last year when I headed over to London for various musical happenings and meet ups with twitter and other virtual friends I had the chance to , albeit briefly, meet 8Bitch at Plastic People for the Beat Dimensions party. When one hears a name such as hers its hard not to have some kind of picture in your mind of a hard as nails lady who you wouldn't f**k with. Now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't f**k with 8Bitch but I can also safely say that she is an absolute sweetheart who is loved and much respected by many peeps out there. Truly passionate about her music, fella and friends I am honored to have her here today to talk about the influences on her music.
A name that may not have heard yet but will surely experience in 2010 be it through her music and for sure if you play DJ Hero as her body and moves were used for 3 of the characters! Recently joining the Svetlana Industries label (big shout to @Andrea3k ) expect to see and hear great things in 2010.
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This is probably the hardest thing I had to do in a while…How on Earth do you put together a list like this-where do you start and how do you compress hundreds of melodies, beats and artists into a readable format? Damn.
xx Maya
KRAFTWERK – NEON LIGHTS: This tune is my earliest memory of electronic music. My Dad’s a jazz musician and his record collection was absolutely mind blowing (until some bastards broke in this year and stole them all!). I grew up in communist Yugoslavia and getting any vinyl apart from ‘Yugoton’ was a real treat so the whole ‘Man-Machine’ album was very special to him. Apparently I absolutely loved this tune and used to do a ‘special dance’ when he put it on. Sadly, I’ve now forgotten the moves-I was far too young…However I have no doubt that my Dad’s obsession with early electronica rubbed off on me straight from day one and I have a lot to thank him for!
ROCKIT – HERBIE HANCOCK: Another one from my Dad’s crates. In my books, Herbie is an absolute genius and definitely one of the greatest artists ever. A jazz and funk maestro and electronic pioneer, he moved timelessly through music history always staying on top of his game and he’s still looking ultra fly in his shades these days despite getting on a bit. ‘Rockit’ is a bonafide electro-funk fusion and also the first tune to sample scratching and I remember being really intrigued by it…I once broke my Dad’s needle on his turntable trying to do it myself (failed obviously).
BILLIE HOLIDAY – STRANGE FRUIT: I am a massive jazz fan and when I trained in jazz solo training (as well as theory and flute) I listened endlessly to Billie, Ella and Nina. Billie Holiday’s voice still gives me goose bumps and her rendition of ‘Strange Fruit’ is immensely powerful and charged with incredible spirit of the time. Later covered by numerous black artists, Billie’s version is still the most haunting in my opinion and an important musical monument in the history of humanity.
ROOTS ft ERYKAH BADU – YOU GOT ME: I lovelovelove hip hop…I need another extra page to just write on that alone but we don’t have time. Namely Dilla, Stone’s Throw, Sa-Ra, all early hip hop, G Funk, Hyphy, crunk, new electronic hip hop, yadayada…I won’t even begin. I chose ‘You got me’ because it’s a tune that still warms my heart and I was obsessed with it when it came out. It’s got the lovely Erykah and that dnb break (from when dnb was still good) and it’s got Roots-I saw them live in NY a few years ago and they are absolutely incredible musicians, which is quite rare these days. They also fuse a lot of jazz in their production which is a big selling point for me.
THOMAS BANGALTER – TRAX ON DA ROCKS : Jumping a bit in time now, to a year when I discovered
clubs…This is one of my all time favourite records-I still play it and
shout like a madman when anyone else drops it. The production on this is
amazing and I could go on for ages analysing it but more importantly-this is a
record that reminds me of a fantastic and careless time of my life, when dance
music was fucking awesome and absolutely packed with genius producers that inspired
me immensely. I started producing at the age of 14 on Cakewalk and a crappy
Alesis drum machine my Dad gave me-it took many years for it to start sounding
half decent but still-this record has a lot to do with it!
AZTEC MYSTIC – KNIGHTS OF THE JAGUAR: ‘O no she didn’t’ I hear you say…yes, I’m afraid so. And you all love it! Everyone’s guilty pleasure tune that still brings a smile to my face…when this came out I couldn’t get enough of it-the emo strings, the arpeggio synth, the little bells in the back…I always used to finish my set with it and people went nuts! The tune later became too big for words and went all MTV but in 1998, this was MY tune.
DREXCIYA: There is only one Drexciya! I am, always have and always will be obsessed with it. It’s probably my biggest influence …I can’t even explain how Drexciya production affects me-it’s something metaphysical. I know this sounds lame but honestly, if you listen to the whole ‘Quest’ album and not drool at the end you have failed at life. Fact.
WARP RECORDS: I have to put this separately as I honestly worship this
label…I’m so grateful to Warp for all the Aphex Twin, Autechre,
Boards of Canada, Squarepusher and all the other amazing artists that have infected
my ears and tought me to look outside the box. Steve Beckett is a fuckin
badaman!
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So those are some of the key influences on the 8Bitch sound you're about to hear. Enjoy.
Also check out the Samuel And The Dragon remix over at rcrd lbl
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