In Deep with Ivan Smagghe

A certain French DJ has developed something of a cult following in the dear green place that is Glasgow over the years, having appeared sporadically at the infamous weekly Subbie Sunday party ‘Optimo (Espacio)’ over the years and being one of the very few dj’s to have the honour of playing a whole night there in the absence of Twitch and Wilkes.  He last showed face at the Sub in 2012 when he helped us celebrate our 25th birthday, but with his last Subculture appearance way back in the nineties, his much anticipated return this Saturday suggests we are in for some pretty potent party madness, Parisian style.

Regularly labeled as the gallic answer to another Sub Club favourite, his good friend Mr Andrew Weatherall, Ivan is renowned on dancefloors worldwide for being able to play records in a raw and enthusiastic, sometimes obscure fashion, whilst effortlessly introducing his own personality and style into every mix. For almost 20 years he has been representing and working the circuit, and has often been critically acclaimed as being a member of that “oh so select” group known as “dj’s dj’s”, all the while gathering heavyweight support from the likes of James Murphy, Trevor Jackson & Subbie stalwarts Optimo. With his somewhat bohemian and slightly avant garde arty, glamourous je ne sais quoi, Ivan is expert at creating a multi dimensional soundtrack for a party.

Many would say a career behind the decks and the subsequent success was meant to be. His father was a dedicated record collector, so throughout the early days of childhood, music was a massive part of his upbringing. In adolescence he began his labour of love with some time spent working at the Bastille branch of seminal London record store ‘Rough Trade’, which for him was an unofficial inauguration to the French music scene. Looking back, his job in the record store probably funded his record buying compulsions and, like many great djs, he became a record spinner pretty much by default. In his own profound words “It just happened.”

Things kicked off in the mid 90’s when Radio Nova came calling, asking Ivan to broadcast four days a week for four hours a day. At this point the weird and wonderful world of Smagghe was presented to the public at large via the French airwaves for the first time, the listeners unaware of what would follow. His selections were made up of psychadelia and post-punk underground electronic vibes like these…

Word of his groundbreaking genre challenging ‘mash up’dj sets was spreading across Europe, and were once described as ‘a blueprint for what a post Millennium dj might sound like’. In 1997 Smagghe collaborated with Arnaud Rebotini and their brainchild Black Strobe was born. This was to be a monumental landmark not just for Ivan’s own career but also an instrumental milestone that prompted the rise of the Electroclash movement. Their UK breakthrough single ‘ Me and Madonna ‘ put things on a whole new level, and going forward Smagghe spent a decade as a recording artist under the Black Strobe guise.

Since the early 2000’s, Ivan has sustained his A & R role within the Kill the DJ record label. Significantly in 2010 this imprint released the first EP from RMVN, which is his collaboration project with Roman Flugel…

Aside from making music and in true Parisian style, M. Smagghe is a very cultured individual who has dabbled in the art of silent movies and whose love of books has also sent him in some different vocational paths. For a short spell he plied his trade as a music journalist and was guest columnist for a few much-admired French publications. Remarkably the sensation of his musical blog ‘a few things from Ivan Smagghe’ created a compilation series of edits for French fashion house Colette. This RA podcast was released around the same time as the mix for Colette sold out within a couple of weeks…

Ivan Smagghe RA podcast.228 – 2010.10.11 for A Night With… Ivan Smagghe by Anightwith on Mixcloud

On a production level, Smagghe’s latest project with Tim Paris ‘It’s a Fine Line’ is already turning over some releases on a remix tip, working with artists as diverse as ‘Superpitcher’ and ‘The XX’. This Fine Line version of Dark Knight is a favourite of those in the know at Subbie HQ…

With their studio in full swing and big things expected of the Paris pair, there are whispers of more solo work lined up as well as some exiting hook ups with some other hot production outfits.

Ivan is a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to edits, being somewhat of a pet project for him over the years. Ahead of his return to Subculture he fire-wired over this exclusive edit to Harri & Domenic.  EXPREZZ OR DRUE FILLINGS (IS DUB)…

In between holding down residencies at the likes of Fabric, Bugged out, We Love Ibiza and festival appearances worldwide, Ivan has given his musical insight along with some interesting chit-chat about life experiences, from darkroom basement parties to Australian beach raves, with some entertaining and memorable anecdotes thrown in along the way. Here he is on the couch at the Red Bull Music Academy for a Fireside Chat talking about how he is still pushing the boundaries of electronic music.

