LAMP Weekly Mix #94 feat. 333

LAMP Weekly Mix #94 feat. 333

Sometimes the world just works in mysterious ways! As we headed into our weekend we got a little surprise in our inbox from 333 in the form of this recorded mix. From the moment it kicked off with Somersault's tune 'Space is Big' we knew what we had on our hands. Today's ‪#‎weeklymix‬ is chalked full of expansive soundscapes, with choice tech cuts and deep grooves woven in for good measure. Since it's a family affair MR PUZL got chat with his big bro about his career up to this point along with a few stories from the glory days of acid house and rave warehouses.MR PUZL: Solid mix man. Anything our listeners should know about the tracks you've picked?333: Thanks brother! Firstly a huge thanks to you and Josh for putting me on LAMP! I am glad you guys liked the mix. I always try to put a range of music in my mixes so there is house, techno, progressive house and trance all on there. The first 6 tracks are all brand new and I have to say I was really inspired to find music like this out there. I have always been known to stray on the side of progressive house and trance, and there is certainly a wealth of great music being made in these genres right now. Labels like Particles and Cycles stand out from the crowd for me. This type of music makes me feel very nostalgic. It takes me back. It feels like it could be 1993 all over again when I close my eyes - and that is an incredible thing!MP: You've been apart of this industry for many years and have seen it evolve and morph into many things. What is your perspective on the current status of house music? Who are you listening to right now that's influencing your productions?333: I am so impressed with our scene. Underground, independent dance music is stronger than ever. Other things have come and gone (and hopefully EDM (or whatever the fuck that is) will die an ugly horrible death very soon). But our music - music made by people who care about music for other people who care about music - will never die because human beings are designed to create, to push boundaries, to explore and to share. And we all love to dance! I try to listen to a range of music both old and new but I spend a lot of time at Maya Studios with Joeski so I certainly get a heavy dose of house music. Joe is on fire right now and his music is innovative so I get a lot of inspiration from sitting with him, working on tracks and listening to what he is producing.MP: Outside of the realm of electronic music what other music do you listen to?333: I grew up as a Mod listening to The Jam then progressed to Punk and by some miracle found techno and house music in a warehouse in the East end of London and never looked back. I still love to put an old Cure record on the record player. Because of the 12 or so years I spent on the road DJ'ing I also have quite an impressive collection of vinyl so I spend a lot of time combing through those records. My 3 year old boy Lucian likes to belt out Katy Perry tunes from the back of the car so unfortunately I get some exposure to that type of music also... ):MP: Being apart of the early 90s acid house scene in the UK must have been incredible. What was your first ever rave like?333: Unbelievable. This is going to sound a little cheesy but it literally changed my life. Right there in that moment. It was 1988 and I was still going to New Model Army concerts. I had heard about these illegal warehouse raves and was curious. So my brother Mark (DJ MGEE) and I went out with about 10 other mates in search of one of these parties. We went to a checkpoint in the West End of London where we got picked up in a dodgy looking mini-bus by some dodgy looking fellas and we were whisked all the way to the dodgy East end and dumped outside a school in the middle of nowhere. We paid 10 quid to get in and the Rave was happening in the school gym. 2 huge stacks of speakers some strobe lights and a laser shooting into the crowd. STAKKER 'Humanoid' was being played by the DJ and I immediately felt the need to dance. And boy did I dance. For ages! We all stayed there for hours and hours. I met loads of new people from all walks of life who I know I never would have met otherwise. The fact that these parties were not legal and you had to go to various checkpoints and / or listen to pirate radio stations to find out where they were happening appealed to my rebellious punk side. But it was the music that got me hooked. I had never heard anything like it before. The next day Mark and I spent all our money on 2 Technics 1210 Mk2's and the rest is history as they say.MP: What prompted your move to the US? Where did you first end up?333: actually came here to study. I attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence where I got a degree in Film and Animation. I still don't know how I managed to graduate as pretty much from day 1 I was looking to try and share this music that I had brought with me from the UK. We threw our first party BLUE a few months before I graduated so my focus was certainly on trying to do something in the music and rave scene. I love Providence. It is such a great town. I had a great time at RISD. Met some amazing people. But all I wanted to do at that time in my life was play music.MP: Having experienced an emerging rave scene in the UK what were you expectations of it here?333: We really did not have any. That was what was so amazing about it. There was no road map. No blueprint. There was no scene! We literally helped to create it from scratch. We had no idea what was going to happen but we knew we wanted to share this experience with as many people as we possibly could. I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to say I was part of the emerging East Coast Rave scene. It is something that fills me with pride when I think about how we started and where we ended up. From Montreal to DC to Portland and Baltimore and beyond. We were a very tight knit network of instigators. And we did some crazy stuff!MP: What were some of the most memorable bookings and events you put on with Primary Productions?333: Our first party BLUE was an eye opener. We never imagined in our wildest dreams that it would turn out the way it did. We did it at the Shriner's Auditorium just outside of Boston and told them we were shooting a party scene for a film which was a total lie. Buses came from all over - DC, Philly, NYC, Montreal, Portland, Toronto, even Pittsburgh. Colin Dale (one of my favorite DJ's) was over from the UK as was TinTin and Bobby Bentley. Lenny Dee, Adam X and Onionz were all up from NYC. It was an absolutely mental occasion. I will never forget Frankie Bones that night. I had seen him play in the UK at the biggest raves over there. He was a legend to me. For whatever reason (I don't recall) we had not booked Frankie at Blue but Lenny Dee and Adam X were representing the Storm Rave crew. Frankie came anyway and sat on the stage all night MC'ing our party. I was completely blown away. Not only was one of my hero's at my party but what a selfless and kind act that was. It epitomized the scene in the very very early days. We were all one. We would help each other out and support each other up and down the coast and it was an incredible thing to be a part of. Other highlights from the Primary days for me are Fabio Paras and Darren Emerson (of Underworld fame) playing at RED and The Wicked Crew versus the Chocolate Factory at Purple. All our parties were top notch even if I do say so myself.MP: Being able to play with the likes of Orbital and the Chemical Brothers must have been mental. Any cool stories to share when you were touring?333: I grew up 5 miles from the town that Orbital are from and Belfast is still one of my favorite tracks of all time so to get to meet Phil and Paul and play with them was amazing. The Chemical Brothers were great lads too and people would bug out to them when they played. I have to say I still find the whole electronic performance act thing a bit funny. I would much rather listen to a proper DJ any day of the week and be on a proper dance floor surrounded by people and speakers on all sides rather than everyone standing and facing the same way. As you might imagine I have a ton of stories from the road (some of which might be fit to print) which I am thinking about writing down some day... Totally dodged that question didn't I?MP: What artists did you have on your label Ohm Recordings? What kind of styles were you curating at the time?333: Ohm was a Boston thing. We were trying to promote local artists. House, techno and trance were all featured. In addition to tracks that my brother and I made we also released tracks by Benny Blanco, Dale Charles and Osheen. It was a fairly short lived thing - I think we only had 5 or 6 releases - but a great experience, and it taught us a lot about the music industry.MP: Your partnership with Joeski has grown over the years. When did you guys first link up?333: I first met Joe behind a warehouse on the docks in Portland, Maine. I think it was 1994... We had just played a huge rave up there the night before. I think it was like 10 in the morning and the party was still going. My partner Tom Mello introduced me to him and told me it was Joe's birthday. He then pulled out a small birthday cake with a candle on it, lit it and put it down on the train tracks and we all sang happy birthday in our hoodies and huge sunglasses. It was like a scene out of Trainspotting or something like that. Joe was part of the Chocolate Factory with Onionz, Ryde and Sameer and I had huge respect for those guys. They did the House thing properly. Joe still does! Joe and I have spent a lot of time together in the last 20 years, on the road and in the studio. I have an enormous amount of respect for him as a DJ, producer and human being. He is a brother to me. We have produced well over 20 tracks (mostly unreleased) together. I am so grateful to him for letting me into his world. I live vicariously through him sometimes.MP: We loved the latest release 'Bring Me Down'. Any upcoming releases plans as 3ski or solo?333: Thanks! So a girl at my work just sent me a video of her singing and I sent it to Joe and he was like 'Yo. We gotta do something with her voice'. So stay tuned for that. Working at Maya is one of the most fun things I get to do and I get out to the studio as much as I can so look out for something in the next few months. In the meantime I will be putting together some more 333 mixes in the coming weeks.

