SOCIALEYES 5TH BIRTHDAY @ CORSICA STUDIOS

Jakwob / Sei A / High Rankin / Justin Robertson / Mensah / Robin Ball & the Groove Pleasure Soundsystem / Robin Beats

Saturday 28th May 2011

10pm – 6am

Corsica Studios, 4/5 Elephant Road, London, SE17 1LB

Nearest tube: Elephant & Castle

Super early Bird £6/ Extra early bird £8 / Early bird £10 / Advanced £12 / MOTD

Available from;

www.socialeyes.eventbrite.com

www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?246854

www.datatransmission.co.uk/ViewEvent/13059

Socialeyes return with one of their biggest, most interesting, boundary pushing and fun line ups yet!

Created in 2006 from the Groovepressure & Groove Pleasure labels the Socialeyes parties have been popping up for one-off nights in and around London until finding their home at Corsica studios in 2010. They have hosted a broad spectrum of quality electronic guests from Funk D Void to Bar9, Terry Francis to Elite Force, Ben Sims to Max Cooper and always pushing open-minded, forward thinking electronic dance music on the best quality sound systems in intimate fun spaces. That is their ethos. 

On Saturday 28^th May they celebrate their 5th birthday party and one year to the weekend since their first party at Corsica Studios.

Socialeyes is not restricted to one genre, the emphasis is quite simply on ‘good’ music. So on Saturday 28th May you’ll find two rooms, one for house, techno, disco & electro and the other for dubstep, breaks, beats & bass.

Jakwob is one of dubstep’s biggest new stars. First coming to acclaim via some major appreciation in the blog world for his bootleg of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Starry Eyed’ and bolstering such support with his remix of ‘Under The Sheets’ he’s since gone on to remix the likes of Kid Sister, Robyn, I Blame Coco, Empire Of The Sun, Temper Trap, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Audio Bullies and Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip.  Hailing from the Midlands, Jakwob is a multi-instrumentalist playing in many bands in his teens starting in jazz moving on to play death metal and folk. This goes a long way to explaining his style which transcends genres combining elements of dub step, electro, ghetto-tech and break-beat (to name a few). This eclecticism also manifests itself in Jakwob’s DJ sets, which take in dub, hip-hop, drum and bass, dub step and beyond. Currently working on a debut album, and very much in demand as a producer of the moment, he’s redefining the experimental, dub step, double-step, and electronic scenes

Sei A shot to fame with his recent release on Tiga’s Turbo Recordings, he’s one of the most exciting new producers and songwriters in the techno and house scene producing rich textures, moody atmospheres, subtle psychedelia and haunting vocals, characterized by an instinctual gift for melody and a sincere romantic flair.

High Rankin - One of the scenes more eccentric artists, his music brims with character and personality that engulfs the listener as well as causing the obvious dance floor riot!  An all round force in dance music be it as a dj, producer, blogger, label owner,  he is the quintessential modern dance music artist!

Justin Robertson’s tastes have always been eclectic, though in 2011 you would be hard pushed to find a musician working successfully in areas as diverse as techno, house, dancehall and art pop. Justin is a true modernist: he excels as a DJ of international repute; is a creator of bespoke techno; one third of New Pop band Thee Earls and a remixer for the likes of The Whip, Bjork and Felix Da Housecat.

Mensah - With his releases on Jake’s H.E.N.C.H. imprint amongst other releases and collaborations on Baobinga’s BUILD and LoDubs, Mensah displays a kind of dancefloor ownership that offers the now pre-requisite bass weight with a decidedly more dance element. Being supported by the likes of BLOC and Fabric Mensah is an ascending force on the scene.

Robin Ball  & the Groove Pleasure Soundsystem  

2011 sees Robin enter into his third decade as a dj, with a career that has taken him across the globe from London to Sydney. His passion for a wide variety of electronic music has inspired the eclectic line-ups for his Socialeyes parties and his non-stop passion and dedication for the scene.  This year he debuted his latest project “Groove Pleasure Sound System” which received a great response at Corsica Studios back in January when his skilled crew of tech-house, disco, jamming wizards performed live to the backing of Robin’s deft DJ skills. As a testament to his eclectic passions, you will also find him in room 2 playing a set of dubstep, breaks, beats and bass under his alias, Robin Beats.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tel:  07956 375370

socialeyesparties@gmail.com
 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158588667535779
   

http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Socialeyes-Parties-the-original-London-Socialeyes/117719964906247?ref=ts
 

http://twitter.com/socialeyesparty

THE MAX COOPER INTERVIEW!!!

Q: You released some great music in 2008 and 2009 which has raised your artist profile, has this changed your life in any way?

A: Yeah I’m more or less doing music full time now, which is great to have the time to do it properly – writing music is very time consuming, it’s hard to get started when you have other commitments as I’m sure a lot of producers out there will know. And now I get strange people offering me high class prostitutes. Or sometimes low class. Which are obviously refused.

