[inpageaudio src=”https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/Tm2AZtX3-15Ce9obk.m4a” thumb=”https://whynow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Covers2.jpg”]
Your love for DJing kicked-off in Bristol. How did you get into DJing and what do you love mixing most?
Bristol was where my passion for music really kicked off. I was exposed to so many genres when I was there: drum & bass, jungle, reggae, dub, dubstep, house, techno, disco and more. It has to be one of the most eclectic musical cities in the UK and I just loved everything you could go and listen to on a weekend.
I only started DJing two years ago when I founded Labyrinth with a series of Thursday shows at Notting Hill Arts Club. I enjoy sharing my music and that feeling when the crowd is really engaged with your selections.
Labyrinth grew out of nights Nick Castle was putting on at Notting Hill Arts Club.
Labyrinth, your events night, was set-up in 2017. How did that come about and what was your aim?
I founded Labyrinth because I have a deep love of music and wanted to create a platform that allowed me to express my personal music taste through DJing and through the artists we’re lucky enough to work with.
I had previously been co-running a brand in Bristol called Binary Vision, which eventually ended up being a drum & bass party. Whilst I love DnB, it wasn’t what I was listening to when I moved to London and I wanted to create something that was representative of my current tastes.
How does Labyrinth differ from other nights in London?
There are two main ways in which I think we differ. First, if you look at our shows they’re all focused around record labels, artists or communities. We’ve hosted Running Back, Keinemusik and Permanent Vacation this year, invited Trikk to curate his own party and collaborated with the French community Melodic Diggers.
“We have a burning desire to take the dance floor away from the standard nightclub and into unique spaces.”
It’s not about Labyrinth, it’s all about those that we’re working with and we make a conscious effort to work with the managers, agents, labels and artists to ensure that their shows are unique in comparison to what they’ve done in London before and play into any wider artist strategy they may have.
You need to put in the time to do this. We’ve flown around Europe this summer to meet with various agents and artists to talk through the shows we’re working with them on next year.
Second, we have a burning desire to take the dance floor away from the standard nightclub and into unique spaces. Loft Studio was a teaser of what we can do when we’re building an experience from scratch and you’re going to see a lot more of this from us next year.
You’ve hosted and supported Keinemusik on a number of occasions. What’s it been like working with the Berlin collective?
Working with Keinemusik has been really special. When we first booked them three years ago, it was our first big show as Labyrinth and it was the first true Keinemusik showcase they’d done in London. They’d hosted rooms at Egg, but never a show focused fully on the Keinemusik brand. This was just before their debut album ‘You Are Safe’ dropped and you could feel there was hype building around the crew. That first party popped and since then they’ve got better and better every year.
Keinemusik has been around since 2009 and consists of Rampa, &ME, Adam Port, Reznik and Monja.
One of the most important aspects of promoting is finding talent just before they peak, when every promoter in London isn’t trying to book them and being able to grow with them as their profile grows. The growth we’ve seen with Keinemusik over the past 3 years optimises that. They’re about as hype as it gets within our world right now and it’s been special to see them and us grow since the first party those years ago.
This year’s 10×10 showcase was unreal. I’ve been to various club shows since then and the atmosphere just doesn’t compare to what it was at that party. It’s rare that a crowd is as connected and into the music as they were. My business partner Mikey and I will cherish that show for a long time.
It’s not often that you get a collective who are all as strong musically as Adam, Andre, Gregor and Andreas are. Most crews have a great producer, a great DJ, a live artist, but it’s rare that they’re all top producers and DJs. When you look around I don’t think you can really name another collective that is producing to the quality that these guys are so consistently and are all killer DJs. They deserve every bit of the hype they’re getting and we hope our partnership with Keinemusik continues for a long time.
Which other DJs and producers are killing it right now, in your eyes?
This is tricky to answer as I listen to such a variety of music, but for the sake of keeping it simple and sticking to dance music: Redrago, Atelier, Tunnelvisions, Trikk, Keinemusik, Tom Demac and Âme.
“This year’s 10×10 showcase was unreal. I’ve been to various club shows since and the atmosphere just doesn’t compare.”
DJ Harvey’s Mercury Rising compilation summed up everything that’s great about DJ Harvey.
Everything Róisín Murphy touches I fall in love with (she’s a dream booking for us) and I have a sneaky suspicion that Caribou is going to drop a new album soon, which I’m really excited for.
If you could only listen to one track for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Van Morrison – Into The Mystic.
And finally, what have you got lined-up for the future, both as a DJ and through Labyrinth?
Labyrinth has a string of intimate parties to finish off 2019. We hosted Permanent Vacation’s first label showcase in London for 7 years at Corsica Studios on November 8th, which I played at. Then we’ve invited Trikk to curate his own party at Mick’s Garage on November 23rd, where he’ll play his longest set in London to date and Solar, who’s the resident DJ and co-founder of Sunset Soundsytem, is coming over from San Francisco as his guest invite.
Check out Nick Castle’s mix on the whynow Listen page.
We’re also hosting the tunnel at Motion on December 13th on a show that includes Âme, Gerd Janson, DJ Tennis, Jennifer Cardini and Curses. Gerd is playing in the tunnel and apparently I’m closing after him. He’s a hero of mine, so this is a real honour and a set I’m seriously excited for. I’m also opening for Sasha in March of next year, which again is a big one for me.
We’re also working on our 2020 shows now and will continue to focus on showcasing the record labels, artists and communities that we feel are pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance music. A big focus for us next year will be to move away from night clubs to producing events in unique spaces that offer a different and more exciting experience.
All we can say for now is keep your eyes peeled on our pages for news on events that I really hope will stand out from what you see being marketed to you on social media on a daily basis.
