A nostalgic foray into the hip-AND-TRIP-HOP daze of the ‘90s…
Sydney based deep house DJ and producer Norm De Plume delivers a love note to one of music’s most fertile eras of genre melding. Expect plenty of beats!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Could you please tell us a little bit about your journey into electronic music and DJing? What’s the first track/artist or album you remember having a big impact on you? I got into DJing around ‘95/’96. I was lucky enough to have trumpet lessons at school and I was self-taught on the guitar. I could read music and had been listening to jazz, funk and hip hop since the late 80s. It was scratching that attracted me to DJing to start with. I really liked the idea of a scratch DJ being able to perform with a group of live musicians (I had seen the UK DMC champ DJ Pogo playing with Courtney Pine’s band around this time).
To begin with I only had one turntable and focused on scratching and cutting. When I got to arts college to study music in 1997 I already knew that there was so much more to DJing than scratching and I started to buy records in earnest - mostly funk, hip hop and some jungle and drum & bass. I used to play weekly in the Student Union bar and then later in the only decent local club. I would spend all the money I earned (£20 a night) on records and I also saved up for a second turntable. I was a huge fan of the records that were coming out on labels like Mo’Wax and Ninja Tune - specifically the instrumental / abstract hip hop of DJ Shadow, DJ Krush and DJ Cam.
The layering of samples to create new music was moving into a real art form around that time. I think Shadow’s Endtroducing was the pinnacle of that and probably my first very big electronic influence. I suppose the abstract hip-hop thing was a type of minimalism, and obviously it has strong elements of collage about it. But mostly it was all about finding those killer drum breaks to construct your beats and using them in a really heady, dark and jazzy way. Lots of jazz samples within that as well, and using trumpet and sax lines and scratching them up or layering them over the sparse beats. Not so much electronic sounding, but much more organic sounding.
I was also listening to and discovering a lot of jazz as well. I would have these epiphanies when I would be listing to a Coltrane or a Miles LP with my drummer friend Rob and we’d hear hooks or little passages that had been sampled. I found it fascinating to hear the source material and the original musical context. I would borrow vinyl from the college library and I used to experiment with jazz and world music as I had heard DJ Krush doing over his beats. Miles Davis was and still is my musical hero (even if he was a very flawed human on a personal level). I’ve always thought of him as the master of deconstruction.
How did you decide to approach your lazydaze mix? Any favourite tracks or moments in there for you? The mix is a nostalgic return to the era I’ve just described with the addition of a few slightly newer tunes that fit the vibe. You’ll hear a lot of Shadow, Krush & DJ Cam but hopefully the less obvious tracks and remixes. It’s quite different to what I’m currently known for as a deep house DJ and producer. Favourite moments are probably DJ Shadow’s ‘Influx’ and ‘Four Elements’ by Nick Wizz (which both use the same David T Walker sample) and DJ Cam’s ‘Bronx Theme’. It’s a 100% vinyl mix recorded in one take with no editing, so please forgive any little bumps!
Can you tell us a bit about your work with the Delusions of Grandeur and Freerange labels? How did this relationship come about? I’ve worked for Tom and Jamie (Jimpster) at Freerange Records and Delusions of Grandeur since 2003. I already had experience in music publishing from working at MCPS-PRS in London at the time and so I started to help with their small publishing arm and I still do a bit of work for them remotely to this day. They have become good friends and Jamie is a great musical mentor and gives me lots of advice and constructive feedback on my production. I haven’t seen them for over two years now, but hoping to get back to London in the coming months to see all my family and friends. Fingers crossed!
What’s the idea behind Analogue Discogue? What can punters who have never attended one of your events expect? It’s an all vinyl dance party that uses an audiophile sound system. It’s loosely inspired by The Loft and the hi-fi dance parties and listening bars that The Loft has given birth to around the world, most notably in London, Tokyo and New York. The musical selections are mostly from the Afro-American dance music tradition – funk, boogie, disco and house. The sound system is very warm and clear. I use a pair of Klipschorn speakers for the house speakers. It’s usually myself and a guest from Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide.
What’s your all time favourite album or DJ compilation in the realm of home listening? I think it has to be DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing.