Q: You have carved a name for yourself as a deep techouse / techno producer but I believe as a dj you have played different styles in the past?

A: I’ve played all sorts yeah, I have a lot of different musical interests, and don’t like to get pinned down. I used to be all into turntablism, scratching and juggling and all that, which unfortunately doesn’t fit over the sort of music I’m playing now, hopefully I can get back to that somehow in future.

Q: Can we expect to hear some different production styles in the future or are you a 100% purist now?

A: I guess I’ve accidentally answered this partly with my last answer – you can definitely expect some new styles, especially for my album which I’m working on now.

Q: Do you get to cross genres in any of your current dj sets?

A: Yes, my recent mixes up on FTVS and Fabric sites for example, include de

ep house, modern classical, dubstep, electronica, techno and minimal. I’m all for crossing genres and keeping things interesting.

Q: If you were going to have a night off and go out to a club which artist / dj would you like to hear?

A: One of my favourite producers who would play in a club is Stephan Bodzin, who I still haven’t seen out. But to be honest most of the people I’d go out of my way to see wouldn’t play in clubs – Max Richter, Philip Glass and Helios for example.

Q: Harmonisch Serie, Stochastisch Serie and Chaotisch Serie are three of your latest releases on Traum, please explain these names and the concept behind them?

A: The names and concepts are all tied into scientific/philosophical ideas which I find interesting, and which influence my productions and which the videos for the tracks were based on.

Q: What projects / releases are you working on at the moment?

A: I’m doing remixes of two of my favourite artists – Minilogue and Ryan Davis at the moment, plus working on album tracks and a new 12inch EP.

Q: Do you get time to listen to other music and if so what music do you take inspiration from?

A: I mainly listen to modern classical and melodic electronica, so things like Max Richter and Helios as mentioned, and Jon Hopkins, Deaf Center, Olafur Arnalds.

Q:  What else in life gives you inspiration to make music?

A: Science, philosophy, art, nature – I find these things almost inseparable from what drives my music.

Q:  Did you take inspiration from anything when you made the superb “I”?

A:  That track was supposed to be called “i”, but the small letterness of the name got lost in translation somewhere along the line! The name was supposed to refer to the self (i.e. “I”), as well as the square root of minus 1 (i.e. “i”), because the inspiration behind the track was to represent something personal in an electronic form.

Q: How does your production process work?

A:  It varies from track to track, but the best work happens when I start with a clear concept or emotion to try and represent, and work as accurately as possible to that theme so that its message is most clearly conveyed in the resulting track.

Q:  Do you use any hardware in your production or is it all made on computer?

A:  Strictly software for me! I would love to have some real synths, as there is definitely something to be said for the analogue sound in its dance music effect, but they are expensive, and I’ve focused my studio expenditure on maximizing sound quality so far – acoustic treatment and monitors etc.

Q:  As a dj do you play records, cds or are you computer based?

A:  DJing is mainly CDs, plus the odd vinyl, much more fun not to have to worry about a computer when possible, always causing problems those pesky things! I have to use one for my live show though of course. Someone pointed out recently that in spite of the fact that I do all my music and science on a computer, I am in fact a technophobe.

Q:  What makes a good party for you?

A:  Pass the parcel.

Interview by Robin Ball

Max Cooper joins Justin Robertson, Colin Dale,Robin Ball, Elite Force, Bar9, Rob Sparx & Robin Beats @ Corsica Studios inLondon on 29th May 2010. 

Groovepressure question Rob Sparx.

Groovepressure question Rob Sparx.

Q:   Your album “Trooper” was released in 2009 to great reviews and has raised your profile on the scene, tell us about your history in music up until the album? 

A:  I'm a classically trained double bass player with a bit of jazz knowledge too, as a kid I had lessons at the Royal College of Music, I started playing at 8 and by 18 I had a Grade 8 distinction and had also got quite good on the guitar and piano but by this point dance music had pretty much taken over and its been mainly synthesizers, computers and decks ever since. I've always been into lots of different genres of music, when I was very young it was live music mainly Indy/rock/metal but by the time I first started producing at 16 my main influences were dance artists like Massive Attack, Prodigy and Leftfield and labels like Metalheadz, Good Looking, Ram and Virus.

I got a lot of my production knowledge through being mates with Twisted Individual & Zen and I used to go smoke with them, Gdub, APB and Dubchild at the Formation studios, I picked up lots of techniques watching these producers at work. My first 20 or so releases were mainly drum n bass - in 2004-2005 I released a load of DNB tunes on Grid, Zombie and Up Yours and also a few tunes on Formation, Propaganda and Z-Audio. I ended up falling out with Twisted for a few years and got bored with the way the jump up DNB scene was going so I tried to get into the deeper, darker and dubbier side of DNB which originally influenced me but predictably I had difficulties with getting most of my output released so I changed direction and got into other genres of music and worked on improving my production techniques.

