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My name is DJ Zinhle

South African house music and DJs continue to grow and shine, but some stars stand out undoubtedly brighter than the rest, and Her Majesty, DJ Zinhle is one such shining star. Youthful, talented and driven, a lot has happened in the life of this sexy DJ since we featured her in our 5 Mins… column last year March. Tendai had the chance to pull her out of her hectic schedule and find out what new heights she has reached since…

From your humble beginnings back in 2004 you have now grown into a formidable force in the music industry, how does it feel to have come this far?

I am trying to take it all in, one day at a time. I do however feel that there is a lot that I need to do and achieve, when I look back at how far I have come, to me it only looks like the beginning.

Did you ever think that one day you would be where you are now? And what kept you going?

I am really not sure how to measure the success but I can see that a big change has happened and that I have grown. I am very humbled by how far I have come. I am a planner and a hard worker, I am passionate and dedicated to what I do but what has kept me going is the support I get from my brother Zakhele and my mentor Oskido.

Your hit single My Name Is has taken the airwaves and dancefloors by storm. What was the concept behind the making of the track?

Well, originally the song was just an instrumental and Maphodisa and I were sure that it was complete without any vocals. Oskido felt that it needed a vocalist; he then invited Busiswa, who took it to the level of celebrating woman power.

You were recently in Miami for the 2012 Winter Music Conference, how was that trip and what were the highlights?

This was my third trip to Miami, but this year was the biggest year for me personally. The song My Name Is was being played everywhere in Miami and I just felt overwhelmed and proud. Louie Vega dubbed it “the song of Miami 2012” and that for me is an achievement I will always cherish. Oskido was there and hearing him say how proud he was of me made this experience complete.

Fuse Academy [a DJ Academy dedicated to teaching lady DJs] is your other baby, how has that venture turned out over the years?

We are 3 years old now and we are growing stronger, the school has established itself and we are now top of mind for a lot of females who want to learn how to DJ.

Do you think the DJ industry is still full of misconceptions about female DJs?

Not anymore, DJs are DJs now, no gender issues, ladies have made their mark and are finally being accepted.

Having been mentored by DJ Fresh amongst others, do you now have a young mentee of your own?

I am currently busy with a project called “S.H.E” which stands for Sassy House Experience; here I mentor up and coming female DJs. I am using the experience that I have to help them grow in the industry. Miss Pru has been under my wing for a bit now and she is part of S.H.E; seeing her grow in the industry makes me so proud.

Over the years in your musical career, what has been your fondest memory?

Miami definitely takes the spot.

What next can we expect from DJ Zinhle?

The music video for My Name Is.

Lastly, is there still hope for all those boys out there who stare at your posters on their bedroom wall, or has Her Majesty now found her King?

There is still hope, I am single and ready to mingle… lola!

Crazy White Boy

Proving that sarcasm (the duo) and soulful groovy beats (their music) can live in harmony, Ryan Murgatroyd and Konstantinos “Kosta” Karatomoglou have hit the big time with their catchy dancefloor friendly tunes. Having met at the Soul Candi Institute of Music, where Ryan was lecturing and Kosta a student, the two have gone on to form one of the most distinct and appealing sounds under an equally distinct and appealing name: Crazy White Boy.

Not content with a SAMA nomination for record of the year, or having the fastest chart-climber in 5FM history with their single Love You Better ft. Ruegroove, the group has spun their unique brand of “ghetto tech” all over Europe and worked with international labels like Toolroom Records and Ministry of Sound amongst others.

Nathan Kabingesi caught up with the boys just before they jetted of to Europe to chat about the meaning of ghetto tech, being big in Canada and the release of their first studio album, Zoma:

I smell a story behind the name…?

RM: There are some things that should remain a mystery….

You describe your sound as ghetto tech, what does that even mean?

KK: Ghetto is the term we use to describe its roots and tech is just the closest genre we could link it to. It just sounds the way it does and the name suits it.

What were some of your (individual) early musical influences?

KK: Well for me it starts as early as Phil Collins and from there it evolved from Daft Punk to early German techno. Music that influenced CWB directly would be Booka Shade, Patrick Chardronnet, Stimming, Robert Babicz….

RM: Kosta wanted to say Michael Jackson but he is dead and he gets OCD about that stuff. Don’t believe that Phil Collins cover up for a second.

