In Conversation: Andy Vortex

1. How did you get all this started?  

Started DJing back in 1999/2000, as for production it has been on and off the last 3 years I would say. Production has a higher learning curve than DJing that’s for sure. But like all things, I believe if you put time into it, it will definitely be possible! Nothing is impossible! 

2. Where do you get your inspiration? 

Whether DJing / Production, I get most of my inspiration from listening to a lot of other music. Grime, Dubstep, UK Funky, hiphop, indie rock, metal, punk and hardcore etc. The beauty about Drum&Bass since I felt in love with it many years ago, is that it has always been able to take influences from outside of the scene or another genre, and made it uniquely d&b!   

3. What makes you wanna have your own label?  

A simple vision of pushing lesser known producers onto a global platform is what makes us do this. Plus I’ve always had the thought at the back of my head about doing a record label someday. Kiat asked me about it when I was back in Singapore around December 2008, and we thought why not! And here we are today, our 3rd release is out and many more to come!  

4. What tasty stuff that your label carries? Any links to those tasty stuff?  

We have basically producers from all over the world from Indonesia to Iceland, and of course Singapore. We recently released Izzak Stern’s debut EP, which has been one of the highlights of our label. It’s actually a non-drum&bass release as well, and we are really happy that it’s been getting rave reviews from a lot of press plus opening the ears of drum&bass heads. Check out our label website at http://www.qilinmusic.com for more info and how to buy the tracks. In March, you will also see 2 new singles dropping from Muted (Iceland) and Dakosa (UK), with some proper deep drum&bass tunes. 

5. Where do you hope to see in 5 yrs time? 

What if it don't turn out the way you want it, any alternative?  With the label, we hope we will be able to get our artists the exposure which they deserve. Both me and Kiat, basically only want to put out music we believe in. We have our next 3 releases (Qilin 04 – 06) scheduled for March and April, so watch out for them. Plus we have signed a lot of other tracks all waiting to be scheduled in!  We all have to take risks in life, so your question about ‘what if it don’t turn out the way you want it’ doesn’t bother us at all! If it did, we wouldn’t be here today doing what we do. In 5 years time, I personally hope that when someone sees Qilin Music, they will know they are getting quality music from us. That’s what we believe in and are working towards!  

6. Any tips and tricks for those who wanna step into the same path as you having label?  

Get a distributor, find your artists, and put the music out! Of course there are a lot of other small things in between all that like design, marketing, mastering, promotions etc. But that’s basically it! 

7. Any last words? And thanks? 

Big shouts to Kiat, Ken, Darren & all the dubwise fam, all the junglists in SG, all the old frontal boys, all my Drum&BassArena fam, Khal @ DogsOnAcid, all my friends worldwide from Asia to Europe (you know who you are), and generally just any opened-minded music lovers all around!  

And remember, there’s only GOOD or BAD music! 

DJ Set Recorded Live from D&BTV LIVE – Feb 2010 (http://www.breakbeat.co.uk)

Full set Mp3 download here!!!

Tyler Made - Feeling @ The Moment

Sorry guys for the super long delay, as I'm really packed over my side. Alright alright, here is a treat from me to you!

Introducing, Tyler Made, who has just created an incredible mash, electronic, dance, twisting and turning, wicked mix! I did asked for his profile, oh well, he is just way too shy and humble to share that much about himself. How about let his tune do the talking instead?

Special mention: Special thanks to Pop Trash for letting me do my mix at their studio.

Feeling @ The Moment

Aldrin - FEB 2010 LUSH

One of Asia's biggest DJ export to date, Aldrin has been championing his genre-bending sounds through his signature ONE nights at Zouk in Singapore, and guest spots all over the globe, including Pacha, Space & DC10 in Ibiza, Turnmills, The Cross and Ministry Of Sound in London, Cielo in New York, Womb in Tokyo, and Home in Sydney. In the studio, his releases have received support from big guns like John Digweed, Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Hernan Cattaneo, Dave Seaman, to name a few. His remix of "Love In New Wave" by Singapore rock band Electrico received massive airplay by Pete Tong on his BBC Radio One show.

