If there are only two things you should know about me, they should be that I could eat a ton of ice cream in one setting and that I love rap. If there was a third thing, it would be that I love Best Coast. Listen to Kendrick Lamar and Bethany Cosentino, of Best Coast fame, talk to Miss Info (ummm yeah) about growing up in Los Angeles and about their exclusive joint performance of Lamar’s “No Make-Up Today”.
Interview: Body Parts
After playing SXSW and then heading out to do a few more shows, lead vocalist Ryder Bach took the time to answer a few questions on behalf of the LA-based quartet. Read on to learn more about the themes of their EP On Purpose, Ryders’ beef with LA, and the goals of creating foreground music. Stick around to stream On Purpose after the jump! Enjoy!
WGWIt: First, introduce yourself:
Ryder Bach – Vocals, guitar
Alina Cutrono – Vocals, Guitar
S.A. Bach – Vocals, Drums,
Ray Proudfoot – Bass
WGWIt: How long have you all been playing together and is everyone from Los Angeles?
The band has had a somewhat fluid membership in the last two years. But it has mostly included the people listed above in addition to Marie Ishikawa and Matt Sobel.
Alina and S.A. both have solo projects that they spend a lot of time on. Ray and Marie are involved in many musical projects and Matt Sobel is a filmmaker.
How long had “On Purpose” been in production with writing and composing; there’s wonderful precision in the sound.
I went through a lot of different arrangements and song structures, probably for about 4-6 months before I started recording the versions we ended up with. Although there were a lot of new things also written during the recording process as well. For example, I wrote “Comfortable, Happy, Satisfied” way late in the process. After I had gone through many versions of all the other songs already.
Following the actual recording process there were many months spent mixing with Danny Langa. Mixing probably could have been faster but Danny and I were juggling a lot of different activities at the time.
Precision and specificity were important goals right from the start of the process.
Beats TV Interviews Black Hippy
Black Hippy, aka Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, was one of the featured performers at SXSW this year, and after the out-of-nowhere success of Kendrick Lamar, it was pretty much inevitable that they would be an instant hit in the rap community. Therefore, it was no surprise when, a day after their performance, my twitter timeline started blowing up with news about Black Hippy and about how smooth and creative their flows are.
Even though SXSW happened a while ago (well…a few weeks, but in music life, that is a lifetime), Beats TV just posted their interview with Black Hippy today. Check out what the LA based group has to say about how they are able to jell together despite their different personalities (and sounds for that matter), about how each individual draws different crowds, about how Schoolboy Q was not featured on the XXL Freshmen Cover, and about their live shows.
Also, in case you have never heard of Black Hippy but you are down with some chill rap, check out my favorite song of theirs, “Rolling Stone“.
Tim Westwood Interviews Drake
After being a hater of Drake for quite a long time, I could no longer resist him once I heard “Take Care” (Featuring Rihanna) when it leaked before his latest album, Take Care, dropped.
Ever since then, I have listened to Take Care a total of somewhere around 1000 times and loved it every single time. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I also fell in love with The Weeknd over summer, but Drake’s appeal is suddenly much more evident to me.
For all of you who still doubt his charm, or if you yourself are a huge fan, check out this series of interviews with Drake conducted by Tim Westwood (a British DJ and radio personality; he conducts videos 2 – 4), and also by another DJ from KISS (part 1). He also laid down a freestyle for all of us, so feel free to fan girl out all over the place like I did.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Freestyle!
DJ Swizzymack Interview
A few weeks back I was chilling with my boy Ultra Cat. We were talking music & he shows me “DJ Swizzymack”. When I heard Swizzy’s sound I thought it was next level Bmore , it all turns out its Phillyclub. I almost lost my shit when I heard his track “Can A Drummer Get Sum”. I love the Bmore sound, but THIS Phillyclub sound is just too bangin for the world. Luckily I hit Swizzy up on twitter & got this interview. Big ups to him & his upcoming sound…
WGWit: Dj Swizzymack! Whats Good With It ? Tell us where the name “Dj Swizzymack” came from ?
Swizzymack: I made that name up before I was even a DJ. I was doing some illegal shit in a park and the cops came and was taking all our information and of course I didn’t give him my government ID so I told him that my name was “Shaun-Mack”. After that some how it got transformed into “Swizzymack” and it stucked.
WGWit: A few days ago when my boy Ultra Cat showed me your sounds, I quickly lit one up and started downloading. So tell us about PhillyClub in comparison to Bmore ? Your tweet clearly stated “#Phillyclub > #Bmore” whats that all about ?