There’s no small amount of 90’s Kwaito elements in your productions; if you could work with any of the OG artists from that period, who would it be?

RM: Okay, you caught us, we’ve been using a Tkzee drumloop in every release since White Men Can’t Dance, sometimes we turn it up, sometimes down, but it’s always there, always, [laughs].

What production tools do you prefer using?

RM: Most of the CWB stuff starts off in Reason, where we write chord structure and play with the groove a bit and when it starts to gel together it all goes out in midi to Cubase. From there things get a little more technical. We use Omnisphere a lot, in my opinion it is the most unique sounding synth in the world and really organic which is refreshing. And then its all about the right mix – we gain structure a lot, take everything down to a nice low level before we run any compression or EQ on it. We use a lot of Sonnox and even some of the older Waves plugins for basic vocal processing and Eqing. We went through a phase where we used to sum everything in analogue – bounce stems out and take them into the SPL mixdream, sum them, and record them back in through a good DA converter. It made a huge difference – that’s what we did with Love You Better, and that track translated perfectly on every single system we ever played it on. So ja, summing is really important too.

KK: Boobs!

Best (or worst) times/places for brainstorming?

RR: That is the toughest part; inspiration can come at any time and sadly most of the time it can be difficult to just start writing so we have loaded up both our Macbooks with everything running in our studio.

What fuels you during marathon studio sessions?

RM: Shhh, I hear narcs…

Do you play a lot of your own productions in your DJ sets?

RM: We ONLY play our own productions in our DJ sets/live performances. Until we’re really drunk, and then sometimes things get confusing.

With gigs all over the country and the amount of time you spend in the studio, do you still have time for your projects outside of CWB (Electric Sushi etc.)?

RM: Yeah, we have gotten pretty good at time management. I still work very closely with the Soul Candi Institute of Music, as their Educational Director, and Kosta and I both produce music under other aliases.

You went on a European tour last year and you’re about to head out again. What’s your verdict on these tours?

RM: Its tough playing overseas until you are REALLY well known. Our first tour had some amazing moments, and some very challenging ones too. But we played 20 gigs, and we returned a lot wiser, and that experience translated into a clearer idea of what we wanted and didn’t want to do with the album, and in general, in terms of the future of CWB. The biggest lesson from overseas is that, despite the proliferation of soulless, intentionally generic house-pop rubbish into commercial club-land, there are still small pockets of highly educated house music lovers who want to hear new, fresh, and authentic sounds. And we’re gonna keep working until we’re playing the right venues, the right sound systems, and the right crowds, all the time.

KK: Europe has actually kind of become our second home and we are currently on our 40th odd gig here this weekend.

Did you pick up on any shifts in music trends/tastes while over there?

RM: Yeah we LOVE David Guetta now.

You’ve had chart success in Portugal and Canada of all places; any countries you’ve been surprised to find your music being well received?

KK: London is somewhere where we didn’t really expect to work in but have already started gigging here and it has been really well received. People know all the words to some of our tracks and that is truly a blessing.

You’ve had your music released on some pretty influential international labels, has this helped raise your profile overseas?

RM: It has definitely helped us; the bottom line is in this day and age DJing just isn’t enough. Production is the way into Europe and the rest of the world with good support from labels.

Apart from promoting your new album, what’s next for Crazy White Boy?

CWB: We will be shooting the Zoma video soon and after that we will be doing album tours and a lot of other little surprises on the way!

Having just released your first album, Zoma. Is crossover appeal something you work towards or is it a passive result of your artistic inclinations?

RM: I think CWB is a cool opportunity for us to explore our deeper, groovier, artistic leanings. Also, because it’s not what we as individual producers work on every day, we put vocals down on CWB tracks that we would never use in our individual productions. Sometimes, it helps to not be so judgemental about what is cheesy and what is ‘underground’, you kinda have to in order to make songs, as opposed to tracks.

KK: I think the crossover appeal is ‘cos we really draw influence from a lot of different styles, and we put them together, with good vocal hooks, and that’s it.

Your sound is easily recognisable without being generic, contrasting Love You Better and The Forgotten People for example; do you approach/tailor each track with an end product in mind or is it a more spontaneous sort of process?

