One of dance music’s all time greats returns with the massive new tune ‘New Lover’
Interview : Dan Prince
Rui Da Silva, world renowned DJ, producer, self owned record label boss, creative and all round musical innovator returns to the forefront of dance music yet again with a wealth of new slick club material for a brand new era of progressive dance music set for release on 24th February followed onwards with a brand new album release. Rui’s latest body of work spawns his new track ‘New Lover’, an in toxic mix of all his finest ingredients that embraces all the unique elements of his finely honed and recognisable sound. It’s a track packed with hypnotic layers and haunting tribalistic vocal’s with a collaboration from one of the UK’s most freshest rising talents, Penny F, an undeniably lustrous mix. The continuously flowing, rolling bassline, gently carries along Penny F’s stunning, melodic vocals, unfolding a pulsating, insistent, sexy and mysterious body shaking dancefloor demand that defies you not to dance. 2014 is set to burn brightly for Rui Da Silva as he continues to evolve, transform and create his ever-changing musical canvas, while surfing the edge of new sounds…
Hey Rui welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
“Hi DMCWORLD, I’m currently at home in Soho, London…just got back from a long studio session that lasted all night, it’s been a stretch of long studio sessions to finish the next couple of releases.”
A brilliant new release complete with remixes comes out next month, talk us through ‘New Lover’ that features Penny F…
“The song started to take shape last summer…I was traveling back to London from one of my gigs and created a beat on Ableton live, from there when I got to the studio I exported it to Logic and created a small vibe with some extra overdubs. After that I totally forgot about the beat and put it in the folder of “to be used in the future”. A few weeks later Penny was in the studio listening to the folder for some beats to choose something for the day and we came across this beat. We felt that it was sounding hot and was the right one to take further and agreed it could do with a top line to make it shine better! So Penny who is such a talented singer-songwriter started writing some hooks and at the end of the day’s session we had several hooks recorded. The following day I started to bring the production up on the track and layering Penny’s vocals and I think it took one more session for mixing to get the track done.”
How did you hook up with Penny, she is a mighty talent!
“Well we have worked together on several occasions prior to this session for ‘New Lover’, but the first time we met was in Ibiza. I was on a 3 year sabbatical over there and after building a recording studio I started to run songwriting camps. Penny was one of the writers that came over to Ibiza and we hit it off straight away and wrote some great stuff whilst out there.”
You are one of the hardest working producers in the dance world, practically living in the studio. 2014 is a massive year for you (and us!!) as there is a new album in the making. So, where are we at with the project, what can you tell us about the direction and collaborators if any?
“I’m at the moment involved in a couple of album projects, but specifically for my artist album I’m taking an approach of working again with vocalists and songwriters. The album is much less introspective and leftfield than my last one ‘Praying Mantis’, I have once again found the desire to explore songs and create sonic worlds with my productions to dress these songs. Dance music is now very different from when I first started, but there is a strong desire to look back and find these roots of where it all started, so I can say that there will be a bit of a classic Rui Da Silva sound on the album combined with a very modern production approach. But especially there is a strong focus on the seed of it all and that is the song.”
I live in Ibiza, the magical island that you just mentioned you journeyed to when you had a sabbatical in 2009 to re-evaluate your life and work. Why did you choose the white isle and how did you begin to start over again what was already a phenomenal career…?
“I guess the white island felt like the right place. After the summer of 2009 I went travelling through South East Asia for a few months with my family and on the way back we chose Ibiza to go and live as it felt like a good balance between being away from London but still close to the ones we love. It was an amazing experience and a blessed opportunity to see my children grow, it gave me the opportunity to see many friends and to spend enough time thinking on my life and work. I took the opportunity to re-learn the tools i use in the studio and to get more skills that I can use in my productions.”
Favourite ever moment in an Ibizan club?
“My favourite moment would not have been in a club but in a private villa. There is a villa in Ibiza with this most amazing club in a cave, the energy the people and the sound in that place is just magical…and I’m lucky to have DJ’d there over the years.”
What is the current Top 10 you are spinning?
