Sassafras Guests podcast

sassguest02

I met Blue Soul at Amoeba record store in San Francisco. I was talking to someone about a certain label that was in the bins, when Blue Soul quickly turned and asked where the label was. We started talking after that. I saw him a few more times at Amoeba, then he asked if I wanted to go back to his house and check out some of his music. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it and we've been good friends since. I have helped design labels for his record label and been lucky enough to be one of the first people in San Francisco to drop his music on the dancefloor. I feel more people need to hear his musical voice and it is quite a well versed one at that.

so here is a little interview to get to know Blue Soul...

>> Who is Blue soul?
Basically, I’m a music junky. This extends to numerous genres, time periods, and formats. I’ve been privileged to be exposed to so much amazing music in my life and I continue to seek out more every chance I get. One of my favorite aspects of my job, as a music buyer for a small shop in SF, is recommending music to a wide variety of listeners. As a dj, I aim to tell a story with a mix. Getting from one song to the next is only half the job. Creating something new by mixing records together in a musical way is one of the things I live for. I strive to create mixes that knock up the energy on the dance floor but are equally as intriguing in the living room or in headphones. My record collection is extremely eclectic but it is definitely tilted towards the legacy of dance music from 70’s funk & disco through to acid house, deep house, techno, and breakbeats.

>> How many aliases do you have? How/why did you start the alias?
My focus is cyclical so I go from working on dance floor oriented music to more experimental electronic music often. Blue Soul is the name I’ve had the longest. I also go under Archetypewriter for non-dance oriented material, of which I just finished an album. I use the moniker Metadub for deep dubstep and techno tracks. Blue Soul is the name most people know me by, though.

>> How did the whole music thing start for you?
Long story short, I’ve been fascinated with music for as long as I can remember. I started playing guitar in junior high school and then shifted to synths and drum machines in my freshman year of high school after getting into electronic music. Record collecting and djing followed shortly after.

>> How long have you been djing for?
I messed around with terribly ancient belt-driven turntables in 1993 and started djing out at events in 1994. At that time I was really just starting to figure out what sounds were the most interesting to me. It wasn’t until 1996 that I had regular gigs and a residency.

>> Are you apart of any party/dj crew and if so, how did that start?
When I started, I learned a lot from watching one of the finest djs on the planet, Jack Master Flash aka Jack MF. He exposed me to everything from Kraftwerk and Larry Levan to Chicago acid and early underground breakbeats. He’d been djing since the early 80’s and had been collecting records even longer. He and my friend Jen “popgirl” 23 were throwing outlaw raves up and down the east coast under the name A Book Called Galanta. I started attending and then helping put those events on in Maine. Within a couple years a friend and I started Divine Resonance and I was playing at clubs around New England as well as massive raves from NY to Maine. Divine Resonance started as a dj crew and then turned into a record label once I moved to San Francisco.

>> Do you produce music? If so, for how long and why did you start producing?
Although I love djing, these days most of my energy is focused on production. The first electronic music I made was ambient stuff in ’92. I was already absorbed in effects processing with guitars pedals so the sonic exploration of electronic music seemed like a perfect fit for me. Sound design quickly became my primary extracurricular activity. It was a very personal creative outlet and I didn’t feel like anything was ready for ears outside of my circle of friends for a long time. The first time I released anything other than cassette tapes was in 2000. It was a super eclectic cd that had spaced out disco alongside ambient dub and experimental drum & bass. It was kind of like my resume in that it showed the range of sounds I was attracted to and felt I had mastered. I put out my first 12” the following year.

>> What music do you love to play the most?
Impossible question! It depends on the setting and my mood. I love playing deep house sets at dawn. Get me in a dirty warehouse and I’ll want to bang acid and techno all night. In my living room I play a lot of disco and northern soul. At work, my playlists have a lot of post-punk, post-rock, and 60's jazz. For a responsive crowd, I’d be happy playing any style I’m into.

>> What are your main inspirations of music?
Another difficult question. See my favorite artists below.

>> What do you listen to when you want to relax?
Deep dub, Malian kora music, or ambient stuff like Hammock.

>> Favorite club or place to play in?
Outdoor gigs are my favorite, especially sunrise sets. Big Sur and BRC are favorites. Back when SF Underground was called The Top, I really enjoyed playing there.

>> Weirdest gig you have ever done?
I don’t know, but most of the full moon parties we threw in the mid 90’s were pretty fucking weird. There was a 3 day event called the Mad Camping Trip which vividly comes to mind. When you get a few hundred kids to spend an entire weekend in the middle of nowhere Maine, shit gets strange. Also, we once did a party in a 16 wheeler.

>> Most memorable gig you have ever had? Good, Bad or Both…
There have been too many, but two pop into my mind. The first was a Sunset Halloween boat party in 2003. The other was an 8 hour set at a house party in Maine around 1997. It was in the apartment below mine, so I kept running upstairs to get more records. I started off with dub and downtempo, moved into breaks and house, notched it up to techno, then played drum & bass for a bit before bringing it down to hip-hop and funk. I really wish I had taped that night.

>> What inspires you?
My hallucinogenic youth, badass dancers, and all the amazing music out there.

