Canadian resident, Eddie C, has been blowing up the house/ disco edit scene with his releases that range from classy deep to amazing slo-mo gear. He certainly has put his hip-hop roots, a love for record collecting and drum machines to good use! Every release so far has hit the spot and this totally dope feel good mix definitely delivers as well – covering all the basis while getting the discotheque grooving in no time.
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INTERVIEW
Hey Eddie. Thanks for the mix and taking the time out to answer some questions! How’s the weather up in Canada – as good as here in New York ? It’s snowing all weekend …
Hi Len. Ha! Yeah, it seems ever since I moved out here some 10 years ago from Southern Ontario, the east coast seems to have been getting more snow than here! That being said, it’s been sunny and mild lately, making for quite pleasant spring skiing conditions.
Have you been enjoying the Winter Olympics and what are your favorite events?
I should be watching them more than I have! We don’t have TV so the only chance I get is out at the pub. I do try and watch the hockey.
On to music … after your dope tracks on labels like Jisco, SleazyBeats and Endless Flight, it looks like there is starting to build quite a bit of hype around your record releases. People are catching on for sure. Are you starting to feel it?
I appreciate the kind words! It’s amazing, but I experience none of it first hand. I’ve played a couple of really great parties on the west coast recently, but around here it’s just not happening at the moment. The town I live in is quite a transient one, being a ski town. The population is always changing. It’s pretty much impossible to develop a “scene”. Not to say I don’t love it here! But if more people were into the music it would be paradise!
How would you describe your musical journey to where you are at the moment making slo-mo disco/house bombs?
Again, I’m flattered, thank you! I think most people my age learned about music through the radio, usually by making tapes. Radio was such an important medium to learn about new music, and I made tapes from the mid-late 80s well into the early 90s and still have all of them. I used to go record shopping in Toronto starting around the Acid House era, but I was buying all kinds of music. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but at that time, and even more so earlier, dance music was so much less categorized than it is today. I’ve been into so much different music over the years. I’ve just been doing whatever feels right at the time.
Your music sounds quite loose and for me the perfect tempo and blend between hip hop, house and disco. Do you have a certain approach to your productions and what kind of gear do you like to use?
Thanks! I was very much into making Hip Hop for most of the last decade. It’s only very recently that I started putting a 4/4 kick in there instead of the Boom-Bap:) A lot of the approach of the early beatdown stuff was still like making rap instrumentals. ”High on Love” on the new Karat record is a good example. Honestly I think that’s what was happening in Hip Hop at the time anyways. Jay Dee was doing a lot of ‘constant kick’ stuff. It was very natural moving into Disco-type music. Kinda backwards eh? I just do whatever feels good. Whatever feels correct at the moment. I would like to write music in a much different way than I do. I am very limited by my archaic studio, but fortunately not by my record collection!
I heard that you are also into collecting records. How did that happen and there any cool recordshops left where you live?
You know when you walk into a good record store and you immediately have to pee worse than you ever have in your life? Happens to me every time. Just the other day a friend of mine and I went to Recordland and we got out of the car and I think subconsciously we were racing each other to the door, cuz whoever gets there first will have the first picks at whatever massive collection of $3 12″s Armand bought that week. I’ve always been into vinyl. I love everything about it. The way it sounds, feels, smells. The thrill of the hunt! I couldn’t do without it.
When did you get into recording your own music?
Same story as lots of people. I started with tapes, making pause edits of my favorite parts of songs that were popular at the time. I used to repeat the part of “Peter Piper” by Run DMC that had only the Mardigras beat. I used to repeat the beginning of “It Takes Two”, the funky parts of “Pump up the Volume”. Stuff like that, just because I wanted to keep hearing it. I used to freak out over loop records back then, like 900 number or stuff like that. I had a Simon Harris record that had loops of all the great beats from the late 80s. Yeah, I just gave props to Simon Harris! I loved scratching forever too! I still have all the old DMC vhs tapes.
