Exclusive Interview with Munchi

http://soundcloud.com/munchi_productions/munchi-sandungueo-moombahton

Here at Forward/Slash we’re lucky enough to be able to ask Munchi a few questions. Arguably the biggest player in the moombahton scene, with his tracks being dropped all over the world by DJs from a range of different genres, Munchi is without a doubt the man to ask about all things moombahton! He’s promised Forward/Slash an exclusive give-away, so keep checking the blog in the next few days for that too!

What DJs/producers would you say to look out for? Any upcoming guys you know that are killing it?

There is so much talent out there at the moment, I really can’t pick out just one or two of them!

What attracted you to moombahton, was it simply the fusion of reggaeton and house which you were making at the time, and how did you hear about it originally?

At heart I’m a Reggeton producer and it killed me to see the direction it was going in. I always tried to combine all these different genres, and with Moombahton it was perfect. Here I could put together every influence of other genres and mash it all up together.

When i first heared it I was mindblown, Dave’s idea to slow Dutch House down and add Reggeton elements to it was simply genius, this was like Reggeton on some next level type of shit. So I immediately made 4 tracks that same night and put it out on the web, adding elements from Baile Funk, B-more, Drum & Bass, Dominican Dembow and of course Latin music.

http://soundcloud.com/munchi_productions/munchi-gracias

You seem to have a massive production output, anything to say about that?

I just love to make a shitload of music man, and to see people actually enjoying it is the best thank you you can get.

Originally, most moombahton was given away free on Soundcloud, do you think it positively affected the development of the scene?

I’m Positive it did. I love free music. There should be more of it. Money talk and this and that interferes too much with creativity and innovation.

Are there any attributes of Moombahton you have issue with?

I don’t have an issue with nothing. People make what they feel to make and thats dope. Originals, remixes, edits, crossovers, you name it. I love it all.

http://soundcloud.com/munchi_productions/munchi-hope

What would you most like to change about the music industry, in your experience?

The way people think about music. It should be about having fun, creativity, innovation and things you can actually think of or learn from. Now its more about money, formulas, popularity, key people, wrong intentions and business shit. A lot of my favorite genres went down due to all of the above and its fucked up, but most people don’t seem to care about that at all.

What have been your top 5 moombahton tracks released so far?

Sandro Silva – Told Ya (DJ Melo’s Moombahton Edit)

Heartbreak – Grown Man Ish

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Heads Will Roll (Amac Moombahton Edit)

Nadastrom – Sabina

Benga & Coki – Night (DJ Sabo’s Edit)

What upcoming releases are you most excited about?

Here also dude. I love a lot of different types of music so I can go on for centuries!

Where do you see the genre going in the future?

I think it will expand, as in more variety. On the other side I think the latin crowd will get to it.. FUCKK YEEAAHHH!!

What do you use to produce, favourite DAW?

My shit: Acid Pro 5.0 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any production advice for young producers making Moombahton?

Just use what you’re comfortable with and keep trying new shit. There are no barriers.

Check out more of Munchi’s stuff on his Soundcloud:

or catch him on Twitter:

Tweets by originalmunchi

Exclusive interview with Black Van

The Glass – Four Four Letter (Black Van Remix)

Black Van, the coming together of two well respected electronic producers, Kris Menace & KoweSix has completely blown up in the year they’ve been around. Their releases have made it into most 2010 polls, and well deservedly. Lucky for me, a got a chance to ask them a few questions!

Exclusive Coin Operated Boy Interview

I’m very happy to say that I’ve had the chance to ask one of my favourite producers at the moment, Coin Operated Boy, a few questions, fresh off the back of his huge Tranquility Lane EP, which has got support from everywhere, including Tiga and Fake Blood.

 

How are things, Ed?

Not bad at all thanks mate, how are you?

 

Good mate, thanks! Pleasure to talk to you. So you’ve a remix for Lee Mortimer coming out, can you tell us about that?

 

Yeah man, it’s out on Beatport on the 22nd November on Lee’s Wearhouse label, along with remixes from Warrior One, Luvstuff, and Kill Light. The original track is an absolute banger, too! I hope people like what I’ve done with it.

 

 

Great remix mate! Anything else in the pipeline?

 

Yep, I’ve got a couple of things on the go at the moment. Right now, we’re in the process of sorting out a release for Dogkick and Catsnare, which are two tracks I’m really proud of, but I can’t tell you too much about that just yet. Remix-wise, I’m working on mixes for Don’t Wait Animate’s new EP and Santero and Pete Jordan’s EP on Top Billin’, but they’re also a way off yet! Finally, myself and Louis (of Louis Louis Blog) are still getting things geared up for launching our Deadbeats label. We’re absolutely determined not to reveal anything or announce anything until everything’s in place, which is why it’s taking so long! It also doesn’t help that we’re both quite busy, but yes, we’ve got some pretty cool stuff up our sleeves… It’ll be worth the wait, I hope.

 

Really excited about Deadbeats, sounds great! You’ve a fair catalog of remixes and originals out now, what kind of set-up do you have? Favourite DAW?