At the end of last year, he was invited to step up to the Boiler Room session in his hometown. What follows shows exactly why he is held in such high regard by music fans across the globe…

In summary, we are hyped for the return to Subculture of a guy who as well as being a long time DJ and producer, has managed to stick his ground and not follow mass trends or buckle to the pressures of ‘making it’ in the world of dance music. After almost two decades in the industry, his integrity remains intact, along with his creative ability and dancefloor know-how, making him an obvious pick to join Harri & Domenic this Saturday. As he has on most weekends around the world over that period, Ivan can be relied upon to keep Subculture on it’s collective feet from start to finish on Saturday!

£10 Advance tickets for Saturday are available from Resident Advisor.

Subcultural Art of The Warm Up Set

A couple of years back Resident Advisor did a feature titled The esoteric art of the opening Dj which we felt was worth bringing to light again and sharing with you to highlight the joy of the properly laid down warmup set and to illustrate the classic Subbie approach to the most underrated part of the DJs’ art.

No better man for the job than one half of Subculture, our very own Domenic Cappello…

A warm up set at Subculture never strikes up a mass invasion of the dancefloor but equally it never scares people off! Weekly resident Domenic Cappello is of course expert at turning out lower-energy, slow-tempo tracks which engender that familiar start of the night feeling we have become accustomed to over the last two decades.

Every week from 11pm as folks drift into the club, the air of excitement starts to build as Dom (or indeed Harri on alternate weeks) gets those heads bobbing, those feet tapping and the revelry vibe underway. As the tempo slowly rises along with the volume, and the beats become slightly more incessant, you can’t fail to feel the atmosphere in the room build, ultimately willing you to join the action on the dance floor. For some this warmup is the best moment of the week – the feeling that you are in for a night to remember is inescapable!

Fresh from his sun and fun filled SMS festival appearance in Croatia, Dom put this warm up mix together before getting ready to let loose on the best sound system in the land along with Harri at Subculture this Saturday.

Going under the knife with Surgeon

Slam’s monthly Return To Mono residency has been running at Sub Club since October 2004 and continues to pack them in with it’s heady mix of international DJs and homegrown talent from the Soma roster and the wider electronic community. The boys themselves are returning to mono this Friday alongside one of the pioneers of UK Techno, Surgeon.  Last time he played the club back in 2009 for Monox it was a sell out so we can’t help but expect more of the same this time round.

As the night approaches we thought we’d get to grips with some selected highlights from his musical career, treat your ears to some top level DJ mixes and share with you some content from one of the industry’s biggest specialists…

Birmingham dance wizard Anthony Child has built a solid career along with an innovative back catalog of minimal dancefloor techno since his first Surgeon releases started popping up around 1991. Surgeon is often mentioned favourably by the critics in the same breath as the Legend that is Jeff Mills.

In 1994 backed by producer Mick Harris (Child is a fan of Harris’ Scorn project), the former Napalm Death drummer locked Child in his tiny studio, imploring him to “go mad.” The result was released on Downwards, and was instantly hailed as some of the highest quality U.K. techno of its time.

Releases on Blueprint and Ideal Trax followed and significantly this track was his first release on SOMA Quality Recordings back in 1996…

There was then a number of momentous releases on ultra-exclusive Tresor label throughout the late 90s topped off with Force & Form in 1999.

More recent additions to his repertoire include releases on his Counterbalance imprint. Another prominent theme from Child’s career are his artist collaborations with artists such as Mick Harris, British Murder Boys with Regis, and more recently Ben Sims and the Frequency 7 project resulting in tracks which take a tone far darker than those from his Tresor years…

Here is a recording from 2010 of his Frequency 7 project live from Osaka Japan…

At the end of last year Surgeon was the star turn at Boiler Room, the forceful dance music platform for artists and fans in the know…

Catching an artist like Surgeon in an environment like Sub Club will undoubtedly be a night to remember.

Once Return to Mono has finished and all this has been and gone on Saturday morning here is rare treat for you from the man himself who decided to present a selection of classic chill-out room favorites for his Ambient Set at Free Rotation last month.
In his own words: “No dreary industrial drones, just colourful, uplifting psychedelia…”

https://soundcloud.com/dynamic-tension/surgeonfreerotation2013

Have a listen to Slam’s latest radio show, where they preview the main event. This show also features Perc, another one of electronic dance music’s reference points.

https://soundcloud.com/soma/slamradio-045-perc

Sounds of the Circus

In the run up to Sunday Circus 6th birthday party the crew sat down and thought of two tunes each that they heard, played or reminds them of circus over the years. So much music to choose from (hazy memories) this was by no means an easy task.

