Every now and again we call up a DJ and ask them a massive question…
If you could work with any artist, producer, composer or band from any period in history, who would it be?
It’s an impossible question… Especially if the artists picks someone like Beethoven. It’s just never going to happen. But it does shed an interesting light on who influences the artist, and why they like the music they like.
This week we’ve asked Escher. Usually found lurking in the studio with Blocks, he’s more than au fait with collaborative duties. He’s also just about to release his first solo single on his and Block’s label Narratives. Clearly influenced by the icy Metalheadz sound, both Rugged and Late Snare are picking up some serious heat.
“They are both very dark and gritty tunes, which show a classic side to drum and bass that’s not represented much at the moment,” he tells us. “I was initially anxious to how they would be received, because compared to modern tunes they are dusty sounding. I mean, that was the whole idea behind them, to bring some of that rawness back, but you never know how things are going to be interpreted. To have the positive responses I’ve been getting has been incredible for me.
Both cuts need serious attention, let’s have a buzz on Late Snare…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-e8MLZjS9k
Back to collabo business and Escher has a solid theory that’s impossible to argue with…
“For me it’s to have styles that complement each others,” he says. “I’ve said it before but the collabs that Blocks and me do have never felt like a compromise for either of us. That’s a very important part of it for me. Having a similar overall outlook is helpful, but having different styles that will add some extra dimensions to each other’s work, and not cancel them out is what makes collaboration work well.”
Perfect. But the big question is WHO would he work with if Blocks didn’t answer his calls?
Orbital
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUCarkZNwZw
“Their music has been a big part of my life growing up. They are completely original. I just love the texture of sounds they use and the incredibly progressive arrangements, and just to be able to see how they worked would be a huge inspiration for me. The album ‘In-Sides’ is a favourite, a perfect journey into their sound, which has to be listened to as one piece to be fully appreciated. A proper album. This made picking just one track of it extremely difficult.”
RZA
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ANYwM0RO9I
“Second would be RZA, so many incredible tracks. The way his tunes they are so simple. Off key, emotional, but still raw. That drum machine approach to making music, quick ideas, simple, no over production, just vibes and groove… It’s exactly what I love about it all. A collaboration with him really would be eye opening, although I think he would have probably finished 10 track before I turned on a drum machine.”
Led Zeppelin
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auDv6cf2PBM
“The final choice has to be Led Zeppelin. A huge inspiration to me for many years. Rugged and raw music, with a strong blues and folk influence, that balance works so well for me. Again, as with Orbital, their albums feel so well molded and connected, but still full of contrast with such interesting rhythms and progressions, a real journey. I would have loved to have seen how they all worked together.”