LAMP Weekly Mix #165 feat. Lex & Wood

Montreal duo Lex & Wood join the ranks of our esteemed list of guests for the weekly mix series and lay down some proper jams. They pulled out a dynamic range of music from your get-down tech to classic grooving style house.The duo have been amassing a healthy discography over the past few years and have won acclaim and recognition from many of the industry's leading producers and DJs as well as signing to labels such as Great Stuff, Vudu, Build It, and forthcoming on Armada Subjekt.MR PUZL: Alessandro and Ben welcome to our guest mix series! Loving the diversity and range in this mix. What were some inspirations behind your track selection?Lex & Wood: We wanted to create a power tech mix that makes people go “oh s***” at every drop and that keeps the energy going the whole way through. So we thought, what better than deep, pounding bass lines topped with groovy techy percs!There have been so many amazing releases in 2017 already so we wished to showcase some of them in the mix, along with two of our own tracks. When we make a mix, we usually build half, listen back to it the next day while doing other things, and then finish it up. If we don’t love listening to the mix ourselves, then no point in putting it out. We enjoy making people discover new music through our sets, while throwing in some big tracks of the moment to give them “audio checkpoints”. Gotta love the “Track ID?” comments on Soundcloud!MP: You guys have been collaborating on this project since 2011. How did you guys first meet? Was there a particular point early on where you both thought, “yeah, this is working let’s see where this goes?”L&W: We’ve met through friends a few years before starting university. At the time, Benjamin, who is actually a really gifted drummer, had played in bands for many years and was then producing hip-hop for local artists. I (Alessandro) had never taken the time to master one instrument in particular, although I did spend some time playing the piano, and liked messing around on old CDJs I had. We hung out a lot, and Ben walked me through the music production process, while I showed him how to mix.Before Lex & Wood, we had a duo called "KR!PTO", and we were very much into electro music. We DJed at many of our university’s wild parties and put out occasional tracks. Through the years, our production skills improved a lot and our music taste matured and evolved with the electronic music scene. So, after graduation, we decided to move away from the mainstream party and electro/progressive scene and dive into the deep/tech world.MP: Congrats on your latest release Werk / Tripping that came out on Vudu! It definitely has a booty shaking vibe to it. How have both your individual skills and collective styles over the years that you’ve been working together. What were some early hurdles you needed to overcome to get into a production flow?L&W: Like many producers out there, we have “ups and downs” in productivity. At the time of creating Werk / Tripping, we were into to Sonny Fodera style tracks, and “Flashing Lights” from Sam Divine & Curtis Gabriel had just come out. We loved that pounding bass and energy, which inspired our EP, that’s really going for making the people bounce on solid grooves and a hard hitting bassline.Our skills in the studio complement each other’s as they are quite different, yet useful in our production flow. On every new track, we take a direction, then another, and another. We sometimes don’t agree, but then usually throw down new ideas, try different loops and eventually end up finding a solid idea which we both go for!MP: Speaking of production! What kind of setup do you work on? Do each of you have individual studios or are you better when you’re in a studio together?L&W: We do have our own separate studios. Ben and I work on the same DAW (Ableton Live) to facilitate sharing projects as we do the final mixing and mastering at Ben’s place. We tend to start projects individually, and once one of us lays down a solid foundation, we get together and bang it out.MP: You kicked off your 2017 with a gem called ’DNCE’ on Great Stuff. It was already gaining traction amongst your peers and the media including a big feature on Insomniac. Tell us a bit about the process behind making this EP.L&W: Fun fact: our DNCE EP was actually produced in summer 2016 (and has nothing to do with the band DNCE... haha). We were working on two separate tracks simultaneously (DNCE and Make You Feel It), not really knowing which direction to take. But then, we had a couple of gigs where the tracks that worked best live were ones that were smooth but to which people could still dance. That got the juices flowing and inspired the EP’s vibe, as you can definitely hear the warm summer grooves in there. And it’s been great to see all of the support from various artists and renowned blog(s)!MP: We couldn’t help but notice our friend Greco getting in on the action with his jackin’ NYC Remix. Finding remixers for your music can be daunting as well as completely by luck. How did you end up tapping both Greco and a young beast like Tommy Vercetti to rework this EP?We have to give this one to our manager Dermot, who pulled some strings and put the pieces together. Being involved with "When We Dip", the well-known music blog based out of Montreal and Dublin, he was able to reach out and get Greco and Tommy Vercetti interested in remixing the EP!MP: You’ve gotten a load of early support on your forthcoming release ‘Get Up’ that is set to come out on Armada’s sub-label Subject including a feature with Danny Howard. You guys must be really excited to see this finally drop next month.L&W: Oh yeah! We are very excited about this release, especially since we’ve gotten the talented Lee Walker to remix it! We have been waiting quite a while for this release and are very eager to make our debut on Armada Subjekt!MP: To every studio there’s a dance floor. What are some of your guilty pleasure tracks you play out when the moment strikes?L&W: Hard to say, we always have new favorites come up! We have a few "go-to" tracks that we love and are always crowd pleasers, such as Armand Van Helden’s remix of "Freak Like Me", classic tracks like Mark Knight’ "Your Love" and Franky Rizardo's "Come into my life" and "Olympus". Also loving Erik Hagleton’s remix of Jump N Shout at the moment!MP: Where can people catch you playing next? Any big event announcements or other releases to stay on the look out for?L&W: Our next gig will be at Circus Afterhours on March 18th. It will be our first time performing there; we’re excited to test out the sound system and make the people groove! As for releases, we have quite a few lined-up with Armada Subjekt and its sub-labels in the coming months. You’ll definitely hear a lot from us in 2017. Stay tuned!

Tracklist

1. Dario D'Attis - My Tip2. Matt & Kendo - That Sound3. Josh Butler Ft. Lono Brazil - I Was There (Miguel Bastida Remix)4. Max Chapman, George Smeddies - Zulu5. Marc Suun - El Momento6. Apollo 84 - Work (Brett Gould Remix)7. Brown Sneakers - I See You8. Lex & Wood - ID9. Franky Rizardo - Same Man10. CamelPhat - Fia11. Paolo Paleologo, Kevin Ay - It Doesn't Me12. Lex & Wood x Dead Space - ID13. ANOTR x Armand Van Helden - Funk Phenomena14. Namito & Jonny Cruz - No Slave (Josh Butler Walk Remix)15. Mat.Joe - When You Hear That Sound16. Tommy Vercetti - Time To Get Funky (A Lister Remix)17. Solardo - The Spot18. Elderbrook - First Time (MANT Remix)