Mosca – Influences

This is a good aural example of what I’m trying to express in words quite often in interviews and whatnot. On the surface this is a loungy jazz tune I guess, but the things it does to me… It has that great Lynchian layering to it, that otherworldly darkness just below the surface. It’s heart wrenching; that’s the best way to describe it but is of course a cliché – it does feel like my heart is being pulled in two or more directions when I listen to this. I love all of B&DCOG’s stuff and a lot of it is much darker than this, but in being darker, it’s somehow more one dimensional if that makes sense. With Karin, you could play this in a posh restaurant you know? It’s those chords that ‘work’ in the traditional sense then the odd ‘off’ note or chord change, that dissonance that’s held a little too long before dropping back into consonance – I’ve heard it described as a teardrop welling up before it falls. And the slow plodding tempo… it’s measured and laid back but somewhere in there is this energy, a wasp buzzing round frantically in a tin, all kinds of chaos going on… some Jacob’s Ladder shit, a real visual quality to it. To an extent these feelings are what I like to try and create with my music – functional or funky, maybe even fun on the surface, but this dark undercurrent without ever trying to be overly dark or trying to ‘mean’ one thing in particular. DJ Qu does it really well, and Prince Of Denmark. And even though I’ve banged on about it at length here, we’re hardly scratching the surface of what music can make you feel you know, that’s the beauty of music over the written word. Aaaaah! Stop me before I write some more…

There’s some dispute whether this was Tubby or actually his protege Scientist, or even Jammy… and not to be confused with the Jah Jah Dub that is Tubby and Dillinger on Johnny Clarke’s None Shall Escape The Judement (or the Jah Jah Dub that is Tubby and Errol Thompson)… this amazing vocal was Johnny Osbourne with Jah Ovah… ANYWAY the point is everything stems from dub, personally. I’ve heard it said about all dance music but I don’t think anything is ever that simple – for me though, dub is the music that has stayed with me from the beginning. It’s music that has a physical and emotional weight. It’s as spiritual and ‘meaningful’ as it is technological and futuristic. It’s meant to be run on the largest of sounds and can break your fucking ribs but is generally positive, uplifting music, it’s meant to be danced to. It’s balance in a nutshell. Ruff with the smooth. Wild, out-there, restrained, grown up sounds. This particular version has a great balance of dryness and dub chamber business. I take a lot of inspiration from the mixdowns and structure of dub, the space, the movement (it sounds like one of those sliding puzzles sometimes), the tendrils that link everything together, the barely audible sound of tracks on tape leaking through into the mix, the movement of faders instead of straight line automation, the feeling that every stem is doing its own thing even if you can’t hear it…

An example of the importance of groove. One of the first house trax I got into, and one I still play today (the intro beats at least)… when a crowd are locked into a groove like this it’s a special thing. I’m not going to say house is a feeling or anything, I think that statement can apply to any number of different types of music, but I think that groove is one thing that can get left behind in a producer’s search for a new sound or style. A lot of ‘proper’ underground stuff, outsider house or whatever, I can get down with the sound palette, the out-there freakiness of it, the fuck-you-ness of it, but for me, groove is an eternal thing and something that shouldn’t be lost as we push music forward. It’s relatively easy to make ‘experimental’ sounds, likewise it’s not rocket science making a beat that has real groove, but the goal for me is to combine those elements and more, to make something that invites dancing as well as head scratching or wow moments you know?

Now here is something that invites dancing as well as head scratching and wow moments. Literally inspirational stuff from Pearson Sound’s debut LP. To call this an influence is maybe pushing it considering it isn’t even out yet but the first time I heard it, it woke something in me just like my first experiences of Wu-Tang, Rhythm & Sound, Levon, Skudge, Dizzee, Remarc etc etc. Just listen to it!

Sex.