KK: It is purely spontaneous, especially in the beginning it all started out as Ryan said with a chord progression or as a drum groove. Love You Better was a session that Ryan had made in class as a project for example….. which later became a full track. The Forgotten People was actually engineered by Behr Ellips a very talented producer from Cape Town- you should look him up; we just gave the track a rework more than a collab. The last year or so we have been experimenting a lot more with groove patterns basically making the drum tracks a lot more intricate.

Spoek Mathambo and the crush of ghosts

Spoek Mathambo, like his mysterious moniker, is very much out there, and at the same time very grounded, of the earth. Grooving to the tunes on his latest album Father Creeper (for it’s difficult material to merely listen to – as cerebrally engaging as it is, the cranium can’t help bopping, and as Master [George] Clinton decreed, “.. your ass will follow,”) it takes some time to realize that much of the sense and scenes you’re getting down to are in fact decidedly ominous.

Mathambo renders the sputtering ghosts and ashen hues behind the façade of the Rainbow Notion, but renders it – the blood and decay – into helplessly swinging hips. In fact, he cleverly inverts George Clinton’s famous line into something like ‘Free your ID, and your mind will follow.’

His musicality is just as trixy. Very much a Hip-Hop head (he started rapping at ten, and in high school edited and distributed his own underground Hip-Hop magazine), Mathambo is most associated with cutting edge, Hip-Hop fronted dance music.

His first blip on the radar was his positively sunny contributions to Watkin Tudor Jones’ The Fantastic Kill project and album, his raps lending bright relief to Waddy’s more sinister deliveries, via tracks like Bang On The Drum. His next two projects were all-out Electro, with his raps fronting beat & glitch maestros Markus Wormstorm in Sweat.X, and Sibot in Playdoe. Today Spoek’s still mostly filed in the promiscuous Dance realm of sonics, while his band reads more like a Punk-Funk outfit – Drums, Electric guitar, and horns.

It helps that said instrumentation is inflected by, nay, infected with sophisticatedly crunchy bass & beats, and deliciously pixilated ambience.

So here we have a live groove band of the most dangerous kind. One that lingers in the mind long after the dance floor reverie has ended… long after the body comes to rest.

With lyrics that seep into one’s sleep.

The Creeping Father

There is a watershed separating Mathambo’s increasingly successful work as side-, wing- and frontman, and his new realm as self-governing musical artist.

Following Sweat.X and Playdoe’s minor ripples in greater ponds, Mathambo has been featured as rapper/vocalist on several successful dance/remix tracks spanning continents. But with debut solo album Mshini Wam, Mathambo tasted authorial identity.

The stylistic shift is significant.

Spoek Mathambo, the band, comprises many elements. From gifted childhood and high school friends, to seethingly talented musicians he got to know locally and from “making inroads internationally”, the Mathambo fold is essentially a Family of contributors.

A collaborator at heart – true to his approach of the music sounding “how we feel it, in the moment” – Spoek is now in the delicious position of surrounding himself with a variety of talented and complementary artists, as opposed to playing a vital role in someone else’s board game.

“My big thing is just to celebrate people who I admire and others who have also supported me. I think of it as resources: Having these people who don’t just pull their weight you know? Who end up being a big part of the personality of the given project.”

What be the ghost of Bones

BPM: You seem to prefer a sort of a scruffiness, a bit of asymmetry to your sound, especially on Father Creeper, compared to the sort of clean-cut precision many bands go for?

“We just tend to do things the way we do them, the way we see them, vibe them, you know what I mean? That’s how we enjoy it. That’s one side. The other side is we do a lot of D.I.Y – a lot of rough sounds so that’s the way it comes out. I think with time things will change – grow and develop. But this is where it’s at now.”

BPM: In your tracks, I get a feeling like there’s a crush of ghosts, wandering the pavements and clubs and alleys. As if your songs prefer a menagerie of passing characters rather than the usual singular hero or protagonist?

“I guess in a sense. That’s the one side of it, the other side is just sort of storytelling from a lot of different characters’ perspectives, but, at the same time I would say that [Father Creeper] is a lot more personal than any other project I’ve been involved in, and for the most part [the songs] are first person narratives.”

BPM: You seem to be not as judgmental as a lot of other artists are. You celebrate the power of love and growth, on the one hand, but also the power of disruption and decay. As if you celebrate life in all its shades and angles?

