Alphonse (London Housing Trust) – The Ransom Note Mix

LHT – London Housing Trust was formed around 2 years ago in a basement studio in Hackney by Prima and Alphonse. The idea was to make records that would stay in a DJ's bag for more than 5 minutes. Records that cover all angles of dancelfloor dynamics but all embued with drama, machines and funk.
Since then the likes of Jamie Blanco's I Think She Thinks,  Telephones' Spring Wave,  Fx Mchn's Jackie, Prima's Africa and many more have graced the pieces of black plastic. 

They're approaching their 10th release with 008 swirling around the dancefloor ether as we speak and 009 close to blowing. We thought it was about time Alphonse pulled his finger out and got us a mix together. We got it on… then asked them the questions that matter… and the ones that definitely didn't.

Please introduce yourself…

Who are you:  

Alphonse 

Where are you:  

East London 

What are you:

Co-run London Housing Trust with Prima, in-house studio engineer, producer, DJ, biscuit connoisseur 

So, Alfonso Ribeiro, he was in the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. Discuss. 

He did an amazing dance scene didn't he , and has made a whole career off the back of of it – go on son  , actually was a big fan of the fresh prince back in the day – and the chemistry between Alfonso and Will defintly made it much  more watchable 

You head up London Housing Trust. What the hell’s going on with that at the moment?

I co-head it up with Prima – we're just getting a flow on, building good relationships with the artists, production team, distributors, learning everyday about running a record label – all good stuff! We got a studio where we often have our mates pass by and jam which then gets edited into a track for LHT, it's happened a few times now  with Mindgames  , Blanco ,  FX Mchn , Soft Rock s , Island Life ,  ( last 2 forthcoming ) and is a growing ,developing concept which is working really well.

Where was the mix recorded?

In my buddy Fumio's bedroom on 2 decks and a mixer with a kaos pad on the side for added temptation 

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Starts with a motorbike ride through the centre of Saigon  down through the fish markets that can barely fit a human let alone a motorbike but we ll go there anyway onto a completely deserted airport runway that goes on for miles but ending up a deserted clearing in the jungle  with a hammock looking out over some vast waters with a cold beer in hand – blues skies and sun of course ..

What should we be wearing

Speedos and some ridiculous overly sized white rimmed sun glasses 

What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location/system/format.

I just said it ! (the jungle bit ) 

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

The Dream 2 Science remix of Deep 88 & Melchior Sultana

What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?

It's a Grooverider  and Fabio cassette that i recorded, it was there SECOND show on Kiss ever around 1992 , the first one is online everywhere and is amazing , but the second show was groundbreaking , unfortunately i can't find the feckin tape anywhere 

If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?

Mastermind Herbie when he mixed the first Crucial Electro series , i wanna see what he was doing , it was what made me first think WTF is goin on here ? records blending together ? how ? i worked with him by accident 10 years ago in the city and it blew my mind when i realised it was him , i booked him immediately and brought him right out of retirement for one night only … for the record the first time I watched a dj mixing and then decided to buy decks straight after was Frankie Valentine at  Fun CIty , busbies , me an my mate Alex standing on the stage looking at the decks when he was tweaking them – thinking eh ? this looks alright 

What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

End – everyones a bit refreshed and not paying much attention when you first go on even if you try to"" reset "" the dance floor but by the end you ve hopefully got a captive baying audience who feel happy with their  monies worth  🙂

What were the first and last records you bought?

First uuummmmmm  something like Grandmaster Flash – step off, public enemy bring the noise or Terence Trent d arby – sign your name all on 7 inch from Boots ! last ones was  Sounds from the Far East on Rush Hour, Stephen Brown EP 2 on Transmat, Roy davis JR-  Symphonic days -Powerplant revisited EP.

If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?

A banana and a snickers at the same time – in other words .. a banoffee pie 

If it was an animal what would it be?

It would be  that weasel that rode on the back of that woodpecker – what a fucking dude 

How fast can you go on a toboggan?

I've already smashed my 2 front teeth out years back, which makes me a chicken shit with things like this – my nashers are worth thousands!

If a tree falls in the woods, how many squirrels shit themselves?

What the fuck? I just googled that and it broke my fucking computer ?? 

Oh yeah it works now – apparently theres a mass squirrel invasion in London did you know ?

When was butter invented?

I'm not sure about these questions, have you got anything butter?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if you gave him a few pills?

Cough 

Which country has the best pint glasses?

Who do you think I am, Phileas Fogg ?

What's your favourite line from the 'Mr Plow' episode of The Simpsons?

Aaahh mate 'I haven't watched it in years don't have a clue. (who doesn't watch Simpsons? Ed)

If you knew you were just about to die, would you have a quick poo so that you didn't void your bowels?

Yes all over your computer

Have you ever driven a digger? If not, would you like to?

I drove on the back on a tractor when i was young un – it was a like a big trailer and we all put baby trees into a constatntly  rotating wheel which then planted the  seedling plants , we were part of  the planting machine, splifs a plenty passed round to  help ease the monotony – thast the closest i ve been to a tractor or digger 

What is the deal with airplane food?

its there to suppress the double dropped valium and red wine cocktail you just had before the meal

Anything else we need to discuss.

Yeah  that guy Wil , can we discuss his taste in women's fluffy jumpers? Also how about London housing Trust 008  our latest record is in the shops at the moment and features Krutons best work yet –  but not for long and number 009 is being manufactured as we speak with a welcome return from FX Mchn which means after that is number 10 ..and we're gona have a party! 

Learn and listen to more London Housing Trust here:

soundcloud.com/londonhousingtrust

facebook.com/londonhousingtrust