Not too long ago we stumbled across the Soundcloud page of Jamie Grind, and we were pretty happy we did. A proper genre-spanner (and not the type of spanner you might fix your car with) - his beats are garridge-come-broken beat-come-funky-come-[insert beat laden genre here].
His first release is to Spacial's Infrasonics Label: If You Want / Balloon. Loads of synth melodies, loads of broken beats. All chopped up and awesome. Watch out for his next EP, Footwork, coming soon on Fortified Audio.
We asked him a few questions so you might get to know a little more about the man behind the beats. And here they are.
How did you first get into deejaying and producing?
I got my first set of decks when I was about 14 after seeing some DMC videos but it didn’t really work out for me back then… I eneded up buying about 3 records and just scratching them to pieces. I’ve always dabled with production since back in the school days, making everything from hip hop to house, but never really took it seriously. The first software I ever owned was called Hip Hop Ejay, you put your PC mouse on a vinyl pad and moved it around to add scracthes to you tracks – it was terrible! I’ve always enjoyed making tunes but always had other musical projects on the go that would take priority, but these days its my main focus so I try to spend as much time as I can producing.
What was the first piece of vinyl you bought? and the last?
I don’t actually buy much to be honest, I’m hoping to build on that soon though! The first record I bought isn’t too inspiring to be honest, it was The Wiseguys – Ooh La La. The last one I bought was Addison Groove – Footcrab.
What's your favorite album cover?
Carcass – Reek of Putrefaction. It got banned back in the day, big fan of the cut and paste style. More recently, I’m loving the artwork for my upcoming EP on Fortified – the artwork was done by a local guy called Drew Millward and looks sick.
Which producers are you loving right now?
Addison Groove, Jackal Youth, Hackman, Gatto Viola, Skips, Midland, Throwing Snow, Manuel Tur, Sepalcure… and loads more – there's too much good music out there at the moment it's hard to hear it all.
… and deejays?
My favourite DJ at the moment is probably Oneman – his sets are just a mish mash of all the music I love.
If you were stuck on a desert island with a stereo and were granted by a jeanie the ability to have a never ending supply of one type of music only, what would you choose to listen to, for the rest of your (short, but fun-frolicking, island) life?
One style of music for the rest of my life? Hip hop. Some styles of music can come and go, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I’d be chilling on the beach with some Wu and I’d be happy. Although where would I be getting the power supply.
Should we expect to see any releases from you in the near future?
I have the Footwork EP coming soon on Fortified Audio and a couple of others in the pipeline so watch this space…
Footwork by Jamie Grind
Infra12003 a1 jamie grind - if you want by Jamie Grind
Jamie Grind on MySpace »
Jamie Grind on Soundcloud »
Download Jamie Grind's XLR8R mix »
Download Jamie Grind's Sonic Router Mix »