“Yeah. But I think that’s just about honesty, y’know? It’s not just my perspective but also the inner working of a sort, from beginning to end. Not ‘This is the negative’ and ‘That’s the positive’. On [Father Creeper’s] We Can Work it’s all the different things I’ve gone through in my life. From being a little kid up to now. And not just representing one side of it, which I think is a dishonest, self-righteous approach.

I talk about my uncle, and about doing various [arbitrary] jobs.. and just what it’s like to be young and having that.. Dream [chuckles] – Y’know? You’re young and irresponsible, making decisions that don’t involve bills that have to be paid. There’s a lot of stuff that.. my 16-year old self wouldn’t like to do, that I have to do to pay the bills now.”

On emancipation and anchor

BPM: ‘Spoek Mathambo’ translates as ‘Ghost of bones’, and I’ve heard it’s a kinda derogatory phrase, where’s it come from? What is Spoek Mathambo?

“Kind of a couple of different routes. I wrote a story when I was just finishing high school and the character’s name was Spoek Mathambo. I got that name from this local sit-com which was just my favourite sit-com at the time, someone in there said it. I’ve really had a lot of rap names, like, Scientific rap names – I’ve been rapping since I was ten, and I’d be going through dictionaries, reading through the pages looking for names [chuckles]. With Spoek I just wanted something irreverent, something funny. As my sound has become a lot darker – If you said Spoek Mathambo five years ago it wouldn’t have the same meaning it has now – its meaning and connotations have shifted. Like it’s become Self-Actualizing y’know?”

BPM: Who is Father Creeper dedicated to?

“It’s dedicated to everyone who worked on it, yeah. It’s dedicated to a lot of my family, who’ve been very supportive… It’s a big, big milestone in my professional career. Not necessarily career-wise but in the sense of all the skills I’ve picked up. Yeah it’s dedicated to ME [laughs].”

Outside of being a mind-fudging work that mysteriously gets you down and boogying, Father Creeper is most significant as a celebration of intellectual freedom.. and the emancipation of hips. Dig in.

See album review of Father Creeper

Orbital Return – British electronic icons come full circle

In one way, my interview with Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll was every journalist’s nightmare, a bad line kept dropping and ten calls later we had only managed to assemble a fifteen minute conversation. There I was talking to half of one of Britain’s most influential electronic bands and, ironically, technology was sabotaging me.

But the warm voice on the other end revealed a healthy sense of humour and down-to-earth enthusiasm. “As soon as I heard a synthesizer I thought, ‘that is the thing for me!’” he says, reflecting on his early days. “As an artist you emulate what you get excited about, and try to express yourself in that sort of way”.

In case you don’t know, Orbital are living legends. Touted as ‘the grandmasters of English electronica’, Orbital can lay claim to half a dozen legitimate classics including 1990’s hit single Chime and Halycon (a track that any 90’s teenager will recall ecstatically). Their pioneering music surfaced at a time when electronic music as we now know it was beginning to emerge through the foundations of early rave, Hi-NRG, disco, indie and punk. When the brothers ‘joined forces’ in 1989, rave’s second wave was in full effect and reaching its tipping point.

But despite their substantial oeuvre, it was Orbital’s incendiary live performances that turned them into icons. Their legendary set at Glastonbury 1994 was a precursor to the festival’s Dance Tent which soon expanded into the Dance Village. The brothers Hartnoll challenged the idea that live electronic acts were boring and static on stage. Orbital proved that electronic music could be just as riveting and improvisational on stage as rock. Their return to the stage— 5 years after their 2004 split – proved to be the catalyst in their reformation and brand new album, Wonky.

“We got asked to do a reunion gig for 2009’s Big Chill festival” explains Phil, “the huge, warm response to our gigs encouraged us to carry on touring and two years later we thought, ‘either we must stop doing it or write some new music’. We can’t be doing reunion gigs all the time!” he laughs. “So, essentially, we did the album to inject some new music into our live sets”.

Not satisfied to keep touring with a ‘Greatest Hits’ set, Orbital returned to the studio and crafted new material. “Obviously we get influenced by current trends. Our current album has been influenced a lot by Dubstep – with that big fat bass. We love all that. The track Beelzedub started as a live remix of one of our earliest tracks Satan and people responded so well to it. There are so many sounds around us that we love to pull together and play with.” he says.