Swizzymack: Despite it being two different places, Philly club is more hype the tempo can be anywhere from 138 – 152bpm. I actually don’t listen to a lot of Bmore, only a couple producers catch my attention like ( Shakeoff J, Dj Dycey, Matik, & Dem 808z).
Q&A: SertOne
Remember when you downloaded SertOne‘s “Visions” just a few weeks back? We were able to have him answer a few questions about his music, influences, and future projects in between his hectic schedule of being a producer, playing festivals, going to “uni”, and being a father. Stick around for after the jump to listen to a new track “Fly High” and click here to download his new collection of remixes, WIDTS.
WGWIt: When did you start producing?
I started djing when I was 11, and then from there I messed around with a few different bits of gear such as tape decks, ejay, mtv music generator on the PS2. About 15 or so I managed to get a copy of Cubase on PC and that’s when I started making basic hip hop beats and remixes.
WGWIt: Currently located:
Currently am located in Liverpool, England for my last year of study at University but probably see myself here for another few years at least. The city really has become home in the last 4 years and I feel more welcome and comfortable here than anywhere else. I also spend a lot of time in Bedford with my family and a lot of time back in Ireland visiting my parents, relatives and playing shows.
WGWIt: Who were your influences/ who are they now?
Hip Hop was my first big musical love. I was a fan of labels like Def Jux, Stones Throw and Rawkus, which of course led me to some huge early influences such as J Dilla, Madlib and RJD2. When I started getting into sampling records I started on jazz, funk and soul like everyone easily but I found these really boring as that sound had been done before. That lead me to my next big love of Prog Rock and Prog Jazz. When the whole beat scene in LA exploded lead by FlyLo and the Brainfeeder guys it turned me away from making beats for rapper and into making music that could stand on its own.
Currently my biggest influences are probably as far away from my own music as possible but I see that as I good thing, really into my pysch rock, krautrock and folk at the moment and starting to get into Afrobeat. Also a huge fan of Solar Bears, also from Ireland, if you haven’t heard them do yourself a favor and check them out.
WGWIt: Any meaning or significance behind the name SertOne?
Not musically anyway. It just comes from the time of being massively into all aspects of hip hop culture and walking around with a pocket full of markers and tagging everything in sight, at first it was SERT, just cause the letters looked good together then ONE was added to show I was tagging alone, not part of a crew or anything.
Control Room Radio Exclusive
Big things going down as usual over at Control Room Radio. This week’s episode will definitely keep the earth rumbling with an exclusive B2B set from antirawker and Jahz. Along with the B2B set, there will also be some discussion about the collaborative efforts between these two and their introductory No Man’s Land EP on Control Room Digital, which is available now on iTunes.
Control Room Radio…Each and every Sunday from 8p-10p PST.
Samo Sound Boy Interview
***We successfully trapped Samo Sound Boy [Trouble & Bass] into an exclusive WGWit interview!****
WGWit: Samo Sound Boy, welcome to the eclectic world of WGWit! We do hustle bass heavy music. So tell us, how did the name “Samo Sound Boy” come about ?
Samo Sound Boy: No big story there really… My friends would call me Samo, but that alone sounded plain for a DJ name. I think I tried to register “dj samo” on myspace when I wanted to put some tracks up to share, but that account was already taken by a dude from Japan who made futuristic minimal-house porn soundtracks. So I thought really hard about it but couldn’t come up with anything good… a while later I ate at this indian buffet in yonkers, NY with a couple friends. I wound up eating this one dish that I thought was saag paneer at the time… but was probably something else in retrospect. Whatever it was, it gave me the most insane fever that night, a temperature of 108, just crazy… I was getting the shakes and sweats like mad, but then just passed out and started having this dream where I was talking to a raccoon who was wearing a golden vest. There was this strange beat playing from somewhere and he kept repeating “let me bang, let me bang” in the voice from the dj deeon record. Then he looked at me right in the eye and said “samo sound boy”. I woke up sometime the next day and registered that name on myspace.
WGWit: Are you from LA ?
Samo Sound Boy: I was born in Manhattan and grew up there, and then lived in New Hampshire. Since then i’ve lived in Florida, Buenos Aires, Seattle, and then Los Angeles. Far and away, this is my favorite place and I love living in LA.
WGWit: When did you sign with Trouble & Bass ? When can we expect your next release ?
