Numb Mixtape - SHMLSS
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Chris Massey's Sprechen label is going from strength to strength and the latest release DJ Steevo's "The Karioca EP" came out on Monday 2nd May.
Italian DJ / Producer and remixer Steevo unleashes some serious disco vibes across "Karioca" and "Talking Machine" and I have no doubt that you'll be dancing to both at some point on discerning dance floors this summer.
Remix duty is expertly undertaken by Italian legend DJ Rocca who carves up "Talking Machine" with his deft touch and Amsterdam duo SHMLSS peel back the layers of "Karioca" and serve up a quality remix. To mark the event Michiel and Bart from SHMLSS have been kind enough to pull together a mix for us here at Numb Towers and answer a few of our questions
So sit back press play and enter the diverse sound of SHMLSS.......You can thank them later. NUMB) First off who are you and what do you do? SHMLSS) Hey Numb Magazine! We are Michiel and Bart from Utrecht / Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We often found each other at the same parties and festivals and shared a common interest in electronic dance music. So from visiting parties together to sharing music with each other we thought it might be fun to start playing records together. 6 Years later we’ve played some parties and festivals, released various records, we run a record label, organize a bunch of club nights and a small festival in Amsterdam. NUMB) Your label XXX released the excellent Jack Pattern EP in October 2015, can you tell our readers more about XXX what to look forward to in the future?
SHMLSS) XXX is about: Music, Art & Club Nights. We try to challenge every artist we invite to fill in the X. As mentioned, the music of the first release was by Jack Pattern, three great producers from Switzerland. The artwork was custom made by Patrick van Vliet, an inspiring visual artist from Utrecht. XXX002, which was released last January, productions from Simple Symmetry, two brothers with their origin in Russia. Marvin & Guy stepped up for an excellent remix. The artwork was made by Sasha Tessio, who you might know from his work at Krossfingers. We had some amazing feedback on these releases, which is quite nice in a world where nowadays everybody is a dj and owns a record label. This summer you can expect XXX003, which is made in the north of Italy combined with great artwork made by a talented artist who lives in Groningen, The Netherlands. Later this year we’ll release a various artist compilation that goes from ‘Ambient to Acid’. As for the XXX Club Nights: We launched the label with several Club Nights in Amsterdam to showcase what XXX is all about. So we had some magical nights and played with Prins Thomas, Sadar Bahar, Andrew Weatherall, Soul Clap, Tuff City Kids, Ata to name a few. Oh and we just had Hunee & Gerd Janson over last week for the celebration of Kingsnight in Utrecht. In the near future we have more big plans at several new venues, so stayed tuned! NUMB) Standard Numb Mixtape question, where did you record it & what did you use? SHMLSS) We recorded the mix at Michiel’s house in Utrecht. We used 2 Technics SL1200 record players, a set of Pioneer CDJ’s + mixer and a lot of coffee. NUMB) You have a diverse sound to your sets ranging from Disco, African influenced beats through to heavier industrial house and ambient. Can you give our readers an idea about your musical education and where some of these influences comes from? SHMLSS) No education here,...Oh wait Bart played keys when he was younger, and Michiel played xylophone and tried to drum a little. As disc jockeys we just like to play the records we really feel, vibes we like and we think you should hear. The same goes for our studio work, we do a lot by ear, what feels right and sounds right for us, so also in that area no real applied science. Best way to showcase these sounds is during a night where we get the opportunity to play all night long or so called extended sets instead of an hour and a half dj sets. To have the opportunity to build something, play with BPM changes, play darker and deeper records to follow that up with a boogie track to get a euphoric feeling on the dance floor. NUMB) Congrats on being added to Love International this year, when you’re not playing music who are you most looking forward to hearing at the festival?
SHMLSS) Thanks, we are really excited to be included to this year’s line-up. As Bart has visited Garden Festival already for a couple of years we are thrilled to play there ourselves. Having the best time while hanging around with friends, drinking, swimming, partying, relaxing and enjoying watching the sun go down. Not in that particular order by the way. The whole line up is nice so hard to choose a favourite, but Young Marco is always fun also MCDE, Hunee, Job, Gerd Janson, Eric Duncan, Justin Van Der Volgen never disappoints. We actually never saw Felix Dickinson and Tiago play so that is going to be something we’re looking forward to. But we are probably forgetting a lot of names we also could have mentioned. NUMB) You are part of the latest release on Sprechen with the wicked remix of DJ Steevo’s Karioca…can you tell us how the remix came about and also what thought process went into giving it such a unique direction? When we first heard the EP when Chris sent it to us we both had this same idea, without thinking too much we felt the need to make it a bit darker and use the elements that could fit that vibe. From there on it was just having fun while making this remix and luckily Chris was into it. NUMB) Now time for some harmless self-promotion, what else would you like our readers to know? SHMLSS) Here’s some harmless shameless self-promotion. There will be two new edits of ours pressed on vinyl in stores real soon thru the Giant Cuts imprint. Also we’ll be releasing some original tracks on NEIN Records by end of summer if all goes well. In September some music is coming your way thru the fine Eskimo Recordings and we’ll do a track on our own label [XXX] beginning of October and at the end of 2016 will release another edit EP on vinyl on a label we have released music on in the past. More things to follow actually but it’s nice to keep some surprises. XXX wise we have some nice stuff that’s coming out as well. Two EP’s on vinyl with sick artwork and a huge various artist compilation from ‘Ambient to Acid’ and we are so excited to show you the material from these upcoming releases...oh and there are some tracks hidden in the mix we did for you. Thanks for the interview! NUMB) Our Pleasure |