Roll up, roll up! It’s the final festive showdown here at Drum&BassArenaBlog as we wrap up the final working week with THREE exclusive DJ mixes. Today and tomorrow is it’s free mix central as we try our best to distract you from the rigmarole of Christmas shopping.
We’ve got two today. And it all starts with Aussie bass addict Zanetic. A mainstay on Bristol’s ever-on-point Screwloose imprint, he’s usually found lurking round the lower tempos but this month he’s teamed up with MC Texas for his first ever D&B cut Symmetry. For a debut drum & bass track, he’s not only nailed it, but commissioned a paranoid video to complement it, too. We thought we’d send him some questions and blag a bass-bursting mix off him. Read on to find out more…
Please introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us what you’re all about!
“Hey guys, my name is Justin Zanetic and I produce under the well thought out pseudonym of ‘Zanetic’, real creative right? I make tunes that have bass and drums and synths and bits that go eeeyoowwwwomp.”
How’s the Aussie drum & bass scene looking right now? Custom dictates you guys steal all our best DJs for the winter this time of year…
“I’ve grown up in Perth and drum and bass has always been pretty big here, producing some successful international producers that I’m sure everybody knows, as well as having a really solid local scene for the size of our city. With the whole ‘EDM’ boom it’s become a lot more common to hear drum and bass at big festivals and on radio as well, which is probably the same as a lot of places at the moment, which is only good I guess.
And yes, summertime down here brings out the big guns. Some of my best memories are of seeing Andy C smash it up each Australia Day in a packed 35 degree club, not to mention the insane line-ups we get here around New Year’s Eve which we really have no right in getting given how far we are from everywhere.”
Now then, Symmetry. Am I right in thinking it’s your first D&B tune?
“Yeah it was the first drum and bass tune I’d actually finished, I’ve spent a lot of time before that making music at 140 and 100BPM. And although I like listening to and making a wide variety of music, when I’m out at a club and I’ve had a couple of drinks, drum and bass is really what makes me do stupid shit on the dance floor! Even when making music at other tempos I’m influenced largely by the sounds of drum and bass, which I think is pretty clear on the other tracks on the Symmetry EP. So I’m currently exploring the 170BPM path for a little while and Symmetry was step one.”
How did you hook up with MC Texas?
“Pretty simple really, I told Ross at Screwloose I wanted an MC on the tune, someone who was tasteful, and Ross said he knew just the guy – next thing I knew Texas had laid down some bars over the top. I’ve still never actually spoken to Texas apart from Twitter – it seems ludicrous that you can make music with somebody you’ve never met on the other side of the world and be on the same page but I guess that’s the wonders of the internet hey?”
Did you play a part in the lyrical side of things, perhaps in terms of inspiration or theme, or did you give him a blank canvas?
“No I wanted to make sure initially that his lyrics came to him organically from the music, not from any preconceptions I may have given him. I’d already named the track, which I think was enough for him to play off, and I’m happy with how it turned out. If he’d come back with lyrics about rolling with bitches in his Bentley or something I may have had to provide some guidance haha!”
And I’m guessing the video was, in turn, inspired by the lyrics, right?
“Yeah the video concept was quite simple – keep it dark and dreamy and a little disorientating. Murray, the video director, did a good job of portraying that.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxQVT72Fn2Y&feature=youtu.be
It’s a paranoid video… Are you a paranoid man?
“Who told you to ask me that, was it the Illuminati?
I need a bit of closure after watching it, to be honest… What happens next?
“Not sure I really want to know to be honest, I’ve already heard some fairly disturbing theories on what would happen next haha!”
Moving on, big ups on the mix! Please run us through it….
“Yeah I just pulled together some drum and bass tunes from around the last year or so that I’ve been feeling, including a few tunes of my own for people to get their ears around. Bit of a mix of different vibes in there I think finishing off with a bit of mid-tempo glitch hop business at the end. The glitch hop stuff I make tends to very heavily influenced by drum and bass anyway so I think it fits right in.”
And moving on again – what’s your future release plans?
“Well the Symmetry EP should be out by the time you’re reading this and I’m currently working on a bunch of more music, as well as some collabs with the Frenchmen in Flatmate. I’ve had some interest from some labels about future releases so it’s all looking pretty exciting at the moment.”
Anything else you care to tell Drum&BassArena fans right now?
“If you’re still reading this far then you should probably go check out my Symmetry EP on Screwloose Records. Buying it will make you 3% more attractive to the opposite sex.”
Download Zanetic’s exclusive Drumandbassarenablog mix here!
Tracklist:
Zanetic – Symmetry
Zanetic – Symmetry (Loko Remix)
Metrik – Drift
Calyx and Teebee – Skank
??? – ???
Maztek – Twang
Zanetic – New Year
Mutated Forms – Wastegash
Metrik – T-2000
Emperor – Smokescreen
—> TNGHT – Higher Ground
DRS – Bun Ya
Reso – Check 1,2 (Emperor Remix)
Reso – Check 1,2
Zanetic – Night Or Day