Touching Bass: Mumdance

Most DJs have a satisfyingly dog-eared passport full of trips to places most can only Wikipedia. Mumdance is no different. His voyages abroad have lead to his music grabbing elements from all over the globe, before being spun into a sound that UK ears can relate to. His discography is a constant trip between continents, from the ragga-Indian mixed slush puppy of “Tarahtid” through to “Smasher” and its Japanese geisha-tinged peaks and troughs. After a two-year hiatus, he sprung Twists & Turns onto the interwebs; a mixtape that's exhaled a new lease of life into his career. Before launching into an exclusive mix of mostly unheard, unsigned, odds and ends, we nattered about Latina girls, shoegaze and obscure world genres. Noisey: Where had you been hiding before “Twists & Turns”?
Mumdance: I had just put out a tonne of tunes and they were all within a certain global template. I just found that I was starting to make the same tune over and over and I always try my best to do something different. Also I was travelling a lot. I don’t really get along with travelling and making music. Some people can do it, but when I make a tune I like to sit down and go in. More than anything, I had run out of ideas and needed a bit of time to regroup and decide where I’d go next.

So it was more like a creative block? I hate those.

Yeah, I guess it was. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be innovative and create something new each time. I think I just put too much pressure on myself for a while and pressure isn't good for creativity. I feel like I'm in a good place at the moment, a lot of it boils down to having confidence with what you are doing.

Where did the shoegaze element come from on the Twists & Turns project?
When I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of shoegaze stuff. I started rolling with one of my old mates who I hadn’t seen in ages and we started listening to all the old records again. With my first mixtape Different Circles, I was using a lot of global sounds and regional music, so for Twists and Turns I wanted to flip it on its head and make it more introspective, taking influence from all the stuff I listened to when I was growing up: jungle, hardcore, garage and on the other side of things more shoegaze and guitar led stuff.

You mentioned how far-reaching your influences are, but where is your favourite place to travel to?
Probably Brazil and Mexico are the ones that stand out for me. They have such rich musical culture that’s engrained in everyday life. When you go over to them places, it’s crazy. Music is just in every part of their lives and it’s really cool to see. In Mexico there’s all this 3Ball stuff. There’s a scene out there called 3Ball or tribal guarachero, which sounds a bit like skewed funky. Also when I went over to Brazil and did some writing over there with Bonde Do Role & these guys called Banda Uo they have this music called technobrega. Brega means cheese, so its kinda like cheesy techno, but it has got a massive hipster following. It's got a very specific drum pattern. We went to this island called Ilhabela, which is a tropical island near Brazil, and we were just sat in the pool making music for days.

It always seems like you’re a little bit ahead of the tide. Your productions from back in the day had the likes of Trim excited which is always a good sign.

It’s always been good to work with the grime lot because their work rate is crazy. They get excited about music and it's great to be around. When you’re in the studio with them, it helps so much to get a vibe. That’s also why I do a lot of collaborations, because it’s just more fun being in the studio with someone else and vibing with the music. It’s also to do with mixing different cultures and coming out with something new. That’s the whole ethos behind what I do with Mumdance.

“Smasher” is still a favourite of mine. Do you remember the scenario when you were making it?
I made that tune and “Tarahtid” on the same day. It was the day or two after New Year's Eve. I just had this idea for it with the whole Eastern thing. It’s a type of music called Gagaku. It’s Japenese court music. I was listening to it and thought the music was heavy so I thought about how I could put a UK twist on it. I nailed both of the tracks in one day. That was a good day, I wish I could have more of them! I had the idea to speed up the tempo in the breakdown of “Smasher” for a while, but it just twigged on that day how I could actually manipulate the computer so I could make it happen. A lot of the time it's about getting the music from out of your head and into the sequencer; that's half the battle.

Cool, those creative block-free days are always good. So how does Mumdance chill out and wind down? I still like to skate but I don’t get a chance to do it that much any more. I used to BMX when I was younger more than anything, even music. Then when I discovered clubs and going out, that went out of the window. I still ride but I hurt my back quite badly so I couldn’t ride BMX as much so I learnt to skate instead. I moved back to London recently and its right near Clissold Park in Stoke Newington that has these bowls. I'm just waiting for the a nice day and I'm gonna be down there. Then there’s just watching shitty daytime TV like Jeremy Kyle. It’s a producer trap.

You mentioned BMXing, but what’s the best trick you’ve pulled off?

I did a few backflips back in the day, but I was more into handrails and street because that shit is fucking gnarly.

So what kind of vibe did you go for on the mix that you’ve put together?
There’s a lot of exciting producers coming through and an exciting time. It’s all between scenes. So what I've done with the mix is not only play what I'm feeling but shine a light on these new producers who are sending through some good stuff. It’s refreshing to see. There’s a couple of new ones on there. Some tunes I've been working on with Logos. We’ve been working quite a lot together. We’ve got a 12” coming out on Keysound and Tectonic as well. I might stick a bit of hardcore on there as well. With my mixes, I like them to start slow and go faster.

Other than that, is there anything that people should be looking out for?

As well as Tectonic and Keysound I’ve got a release coming out on Unknown To The Unknown which is coming out in September. I’m back in the studio and have no creative block so I just want to make a tonne of music right now. I’m also starting this live show where I have a 909 drum machine and a sampler, I DJ for a bit, then mix into the drum machine & do some live drum jams with the 909 and the sampler so I'm making really raw, live tunes in front of the crowd. The sound kind of sits half-way between Jeff Mills live drum jams and golden-era 8-bar grime. It’s not planned and different every time. There’s a lot of scope for it to go wrong, but I find that with live electronica, it’s all too planned. With this thing it’s raw as anything and stuff can (and does) go wrong. It’s what a live show should be.

You can get your hands on Mumdance's "Twists & Turns" for free from here.

TRACKLIST
Logos - Stasis Jam
Head High - Burning (Keep Calm Mix)
Batu - Stairwells
Mumdance & Logos - Turrican 2
Neena - Play Off Formats
SLK - Shottaz Riddim
Mumdance - Springtime
Strict Face - Shibuya Gunner
Moleskin - Sending (Breathless Mix)
Llesca - 7AD
Oddz - Victory
The Malboro Man - Hankee Pankee
DJ Nephets - Juke & Money
DJ Deeon - OK
Aj Mcghee - Why You Lookin At Me?
Actress - Purrple Splazsh
Luna C - Piano Progression
Vibes - Hey DJ
Orca - 4am
House of Black Lanterns - Truth & Loss
Doc Scott - Swarm

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