Braxton

Braxton

Boom! Debut EP on MTA from the UK producer everyone is talking about

 

Interview by Dan Prince

Dude a huge welcome to DMCWORLD. You down in Brighton today?

Yeah I’m down here, spent the afternoon wandering around town trying to get rid of this shitting hangover. It’s the Brighton half marathon today so this place is pretty busy. There’s a lot of people walking around like they’re straddling an invisible horse.

What is the best piece of music you have heard since rolling out of bed?

I bought that new MssingNo EP 12” ages ago but it only arrived yesterday for some reason. Couldn’t have timed it any better tho tbh. Sunday mornings are all about good coffee and new vinyl.

You have certainly hit the ground running with your forthcoming new EP ‘Stronger’ swinging our way on the Chase and Status imprint MTA Records. Four tracks please talk us through them…

The idea with this EP was to create something that demonstrates a couple of different avenues I like to work in, but there’s also a theme throughout the EP that takes you on a journey from a late night to early morning.

– Kowloon

This one was written when I was living out in Hong Kong about a year ago, then I kinda revamped it in summer and made a few changes, etc. The track was inspired by the Hong Kong nightlife. I lived out there with my girlfriend in an apartment on the 64th floor. It made for great inspiration every evening working on tunes. The pace of that place is just unrelenting, but it never felt exhausting, it was just constant energy, constant vibes.

Check it here…https://soundcloud.com/braxtonofficial/kowloon-original-mix-1/s-TfBTG

– Forever

This one is a perfect late night moody banger. I tend to get fully immersed in this sort of stuff after 3am.

– Stronger

This one was inspired by a lot of the old progressive house from years ago, there’s one or two melodic homages to a few popular tracks from back in the day. I was introduced to the vocalist (Danni Wells) by a mutual friend, I sent her the track and a few ideas and she smashed it.

– Don’t Leave

I’m going to hold off on spilling any secrets about this one yet, it’s kinda going through some changes as we speak — it’s another vocal number tho, slightly different from my usual stuff.

You have had a cracking twelve months. Big ups from Pete Tong and Danny Howard on Radio 1, a great debut in the form of ’21 Days’, remixes for the likes of Blonde, Chloe Black and Kyla La Grange…you must be chuffed with how things are progressing?

Yeah, thank you, thank you, this last 12 months have been really exciting. Everything has been moving pretty quickly so I’ve been really busy which is great. I like to keep as busy as possible, I find it really easy to procrastinate so having deadlines and objectives to work towards has been really important for me over the course of the year. Especially since I joined up with the MTA gang, they’ve been hugely supportive so I’m really looking forward to just getting some new music out now.

You recently played your debut set at Fabric. Can you remember the first time you ever set foot in this world famous club and what was your highlight of the night on the ones and twos…?

I remember seeing John Digweed at Fabric, it was a stupidly long time ago and I was just an innocent little kid. I think that was actually my first experience of going to a proper club. I don’t really remember much about that particular night, although I do remember just standing at the back trying to watch what he was doing, and I think I spent a lot of time trying to identify the tracks he was playing, haha.

Being asked to play there was a huge honour, I was unbelievably excited about it in the lead up to playing, it was such a sick night. Everyone at MTA smashed it! I dropped Kowloon about midway through my set I think, then had one of those weird moments where everything just stopped as I tried to take it all in. It was pretty surreal — first time playing Fabric, playing one of my tunes and everyone went nuts…

What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…

Paride Saraceni & Monce – Burning

LOVE this, proper old proggy sound to it, just sweaty, moody energy-building vibes.

Mark Knight – Fall Down On Me

HAH! Admittedly I don’t actually have this but I’m gonna do everything I can to get hold of it this week.

Braxton – Kowloon

Played this at Fabric a couple of weeks ago and it went offfffff! Subtle little beast.

Denis Sulta – It’s Only Real

Heard this one a few months ago and it took a while to track it down. Cheeky vibes on this one.

Pig & Dan – Growler

Urrgh! This is pure fuckin’ filth! Love it! One of my favourite tracks at the moment.

Right let’s rewind for a moment. The world thinks you are some London don but in fact you are from Brighton.

Well I’m actually a bit of a northerner (i think??) I was born down south then raised up north THEN moved down to Brighton to go to uni, and I haven’t felt the need to leave since. I think my association with MTA has led a lot of people to think I’m another London boy but I’m really not.

