M&A #18: AMIS

AMIS burst onto the scene in the last year as one of the masterminds behind Lift Up, Cambridge’s newest Bass/Jungle/Dub/Breaks night. Lift Up diversified what was on offer in Cambridge by creating exciting line ups of Bass pros, while bringing in the famous Sinai Sound System to rattle people right to the core. On Thursday Lift Up returns to Fez as he invites Sinai down again, along with established UK Reggae aficionado Adam Prescott. AMIS brought down the house himself at ARCSOC: Area 51 this week, and here shows off exactly what he’s all about, with a wide ranging 90 minutes of bass, dub, jungle, techno… you name it, it’s seamlessly mixed here. Not one to miss!



How did you record the mix?

Mix of vinyl and CDJs - just took the record out from my mixer into Ableton.

What were you trying to do with it?

Rather than mixing like I would in a club - with most attention on ultra clean mixes and energy levels - I wanted to mix across a broader spectrum of bass music. Although this means some of my transitions might be a bit abrupt, and the level of energy yo-yos around a bit, it was fun to cram a lot of my favourite tunes into one mix and play from 120 all the way to 170bpm. I am producing tunes more and more at the moment so I ended the mix on one of my own - I’ve got a few bits in the works that I’ll be playing out soon.

Electronic music is often split by crowd: Bass/dub/DnB don’t tend to mix with techno and house as much as they could be. Some people blend them (see: SHERELLE) but there is a bit of a divide there. You’ve got them both going on here, with so much more besides. What is it that brings them together?

Good question - whilst I think lots of DJs and labels over the labels have bridged the divide before; such as 6 Figures Gang as you mention, Hessle Audio, Swamp81, Casa Voyager etc etc - it comes down to a philosophy of what the music is for. In all honesty, the music that can bridge that gap between ethereal techno and screwface dnb is what I love the most. I feel that going back to the roots of the music helps a lot - garage like you say, and jungle manage to get both sides a lot of the time.

Your night, Lift Up, returns with Lift Off on Thursday. What were you looking to do when you set it up? How is it different from other student run nights in Cambridge?

I think we saw a bit of a gap in the nights that were on in Cambridge versus those we were used to going to in London, Bristol, Manchester etc - there were often sick DJs, but because of the club’s sound being not the best, it just didn’t translate. Particularly with the genres that Lift Up plays - dub, grime, garage, jungle - so much of the melody is in the bass so a good soundsystem is key to properly feeling the music. So I suppose our reason for starting Lift Up was a bit selfish - we just wanted to put on a party with music we loved. Having a good system is just an inseparable part of this music.


What can we expect from Thursday? Have you got anything special planned?

After nearly shaking the pipes out of Fez in April, we are bringing Sinai Sound System back again - this time Huw himself is coming to play out their best dubplates so super excited for that. Adam Prescott from Reggae Roast is also making an appearance, really looking forward to hearing his set. I’m switching up what I usually do and playing a 160 footwork/jungle set - got a few dubs and original tunes to play out. There are a few more exciting sets as well but I could go on for hours - a lot of work has gone into planning the night and it should be a lot of fun!


Soundsystem culture is a big part of the bass and urban music scene, where collectives are defined by the kit they play out of as much as the music they play. Could you explain a bit how this works? (Eg. you’ve booked Sinai Sound System. I read this by mixmag and am asking myself like, what do they do?)

A lot of it is rooted in Jamaican dub/dancehall culture - and there are plenty of documentaries and articles that could explain that much better than I could. To an extent, I feel that ‘the gear’ is inextricably linked to the music - when it is being produced the bass is meant to be felt not heard. The music just isn’t made for home listening, but for hearing in the dance - and I think that there comes a point where speakers that can rattle your insides are more important than a big name selector.


How do you find new music? How do you sort out incomings and meld them with your existing collection? Do you have a system to make the admin behind DJing more bearable?