Ronnie:

Circus stable for me, have played it a few times but it is perfect for the afters…

I first played this on the Renfrew Ferry after our barn party. Works in any setting… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ2z2kkeYcs

Dave:

This is way back in he Courtyard days, I think the very first New Years party. Ronnie was finishing, had played an amazing set and was getting told to come off the decks and then bashed this out and the place erupted…

Perfect daytime tune for me, loved it the first time i heard it

Affi:

One of my all time favorites, it reminds me of the early Circus after parties – when the day was done, and it was time to get serious.

So many moments shared with people to this track over the years – an absolute timeless classic.

Tricky:

Played this at a few Circuses best reaction was at the 4th birthday, never get bored of this…

Throw back to the Courtyard days, this tune is the 3D’s for me (druggy, dreamy and driving)

So happy birthday Sunday Circus and here’s to many more of your manic Monday mornings.

See you Sunday for some cheap bubbly and a dance.

Times: 23:00 – 03:00

Line up: Sunday Circus Residents / Axel Boman

Vicious Creatures Q&A with Catz n Dogz

A DJs booth is his castle. From behind their Technics Turrets they conduct the jubilant masses and often slip away in to the night without revealing much about their lofty reign. The Vicious Creatures team have managed to scale the Walls of Castle Catz ‘N Dogz and battled to receive a revealing interview with the Polish House Music Kings.

From hot topics like Track of the Year to thought provoking condiment preference questions no stone has been left unturned. Take this opportunity to get to know the boys that little bit better before they blow your mind at The Sub Club Tonight.

Catz ‘N Dogz……how did this name come about?

We used to produce under the name 3Channels but our sound was different and more stripped down back then. We were looking for a new alias and our friends would always say that we were like an old married couple and that we would fight like  cats and dogs.

So we went with that… with added Z’s ;o)

How would you describe the current state of clubbing/dance music in Poland just now?

The Scene is really small. But we are doing couple of big parties per year there trying to invite our friends and djs we like.  In the summer there is a lot of good festivals like Tauron, Audioriver, Opener, Unsound and a couple of other small ones.

The best club right now is definitely in Warsaw and called 1500m2. It has good sound, its a good size and the manager knows what he’s doing.  The only problem is that there are not so many good producers at the moment and all of the best take so long to make their music.  Like our good friend SLG he makes like 1 EP every 3 years. :)
I hope he will read this haha ;)

How would you describe Scotland in 3 words? 

Friends – because our very good friends live there.

Friendly people – because always we have good times there

Nature – we love the landscapes

Tell us how the Sub Club is viewed in the international dance music community?

Hmmm.. Well for us, when you ask anybody in the world Subclub is one of THE clubs that people wanna play ;) and u know this.

Any good memories of your last Sub Club date from 2008?

Last time we were playing live there and the resident DJ that was playing before us played an awesome set and we were dancing like hell.

Song of the Summer so far?

Geeeman – Say Pump It!

Your favourite Ibiza club to play and why?

Our Dirtybird Residency @ Sankeys is great fun and the crowd really knows whazup.  Space Terrace – An awesome soundsystem and the vibe at the end of the night is just amazing.  We actually spend a lot of time in the North of the island between the gigs just chillin’. A lot of people never visit this part of the island and for us it’s the best

What do you love about your job & what do you hate?

So we love the daytime parties. That’s why we took so many gigs this summer and we play like every month 15 times, because we can’t say no to happy people dancing in the sun.  We were working for 10 years to get to play those openair parties and when u are there in front of all those people  you get this feeling thats hard to describe, there is just answers no questions.  Sounds cheesy but it’s true.  What we hate is constant air-condition because we get sick all the time.

If you could only ever use one condiment for the rest of your life what would it be? i.e Ketchup, Mayo, Sweet Chilli Sauce etc.

That’s a good question because if you are a dj you have to like those things because even the worst airport  food covered with ketchup taste ok.  Probably we would go with Jamaican sauce :)

Catz ‘N Dogz the Movie……what actors would play you guys?

Actors are not enough we will have to hire… Robocop & Unicorn

Check out this recording of their Berlin Boiler Room session from earlier this year, things get pretty special at 22 minutes onwards…

Deadly Rhythm chat to James Holden from his Border Community

Our bi-monthly residents are back, this time extending a warm welcome to Border Community chief James Holden for an extensive 4-hour set. Having just released his new long player ‘The Inheritors’ to all round critical acclamation the D.R. hosts have timed James’ arrival more than a little perfectly and the all-night session seems a fitting way to let him flex his freshly worked out musical muscles.