Samo Sound Boy: I signed with Trouble and Bass early this year. They brought me to play with them in Washington DC last summer when I went out to New York to play at Ghetto Gothik. They had been supporting some of my early tracks a lot, which was big for me because I was really grinding to get my stuff out there. After that show in DC they asked me to do a Heavy Bass Champions release, which I did, and then we decided to just keep going. My next release is coming out on T&B this summer. It’s an ep with some big remixes of the lead track which is called “Shuffle Code”. Nobody has really heard it yet, but we’ve got some special things in store leading up to release, including a really fucking crazy and bugged out music video staring a smoked-out octopus who drives around LA in a drop-top caddy. The whole thing is like a twisted up take on John Carpenter’s Escape From La mashed up with the world created through the cover art from Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle .
WGWit: Here at WGWit, we are “trouble makers” [T&B fans per-say], we’ve blogged and supported past work from: AC Slater, Drop the Lime, Udachi (party like us) ect. but we are currently following Zombies For Money like crazy! Can we expect any collaboration with Zombies For Money & Samo Sound Boy ? or are we thinking too outside the box ? The heavy tropical sound is off the hook!
Samo Sound Boy: That’s what’s up! Those guys are my homies and I love to hear that. Honestly, I hadn’t ever thought about a collab before, but it’s a cool idea for sure. For me it’s easier to collab with somebody if we’re in the same room, but who knows maybe that’ll happen someday soon.
WGWit: Do you ever plan to produce any moombahton ?
Samo Sound Boy: the short answer is no. I think there’s some really cool elements in some of the moombahton stuff, and I love Dave Nada’s story of how he came up with idea for it, but the idea of producing under the umbrella of any one genre just isn’t for me. It’s too restraining. I take a lot of influence from different styles and productions, but im just trying to do my own thing really. That’s how I keep things fresh and interesting for myself, by just trying to make up the sounds I really want hear and not really caring about trends within genres.
Read more/listen to some remixes after the jump!
Udachi Interview
***Breaking News! WGWit hustles big bass man Udachi for an exclusive WGWit interview!***
WGWit: Udachi to start off we thank you for your time! I HAVE to ask Is the name pronounced “oo-dachi” or “you-dachi” ? People have driven me crazy saying both…
Udachi: Hi, thanks for taking the time to interview me! Really dig the eclectic-ness of your blog. My name is actually pronounced “oo-da-chee,” It’s easy to mis-pronounce, a lot of people assume its some sort exotic Japanese name. I’ve heard “you-da-kai” and “you-da-khee,” that sounds more like a sneeze or clearing some phlegm than an artist name.
WGWit: How did the name “Udachi” come about?
Udachi: Udachi is actually Russian for “good luck” or to have luck or fortune. Like any good sailor needs to name their ship something good and positive for the journey ahead, I decided to go with the most name-sake like title. I also find that over time I realize how fortunate I am to be in the position that I am now. I am surrounded by amazing friends and I’m lucky to have my family in my life supporting me through this amazing adventure called life.
So the name is like the ultimate thank you to all the people in my life that have helped me be the dude I am today. Plus it rolls off the tongue pretty easy 
… also random fact if you were to remove the “U” in my name and switch out the “i” for an “a” my name would be “Dacha” or translated from Russian would be “vacation home.”
WGWit: What can we expect out of Udachi’s set at Grimey Tuesday & Dubstrike?
Udachi: For Grimey I am gonna do what I usually do which is play a bit of everything in an evolving fashion, thats best way I can describe it. For genre specific heads I’m playing a bit of bashy, tribal, dutch, canblaster, tropical dubstep bass with a hint of lavender. For Dubstrike aka Heavy It will be all dubstep but more like my chemical jump mix, keep it heavy yet melodic. Don’t want to set too many expectations, just do what I do well!
WGWit: How long will you be in LA/So Cal?
Udachi: I will be in LA/SoCal from Tuesday, March 3rd until March 6th, if anyone wants to do a last minute gig thing on the 4th or 5th hit up kelley@troubleandbass.com she will get you sorted
WGWit: Your most recent release was Party Animals Volume 1 (Party Like Us) what influenced you most in the process of producing this track/EP?
Udachi: This one actually came together rather slowly yet quickly. A year ago I used to work at this 9-5 job, and I would kick it at lunch with my old co-worker buddy Bayard Russell from the Botz. He had these amazing sort of depressing lyrics scribbled in his notepad about chemicals and how they are in us, and on us and how it’s just sort of a part of us now. When I saw those lyrics, I mean I SAW them in a tune I was working on at the time, and I asked him to record them at 130 bpm in A minor.
