TOUCHING BASS: Nightwave

One of the leading lights in the UK's underground scene, Slovenian-born and now London-based producer and DJ, Maya Medvesek, has nurtured a loyal following for her moody and atmospheric brand of electronica. So, I caught up with her to talk about how she made the leap from doing her homework in the school toilets, to becoming a graduate of Red Bull's illustrious Music Academy.

Good afternoon Nightwave! Are you much of a morning person?

Nightwave: Not at all. I spend a lot of my life in clubs at night so mornings are not for me.

And what’s your worst habit?

I'm not the tidiest person. Definitely room for improvement there!

Are we talking hopscotching through clothes to get to the other side of the room?

If I've just come back from tour then yeah sometimes! Usually just lots of wires and plugs and coffee mugs though.

Also, we have to mention your crazy CV. Is it true that you were once a Penelope Cruz body double?

Yeah, a few times. Just a job that came through my acting agency. It sounds glamorous but really it's just a few pick up shots here and there to save her some hassle. She's a very nice lady though, met her a few times. I do a good impression of her though. If you ever see me down the pub I’ll do it.

What was it like being schooled over at the RBMA?

Collaboration was a big part of RBMA for sure. We had to team up to use the studios and that was really helpful for me personally as I've always been a bit scared of working with other people. It helped me come out of my shell and realise how important it is to work with others and share ideas. You can end up making an absolute banger of a track with two or more people's input!

Was it much of a teacher student environment or really hands on, in the studio all of the time?

We had two 'lectures' a day with amazing people like Doom and Erykah Badu for example and there was plenty of studio time with engineers always present to help with any technical questions. It's a winning combination of inspiration and practice magic!

Whaaaat? Erykah Badu?!

Yeah, it was like this every day for two weeks…surreal and mind-blowing!

Back to the teacher thing, did you like school much?

Yeah, I did. Think it's safe to say this now without being bullied :)

I was quite a troublemaker back in school, but were you a goodie or baddie?

A goodie I guess, skipped a few mornings due to going to clubs the night before maybe. Did homework in the club toilet sometimes though! Good girl.

That's pretty studious! Onto your music, where did the Chicago influences stem from?

I've been into Chicago music since I got into dance music. I guess it started with Dance Mania, Trax Records and listening to DJ Funk, Deeon, Cajmere and DJ Rush. I love the way old ghettotech stuff sounded quite raw, banging yet funky at the same time. I loved Detroit booty stuff as well, like DJ Godfather's energetic mixing. I'm so happy about this juke renaissance right now! Some of the tunes were just plain bonkers, which you are when you are a teenager so I guess that appealed to me as well!

Juke is one of those marmite genres though. A lot of people don't like it despite the raw energy that the tempo and drum patterning brings…

Like any music there's good and bad juke. Bad juke sounds like a goat pissing on a tin roof.

True. Who are your favourite artists within juke at the moment?

My favourites are Rashad & Spinn but also love DJ Earl, Addison Groove, Big Dope P and Machinedrum's stuff… there's quite a lot out there. Rashad & Spinn are legends though. They've been doing this for a long time so they're more like the pioneers.It's not really a renaissance, more like juke getting properly introduced to the rest of the world.

I agree. It's been floating around for a while. What else is floating your musical boat?

I love all sorts of music. Ambient, experimental electronic stuff, weird jazz. I'm not really up do date with any new stuff to be fair but I love going back to my old records, perhaps a bit nostalgically. Old Autechre, Aphex, Coil; things like that.

Old school Warp records stuff is still some of the best.

Absolutely.

What’s the plan for the next Nightwave release?

I’ve got an EP out in May and a second one in the summer, which should be ready to announce very soon!Sadly I can't name the label yet as we'll be announcing in a few weeks, annoying, I know! Both EPs are very club-focused with quite high-energy tracks. There’s some juke influence in there but also more of a grime feel than the previous stuff

Are there any collaborations or are you keeping it to yourself?

Not on production but I’m working with some MCs and there'll be vocal radio edits of some tunes as well!One thing I want to do more is to work with MCs and vocalists as well as doing more vocals myself. I've got braces right now so I'm not singing much though haha.

I hated having braces, food eating nightmare. Who would be your ideal MC to work with?

Braces are annoying but worth it I guess. It would probably be Wiley from the UK and Danny Brown, Meek Mill, Nicki Minaj from the States.Oh I forgot JME – would love to work with him!I did a bootleg with his acapella which is in the mix.

Nice! Which leads me on to my next question. What style have you gone for on the mix?

It's a housey, grimey sort of mix with tracks from some of my favourite producers right now like Obey City, SCNTST and Redinho alongside some of my own unreleased stuff in there – a few bootlegs. Two Twista tunes as well. He's another dude I'd love to make tunes for!He's amazing but needs to choose better beats.I'm a bit obsessed with him and I’ve made so many bootlegs with his acapellas. Definitely underrated.

TRACKLISTING

Zanshin - Cloud Atlas

Decyfer - Chewed Up

Midland - Traces

Furious George - Love The World

SCNTST - Da Bizzy Jump

Kry World - Workin Hard

Salva - Get A Life

Jeremih - All The Time ( Funkystepz Bass Mix)

Champion - Yardman

Ronika - Rough & Soothe (Nightwave Tropical Mix)

Ezekiel - Short Shorts (Big Dope P's 3 Minutes of Funk Remix)

Obey City - Heli-Pad

Mak&Pasteman- It Ain't Right

Zuzuka Ponderosa & Kush Arora - Seda (Jubilee&Burt Fox Remix)

Twista - Lavish (ft Pharrell Williams)

Redinho - Boy Racer

JME - If You Don't Know (Nightwave Bootleg)

Myrryrs - Nimh

Rustie Biggie Edit

DJ Godfather - Bring It Back

Nightwave - Amethizz

Dillon Francis - Masta Blasta

Twista & Pharrell - Give It Up (Nightwave Bootleg)

Follow Nightwave on Twitter @iamnightwave