With a debut release on Distance's Chestplate label dropping very soon, Sleeper has given away another free tune. With the usual balance of weighty kicks, eery atmospherics and rolling mid-range this serves as an ideal lead in to the patiently-awaited release of Zombies / Scanners.
One of the hardest working producers around, Legend4ry is known not only as a talented beatsmith but also as a tireless promoter of all that's positive in music. Striking a balance between a fierce sense of independence and a dedication to pushing good music to new ears his is an interesting take on what might loosely be called 'the music industry', and this is continuously reflected in his own tunes as he refuses to be boxed in by genre specifications and other industry terminology. The result is music filled with a striking sense of originality and a feel that is instantly recognisable as 'Legend4ry'. We caught up with him to talk about his approach to making beats, among other things, and got him to contribute the latest mix to our series.
Hedmuk: To introduce yourself, what's your name, where are you from and how would you describe your sound?
Legend4ry: I'm Chris Gallienne and I make music under the moniker of Legend4ry (as well as Lienne and JustAnotherAlias). I'm from Woolwich which is in the borough of Greenwich in South East London.
I would describe my sound as bass music with an emphasis on pads and percussion.
H: When did you start making beats? Had you made music in any other forms beforehand?
L: I started making music at around 14 or 15. I distintively remember having a copy of Ejay from a PC magazines demo CD which only had about 20 loops in it when I was around 10/11 which I used to drive everyone in my family bonkers with hearing the same stuff just moved around a little bit each time. Someone uninstalled it from the PC and took a key to the disc to deem it unuseable (harsh, I know! Still don't know who did it (laughs)). Other than that I had toyed with things like Music/Music2000 on the Playstation but didn't really 'get it' . I have always liked the idea of making music but never really pursued it until I was around people who felt the same way.
H: You've got huge variation in your productions, ranging from straight-up dubstep, to hip-hop to beats hanging around the 130bpm bracket: Is this something intentional, aimed perhaps at keeping your production fresh, or does it just happen for you? How do you balance all of it?
L: I start making music by finding a break, a sample or even a sound and find something which 'hits' me in a certain way (which is hard to explain) and sometimes I'll think "I need to go a bit hip hop with this" or "this would go well in a house tune" and then work from there.
95% of the time I will have the intention of making a dubstep track and if it starts to shape into something else then I will let it. I don't think its healthy to force a tune into being something it isn't. Even if I have never made that genre before I will always stick with an idea if it's solid. I am not afraid to make other genres, I think a lot of people give off that impression with their music, each tune just sounds like a re-hash of their last tune with a few set of drums: that doesn't interest me at all! I want to take music as far as I can as a person not genres.
This is what 'JustAnotherAlias' is all about, when I make music which isn't totally a "Legend4ry" track I put it into the JustAnotherAlias name so as not to stear one name in too many directions. I don't really push this alias as much as I should, with only one commerical release under that name and a recent self-released free EP called 'An Introduction'; a mix of house, dubstep, hiphop and triphop. On the whole, JustAnotherAlias is more of a personal project for now.
H: You also host your own radio show, Wednesd4ry: what was the original thinking behind the project? Have you any plans to expand it?
L: Wednesd4ry is primarily a vinyl-only radio show (with the addition of a CDJ if a guest brings it themself) broadcasted with video which is thrown every Wedneday with my best mates T4X and Chris Melo.
It started from me and T4X wanting to get on radio and we played on pirate station WaxFM after doing a one-off internet show and really enjoying it. We stopped broadcasting on Wax as it was cheaper to buy our own webhosting and stream it ourselfs pushing dubstep and we also do the odd hip hop set.
We recently revamped our website and hit our 50th show a few months ago which was a really big thing for us! We had a huge party with ballons to celebrate and got some of our past guest as well as other DJs to come down and play (the line up was Myself, T4X, Melo, Triggy, One-R and Focus).
