Incredible debut album from one of America’s finest
Interview : Dan Prince
One of the four founders of the Dirtybird parties back in the day, Worthy is a San Francisco resident who creates bass-driven electronic music thats breaks all the rules. From his anthemic collaboration with Eats Everything on Dirtybird to solo hits on labels such as Leftroom, Trapez, Discobelle and his own Anabatic records, Worthy has forged a unique musical identity that is infallibly enforced by the release of his debut album. ‘Disbehave’, is a genre-defying rebellion against the house producers status quo. This album cannot be confined to a category, nor can Worthy be caged in with his colleagues. You will find some homage to the Dirtybird sound on tracks like ‘I Get’, but this album departs from his usual booty tech beats, into a broader sonic experiment as he forges new alliances with future bass, downtempo, breakbeat and deep house. ‘Disbehave’ is an emotional departure into a complex cavern of atmospheric rhythm, eluding to the many moods of the dance music sphere…
Dude welcome to DMCWORLD, a brilliant new album that is out now on Anabatic. So now that the dust has settled, please talk us through ‘Disbehave’…
“Hey Dan, so here we go…
All Our Souls – “An opening ambient track to pull you into the album with a chill, atmospheric vibe.”
The Words – “A deep track with powerful bass and strong vocals by Audio Angel. It is about respect and honestly when it comes to falling in love.”
Dark Bridges – “A harder track that bridges the gap and builds energy in this part of the album but keeping with the overall vibe.”
Burned – “A deep and beautiful song about personal relationships when you reach that breaking point and end the relationship., This was the first song created for the album.”
Disbehave – “The title track, Disbehave is a broken-beat, bass-driven track that drops you in the deep end and is full of all kinds of fun changes and experimental soundscapes…”
On The Floor – “A track with my friend Kevin Knapp on vocals, it is a groover that gets stuck in everyone’s head and has been the most loved track on the album by fans and people in the industry (like Annie Mac).”
Check Official Video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SaiaSC5VRs
Infect – “One of the harder tracks on the album, this ones brings in some grimey bass to bring you into the second half of the album.”
Dusted Smoke – “A chill out tune that brings back memories of Kruder and Dorfmeister to me.”
I Get – “This one is more the sound that people have heard from me in the past, big 808 hits and pumping groove. This is where the album starts to shift towards being more upbeat and dramatic.”
Damm Fine – “A fun little garage tune that I love the groove on
Can’t Handle It – “Straight up breakbeat hitter, working off the vocal saying “I can’t handle it”
Stars Attack – “This is a heavy bass hitter with a lot of funk to send you into outer space.”
Luna – “One of the more beautiful tracks to me, this song has some sultry spanish vocals by Carla Gardner, paired with some extremely heavy bass…”
Free From The Night – “A chill downtempo track to bring closure to the album and leave people in positive spirits.”
Check out the album previews :
https://soundcloud.com/worthy/sets/worthy-disbehave-album-preview
“I don’t think I was mentally prepared to take on the responsibilities of creating or putting out an album before. Before I started it, there was a little bit of fear around putting together an album and also not believing that I had the musical skill to put out the type of album that I wanted” Discuss….
“There is a lot that goes into creating an album on the artistic side. Before I started putting together the album I was a bit apprehensive that I was not ready artistically to do it. It was a mental and emotional undertaking. But by creating an album I think I have grown musically more than I had before. I set my standards high, and even though there were a number of times I wanted to bang my head against the wall, there were also moments of sheer inspiration and feelings of accomplishment that was unlike anything I have experienced before.”
How long did the album take to create…and did you discard many tracks?
“The album took me about two years to put together. I had a few tracks that did not make the cut in the end or just did not fit into the flow of the album.”
On reflection, how contented are you with the album now…
“I am really happy with the way that the album sounds all put together. It was hard to figure it out at the end because I had heard everything so many times, and in every possible song order. So I was a bit nervous at the end that I had maybe placed a song in the wrong place. But now after being able to step away from it, I am really happy with it, and the reaction from people who have listened to it makes me sure that I put together a good body of music.”
How important for the whole album process to be able to explore lots of styles of music…not just dancefloor anthems?
“It was one of the best parts of the whole writing experience for me and it was extremely important to me and the album in the end. There are so many styles of music that I love, and being able to explore sounds and melodies and bass lines without limiting myself by fitting into a specific genre, really helped out with opening up myself and the album. In my opinion, it also helped immensely to keep the album interesting and flowing from song to song. If the album was comprised of all bangers, it would not have worked the way that I wanted it too.”
