M&A #21: Jake Ballin

By Josh Dawson

A man with one of the greatest surnames ever, Jake Ballin is emerging in Cambridge having honed his skills back in Manchester. Like many DJs, he’s spent most of his time practicing in his room, but after hearing a mix he’d made, we wanted to bring him out into the light and show off his undeniable talent in selecting and mixing belters and brain melters. His mix starts with a with a smooth tech-house intro, giving off strong Berlin Sunday evening vibes. He then turns up the heat with some hard acid lines, before a juicy breaks workout finally blows the doors off the mix and left us itching to hear what he brings to Lait at Night, 11 – 12, B2B with Coach. We can’t get enough of this mix, you should dive in yourself.

How did you record the mix?

Pioneer DDJ RR controller.

What were you trying to do with it?

I wanted to create a high energy, high tempo set – much higher than I usually mix. I also wanted to create a set that was more about the “Bwub” rather than the “Untz” if you get what I mean. I aimed to cross into several different genres, from hard techno to snippets of dub, garage, acid and breaks, and to do so in a way that worked based on a common theme of high energy or just general slammers.

There’s so much variety, tech-house to jungle and dub. Quite Skee Mask-esque in that sense although with less DnB stuff going on, which gives is quite a unique sound. Where does your new music come from? Mixes, youtube, discogs, spotify, IOM etc?

I get most of my music from either going out and experiencing it live – from festivals (e.g. most recently Dekmantel) to nights out, or soundcloud mixes. I’ll sometimes search a DJ I like and listen to a boiler room set or something. The IOM fb group also is never short of bangers. More recently record stores have been a hunting ground for new music, shout out the bargain buckets in Piccadilly Records.

We haven’t had much tech-house in the series (weirdly because it’s such a huge genre). What do you think differentiates it from the standard pumping tech or house?

Tech house is a funny sub genre in techno, as its quite different to the dark Berlin style tech, and generally comes with a bad rep in amongst pure techno lovers. The tracks I started my mix with I wouldn’t really consider tech-house personally although could understand why people would. I guess similarities can be seen in the frequent drops. Music classification is very subjective, so I try not to worry about what genre of music I’m playing and think more about how it sounds.

You eloquently mention the difference between 'bwubs' and 'untz's'. Do you think the sound design of a track is something that draws you to it? It's something not mentioned in techno as much as melodies/rhythms but do you think makes a big difference?

Obviously all the minor details such as melodies or percussion instruments are nice to listen to but I feel it’s the bass that gets people dancing – a good bass you should feel vibrate through your body, which I why I was so drawn to many of the tracks in this mix.

Personally, I find the “Bwub” a has a very different feel to the “Untz” base which was something I tried to tap into in this mix, it’s hard to put into words. I’m also a big fan of liquid sounding tracks – the acid 303 “squelch” is beautiful and so distinct.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

Defo dancing around to very loud music with minimal clothing.

What’s the last song you listened to?

Ddoje facce – Nu Guinea

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

Crazy P, Ben UFO, Hunee, Eris Drew & Octo Octa, Moodymann, Nu Guinea, Palms Trax, Fatima Yamaha, Mala to name a few off the top of my head.

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

Boombastic - Shaggy

What was the best party you’ve played?

Probably a house party full of mates back home.

What’s coming up for you in the future?

Hopefully Milk and Alcohol gives me a foothold in the Cambridge nightlife scene – my aim is to start playing for nights like Turf, King’s Bunker and OOX if I get good enough.

I’ve got a gig in Manchester coming up on NYE (apparently) alongside the guitarist from the Stone Roses, the Courteeners and resident Warehouse Project DJ Will Tramp.

Jake's Tracklist: 

Forever – Sidney Charles & Sante
Azidhaus – CAAL
Rock & Roll – Dennis Cruz
She Rock n Roll – Nick Supply, NFA
Nicht Vor Mitternacht – Duke Dumont
Flash – Green Velvet
Chicago on Acid – Rob Threezy
Kudzu – Callahan
Booo! – Sticky Feat. Miss Dynamite
Hateshopping – LSDXOXO
Raw Cuts – KETTAMA
Dooms Night (Stanton Warriors Vocal Mix) - Azzido Da Bass
Up To No Good [DJ Quicksilver Remix] – Porn Kings
Hold On (ft. June Hamm) (SE22 Mix) – Colours
Dangerous (Sons of Mecha vs Digital Pimp remix) – T Power Feat Blade
Ecstacy (Take Your Shirts Off) - Johnny Vicious feat. Lula
Subaru Impreza - Tommy Holohan
Rhythm 'n' Gash – Rebound X

Sir Spyro - Topper Top ft. Teddy Bruckshot, Lady Chann & Killa P

Vortex 150 - Special Request
WE WANT SUM PUSSY - Toni Moralez