ASC interview

ASC Studio Mix [March 2010]

The Autonomic crew have been at the forefront of the movement currently breathing new life into Drum & Bass music.  Whether through their fantastic series of podcasts or releases on DBridge's Exit and Instra:Mental's NonPlus record labels, people are starting to take notice.  No stranger to DnB himself with releases under his belt on Covert Ops and Nu-Directions to name a few, producer James Clements aka ASC was called up in late 2009 for the 3rd release on Nonplus, ('Porcelain/Focus Inwards') and the rest is history.  With his tracks being featured on dBridge & Instra:mental's recent Fabriclive mix and with plans for an LP release later this year, ASC is a name you're going to be hearing a lot more of.  After constantly bumping his recent studio mix from earlier this month, we recently had a chance to get up with James and touch bass...


BF:  Yo ASC, big ups for taking the time.


ASC:  No problem


BF:  When did you first start producing and how did you initially get into Drum & Bass?


ASC:  I grew up in the UK and was exposed to the exploding hardcore-breakbest scene from an early age. Me and my friends used to trade cassettes of pirate radio stations from the old hardcore-breakbeat days. This was around about 1992-1993.


BF:  Pirate radio is something that's always fascinated me, maybe because it's something that we here in the States weren't exposed to growing up. Today, tools like Ustream and internet radio stations act as an outlet for underground music, but during the early 90s what was the overall impact of pirate radio in the scope of the UK underground and how did it affect you and your peers growing up?


ASC:  It was massive. It was the equivalant of internet radios these days to a certain degree. The thing I loved about it was these stations were everywhere in the UK. Pretty much every major city in the UK had a number of pirate stations that would mainly all play underground hardcore stuff, so it got massive and eventually some of the tunes, like Blame's Music Takes You for example, ended up making the UK Top 40 chart. In a way, these illegal stations were doing so much for this music - it was basically an unofficial network of free promotion for all the record labels about at the time!


For me and my friends still being at school as this was all happening, it was an exciting time. I have fond memories of a bunch of us in the schools foreign language labs, with tape players and headphones, been given French cassettes to learn, and instead having group intercom sessions with us all checking out last nights pirate radio show that one of us had recorded!


BF:  Was there a specific DJ set you remember seeing where it clicked that 'THIS' was want you wanted to do? When was the first time you ever got behind the decks?


ASC:  Not really. I wasn't much for the actual DJ's at first, it was mainly about the music. I'd have several mixes on cassette and never know who was actually mixing back then! I guess my fascination with the DJ side of things came when I started to hunt down the tunes and realised that I had to start buying vinyl and decks to do my own mixes. After amassing a nice little collection, I got my first break with a local pirate radio station at the age of 15. Me and my friend used to host a weekly show every Thursday night playing the latest hardcore tracks.


BF:  Could you talk a little bit about the first tune you remember making? What it sounded like? What was your frame of mind at the time? What software you were using?


ASC:  I can still remember this quite clearly! It was about 1994, me and my friends all had either Atari ST's or Commodore Amiga's and we got hold of tracker software for them both. I think it was Noisetracker for the ST and Protracker for the Amiga. We all taught ourselves from scratch on how to make music with them and would often share tips and our latest findings with each other. I think my first 'tune' (I say that lightly as I can still hear it in my head lol) was a mashup of different hardcore tunes at the time. I'd sample beats, bass, riffs and basically anything I could get my hands on. After this, I eventually got some midi gear together, also a sampler, and switched to Cubase on my ST. This was about 1995-1996, if I recall right. As for frame of mind at the time? Well it was all just about having fun and just wanting to be a part of this amazing music we all loved so much.


BF:  How did you initially get involved with the Autonomic heads from all the way out in Cali? It's amazing that you can all connect on that creative level while producing music in such different physical environments.


ASC:  I've always been producing leftfield/abstract atmospheric sort of stuff and when Instra:mental burst back onto the scene with their first couple of 12's on Darkestral, I was excited that bigger names like Doc Scott, Marcus Intalex and of course, dBridge were all taking notice. I felt what they were doing wasn't a million miles away from my stuff, so I ended up getting in touch with Damon from Instra:mental and chatting. We then started sharing tracks with each other at the end of 2009 or so and they were both feeling what I was doing. I'd just had a bit of an epiphany studio wise, with my sound heading in a lot of different directions and I was just generally more at home not writing music just for the dancefloors, but mainly just writing heartfelt electronic music at around 170bpm. I came up with a first batch of tunes, which included Porcelain, Starkwood & The Touch, sent them over and the rest as they say, is history.


Porcelain  by  ASC


I think the fact that the main people behind the music heavily featured on the podcasts (dBridge, Instra:mental, Consequence & myself) are all from different parts of the world is a big reason why we can all bring our own unique vibe to the Autonomic sound, but since we are all on the same wavelength, it works collectively also. Different environments, living conditions, lifestyles etc. definitely have an influence on how you approach writing music and how it ultimately ends up sounding.


BF:  What I love about the music coming out right now on labels like Exit and Nonplus is that they convey so much mood, feeling, and atmosphere that they become something that you experience rather than just simply listen to. Al from Instra:mental recently played in NYC and I don't think my eyes were opened once during the whole set. It really is music for the mind, body, AND soul. 'Focus Inwards' [Nonplus003] is an awesome example of this and easily one of my favorite tunes in recent memory. When did that tune come together and how did it eventually get in the hands of Instra:mental?


Focus Inwards  by  ASC

ASC:  Focus Inwards came about after Instra:mental had asked me to start writing for them and dBridge exclusively. I think it was the first track I did after being asked to write an artist album for NonPlus+, which is ironic, as it ended up on the flip of Porcelain and not on the LP!


BF:  Mind telling us a little bit about the Autonomic Layers?


ASC:  Well, I don't have too much say into what goes into the podcasts or how they come together, but the mixes sections are always about showcasing what we are upto. There's so many of our tunes that have gone unidentified so far, but that's mainly because we are not sure when they will get a release if at all. We are all writing a lot of music and it all can't get released unfortunately, so some eventually end up as being podcast exclusives, although this year should see the release of a LOT more music from all of us involved.


BF:  ASC, before we let you go, What else do you have up your sleeve for 2010? Releases? Tours?


Matter Of Time  by  ASC


ASC:  The next thing wil be the 'Nothing Is Certain' LP sampler, which will feature the tracks Phobos, Matter Of Time, and a short ambient interlude called Oort Cloud. Phobos and Oort Cloud will both be exclusive to the 12", which will be NONPLUS006. Following that up will be the LP itself, which will be on 3x12" vinyl, CD and digital download. We're expecting a late April-early May release for it. After that, there's a few 12's for the new Autonomic label which is set for launch imminently, one of which will be Starkwood / The Touch. There's music forthcoming on Exit and there's also plans for another new label so we can get even more music out there.


 Starkwood  by  ASC


ASC Top Ten [March 2010]


Breakage feat. Kemo - Temper
dBridge - Rendezvous
Instra:mental - Red Rooms
Consequence - Marlo
DJG - Hydrate
dBridge - Love Hotel
Vaccine - Abandon
Blocks - Undercurrent
KMC - Parsec
Data & Keza - 4th Draft




Catch ASC's guestmix on MAH tonight on BBCRadio1 at 02:00-04:00GMT previewing tunes from his forthcoming LP 'Nothing Is Certain'


www.theASC.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/ascintexsystems
www.twitter.com/theASC
www.soundcloud.com/asc

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