The cool cat from France, 3 S, steps up and takes the reigns for our seventeenth podcast. This hour-long vinyl-only session is short and sweet but packed full of prime house music and of course a few curveballs from genres further afield. Read on for the backstory of this podcast, his latest release, "Sans Rien Laisser" on our VA Album Kiku, his record collection and more.
1. Firstly, let's start with the basics - Where do you live, and what do you do? Thank you for having me! I just moved to Paris, a few weeks before the lockdown. I am DJ and a producer, mostly into Deep-House, Breakbeat, Hip-Hop and Ambient music. I love making music, organizing parties and playing records. I am a member of Le Malley, a Lausanne-based House trio and party collective. I have been involved in the Hip-Hop and House scene in my hometown in Lyon, France, respectively, with Chineurs de Rap and Salade Lyonnaise. I try to produce every kind of music that I enjoy, and for now I am having fun going around some subgenres of House music. 2. Your beautiful track Sans Rien Laisser was a very late addition to Kiku, but it fits perfectly on the album. When did you write the track, and what's the story behind it? I started writing it when I arrived in Paris. I was listening to a lot of Ambient albums from Japan, especially the work of Hiroshi Yoshimura. I have been amazed by Wet Land and I go back to it quite often. I wanted to try to add those warm and welcoming textures to my music, I find them so heartwarming and well built. The track is supposed to express a sense of closure, showing that things are now complete and previous events should be taken as a whole to grasp their positive aspects. “Sans Rien Laisser” means “leaving nothing behind”, as for keeping every memory while moving on and being at peace with previous life experiences. 3. You’re obviously an avid record collector, your diverse selection in this podcast is evidence of that. Tell us about the music you included. Were they spontaneous selections or did you plan the podcast out? I wanted to have both Hip-hop and Electronic music, so I made my selection while having this in mind. Some records came spontaneously like the ones from Cabletoy, Jeigo and No Moon because I just received them. Others like DJ-Healer, Black Loops and Kendrick Lamar are some of my personal favorites. It is the first time I put them altogether in a set and I was looking forward to putting all of them in there. I selected the records and went on with it but honestly, I had to make a couple of takes because I made a few rough transitions during the first ones, so it’s fair to say that my podcast was planned.
4. Sans Rien Laisser leans to the more downtempo end of the house spectrum, it's smooth and pretty. But your recent remix of Sweely - I Gotta Keep On, (which we've had on repeat) is an acid tinged, euphoric breakbeat number. What kind of direction are you heading with your productions at the moment and what kind of sounds are really exciting you? I am really into Breakbeat lately, and the tracks I am working on right now more or less all have broken drum extracts, but I am trying to merge it with Deep House the way Jeigo, Seb Wildblood or Supreems are incorporating interesting drums in their tracks. Apart from that, I love Ambient music. As I said when mentioning Hiroshi Yoshimura earlier, this genre provides textures of unmatched quality. My last inspiration would be Progressive House, I have admired what Mandar is putting out for years, both the trio and each member’s solo project, especially S.A.M..I want to put out something that feels as raw and infectious as what these guys released over the past decade. My goal is to conceive an EP that reconciles those 4 subgenres, I am writing elements in each of those styles and merging them to make an interesting assemblage. 5. When did you first get properly into music? What led you into the world production and mixing records? For me it was a summer spent in Ibiza, I arrived loving Alesso and Eric Prydz, and left loving Justin Martin and Julio Bashmore! My dad was a DJ when he was younger and I played guitar as a kid, so the idea has been around for years, but I properly started getting into in 2017. I was living in Lisbon and having more free time to experience with Ableton, so I started producing every day. Along with that, I was going to clubs much more, and the interest for that music grew gradually during that year. I was DJing before but being more into clubs made me want to take it seriously. I kept awesome memories from that period, and this is where the name of the podcast comes from. “Saudade” is a Portuguese word referring to a sense of melancholia and nostalgia along with happy memories. It does not have a proper translation, but it is a combination of those three emotions. When I returned to Lausanne, we started discussing playing together with two of my friends who were also into djing. We wanted to try something new so we said that it would always be one track each and on vinyl, that’s how we formed Le Malley. We started looking for places to play and organized parties. Forcing ourselves to play together on vinyl meant we had to practice and know our tracks better, otherwise it was impossible to have a coherent common output. It was an awesome way to learn and we are still having a lot of fun doing that!
