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Music

Touching Bass: Embassy Recordings

Addictions to Coca Cola, trap music samples and a set of danceworthy jams from the Atlanta-based label.

Atlanta-based electronic troubadours, Embassy Recordings, were one of the first US labels to mount the dubstep beast when it was in its prime. Founders, Distal and Mite, have been distributing a slew of forward thinking electronica reveries with a total of 15 releases under their belt from the likes of Clicks & Whistles and Sleepyhead. This week's Touching Bass encompasses the sound of the imprint with a half-hour sub-section from each label head. Then we had a little chin wag about addictions to Coca Cola, THAT trap music sample and life in Atlanta. Noisey: Hey guys, how is Atlanta life treating you both?
Distal: It’s alright. Mite probably has a different perspective. It gets crazy because its hot out, there’s a lot of crime around here right now so it’s weird. Our city, for the last few years, seems to be in this transition trying to be this big city.

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Mite: I always think you get a crime wave when it’s warmer. There’s stolen cars and people are just out on the street more because it’s cold. It’s weird because Atlanta isn’t tiny, but it’s not big. We’re within the top ten populated cities in terms of job markets and opportunities but particularly with electronic music and even with band music, the scene isn’t really liked it used to be back in the day. Having gone away to New York and come back, I feel as though I appreciate it more though.

Distal: There’s a trap night almost every single night.

Mite: That annoys me, I'm not against new musical trends or anything, but I think in particular for us being rap fans, it’s nothing new.

Maybe that “damn son, where’d you find this” sample needs to be buried?
M: Did you read the interview that I think Dummy did with one half of Flosstradamus? He was like he hated that sample and Diplo hated it too, but the other half of Flosstradamus loved it and fought for it to stay in the song but when it came out he said he regretted it.

What made you decide to go back to vinyl again for this release?
D: This is our third vinyl release and we wanted to do vinyl when we started the label but the distribution were kind of against it at first. We did the release with Clicks & Whistles and they were like “wow, this is so new and innovative, we should be putting this out on vinyl” and it sold really well. They opened up the door for that and once that door was open we were like “oh, we know how this works now. Let’s just keep pumping it out”. We come from vinyl too. We’ve been DJing it for a good 15 years and we started out in high school playing vinyl. We want an artefact to be left behind. If we think that it will sell on wax and if the artist is really behind that idea then we’ll go ahead and try to execute it. It’s important for us to put out a physical product that people can touch and feel instead of just downloading it and forgetting it six months later.

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M: I think also back in the days of us buying drum and bass, breakbeat hardcore and hip-hop on vinyl is that there’s also something to be said in addition to the physical product being there. The fact that you’re taking stock in an artist and spending a lot of money to put that product out. Back in the day, there were shit rappers and it could be argued that in the digital age there are more shit artists just as equally, but it doesn’t cost any money to make that digital product. A lot of labels that don’t care as much don’t even get their shit mastered. When you’re spending more than £1000 and making decisions about how many units you’re gonna press and what the artwork is gonna look like instead of just a digital file with your logo which you’ve already been using for every fucking release. People take notice.

The next release is on it’s way but how did you first come across Moldy and Wheez-ie?
D: We’ve known Moldy for a while we used to go to these events called Dub War in New York City. Back in 2007, or even earlier, if you were anybody doing dubstep at all in America you’d go to this show. It was the pinnacle before it blew up. Moldy was kind of resident there, he used to play a lot. I was demoing him tracks and we’d just heard about him. Hes a super nice guy and back then the scene was a lot smaller so it was really easy to talk to him. He was into sports, I was into sports so it worked out well. He’d start sending us all these tunes but he was real funny and finicky and this point. He had a tune called “All I Want” which was anthem at Dub Wars and we were jokingly always like “let us sign it”. He said that he’d made it for Mala, so we thought it was coming out on Deep Medi, but he said he had just given it to him and if Mala wanted it, it was his. He was that kind of guy. But then I guess he ran into some problems with Deep Medi and we had a good relationship so we were just like “let us put it out”. So years later we have this anthem that they rinsed out at Dub Wars.

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What was behind the decision to make it a split release?
D: I work down the street at this vinyl store sometimes and I price their stuff for them. I think that the earlier that you go back with vinyl and dance, the less rules there were. You could put on a record and it’d be from three or four different artists. That’s how the rave scene was back then; anything goes and it really doesn’t matter if you're playing jungle or house, it’s an open community. That’s what the label is like too. There’s no serious direction with it in then we are a dubstep label, we are a house label. This release was just like a testament to that. These tracks are two totally different vibes but it totally says what we’re about as a label.

Within the Embassy Recordings posse, who is the craziest person?
M: Craziest person? Sleepyhead.

D: Sleepyhead is crazy on a different level. His music is so soft, but him as a person? We went to SXSW and he was just hanging out of the window and he’d be full on hollering at girls like “YO BABY!” as if it was the early 90s and some rap video. If they were like, no, he’d just be like “FUCK YOU BITCH!”

So what is the plan for after the release of this next vinyl?
D: We’re doing a tape release in a couple months and the first 30 people to buy the tape get a Walkman because people always think that tapes are cool but they have nowhere to listen to it. We’re gonna go out and buy a bunch of Walkmans and send them off. We’re trying to get someone to engrave them with our label logo. We got that project going too and it’s funny because it’s half the price of vinyl but it still gives you that warm, analogue feel.

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M: Michael [Distal] and I have only released singles on our own label and the first couple of releases were from us. After that we’ve been focusing on cultivating talent through our contacts and personal friends. The tape pack is going to be a dual solo EP from me and Michael.

The next release from Embassy Recordings is a split 12" and digital EP from Wheez-ie and Moldy



TRACKLIST

PART A: DISTAL

Mr. Lee - Pump That Body (Underground Club Mix)

Mohegan Sun - Plainfield Basement Party

Todd Terry - Just Wanna Dance (Club Version)

Alex Cortex - Dense

Wheez-ie - Five Finger Salute

Natlek - Ki

Boxcutter - Bloscid

Distal - Fadebook Federali

Moldy - All I Want

Moldy - Hymn Of The Plants

PART B: MITE

Legowelt - Visions In My Mind

Trevino - Discovery

Thefft - Chromatic

Thefft - No Want That

Broodlings & Mite - 303 Trick

Enoe - Kaori

Helix - Damnson

Sinclair & Mite - Broken Heart

Simon/off - Over (Rhythm 11)

Mite - Pop (Mak Remix)

Distal - Mondoshawan Tomb

Follow Errol on Twitter @errol_and

For more Touching Bass, read:
TOUCHING BASS: HEBRONIX
TOUCHING BASS: TA-KU
TOUCHING BASS: THE BUG