Incidentally my first draft of the Stumble instrumental (at the time sounded completely different) was meant as the backbone for the chemicals lyrics. But when I combined the two it just wasn’t a good fit. A year goes by, I quit my job to pursue music full time, chemicals is on the back burner… Since then I wrote stumble in its entirety first, then a week later I was itching to do something sort of on the opposite scale.. I already had Bayards old acapella in the back of my head when i started writing Chemicals. As the tune progressed, a sort of mood evolved from an initial chaotic bass LFO abuse, into a sort of moody deep yet banging dance tune. It’s short and to the point, the bass sounds like a sluggish old rusted matrix harvester robot, and bayards lyrics were like megaphone siren wielding mutant thread that brought this tune amazingly together.
WGWit: After track IDing AC Slater last mix Land Of Doom, I noticed several unreleased tracks including Stumble, when can we expect a release on this one? Are you looking to tour for this release?
Udachi: Ah what a great mix! Stumble comes out March 2nd 2011 on Party Like Us Records, I was lucky enough to receive remixes from Flinch, Kry Wolf and The Living Graham Bond, all remixes fit their own amazing mood, I’m extremely happy and excited to have this song see the light of day.
We’re also doing a remix contest around the Stumble and a tour in early May *plugplugplug*. We’re getting some really solid west coast dates lined up already that I’m stoked about, but i won’t talk too much about right now. Keep your eyes peeled on my Tumblr, or Facebook goodness for details.
I just want to give a big thanks to Michael McGuire, aka homeboy Short Stories, for doing such an amazing job on the tune. I met him because he was the first one ever to book me as “Udachi” for a gig in Monkeytown in Brooklyn almost three years ago. Since then we kept in touch on and off, but it took me about a year and a half after knowing him as a super nice dude to realize that he’s had 2 albums, has collaborated with amazing artists and producers, I’m humbled in a big way that he even decided to work with me on this.
WGWit: How much traveling does Udachi do in a year?
Udachi: Enough to miss home a whole lot!
WGWit: Which producer(s) do you currently follow the most?
Udachi: So hard for me to list, anyone Night Shifters recruits pretty much is on my playlist constantly, especially the most recent release holder Canblaster’s Master of Complication. It’s probably the most inspiring piece of music that’s making me do more homework and work harder on my production than I ever have before. My current new favorites include AC and Dell (Late niiite!), Samo Sound Boy (Bassanovva rmx like what?!), Munchi (duh), Flinch (OC Homie!), Dillon Francis & Corey Enemy (I luv u), Kry Wolf (Aaaaooooo!) The Living Graham Bond (watch this dude), UFO! (Capp st!), and Deathface/Johnny Love (Fall of man!).
Also Hot N Heavy from the Bay Area puts out fire as well, I’m hearing their next bay area bass compilation is gonna be compiled by some great up and comers and mastered by yoda himself! Kastle is releasing an amazing New EP on Seclusiasis as well. It’s hard to love every song in a 6 track EP, but damn what a well put together piece of music.
WGWit: What can we expect from Udachi this year? Any collaborations?
Udachi: Yes tons, but I don’t want to jinx it and drop any names. Rather have the releases come out and have people be excited about it rather than hyping it up.
WGWit: Udachi, we thank you again for your time, before we let you go, we want to inform you that WGWit fully supports bass heavy music & last but not least do you have any last words for upcoming producers & DJs?
Udachi: 1) Stay off message boards, especially the vitriolic kind. Same goes for youtube comments! Something about the de-evolution in all of us when things get typed to text that doesn’t help you move forward as a human. Plus that comment about how “Tiesto SUXXxX” under DJFidgetmasher011 will not help with bookings!
2) Be positive, be hard working and persistent, keep hard working and positive people around you as well and it will gestate into something bigger and better.
3) If people aren’t responding about your tunes, don’t get mad, work harder!
4) If you love the music enough, it will run away with your money and not come back for about 6 years. But eventually it will come back and give you a hug, and start paying you back slowly, patience is a virtue!
5) It’s not about the genre it’s about the Ebb and Flow and the larger picture maaaaaan…
6) Adventure time is the best animated show out right now, Flying Lotus says so!
