Bleep 228 doesn't have any theme to speak of. Nothing intentional anyway. It was merely a case, once again, of grabbing records close at hand. Although I did a bit of flipping to see if I could at least grab things that hadn't been played in a while. The result...? Something that works pretty well for simply being a see where we end up. A bit of new, a bit of old and several "genres" touched upon. Things every set should have really.
David Flores has been hard at it mixing up sounds and styles since a teen growing up in southern California in the mid 1990s, and he started making his own music since the middle of this past decade - music that has hit home hard this year under his Audio Injection alias, and is being spun and charted by the likes of DJ Hyperactive, Tommy Four Seven, Speedy J, DJ Hi-Shock and Chris Liebing - for whom he recently did a CLR podcast.
A little bit of research indicates you've been releasing your own music since about 2005 with the Audioinjection EP through German label Monoid, under your own name David F. - followed by the Abstract Dancin' wax (as Broken Rules) the following year - is this correct?
"Yes, those were pretty much my first releases, aside from my very first release on Droid Records in 2004, which was a compilation CD. The Broken Rules record was released on a hard techno label based in the Netherlands, and Broken Rules is my alias for my harder, more noisy music."
So you've been using the moniker Audio Injection since 2007, with the releases through Droid Recordings?
"I've actually had the name Audio Injection since 2003, and used it very little; around 2007 is when I actually started releasing music under the moniker - I liked the name so decided to actually start using it."
You did some collaborative/versus work with Drumcell (Mohammed Espinosa) back in 2007 - how did that come about?
"I hooked up with Moe back in 2002-03, about the time I first met the Droid guys when they were doing their early parties and Vidal [from Acid Circus] was doing a radio show from his college. We both had the same interests in techno and we worked together back in those early years but never really released anything until 2007, when we actually thought our music was good enough to do so. Since then we both thought we worked well together in the studio and have been doing collabs and remixes a lot more."
Several years on, how do you feel about that early stuff?
"It's pretty dated now, maybe with the exception of our bigger track 'Bottle Opener', which got us a lot of attention. But as the years went on our tastes changed and our sound has changed too, which you can hear in our productions. We also try to stay up to date with techno, not just sticking to one particular sound/style, but still have our own little flavour in there."
What inspired you to first set foot in the studio and start recording tunes?
"I started DJing when I was a teen, back in 1996, and used to buy tons of records; my inspiration came from house, techno, hardcore, drum 'n' bass. I was a fan of all styles of electronic music, so after years of DJing I decided to try to start doing my own music in around 2000 - I felt it was the right thing to do and I had a lot of ideas, so went with it."
Your remix of Octave's Edge of the Chasm is now out on limited 12" vinyl released by Android Muziq. This remix has been dropped by Chris Liebing and a bunch of other famous DJs... what do you feel makes this remix so damned attractive and DJ-friendly to people like Liebing?
"I really don't know what makes it so attractive to be honest!" [laughs]. "I mean it's a good record and good remix, so I guess it just has this certain mood and vibe to it that makes it appealing to some DJs, and when dropped at the right moments it really works the crowd."
You've remixed DJ Hyperactive, Acid Circus, Miro Pajic, Joel Mull and several other artists. How do you approach the remixing process and how do you go about personalizing it with the Audio Injection stamp?
"Usually when I get the remix packs, I don't try to sit and think out how I want to go about it, I just go with the flow and start sequencing stuff, keep what I like, and remove what I don't. To put my own personal stamp on it I just go with the flow."
You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for several years now. What's most changed in electronic music over that period?
"I'd say music software has changed a lot since I've started - I mean there was most of the software there is now, back then, but just how far it's come is crazy: being able to produce whole tracks in one program and actually making it sound good is great. Also, of course, the DJing software is a big thing; that's a whole new level for DJs."
What upcoming Audio Injection projects/collaborations/events we should know about for 2010?
"There're definitely more collabs with Drumcell, as well as some stuff with Acid Circus [aka Raiz], an Electric Deluxe release with remixes from Drumcell and Speedy J, also more remixes and other stuff for Droid."
Is vinyl dead - or just becoming more of a select option?
"Vinyl is still alive in my heart - I grew up using it, buying it, and I still collect it to this day... but as far as sales go, it's going downhill unfortunately. It seems these days it's just an option for the vinyl enthusiasts."
Can you see DJs utilizing records in 5 years' time, or will everything be done through Traktor?
"Of course there're gonna be DJs still using vinyl in 5 years; I don't think it's a completely dead format - plus with so much good old music out there, it seems people are also going back to the old stuff and playing it again. I know I do. I still dig through my own collection and pull out some old goodies and relive them. It's fun for me to do. Then, of course, there's Traktor - which I'm sure will be widely used and more advanced in 5 years... I just hope the art of DJing doesn't die out and be left to just hitting play on your software and letting it mix for you."
Either way, is digital download really the future of music?
"It seems at this point it is. There're so many labels out there popping up everyday, new music coming out everyday, it's just so much easier to release digitally than on a physical medium like vinyl and CD - plus it's cheaper! Unless some new format comes out, then I really don't see music going any other way."
Yeah, that bit of Brixton talk has led to this...
Another very strong Acid EP in as many weeks. I think 2010 might turn out to be a good year for this, considering '09 was kinda bunk for Acid releases. Both of the people/groups on here seem to be German. I've never heard of Snuff Crew before, but I know I've got some Elec in the shelves. Bunker patriot!
This is Jill's debut solo release as far as I can tell. I almost wrote it off as more of the same progressive disguised as minimal, but found that the bleep, bloops and deep gloops were in the right places. It actually reminds me of a few other prized records I still play years later...Cherry Bomb's "Bursting Out" comes immediately to mind. The glitter remix could be scratched off of the record, but I will assume it was a secondary request made by someone else...until someone proves to me otherwise.
Heart Pound is officially the best new Acid track I've heard in 2010. It has all of the elements I look for in an Acid Track and has them in the right amounts. After going back through FunkinEven's release to date, I've also decided it's their best track out so far. Grab it.
I think you'll find that this week's Bleep, without any planning, has turned into a bit of a way-back machine journey. Well, mid to late 90's anyway. My personal favourite era for these things.
Of course it fell apart for the last two tracks. I really need to either do a whole show using those old 45's or at least keep them out of sight so I'm not tempted to throw thema round in inappropriate ways.
Yet another Aged Holzplatten that's had copies appear from within the woodwork. With 12 years piled atop this EP, it does sound dated in a negative way on three of the tracks. However, on 'Psycho D Sump' I'm hooked. It reminds me of the X-Trax label and some of the goodness it brought us.
This Brixton Ep from 2002 has found it's way into being on stock at Deejay. I recommend picking it up.
Jerome has recently up'd the Don't catalog to Bandcamp for digital sales. It's currently got catalog #'s 1 through 16 as well as Gruff #1. For those of you missing back vinyl or those of you who don't purchase vinyl, this is a golden chance to load up.
