We were fortunate enough to have the brilliant, up and coming, New York-based producer and DJ Policy come in to Allsorts Radio on SubFM last week to do an interview and mix for us, but sadly we had some problems archiving the show. Because of that we quickly rustled up a written interview and got some streams of tunes from his forthcoming album on Rush Hour so that you don't have to miss out! Because that's the sort of lovely people we are here at Allsorts! :)
We understand you've not been making music very long, tell us how you got in to it
Well, I've always been a musician. I started out playing piano, then flute, and then the guitar. Growing up in St. Louis, I was heavily into classic rock. Luckily, I developed a taste for jazz and instrumental music, which I think were important to eventually coming to appreciate electronic music. It wasn't until about seven years ago, when I was active as an independent filmmaker, that I started experimenting with electronic music production for soundtrack scoring purposes. I didn't start regularly producing the kind of music I'm doing now until about late 2009.
How did you hook up with Rush Hour for your forthcoming album?
Back in 2010, I got hooked onto their Direct Current series, and on a whim, I decided to contact them one day. It was probably the second label I'd ever sent demos to. They checked out my Soundcloud page and got back to me the next day asking to reserve a couple of tracks (Disco Report and Lost and Free), both of which will be on the album.
We hear you use a lot of hardware to produce, tell us a bit about your studio set up
My set up is pretty simple, but I do like the hands-on element of hardware. I use an Akai sampler pretty heavily, along with some rack synths. I also use a 4-track cassette recorder, and some effects I've built as part of my chain. In general, I like bringing sounds from outside the computer into my recordings - it's just something I'm used to. Cubase is the software I've used since I got it free with a cheap audio interface years back.
How did you go about writing the album? And did you have a specific idea in mind when you started?
When I first signed to Rush Hour, we discussed making an album, but there wasn't a specific idea that I was to follow. The next year I started trying to work towards completing a set of tracks for the album, but I eventually gave up because it was a lot harder than I had expected. I just kept making tracks as I'd always been, taking a few weeks per track and just kept sending them off to Christiaan. In the end, he had like 40+ tracks to choose from and I think he had a better perspective than me for seeing which tracks went together cohesively.
What music do you listen to at home?
I'm always busy working on my own material, but when I hear music I really like, I'll listen to it over and over for days. So it's easier for me to mention tracks that I've obsessed about over the years, like "Airbag" by Radiohead, "Southern Comfort" by Burial, "All is Full of Love" by Bjork. There's even a random track from the film "The Last Emperor", called "Rain (I Want A Divorce)" by the composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, that I got hooked on recently. It's just an extremely moving piece of an amazing soundtrack. Something recent that I can't get enough of is the album "Motor City" by Sand Circles, released on Not Not Fun earlier this year.
Have you always lived in New York? What do you think of the music scene here? And who are some people locally who you find inspiring?
I've lived in NYC since 1997 and had my first club experiences at Twilo. That was ages ago. But I really appreciate that there seems to be an increasing number of events happening and places to hear great underground electronic music. Ever since I started going to Turrbotax in early 2010, I've noticed a difference in the crowds. I love the enthusiasm here. And I think the musical output of this city is really inspiring. When I think of music that is synonymous with the energy of this place, I can't help but think of Falty DL. I've followed him since his first album, and his music actually helped me realize where I might fit in.
What are some of your plans for the future, both project-wise and aesthetically speaking?
After the album, I've got a few 12" releases in the works, on other labels. I'll reveal those in time :)
Check out Policy on his Facebook.
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