sends me promo at the blog and much love to everyone who’s ever taken the time to listen to my tunes or mixes. 

Anyone in Scotland reading this, check out Symbiosis in Glasgow every 3rd Saturday of the month down at Audio on Midland Street and come catch me playing at Midgefest in Galloway April 12th-14th. Peace!

Introducing :: AutomAte

If you've been listening to our podcasts, you'll probably have heard a handful of forthcoming tunes from a couple of labels operating under the AutomAte umbrella. 

With a rock-solid concept under them, we feel they have a bright future ahead of them and believe us when we say they have some quality music coming out in the next year! 

We got hold of co-owner and AutomAte Deep curator, Deficit to find out a bit more about what they're all about. 

The AutomAte labels are nearly ready for launch. How long have you been involved in the Drum & Bass scene and how did the forming of AutomAte come about?

Long story! Depends what you mean by involved. I started bedroom DJing and going to Drum and Bass clubs and parties about ten years ago. I first played in a club six or seven years ago but I'd say it's only in the last three or four years that I've made a big effort to build something tangible and truly be a part of the scene.

AutomAte has existed in some form since late 2009. It started with a radio show on Intense Records' online station, jointly run by myself and my good friend Tracksuit Mafia. He and a few other mates had started producing their own music and we wanted to start exposing ourselves as artists to the rest of the world. We promoted the show on the forums and social networks each week and started to get a bit of interest but the format got very tired very quickly. We decided to get the audience more involved so we started advertising guest slots. People would send us a demo mix and if we were feeling it, we’d offer them the chance to either play a live show or provide a guest mix which we would air. We met loads of people this way because each DJ would bring their own circle of mates so it was a different crowd in the chatroom each week. The AutomAte Soundcloud page was originally a portal for downloading the radio shows and one of them, a Leon Switch/Defcom tribute mix from my man Nathan E, is still on there for the time being.

After about 18 months, we laid the radio show to rest. By that point we’d switched the format again and had about six DJs on regular rotation but it had become obvious that people wanted downloads, not live streams. A bit like Sky+, people want it on demand. Tracksuit Mafia went his own way to concentrate on production and I started the AutomAte Podcast. After about 9 months this started to really take off and, after 2 years, we've worked with Amoss, Phil Hustle, Nyx (Renegade Hardware), the other Nyx (from Seattle), Retraflex (Flexout Audio), Cursa and more. The next one will be Square (Mindtech Recordings). We're on iTunes, which is the best way to subscribe, and they’re downloadable from our Soundcloud page too.

In late 2010, my best friend (and now label partner) Esion convinced me to give production a try. He'd been doing it for a couple of years and was loving it. Long story short, I was bitten by the bug. Esion lives in Bristol and we started going to the Digital Labz production seminars, which are run by James Arclight. The three of us got chatting and James sent Esion a tune he'd just written. That tune was Pluroform. We were both blown away. We'd chatted about record labels before but Pluroform sealed the deal, if we could get music of that quality then it was game on! That was a year ago and a lot has happened since. We've been very busy but nothing has been rushed. We worked on the label for a year before releasing the first single, which came out on bonfire night.

How would you describe the sounds you're trying to represent across the two labels? What are you looking for when you sign a track?

Esion and I share a mutual love of dark, techy, dancefloor Drum and Bass but over the years our tastes have diverged. Esion's love of tech has extended towards the heavy/hardcore end of the spectrum whereas I've gone the other way towards the more experimental, genre-bending stuff. I guess you could say the two labels represent Esion and I.

AutomAte Tech is all about dirty, gritty, hard-hitting dnb ranging from heavy tech-step and amen tracks to neuro and hardcore styles. If you want to get a track signed to AutomAte Tech, a good start would be to write something that makes Esion and I jump around the room. It needs to be dark and grimy with plenty of attitude and groove. Esion really has the final say on what goes out on AutomAte Tech but there’s nothing that he's signed to the label so far that I don’t play in my sets too. If you have us both running for the nearest nightclub, you're onto a winner.

AutomAte Deep is about warm, eclectic and experimental music. Drum and Bass has always been a bit of a bastard son, a mish-mash of everything from UK Techno to Jamaican Dub to Funk and Soul to US Hip-Hop. It's the speed, the drum breaks and the sub-bass that make Drum and Bass sound like Drum and Bass but the real flavour comes from literally every other kind of music there is and this is the kind of experimentation I’m encouraging with AutomAte Deep; I want to forget I'm sitting in my studio; I want you to take me on a journey to a windy mountain top, a South American carnival, a Japanese temple, the surface of Mars… That’s how to get a tune signed to AutomAte Deep.