Tracklist

1. Space is Big - Somersault2. Airtight (Henrik Zuberstein mix) - Max Graham3. People Places - Philthy Chit4. Redemption (Solid Stone mix) - Max Graham5. Signs of the Future - Solid Stone6. She is Music feat. Blake Baxter (Hpynogroove mix) - Psycatron7. Phuture (Joris Voorn mix) - Harr Romero8. ENTER.Space - Maceo Plex9. In a State (Saha mix) - UNKLE10. Exhale - Tilt

About 333

Born in St. Lucia and raised in the UK, Paul William Slater, aka DJ 333, moved to the US in 1989 having just experienced the brand new rave scene emerging in the UK. In partnership with his brother Mark and Tom Mello he founded Primary Productions and Ohm Recordings and became a resident at the now infamous Loft Night Club in Boston. Over the next 10 years Paul toured the country as DJ 333, playing iconic clubs like Fever in Baltimore, Limelight in NYC and Sonar in Montreal on a regular basis. He played with The Chemical Brothers, Orbital and The Orb and even made an appearance at Lollapalooza. He threw some of the biggest and most revered parties in the East Coast Rave Scene, including Blue, Yellow, Red and Purple. In 1997 he produced a full length release with Fred Giannelli, produced by Oscar winning Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, 333>seed, as well as a collaboration called Fred-Ex. Paul lives in NYC and has been busy working in Maya Studios for the last several years recording as 3ski, with Joe Flores aka Dj Joeski. His latest release 'Bring Me Down' is available now on Maya Recordings.Enjoy,LAMP