The Autonomic crew have been at the forefront of the movement currently breathing new life into Drum & Bass music. Whether through their fantastic series of podcasts or releases on DBridge's Exit and Instra:Mental's NonPlus record labels, people are starting to take notice. No stranger to DnB himself with releases under his belt on Covert Ops and Nu-Directions to name a few, producer James Clements aka ASC was called up in late 2009 for the 3rd release on Nonplus, ('Porcelain/Focus Inwards') and the rest is history. With his tracks being featured on dBridge & Instra:mental's recent Fabriclive mix and with plans for an LP release later this year, ASC is a name you're going to be hearing a lot more of. After constantly bumping his recent studio mix from earlier this month, we recently had a chance to get up with James and touch bass...
BF: Yo ASC, big ups for taking the time.
ASC: No problem
BF: When did you first start producing and how did you initially get into Drum & Bass?
ASC: I grew up in the UK and was exposed to the exploding hardcore-breakbest scene from an early age. Me and my friends used to trade cassettes of pirate radio stations from the old hardcore-breakbeat days. This was around about 1992-1993.
BF: Pirate radio is something that's always fascinated me, maybe because it's something that we here in the States weren't exposed to growing up. Today, tools like Ustream and internet radio stations act as an outlet for underground music, but during the early 90s what was the overall impact of pirate radio in the scope of the UK underground and how did it affect you and your peers growing up?
ASC: It was massive. It was the equivalant of internet radios these days to a certain degree. The thing I loved about it was these stations were everywhere in the UK. Pretty much every major city in the UK had a number of pirate stations that would mainly all play underground hardcore stuff, so it got massive and eventually some of the tunes, like Blame's Music Takes You for example, ended up making the UK Top 40 chart. In a way, these illegal stations were doing so much for this music - it was basically an unofficial network of free promotion for all the record labels about at the time!
For me and my friends still being at school as this was all happening, it was an exciting time. I have fond memories of a bunch of us in the schools foreign language labs, with tape players and headphones, been given French cassettes to learn, and instead having group intercom sessions with us all checking out last nights pirate radio show that one of us had recorded!
BF: Was there a specific DJ set you remember seeing where it clicked that 'THIS' was want you wanted to do? When was the first time you ever got behind the decks?
ASC: Not really. I wasn't much for the actual DJ's at first, it was mainly about the music. I'd have several mixes on cassette and never know who was actually mixing back then! I guess my fascination with the DJ side of things came when I started to hunt down the tunes and realised that I had to start buying vinyl and decks to do my own mixes. After amassing a nice little collection, I got my first break with a local pirate radio station at the age of 15. Me and my friend used to host a weekly show every Thursday night playing the latest hardcore tracks.
BF: Could you talk a little bit about the first tune you remember making? What it sounded like? What was your frame of mind at the time? What software you were using?
ASC: I can still remember this quite clearly! It was about 1994, me and my friends all had either Atari ST's or Commodore Amiga's and we got hold of tracker software for them both. I think it was Noisetracker for the ST and Protracker for the Amiga. We all taught ourselves from scratch on how to make music with them and would often share tips and our latest findings with each other. I think my first 'tune' (I say that lightly as I can still hear it in my head lol) was a mashup of different hardcore tunes at the time. I'd sample beats, bass, riffs and basically anything I could get my hands on. After this, I eventually got some midi gear together, also a sampler, and switched to Cubase on my ST. This was about 1995-1996, if I recall right. As for frame of mind at the time? Well it was all just about having fun and just wanting to be a part of this amazing music we all loved so much.
BF: How did you initially get involved with the Autonomic heads from all the way out in Cali? It's amazing that you can all connect on that creative level while producing music in such different physical environments.
ASC: I've always been producing leftfield/abstract atmospheric sort of stuff and when Instra:mental burst back onto the scene with their first couple of 12's on Darkestral, I was excited that bigger names like Doc Scott, Marcus Intalex and of course, dBridge were all taking notice. I felt what they were doing wasn't a million miles away from my stuff, so I ended up getting in touch with Damon from Instra:mental and chatting. We then started sharing tracks with each other at the end of 2009 or so and they were both feeling what I was doing. I'd just had a bit of an epiphany studio wise, with my sound heading in a lot of different directions and I was just generally more at home not writing music just for the dancefloors, but mainly just writing heartfelt electronic music at around 170bpm. I came up with a first batch of tunes, which included Porcelain, Starkwood & The Touch, sent them over and the rest as they say, is history.