Of course a ‘come-back’ is risky business. In a career made up of so many anthemic moments, surely there must be pressure involved in producing new material? But according to Phil, “There was no pressure at all. It was a natural progression from doing all our live gigs. There was no record deal, no people breathing down our necks or anything like that. And to be honest, we’ve just done what we do and kept our fingers crossed and hope people like it. And it’s the most wonderful thing when they do. That’s the pay off, really”, he says.

It seems that their split brought both rejuvenation and retrospection, “Now that we’ve had this opportunity – rekindled our enthusiasm and got back together, I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to take it all on board, because it all went by so fast”, he says “you end up chasing your tail, instead of realising where you are. We’ve had a wonderful career and now we’re getting on a bit – so I’m definitely living in the now, rather than the future – which is what you tend to be doing. You live life thinking ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ instead of in the present”.

And it’s right in the present that you find Orbital but in a way they’re doing what they’ve always done: merging exciting elements into their inimitable Orbital sound. They have faced the ‘come-back’ challenge head on (or more accurately, head-torches on) and it’s good to have them back.

Check out Heather’s review of their new album Wonky

It takes a village

Kieron Grieve is staggeringly tall. So much so, that the espresso cup in his hand looks comical, like a giant at a children’s tea party. We’re chatting at Obz Café in Observatory, Cape Town; an inner city suburb populated with punks, hippies and students (astutely etched onto the front door is a sign saying ‘no bare feet’).

He’s known as Rubix Qube as well as Biorhythm in the psy world; the latter a collaboration with Carl Sharples of dark psy project, Luna.

‘The Village presents Spiritual Synaesthesia’ (April 20 – 22) is the launch party for the duo’s first hardcopy album, Divine Geometry, and is also the launch of the newly founded Village Records, which is behind the release itself. Carl was meant to join us today, but instead he’s knee deep in lumo helping set up the party.

“I’ve been here for the last two weeks, 18 hours a day, just blasting,” he tells me later over the phone. Carl is one of the four founders of the brand. The Village throws two events per summer season, and has grown in numbers and support. “It catches you off guard. You never know how many people are going to come, and the numbers can sometimes really surprise you! With Village Records we’re taking the music into our own hands. It’s a platform we can use to get the music out there.”

Divine Geometry was written last winter. Inspired by the group’s gigs in Portugal, and more generally what ‘sounds kiff’ on the dance floor. Kieron describes it as ‘twilight music’ (not the vampire kind…). “It’s aggressive, percussion driven, yet melodic with loads of energy.”

“We work well together creatively. I use Biorhythm as an excuse to do something I wouldn’t do in a solo project. I can be more flamboyant, and get away with it.”

The two met while studying sound engineering and both are classically trained musicians; Kieron on guitar, Carl on drums. So, between them there’s loads of musical pedigree. “Carl used to come to class in his pyjamas, while I was there in my collared shirt,” Kieron laughs wryly. “We quickly became friends, and started Biorhythm.”

Also being released at The Village is Rubix Qube’s first hardcopy album, Dark Continent. Comprised of eight tracks, six of which will be completely new. There’s a ninth too; a mix of seven tracks in ten minutes.

“I’m into the comical side of death, like the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, or The Mighty Boosh,” he says.“The album is loosely based on that concept, that, and machines…”

Luna will soon have a release too. Carl, a recognisable face behind the decks (he has dreadlocks as long as Kieron is tall), is set to release an EP early next season. “Luna’s sound is more relaxed than Biorhythm, which can be quite manic,” he says.“It’s chilled night-time stuff without the noise.”

Carl certainly has his head in the interstellar clouds. “I’m inspired by the stars and the universe,” he explains when I ask about the name Luna.“I love the mythical nature of it.”

And Rubix Qube? “I only thought about it afterwards,” says Kieron a touch sheepishly. “The challenge of a Rubix Cube is completing the process, and once it’s done, it just sits on a shelf. My music is like that progression, never completed, always changing.”

Kieron has a third project, Jam Jarr [featured in BPM Nov/Dec ‘11]. It’s a glitch-hop rap group that sees him behind the beats as Soundproof and Paul Stubbs aka Bakaman as the MC/ rapper.