 

Everything revolves around Logic, really. I tried Ableton for a while, but switched back to Logic pretty promptly! I use a fairly extensive library of plug-ins, including a few secret weapons that I won’t reveal on pain of death. Hardware-wise, I use M-Audio monitors and AKG reference headphones for listening duties, as well as a Korg EMX-1 synth and a Novation Nio 2/4 audio interface. It’s a modest set-up, but it gets the job done.

 

Sweet. Would you say you have any major influences as a producer?

 

Yeah, absolutely. Where to start? I’m nuts about Tony Senghore’s stuff at the moment, everything that guy comes out with lately has completely blown my mind. His music is incredibly forward-thinking. Other than that, I’d say there’s a noticeable influence of people like Jokers of the Scene, Joe and Will Ask?, Boy 8-Bit, and Zombie Disco Squad in my current sound. I used to make really noisy electro stuff and I think I’ve mellowed a fair bit since then. I still try to make my tracks have some ‘balls’ to them, mind…!

 

What time is Julius Caesar?

 

Haha! Erm… yep… I did philosophy of mathematics at university and one of the essays I wrote required me to explain why Julius Caesar isn’t a number. The answer seems fairly obvious, but as with most things in philosophy it’s not actually quite as straightforward once you get into it. It’s a bit hard to give a brief explanation, but the basic idea is that if you try to give a set of rules which define the properties of numbers, you have to explain why these rules don’t apply to things that aren’t numbers. That’s not quite it, but it’ll do for a rough idea…

 

What would you most like to change about the music industry, in your experience?

 

Hmmm, tricky one. To be honest, I think the music industry as a whole is in the process of change anyway! It seems like no-one’s exactly sure which way things are headed at the moment and what the result will be. One thing that does bother me though is how disposable music is right now. There’s so much of it about these days that it’s hard to always give each track the attention it deserves, which is a real shame.

 

Who’s your #1 breakthrough artist this year?

 

Well it can only be one name can’t it? It’s been repeated so many times now it’s almost become cliche, but Clouds’ ascent throughout 2010 has been absolutely extraordinary. At the start of 2010, not many of people had really heard of them, and they’re kicking off 2011 with an EP on Turbo Recordings. That’s insane.

 

What other producers have you really liked this year?

 

Yeah, there are some amazing people about right now. To name but a few, Screendeath, Decibel, Figure, Jagerverb, Supabeatz, as well as the names I gave above! It’s bloody hard to come up with names off the top of my head though… sorry!

 
The Robot Disaster – Electric Shocks (Coin Operated Boy Remix)

 
The Robot Disaster – Electric Shocks (Coin Operated Boy Dub)

That’s an exclusive right there, man! No-one else has that!

Thanks mate!

Ed.X

Exclusive Interview with Faisal

The young Belgian that is Faisal, is one of the most exciting young producers at the moment. His remix of Soulwax’s hit E-Talking was huge, and he followed it up with a monster remix of Erol Alkan and Boys Noize’s Death Suite, which I think I’ve played in nearly every set since I heard it. So, I’m pretty excited to have this exclusive interview with the wonderboy.

Hey man, so good to chat with you. First off, you said you had some new releases coming up, could you tell me a bit about them?

Well, my remix for Shameboy’s latest single Battery Acid just got released on East Records (sublabel of N.E.W.S.). Next up hopefully is a remix for The Sneekers and I’m currently working on a remix for Serial Chillers new project called Bongo.

Sick. Looking forward to them! Your first release was back in April right, how long before that had you been producing?

Well I’ve been producing for a pretty long time (from when I was
about 14 years old) but mostly hip-hop mashups (some beats and pasting the
acapella of one track over the instrumental of another, that kinda
stuff), I think i’m producing electronic dance music for about 2 years
now.

You’ve done pretty well in those 2 years! For the tech nerds, what is your production set-up? Favourite DAW?

My favourite DAW just recently changed from FL to Logic. I’ve made
all my tracks and remixes in FL up to here but I’m making the big
change soon because I’m starting to feel more comfortable in Logic now
and I find it much more flexible. Maybe I’ll do it like Benga and
combine the 2. In Logic I use a lot of the built in synths but in FL I
like to use the TAL series plugins (they’re free), Samplemoog and NI
Massive. For drums I just sample other records and I downloaded this
pack with all drumcomputers ever made, very useful. I also first make
almost the entire track in one pattern before I start structuring it,
gets quite hectic at times.

Those TAL plug-ins are some of the best free plug-ins around alright. A quick search on Hype Machine will tell you that since your E-Talking remix you’ve blown up during the year. Has much changed for you, or are things still the same as the were before you got noticed?

Things pretty much stayed the same, I get a few more gigs and a
shitload of remix requests but I i can’t finish them all, which sucks
because I like remixing. It did give me the courage to start a musical
education though. I’m now learning to work with Logic in school and
learning about mastering and recording techniques, all very
interesting! Keatch (from Keatchen records) and Bongo (Monkey See
Monkey Do records) are 2 of my teachers! Keatch is a living
encyclopedia of synthesis and hardware. Great to have them as teachers
:)

Aside from your own obviously, what upcoming releases are you most excited about?

