Featuring: Wayfarer

Wayfarer brought, with breakthrough track 'Fall Of The Zulu', a startling new energy to the 140 sound; and this fresh momentum was no mere gust, but something which has maintained a continued presence and influence. Bringing an intensely percussive sound and a sense of wide-ranging roots, the template has been flipped and re-extrapolated: the basslines and mid-ranges are still there, but in service to the groove of the drums rather than the other way around. We caught up with Wayfarer to discuss his take on this, and he's also contributed something of a showcase mix to our exclusive mix series.


Hedmuk: To introduce yourself, what's your name, where do you hail from and how would you describe your sound?

Wayfarer: My name's Alex, I'm from Nottingham and live in Aberdeen where I study Philosophy. I think I'd just describe my music as energetic, often dark, 140 music.

H: When did you start making beats, and had you been involved in any other musical projects before Wayfarer? What was it that lead you towards producing?

W: I've always made music, for almost as long as I remember, and had messed around with music software when trying to record other stuff for bands when I was a kid but I only persevered on the technical side of production at the start of 2012. I made it something of a resolution to go for this vision I had, and that's how this project started.



H: There's a, for want of a better word, 'worldly' or 'global' sound in your music: do you draw from a wide range of influences to achieve this?

W: Absolutely, I like the description 'worldly' - I guess that's one reason why I settled on the name of my alias. (That, and it's a bit of a homage to the Burial remix of Jamie Woon's cover of 'Wayfaring Stranger'). When I started in January, I felt like there were a handful of producers being emulated by a lot of people and things were starting to sound too clinically stripped back and a bit soulless; I listen to everything from Muslimgauze, James Brown, Helios, Burial, Tycho, Erik Satie to Fela Kuti and I love the organic energy in live music. I try to inject as much of that as I can into my tunes without sacrificing too many elements which make a tune 'danceable'. Ultimately though, I guess I want my music to grab people by their genitalia when they hear it on a system, just like every other dance music producer.

H: You recently had your debut release on J.Robinson's Tribe12 imprint; how did it feel to be included on such a strong release, and to see it reach the top of Juno's weekly chart? Do you have plans to release more music via Tribe12?

W: The 'Levitation EP' is something I am immensely proud to be a part of - all the people on that release are fantastically innovative producers and there are some huge artists involved with the label, all at the top of their game. I'm really excited to be sharing a roster with them and it pushes me to work as hard as possible on my music. I think J.Rob and I share certain ideals about dubstep and he's good to work with, I definitely want to stay close and I have plans to release more on the label.



H: Take us through how you went about putting together the mix you've done for us.

W: The mix, which I will just say now was done using a completely battered little Numark mixer, is about half my tunes and half contributions from other producers: essentially a bit of showcase of what I've been up to for the past months and a few new, unheard bits. I have been sent so much brilliant music recently, it was really difficult to pick tunes and I felt bad leaving out certain tracks that I really like. Essentially, the selection are tracks which bare some relation to the kind of vibe I go for. Out to all those who let me include their music and everyone else who continually send me great tunes.

H: Finally, are there any forthcomings or anything else in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?

I have a four track EP due on Tribe12 in the near future, no dates yet. Another release, hopefully a 12" for Shaman, is looking likely at the moment, I'm working on the details. Equally though, I'm hoping to secure a few gigs soon: I think the prospect of playing out is just as exciting as release opportunities. I build tunes for systems and I want to deliver new productions that way, rather than on Soundcloud or through other peoples' radio shows. I rarely get to play out because there is a very small scene for any kind of bass music in the city I live in. Still, I've only been at this for seven months so I'm happy with how fast things have progressed and I have only thank the listeners for that.

Enjoy the mix, and thanks to Willum and Sam for the support - much appreciated!

Download: Wayfarer - Hedmuk Exclusive Mix


Tracklist:

Wayfarer - Untitled [Dub]
Wayfarer - The Hunter [Dub]
Gantz - Tesseract [Dub]
FNC - Code Signal [Dub]
Gutcha - Into Your Mind [Dub]
Wayfarer - Untitled [Dub]
J.Robinson & Shima - Tundra [Dub]
Server - Them [Dub]
Perverse - Fucking Insanity [Dub]
Wayfarer - Jotnar [Forthcoming Tribe12]
Wayfarer - Meiji [Dub]
Kaiju - Centipede Style [Dub]
Wayfarer - Spitting Fire [Dub]
Wayfarer - Gozu [Forthcoming Tribe12]
Wayfarer - Shiro Ishi [Forthcoming Tribe12]
Kaiju - Double Dragon [Dub]
Server - The Wanderer  [Dub]
Anex & Disonata - Scratch The Surface [Dub]
Pheral - Tribe [Dub]
Wayfarer - Shaman [Dub]
Wayfarer -Fall of the Zulu VIP [Dub]

Wayfarer - HEDMUK Exclusive Mix by Hedmuk on Mixcloud

.Preacha.