One the many offshoots of Dubstep — the Future Garage sound is emerging, drawing influences from garage, 2-step, techno, hardcore and even soul to become one of the most interesting genres around at the moment. And at the forefront of the sound is Whistla.
Although his name might not be familiar to everyone in Australia just yet, Whistla is fast becoming a household name in the UK via his many outlets. DJ, producer, radio, club night and record label boss, Whistla doesn't usually take time to sleep, but he was kind enough to take some time out for Allsorts.
Get to know a bit more about Whistla and check out his awesomely energetic and exclusive Allsorts mix prior to his visit to Australia in December this year.
Q: Running an online radio station, a record label, a club night, writing music and DJing must keep you pretty busy. Tell us a bit about a day in the life of Whistla.
A. Yeh it keeps me out of trouble! Most days I'm on the phone to various people, artists, distribution, djs, monitoring Sub.FM, updating websites, sending out emails to various people, listening to new music, the list goes on lol.. In the night is when I get my head down to producing, and obviously djing too. I'm not a big sleeper so I often am up as it gets light outside working on stuff.
Q. You're credited with pioneering and defining the "Future Garage" movement. How did this come about?
A. I had been playing dubstep since its very early days and the way dubstep was developing wasn't the direction I wanted to take my productions and djing. So I simply started making what I wanted to make and would throw lots of different names about. At the time I was doing this various other people had come to a similar aesthetic as me in terms of stuff they were making and started to send me tracks to play on my Sub.FM radio show, which in turn lead me to start my label L2S Recordings and the movement started to coalesce around those two. Gradually fans, forums, bloggers etc.. picked up on one of the names that I had been using to define the sound "Future Garage" and I launched FutureGarageForum.com as a place for everyone to be able to find out about the latest releases and share mixsets etc..
Q. Lots of artists seem to have morphed from Dubstep into Future Garage, UK Funky and more house-oriented 2-Step. Why do you think this is?
A. Well kind of as I said before, a lot of people who were into the early dubstep sound had become jaded with the way the sound was developing. Instead of swing and shuffle that was ever present in early dubstep, "Drum n Bass-ish" elements started to work their way into it, eg. a standardized beat pattern "half step", the introduction of "wobbly bass" and a movement away from deepness to a more jump up oriented sound. This lead those people to almost be forced to develop alternatives, because they had been "cast adrift".
Q. How long have you been DJing and producing and what was your personal transition into Future Garage?
A. I've been djing properly since 97, and producing since then too. I got into music from being a hardcore raver in the early 90's. I've always been a radio dj as well as club dj and started playing on London pirate station Addiction FM way back in 97, then moved onto Eruption FM and a stream of other stations till I set up Sub.FM where I have been playing every Tuesday 8-10pm UK Time for over 6 years. My development towards Future Garage is a long one, haha. Here goes; I started out playing hardcore in the early 90's, bedroom style, in 97 I started to take things more seriously and with the demise of the hardcore I enjoyed a few years earlier I had moved to playing garage, breaks and broken beat all mixed up together. This in turn lead me down the dubstep path as what I was playing started to be labelled as dubstep (at least back then in the early 2000's). As dubstep started to move away from the sound I vibe to (around 2006) what has become known as Future Garage became the sound I play.
Q. L2S seems to be going from strength to strength. What have you got coming up for the label?
A. Lots! I have a new E.P out soon called "Eytmology Of Maureen" that will try to recap people on the tracks that helped form Future Garage, it will include unreleased tracks from 2006 and 2007. I also have my new single "Pillowtalk" forthcoming which will include heaps of remixes by loads of my favourite producers. Other stuff we have forthcoming is the Clueless LP (its gonna blow peoples minds!), ReSketches E.P "Refract" which is already getting great reviews even though its not out yet! A Future Garage E.P from Scott "It's A London Thing" Garcia which is really gonna turn some heads, and releases from Mark Krupp, Mr One Two, GenoC1de and to name just a few!
Q. What producers are currently inspiring/exciting you?
A. Todd Edwards (as always) is making some great new material, Submerse, Para, Littlefoot, Sentinels, Price, Erra, 8th Note, Chemikal Recipe, Duncan Powell, Monz, DJ Mussolini, KingThing, M2J, TR*P, Jaime, Rush'd, CRST, Pledge, Hissy Fit, Ollie Macfarlane, Digital Fortress, Whyres, FaltyDL, Mr Pud, everyone I've already mentioned and heaps more! There's literally so much great music being made at the moment!
Q. And finally, you're in Melbourne in December, playing a show at The Croft with myself and Fiend, what can Melbourne audiences expect from a Whistla set?
A. Lots of skippy swingy beats, massive basslines, skewed melodies, dreamy pads, psychedelic vocals, a crazy man behind the decks, and most of all a great night!
You can catch Whistla playing at Sciatica at The Croft Institute in Melbourne alongside Fiend and Dust on December 18th.
Download Whistla's promo mix here
Tracklist:
Price - Contempt For All Humankind (Whistla Remix) [Dubplate]
DJ Cable & Fused Forces - Nocturnal [Dubplate]
Checan - Butcha Riddim [Tipping Point]
Whistla - Pillowtalk [forthcoming L2S Recordings]
Jaime - These Words [forthcoming L2S Recordings]
Mr One Two - Tibetan Bowl [forthcoming L2S Recordings]
Whistla & Littlefoot - Cruel Devil [forthcoming Night Audio]
Rush'd - Easy [Dubplate]
Tricky Strutt - Dubbed Out Spacestep [Dubplate]
Para - Tell Me [Dubplate]
Submerse - 2RU Groove (Whistla's Earth Crisis Mix) [L2S Recordings]
DJ Mussolini - Space Adventures [Maxundralhaus]
Ocelot - Our Time (Chemikal Recipe Remix) [Dubplate]
Pixelord - Oh Lord (Submerse Bio-Boost Remix) [forthcoming Car Crash Set]
Whistla - Never Again [L2S Recordings]
Whistla - How We Do [L2S Recordings]
Erra - Butterz [L2S Recordings]
Sergio Ant - Minimal Ecology [Panbas]
ReSketch - Give It Them [forthcoming L2S Recordings]
Whistla - Rain Hits The Sun [forthcoming L2S Recordings]
CJ Reign - Yaadein [L2S Recordings]
More from Whistla here and LS2 Recordings here
Whistla on Soundcloud
and Myspace
