Eclectic Minds: A chance for non D&B artists to share their love for our scene and explain how it’s influenced them.
Today’s non D&B making D&B lover is Foamo.
Known as one half of the white hot Gorgon City with Rack N’ Ruin, and famed for his energetic explorations in the wide world of sub-low savaged house music. His releases are often found on massive labels such as Skint, Moda and Fat! and can you can spot his bass-bitten influences a mile off… It seems the man’s been a card carrying D&B fan since the age of 13 when a friend’s cousin did the honourable thing and passed him a One Nation tape pack in the school yard.
“Oh yeah, drum & bass and jungle was the main thing that got me into electronic music!” explains Foamo, also known as Kye. “It was the only thing I listened to for years, I played D&B at under age gigs for a long, long time. The earliest tracks I made were drum & bass… I even used to go on Drum&BassArena forum for a long time.”
From tape packs to pirate radio attacks, Foamo cut his teeth on D&B and is still inspired by the older stuff to this day… Even to the point of incorporating certain aspects of it in his studio work.
“I’ve been playing around with classic elements of D&B in my own productions,” he admits. “I want to bring back the old breaks and bass sounds that I first fell in love with; synth noises and those classic breaks. Would I ever go as far as making a D&B track? Part of me thinks I’d leave it to the experts, I’m not sure I could match the quality of their productions!”
Foamo’s Essential D&B Inspirations:
Roni Size – Watching Windows [Ed Rush & Optical Remix]
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKVtNoskULc
“I first heard this on a Micky Finn mix from a One Nation tape pack. It was one of the very tunes that really made me think ‘wow!’ The whole tape pack was pretty influential for me; it was darker than most Micky Finn sets. Moose and Five-Oh have such a distinctive delivery. This was a real stand out.”
Scorpio – Li Li
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a1AJ8YdgbI
“Another classic from back in the day, I just loved the bounciness and fun factor of this. You just want to bounce to it! I remember this was a massive tune on all old tape packs I had, you could hear it being mixed in straight away – the fun factor of it stood out a mile.”
Bad Company – Thin Air
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf0aZ3a3Toc
“I remember hearing these guys for the first time around 2000. I remember their bass noises had such a refreshing air to them, they were unlike anything I’d heard before. This particular track was a massive stand out for me; it’s a roller but it’s got this really dark presence about it. It still sounds incredible to this day.”