ONE WITH MUSIC - Aldrin's very own digital imprint, is where he continues to showcase his musical output. The label is also a platform for the many talents in and around Asia! 8 releases on and the label has already seen support from the likes of Hernan, Laurent Garnier, Trentemoller, Stacey Pullen, DJ Chus, Peter Gelderblom and more! This, coupled with his Essential Mix set making him the only South East Asian to be on Pete's show, plus Danny Tenaglia And Marco Bailey both singling him out in the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll as a DJ to watch, Aldrin is clearly an international DJ/producer that Asia can call their very own.

ONE~DERLAND : ONE WITH ALDRIN 2009 SERIES OF PARTIES AT ZOUK - where it's all about the music and clubbers coming together to create a ONE-derland-esque vibe!

Check out the latest releases on ONE WITH MUSIC

FEB 2010 LUSH

Brendon P - 09/10 Tekk-Fix

How's your Chinese New Year celebration? Much of Ang Pows collection?

Hope yours are great. As the days go, some passion will just never fade.

My pal here, Brendon P delivered it again with this latest mix of his. I've enjoyed every bit of it and still, never get tired of it till my ipod has been set it to "repeat 01" to this particular mix.

For those had missed his profile,

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With a carreer that’s 3 decades young and still growing, Brendon P has a long history of Clubs and Music. Starting out in 1980 in the local mobile circuit, and moving on to Clubs a year later, a visit to New York in 1984, and clubs such as the Funhouse, the Paradise Garage, Dancetaria and Area weaned him into the New York club culture, and into the music that was to become the house music that we hear today.

Crossing vast musical backgrounds over his years as a DJ, both locally and internationally, he continued to acquire a keen ear and passion for dance music. Having recently completed a 8 year residency at the globally renowned, Zouk Club in Singapore, an album project in the works, coupled with numerous remixes and productions on labels like Reversoul (US) and One With Music (SG), and the forthcoming 'East Coast Spirits EP' on RAWJAK in Jan 2010, expect nothing less than a set that crosses vast musical boundaries, both past, present and future.

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Not forgetting his latest production - The East Coast Spirit EP [Rawjak]

09/10 Tekk-Fix

In Conversation: Vijay

In Conversation: Vijay, talking about himself & one of the remixes that he did.
Clash The Disko Kids & Ming - Midget Gems (The Vijay Remix)

How did you get yourself into this path?
In my teenage years i went through my phases, shoegazer indie rock and then hardcore punk, not forgetting some Milli Vanilli and New Kids on The Block in between. It was I think when I hit a certain dead end in the mid 90s after jamming with some hardcore punk bands that I discovered electronic music. What I found so refreshing about it, was the freedom. The endless posibilities of fusing different sounds and genres together. Anything and everything was possible. So i made a dash to buy my first 303 and locked myself in for months, ignoring phone calls from hot teenage girls who wanted to go out on dates with me.

After about two years of creating all sorts of things in that box, (back then I couldn't afford a computer and software) I put out my demos of some frenetic beats and such, you can hear it here www.myspace.com/ssleepss . Bear in mind this was all made on a drum machine , sequenced and everything, no visual representation , i had to just use my ears to trust the sound. Sometimes limitation has its benefits ,it sort of pushes you to your limits.

Then of course when I got my hands on a computer and some software, everything changed. I did a lot of beat heavy stuff , put out a couple more releases- www.myspace.com/throbsfromthechestcompilation , formed a band - www.myspace.com/phorousp and had a lot of fun along the way and of course everything was done DIY. Took a lot of time and sacrifice to produce, write and engineer the tracks and along the way had to reject hot girls who asked me out on dates because I had to finish a song.

In 2006 I released a track on Raw Fusion records in Sweden together with Spiritual South. A latin broken beat number called Hullabaloo. Suprisingly it did really well!