Deadly Rhythm took 5 minutes to chat to James about his latest album, Label A & R, ‘Trance’ and live sets…

Your new album ‘The Inheritors’ has just dropped and it’s picking up some very positive feedback. Do you feel like it’s been a long journey to follow up your debut, in many other genres it feels like there’s pressure to come back quickly, but it seems like you’ve been able to take your time or is that a misconception?

It has been a long journey yeah, but looking back I probably wouldn’t change anything: I learned a lot in the intervening years. We’ve always strongly believed that you shouldn’t release records for the sake of it – take the time, make something that’s as good as it can be and in some way genuinely new otherwise don’t insult your fans (and the sanctity of music itself) by releasing something half-arsed. The music industry (broadly) disagrees with us on this.

Most people will probably be aware that your first releases were filed under ‘Trance’ and it’s something you’ve referred to as being ‘naïve’, but do you think the emotion and textures associated with the genre have stayed with you in some way?

Yeah totally – the execution was naive but what I was aiming for in 1999 is almost the same as what I aim for now: I’ve always loved mantric, repetitive but ever-changing music – from when I used to hammer out 3 chords for half an hour on the piano when I was a kid up to the present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZItq6bQiorU

You launched Border Community in 2003, what was the incentive for launching a label back then? Did you see it as a vehicle for change or something that would almost usher in a new era for you?

I just didn’t want to work with the rest of the music industry! I’d had a few bad experiences, knew I knew better than all the A&R dinks I’d met so far, and really wanted to help my friends avoid that sort of thing.

(This superlative review from RA of James’s debut release on his own imprint is exactly ten years old and one which set the benchmark very high for all future releases)

We’ve read about how the label consumed a lot of your time in the period following ‘The Idiots Are Winning’, do you ever feel that the strains of running a label might have drained you artistically?

Not really artistically – in fact my friends on BC have always been inspirational. Just time-wise, and emotionally it began to get a bit draining. Doing my LP has let us step back and see how we should approach it from now onwards though, so that’s a good thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1UGMoSpcNE

You’ll be playing Deadly Rhythm at the Sub Club this Friday for a full four hours. Do you often get the opportunity to play the entire night, Obviously it gives you more musical freedom, what can we expect in the early hours?

I’ve always enjoyed playing the early sets – slower, trippier etc. But making the effort to do a load of all-night sets at the (few) clubs around Europe I thought it could work in has been great. I can feel it changing me permanently as a dj, which is funny. Most of the music I really love is more early-hours than peak-time anyway, so you can expect to see me smiling a lot – whilst playing cosmic/kraut/pagan/synthwave/etc!

With ‘The Inheritors’ now finally out and a busy DJ schedule over the coming months, where do you think the next stage of the journey will take you, Have you considered producing a live show or anything along those lines?

I hadn’t thought about a live show seriously – half because I’ve worked so hard on being as good a dj as i can be, and half because I made the record on a bunch of unwieldy unreliable untransportable analogue equipment. But then Thom Yorke asked if I wanted to support Atoms For Peace in the states this autumn and I realised I was being stupid. I’m working on it at the moment: synths and drums wall of psych-noise. Tom Page from Rocketnumbernine is going to play drums – we worked together on the live show I did as part of the Barbican’s ‘Consciousness’ lecture and just get on really well musically – so I’m really excited to see where we can take it.

Check out this recording from Sonar Sao Paulo, things go wild from 30 mins onwards…

https://soundcloud.com/medellinstyle/jamesholdenlivesonar

£10 advanced tickets for Friday are on sale here.

words by Alex Caslano

DAFT PUNK – DA FUNK (CATZ ‘N’ DOGZ EDIT) GLASGOW EDITION

After their Subbie inaugural outing earlier this year, the Vicious Creatures crew of Forbes and AMAC return with Poland’s Catz n Dogz for what promises to be an electric summer party.

With just over a week left until Catz ‘N Dogz Sub Club extravaganza this intriguing music video has surfaced. The vivid showing pays tribute to the Polish duo’s recent edit of the classic Daft Punk track Da Funk and shows that Glasgow certainly can hold some ‘Big City Night.’ 

£5 Advance Tickets available here for next Thursday’s event still available from Resident Advisor.