I’m listening to music pretty much from dawn to dusk - new tunes mainly come from friends and music groups on social media. From there if I really like something I will dig a bit deeper to find stuff like it - listen to that artist’s discography, what labels they release on, what tunes they play out or have influenced them etc etc. I’m awful at admin - rekordbox is a saviour though. I try to keep around fifty tunes with similar vibes in a playlist and sort them in bpm order. I use mp3tag as well to keep tagging pretty consistent. And then I just try and add new tunes every week or so and mix them with my existing selection to see what goes well.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

Mainstream Hip Hop bangers from the early 2000s - think Ms. Jackson and No Diggity.

What’s the last song you listened to?

Sam Binga ft. Rider Shafique - Organic

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

Very difficult to pick one. Been heavily getting back into Peverelist and Ramadanman/Pearson Sound though recently - kings of that ‘bridge’ we were talking about between tech and harder dance music.

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

Something that is a well produced tune but people will know - like SBTRKT - Wildfire or Skream’s remix of In For The Kill.

What was the best party you’ve played?

In all honesty, probably the last Lift Up - seeing so many people enjoying the music I love as well as being the last proper dance before exams was really special.

What’s coming up for you in the future?

I’m doing a guest mix for Tik & Borrow on Sub FM which should be fun! Got a gig in France - doing Varsity Trip this year which once again should be a blast. Apart from that got a few gigs here and there in Cam which should keep me busy.

Finn’s Track list:

Skee Mask - Muk FM
Dude Energy - Renee Running
Karima F - Random Loop from Doepfer Site
Dan Habarnam - High Pass Rambo
Tarquin ft. Neana - C-Mine
Pinch, Mumdance, Logos - Double Barrelled Mitzi (Turbo Mitzi VIP)
Hugo Massien - Ghost Note
Walton - Taiko
Famous Eno (ft. Killa P, Trigganom, Sinjin Hawke, Zora Jones) - Life
Cliques - Chro
Daphni - Ye Ye
Ploy - Ramos
K-LONE - Rude
Kode9 - Uh
Wen ft. Riko Dan - Play Your Corner (Kahn & Neek Remix)
Pearson Sound - Quivver
K-LONE - Furious Styles
Kosh - Trespassing
Special Request - Vortex 135 (Mall Grab Remix)
Kosh - Black Noise
Danny Weed - Shank Riddim (Sterlo Hard Drum Edit) (Unreleased)
Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
Mystry - Pulse 8
Trim - Talking Dub
Last Japan - Codes
Ghetts ft. Chip - Shellington Cresent
Rebound X - Show Love (Mere Formality's Love Show Refix)
Swindle ft. Ghetto - Just Begun
Joker ft. Ginz - Purple City
London Grammar - Hell to the Liars (Sir Spyro Remix ft. Ghetts, Jaykae)
Commodo - Earl1.6 Bootleg
Pugilist - Outback
Foamplate - Tabula
Skeptical ft. DRS - Paper House
Plastician - Japan
SKTRKT - Wildfire
K-LONE - Barbarossa
Bengal Sound - Fortune
Ago - I. Got.
Kahn, Commodo, Gantz - Crystal Collect
Ago - Good Luck
Kaiju - Burn Down Babylon
The Bug ft. Killa P, Flowdan - Skeng (Autechre Remix)
Goth Trad ft. Max Romeo - Babylon Fall
Jetski - Tadow VIP (Unreleased)
Skream - Phatty Drummer (Yazzus 160 Remix)
Special Request - Stairfoot Lane Bunker (Minor Science Remix)
Trim - No Manners
Alix Perez ft. DJ Rashad - Make it Worth
DJ Spinn ft. DJ Rashad, Danny Brown - Dubby
Peverelist - Roll with the Punches (AIRPODS 160 EDIT)
Borai & Denham Audio - Make Me (Pzg & Dubsknit Remix)
Whitney Houston - It’s Not Right (Chimpo Jungle Relick)
Sully - Flock
AMIS - NO DOZ (Original)