>> Who are your heroes? Favorite Artists or Favorite Labels?
This could be a seriously long list, so I’ll try to control myself and keep it to the artists that really changed the way I listen to music:
Stevie Wonder, King Tubby, Lee Perry, François Kevorkian, Joe Clausell, Larry Levan, Bunny Sigler, Sylvia Robinson, Keb Darge, Arthur Russell, Phuture, Armando, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Todd Terry, MAW, Jack MF, Daniel Wang, Dave Lee, Andrew Meecham, Idjut Boys, Ben Mitchell, KDJ, Tom Middleton & Mark Pritchard, Cari Lekebusch, Jesper Dahlbäck, Moritz von Oswald, Luke Vibert, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Meat Beat Manifesto, Cinematic Orchestra, Quantic, Tipper, Fela Kuti, Mingus, Coltrane, Miles, Eric Dolphy, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers, Mulatu Astatqe, Toumani Diabate, Remarc, Aphrodite, Technical Itch, Dillinja, The Roots, Eric B & Rakim, J Dilla, Stereolab, Broadcast, Sonic Youth, David Byrne, Tom Waits, Joy Division, The Cure, Slowdive, Explosions in the Sky, Hammock, Steve Reich, Erik Satie, Bela Bartok, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

>> Is there anyone you would love to see perform? (Dead or alive)
Again, there are too many. As far as dance music goes, I’d love to zap myself into the Paradise Garage in 1982 to hear Larry Levan or The Music Box in 1986 to hear Ron Hardy. I miss Body & Soul with François Kevorkian, Joe Clausell, and Danny Krivit. That was the best regular night I’ve ever been to. The crowd and the music was just on another level.

>> Favorite Format? Vinyl, CD, mp3 or other.
I’ll never get rid of my vinyl and for certain sounds, it is the only way to go. With that said, I’ve been using mp3’s in Ableton Live for sets and the freedom and control makes it hard to go back to just using turntables.

>> How can people get a hold of you to book you?
Djbluesoul@hotmail.com
Also,
http://soundcloud.com/djbluesoul
and
http://soundcloud.com/blue_soul

>> Where can we see you play next?
Not much lined up at the moment. March 25, 2011 at Anu here in SF we are going to have a sort of reunion party with a bunch of oldschool New England DJ friends. I’m looking forward to when Acid Totem get their season started too.

Picture: Design by mrt611

I want to thank Scott for this mix. Enjoy

This mix can be Downloaded for FREE!!!

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Use the download link above this description. 
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sassguest01

One of the first groups of people I met when I moved to Germany was Geräteturnen and was where I had my first dj gig there. They are all individuals and each of them have their own musical sound. They don't promote one type of music, it is more a feeling of togetherness. When you goto their party, you will hear different styles of music but it always feels like it flows. I am happy to say I have played with this group of guys.

so here is a little interview to get to know one of the Geräteturnen guys: O'sugi...

>> Who is O'sugi?

o'sugi is a pure music addict! mainly he is addicted to electronic music
but also to freaky old jazz, funk and latin tunes. his passion is crispy
deep kickin' underground stuff with influences from detroits, paris' and
londons old school scene.
am i talking about myself in the third person??? i should avoid that...

>> How did the whole music thing start for you?

that would have been in about 1993 or 1994 when i heard the first
prodigy album "experience". this was my first contact with electronic
music and i was really fascinated by this freaky shit i was listening
to. it was really mind-blowing to me! my cousin provided me with
different kinds of electronic music from this time on and mate galic and
sabine christ did this cool tv show called "housefrau" on tv. i was more
and more fascinated and began to buy my first records and cds. at that
time i had a rather old turntable from my parents and listened to tracks
by steve stoll, sven väth, mate galic, plastikman, ken ishii, der dritte
raum etc. some years later my cousin began to take me to these big rave
parties and for me there was no turning back. i was totally addicted to
this freaky music. this must be what love at first sight feels like, but
perhaps this is truly bigger. once in about 1998 my cousin took me to
this rather small club in krefeld/germany. its name was "katakomben", a
small basement with rather hard and fast techno music. this small club
had a second area which was even smaller and we decided to check out
what kind of music they were playing there. i guess this was the point
where my personal style and feel began to develop and define its shape.
what the fuck did this unknown dj play?! i hadn't heard anything like
this before. it was deep, hard, totally playful and subtly funky with an
unbelievable flow and all at the same time. i asked the dj what that was
and he answered that it was "detroit"...

>> How long have you been djing for?

that was about ten years ago when a good friend from school bought 2
turntables and a mixer. he was doing some real great hip hop stuff and
so the next time i was there for a visit i took some records with me and
tried it out. surprisingly i did my first nearly clean mixes after a
short period of time and practice, so little time later i bought my own
equipment and started to practice every day annoying my mother and
neighbors with funky house tunes.

