Ladies and gentlemen, we give you our quote of the week…
“If we make a tune, it would sound like the cannibals with the nose rings dancing around the cooker.”
Welcome to the crazy world of Italian producer Dabs. Here’s the tune in question…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkymjHWieNw
Close your eyes and you can almost smell the cannibals’ broth. Kinda.
In the interest of balance we thought we’d try and catch a glimpse of Dabs more uplifting side in the form of a Positive Vibes session. We sent him some questions too. This is how it went down…
Skull and bones eh? What’s your pirate name?
I guess Hannibal Lektah!
Nice one Hannibal. Awesome tune, too. Can you run us behind any inspirations?
Last summer Me and Kwality were walking on San Teodoro’s streets. Sunandbass time. We were wondering about writing a tune together. We decided if we make a tune, it would sound like the cannibals with the nose rings dancing around the cooker. We had so much fun singing and freaking around that concept and a year later we finally we got the chance to sit my studio. We had exactly the idea of the direction. When it goes like that, the creation process is fast. A couple of sessions and all the vocal text and recording was done. Another week of editing and arrangement and it was finished. It demonstrates how important it is to work with a defined concept in mind. That makes the difference.
Let’s talk about Hourglass… Serious summer tune! Was it written with the summer in mind?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJfvKz7nbq0
Hourglass is probably the deepest tune I’ve ever written. Just wanted to evoke some old electronic vibes but with some sort of organic touch. The yylo sound did that job actually, and those notes represent my internal feelings of that frame of time. There wasn’t any other external ideas that influenced me. But re-listening now, I can say it could work well in a summer night, yes.
Who’s the vocalist?
Mortem provided the vocal lines, he thought they add a perfect enrichment to the tune and he was right! They talk about the time, when it’s sooner or later to do something. Just like an hourglass turning upside down in a long circle. That’s the feel.
How did you and Mortem hook up?
Big big respect of each other’s music is what brought us to collaborate. I liked his previous tunes a lot, he’s got the right balance of groove and darkness, just what I like most! So when I contacted him to swap tunes, all happened naturally.
Did you work together in the studio or was this done the classic online way?
The classic online way. I reckon that is necessary most of the time. Not just for a logistic reason but also it takes advantages of each producer having their own means at 100 per cent capacity while working on something that already got potential. So the result can’t be wrong most of time, it’s mathematics!
What’s coming up next?
I got co-labs with Need for Mirrors, Arp Xp and Mortem in the works. Plus some VIP and solo tracks action in the pipeline. Summer means plenty of outside life… Not much studio time at the moment, I’m just collecting heaps of ideas to smash the bars again!
What do you do when you’re not cooking up lovely beats?
I’m probably cooking some fine Italian dinner for my lady or friends. I love to do that! Or I’m riding my motorbike beach-bound.
Okay, so this feature is called Positive Vibes…. Tunes that make you happy no matter how pissed off you are. What essential ingredients does a Positive Vibes track have to have?
It’s subjective. It has to ring some bells in your musical memory. Everyone’s got one, it’s a kind of hard-drive that stores the hooks of the music your mind loves, and that feeds your feelings. In particular for drum and bass, it must have some new and unexplored combinations, ingredients that mark a line between old and new, between commercial and deep, between dancefloor silly music and conceptual introspective music. But positiveness is subjective as well, so it’s a long discussion…
Please give me 3 Positive Vibes tracks that instantly make Dabs a happy man…
Cypress Hill – Tequila Sunrise
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPTarwwaksA
Latin vibes always make me happy, I guess it’s because of my origins. This one broke out as a stone when I was a kid and hip-hop addict. I was impressed on the production side a lot on this, different from the usual harcore or dark vibe I used to hear, it tinged my days with sunshine!
Tube & Berger – Imprints of Pleasure
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBj5l-IHEko
I was in the car listening the radio and this one came in. Usually I’m not much into progressive house but this one is pure positive vibe, I love that guitar riff and arpeggios. Summertime in full effect!
Spectrasoul – Peninsula
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8_zrPQFKHQ
This one is just sublime to me. Pure freedom translated in music. No other words needed!
