Eclectic Minds: a chance for non D&B related artists to big up their favourite bangers from our scene.
This week we’re chatting to Hervé, a man who’s no stranger to bass and always tries to dedicate a section of his live shows to the 170 territory.
“I’ve always been a fan,” he grins. “Right from hardcore to jungle to the present day. There’s always a good element of it in my sets.”
You can hear that for yourself right here, on his recent Ghetto Bass promo mix which you can download right here.
Celebrating all that’s loud and noisy, Hervé’s usual sub-frequencies and saw-toothed sine waves are more commonly found at the 130-140 mark, swaggering between electro, bass-ravaged house and dubstep. Whether it’s via his extensive work as Hervé, The Count, Speaker Junk, Voodoo Chilli, Action Man or his wide-eared collaboration project Machines Don’t Care, his full-frontal sonic dexterity is delivered with extreme party-minded consistency. And you’re about to hear a whole lot more via his debut album this summer, Pick Me Up, Sort Me Out, Calm Me Down.
“I’m very excited to have my first solo album out. It’s been long overdue!,” he admits. “The other stuff was either under different names of collaborations. This is my first proper debut LP. I thought I’d stored up enough energy to do it in a few months. But you know these things… they always take longer! Any pressure? In one sense it’s quite easy, because it’s just me being me, but I’m always keen to progress and never want to be responsible for a generic electro house or generic dubstep album. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I could do the best possible.”
He also put a fair bit of pressure on himself to pick the ultimate three D&B tunes. From old school to exceedingly new via a cracking nugget from Moving Shadow’s vaults. Enjoy…
Ganja Kru – Super Sharp Shooter
Listen & Download
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epEbVj2FiGQ&feature=fvst
“This has been a favourite forever! It’s so explosive, the bass is wild and that cheeky vocal sample works so well. It elevated jump up to another level. I remember at the time jump up got a fair bit of heat for apparently being moronic but it always lived up its name – you can’t argue with that! When this came along it was really proper next level.”
JMJ & Richie – Free La Funk [PFM remix]
Listen & Download (original mix)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mv4B5xB-gY
“This is a lovely piece of music! I’ve still got the 10” somewhere. I’m not normally into eight minute tracks. I think that’s a bit overindulgent. But back then that’s what people were doing and the dancefloor was prepared to invest in a track for that amount of time. Plus there’s just so much to it and I think it still sounds amazing today.”
Rudimental – Feel The Love
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oABEGc8Dus0
“The last two tracks have been pretty old school so I’m jumping right up to date with this one. I love this track; it’s a great mixture of danceability and music. It’s a very hard line; keeping it melodic and musically rich but still have that proper rocking power. I’d like to work with Rudimental. I haven’t been feeling house music for a while but their Spoons track was a really cool record. Then I hear this, a banging drum & bass track. I’d love to do something with them. I really identify with that type of behaviour. If they’re into what I do then great, I’d love to work with them. If not, then I’m fucked!”