Where do you get your inspiration?
Inspiration really comes from love. "Nothing really matters , love is all we need" is what Madonna once said. I totally embrace that philosophy. I don't really care about anything else. In fact I don't really even care about music , love is all I care about , embodying and embracing it in whatever form, it might take in daily life.

Is there any tricks & tips for those who wanna head into production?
I'd say do something nobody else has done before . There's no point making beats or music like someone else.

Do your own thing, craft your own art-form. In fact if you can even try and make your own genre or do something nobody would. I made some crazy stuff in my time , listen to this - www.myspace.com/noartificialinstrumentsadded and this - www.myspace.com/invoice777 .

What do you hope for the best outcome?
I don't hope for anything because really nothing matters. Its more about the journey and not the destination.

Last words?
Listen, love , live and learn !

DJ Itchi - Unleash The Tiger!

Another veteran flagging Frontal flag on high is Jason aka DJ Itchi. Co-founder of Singapore's leading electronic dance music consortium, www.frontallabs.com and ex-member of Clash The Disko Kids.

With a DJ career which started back in 1999, DJ Itchi aka Jason Teo has graced the decks of numerous parties at some of the most prestigious clubs from Zouk Club, Centro 360, Liquid Room, Nox, Milk Bar, Insomnia Café, Dbl O, Home Club, Hacienda, Mimolette,Butter Factory to Cafe Del Mar and oversea gigs (toured as Clash The Disko Kids) armed with with an arsenal of tune with genres ranging from progressive house, electro, breaks and trance.

Not only is Itchi the JUICE Mag DJ Quest 2005 winner, he also went on later to impress the industry critics at the inaugural Pioneer Pro DJ Digital Battle competition held in Zouk Singapore and eventually became winning this competition. Representing the island at the Regional Finals held in Zouk KL later on, Itchi clinched the runner-up position. You can only expect a mural of sounds when Itchi goes behind the decks!

Unleash The Tiger!

DJ Kian.C - Trip On My Synthesizer Vol. 2

Influences from Underworld and Digital Witchcraft got into Kian. At the age of 15 and in the realm of electronic dance music, he has never once stopped his love for it.

In just one year, self taught Kian.C aka DJ Kian exploded into the scene with his unique and infectious blend of Uplifting House, Electro, Minimal Techno, Nu Disco to Techno. In 2008 during his first public appearance behind the deck, he had won himself as 2nd runner up in Pioneer DJ Battle. Further on, he battled out at the JUICE DJ Quest and won a spot in the finals alongside with established and more experienced professional alike.

His great passion for music had earned him again a final spot in 2009 JUICE DJ Quest, which ultimately placed him as first runner-up. His performance always fused with adrenaline and often set the crowd to take note of this new kid on the block, which later had earned him a first gig at Butter Factory’s “BitchFight” and later on in various infamous clubs like Zouk Club (KL), Zouk Club, Phuture (SG) Ministry of Sound (SG), Mimoletter and Zanetti.

With his constant effort and positive passion for music, Kian wants to continue to share his vision and influence his listeners with what he does best. Some of his late-night muses include Daft Punk, Boy Noize, Popof, Deadmau5, Laidback Luke, Paul Kalkbrenner, Calvin Harris and Justice. One should never be confined to a single genre, which Kian promises to surprise his audience with ultimate smash up and amalgamation of bleep and beep tunes.

With the supports of his peers and local professional alikes, he is now ever more determine and ready to take his blend of head-popping music to the dancefloor.

Trip On My Synthesizer Vol. 2

Pollux#13 - Somewhere Over The Rainbow Lies The Sound of Bass

Shahidil aka Pollux#13 expresses his love for electronic music through adopting the ideals of 'controllerism' with traktor pro, maschine, ableton and various controllers as his tools for his mix.

He finds alternative methods and workflows by pushing the limits through midi 'controllerism' to create unbiased awareness despite the usual usage of turntables and cdjs in this digital djing era.