John Talabot Focus

The sun never shines in the basement, a seasonless space in possession of it’s own (sub) tropical micro-climate and unique rhythms of light and dark. Mostly dark.

But as it’s summer, For this Saturday’s Subculture Harri and Domenic have turned their sights to sunny Spain, Barcelona to be exact, extending an invitation onto their underground island to John Talabot whose 2010 track ‘Sunshine’ put him firmly on their musical map.

Since his debut 12″ in 2009 on Permanent Vacation, John has had releases on his own imprint Hivern Discs, Young Turks and Permanent Vacation, in addition to becoming a highly in demand remix artist for the likes of The XX, Golden Filter, Shit Robot, Thaiti 80, Joakim or Teengirl Fantasy to name just a few. His debut album ‘fiN’ attained the proverbial rave revues and critically acclamation last year and rightly so, highlighting as it did a deeply shimmering Balearic sensibility among the beautiful heat-haze of darker pitch shifts and synths, loops and uplifts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMoC-sOqyw

Back in 2011 the Red Bull Music Academy got some Fireside Chat with the master of sun-drenched motorik disco…

https://vimeo.com/32363064#at=0

Have a read of John Talbot’s Guardian feature about the music, his hometown, and some economic issues affecting his countrymen.

And here is his Boiler Room mix from Miami earlier this year…

If you’re in need of escape, or are fresh from a day in the park, pack a bag and make your way to this Subculture party, we’ll see you as the light fades.

Grab yourself a £10 advance ticket for Subculture, as we are expecting this to be another busy summer jam down on Jamaica Street.

Full Sub Club crew are heading to the KILTR Street Festival beforehand. Check it out here…

Sensu Takeover Rinse FM 13/7/13

On Saturday 13th of July our Sensu residents Junior & Barry Price, descended onto Rinse FM headquarters and took over the station from midnight for two hours.

Junior is on the mix for the first hour, followed by Barry Price.
These two have been throwing regular Friday night parties for the last eight years, six of which have been at the Sub Club monthly in Glasgow and in one off locations throughout the city and beyond.

Sensu will be playing in the Sub Club alongside Mano le Tough from 11pm – 3am this Friday after their sold out Boat Party. Entry is £10 before Midnight. 

offKILTR Presents Glasgow Street Feastival

This weekend our good friends at KILTR are bringing some Carnival vibes to the city.

With the recent tropical weather and the current cult following of food enthusiasts keen to swap their conventional restaurant haunts for street cuisine there is already a massive buzz around what is shaping up to be a brilliant weekend.

The Scottish social media platform’s new events arm Off KILTR are hyped for pastures new as they invite you to join them this Saturday and Sunday for a celebration of food, music and culture. Located at the heard of the iconic Barras Market in the city’s Gallowagate district, the venue is the perfect setting for their inaugural outing.

Under the spectacular glass roof of the Art & Design Centre they have lined up a wide range of stalls hosted by a selection of Glasgow’s long time cookery experts along with a remarkable choice of some of the newest & coolest pop up cuisine crews that the city has to offer. To add to the feastivities the food vendors will be joined by a host of popular breweries and drink suppliers who will be on hand with cold beer and tropical cocktail drinks to cool you down.

To top it all off a variety of well-known and respected Dj’s including our very own Subculture resident Harri, will be providing the sounds and fiesta beats to soundtrack this summer soirée.

The food stalls will be offering the likes of:

• Renowned sea food delights from The Finnieston
• A flavor of Vietnam from the Hanoi Bike Shop
• A gourmet selection of Scottish favourites with Stavaigin
• Kimchi Cult, a London Based Korean-Style fast food
• Indian tastes from the Bombay Street Kitchen
• Some smoked serving from Smokey & the Bandit
• Authentic West Indian delicacies from the Fire in Babylon Roots Kitchen

The musical line up of suppliers providing the vibes live and direct from the carnival style street Soundsystem looks like this:

• Harri (Reggae Set)
• David Barbarossa
• Andrew Divine
• Pro Vinylist Karim
• Esa
• Ewan Chambers
• Andy from Racket Racket

In addition to that local designer Aimee Kent will have her pop-up eco-fashion lifestyle and clothing range on offer throughout the day.

Entry is free and the prices of the food and drink will reflect the ‘street festival vibe’ and community spirit ethos. Children are admitted accompanied by an adult until 10pm.

Keep an eye on over on KILTR  for additional information over the coming days.

Full Sub Club crew will be in attendance on Saturday ahead of Subculture with John Talabot later that evening.