M&A #05: Laksh
Laksh is everywhere at the moment. If you didn’t catch his
storming set in the early hours of last term’s ARCSOC Cabaret, then you may
have seen him warming up at Slipped Disc or Urban Bass. However, he’s not only
good at spinning records but making them too, releasing his debut single
‘Prefer To Stay’ on Dancers End Records last September. His Instagram story is
awash with clips of his creations, which we hope we’ll be able to hear soon.
Here, Laksh takes us through an almost trance-like hour of music from his liquid
DnB vinyl collection.
How did you record
the mix?
I recorded it on a pair of Technics turntables and Allen
& Heath Xone23 mixer.
What were you trying
to do with the mix?
I love collecting quite ambient drum and bass and jungle. I
was trying to go for a mix that included a lot of tunes you would rarely hear
on a DnB, or even liquid DnB night (maybe because of their structure, or
intricate elements).
Drum & Bass is
hugely popular in the UK, particularly at universities. What do you think of
the DnB scene in Cambridge? How has it evolved while you’ve been here?
In my first year there was Warning and Hospitality which put
on events at the Junction. They are really good fun and I’d definitely
recommend going if you haven’t. Warning has been going since the 90s jungle
days so it definitely has a culture. Hospitality put on one event a year at the
Junction and normally bring in a very good lineup so it is definitely something
to look out for.
One thing that is a bit of a shame is the lack of female DJs
and producers in DnB (it is still an issue in other genres, but DnB suffers
maybe the most), and I hope that in the times to come, big labels like Hospital
try to spend more effort seeking out female talent.
In my second year, Urban Bass started and in my opinion this
has given the DnB and Bass scene a lot more exposure to Cambridge students
(most have never been to Warning or Hospitality). The acts they normally book
are of great calibre and I’d recommend going to one if you haven’t.
Finally, the most recent change in the scene is the restart
of Spoonfed, which was apparently quite a popular night years ago. To be honest
I’ve probably enjoyed Spoonfed nights the most since it fits my taste of
minimal DnB well.
You have played at
both bass and house/techno nights. They can often seem quite separated whether
that between social circles or even just in a set, mixing the tempos is hard.
Do you look for something different in a DnB track versus a techno/house tune?
Why do you think this difference arises?
I have discussed this a lot with one of my close home
friends. We think the change in tempo can often be quite jarring for us (even
though we love both genres). The energy of the two genres can be very different
too: on average, DnB is a lot more energetic and this adds to the complications
of blending the two. Having said this, more and more people are dropping in
jungle and DnB tracks during house and techno sets and I praise them for doing
so.
I think there can be a lot of judgement from groups who
might listen to just one genre.
Anyone that follows
you on Instagram will know you produce a lot of music yourself. When did you
start that and what route has it taken so far?
I started producing about a year and a half ago. It is
possibly the most enjoyable thing ever (for me). I find it a great way to
unleash my creativity. For people who love music and have given thought to it,
I really recommend it: there is free software out there and a wealth of
knowledge on YouTube to get you started. All you really need is a laptop and
headphones.
Production is definitely a rabbit hole and I would say I got
sucked into it. You might start producing and the next thing you know, the
entire day has passed! In that way, I guess it’s a great way to kill time, but
maybe not such a good idea to start a tune when close to exams.
Last summer I was record shopping at my local shop and came
across a brilliant record from Elkie Brooks. One of the songs had just singing
on it and I ended up sampling that. The sample was so good that the entire song
pretty much wrote itself in two days. That ended up being the first record I
released on a label (Dancers End Records, shouts to Clay for believing in me).
You can check it out here: https://bit.ly/2VkHkQn
Do you have any plans
for where it will go in future?
I love producing but obviously trying to break into the
dance music industry is very difficult. I’m going to keep it as my very
passionate hobby for the foreseeable future. I recently saw a Facebook comment
in which a fairly big DnB producer (Serum) talked about his story. He was
making tunes that all the big DJs would play out back in 2008. However, he
still had to keep a full-time job until 2017 when he finally could earn his
living completely from music. So, it’s not what it might seem for many DJs.
Most may have a part or full-time job. From what I’ve gathered off other
peoples’ experiences: if you love it and stick at it, eventually something will
happen.
How/when did you get
into DJing originally?
I bought a second-hand controller for £30 and made a liquid
DnB mix. I sent that to my college Bop organisers, and they gave me a set at my
Bop. It all went uphill from there.
What is your musical
guilty pleasure?
Metro Boomin (although can argue that it’s not really a
‘guilty’ pleasure – his productions really aren’t cheesy in my opinion).
What is the last song
you listened to?
Efdemin – New Atlantis (off his most recent album New
Atlantis)
Who is your favourite
producer/performer at the moment?
I am really loving Jensen Interceptor’s productions at the
moment. His output is insane and his sound design is wicked. He’s really
pushing the electro sound forward. I would love to see him live at some point –
he recently moved to Berlin so hopefully he’ll play in the UK soon.
What is your go to
tune to bring a party up/banger?
I do like to play a lot of deep stuff but if a party is
dwindling in energy then Maceo Plex – Conjure Balearia is always a great one to
play. It always perks people up whenever I play it.
What was the best
party you’ve played?
It probably has to be a party I did in Oxford last summer.
It wasn’t very busy and by the end there were only a couple left. However, one
of the people seemed to know a lot about music and went crazy when I played
more obscure tracks. We had a synergy and I kept on playing more and more
underground stuff. We bonded over tracks that don’t played out a lot but are
still very good (and in many ways to me preferable over the more popular
tracks).
What have you got
planned for the future?
I’m playing at Queue the Music on Tuesday (might be past
this time when uploaded) and Slipped Disc in June.
Naibu - Red Hand
Seba - Interstate
Tokyo Prose - Innate Motion
LBS - Roots
Satl - Dreamworld
Marcus Intalex - Deep Stepper
Nitri & Level 2 feat. Grimm - Lies (Calibre remix)
Satl - Rattler FD - Into You
Redeyes - We Were Kings
Naibu - Achille
Spectrasoul - Burst (Calibre remix)
Satl - Everything Anything
Zero T & Steo - Refusal (Calibre remix)
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