Episode 52 is coming at you from Leeds based DJ duo Black Market Stereo. It 60 minutes of mid-tempo madness touching funk, soul, hip hop, and chugging disco.
Hello Alex & Rufus, thanks for coming on AMF we really enjoyed your mix. I hope you’re both well and lockdown isn’t getting on top of you too much. I always like to start these interviews by asking our guests to give us a rundown of their musical journey. When and how did you two meet? When did you start playing and producing music and what spurred that decision?
Hi Liam thanks for having us on! We started playing together about three years ago at various house parties and then smaller club nights around Leeds having both played on our own for a few years beforehand. Up until just last week we were called Baba&Ganoush. That name was great, it really gave us a wide scope to just have fun.
But I guess what we’re making and playing in clubs nowadays has changed, so we settled on something a little less jovial. Decision-wise there wasn’t much discussion, we started hanging out making tracks and mixing together and we were good mates so it just happened really.
Could you tell me a bit about your release on Red laser Records? It must be pretty sick having your music picked up by a label. How did this partnership come about?
We’d made tracks beforehand that we’d just self-released on our Soundcloud but we made Stockholm and thought it would warrant sending out to some labels since we liked it so much. We weren’t as tuned in to labels putting out Italo at the time but a friend tipped us off about Red Laser after hearing the tune. We went away and listened and thought “hell yeah it’s perfect”.
So we sent Woody (Il Bosco) the tune and he got back to us saying he wanted to press it as part of their 10th compilation EP. We didn’t actually send it to anyone else and hadn’t sent anything to any labels prior so a 100% hit rate was pretty good! We apologise to any producers reading that are slogging it out sending tunes all over the shop, we’ve since realised it’s really not as simple as this would have had us think!
You told me you have a few more releases in the pipeline coming in the next few months. Is there anything you can tell me about them? And how do you like to approach production?
Yeah, so we’re in the process of touching up some really old tracks for Balter records which is a great techno label in Leeds run by James Orvis. On top of that we’ll have a couple of tunes coming out on Rhythm Department which is a new house label in Leeds and is an off-shoot of LS:Mix. We’re talking with Erbium too, a new label in Birmingham, about putting some stuff out at some point via our new alias Amphibian which is actually yet to be revealed. A nice little exclusive for you there!
You’re a regular fixture of Inner City Electronic too, it must be exciting to hold a festival residency. What’s the best part of playing to a festival crowd and what other Leed’s based festivals and events do you keep your eyes on?
Yeah Inner City is always great. We always have the best time playing and then just soak up the festival itself. It’s surreal because you’re in all the clubs you’re used to, seeing all the same familiar faces but there’s just a different buzz about it you don’t get on a regular night out, yeah we really love it. With regards to playing, I guess it gives us license to go a bit harder and a bit more left-of-field than we usually would since it’s a bit more of a special occasion and you know everyone is really up for it.
Events-wise our friends have started running a night called Meisterklasse about a year ago that we’re residents at and it’s just brilliant. Ahmed and Sol who run it are just legends and anything goes there. It’s just all about the love and the music, no pretense whatsoever. They make awesome bookings too: Thomas Martojo, Jonny Rock and Il Bosco funnily enough. It’s always a hoot.
The mix you put together for AMF is a really nice blend of tempo’s, genres, and moods. It’s great fodder for sunny afternoons. Is this your typical DJ style or have you gone out of your comfort zone for this mix?
Three years in and I don’t think we could really say what our style is. We’re music lovers first before being DJ’s and that extends through our collections. Good music is good music and no one genre on its own can encapsulate all the different moods and emotions we want to communicate when we perform.
One thing that’s certain is that when we play you get whatever we’re feeling at that moment. Having said that our sound has definitely taken on a much slower, pulsating sensibility. We can sometimes find ourselves mixing for two hours before scratching the 120bpm mark, we play at all tempos but when we’ve got the possibility for a long set this slow burning feeling really allows the mix to develop and grow in energy in a tactile way, also making faster tempos reach a real peak. This particular set was the product of a beautiful sunny spring day with the windows open so I think that explains the laid back, uplifting style.
Are there any tracks from the mix you really like and would be happy to share with our readers?
JOHNNY DYNELL and NEW YORK 88 – JAM HOT : This is a personal favourite cult classic from the wonderful new york post disco scene in the 80s, wonderfully groovy and brilliant instrumentation. Was sampled numerous times and became the rap in Beats International’s ‘Dub Be Good To Me’.
DANIEL WANG – PISTOL ODERSO: Daniel Wang is an absolute modern dance music legend in his own right. A music historian as much as a DJ, he’s done some incredible interviews with people such as Tee Scott, who were pivotal parts of the famed New York Club, The Paradise Garage. He creates modern disco influenced house music that bears all the knowledge of those early mixes that made those tracks so great. Check out his brilliant track deconstruction series on Telekom Electronic Beats Youtube.
NU GUINEA – THE BIRDS REJOICE: The italian duo are creating some of the most interesting modern electronic music, mainly just because the mixdowns are just so sharp and captivating, one could easily be mistaken in thinking their tracks were made 30 years prior, which ironically is a massive compliment. Such is their character.
Cool, it was great to chat with you today. Before you go: do you have any plans on the horizon (Or post lockdown more like it). Any shows, live streams, or releases you can tell us about? Thanks again for coming on the blog 🙂
We’re not sure of when this will be released but imminently at the time of writing, we’re gearing up for a Marathon 48 Hour DJ Livestream we’re doing raising money for NHS Charities Together, a rather silly idea but a very important cause in current times. We’re also going to be on a few Kmah radio shows, and we’ve got lots of unreleased tracks on the backburner waiting to be unleashed. We just can’t wait to be back in the clubs playing them for people! Thanks again so much for having us!