A big quote from you… “I write moody and atmospheric, emotional electronic music.” With that in mind, who were your early musical influences growing up?

I got into electronic music through a lot of old Warp stuff when I was a kid, old Boards of Canada, Autechre, AFX, etc. Then I moved on to DJs like Sasha, John Digweed, Tyrant and Deep Dish. It was always the mood and sonic depth of those artists/DJs that resonated with me. I think that seriousness has kinda stuck in my music since then, but sometimes it would be great to just write a cheeky, fun banger that everyone can get into.

At what age did a career in music first start to form in your mind?

Not till fairly late if I’m honest. I just treated music as a hobby for so long, then I finally decided to put a few things out there and started to get a really good reception from people involved in the scene, I got myself an awesome manager and just went from there really.

What did your family think of your idea?

Luckily my folks have always been incredibly supportive with anything I decide to do. My dad was a teacher and he pushed me towards studying music technology at college, purely because I don’t think I was capable of studying anything else. Plus my folks were brave enough to buy me a pair of belt-driven Sherwood decks for my 14th birthday — we drove up to Stockport on a Sunday morning and they spent an absolute fortune on two decks and a mixer, then we realised I didn’t have an amp so we had to go back in and spend more on an amp and speakers. I couldn’t believe it tho, setting them up for the first time was probably the most excited I’ve ever been, but then I realised I had my Dads records.

You teased us with a post on Facebook a few weeks back… “Been working on some new stuff, you’re all gonna get to hear it very very soon”…come on then spill the beans…

Hah, I’ve just been keen to get this EP done and released man, it’s taken a bit longer than expected to get a few tweaks and changes sorted out here and there but it’s almost done now which is great.

A dream studio collab…?

Ooh! I dunno, something kinda noisy and interesting like Tim Hecker, Colin Stetson, Johan Johannson something like that. I’d love to get in the studio with some noisey/soundcscapey people and a load of analogue gear and just experiment. Alternatively I would absolutely love to write some poppy/dancey stuff with Karin Dreijer Andersson or Robyn. The Swedes have got it down, man.

Okay some up close and personal shit…

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in your life and how did you overcome it?

Shouting out “MUM!” instead of my teacher Mrs Richard’s name during an English class in year 10. I never overcame it, it haunts me every evening.

Which famous person would you most like to see play you in a film?

J-Lo. She’s got a great ass and I do too. It’s a no-brainer.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

I dunno….I don’t think too much about any decision I make, I just do whatever feels right. I guess quitting a great job with no savings in order to kick start a career in music was pretty risky.

What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?

This might sound a bit ridiculous but it’s actually the first piece of music I ever wrote years ago. For so long I struggled to finish tracks and it got to a point where I felt music was only ever going to be a hobby for me. Then one day I decided to concentrate on getting a few things completed and share it with the world and that’s when I realised I wasn’t that bad at this. It’s weird, sounds kinda lame but it was a really important moment for me, and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that struggle in a similar way. Now I try to complete as much as possible. I don’t like to linger on a track for too long unless it really deserves it. I think you can get lost in a piece of music so easily and just having the courage to say “It’s done” gives you the opportunity to really understand what you were working on. It kinda goes back to that idea that there’s no truth in a thought until it’s heard out loud.

Let’s zip forward 12 months. What do you want to achieve over the next year?

There’s a LOAD of music just sitting on my hard drive waiting to be released so finding a decent home for it is the next important step. I’m at a stage now where I really just want to crack on and accomplish as much as possible so I’m just keen to experience anything that comes up. Also last year I was fortunate enough to go on tour with my good pal Tourist, which gave me a taste for live electronic music, so that just might be an avenue I start building towards over the next 12 months.

And finally…some big DJ dates coming up where we can catch you…

I’ve got a fair few things going through at the moment so keep an eye on my socials…

For more information on Braxton

https://www.facebook.com/braxtonofficial
https://www.soundcloud.com/braxtonofficial
https://www.twitter.com/braxtonofficial
https://www.instagram.com/braxtonsound

For more information on MTA Records

http://www.mtarecords.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/MTARecordsUK
https://www.facebook.com/MTARecords
https://soundcloud.com/mtarecords

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