“Our first track we called Lasers and Vaginas,” he says laughing.

To get your paws on both Divine Geometry and Dark Continent email: thevillagerecords@gmail.com.

The online versions will be released in conjunction with Spectral Records from Portugal on 7 May.

See Album Reviews:

Biorhythm – Divine Geometry

Rubix Cube – Dark Continent

Exclusive Interview: Jean Grae

Jean Grae is an unrivalled New York Underground MC/ lyricist; she has been carrying the torch for female Rap artists since her début with the ‘Natural Resource’ crew in the mid-nineties. Her dad is the legendary South African jazz musician Abdullah Ibrahim. He had moved their family from Cape Town to USA in the early eighties during the apartheid era.

On a late Saturday afternoon after her Friday evening performance at The Cape Town International Jazz Festival, I meet with her and her crew in the lounge area of the upmarket Pepper Club Hotel. It’s an interview that turns into an afternoon of laughs and the best conversation I have ever had.

Jean Grae [her real name is Tsidi Ibrahim] is an alias she adopted from the famous X-Men’s female hero character, Jean Grey. She is renowned for her confidence, strong delivery and intense live performances.

We explore the root of this confidence; “My mom taught us to read very early. We started having conversations from a very young age so that encouraged confidence in us. As for my attitude, my extended family in Cape Town is a lot like me [laughs], I honestly think it’s a coloured thing. We are assholes! Even the amount of cursing, it seems so normal to me. I like saying the word motha’ fucka, it just feels so right coming off the tongue,” I find myself nodding as we share a chuckle.

For all her fierceness and aggressive lyrics, Jean has been mistaken as lesbian time and time again but is quick to add that she is definitely straight. “I write songs about relationships and guys!” she states emphatically glancing over her very hip sunglasses.

I’m interested in the fact that she uses her relationships as fuel for her music, intrigued by which ones are in her life right now. “I don’t keep anyone in my circle that I don’t consider absolute family. People who surround me are able to be around me. I don’t keep weak company.”

Ironically relationships played an uncanny role in her performance at the jazz festival the previous evening. “So much went wrong. During the performance, in the middle of this intense song the wind blows the back of the stage in, nearly knocking out our drummer. I hadn’t performed that song in months because it’s so deeply personal to me. The person I wrote it about I hadn’t spoken to in a very long time and only called them that morning. Then, I finally perform it for you guys and that happens, it was way too strange.”

The stage drama aside, I certainly enjoyed watching her perform which I assure her of. “Thanks, everyone seemed relaxed though; I noticed that the Cape Town crowd is pretty much like New York. I’ll tell you this, I’m so used to the dry sarcastic sense of humour we have going on in New York and I noticed that it’s the same here. There are a lot a ‘cool kids’ hanging around like the photographers, the DJ’s or band members handing out demo’s and mixes. Everybody is into something.”

Okay, who doesn’t love New York? I’m super stoked that she compares the two cities, and I mentally high-five my home town. My focus isn’t to highlight the fact that she is a female rapper, but that she is a superb MC. I ask her what she thinks the responsibility of MC’s are… “Showcase your diversity and be as honest as possible, over-sexualising happens way too much with males and females. You know , go ahead be as sexy as you want, but don’t let it be your only draw card.”

My curiosity for the unknown compels me to ask what, about the NYC Hip Hop Underground scene, would probably surprise the rest of the world. “Backpacks weren’t a style. We actually just had to carry our stuff around, we were kids. We are also not as polarised as we are made to seem. Underground artists chat to and often work with main stream hip hop artists too,” she adds.

Friendly New Yorkers? Go figure! Her recent album Cake or Death will be out later this year, check out the first single ‘U&Me&EveryoneWeKnow’, all discerning hip-hop fans should check it out.

“I made a point of being as honest as possible with my music on this album. It will make you cry,” and again I find myself beaming in agreement.

Interview: Sean Tyas

Progressive Trance’s very own, resident Swiss DJ, and owner of Tytanium Recordings, Sean Tyas heads to South Africa this June as part of his 2012 World Tour. He was awarded Mixmag’s number eight spot in their ‘Best New DJs Poll’ in 2007, and also Beatport’s ‘One To Watch’ in 2009.