6. Outside of music, what other things do you really enjoy doing? We noticed you're pretty good at building things, that wooden wine box mixer case is brilliant. Building and selling them would be a nice side hustle, I'd definitely order one!
I love building things! I have been on construction sites as a summer job since I was a teenager, and I love the possibilities that wood offers. I also made a wooden stand for my Push II, I liked that position better and thought it would look cool! For the side hustle I appreciate it but it would be impractical to start cutting wood and storing cases in the small apartment I just got in, but I made a PDF with all the instructions and measures so people can do it in their own home! Apart from building things I am really into photography, I love capturing moments and settings with pictures. If I had to recommend one photographer that is worth checking I would name London-based street photographer Joshua K. Jackson. The way he uses colors and catches everyday moment makes his work unsettling and unique, it transmits the same emotions I want to include in my music.
7. We've asked this question before, and so have many others. But please tell us, which 3 records you take with you to the remote desert island you will be stranded at for the next few years. You can take 3 items with you too that will improve your time there. There are records that I love right now, but if I’m being stranded somewhere indefinitely, I’ll pick records that I find timeless, the ones I see myself coming back to regularly. The first one would be Good Kid Maad City from Kendrick Lamar. I was in high school when it came out and it blew me away by how dense, coherent and complete it was. It made my go on Genius to try to understand the lyrics, it increased my interest in getting better at English, and it is the main reason I took a deep dive into Hip-Hop afterwards. The second one would be Discovery from Daft Punk. My father showed it to me when I was a kid and its club relevance hasn’t aged a day, I could still party to this after listening to it for almost 20 years, I don’t see any reason it would wear out while being on an island. The last one would be Stadium Arcadium from Red Hot Chili Peppers, I learned guitar playing this record and I have many good moments attached to listening to it, and on this one there is an excellent track for every mood!
As for additional items, I would take a bike for sure, there are few places on earth where it is not useful so why not. I would also take a hammock to be able to chill and peacefully rest, and finally if size is not an issue, I would take a medium size sound system, like a small pair of klipsch with and amplifier (and solar panels of course), just to be able to enjoy the records I took with me, this will help passing time for sure! 8. Food has been one of the highlights of each day during this lockdown period. When you're feeling a bit low and miserable, there are few things that make you feel as good as a delicious meal. What's a favourite meal of yours recently that has put a smile on your face? And if you have some friends over, and they're all hungry, what are you going to cook for them? We made a few nice dishes with my girlfriend during lockdown, and we tried making a lime and basil pie that turned out delicious, I would definitely have this! Otherwise if I have friends over I would make durüms with breaded zucchinis, peppers and some nice French cheese like Comté, it’s unmissable and tastes delicious! But I must admit that pasta with pesto has always been an afterparty standard when being with hungry friends. Thank you so much for the music. We can't wait for your debut EP, and hopefully more podcasts in the near future. Peace and love.
Tracklist : Solange - The Glory Is In You (Interlude) [Columbia Records] Solange - Cranes In The Sky [Columbia Records] Kendrick Lamar - Mortal Man [Top Dawg Entertainment] Lefar Legov - Hyyde [Giegling] DJ Healer - the interview [All Possible Worlds] Cabletoy Feat. Lipelis - Boden pt.2 [Low Budget Family] Jeigo - An Ode To Midnight [air miles] No Moon - Dayz [Church] Rossum Universal Tracks - C.R.S.A. [All My Thoughts] Slowburn - Magnolia [Elektrosouls Recordings] Aron Volta & Kreutziger - Everybody [Doppel Audio] Gene On Earth - Beluga Entrée [Limousine Dream] Mr KS - Groove On [Music Is Love] D:fferent Place - That Place [D:fferent Place] Black Loops Feat. Nikos Haropoulos - King Paul [Freerange Records]
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