El pasado 19 de junio tuve el gusto de organizar junto a Krewe una noche en Laut dedicada al electro y ghetto tech en vinilo con DMX krew como cabeza de cartel haciendo un set en vinilo. Aquí están las dos horas que Edward Upton nos ofreció junto a una pequeña entrevista en inglés:
What kind of music did you listen to before discovering electronic music?
I grew up in the 1980s, so more than half of the pop music around me was electronic in one way or another. At the time I wasn't really aware of the distinction between "electronic" and "non-electronic" music, but looking back at the records I was buying as a child, they included artists like Kraftwerk, Eurythmics, The Human League, Howard Jones, Art Of Noise, Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo and Depeche Mode. A lot of it was quite cheesy pop, but it was also packed with cutting-edge electronic sounds for that era. As a young kid I was also really into Jean-Michel Jarre. Later, as a teenager, I started digging deeper into older funk and disco, especially artists like Zapp and Parliament.
-When did you first become interested in electronic music? Could you tell us a bit about your beginnings? Were they in London? What was the club scene like in your city back then?
Maybe when you say "electronic music" you're referring more specifically to dance and club music, starting with house music and everything that followed.
Apart from the electronic pop of the 1980s, which already included early Chicago House artists like Steve "Silk" Hurley and Farley Jackmaster Funk, dance music became huge and was regularly featured on TV during the late 1980s. Around that time I also heard some early Detroit Techno on the radio and bought a few mainstream compilations that included tracks by Juan Atkins, Derrick May and others. At the same time I was listening to hip hop and more commercial house music throughout the mid to late 80s.
Outside of records, I became fascinated by the home keyboards made by Casio and Yamaha that suddenly became affordable and widely available. That curiosity naturally led me towards synthesisers, and once I became interested in synthesisers I wanted to discover more electronic music. Listening to that music then made me want to understand how it was actually created.
I grew up in Bedford, where there wasn't really much happening in terms of club culture. You could go and see bands, but hearing dance music out wasn't easy. Most of what I discovered came from the radio and buying records.
Everything changed when I moved to London in 1991, as soon as I turned 18. Suddenly there was pirate radio everywhere, underground record shops, warehouse raves and clubs playing every imaginable style of music. It was incredible. I still remember driving into London, tuning through the radio stations and suddenly hearing Mentasm and Energy Flash. There were Spiral Tribe warehouse parties, squats, blues parties, reggae clubs, free festivals, West End clubs and even pubs where people danced on the tables. There was always something happening.
-When did you start DJing? I imagine you began as a DJ first... And when did you start producing music? Where did you play your first gigs?
Actually it was the opposite. I was already making music while I was still at school, although it was obviously very amateur at that stage. I didn't really know much about DJing beyond hearing DJs on the radio.
The first time I actually used turntables was after moving to London, borrowing a friend's decks. It wasn't until around five years later, after I'd already released a couple of records, that people began asking me to play DJ sets. I already owned plenty of records, but I'd never really tried to become a DJ apart from occasionally playing old funk records in pubs. Once I realised people genuinely wanted me to DJ, I bought my own turntables and practised constantly. I decided that if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it properly and become a good DJ, not simply rely on getting bookings because I was already releasing music as a producer.
Before becoming DMX Krew I played a couple of live performances with synthesisers in Bedford and London. The first official DMX Krew performance was at Iceni in Central London during the Rephlex 5th Birthday party, probably in 1996. Soon afterwards I played in Munich, met someone there who started arranging bookings for me, and that eventually led to regular shows across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
-What are your three favourite clubs or festivals that you've played at during your career?
For the overall experience, my first trips to Japan were unforgettable. Playing Osaka Bayside Jenny with Rephlex was something really special, and there's actually footage from the Tokyo dates of that tour on YouTube.
Another highlight was performing my more melodic and pop-oriented material with a guitarist at Nitsa in Barcelona, Benicàssim Festival and the ICA in London. Those concerts all felt exciting in different ways.
More recently I played at Panorama with Permanent Vacation, and it was honestly one of the happiest gigs I've experienced at this stage of my career as a slightly older raver.
-Who are your three favourite DJs? And your three favourite music producers?
I'm actually not someone who's especially interested in DJs for their own sake, but if I had to choose, Jeff Mills would definitely be one because of the incredible mixing techniques he developed, going all the way back to his "The Wizard" radio shows in the 1980s.
DJ Godfather would be another, thanks to his endless tricks and incredibly exciting, fast-cutting style. Personally I've never been a fan of long blends and simply letting tracks play. A lot of Detroit DJs built on what Jeff Mills started, and Brian took many of those ideas even further.
I'd also include DJ Rephlex Master Control because he introduced me to so much amazing music and showed me that you don't have to stay within a single genre, even during a relatively short DJ set.
As for producers, choosing only three is almost impossible. If we're only talking about artists who are still alive, I'd probably say Gerald Donald, Richard James and Juan Atkins. But then it's unfair to leave out Derrick May, Mad Mike, Robert Hood and many others. And that's only considering electronic and dance music.
-Which three of your own tracks or releases are your favourites so far?
Usually it's always the newest material. I don't spend much time going back and listening to older releases. Looking back, I'm probably less attached to some of the electro and pop material I made in the early years, and more proud of the music I've created since around 2002 onwards.
If I had to choose today I'd say Sppoookey (WéMè Records), Bongard Problems (Breakin') and Rephlections In Time from the new album No Way To Control It. If you ask me again tomorrow, though, I'll probably give you three completely different answers.
-Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects and anything you can share about what's coming next?
I basically just keep making music all the time. I've just released No Way To Control It on Shipwrec. Coming up next there's a double album with Cartulis, an EP with Alien Communication, plus a few other projects that are already in progress. Those are the next confirmed releases.
Beyond that, I'm constantly writing new material every week. I usually make several new tracks regardless of whether they'll all eventually be released, because creating music is simply what I love doing.
On the live side there are upcoming shows in Yerevan, Dimensions Festival, Florence, London and plenty more after that.