I used to go to college with Loefah, Mala and Coki and I knew in 2003 that they were working on a new genre that was like deep garage but the first time I actually heard it was when in 2004 Mala passed a cd to my house mate Tunnidge with all the early DMZ stuff on. I really liked the sound and I started experimenting with the genre although mixed with techniques I'd learnt from DNB so hardly purist. By 2007 Z-Audio were getting into dubstep and released the 2 Faced Rasta and Independent Life on DUBTING which both did pretty well, that’s when they asked me to do the album and dubstep, garage and breaks has been my main focus ever since then. 

Q:  How do you feel about the album now? 

A:  I actually finished the album in 2008 and it wasn't released until over a year later so I'm pretty keen to do another one to be honest, it took me ages to write some of the tunes on there and I'm happy with it and think it still sounds fresh but I'm very keen to start another one as my production has moved on a long way since then and albums are a good chance for me to write music that’s more soulful and interesting to listen to not just to dance to.

Q:  Has the release of the album changed your life in any way?

A:  In the last year or so since album promo started I've been outside of the UK a lot more times than in my whole life before. I've played gigs in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Israel, New York and Puerto Rico and I've got forthcoming in Ukraine, Budapest and a AUS / NZ tour being planned for most of September plus I've done an interview on 1xtra so yea I'm sure the album helped with that a bit.

Q:  You have carved a name for yourself as a dubstep producer but Trooper has a wide variety of influences, so can we expect to hear some different production styles in the future or are you 100% dubstep now?

A:  I might be having another crack at DNB soon because Twisted has asked me to do an album for Grid so that could be a good opportunity to return to producing and dj’ing in that style, which I've been meaning to do for a while. I'd also like to produce some house music with some of the ideas I’ve learnt from dubstep, I’m sure I’ll be doing that soon but how quickly that happens depends on what labels I get to know as I'm not interested in writing any more music that ends up sitting on my computer for years without getting a release, I've had way too much of that bullshit over the years, at the moment I’m sticking to music I can mix with so its being put to some use even if I can't get a tune signed quickly.

Q:  If you were going to have a night off and go out to a club which artist / dj would you like to hear?

A:  I've heard Mixmaster Mike is pretty good at beat juggling and scratching with dubstep that would be interesting to hear!

Q:  Do you get time to listen to other music and if so what music do you take inspiration from?

A:  I like a bit of minimal house, techno and electro or whatever you call it, the good glitchy stuff. I'm liking what Instru:mental and DBridge are doing with DNB at the moment, I still love some of the tunes on Trentemoller's first album and I've taken a lot of influence in the way I use my basses from Justice's chopped bass style. There's a pretty big dub influence from the classic producers like Lee Perry and King Tubby in my music especially the drums.

Q:  How does your production process work? 

A:  It’s different every time, I find its best to have drums first but often this gets in the way of being creative, sometimes I’m just messing about making a new preset or listening to some samples then I get an idea and that one preset or sample becomes a whole tune pretty quickly.

Q:  Do you use any hardware in your production or is it all made on computer?

A:  I've got a Moog Prodigy, a guitar and access to a pogo stick electric double bass but everything else is software

Q:  What projects and releases are you working on at the moment?

A:  I've got the 5th releases on both my labels (Sour Grapes & Migration) out next month, there’s also a Proptingz remix of Windscreen Sniper coming out on Z-Audio soon and I'm working on material for other dubstep labels and the Grid album.

Q:  What are your ambitions in music?

A:  I'd just like to get some really good vocalists and write music that’s more accessible but still with integrity, not sellout cheesy shite with no shelf life. I'd like to do a vocal project with an electro sound like The Eurythmics or New Order mixed up with all the crazy dance techniques I’ve learnt over the years but to be honest I could work with a whole range of different sounds and vocal styles, it would really depend on the vocalist.

Q:  The sales of vinyl have been dropping for years but compared to a lot of other genres dubstep has kept selling record units, as an artist do you get more sales from vinyl, cd or download?

A:  Its still vinyl despite shit sales, but digital formats are definitely catching up.

Q:  As a dj do you play records, cds or are you computer based?

A:  At the moment I’m playing 1/2 set vinyl 1/2 cdjs - I was purely cdjs for a year or two (after many years of just vinyl) but now I try to play vinyl where I can.

Q:  What makes a good party for you?

A:  A longer set on a quality sound system to a packed club who actually like dubstep and don't just want to hear spazzy filth.

Rob Sparx plays alongside Bar9, Elite Force and Robin Beats on Saturday 29th May @ Socialeyes, Corsica Sudios, London. In the other room Justin Robertson, Max Cooper, Colin Dale & Robin Ball - http://socialeyesparties.blogspot.com/2010/04/socialeyes-corsica-studios.html