As far as making my own music, I always had terrible Yamaha keyboards growing up and wasn’t able to write anything I was happy with until I got to high school. We used to use a Roland JV-30, an Ensoniq EPS and Cubase. This was between 92 and 94. It was a great time to be creative because the music was changing so quickly then. I took a long break from writing and didn’t get back into it until ’02 when I went to visit some family in Port-au-Prince. My friend there was making Dancehall and really bad Trance. He burned me a copy of the program he was using. I’m still using it, but it’s very limiting. Since then I’ve acquired a few old synths and drum machines and some percussion instruments, but still using the same shit program. It’s kind of nice to not have so many options I guess.
You mention percussion, do you record any other live instruments over your drumtracks or samples?
I do sometimes yes! I’ve recorded lots of completely original material, but none that I’m ready to play for other people quite yet. I play a lot of the synth parts and bass lines, sometimes all the way through with no loops, always without quantizing. I sometimes add handclaps, shakers, congas, various other things, but I have a terrible microphone so the sound isn’t always the best.
What current producers are rocking it for you?
Dam Funk, Ray Mang, Theo Parrish, Andres, Harvey, Anton Zap, Omar S, LTJ Experience and Riccio, Smith & Mudd, Disco Deviance, Social Disco Club, The Revenge, Mark E, The Mole, Madlib, so many…
What releases have you got in the pipeline and should people be looking out for?
I did a remix for Sean Brosnan which should be out now on Need Want with a Ray Mang version on the a-side!
Karat 41 “Wonderful EP” – this was supposed to be my first record should also be out this week or next…
I have a record with Home Taping is Killing Music in about a month, a new 7 inches of Love, and a few more in limbo at the moment:)
What 5 tracks did you listen to today?
Dorothy Ashby – The Moving Finger
MaryLou Williams – Praise the Lord
Woods Empire – Universal Love
Smith & Mudd – Le Suivant (album)
Dam Funk – Toeachizown (album)
You also worked for a record shop, when was that and how long for?
Yes! That was about 4 years ago at Goldy Music in Victoria. I would work at a record shop in an instant again if there was one close by. Nathan Jonson (Hrdvsion) worked there at the same time. Too many good stories to start talking about it now. It’s the ultimate social environment. You know that scene in “Rockers” in the crazy record store? That’s kind of what is was like;)
Are you into vintage motorbikes? I think I’ve spotted some real nice Norton or Triumph bikes with your name …
I like to think that I am, it’s actually just a loose fantasy of mine inspired by”Rockers”. I’m way more into skiing.
What is the link of you blog again?
www.redmotorbike.blogspot.com
Would you like to give a shout out to anyone?
To my beautiful wife Brena!! To all my friends back home in Ontario. To Brendan, thanks for buying my records! To everyone still buying wax and to all my skier friends who won’t be reading this.
Tracklisting:
1. Travis’s record player doesn’t work
2. Smith & Mudd – Wem (Claremont 56)
3. Riccio & LTJ – Laughable (Hidden History)
4. Linkwood – Nectarine (Prime Numbers)
5. Dam Funk – Rollin’ (Stones Throw)
6. The Russell Brothers – The Party Scene (instrumental)
7. Mark E – White Skyway (Under the Shade)
8. Destroyers – ‘Lectric Love (Lucci Capri Edit) (Messalina)
9. Daniel Wang – In the Street (Balihu)
10. Mr. Chinn – Mr Chinn Gets it Together (American Standard)
11. Positive Force – We Got the Funk (Sugarhill)
12. One Way feat. Al Hudson – Music (MCA)
13. Fast Eddie – Can You Still Dance (DJ International)
14. Trus’ Me – Sucker for a Pretty Face (Prime Numbers)
15. Prince – Lady Cab Driver (Warner Bros)
16. Man Friday – Love Honey (Vinylmania)
