Artificial Intelligence are behind a special compilation, all about their imprint, Integral. And to celebrate, there’s a free download of ‘The Jam’ by Survival.
And Integral? Simply put: read on. If you don’t know Integral you’re gonna get hurt, and if you’re a little hazy on your ‘recent past’ history of D&B or have lapsed a bit… you’re gonna get hurt! ‘Rufusal’? Anyone?
Tell us the lowdown on Integral and this project Glenn?
Finally – after may years! – we’re ready to release our Integral Select compilation album. We’ve been talking about doing it for years so we’re excited it’s finally going to see the light of day!
We’ve had to make quite a few phone calls to the artists representing the back cat to make this happen and everyone was more then happy to get involved. We’ve got some cool, new original tracks and remix features from the likes of Alix Perez, Calibre, Lomax, Lenzman, Technimatic & LSB, Scar, Survival, Phil Tangent, Command Strange… and a remix contribution from us as well.
Regarding Integral’s taste, it’s STYLE… you guys were very much ahead I feel.
We’re excited to see seven years on that the label’s played a big part in breaking artists such as Lomax, Alix Perez, Lenzman, Zero T & Steo, Technimatic – all who had big releases with us before signing their respective deals, leaving us with a priceless back cat to be proud of. We’re still very much looking to showcase quality new talent coming through and so we’re excited to have picked up some amazing tracks from Phil Tangent, LSB, Command Strange and Scar who we think are the ones to watch.
Steo came in to the scene very strongly with THAT voice…
We first picked up on Steo many years back when we signed Refusal from Cian (Zero T). We were eager to track him down after this and Cian eventually introduced us. Since then we have worked on a number of projects together with more coming together for later this year.
We really think he is the full package to go all the way – we sometimes refer to him as the Irish Justin Timberlake! He has the look, charisma and most importantly, special voice. We can always rely on him to come with the killer hook, which gets us every time.
Tell us about the Survival track and the link to Integral?
Back in the day Survival gave us this track called ‘The Jam’ and at the time we only had our own imprint for AI – ‘Widescreen Recordings’. So many producers who were also friends around us were playing us amazing music and we had to do something about it – hence Integral was born.
Just recently, Steve Survival finished a killer VIP of ‘The Jam’ for us, and we thought that it would be nice to give this one away as we want to take the fans and listeners back and give them a slice of our history.
We’ve already got many of the scene leaders biting our hand on this one – however they will also have to wait for this free download!
You’re still committed to vinyl?
We’re still very much about vinyl releases. We’re going to do something pretty special for the follow-up album 12, which will be limited to vinyl production only.
To break it down: the majority of Integral tracks will always see the light of day on vinyl as well. The Integral Select project will have four plates – an album sampler 12, a collector’s double pack – which will come packaged with a bonus copy of the CD version of the album – followed by a final, limited 12.
Pick a few gems from the past on Integral people should hunt down?
Trying not to choose the obvious…
D Kay ‘Thinner Edge’
Calibre Feat. DRS ‘Be There’
Alix Perez & Zero T ‘Dangerous Liaisons’
Some of the classics…
Zero T Feat. Steo ‘Refusal’ (Original & Calibre Remix)
Technimatic & LSB ‘Rotary Motion’
Lenzman & Redeyes ‘Thieves In The Night’.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZkaGWAeCxc
And what’s new with the AI in general?
We’ve never actually released one of our own on Integral, but we wanted to do something special, so the album release schedule is going to be kicking off with a remix from us, of Lenzman’s ‘Ever So Slightly’. We wanted to go back in on our deeper vibes that we really love and the feedback so far has been wicked.
Our last release was an EP on Shogun Audio towards the end of last year, however we have been working hard in the studio and now have plenty lined up for 2014, including 2 x 12’s on Metalheadz followed by a five track AI EP on Metalheadz, as well as various remixes and interesting collaborations in the making.
… and the Xtra Talent on radio? What’s this all about, for people new to it?
It was great to be given the opportunity to have the weekly Radio 1xtra talent slot which we should hopefully pick up again this Autumn. We enjoyed the banter between us and having a chance to support the crates full of amazing talent around us.
On the live front, I can recall driving away from The End after another big night and see you guys leaving in the light of dawn, so where can we find you guys out in spots, checking out the music?
Those were the days! It’s a shame that there isn’t a solid regular spot these days in London, however you can spot us now and then at some of the special one-off label nights.
Can’t let you go without asking about Dillirious…
We both grew up on Dillinja’s sounds – and still must have one sometimes even two copies bought at the time of nearly every early record he released. This inspired us to write Dillirious which dropped on Headz last year.
We had to run this past the man himself – Dillinja himself was quick to come back and loved the idea. Look out for part 2 dropping this Summer.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_uPulrsiTg
Lastly I know you love your beats G so what hip hop or non-D&B are you checking?
I’m often still taking a walk down memory lane and catching most of the classic 90’s hip hop guys when they are here in London. Just picked up my ticket for Masta Ace at the Jazz Café. Also digging a lot of the new wave of house, for example AUS, Hyper Colour and more.
DOWNLOAD SURVIVAL – THE JAM (2014 VIP) NOW!