Carrying on from that we now have a pretty solid regular fan base and will continue to be independent from any other radio show, having a one-off broadcast every Wednesday. We don't have to compete with DJs who played before us nor have any constrainsts on how long we can play or be told how to act when on air. I think this helps us do the best show we can, play what we feel like and just have a radio show which is a fun and interesting listen. I think a lot of radio shows these days are all about dubplates and are very formal, and that's not our cup of tea.
H: Some may also know you as one of the moderators of the Production forum on dubstepforum.com, how did you get involved with the guys who run the site and what were your motivations behind taking up the post?
L: I have always frequented dubstepforum, it has been one of my main sources of browsing on the internet for around 5 years now. When I got more into making music and wanting to better my music I pretty much 'lived' in the production area.
At around '09ish the production forum wasn't really moderated by any of the current mods and it was a death trap for anyone wanting to ask questions which have been asked before due to unhelpful members and no moderation. As a forum we nominated Shamanji to moderate the board, after a few months he went on tour with his partner (who together make up Sub Swara) and asked Dubway to add me as a mod temporarily while he was on tour. Long story short, Mr Shamanji is a busy man and had to step down as a mod so I became the dedicated moderator for the production forum. Now its run by myself, Pete Bubonic (aka forsaken/runs the Soul Motive label) and Wub, who is famously the funniest person on the forum (and probably the whole of the internet in my opinion).
Together we try and make it a place where you can get the help you deserve and we constantly add to the huge database of knowledge we call the 'Production Bible' which is a great resource for anyone wanting to get into making music.. It covers everything from making sounds to layering drums, mixing down and where to find the best and cheapest mastering all the way through to being an artist in this day and age. I think this is my motivation for moderating the board, I like the fact that I can hand pick discussions and add them to the Production Bible which helps people stick at making music; that is something I struggled with for a few years before I found my feet. Obviously I like the fact there's less spam and derailing of topics as it makes it a pleasant place to browse and to be part of it makes me happy in some way!
H: Tell us a bit about how you went about putting together your mix for us.
L: Honestly, I thought about a mix to show to off my DJing skills but then I thought that's a bit of boring: people can listen to my weekly show, or come see me out to hear how my DJing is. For this mix I picked tracks I am really feeling at the moment to create a interesting listening experience as opposed to something that needs all your attention. It goes from a mellow start to house pitched up to 140 and then to loads of my own tunes with the odd track by someone else. I took a really mellow approach with this mix, so pop it on when you're sitting on the train or having a nice lazy day; that's where it sounds best!
H: Finally, are there any forthcomings or anything in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?
L: I'm playing the Audio Doughnuts first birthday on the 25th of this month. Don't forget to lock into my weekly radio show every Wednesday 8-10ish (pm) GMT at www.Wednesd4ry.com. My 'New Directions' EP recently got re-signed to Dubstrict Records after a bit of a ca-fuffle over which label is going to sign it, so that's good!
Shout outs to: Crises, Majora (aka Bandicoot), T4X & Melo, Sashwat (of Dank N Dirty Dubz), Dubstrict Records family and anyone else who pushes and enjoys my music!
Not forgetting thanks to Hedmuk for asking me to do one of these: I've been wanting to for ages!
We've linked up with the people behind In:Motion in Bristol, who are at the forefront of the city's underground dance music scene, to give you the opportunity to win a pair of VIP passes to next Friday's huge Bloc. takeover. The winner will receive two VIP tickets, including queue jump and VIP area access, as well as a bunch of drinks tokens provided by the club.
Since Bloc. is 're-booting for 2012' and moving to a new location this night serves to distill the core elements of the legendary Bloc. Weekend that has become a mainstay on the electronic music world's collective calendar; and Bristol, with its world-renown within bass music, has been chosen as the ideal place for the event. The lineup presented is an eclectic mix of some of the leading lights across the bass music spectrum, taking in the purple sounds of Joker, 2562 relentless desires for progression within the hardcore continuum, a musical pioneer and multi-faceted producer/DJ, among the innovators responsible for the birth of the dubstep sound, in the form of Artwork , Gemmy's unique take on the loose hybrid sound of dubstep and grime and Manchester's innovative Illum Sphere all on top of the likes of James Holden and Nathan Fake.