Well I don’t have a current Top 10 but I can give you a list of my latest podcast for Frisky Radio…
Rui Da Silva – Intro
Mooryc – Simply
Phuture – Rise from Your Grave (Tiefschwarz Remix)
Rui Da Silva Feat Easton Gunn – Feeling You Beats Mix 5
Federico Molinari – Party Faktor (Robert Dietz Disco Desafinado Mix)
Sante – FreakThat
Green Velvet – Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)
Sasse – Soul Sounds (Dirt Crew Solid Diamond Remix)
USL – So Get Up
Rui Da Silva feat Penny F. – New Lover (Missing Beats Mix)
People Of The Underground – People Of The Underground (Missing Beats Mix 1)
People Of The Underground – People Of The Underground (Missing Beats Mix 2)
Easton Gunn She’s An Animal (Extended Mix)
Unknown Artist – Mandrake Dub
Arthur Russell – In The Light Of The Miracle
LDKK – Rambo The Pianist
Justin Martin, Leroy Peppers – Riding Spaceships (Ardalan’s Lisa In The Sky Remix)
Untitled – Red Rose
Omar S – Nelson County (Original Mix)
Basic Channel – The Climax (Basic Reshape)
Sophie Milman – Lonely In New York
Tell us about your studio set up…
“Over the years I have collected a long list of synths and drum machines, I love musical instruments with step sequencers and usually you find these on drum machines but also on synths like the TB303 the MonoMachine or the MFB01 or the DX20. I have all those and a few more that I use on my productions. Most of the recording and arrangement is done in Logic, and when on the road most of the time starting ideas on Ableton. I’m a big fan of Reaktor too they have some unusual ensembles and I’m always looking for the latest new synth hardware or software. For recording I use a Neumman M49 tube mic going thru a Neve 1073 preamp into a Urei 1176 compressor, it all then gets converted to digital on a PrismSound converter. Lately I started using the Akai MPC again to to create beats too, their renaissance one is really cool. For monitoring after I have again found a great sounding room I placed there my longtime time friends the Genelec 1032A monitors with its subwoofer, there is also some Focal nearfields.”
An interesting thing you said in an interview last year when talking about dance music taking over the charts, “there’s a bit of a backlash from purists or people who don’t like to see other people succeed, but I think it’s great for dance music…” With that in mind, what are your thoughts on the current EDM explosion in North America. That too has received some massive criticism calling it jukebox music etc. We think it’s healthy for the global scene…
“I think it is amazing to have seen electronic music go through such a journey. It started in people’s bedrooms in the early 90’s and still starts in many of these bedrooms today, now though it has left the underground and reached great heights of success. It is great to see this, but it is obvious that success attracts criticism and jealously, and we have witnessed it more and more these last couple of years… these are usually two disciplines practised by people who cannot find any other way to express their frustrations and ultimately find that other peoples success is an easy target to ventilate their resentment.”
What are your thoughts on all this attention seeking/moaning about the scene that certain old house heads have been doing of late on their social sites – mentioning no names!!
“With the advent of internet age we have moved from a society where access to information was a privilege for a selected few – now it is easy for anyone to access this information. With that, each one of us has become so rich in knowledge access that we are all drowning in this sea of information…in this new age of the internet we can also easily communicate and send our message out there for the world to listen, so in a sense we are now all broadcasters with a potential audience. That has created a dramatic problem of getting your message across, so people do resort to all sorts of gimmicks to get noticed – and controversy is an easy way to get noticed. So doing something outrageous or saying something outrageous is going to get that extra push to get the message across and make yourself more noticed, many of my piers have chosen to put more energy in such activities sometimes to the detriment of creating music. It’s their choice. But other times with this new age of the internet and social networking, the veil between the public persona gets lifted and a light shines into the character of the real person and sometimes that in itself is shocking.”
What was it like working with Robert Owens in the studio last year, two heavyweight producers teaming up. Was it all peace and harmony?
“Yes for sure – there was no fist fights LOL. Robert is an absolute legend and a pleasure to work with and after all these years has the passion and commitment to go that extra mile and give his best. These are qualities sometimes hard to find in people that have been doing this for so long. And off course his lyrics, groove and sense of melody are just unique.”
Away from dance music, who are some of the artists you are listening to at the moment?
“Having a peek at my listening habits on Spotify and iTunes I can say…
Studio Pankow, John Newman, Kayne West, Boards Of Canada, Clams Casino, Steely Dan, Jon Hopkins, David Bowie and James Blake…”
Fact or Fiction : You discovered the vocalist Cassandra Fox who sang on Touch Me whilst you were walking through London’s Leicester Square?
“Yes that is a fact. But Dan it feels like fiction as it is such an incredible story.”
You were one of the early pioneers in your home country of Portugal, especially with the Underground Sound Of Lisbon. You left for UK shores to take your career to the next level, it must be so rewarding for you to return home and see the talent/clubs/energy over there right now…
“Of course. It is extremely rewarding to know that my success has inspired so many people back in my home country and many of these people have come to achieve so much success, at home and around the world. Portugal is a very small country and can sometimes feel very isolated from the rest of Europe and the rest of the world.”
DJing obviously still plays a huge part of your life, where are the clubs from around the world you always love returning to?
“There are some very special places all over the world but it is always great to return to play in my home city Lisbon. Outside of Portugal I love returning to DC10 in Ibiza, the energy there is just incredible…”
And finally, before the album hits the dancefloor, what is coming out from you release wise?
“I have a remix for Riff Raff Recordings coming out soon and a remix for Easton Gunn on Kismet Records, there is also a few new surprises and singles to come out from the album soon.”
ARTIST: RUI DA SILVA
SINGLE: NEW LOVER Ft. PENNY F
RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 24TH FEBRUARY
LABEL: KISMET RECORDS
FIND & FOLLOW:
https://soundcloud.com/ruidasilva
http://kismetrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RuiDaSilvaMusic
https://www.facebook.com/kismetrecords
