For our next interview, we caught up with James Organ, a name seriously rising through the ranks in the underground scene. With his recent release out now on the mighty Circus Recordings, it was great to have a good in depth chat with him.
James Organ – The Cosmos Of Life – CLICK HERE TO ORDER
- Hi James how you doing mate?
Very good – currently gearing up for a few days in Amsterdam for ADE which has come around so fast. I’m looking forward to catching up with some old industry friends, meeting some new people face to face who I’ve been connecting with on emails and heading to a few gigs also.
- Let’s start by talking about your next release, when is it coming out and on what label?
My new release is out on Circus Recordings. It’s a 5 track EP on Circus Recordings, which features the incredible Johannesburg based slam poet Lazarusman on the lead track, it’s a monster.
- How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music before?
I would say Tribal / Melodic or Organic house music. Generally, dance floor tracks, which drift away from the norm.
- Would you say your sound has changed from your first release you ever put out?
For sure, I would say my sound changes every couple of years, based on what I’m listening to, what’s working in the club and what’s inspiring me at that time. Although I’ll always be into House and Techno, I like to keep it current and keep pushing boundaries with my music.
- Do you have any exciting bookings you’d like to talk about that are happening this year?
Yes – quite a few, a lot of them aren’t announced just yet. One of them is in one of my favourite all-time venues in December, the last time I played here was probably my favourite ever gig, so I’m buzzing to be back. I recently played in the epic Steelyard of Creamfields which was one for the books, alongside many smaller (but equally as amazing) club shows coming such as Cosmic in Newcastle.
- How did you first get involved in underground music?
My love for underground music stems right back to my early years as a raver, witnessing people like Louie Vega, The Martinez Brothers, Damian Lazarus, Davide Squillace etc at Circoloco, alongside the likes of Maceo Plex, Solomun, Dixon and DJ Tennis which is where my melodic roots come from. There was no other path I wanted to follow once I started producing music of my own.
- If you could work with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
I would say probably Keinemusik: Adam Port / Rampa / &ME / Reznik. For me, nobody comes close, their ideas are so fresh and musically in line with what I’m into. They are pushing their own sound and it’s taking the fancy of many of my favourite DJ’s and selectors including Black Coffee, Damian Lazarus, Sasha, Cattaneo etc.
- What does your music production setup consist of?
I have quite a lot of hardware in the studio; The Moog Subsequent 37, Korg MS20 mini, Prophet Rev 2, Ableton’s Push, as well as many of the Aira products such as the TB-303. However I recently found my love for Ableton’s ‘Wavetable’ VST, and I’m using this a lot more for ideas – bass / mids / grooves etc as it has a much faster workflow
- What is your most used plugin that you use on every track?
I would say on top of the ‘Wavetable’ soft synth mentioned above, it’s most of the Sound Toys VST’s such as: Decapitator distortion (for beefing), Microshift (for shaping vocals), Effect Rack (for making ideas more interesting) ‘Alter Boy’ for editing vocals and so on. There is SO much available on there and these have been crucial for me in getting the best out of my sound in the studio.
- Away from dance music, what is your go to music to listen to?
I listen to such a broad spectrum of music it’s silly. My go-to at the minute is the likes of Mac Demarco, Sault & Khruangbin, but I’ll listen to anything from Four Tet to The Beatles, Nas to Radiohead.
- Any other releases scheduled for this year?
If everything goes to plan with dates, I have 4 EP’s locked between now and January. I want to keep the music flowing as much as possible. Once again, most of these aren’t announced but they are coming on some of the labels I’ve been a huge fan of for many years.