Come on be brave and stick your neck out…what is your favourite track from the album?
“That’s a really tough one, I really like so many on it, and for diverse reasons. If I really had to choose one, I think I would have to go with Luna, i just love the bass and the chords and the way it works together. Plus it’s also named after my daughter so it has a real special place in my heart, that the other songs don’t.”
Album buy links :
https://itunes.apple.com/ne/album/disbehave/id881084910
http://www.beatport.com/release/disbehave/1306465
The album is out on your Anabatic label. What is coming out next from the label…?
“We have a great EP from Eyes Everywhere called ‘Privilege Thing’ that is going to be coming out in a month. After that we are putting together a comp called ‘Nu-Bayss’. It’s the third one. After that we will have a remix package from ‘Disbehave’ which I am ridiculously excited about.”
Okay let’s rewind for a moment. Back to the park days in San Francisco where Dirtybird events began. When yourself, Christian, Justin and Barclay started those parties with the intention of putting on music with a sound not being played in the city at that time, was the idea always to take it to the next level with a label, management, touring etc.?
“The initial idea for the park party was really just to make a place where we all could play out and explore and play a different type of music that was not being represented in San Francisco. From that initial idea though it really has gone on to become something much bigger that I don’t think we initially could have anticipated.”
A recent quote from a certain superstar DJ…“I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing. Music will always evolve but sometimes not in the best way.” What are your thoughts on that?
“Not that I use it, but I wouldn’t say the sync button kills the art of DJing. The real art of DJing to me is being able to go out and read a crowd and be able to take people on a journey or know when you need to change up the vibe to keep people moving. You can’t be a good DJ just by hitting a button or by being able to mix two records on some turntables. It’s something you learn over time by playing to different crowds and in different situations. What really is a killer is people just going out and playing pre-programmed sets in Ableton or whatever program they are in. That to me is absurd.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
Will Clarke – Big Booty
Ben_Mono-Bonanza_Break-Original
Karuva – Buddha
Christophe – Gotta Release_(Last_Magpie_Remix)
Eyes Everywhere – Marlon Bando
Nadastrom_Fallen Down_Justin Martin Remix
Thee Cool Cats_Grab the Wall_Original Mix
Meech – Lose IT
Terranova_Tourette
Roots Manuva_Riva Starr_We Got This Ting_Genghis Clan Remix
It’s your birthday – who are the 3 DJs do you ask to come out and play for you?
“Justin Martin, Galen and Christian Martin.”
What is the 1 festival you cannot wait for this summer?
“I am really looking forward to playing Hard, as I have been wanting to play it for the last couple of years. The lineup is crazy and I feel honored to be asked to play it this year…”
Best ever festival experience?
“My favorite all time festival is Burning Man, and I always have an amazing time playing for all my crazy, freaky burners. One of my favorite sets was at Distrkt two couple of years ago, I love that camp and the guys who run it (Ben Seagram and Kramer). That year was special (and I’m not saying that because of all of the whisky shots they made me take).”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQ2_0rbObc
Some up and coming producers we should be looking out for over the next 12 months…
“Eyes Everywhere, Will Clarke, Mark Starr to name but a few…”
A quote from Faithless’s Sister Bliss this week…”I think people will become bored with the stock crude generic sounds of EDM and the artists themselves may be somewhat musically bankrupt (David Guetta even admitted as such in a recent interview) as there is only so much touring you can do before it impacts on studio time and having space to think creatively.” Thoughts on that?
“Hmmm, I guess for the guys out there right now touring nonstop, they could experience a creative drought as they are having less time in the studio. It does take time to create a new and innovative sound. It’s about finding that balance and taking the time out when you feel the urge, to put touring on hold and get into the studio. But there is always going to be somebody new working in the studio at home, creating a new sound that no one has heard yet. There are a lot of DJs and producers, and that number is rapidly growing. So there will always be innovation.”
Not many people know this, but Worthy is really good at…?
“Making omelettes!”
Away from dance music, who are some of the artists you are listening to right now?
“I am really into Real Estate, Little Dragon, Panda Bear and Washed Out. I tend to like chill music to listen to outside of dance music.”
And finally…what is coming out for you release wise?
“I have two remixes coming out soon – one of Stanton Warriors and Shift K3Y. Then I have an EP out on Trouble in Bass in the early fall, and that will be followed up by the remix album for Disbehave after that. Plus there might be a little bootleg remix in there at some point later this summer too.“
CONNECT:
facebook.com/WorthySF
soundcloud.com/worthy
facebook.com/pages/Anabatic-Records