We're looking for really well produced music. Professional quality. With our first release, I believe we've set the bar right where it needs to be. Anyone can send us demos and we listen to everything we're sent. We're musicians, we love listening to music. We've had demos from many talented up-and-coming artists and we encourage them, spur them on to keep developing and give them advice where we can. Keep coming back, keep sending us music, we love hearing people progress and we'd love to home-grow some artists.

Apart from that, all the music needs to come from the soul. Writing tunes for the sake of it and trying to emulate other people often results in music that sounds awkward, contrived and false. Be true to yourself and write what's in your heart, whether it's a hardcore face-melter, dancefloor dynamite or a trippy experimental soup. We're passionate about this music and we expect to hear the same from our artists. In fact, that's all we really ask of them.

I much prefer to hear demos that have not been mastered in any way. Many artists seem to feel that they need to squeeze their demos to commercial loudness to grab my attention. Not true! In my experience, most budding producers totally overcook this and I've heard many a demo ruined by poor mastering. All our music is professionally mastered at zero cost to the artist so, if in doubt, leave the master bus alone and just send us the final mixdown, we'll take it from there.

The first release on AutomAte Tech has just dropped, can you give us some information on that as well as what to expect in the near future?

We have plenty in the pipeline. The first release dropped on 5th November. That was Arclight – Pluroform/Surgikal. It's available now in all good digital stores including Beatport, TrackItDown, Juno, iTunes, Amazon, 7Digital and many more. Support for that release has been outstanding. The tunes have been picked up by the likes of Bailey, Raiden, EBK, Nyx, Gremlinz, NC-17, John Rolodex. The list goes on...

Next up, on 3rd December we'll be releasing another AutomAte Tech single. This one is by Fearful, a talented up-and-coming duo from Brighton. The A-side is a heavyweight grumpy slab of tech called Santura and the B-side is a punchy rolling stepper called Gorilla. These boys are a joy to work with and they're ones to watch, they're going to start turning some heads. Again, the release has already chalked up encouraging support from the likes of Optiv, Amoss, Nyx, Phil Hustle, Cursa, Philth and more.

In the new year we'll be putting out more music on AutomAte Tech. Call me old-fashioned but I like to keep an air of mystery, I don't believe in giving everything away all at once. Suffice to say, exciting times lie ahead and we're already working with artists on several releases for the first half of 2013. The best way to keep up with what's happening is, of course, online at Soundcloud, Facebook or Twitter (or search for #automatednb)

Around March/April, we're planning to launch AutomAte Deep. The first release on there will be Peg Leg by Ortokore and Near East by ModeBlue. This is a perfect example of what I'm trying to achieve with the Deep label. One side has insanely infectious Latino beach vibes while the other takes you on a Dub-fuelled journey to the heart of a Medina. All from the comfort of your headphones.

We're working on further releases for AutomAte Deep, with artists from all over the place, including Chile, Holland and Italy as well as England and Scotland.

We've also realised what a massive gulf exists between AutomAte Deep and AutomAte Tech. We've been sent a number of tunes which haven't suited the vibe of either label but which we would have loved to sign. Chunky steppers, dark rollers and interesting minimal tracks that didn't have enough attitude for Tech or were too straight-up for Deep. So we're planning to launch a third imprint, simply called AutomAte, to cater for this. The same standards apply across the board, the music needs to be well-produced and engaging with a dark andtechy or an interesting, experimental edge to it. This label is still on the drawing board but if it would make it into our record bags, it stands a good chance of being signed.

Any final thoughts or shouts you’d like to add?

Loads. I can talk about music all day. And I don't want this to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech!

Shouts to my partner-in-crime, Esion. Tracksuit Mafia for his support, especially in the early days. My tech-man Nathan E, who’s like the third member of AutomAte and practically runs our forum, www.drumandbassmovement.com. And my girlfriend Julie for putting up with my sub, my ranting and raving, my obsessive nature and for picking me up when it all gets too much.

A special mention to our mastering engineer, Chris Jarman (aka Raiden/Kamikaze Space Programme). I’ve been a big fan of his for a decade now and there's no-one I'd rather have finalising our releases than him. And a bloody nice bloke to boot.

Katie Taylor (aka Shiny Biscuit) for helping us on the PR and promo side of things.

Carla, Gabi, Fergus, Stuart and Andrew for their graphical input over the years. If anyone wants to be put in contact with our graphic designers, just ask.

Finally, all the artists that have worked with us, sent us music or shown an interest. And everyone who has supported us by buying our music, playing our music, spreading the word or just offering encouragement. You know who you are.