GS14: LEFTSIDE WOBBLE - INTERVIEW + LIVE SET FROM THE GRAND SOCIAL DUBLIN, 29th SEPT 2012

Groovement Soul

Groovement Soul Podcast No.14 is Leftside Wobble's live set from our monthly residency in The Grand Social on the 29th September 2012. Check the grooves that rocked the party on the night. INTERVIEWQuestions by Colin Leopold Q: Where is your favourite place to (a) have a beer (b) have a dance (c) eat dinner? A: Not that I'm swerving the question but in all three cases it's anywhere where the company is great. Q: Do you think there are less boundaries between soulful music in 2012? A: If anything, I think over time dance music has become even more controlled by ever more micro genres. In the 80s before the advent of house music, the better clubs weren't afraid to book DJ's that played diverse music that crossed genre boundaries. New York DJ's such as Mark Kamins, John 'Jellybean' Benitez, Arthur Baker and Francois K were so good at putting together diverse sets that fused multiple musical influences together. Those DJ's have probably been my biggest influence. Q: What advice would you give to best join the dots in a DJ set?A: For me, it's about being in tune with the crowd and not being afraid to play with the mood and energy of the room through the music you're playing. Q: What DJs do you listen to? A: As many as I can. Monday's generally involve me booting up the iPlayer to listen to Giles Petersens show but I also ensure I download mixes from my favourite club DJ's. People like Chris Duckenfield, Gerd Jensen and Move D. Q: You worked a lot with Dazed and Confused magazine in the 90s, what magazine do you read these days and if you could set up your own non-music magazine what would it cover and what would it be called?A: Most of my reading habits have moved to digital media formats these days, but I still keep an eye on what's happening in print publishing via a great blog called Magculture. It specialises in finding those really interesting micro publishing titles that cross the boundaries between culture, fashion and music. From a digital sperspective though, I'm really excited by tablets as a magazine format. There's a really great iPad magazine called Letter To Jane the reminds me very much of the early days of Dazed & Confused in the way that it does really original stuff with it's publishing medium. In the same way that Dazed made you think differently about print media, Letter To Jane does the same with interactive media. Not that I've got any ambition to set up my own magazine, but if I did it would definitely be something for digital tablets. As for a name, Jefferson Hack got there first when he named his Dazed & Confused spin-off Another Magazine. Q: Where do you find your new music? Name your hottest recent discovery or 'one to watch'? A: Soundcloud has obviously become a very important source of music discovery for me in recent years as I love the direct contact with artists it provides which isn't coloured by the opinions of others such as music journalists or record store employees. I obviously don't rely solely on Soundcloud for music discovery, but I just try to ensure my ears/eyes are always open, whatever the source – radio, social media, email newsletters, promos etc. The most exciting band I've discovered this year is a band called Public Service Broadcasting – so hard to describe but in a strange way they remind me of Lemonjelly. Search out a track of theirs called Spitfire on YouTube and you'll get what I mean, the visuals are such an integral part of their music. Q: You did an edit of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows. Who's your favourite Beatle and why? | A: That's a really hard one as it constantly flips between John Lennon and George Harrison. At the moment it's George but probably only because I recently bought the Martin Scorsese documentary about his life 'Living In The Material World'. I've just been asked to DJ at an evening to launch the DVD/Blue Ray release of The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour' movie so my opinion will probably change again after I've been exposed to the psychedelic joys that evening brings! Q: What's the last country you visited to DJ and what was your best, and worst memory of it? A: I've just got back from Barcelona, where I was DJing for a night called Playtime. It was at a brand new venue on the Ramblas which if I'm to be totally honest, I had grave reservations about seeing as the Ramblas is in the centre of Barcelonas tourist district. But it was a fantastic little club with the best small club sound system I've come across outside of London's Plastic People. My favourite memory of the weekend was meeting so many friends that I've made over the last few years through things like Soundcloud. It's a beautifully strange sensation when you feel you know somebody pretty well but you're only meeting them face to face for the first time. The worst part of the weekend was arriving back at my hotel for a quick kip 15 minutes before check-out and finding out that my room was already booked by somebody else so I had no way of bribing the staff into allowing me an extra couple of hours in the room! Q: Did you go to Notting Hill Carnival this year? How was it and what are your top three essentials to bring to make it a good Carnival? A: Notting Hill Carnival is one of my highlights of the year and I'm lucky enough to DJ on what for me is Carnivals best sound system – Sancho Panza. I also run an after party with the Sancho crew on the Sunday night. As for three essentials, 1.) A smile 2.) Your dancing feet 3.) Some form of carnival guilty pleasure – pick your own!