under the influence with...domu

Onwards on upwards with the 'Under the Influence with...' series after the most recent (and excellent) guest posts from Greymatter and Scrimshire.

This time round we have the mighty Dominic Stanton, otherwise known as Domu. Just last weekend I was in London and his name came up. As well as the music he makes and plays the resounding words from everyone around the table was that he truly is a gent. It is always great to hear that said about people who you admire musically.

Domu runs the TrebleO label where you can also find a great weekly read on his blog. Always interesting, sometimes, amusing, never boring and frequently thought provoking.

One of my favourite Domu piece's is his Fat Ass Whoppin' Mix of Get Down by 12th Floor off the Urban Visionaries: Jugglin' With Raw Fusion compilation but most recently I've been blown away by the release of the 2-CD collection of 'One Offs, Remixes and B-Sides' on Tru-Thoughts that span many years of this producer/DJ/artist's career. This incredible collection is remarkable in its range of musical sounds that cover work with artists such as Daedelus, Jazzanova and Cinematic Orchestra with the seminal "The Man With The Movie Camera".

"Over the 15-or-so years since a teenaged Dominic Stanton first pitched up in London’s Dollis Hill to sign to 4Hero’s legendary Reinforced Records – with his avant garde drum and bass outfit, Sonar Circle – the man behind the many monikers has built up a formidable reputation, DJing all over the world and releasing a total of eight albums, under various guises and aliases, on labels from Talking Loud to Ninja Tune. Under the Domu name he found his main niche, emerging as one of the main players in the world of broken beat and soulful electronica.
While he is primarily known as a major force in the West London broken beat crowd, Domu has always kept it fresh and taken inspiration from all manner of unlikely sources and scenes, moving with his instincts and developing further aliases and collaborations"

Buy 'One Offs, Remixes and B-Sides': Etch Shop (Label), emusic, Amazon (UK, US), Boomkat

So today, Domu talks about and mixes his musical influences from the early 90's and once again we are told the stories behind the songs, the reason why they make him tick and how these sounds have have an influence, or inspiration over this prolific producers music that we listen to today. At least some part of the journey explained. I for one surely and excited about truly honored to have these here.

Much thanks mate.

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Inspiration. Where does it come from? How do you obtain it? Do you need inspiration to talk about your inspirations? You could argue that everything you ever see, hear, smell or taste effects you in some way throughout your life so far. Every person you meet, every place you go, it’s all in there. Here are some of my musical ones from the last twenty years or so, as 12 was the age I really started to notice music and its effect on me, on my feelings and those around me.

1) Massive – Unfinished Sympathy. It just crumbles me up into a little ball every time I hear it. 1991, I was 13. This was me at my deepest in adolescent uncertainty. I latched all my angst onto it, and all of a sudden found something that was kind of Hip Hop but wasn’t, it was a bit sad but people danced to it. This record was huge in the UK at the time, but mired by the bands name as a result of the first Iraq War, as ‘Attack’ was dropped to comply with 90’s political correctness standards. I finally bought it on my 17th birthday, after digging for a while I came across the original 12” with picture cover from a local DJ selling his collection in his closing down shop. Definitely meant to be mine.

2) Shut Up and Dance – The Green Man. After being deeply interested in Rave, Hardcore then Jungle, I often look back at the early days to see which tracks stand out and which ones were just of the time. Shut Up and Dance must be applauded for the way they melded Hip-Hop, Ragga, House and Pop to come up with something so truly British and unique. I must admit people were sampling anything at some points, but the strings used in this opened up a more mature and emotional soundscape which truly excited me. It was early 1992 and I was waiting for my Soundlab turntables to arrive as presents for my 14th birthday. The months between March and July spread on forever. This track will always remind of that anticipation, waiting for an event to occur that would completely alter the course of my life.

3) 4hero – Journey To The Light. I don’t think any one track has excited me so much in my whole life. My best friend Jaimie and I listened to it again and again, trying to work out how they did the time-stretching bit (we eventually learnt it was done with something called a ‘Harmonizer’), slowing it down, playing to copies at the same time. I think more than any other track it inspired me to try and make this kind of dark yet light emotive and experimental electronic music.  That year I sent Jaimie a joke Christmas card from ‘Dego, Marc, Ian and Gus at Reinforced’ because we were so obsessed with their records at that time. Three years later they had picked up on out demos and were willing to give us a leg up onto the scene.

