Mixing this year’s highly anticipated, freshly baked DJ Kicks compilation in his Berlin-based studio, Scuba is the resident Berghain boy, who has self-produced his latest 32 tracks of unadulterated techno.
The head of Hotflush recordings, aka Paul Rose, aka Scuba, is the smooth and deep artist, penetrating soundscapes with his trademark dub-tech aesthetic. Never staying in one spot long enough to take notice of trends or charts, Scuba is just a man on a mission to only appease his own ears. i-D online got five on it with the illusive DJ to find out more about his processes and production techniques ahead of his latest !K7 drop.
Your DJ-Kicks mix explores 32 tracks inspired by Berghian, which drops at 12 bpm. What were your curation processes and where did you record the material? I had to put the whole thing together really quickly, and in the space of about a week I went from a shortlist of about 70 tracks down to what I found that I could fit together in a set. The slowing down thing comes from the sets I’ve been playing at SUB:STANCE, which have been a lot of fun. It was mixed at my studio in Berlin.
What’s the standout track on the album, for you personally? It’s really difficult to pick out one because there’s so many different styles on there, but probably my favourite one at the moment is Mental Bright by Ludovic Vendi. That was also the only one that I came across completely by accident, the majority of stuff on there I got straight from the producer but that was just a random promo.
What equipment do you work on? The mix was done on three Pioneer CDJs and an Allen & Heath mixer.
If you weren’t making music right now, what do you reckon you would be doing instead? I dread to think.
What new talent are you excited about right now? There’s a guy called Beaumont that a lot more people should be paying attention to.
How do you want audiences to feel when they listen to the new music? I try not to think about that. If people like it then great, if not I don’t care.
What has been your proudest achievement to date? The proudest I’ve felt with music stuff was watching Mount Kimbie playing their first big shows. Seeing that whole thing come together meant a lot to me.
How do you describe your music? I have a lot of trouble with that. Usually I just end up saying “techno”.
What ambitions do you have yet to fulfil? Lots but talking about them would be a definite jinx.
Scuba DJ-Kicks is out on !K7 Records 17th October 2011.
preview – Out on !K7 Records 17th October 2011 by