Daily Discovery is a feature that will highlight a new or recently discovered artist that we’re excited about. See the rest of our Daily Discoveries here.
Grime is in a great place right now. Last night at the Red Bull Culture Clash (a glorified sound clash), grime crew Boy Better Know went toe to toe with A$AP Mob, Rebel Sound (Chase & Status, Shy FX, and David Rodigan), and Stone Love. Rebel Sound may have won the clash on the night, but the reactions of the 20, 000 strong crowd to grime tunes was massive, with Skepta and JME’s “That’s Not Me” actually getting played by three of the different crews.
But grime isn’t all about gunfingers and heaving, sweaty crowds, it can be about beautifully atmospheric instrumentals, as we showed you when we introduced Mr. Mitch with a Daily Discovery back in February. Mr. Mitch, who just dropped his own excellent EP and has a debut album forthcoming on planet Mu, runs the label Gobstopper Records, responsible for Dark0’s glorious Fate EP (read our interview with him here) and releases from Mattwizard (futuristic funk) and Strict Face (liquid menace).
All that leads us to Gobstopper’s next release, the Grade EP by UK producer Loom. He is heavily influenced by grime music, which he first heard age 14 when scanning the radio, but the four tracks on Grade are equally influenced by classical composers, experimental electronic music, and the grim, imposing architecture of Soviet Russian and the Eastern bloc.
All this comes through in the mix Loom has made for us, which incorporates two tracks from his EP (the mournfully beautiful “North Star” and “Rain Falls Hard Here”), grime hard-hitters from Shizzle and Trim, experimental tunes from Kid Smpl, Dean Blunt, and Arca, and even a track from Thom Yorke’s new album.
Check out Loom’s “Rain Falls Hard Here” above and his mix for P&P below (find the tracklist on Soundcloud). Then get to know the rising producer better with our interview below.
How did you link up with Mr. Mitch and Gobstopper for this release?
We actually know each other from college, we were both studying music production and both into grime back then so we kind of gravitated towards each other. We’d lost contact a bit after college but then out of the blue earlier this year Mr. Mitch asked me if I wanted to put out an EP on Gobstopper. Obviously I said yes and now here we are.
Why were you living in Milan and how did that affect the music you’ve been making?
I moved over with my girl for a year, it’s where she’s from, and I actually wrote the majority of the EP there. One thing I missed whilst being abroad was the grime and bass music scene we have in England—the choice of music, radio, and nights is unreal. We’re really spoilt for choice and although people are into grime over there and it has a following, it hasn’t really made it’s way into clubs as yet. I think in 2015 this will change though, especially in Milan and Rome.
So, being away from it all gave me a real opportunity with this EP to explore what grime meant to me. It gave me a whole different perspective. I started to hear and appreciate grime in the way that someone who had never listened to grime might and understand how someone might react to grime’s colorful aesthetic not having it present throughout their formative years. They wouldn’t have the emotional and nostalgic response I do to the classic sounds from the Korg Triton or the Emu Mo Phatt. I began to think about how I remember grime, how I first heard is as a 14 year old coming out of the radio beamed live from the top of a high rise, and how I could try and include those memories into my EP with out just creating a pastiche of grime.
I began to think about how I remember grime, how I first heard is as a 14 year old coming out of the radio beamed live from the top of a high rise, and how I could try and include those memories into my EP with out just creating a pastiche of grime.
When you first started getting into grime, what MCs, DJs, and producers where you listening to?
The first stuff I was into was pirate radio, I didn’t even know what I was hearing really, it just sounded new. I was into So Solid Crew before then, but this was so much darker and more aggressive sounding. I went to a local record shop and asked if they had any grime music and the dude gave me a Sidewinder tape. I listened to that, then every weekend from then on I spent my pocket money there. The stuff I was really into was Alias, Musical Mobb, Youngstar, Wiley, DJ Wonder, Dizzee Rascal, Wizzbit, DJ Oddz—the list could really go on! I’ll never forget hearing Dizzee Rascal “I Luv U” on Radio 1 though, that was a massive moment, hearing that between Bon Jovi and Lisa Scott-Lee was pretty exciting.
Where are the vocals at the beginning of “Grade” from?
It’s from a Risky Roadz video, they’re the original grime scene media outlet. There are all these interviews from grime producers talking about their techniques, equipment, how they approach beat making and seeing that as a teenager was pretty inspiring. I wanted to include that in this track, as that was my homage to grime and the original people in the scene. It kind of helped hearing those voices and using those specific sounds, it made me feel at home.
You had a track on the Boxed compilation. It feels as if they’re in the course of building something special right now —what would you say is special about Boxed? What are they doing right?
Those guys have such a clear vision of what they’re doing and what they want to bring to the scene. They don’t compromise on quality and nothing’s repeated either which is really refreshing. Plus, all four involved have their own take on grime, everyone has their own place within it. Going to Boxed the atmosphere is incredible, it’s tangible as soon as step into the club you can sense it, everyone there is really up for hearing new music, they want to surprised and shocked. It’s by far one of the best nights in London.
This is going to be called a grime release, but there’s a lot more going on here and it feels like there are a lot more influences than just grime instrumentals. What would you say influenced the sound on this EP and your sound as a producer?
For this EP the photographs from Andrew Miksys new collection called DISKO informed the mood of the EP, and if I could listen to it anywhere it would be in Eastern Europe amongst Brutalist Architecture. There’s something about the Cold War and the Eastern Bloc that I that find fascinating, you’ll find a lot of references in my music from this period.
Musically I have a lot of different influences, from classical composers such as Erik Satie, Debussy, Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti to stranger electronic stuff by The Knife, Andy Scott, Mica Levi, Ben Frost, and Lorenzo Senni. Travelling to the city of Rome was really impressive as well, I’m not sure I can hear the influences from Rome in my music, but being their really did inspire me.
If you could pick any MC to vocal any of your tracks which track would it be and who?
Probably Dels. I know he’s from Ipswich so it would be pretty cool to have the connection, we probably know the same people. Plus, I really rate his stuff, I think he’s really aware of how he can use imagery to give his words real meaning and he’s also not afraid to be talk about subjects most rappers wouldn’t go into. Really looking forward to his new album as well.
Do you get a chance to play out much and if so where? Is there much of a club scene in Ipswich or do you have to head to London?
Well, Ipswich for a long time has been behind with its music scene, in the last five years especially it’s been non-existent, however this year we got our first underground club, The Paper Bag Factory. They’re actually investing in getting really good acts down and being a proper club, they’ve had Goldie, DJ Haus, People Just Doing Nothing, Thefft, Sully and Gerry Read, so that’s been really good for Ipswich and for me, giving me a chance to play out regularly. I’m DJing around London as well, I’ve got a few bookings now coming in for next year which is very exciting. For sure London is the core, but I really looking forward to playing in other cities as well.
