Ian DPM Mixx
We welcome taste-maker Ian DPM for #18 of our Tapes series. 1/2 of the powerhouse label Scuffed Recordings, owner of Definite Party Material (the match to his namesake), part of the team at Lobster Theremin, and a talented producer and DJ. Ian DPM's mixes and music span from techno, electro, breaks, house, and beyond with a prominent sampling style that is always vibrant and full of energy.
The taste level is what sets Ian DPM out from the rest and his curation comes with razor-sharp precision. Intuition has had him championing music from across electronic music spheres and his label Scuffed Recordings has found a special place in the center of the UK's electronic music scene pumping out consistent releases and continuously earning its spot as one the most innovative underground labels around.
Ian DPM excels in everything they put his mind to Tapes #18 is just another clear and brilliant example of this.
Tracklist
Yamaneko - Lily’s Dream Fountain
Mental Overdrive - Repeat: Then: Repeat
Pugilist - Your Doing It Wrong
James Bangura - Denitia Junction
Forest Drive West - Ritual
Stefan Goodchild - Wendy
Fjeldheim - Barokko
Hidden Element - Kontinuum
Silene - Ozaki
Bakongo - Thirteen
Blanco - Anakin
Cassius Select - Who Teh
Letabruthaknow - DANCEFLOORPULLINUP
K Wata - What Do U Want? (Hard Mix)
Clemency - Biblical Names (Boofy Remix)
Will Hofbauer - JBU (’18 Mix)
Keplrr - Full Contact
DJ Durbin - Don’t Hurt Me
Beneath - A Shrill Manner
Despina - Form In Foam
Breaka & Frazer Ray - The Loudest Woiioii Ever
Chungo - Evade
Hi Ian! How are you?
I'm good thanks! Happy & healthy and enjoying the fact that the sun is coming out & things are starting to look up again after a challenging year!
Tell me about your mix, what was the inspiration behind it?
I wanted to toe the line between something super hype & something you can listen to in the background, I like the feeling of being sucked back in when the music goes from hypnotic & zoned-out to in your face and I've been playing around with this in my mixes at home for a while. As always I drew for tunes that toe the line between a few genres so the first listen isn't too predictable. There’s also a sprinkling of forthcoming stuff from friends that I’m excited about too!
I can hear so many influences in what you make and play, do you have a particular method when it comes to choosing your samples?
I think once I get past the stage of messing around with loops I have a general idea of the "Feel" of the track. Not so much in club terms but I kinda have little pictures in my head of what the track could soundtrack and that affects the texture & instrumentation. The samples generally act as “mise-en-scene” for the picture of the track I have in my head I guess/ It’s mostly just from archive video I have on in the background when I’m doing other stuff and acapella’s but I’ve recently bought an FM radio because I thought it’d be fun to work with samples that can’t be recovered or replayed. I’ve also got a shelf full of bargain bin records across all genres I’ve collected over time that I’ve started sampling for a new project.
How did you start producing and DJing?
I studied music technology at college so producing came first. I actually failed/dropped out of some other courses and picked it up in my second year but I'd decided I wanted to do something in music so I stayed on another year part-time just to finish off the course. It was more recording-focused but gave me enough of a foundation to be able to learn more at my own pace.
I got into DJing during uni after I'd got sucked into dance music in my first year (nothing headsy, it was the "cheeky" deep house time around the early 2010s). There were a lot of house parties so we used to have little mixes then. I didn't really get into club djing until I moved to Bristol 6 years ago but I'd been doing radio for a couple of years by then. I wasn't super active in getting my name out as a DJ, to be honest, but people were aware of my channel & Noods show so people started hitting me up off the back of that.
How does your channel ‘Definite Party Material' and your artistry as Ian DPM influence each other?
Definite Party Material came before Ian DPM did in my opinion. I made the channel as somewhere to chuck tunes I like in the same vein as hurfyd, moskalus, aliasizm, etc all were at the time. Trying to find interesting little & b-sides that weren't online and seeing what other channels were uploading influenced the way dig for tracks & thread sounds together in mixes/tracks. It's 100% submissions led now so some of that discovery element is gone from the channel but as I'm doing more DJing the outlet for it has just changed. In a way, it’s given me a solid idea of what elements I like from different pieces of music so I’m comfortable combining them, either while mixing or in production.
How did you and Wager (label partner) form Scuffed Recordings and what was the reason behind it?
Online. He'd been following DPM since early and he was one of a few people that hit me up to ask for some stickers I'd decided to make for no real reason. I was back at my parent’s house then and starved of any real electronic music scene so I sent each pack out with a few tunes to check out just to stir up some conversation and we got chatting & sharing tunes from then. A few years later we were talking about how we were getting sent loads of interesting music from producers but so much of it didn't have a standout label that we thought would fit it so we just decided to wing it and start our own once we had 3/4 releases worth of material.
You throw parties in Bristol called Midnight Shift, what sets Bristol’s nightlife apart from the rest (when it's up and running)?
There's a real sense of community. Everyone supports everyone and there's a real sense of celebration when someone is doing something interesting & unique rather than it being competitive. The city is pretty small so it only takes going to a handful of events/places to start bumping into people & meeting the same heads. This was something that really helped me get used to the city & it means that you can go from being into what someone's doing to being pals with them super quick which can be super inspiring when everyone's following creative pursuits.
You have so many successful projects going on synonymously would you have any advice for someone looking to start a project within music?
My main two bits of advice for starting a project are contradicting in a sense but they've both served me well.
1. Learn as much as possible
2. Dive straight into it
It's always useful to have a base understanding of how you're going to do whatever you're planning to do to avoid any surprises, there is tonnes of free information on everything so there's no reason not to. At the same time, I find being in the process of doing something the best way to learn as you're actively applying the knowledge you're building up.
That and just be nice. Music is deeply personal for a lot of people and built around community so the best thing to do if you want to get involved & don't know how is to just be sound and support what other people are doing, it doesn't go unnoticed.
What's something you have learned about yourself in the last year?
I’ve had time to work on taking care of myself mentally & physically and being forced to slow down a bit has shown me how important it is to take breaks. I think the time to reflect has taught me to appreciate where I am and celebrate myself more. I’ve always just wanted to just “be involved” in music, all the stuff that I do now would have blown my mind a few years back and I’m learning to sit back appreciate the progress.
Your curation is something your known for and respected for. Once the doors to clubs are open, who is someone you are looking forward to seeing DJ?
My friends tbh, I haven't seen a lot of them for a year and most of the time I always find them to be the most inspiring sets. I haven't been out dancing properly in so long I'm not particularly fussy haha.
What's next for Ian DPM?
More DJing hopefully! I've got a few things coming by myself & also b2b with Wager which is nice as we'd been working on getting label parties up and running before the pandemic stopped everything. We've also got a few other special label bits planned, we're in a good spot now where we can try to pull off a few bigger things than we've previously done. I’m working on a few remixes & I have 2-3 releases worth of music I might finish off but I’ve always found my motivation for production comes in waves so we’ll see. I'd like to do more "content" on Definite Party Material maybe, I've been thinking about doing a (speaking) podcast, maybe more record digging videos because they seem to go down well & start a bit of conversation too. I'm mainly saying these so that they're not just ideas in my head and someone might get onto me.
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Interview by @lcy__________