I think the fact that the main people behind the music heavily featured on the podcasts (dBridge, Instra:mental, Consequence & myself) are all from different parts of the world is a big reason why we can all bring our own unique vibe to the Autonomic sound, but since we are all on the same wavelength, it works collectively also. Different environments, living conditions, lifestyles etc. definitely have an influence on how you approach writing music and how it ultimately ends up sounding.
BF: What I love about the music coming out right now on labels like Exit and Nonplus is that they convey so much mood, feeling, and atmosphere that they become something that you experience rather than just simply listen to. Al from Instra:mental recently played in NYC and I don't think my eyes were opened once during the whole set. It really is music for the mind, body, AND soul. 'Focus Inwards' [Nonplus003] is an awesome example of this and easily one of my favorite tunes in recent memory. When did that tune come together and how did it eventually get in the hands of Instra:mental?
ASC: Focus Inwards came about after Instra:mental had asked me to start writing for them and dBridge exclusively. I think it was the first track I did after being asked to write an artist album for NonPlus+, which is ironic, as it ended up on the flip of Porcelain and not on the LP!
BF: Mind telling us a little bit about the Autonomic Layers?
ASC: Well, I don't have too much say into what goes into the podcasts or how they come together, but the mixes sections are always about showcasing what we are upto. There's so many of our tunes that have gone unidentified so far, but that's mainly because we are not sure when they will get a release if at all. We are all writing a lot of music and it all can't get released unfortunately, so some eventually end up as being podcast exclusives, although this year should see the release of a LOT more music from all of us involved.
BF: ASC, before we let you go, What else do you have up your sleeve for 2010? Releases? Tours?
ASC: The next thing wil be the 'Nothing Is Certain' LP sampler, which will feature the tracks Phobos, Matter Of Time, and a short ambient interlude called Oort Cloud. Phobos and Oort Cloud will both be exclusive to the 12", which will be NONPLUS006. Following that up will be the LP itself, which will be on 3x12" vinyl, CD and digital download. We're expecting a late April-early May release for it. After that, there's a few 12's for the new Autonomic label which is set for launch imminently, one of which will be Starkwood / The Touch. There's music forthcoming on Exit and there's also plans for another new label so we can get even more music out there.
Grievous Angel - 2-Step Heaven - Bloggariddims 34. (Can't count how many late night drives this one has pulled me through.)
0.00: Sonrisa Feat. MC Onyx Stone: Grooving Me (Splash It Like Champagne Mix). Public Demand 2000. God, this is so heavy, yet so slinky. I have no idea who any of the people on this are. But it’s a TUNE. MASSIVE bass, achingly swung beats, sleek vocals… ultimate garage dub. Until you hear…
7.01: Dem 2: Baby (You’re So Sexy) (Big Time Scary Dub Mix). Locked On 1999. Dem 2 are just the best, aren’t they? I mean, Groove Chronicles is almost perfect, Chris Mac slays it, but there’s something about every Dem 2 record that is just so… eeeeeevvillll… in a really GOOD way. This one has some of the most ridiculously fucked, swinging beats ever made, constantly feeling like they’re about to fall into a precipice… Really hard to mix actually. The A-side is superb vocal 2step and I really must put that in a mix too, but the Big Time Scary Dub is, well, just that.
11.24 Groove Chronicles: Masterplan. Groove Chronicles 1998?. An utter and complete classic. Here I have just trashed the tune into Dem 2. Meditational love on wax.
15.15: Victor Romeo: Love Will Find A Way. (Ray Hurley & Mark Yardley Dub Mix). Public Demand 1998. Ray Hurley’s odyssey into the 1989 Jack Tracks house classic that became a yardstick for UK Garage brilliance. I couldn’t resist bringing MasterPlan back in. Reaches a peak at about 18:29 when Trick Or Treat starts cutting in. Woudn’t it be great if they played this at DMZ?
19.33: Trick Or Treat Feat. Paradise: 2Step Flavas. FTL 2000. Smart, sharp, almost political rap and one of the greatest 2step beats ever made.