In the past, Pollux#13 loves making hardcore/punk mixtapes but now that passion has takes flight into electronic music with various genres like electro/fidget/techno/minimal tech. Currently, he is leaning more towards mixing low frequency bass sounds of various dubstep sub genres and those really chaotic broken beats/jungle till whatever sounds he could use for his mixes and mash-ups.

If opportunity arise, he hopes to have a midi 'controllerism' live set and create more mash-ups, remixes and produce his very own tracks in the future. As for now, just enjoy the mix that was created straight out from Joo Seng district.

Facebook

http://soundcloud.com/pollux-13-1

http://soundcloud.com/pollux-13

Somewhere Over The Rainbow Lies The Sound of Bass

Henry Eff - Progressive / Trance Mix

Weeks ago, someone PM me and asked if he could get himself featured in iFM. I said to him, why not, since the window is open up to almost everyone. After hearing his mix, it was good. His transition from track to track was flawless for someone who labeled himself as bedroom DJ.

Henry Eff was introduce to the world of dj in early 2007 and was keen to learn more since then. His first was gig in Padang, West Sumatera for 2007-2008 count down party, he has spin in several clubs in Indonesia (Jakarta, Padang, Surabaya, Batam, etc.) and had played twice as a guest dj in social house (Singapore).

Currently he’s still looking forward to perform more in Singapore’s Club and making new friends who share the same passion as him!

www.facebook.com/henry.eff

www.twitter.com/henryeff

Progressive / Trance Mix

In Conversation: Brendon P.

In Conversation: Brendon P. talking about his latest production - The East Coast Spirit EP [Rawjak].

So where on earth do you get your inspiration from?

- I usually just have an idea and then just get started on the drums. The bass-line is always kind of humming in my head so that generally gets laid down next, and then I just flow from there. There's no real inspiration or template that I go with, just an idea that creeps in there when I'm in the weirdest of places.

Normally NEVER in a club. And the end result normally also doesn't quite turn out the way I envisioned it to be initially. Most of the time it's better, some of the time I just get lost and trash the whole thing and start again another day.

Since when did you start working on your production?

- I have been working on an album project since November last year actually and have about 6 to 7 more or less finished tracks done already. They're quite varied and don't really just conform to one specific genre or style. I'm even working on a drum and bass one at the moment. I've always loved drum and bass, didn't really get the whole dubstep thing, but drum and bass and I share a secret love to some extent.

I've also been sending a few more tracks out to other international labels as well, so I hope something positive comes from that soon. Funnily enough, this is the first EP I've had out on my own and I'm quite glad and thankful that Has hit me up on wanting to release this one.

Before this I'd done two remixes for DjB's "Incheon" and "The Urban Word"; both released on John Julius Knight's US based label Reversoul Music. I was quite chuffed when Byden (DjB) chose to use my remix on the Defected ITH Zoukout 10 mix CD, but it was working well on the Zouk main floor for most of the residents sets so, I suppose it was an obvious choice (LOL).

And it got me on the "Defected" roll-call in a way, so I'm really happy about that. So yeah, I reckon there'll be more stuff out during the course of the year. I've also done two remixes for a Pasadena based Singapore singer/songwriter named Geraldine Png who's a great songwriter, and it was a challenge to work with vocals and take her music into a new perspective. She's been happy with the results thus far and I may just creep up and choose one more of her tunes to re-interpret. They're available for free download so go look them up sometime.

Great! Before we end our conversation, any last words?

- As for props and thank you notes, I guess first and foremost, I'll thank God for blessing me with this ability and my folks for allowing me to make this my career from a very young age (and bearing with the extreme decibel levels throughout my early practice and mix tape runs back then).

And all the true friends, old colleagues and people that kept me in their care and support all through the years and continue to do so. And the new one's I've met and made recently along the way too.

Coolios bro, I wish you all the best to where you are heading and it shall be good!

To all cool heads out there, show your love and support for my bro here.

The East Coast Spirit EP

Shlalom. Itchi.