Long interview with Mala and Loefah on Blackdown

fushimi · Post by **fushimi** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:22 pm

http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/

Full version of the interview that was in that .pdf web magazine a while ago.

Excellent as usual. Found this interesting, after Mala said at his Nagoya show that it's inevitable dubstep will become commercialised.

L: Dubstep is a box now. It didn’t used to be a box, but it is now.

M: But that’s just natural because we put everything in boxes, man. But I just keep trying to fight that.

B: And as long as people keep doing that there’ll still be enough different spaces to grow into. It definitely needs to be pushed though.

L: I think it’s going to break. I think there’ll probably be a split somewhere along the line.

M: I don’t really see it as splits because even though you say there’s scene or whatever, everyone’s still doing their own thing.

L: Yeah but I can still see there being a definite shift in the music. But literally only in my crystal ball, it’s not like it’s definitely going to happen…

M: It’s natural.

L: I could see it splitting into two different things.

M: Just do your thing and enjoy your shit. Serious. Don’t worry about the rest of the world.

metalboxproducts · Post by **metalboxproducts** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:14 pm

Good read and ting. Trying to make a track though and it propper destracted me. lol

kins83 · Post by **kins83** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:27 pm

Good read. Cheers.

j_j · Post by **j_j** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:33 pm

L: Now I do consciously do what you said. Not always but I have done this year. I’ve been writing beats, put an element in and then thought ‘nah it’s not about that.’ I’ve limited myself – ‘I can’t use this, I can’t use that’ – until I’m down to an 808 kit and a sub. Yeah, it’s a mad one. As soon as I heard someone else’s dubstep track with an element that I had in a loop, if someone came with that track before me I’d be like ‘fuck, I can’t do anything like that, ever again.

hatsudai · Post by **hatsudai** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:41 pm

it's quite obvious when hearing Mala's tunes that he's not rying to play to a crowd, just making tunes to meditate on.

Listen to Medi 4, at a point when that label could have put out a huge fuck off party tune Mala chose to release a subtle, downplayed piece and biggles and respect to him for it!

bob crunkhouse · Post by **bob crunkhouse** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:17 pm

wicked read.

this is by far my favourite bit, lol

"Nah, not like that. I just want to finish some beats. You know when you’ll get a drink that you love? And you’ll just rinse that drink out for weeks. Every day you’ll go and buy it. Eventually you’ll get sick of it and I love music so much I don’t want to get sick of writing it."

hahahahaha

ceskus · Post by **ceskus** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:21 pm

yeah, had a wee read at this just this morning. interesting stuff..

Rob H · Post by **Rob H** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:26 pm

thanks martin that was a really good read

dub_warrior · Post by **dub_warrior** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:25 pm

safe

tronman · Post by **tronman** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:45 pm

L:That isn’t dubstep for me so much these days but the old days for us, the Hatcha years, the Youngsta years, Rinse, that was car music. Mala’s car. Coki’s car. Do you remember them early, early days, when we used to just block up in your car?

M: Yeah, many a time we’d listen to Rinse sets. 2003.

L: Park on the road, build a spliff, listen to Rinse. There’s only certain spots we could get it around south London.

memories

i used to love goin to see my mate in bermondsey, pick him up and find some arches or a dead end we could cotch down, blaze a couple and listen to rinse... cos bermondsey is closer to the river/east you got a better signal than down in streatham, where its constantly cutting into Classical FM (get some deep mixes still).. bare memories belting up jamaica road, all round tower bridge and that.. thats real london for me, especially at night. its got a mad vibe round there.

safe for this blackdown.

corpsey · Post by **corpsey** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:46 pm

Very interesting stuff here- I had no idea Pokes used to be into Enya

ufo over easy · Post by **ufo over easy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:00 pm

really interesting. sometimes cos of the whole dmz thing mala and loefah seem like some sort of inseperable entity, but the interview makes it clear they look at a lot of things in different ways, just doing their own thing

pete_bubonic · Post by **pete_bubonic** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:58 pm

tronman wrote:
i used to love goin to see my mate in bermondsey, pick him up and find some arches or a dead end we could cotch down, blaze a couple and listen to rinse... cos bermondsey is closer to the river/east you got a better signal than down in streatham, where its constantly cutting into Classical FM (get some deep mixes still).. .

Haha, I used to love it when I get far enough into London to get Rinse, but with that CLassical shit as well, I remember driving in and hearing this rugged garage beat with this opera vocal over the top. I was going beserk in the car!

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:36 pm

was driving into london with my mum on sunday night, trying to find rinse on the FM and turn this corner and suddenly it tunes in. mum was feeling roll deep, although after a while she told me to turn it off cos it was giving her a headache.

ufo over easy · Post by **ufo over easy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:43 pm

one of my mates has this sick radio aerial on his car and you can pick up rinse cleanly even in acton... there's some dark magic going on there. It's the only car I've ever been in where that's been possible, and I swear even if you put that aerial on any other car you wouldn't be able to pick it up...

nirz · Post by **nirz** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:33 pm

quality interview.

dont worry what the world thinks .. just do your thing !

dj slums · Post by **dj slums** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:37 pm

wow. what a very inspiring interview.

jas nasty · Post by **jas nasty** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:13 am

yea for real, one of the best interviews i've read in a while. I love it. Loefah's hilarious!

i love when he says,

"L: Can you imagine no music? I can’t. If I was in the desert I’d be beating on the sand. Or humming. Singing at the top of my voice because no one else is about. "

<3!
LOL

i find it interesting too that he says he wanted to recreate/was inspired by Metalheadz b-sides and 94 jungle.....cause in like 2002-2005 or so? i would spin trip-hop (dubby shit like Spooky etc), old school dub reggae, and then b-sides of Metalheadz, what's that Digital tune..shit. anyways. Then i found some Uk garage, some 2-step....and always wanted more bass. I mean i played hip-hop, jungle, breaks, whatever- but i was looking for a sound, i was putting records together in a way that I hadn't heard anyone do really....because it was jumping genres and tempos and BPM in an impossible way. but they all had this bassey, rough sound i wanted to hear.

anyways. bla bla bla.
yay for dubstep.

it is so interesting to read about these artist's histories, inspirations etc.

villem · Post by **villem** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:24 pm

mala = inspiration

healer · Post by **healer** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:54 pm

great read, thank you.

Bit saddened by the fact that Mala isnt keen on a DMZ album although I cant wait for Loefah to come out with a bootleg

Long interview with Mala and Loefah on Blackdown

Long interview with Mala and Loefah on Blackdown

Who is online