Interview: Low End Lowlife meets Goth-Trad

So how are you feeling about Outlook this year, is it your first one?

Yeah, first one this year, I'm playing down on the Dockside Stage with Vivek after DMZ tonight.

Is that in support of the upcoming release on Medi?

Yes, the new record Babylon Fall EP should be coming on Deep Medi this month

How are you feeling about the way dubstep has grown in recent years? I know the festival here went from roughly 5000 people last year to around 15,000 this year. Do you think it's a positive that the scene is expanding?

Yeah definitely, I think it's just going in so many different directions right now. Dubstep has so many directions at present, people are taking it to deep & techie sounds, some are focusing on, say, jump-up. It's getting bigger.

Do you have a particular direction when you start making a track? Do you say 'I want to go in that particular direction'?

To be honest with you I'm not listening to dubstep that much, the whole reason I got into making dubstep is because it's free. You can do anything with it. Take it all sorts of directions. I'm now finishing an album, which will be coming on Deep Medi as well and I'm putting the kind of sounds people maybe think of as dubstep. Some people won't think it's dubstep, you may think it's more electro / loud but a lot of dubstep fans are getting bored of the more obvious sounds. I'm always looking for more directions and styles within my work, but I'm not really thinking I'm doing dubstep. I'm just doing my sound. I've been doing this style of music for almost ten years and I just say all this music is bass music. I'm putting a lot of variety into the new album. Some tunes are a very techie dubstep, some tunes are much more experimental, a bit glitchy. There may be some much harder, more banging stuff. I've lots of ideas to keep moving with after the album.

How did you come into contact with Deep Medi in the first instance?

I started speaking through Myspace with Mala around 2006 and I just came to London and had some shows and then I went and did FWD>> where I met Mala. He had a show the next day at Soul Jazz and he said to come down to the show, so we talked and he gave me a load of vinyl, after that I just started uploading some of my new tunes and Mala got back in contact through Myspace saying he wanted to sign me, so I organised a tour for him out in Japan in Osaka.

What's the scene like over there?

I started my own night 5 years ago in 2006 and it's getting bigger. Still fairly small but growing. I'm still learning but I'm pushing local producers, Japanese producers. The sound at my parties tends to be much deeper, more dubby. Some people are spinning more jump-up but I like to push the more bassy, deep stuff. So it's not big like the US or Europe but I'm trying to grow it... I'm not the rushed though, I'm not really rushing haahah. A lot of people play the more club orientated and jump-up sounds but to be honest with you I'm not that big a fan of the sound, for me it's all the same sound. Obviously it also depends on the sound system, if the system is good then you can enjoy it a lot more. For me I'm always looking for something with a bit more melody. Of course that is one point of this type of music, this music always has to be changing. Some producers are moving into, say, more into funky. Some guys are going to more glitchy sounds. Before dubstep I was making experimental beat or almost noise music, kind of ambient. I've done three albums up until now, and the second album is almost a noise experiment. So I've always been doing this experimental noise music and I'm always trying to go forward. My final point, one that's quite important, is all we need to keep is the bass!

The Babylon Fall EP featuring Max Romeo is available now on double 12" vinyl & digital download through Deep Medi Musik. You can check it out here.