>> Are you a part of any party/dj crew and if so, how did that start?

i am part of the geraeteturnen crew. it all began when some friends
moved to düsseldorf and we decided to make parties together. the idea
was to join differet arts, styles and whatever into something bigger
than the sum of the single parts. djing, vjing, graphic design, dia
projections, producing, different kinds of music and conception of
complete electronic events. this is what jo, bilderwilderer, jan s, repp
and i are doing. just visit our website and check it out. or even better
be part of our parties!!!
recently, i started making music with hamee, a good friend from
essen. our styles differ but also complement each other, such that there
is a perfect fusion between house, techno, deep, funky, jazzy, broad,
juicy and dry & crispy stuff waiting to kick your ass on the dancefloor.
he is the more stable and straight part of us while i do mix up some
wild stylez to it.

>> Do you produce music?

i started producing my first tracks when i still went to school. it was
just for fun and did not meet my personal taste and style, but this way
i took my first steps with being creative and also with the technical
part and trying out some things which helped me to get deeper into it
quickly some years later when the first software synthesizers appeared.
so i did the first "real" productions. some good stuff, perhaps also
some bad stuff, always looking for the samples i had in mind. after a
hard disc crash the work of some years was lost and again i had to start
over after a rather long break which i invested in learning sound design.
now i am back with my new tracks!!! each and every sound is designed on
my own. i do not use any presets, samples or patches any more and i get
more and more close to what is on my mind no matter whether this is
rather dark techno music or it has uplifting funky elements. listen to
some of my tracks and also check out hamee's tracks at our myspace website!

>> What do you love to play the most?

it is really hard to answer this question because i love so many
different new and old styles. you would get the best impression from a
live performance. but to put it in a few words, o'sugi usually plays
dry, crispy, and weird sounds, playful rhythms with a jazzy and funky
tip. check out the "besides" set for a good impression what i like best and would be something like my "recent set".

the mix i did for sassafras is called "silence afterwards". it is
a collection of some old records from the years 1999-2002 that went
along with the last year of my life and became more and more meaningful
to me although they have been in my record case for many years. so these
records have a big importance to me too.

>> What are your main inspirations of music?

there are many different inspirations. lets start with herbie hancock, my favourite
jazz pianist and composer. his music is full of mind-blowing moments
especially when we talk about his early work. his funky style is
unbelievable and many basic ideas out of his music are really simple and
have a fascinating great effect on the listener. then there is
thelonious monk, also a big jazz musician. he has a great playful style
and seems to play "wrong" notes all the time but is always keeping
harmonics and rhythm stable in his very individual way. the last
non-electronic artist i want to mention here is cal tjader. he is a
latin jazz musician who does mambo- and salsa-like jazz stuff. he has a
deeper, organic flow than the others which i like very much. and he
sometimes does really trippy music like "ritmo uni" together with eddie
palmieri. all together the jazz music influences get through only in a
subliminal fashion because it it really hard to reduce such complex
music to minimal electronic music. but there are some producers who
really make it and so i'll keep on trying and until i succeed in my own
tracks i'll keep on playing records from these producers.

my electronic inspirations are from music by jeff samuel, swag, pepe
bradock, lil' marc, daniel bell, and many many others... i could fill
the whole interview with this listing, so i'll stop here to let you make
your own impression.

>> What do you listen to when you want to relax?

i like st. germain very much. besides that there is melchior
productions, who is one of my favorites for relaxing music. swag is
also a very good choice. moreover there are plenty of tracks for a chill
session on the "other" sides of my records, which i do not play in the
club and last but not least there is jazz music!!!

>> Weirdest gig you have ever done?

when i just started djing, there was this night in a little club called
"titty twister" in the middle of nowhere, or let's say somewhere at the
border of bielefeld, germany. i wasn't one of the djs but a normal guest at the club, but i had my record case in the car.
i don't really remember how this happened but though i didn't know
anybody from the club, a little time later, i got my case out of the car
and started playing the turntables. this was my first public gig and it
was a pleasure to get people dancing to my music for the first time.
fortunately nobody asked me what the hell i was doing.

>> Most memorable gig you have ever had? Good or bad... + Favourite Club to play in?

it was a gig at the schlachthof in düsseldorf some years ago at a
party i did with geraeteturnen. i still remember that i took over the
turntables and the dancefloor was empty. so, i thought to myself why not
play a pure underground set with no well-known tracks?! it took no
more than 4 or 5 records to get the people into the right mood and the
dancefloor was filled with about 100-150 people, the whole club dancing!
no sitting around, no standing around!!! after another 4-5 records the
crowd really went mad. i think these rather small underground parties
with a handfull of people running wild are more my thing rather than big
events. i do not think it has to be a special club but it has to be the
right audience with a proper and open understanding for my music.

>> Favorite Format? Vinyl, CD, mp3 or other.

strictly vinyl!!!

>> How can people get a hold of you to book you?

info, music and booking:
www.geraeteturnen.com/osugi
www.myspace.com/hameeosugi

>> Where can we see you play next?

hamee and i are working on some gigs in bochum and essen in the
near future. check out our websites and register for the geraeteturnen
newsletter at www.geraeteturnen.com for more info.

Picture: Design by Jo from Geräteturnen

I want to thank him for this mix. Enjoy

This mix can be Downloaded for FREE!!!

To Download: 
Use the download link above this description. 
PC: Right click on the link "Save As" MAC: Option(Alt)+Click the link