Sean is a firm favourite for any Euro-Trance lover, and is billed alongside the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Sander Van Doorn and Dash Berlin to name a few. We chat to him about what made his hit Lift so special, what it’s like being a native New Yorker living away from home and the rumours he has heard about the party freaks in SA…

Lift is such a special track, even today, for many of your fans. Have you ever considered what it is about this track that seems to have touched so many people hearts?

Simplicity. I am a super-huge advocate of very lush and complex harmonies and melodies. But there is seriously something to be said about just keeping the “less is more” focus. Melodically it tends to truly stick in one’s head.

After it blew up, you must have been tempted to emulate it. Did you?

Well Drop was the actual follow-up for it. Even though it was also really big for me, I feel I may have gone, like I said in the last question, a bit too complex. It didn’t have that “wake up in the morning and it’s the first thing I hear in my head” vibe.

Having won Sander Van Doorn’s ‘Punk’d’ remix competition back in 2006, how much would you say this impacted on your career?

Very much so. Any high profile remix contest is always a huge thing to help with visibility in a very over-saturated business. But even more so, this was a huge confidence booster. I felt that I was capable of taking on the types of project work I got.

What are some of the things you have personally learnt to keep in mind when doing remixes of other artists’ tracks?

It’s just nice to not be “attached” to the elements of the original artist, and as a result I feel no remorse to change things to my heart’s content. I try to preserve the vibe. But, if it’s one of those situations where I didn’t like the vibe in the first place, then it’s a pleasure to challenge myself to see if I can get it to be something that I love and will play.

You have played at some of EDM’s biggest festivals, namely Ultra Music Festival, Dance Valley, the fairytale styled festival Tomorrowland and Mysteryland. How differently do you plan or shape your sets for playing a big festival like that compared to a club night at a Godskitchen or Gatecrasher event for example?

Festivals are great, and I have slowly started to love them more and more. At first, I was more into the club vibe, with everyone much closer to you, it’s more personal in a club. Now, I really do love playing for the tens of thousands at big festivals just as much because that explosion of energy is just ridiculous!

What are some of your personal favourite dance floor-lifting tracks (those ones that come in after a long build-up in your set) that you love playing and have been playing for years?

My remix of Paul Webster – Time, or even older, my remix of Legend B – Lost in Love.

You are originally from New York. What made you decide to move to Switzerland when you did?

I was chasing love of course. Actually I had moved to Germany first, to do studio work only, in 2004. I met my wife while I was there, visiting her friend in Cologne. After a while of long distance dating we decided to live together in Switzerland, which is where all her family is.

Do you think you would ever move back to the States, considering that Dance music has really been taking off there over the last few years? One example I can think of, was your sold out Tytanium 100 week-end in June last year at Webstar Hall.

I doubt it, at least for the foreseeable future. I’ve dug my heels in here pretty solidly in Switzerland. It would be very difficult to move back, just the logistics of it. I do love going back to play in the States of course, all of my old friends and my family is still there. The beauty of it is that I get to visit them pretty often on extended stays.

How often do you interact with your listeners on your popular ‘Tytanium Sessions’ radio show and by what means?

Not always, but when I have the time, I will chat on Twitter while the show runs, and of course I allow anyone to submit shout-outs via my website. For quite a few weeks I actually allowed fans to vote for the track of the week on Facebook. Last week I cut that because I noticed some “questionable” accounts placing votes. Honesty and fairness don’t hold up very well these days!

Club and big room Trance music seems to be the one consistent genre that never fades amidst a plethora of ‘new’ genres popping up regularly. What do you think it is about big room Trance that keeps it right up there all the time?

It’s very digestible for any age. Even my parents love Trance, they come to the New York shows I play. The melodies, solid power and drive, plus the energy of the people at the show. What’s not to love?

What one track or artist on your iPod/Pad/Phone would fans, and possibly friends be surprised to know you have?

Some Brandon Flowers or Nine Inch Nails stuff.

South Africa. You heard much about us down here?

Heard you’re all unreal party people actually. Hope that’s true!

Yes, Sean it’s true!

Catch the ‘Sean Tyas – Tytanium Sessions’ SA Tour:

Fri 29 June | Durban at Origin

Sat 30 June | Joburg at Truth Nightclub