Luca Lozano - THE RANSOM NOTE MIX

Music

"Starting off with a little New Beat and then venturing into old school Bleep and Bass territory this latest mix of mine features re-edited and re-arranged tracks from Orbital, Nexus 21, Erotic Dissidents, DBX, 101 and more."

Luca Lozano fronts the highly applauded and much respected Klasse Recordings. The British born, Berlin based DJ / Producer champions a sound that neatly rides the wave between House, Techno & Trip Hop where thuggish bass lines take center stage and deep, dark emotions intertwine with the upmost ease and style.? It is with great pleasure we present this week's R$N Mix from Mr Lozano.

Please introduce yourself

Who are you:

My name is Lucas Hunter aka Luca Lozano aka Planet Luke .

Where are you:

Currently in Melbourne Canteen, Pannierstrasse, Berlin. Sat at a table with a Ginger Tea, attempting to get through a list of things I need to do….best to start the week off right.

What are you:

I'm a jack of all trades, I enjoy making and mixing music under the Lozano banner. I design a lot for my label Klasse Recordings and draw and paint on things I shouldn't. I'm also producing a lot of things for no particular reason….an innate creative addiction. You can view most of these things on my various digital platforms. facebook, klasserecordings & planetluke.com

Where was the mix recorded?

The first stage was ripping various records to WAV in my studio, the second was piecing it altogether in Ableton…I enjoy owning physical product of music but also enjoy having the ability to cut, edit and chop my way into the mix and generally have more control over how things pan out.

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

I put a lot of Belgian New Beat and old Rave stuff in there so I guess it might be an old Warehouse in an unspecified location somewhere in the early 90s.

Let's put it on shall we?

Download here…

?What should we be wearing?

A Troop tracksuit and some Travel Fox trainers.

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

I enjoy recording live mixes, especially when you can mix in a little of the crowd noise….so I guess it would be a nice gig somewhere.

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

Theres a Belgian track in there called 'Full Acid Mix' by Techno Doctor, its all over the place in its sequencing and perfectly captures the 'MORE = BETTER' ethos of a lot of the music of that time….lots of samples, lots of changes, lots of different directions. I'm enjoying the creativity of old music right now, it provides a nice counterbalance to a lot of the functional dance music that is released these days.

Whats your favourite recorded mix of all time?

?
Its either this one or one I did a while back for Oki-Ni….I like to theme my mixes somehow to make them flow and to hopefully provide an interesting backstory. The mix for Oki-Ni involved a lot of my sample based influences and ramps from 80bpm to 120, I feel like a show-off when I put obscure Jazz and Library Music in my mixes…people seem to respond positively.

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

I dont really enjoy going back to back these days, it takes a while for me to get into the feeling of the night and having someones else personality in the mix usually delays things…I'd rather play before of after them. The last DJ that really blew me away was Tama Sumo….I havent seen anyone recently that really knocked me off from my feet.

What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?

It was Technics 1210s and a nasty Gemini Mixer, its now Technics 12102 and a slightly nicer Vestax mixer….we're also looking into adding some CDJs to that but theres always a nice pair of shoes to buy isnt there.

Whats more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

I would say the first, first impressions and all that…you have to capture the attention without blowing your wad immediately. I would rather a smooth ride with peaks and troughs than a complete annihilation of the senses. The dancefloor must be respected and never treated like its low on braincells, people must be entertained but also stimulated…do something different.

What were the first and last records you bought?

First ever record?!?! I have no idea…probably something Hip Hop orientated, Kurtis Blow 'These are the Breaks' or something similar. The last record I bought was from Discogs, its by Edwards + Armani and is called 'Acid up your Bum'….what a title.

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

Acid…Battery Acid.

If it was an animal what would it be?

A Lynx…a cool ass lynx.

One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything

I have a dodgy file of a certain remix of 'Voodoo Ray' theres a glitch at the start that makes it jump out of time every single time I play it….I should fix it really. Aside from that I'm not sure how the 'Sludge-Metal' music of Floor would mix into a House set.

Upcoming in the world of

I have a new EP coming soon on Optimo Trax, 4 tracks of futuristic shit…inspired by early Warp, Rave, Bleep etc. Its a big deal to be working alongside the Optimo guys and their approval means the world to me. We have the next ZODIAC 44 release coming soon, a nice slab of Acid from Daniel Andreasson with a rough remix from John Heckle.
Klasse Recordings's next release is by Huey, Lewy and Dewy…aka Berlin based FJAAK, with a nice remix from The Analogue Cops.
? I'm also finalising the first in a new series of Tape Cassette releases, GRAFITI TAPES involves Graffiti writers that make music and viceversa….the first features Electro don Luke Eargoggle and theres other music from Nug and Padded Cell confirmed. Like I said, somewhat of a creative addiction….

Anything else we need to discuss.

We need to talk about Crunchy Black and Tommy Wright getting back into the game, but thats a whole other story.

www.facebook.com/lucalozano

www.klasserecordings.de