I’m waiting for that new Zombie Nation coming out 8th November!
Also excited for the new Shadow Dancer.

Two big releases alright! What, let’s say 5, releases have been your favourite this year?

There’ve been so many good releases!
in no particular order:
Dam Funk – Adolescent Funk
Boys Noize – 1010 / Yeah
Screendeath – Packback EP
Mount Kimbie – Mayor
Girl Unit – Wut

Thanks! Finally, have you got anything to give away to the readers?

I’m working on some new funky edits so I’ll pass you those as soon
as they’re finished! Until then I can give you a remix of an infamous Boys Noize track,
hope that’s cool!

Of course it is man, nice track! Looking forward to hearing more from you again! Thanks again for chatting!

Boys Noize – LL (Faisal Remix)

You can follow Faisal on Twitter here, check out his Soundcloud here, and read his posts for the wonderful Truants blog here.

Foamo – Here Comes

I’m always excited when I hear about a new Foamo EP coming out, and after the huge success of Jookie/Centavo, I really can’t wait for his next one. It’s out on Moda Music on the 20th September, and has two tracks, Here Comes (sampled from this), and Generate Some Heat. Here Comes sounds just as good, in the same style, as his last EP, so I’m looking forward to getting to play this out.

Preview here:

Interview with Screendeath

Ryan Thompson, a.k.a Screendeath, is one of the most exciting producers around at the moment. His upcoming track Packback has been hyped all over the place, and I’ve been lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with him. Check out his upcoming track Packback here:

First off, Packback is out on October 4th right? Is it going to be coupled with If It Isn’t and the Clouds Packback remix, or what’s the plan for the EP?

Yep, the Packback EP drops officially on October 4th on Southern Fried Records but can be picked up from September 20th exclusively on Beatport. It’s got both an NT89 remix and a Clouds remix on it as well as the B-side ‘Citral’. ‘If It Isn’t’ is sitting off this EP as it’s getting its own EP on the brand new Deadbeats label that’s just been set up by Ed Trotter (of Coin Operated Boy fame) and Louis Buck (from the Louis Louis blog). Excited to see how Deadbeats does!

What got you into dance music and production in the first place, and how long have you been producing?

Haha I suppose the first time I heard dance music I liked was when I accidentally stumbled across Justice around mid-2008… it was a genre that I’d never really had any interest in looking into simply because all my friends were listening to rock or rap and I was happy to follow suit! When I found out that making electronic music didn’t require anything more than a computer, I decided to have a go and was instantly hooked haha… I suppose that means I’ve been producing for just under 2 years.

For the producers, what do you use to produce, do you use hardware, and what’s your favourite DAW?

I started with FL Studio and never saw a reason to change to anything else, so still using it. I don’t get the hate at all. I originally tried Albino but I’m not a fan of overly-complicated synths because I’m easily confused by technology haha so started learning how to use the built-in 3xOsc instead. It’s pretty much the most basic synth of all time, but sounds great and has everything you really need pre-effects. I’ve been using a laptop and some headphones but keep telling myself I need to buy a midi keyboard… I will eventually (probably!)

You have a very original sound in your productions, especially in your synth lines and sounds, where do you think that came from?

Thanks :) err, not entirely sure… I’ve played violin since I was young, so that probably explains trying to get a melody of some sort in. I like the idea of a real sorta lazy or sleazy sound in lead lines, so try to get as much glide in between notes as I can get away with!

If you believe the hype, or Clouds’ interview with Louis Louis, this release is going to be huge, so what’s your plan for the year once it comes out?

Haha I don’t believe the hype, so I guess I’ll leave it up to you to decide that one… I’m seeing more gigs coming in for the next few months so hopefully that continues for a bit! At the moment I’m trying to finish up my next EP as well as a few remixes but I’m starting university in a few weeks so it might be a while before the follow-up EP is done haha.

Aside from your own, what releases are you most looking forward to over the coming months?

Machinedrum’s posted some awesome unreleased tracks on his Soundcloud in the last few weeks (particularly Van Vogue), hopefully some of those will see the light of day in the not-too-distant future. Melé’s Grizzly EP is set to be huge too, Mugged’s easily one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year and everything Grizzly’s put out has been great. Aside from that I’m excited to see what NT89’s going to be putting out, his track ‘Persian’ is just too good!

What tracks have been your favourite for playing out over the summer?

My favourite track from Summer is definitely Hudson Mohawke’s remix of Wiley – Electric Boogaloo. It’s just such a beast when it drops! I’m really enjoying Manaré’s ‘Quiet Riot’ EP, especially Blitzkrieg Riddim which just seems to go off every time it’s dropped. The Zombies For Money remix of Drop The Lime’s ‘Sex Sax’ is a firm favourite too.

Have you got any tracks to give away for the readers?

Yeah, here’s my remix for Crystal Fighters’ last single In The Summer:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zogzjzz5dyg

Hope you enjoy it! :)