LAMP Weekly Mix #118 feat. Somersault

LAMP Weekly Mix #118 feat. Somersault

This week's guest hails from a coastal town just outside of Sydney called Wollongong, and now resides in the NSW capital producing and DJing on a regular basis at clubs and local festivals alike such as Rabbits Eat Lettuce. His music has been transmitted across the airwaves and landed on several stateside labels including superb releases via Build It Records and Particles of Proton Music family. We're very excited to have this talented artists on our ‪#‎weeklymix‬ rotation this week. Check out his interview with MR PUZL and the full tracklist below.MR PUZL: We really enjoyed this mix, and there's a great narrative with the tracks you've selected. Tell us a bit about it, and what you were going for here.Somersault: Thank you! I really enjoyed putting this together. I suppose this mix is supposed to take the listener on a bit of a trip through a good club night. The mix starts out with nice, groovy warmup tunes and moves into deeper, almost psychedelic tech house. There are a couple of unreleased tunes of mine in there that I’ve been trying out recently. There’s also a great unreleased tune by fellow Australian producer Retza.MP: In you bio you mentioned you worked as a funk guitarist and produced music that was played out by Jon Convex. How have those phases of your career led you to where you are today? What other instruments do you play?Somersault: Well I suppose I started taking music seriously when I was about 18. I did a degree in contemporary music majoring in Guitar. I was really into jazz, blues, soul, R&B, Funk, basically anything which was rooted in Africa. Over time I become more infatuated with rhythm and groove which has basically lead me to house music. I don’t play much guitar anymore but I still play a bit in an Afrobeat band here in Sydney called Lyre Byrdland. Jon Convex playing my first house tune was incredibly supportive and a great confidence boost. I worked as a high school music for a few years so I can play a few instruments, quite poorly, but guitar is my main instrument.MP: More producers and DJs are finding ways to include more 'live' material into their performances. Would you or have you already consider something along these lines for your Somersault project?Somersault: I’m in two minds about this. Coming from a jazz background I really do love the idea of a really spontaneous, improvised, hardware-based dance music performance. One of my favourite acts, Dance Spirit, do this really well. I’ve done live electronic music performance before with my old project This Mess but found the format to be quite limiting so I am really just enjoying having two CDJs and a mixer in front of me at the moment. I find DJ’ing a whole lot more pleasing than live performance as it’s using the same kind of thought processes as when playing an improvised solo on an instrument.MP: Your previous project, This Mess, explored quite a dynamic range of futuristic sounds and smooth down-tempo beats. Do you feel like some of that permeates into what your currently making now?Somersault: Yeah I do. That project was all about finding warmth and interesting sounds through sampling and storytelling. It was a completely different style of working as Tace and I were creating songs rather than tracks. The This Mess material has a strong sense of atmosphere and emotion which Is a feature that I try and hang on to with Somersault. This Mess is where I learned all the production skills I have today and I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without it.MP: Somersault is eclectic, and traverses a lot of genres and I'm sure you play a variety of styles depending on the venue. Is there an ideal or preferred setting in which people should come to watch you play?Somersault: I basically see my sound as split between indoors and outdoors. Clubs and Festivals. We have a great party scene here in Australia, particularly in the outdoors. The project was initially intended to be big and progressive for outdoor stages but I’ve since moved further towards deep, clubby grooves. For a few months now I’ve been working on finding a sound that works both in clubs and on outdoor stages. The closest I’ve gotten to this is my Ultramarine EP which came out in January this year on Build It Records. I’m always aiming for this when I produce. Depth and groove are the most important things to me so if you’re into either you’ll enjoy me at any venue ; )MP: I was first introduced to your music through your superb Particles EP, 'Zodiacs and That' followed by 'Crux' on their summer compilation. You've gone on to release via Build It and most recently a tech house gem via Bassic. What are some other labels and artists you look up to and would like to work with?Somersault: Right now, I’m focussing on working with Australian labels as it can feel kind of anonymous and distant working with international labels. I would like to be able to hang out and actually chat with people that I’m releasing music with. There are some great local labels here that I’d love to work with including Chameleon, Lo-Fi 45 and Subsonic. I’m also looking forward to releasing more material on Bassic, who just released my track ‘ Sinking'. International labels that I really love are Madtech, Good Stuff and Suara. Particles and Build it have both been great at getting my music heard. I’ve got some exciting things happening soon release wise so stay tuned.MP: Growing up near Sydney I'm sure meant you were exposed to quite a range of music. What were some of your earliest interactions with the club scene there? How have you seen it evolve over the years?Somersault: Sydney, as you might have heard, is in a bit of a rut at the moment. We have a super conservative government enforcing draconian measures which are really stifling our nightlife. As a reaction promoters are getting much more creative with their events, throwing day parties and using unusual venues to continue bringing in international artists and fostering local talent. When I was younger Sydney was completely different. I spent a lot of time at places like The World Bar and Club 77 listening to brash electro-house til very late. Now I find myself going to a much greater variety of house and techno events.MP: You've got D'Angelo, and Earth, Wind Fire listed among some of your music influences. 'Brown Sugar' just oozed soul and funk and the man is a very talented multi-instrumentalist on top of his silky voice. Would you ever consider working with him on a track? Favorite Earth, Wind & Fire tune? 'Reasons' is definitely up there for me.Somersault: D’angelo, is, hands down, my all time favourite musician. I saw him play just recently at the Opera House in Sydney. It was amazing. I find myself listening to his albums all the time. But working with him? Jeez, I’d be terrified. I’m not really sure he’d be into my music..As for Earth, Wind & Fire, my favourite track is Getaway. I love the whacky jazz fusion intro and ridiculous, sequenced midi horn lines. But overall the tune just grooves so damn hard.MP: You slid some new unreleased material into this mix and have a forthcoming remix out on Particles. 2016 is definitely shaping up for you! What else have you go going on that you can share with us?Somersault: Well, I just moved to Sydney from a little place an hour south called Wollongong. I’ve been meeting all kinds of great people here and each week I seem to receive a new offer or bit of feedback that has me jumping for joy. I played Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival a couple of weeks ago which was amazing. As I mentioned before, I’m aiming to release some material on local labels which is currently bubbling away in the background. I’m playing at one of Sydney’s best club nights ‘Something Else’ in two works and I’ve got a few other gigs planned which I can’t discuss just yet. I’m hoping that I’ll be busy over our summer festival season.Thank you for the opportunity and I hope you all enjoy the mix!

Tracklist

1. February - Bas Amro2. Lundy - Samu.l3. Buttermilk - SQL4. Mhambi - Retza (unreleased)5. Sinking - Somersault (Free DL on Bassic Records)6. Shake That - Ron Costa7. Lights Out - Somersault (unreleased)8. Heat - Alex Long, Stanny Abram9. Just Stay - Somersault (unreleased)10. Lisha - GorgeCheck out more by this talented artist below:Enjoy,LAMP