Last week we bought you the news that our friends over at Data Transmission are gearing up for another instalment of their East Village Residency on Saturday 3rd March, which promises a dazzling array of talent from across the musical spectrum.
Joining them on the night will be New Talent and burgeoning two-step distorters CSY & Stripes , who have got everyone from A Trak to Tittsworth in a tizz over their stepping, immediate and swelling sound. We grabbed 5 minutes with them to see what all the fuss is about:
How did you first get into music?
Stripes – I started playing drums as a kid, then gradually as I got into clubbing I started taking an interest in the production side. The interest in music has always been there, but took a while (and a few releases) to be brave enough to make the jump full time!
CSY – I guess it was those early MJ cassettes/LPs that got me into music when I was a kid. That stuff was and still is phenomenal in my view. I found singing really enjoyable at school and ending up doing a lot of it before I bought decks when my voice broke as a teenager.
You both produced music separately under your own monikers- what were you up to previously and how did you come to work with each other?
Stripes – I used to run clubs, and one of my first jobs was with Fins flatmate. We were always bouncing music off each other, and then decided to get into the studio together and see what happened. Fin has a much more solid production background, and I bought new elements to the table musically so it was an obvious choice to both learn more, whilst making music we love.
CSY – I used to do CSY bootlegs and remixes alongside work and had loads of fun with it but never really had enough time to churn out enough to create a proper stir. I knew that I enjoyed making music more than my day job, so I left my 9-5 and decided to take it a bit more seriously. By this point I had tired of the electro sound that I had been doing before and decided to strike up a few partnerships (Stripes being one of them) and branch out with different styles under different names.
You’re influences seem to explore grey areas between garage, house, broken beat and more… What was your inspiration for creating music such as this?
We’ve been laughing a lot about the whole garage thing recently. Yeah we know the music, but we couldn’t talk about its history or anything in detail because excluding the obvious bits, it’s not what we grew up on! House is a different matter and we both take big influences from that and its come out through in our tracks. As for broken beat I guess sometimes we get a little bored of 4×4, so we mix it up a little bit!
You’re latest single on Body Work records is pretty jumping – what are your aesthetics when making a tune? Are you fully dance-floor focused?
I think it really depends on our mood, this EP is a pretty heavy hitting and we knew that when making it. But we’re working on some slightly deeper stuff at the moment, which should be more suitable for chilled affairs but also stand up on the dancefloor. If we did an album I’m sure we’d put some 8 minute orchestral arrangements on there with no kicks… But for the time being we know what we’re making is club focused. We want mofo’s to dance.
What can we expect you to pull out of your record bag this coming Saturday on March 3rd?
New heat from the likes of Cats & Dogs, PBR Streetgang, Waifs & Strays, Gavin Herlihy and a whole lot more artists we love. Some classic vibes, some garage, and of course some of our new shit!
You’ve released on Stranger, Cheep / Deep Thrills and of course Body Work – is keeping your portfolio diverse a healthy thing when releasing?
Yeah for sure, it exposes you to audiences you might not reach normally and that kind of natural exposure and growth is definitely a good thing. We’ve always made music that we’ve liked! As long as you don’t compromise what you’re doing for the sake of getting released on a certain label then yeah it’s healthy!
What are your feelings on the huge resurgence we’ve had – especially in London – on urban tinged house and 4-4 music?
It’s great to see that style grow, and see a lot of UK artists emerge at the forefront. But I wouldn’t say it’s a London thing necessarily. Yes London has a solid infrastructure when it comes to music and clubs, and labels like Night Slugs have had massive success in the past few years bringing a variety of styles to the table. But the UK as a whole is in a pretty good place right now, Bristol has the Future Boogie guys who’ve had a massive year and nights like In:Motion are really helping break talent. Manchester has The Warehouse Project which again has helped people get the exposure they deserve, so yeah, the UK as a whole is an exciting place to be right now.
What else can we expect from you for the rest of this year in terms of EP’s?
We’ve got a few bits and pieces lined up right now which are on a slightly deeper tip which hopefully will be out on in the next few months. Then after that there’s a couple of BIG remixes in the pipeline, and of course getting started on our epic orchestral album, loosely based on the trials and tribulations of Gianfranco Zola.
You’ve also remixed Penguin Prison, Detboi and loads more – what does it take for an artist and tune to gain the CSY & Stripes remix treatment?
To be honest most the remix enquiries we get, we approach with a pretty open mind. There’s elements of most tracks we think we can work with so we’re not snobs when it comes to that stuff!
We’ve now singed to the Your Army remix camp, so stuff comes through them, we check it, and then yeah, if we can work with it we’ll get cracking!
Finally, why should Londoners come and see you play out? What can you guarantee for those who turn out for a boogie?
We can guarantee your money back if you’re not blown away by both the music, and the rampant sexual undertones of CSY’s dance moves!
Interview by Joe Gamp
You can check out the latest CSY & Stripes Mix here:
http://wtrns.fr/zjipZn1117G30ZM
DT takes over East Village:
89 Gt Eastern Street
Saturday 3rd March
9- 3.30am
Basement:
WiLDKATS
Alexis Raphael
Waze & Odyssey
CSY & Stripes
Charlie Tarr
Upstairs:
Phonat
Lawrence Daffurn
Paul Bradley (Bad Apple)
Si Domone
