M&A #16: Ertug

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As the end of May week arrives, and the warm weather FINALLY returns, let Cambridge’s resident DJ beef-cake, Ertug Aytug, take you through some of his old favourites and new finds for one of the last mixes of the year. 

Ertug is almost part of the Fez/Ballare furniture, having been involved with ARCSOC, QTM, Third Space and Avant Gardening this year, while being involved with Homerton's Modern Music Society too. A self-proclaimed music obsessive, he’s been known to deliver obscure tunes from familiar themes as he takes a crowd through his collection. Here, his selections take inspiration from Malian folk, 90s Manchester and late 80s Cleveland to deliver a groovy mix to bring in the summer.

How did you record the mix?

I recorded the mix using my first and only controller, the Pioneer DDJ-SB2 and Serato DJ’s recording function as I have done with all mixes I’ve recorded.

What were you trying to do with it?

Well by the time I actually got to sit down and record this mix I had finished my coursework for the year and it had been a while since I had done anything remotely DJing related so I thought this mix would be a little mess around with some of my all-time favourite tunes and some completely new ones I had been waiting to play around with.

How do you find new music? Do you have a specific process?

I listen to a lot of live sets, these days I normally settle down to a new boiler room/mixmag etc. set every time I feel like properly listening to music. Because I sadly do not possess the ability to work while listening to tunes, when I do end up listening to music, I usually am doing just that so I tend to focus more on the track itself/have time to shazam it or look into it. I also end up walking A LOT so end up listening to music quite a lot on the go on a daily basis. Going out to all these events help too. And then there’s also Spotify discover weekly and release radar…

Basically, I feel like when you are exposed to new tracks on a daily basis you don’t need to ALWAYS actively put in effort to find good music. Sometimes if you’re in the right place at the right time that’s more than enough.

A few of the tracks you’ve included feature samples from West Africa as their central element, would you say you look out for tunes with this kind of sound? Or does it just come under good tracks with a nice groove tending to be what you play out?

I have definitely searched for tracks of West African origin in the past before. I feel like I really like the heavy usage of drums these tracks usually feature as they make for quite high-energy upbeat tunes that I like to keep my mixes filled with. They are each often quite unique as well, which helps me bring some personality and variety to the set. I think I initially got into this style as most of my favourite DJs such as Dan Shake and Ben UFO regularly use similar tracks in their sets and through their influence, I got to discover more West African inspired music.

How did you first get into DJing?

I really started getting into tech house and disco house at the start of 2^nd year and began to listen to these genres more and more. When I transitioned from listening to songs on their own to watching recordings of live sets that’s when I realised that it could be fun to learn how to mix as to me it came as the next step forward with being a music obsessive.

You’ve been pretty active in Cambridge nightlife, both promoting and playing. Would you say you’ve noticed anything change in the scene over your time here?

Definitely. While I can only speak for my time here so far and what I’ve heard about Cambridge nightlife from those who were here before me, the variety of nights and genres of music that Cambridge nightlife showcases has undoubtedly increased. The Cindies-Life monopoly that once was the face of the nightlife scene has definitely taken a step back and the centre of gravity of nightlife here has definitely shifted. We now have bassline, DnB, dub and even gabber here and all for the better as there are definitely a sizeable proportion of Cantabs that do like these underrepresented genres. Even people who don’t are more down to go to new nights and even though they might not walk out at the end of like Urban Bass and immediately book tickets to boomtown, they can still enjoy themselves.

A massive shout-out has to be given for student run nights like Target events or Avant Gardening etc. Taking the risk and putting on something never done here before is no easy feat yet now thanks to them the nightlife scene has been bolstered with variety and freshness like never before. Nightlife here will never be as great or even get close to being as good as somewhere like Bristol but over the last 3 years I’ve been here things are definitely looking much better and there seems to be a brand-new night on every week.

Do you think you’ll keep this involvement in dance music up after you leave the student scene?

I definitely hope so in one way or another. I took up mixing to partly learn a new skill at uni and I hope to keep practicing and mixing and playing live for the foreseeable future. While it will definitely be exponentially more difficult to get the same number of bookings back home in London, I’m just gonna have to bite the bullet, do some digging around and just do as much as I can.

What is your musical guilty pleasure?

The La La Land Soundtrack. That stuff is violently addictive.

What is the last song you listened to?

Javelin (Calling out your name) – Adelphi music factory

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

Hammer, his tech house stuff alone makes for great stand out listening material

What is your go to tune to bring a party up/banger?

Bring U Up Jasper James Remix, it never fails to get people moving.

What was the best party you’ve played?

Queue the Music.  Was just great a celebration of what Cambridge offers in terms of nightlife and the uniqueness (for better for worse aha) of the scene itself.

What have you got planned for the future?

Going to continue playing live and hopefully will try get into music production as well some time over the holidays. There is also potentially quite big news in terms of what I’ll be doing next year but I couldn’t possibly disclose that info right now. It’s very classified aha

Ertug’s Tracklist:

00:00 Afrika - De Gama

05:30 Magalenha (Perko's Firecracker Mix) - S. Mendes

11:30 Sweet Chariot (Booker T's Swing Low Mix) – Club Artists United

15:30 Jama Ko (Masalo Blueprint Version) – Basekou Kouyate

20:00 Sanctified - Hubie Davidson

25:00 Koko's Vibration - Sarabi

30:00 Bring You Up - Jasper James Remix

35:00 Blue Monday - Adesse Versions

40:00 Play That Funky Music - DJ Kittles

44:30 Gypsy Woman Rave Yard Mix - Crystal Waters

48:30 Free - Grant Nelson

53:30 Chocolate Cadillac - Nathan Lee