4) Dillinjah – Jah No Ya Big. I loved Goldie, Photek, 4 hero, Peshay, Bukem and loads of others at the time, but kind of idolised Dillinjah. This is my favourite Amen track of all time, it contains loads of beat tricks, detail and edits that fascinated me and would lead me to copy and try to emulate them through most of my musical career. Dillinjah was a true engineer, someone who pioneered a sound and the abilities the technology of the time allowed, and then some. Of all my heroes of the time who lost it a bit, Dillinjah has always been my saddest.

5) Joyce – Aldea De Quem. Come 1996 and Acid Jazz was in full swing, possibly starting to die out a bit. I was listening to loads of different music as I grew up, notably through the innovation of discovering Gilles and a new found world interest in Funk, Soul and Jazz. But through Blue Brazil I found something that would interest my rhythmical mind as well as my harmonic. The summer I did my GCSE exams I would sit in the garden on those long, hot sunny days and listen to music being sung in Portuguese. It just felt right. Of all the tracks on that compilation that led me to want more and more, Joyce jumped straight out as an instant repeat listen. It made me think loads about hooks, melody and arrangement, cramming so much intensity and beauty into such a relatively short song.

6) Portishead - Numb. They epitomize my desire to fuse disparate music, the urge to cleanse your soul with the art you can create. I love everything about the seemingly dark and desperate world they invoke, the slightest glimmer of hope shinning through on the odd track, but the overall mood of intolerable introspection and gloom. They bought me back to Hip Hop, opened my eyes to another world of sampling and musicality I would have never considered at the time as a devout Junglist. Seriously, they changed my life. I danced with Beth Gibbons when I was 19 years old. Desperately trying to say something to challenge her colossal depth in my mind, I whispered to her “we are all hypocrites aren’t we?” “Yes”, she replied “and the older you get, the worse you get.”

7) Jon Lucien – Who Will Buy. After wrongly assuming it was Roy Ayers, I asked my friend Marin whom this song was by. The hunt led me to buy the Jazz Juice series, which in turn led me onto many other great records. But the story behind this song, seeing as I had never watched Oliver or had any idea who Lionel Bart was, inspired my early producers mind immensely. A composer who could neither read or write a single note of music from 40 years ago? Amazing! That was all the persuading I needed to not be arsed to learn these seemingly essential talents to make it in the industry. Maybe if Jon Lucien wasn’t so brilliant I would have, and who knows where I would be now. Anyway, it made me happy, one of the first songs I could listen to as a growing man feeling happy in my skin.

8) Stevie Wonder – You Got It Bad, Girl. Of all the searching through Stevies’ classic 70’s productions, I still come back to this one again and again. Having realized I was obsessed with the sound of analogue keyboards, the synth and leadlines played on this record convinced me I had to own some of my own. The warmth and emotion that flowed out was obviously due mostly to the gentle caress of Wonders deft fingertips, but something in the sounds I could make out here taught me a little about the emotion I wanted to try and create.

9) Likwid Biskit – Complete Worries. This and the last selection are completely locked together in my mind. It was where I drew the comparison between then and now. Kaidi Tatham and IG Culture working together has been some of the most inspirational examples of raw talent to come from anyone I have had the pleasure of knowing personally. There are loads more, but this was one of the first I bought and played a heck of a lot. As daring as it accomplished, it made many of my friends question the direction my taste was heading off to.

10) Herbert – The Audience. I play it all the time. It is one of the records I attribute to my allowance of  4/4 music in my life. It has such crossover appeal and is so exquisitely made I regard it completely as a classic. It’s effect on crowds never lets me down and still moves me every time I hear it. Such a simple hook that comes in for the last 3 minutes of the track is so perfect to play to a dance floor as a message from the DJ. “You and us together, together in this room. You will not remember this passing moment soon.” Brilliance. It also taught as a producer the power of the ride cymbal to lift a track.

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Domu Inspirations Mix 09 by cubikmusik

Comments

[cubikmusik]

glad you like it mate. i really do love this series. glad i've gotten more interest in it recently. amazing to hear how people were influenced.
yeh, i was surprised how close we were in age also.

cheers
c

[idleberg]

lovely! a lot of those record mean something to me, made me realise domu is about the same age as i am :)