To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the following simple question:
Where was the Bloc. Weekend held last year?
Answers should be emailed to hedmuk@gmail.com with the subject 'Bloc Competition', and emails should include a contact number by which you may be contacted upon winning. The competition will end at midnight on the 23rd of November and the winner will be announced via the Hedmuk - Bass Music Facebook Page.
Since we got such positive feedback for our last collection of classic sets and mixtapes, we've decided to make it a semi-regular feature and will be posting old, and sometimes hard to find, mixes in slightly nostalgic bunches like this from time to time.
Radio 1's Essential Mix show has a simple formula, and that is to put some of the world's biggest DJs to the two-hour test and see what sort of a set they can come up with. Few Essential Mixes have retained as much legend in the UK's bass music scene as the dubstep and grime special hosted in 2006, which featured the newly-renamed Plastician, Digital Mystikz and Roll Deep taking shifts around the decks.
A legendary Stella Session in which Skream is joined by Mala and Chef. All three DJs have a huge selection of dubs with them and vow to keep playing 'until the dubs run out'.
The set in which Wiley's mouth may have got the better of him as his constant sends for God's Gift eventually saw the studio rushed and the show ended early, and would also contribute to Geeneus' famous ban on grime at Rinse in 2007.
A genuine rarity, this live recording from Transmission in Leeds is a run through of much of the material that has made DMZ and all involved with it such an institution within dubstep.
Dubstep's American ambassador, Joe Nice, is reputed for the wide selection of dubs he carries as well as his passion for the music. This mix goes down as a catalogue of some of the tunes that have been lost to the scene's celebrated dubplate culture.
A melodic garage stepper reminiscent of some of Synkro's early productions, with crisp percussion draped with drifting female vocals, warm sub-bass and a rising piano line, this is one to zone out to.
Skream is at it again, and has given away the collaboration he worked on with Joker a couple of years ago. With some hefty swing in the drums, and the Bristolian's purple synths at the forefront, this tune was a big tune on the dancefloor as a dubplate and will undoubtedly be making it into plenty more people's sets now.
Drum & bass MC-turned-producer, SP:MC has been a firm favourite for many fans of deeper half-step sounds since his debut dubstep release of 'Trust Nobody' and 'Future' (alongside Joker D, the man now known as LX One) on Tempa. Over the years SP has had a string of releases, each one as anticipated as the next with a strong emphasis on quality over quantity.
To coincide with his most recent release on Tempa, the huge 'Hunted' / 'Oh My Gosh' 12", he's given away an unreleased beat made back in 2008. Featuring his characteristic super-tight percussion and warped basslines, this one is a straight cop.
Innamind Recordings step up to join the likes of M.U.D, MindStep and Sub Lab in providing a new platform for some of the up-and-coming artists who are pushing some of the more sub-driven productions from within the dubstep spectrum; and with the masters for the new imprint's debut release having been on repeat here at Hedmuk over the last week, we are excited to announce that it will be dropping on the 12th of December. With more exciting releases in the pipeline, including full vinyl releases, Innamind is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
To help launch the compilation, we've linked up with the label to offer the chance of winning a fresh Innamind T-shirt and a bunch of stickers will go to runners-up aswell. To be in with a chance of winning an Innamind t-shirt and stickers, just send your answer to the following question to hedmuk@gmail.com with the subject 'Innamind Competition':
In which southern hemisphere country is Innamind Recordings based? (Competition closes on the 16th of November, on which date the winners will be notified and their postage details/sizing requested).
As a further gift we're also giving away this murky bit form Arktrix, who is also the man behind the excellent 45hz blog.
If he didn't already have enough tunes on their way to people's record bags, Killawatt has decided to celebrate reaching 1000 followers on his Facebook page by giving away a free, four-track EP including three original productions and a remix of Black Sun Empire's 'Kempi'.
Featuring the usual weight, tightly-layered percussion and bending basslines, this collection serves as an apt pre-amble to the slew of forthcoming releases the Guildford producer has in the pipeline.