24.19: Frances James + DJ Face: Girls Play Too (Baffled Angry Vocal Edit). AM:PM 2001. Awwwwwww, yes! Utterly delicious r’n'b-relick garage as only AM:PM can do – just check out the Roger Sanchez remixes of Janet Jackson’s When I Think of You for undiluted US Garage dub. This one has WICKED bubbling r’n'b-style bass and SICK discordant percussion and of course, the superbly self-pleasing female vocal.
29.12: Suburban Lick: Here Come The Lick (DJ South Central Remix). Locked On 2000. A really nice sub-aquatic dub rendering of this hit, complete with delightful jungle-referencing helicopter (beat) samples.
33.13: Mr. Vegas: Western End (The Birmingham Crew) ( B-15 Project Original Remix). Oracabessa Records 1999. Why Mr Vegas was bigging up the Birmingham crew I don’t know (doubtless John will illuminate me). But it’s a great bit of ragga flavoured 2step.
35.00: Tracie Spencer: It’s All About You (Not About Me) (Zed Bias Remix). Contraband 1999. This was a late addition to the arsenal – it arrived one day and was in the mix the next. Awesomely funky requantised break. I just kinda slammed it in while keeping Mr Vegas in, Basement Jaxx-style.
38.05: Shade Sheist Feat. Nate Dogg & Kurupt: Where I Wanna Be (Dub-A-Holics R&B Switch Mix). Public Demand 2001. Yeeeeeeeeeessssss!!! This is just fantastic… so colourful, flavoursome, yet so banging and bouncy too.
42.00: Tasty Jay & Nicky Ni: Rinse Out (Tasty Mix). Strange Youth Recordings 2000. I think this is both a great record and a fascinating piece of musical history; you can hear jungle so clearly in the beats it could have been an early crossover record from jungle to garage, but the MCing is very obviously an immediate precedent for grime. And of course it melds perfectly with…
45.48: Stone Kold Joints: Wicked Press. Krunch Records 2001. This, my friends, is quite simply one of the five greatest achievements of western civilisation. One of the all time timestretched warp basslines wraps itself around one of the greatest bits of infectiously deadpan MCing in any genre. I love this tune to death. Even more so when you keep the mother running perfectly in time with Rinse Out for minutes at a time . Wicked tune, thoroughly deserves the rewind. And the langourous, twisting solo bassline goes all the way into Vincent J Alvis.
50:35 Vincent J. Alvis: Body Killin’ (M-Dubs Breakbeat Funk Vocal Mix). Babyshack 1999. For many people this was it – this was the tune that really turned them on to UK Garage. Unbelievably heavy, underpinned by the biggest garage break yet deployed, saturated with male lust whose sheer need was tempered with a dark tenderness, this was the chthonic apocalypse people had been invoking since 1997. This record is so big it destroys almost any tune you care to mention in the jungle canon, even thought it’s a vocal tune.
55.02: James Lavonz Feat. She & Mr D: Mash Up Da Venue (Mash Up Dub). Locked On 2000. Something dark yet cooled to come down from the otherwise obscure sensuous peak reached by M-Dubz and Vincent J Alvis (which I had to bring down in tempo a bit to make fit – hope that doesn’t annoy you too much).
58.04: Groove Chronicles: Stone Cold. Groove Chronicles 1998. And just to bring you down to a sweet plateux – what many regard as the single greatest record in the entire garage catalogue. Ridiculously soft, fluffy sax rides over a super tight garage riddim, before a cone-shakingly malevolent bassline finally takes hold. From dub to jazz funk and back.
01 M Dubs feat. General Levy "Sweet Love" (Wildstar) 02. DJ Narrows "Dreams" (Resurrection) 03. Moreso "Take My Hand (Dem2 Over There Dub Mix)" (Locked On) 04. Horsepower "Classic Delux" (Tempa) 05. Ordinary People "Ghetto Lovin Dub" (Social Circles) 06. Monie Love "Slice of the Pie (El-B Dub)" (Relentless) 07. Lucy Pearl "Don't Mess With My Man (Wookie Dub)" (Beyond) 08. Bass Masters "Bass Bug" (black label) 09. Groove Chronicles "1999 The Remix" (Kinky Fox) 10. Mario Cee feat. Alexia "Negativiti (Chris Mack 2 step)" (Electric Melt) 11. Chris Mack "Baby Gonna Rock Dis" (First Class) 12. DJ Double G "Get Loose" (DFL) 13. Pay As U Go Crew "Know We" (Solid City)
