Vegyn, a producer from London, has had an eventful year so far. As one of the hosts of Frank Ocean's blondedRADIO show, he's been part of some of the biggest music moments of 2017, helping introduce listeners to a wide variety of music, as well as debuting songs like "Lens," "Biking," and "Chanel."
"Roof Access, myself and Frank all listen to a ton of different music," Vegyn explains. "Part of the fun is getting all the tracks to sit together in a cohesive and exciting manner. Ultimately though I’ve really enjoyed getting to introduce people to a ton of obscure or new music."
Vegyn's involvement isn't limited to curation, however, as he contributed production to new releases like "Raf" and "Slide On Me," and collaborated with Frank on Blonde and Endless. Although the name Vegyn may be new to many people, he's been releasing music for a few years now, with 2015's excellent Janhui EP initially catching my attention via "Cancel Cancel" being played on James Blake's 1-800-Dinosaur show on BBC Radio.
That EP was released on Vegyn's own label, PLZ Make It Ruins, which has continued to release various types of experimental electronic music at a regular pace. "Initially we chose to focus in on electronic music—it’s something that myself, ERSATZ (Æsthetic Consultænt) and Greedy Goons (Hæd of Græphix) were particularly into at the time of the label’s inception," Vegyn says. "Now we’re trying more to expand what PLZ really stands for, especially with some of our newer and forthcoming signings."
The latest release is Testset's DREKERD EP, out today. The EP comes from a group of producers who have previously put out music via PLZ, and their intricate rhythms and shape-shifting sound gives the three tracks an almost meditative quality, even though this is undeniably still dance music. "I really appreciate their approach to music making as I doubt any of them have stepped foot in a stepped in a club over past ten to fifteen years," Vegyn says. "Somehow though, they still manage to create tracks that rip dance floor apart. I like the sentiment in that, there’s something quite poetic in making music for a space you’re so distant from."
Listen to Testset's DREKERD EP now, and read a little more from Testset, outlining their approach below.
How do you know Vegyn?
We know him as he’s a close pal of E.R.S.A.T.Z. who played him some of our stuff a couple of years ago—they both responded very positively to our approach, and our sound.
We’d been impressed with Vegyn’s deft rhythmicality, as well as the utterly unique sonic alternative reality that E.R.S.A.T.Z inhabits, so felt we were a PLZ Make It Ruins kindred spirit, and responded to their energy, enthusiasm and the label’s professed eclecticism…
How long have you been making music?
Decades.
Our whole lives.
We had different skills (drums, graphics, keys etc.), but shared similar interests…
DREKERD feels like dance music but there's also a sort of ambient or meditative quality to it. What do you want listeners to take from this EP?
We like music that is both immersive, systematic, emotional, and immensely detailed.
Dance music affords us that scope—it has a history of engaging in different ways with sonic ‘space’, and can encompass great range—from eardrum-scratchingly-inside-your-head ‘dry', solar plexus resonatingly physical, to a vast-loss-of-body-awareness-floating-around-in ‘wet’ space deep… there are also associative contemplative connotations one associates with these kind of experiences—where sounds bounce around, advancing and receding, both surprising and familiar. Not sure about ambient as it implies a passivity; we much prefer meditative—some brief instances of deep reflection into the depthless surface.
So, in a nutshell, what we’d like listeners to take from this EP is physical, aural and cerebral pleasure—pleasure in the moment, in the patterning, in the repeat, in the detail—pleasure in their half-remembered recollections of dance music pop cultural lingua franca being re-purposed for the thrill of the meme, and of course, the timeless moment!