[Note]: Be sure to catch Udachi at Dubstrike in the OC on Thursday March 3rd! All the info is posted on the flyer. If you don’t own any Udachi tunes, here ya go! enjoy! See you at Dubstrike.
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(I dropped this track in my last mix! Mega fire!)
Udachi & Jubilee – Paypur (Original Mix)
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Figure Interview
Whoa boy! Do I have a treat for you! I caught heavy bass hustla Figure in LA last week. I got the privilege in watching him rock the main stage at Groove Thursday. After a couple of drinks & goodies, Figure successfully wobbled bass in my ears, in return, I hustled him for this interview. Ladies & Gents, WITHit readers, we present… the official Figure interview!!!
WGWit: Figure, I saw you in LA last week. You played Electrotistic & Groove Thursday, how did LA treat you?
Figure: LA is always fun, its an entertaining place. I enjoy it even more now because what I play there isnt played as much as it used to be , now that these kids live to shuffle to dutch, Its fun coming in and playing 100% heavy bass music for people that are used to eating Afrojack for breakfast.
WGWit: When can we expect Figure back in LA ? We hope soon…
Figure: I already have some booking in the works. Most of the stuff ill be booked for around there will be dubstep and dnb shows this time around.
WGWit: How long have you been hustling BASS ?
Figure: Ive been making and putting out music for a while , but this bass stuff Ive been into has been going on for about 4 or 5 years now. I used to make hiphop and general basic electro music.
WGWit: Back in December you released an original with Calvertron Bring the Bass Back, are there any other releases we can expect from Figure & Calvertron in the future ?
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Figure: Well, we already have a new ep in the works for Jack Knife (Calvertron’s label), Calvertron and myself are doing a tour in May called the Jack Knife tour. That new ep will be dropping right before the tour. The ep is planned to have a drumstep and dubstep track on it , knowing us there will be a nutty wobbly house track as well.
WGWit: The Remix EP (Jack Knife Records) that released last month has remixes from Rico Tubbs, Calvertron, & Hostage. How long did the process take in completing this EP ?
Figure: Well, I’m not sure exactly. I do know that I had most of them from the people themselves for about a month before it dropped , so I’d say a bit over a month.
WGWit: Does Figure plan on touring anytime soon ?
Figure: Yes, on top of the tour I mentioned above , I am going to do a tour late this year. By then I will have a lot of new ep’s out and should be able to do a really good size tour.
WGWit: In the past two and a half years we have seen Dutch House & Dubstep getting huge in the game. Will heavier bass house have its time to shine ? Do you think its over looked ? Or do people just suck at handling the bass hahaha ?
Figure: I dont think people should worry about just making Bass music or just focus on Dutch per-say. I think people need to move around in music and see what fits. I think right now Americans are doing so much dutch because its a quick easy way to get noticed without having to pay many dues. Its the fast food of dance music in my opinion , I need some mid range noises in my music, not rat farts. I love what dubstep has done for kids now , its the new punk rock for the up and coming generation.
WGWit: Who is your top/favorite producer at the moment ?
Figure: Thats such a hard question! How about I tell you a couple of people I’m feeling right now: Deathface, Blaze Tripp, Hostage, Far Too Loud, Kanji Kinetic, Calvertron, and Space Laces. There are so many more people I dig , but that list is basically some of the music I play. Most of my sets are 90% my own music, so when I do play others music, its normally from those I listed above.
WGWit: Which tune do you enjoy playing the most on your live set?
Figure: That really depends on what the show is. Right now my favorite song to play out is called Frankenstein by myself and Kanji Kinetic. I do have to mention how good Deathface’s new single is, Bloodrave (Trouble and Bass), when that comes out its going to cause damage…
WGWit: Do you currently have your own blog ? Where can your fans reach you & keep up with you ?
Figure: I don’t have my own blog but I do write for Penned Madness. The best way to keep up with what I’m doing is at Soundcloud.com/Figure or Twitter.com/ImFigure.
WGWit: Figure its been a pleasure, we thank you for your time & just know WGWit will hustle all the Bass it can with you. Last but not least do you have any last words/advice for upcoming producers & DJs ?
Figure: Anytime guys! and yea for the producers, Do your own thing and dont worry about whats charting and whos who.
[Note]: Be sure to peep Figures Drumstep Ep Monsters of Drumstep here! Feel free to repost this interview to your blog (Just drop our name & tell your friends-fam about WGWit). If you have any questions, comments, no complaints please [fuck that], or concerns email me at: Arsnlkillzit@gmail.com.
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