Blurring genre distinctions, 24-year-old Mosca, real name Tom Reid, has shaken up house music and sent it spiralling in a dynamic new direction.
2010 was a defining year for DJ/producer Mosca. Since his release on the Square One EP, Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990′s Night Slugs imprint, he has produced remixes for T Williams, Foals and Four Tet and played alongside Gilles Peterson, Roska, The Count & Sinden and Ms Dynamite, to name but a few. Establishing himself as one of the UK’s most promising talents, part of Mosca’s appeal is that you never know quite what to expect from a set. We caught up with the man behind the decks to reflect on the year’s successes and what to expect in 2011.
No two Mosca tracks ever seem to sound the same. Do you enjoy the fact that people can’t pin you down or put a real label or genre on your sound? I don’t do it on purpose to get away from having ‘a sound’, I’m not the only brother that produces or plays different genres! I just do club music; I join the dots between house, bashment, grime, funky, garage and beats from around the world. It looks a bit bait on paper but when you hear all this music in a club it makes sense. There’s common threads that link everything I play, people gas about it being too hectic but come to one of my raves and you’ll get it.
You’ve played a lot of different venues around the world, what has been your favourite so far? A place in Hamburg was good, a bunker up in a tower block with vases of flowers everywhere. Other than that XOYO and Fabric in London, Digital in Newcastle and Plan B.
What were your best and worst moments of 2010? I’ve had a wicked year. I guess the best was when Square One came out, that kicked off the whole thing. As for worst moments, I don’t really have them. No regrets, no looking back. As long as you can learn from your mistakes you’re all good!
What are your hopes and aspirations for 2011? I’ve already got some dates I’m looking forward to but I hope to do more internationally, play some different raves, and festivals in the summer.
Who excites you most on the current music scene? Willow Smith!
Listen to Mosca’s remix of ‘Heartbeat’ here.
Click here to see more from our i-DJ series.
