Exclusive music download courtesy of Defected’s Mr House
“I’ve been playing Aydin’s tracks for a long time and he never disappoints! He’s constantly evolving and giving sure fire dance floor anthems as well as crossover hits.”
Roger Sanchez
ATFC is not a football team, in fact it’s one man who stands alone in his quest for keeping the funk alive and kickin’ and he’s been doing so for over a decade. He is Aydin The Funki Chile!”
Seamus Haji
Welcome Aydin, a pretty quiet summer, where the hell have you been?
“Ha! Working and playing hard! Do you think these masterpieces are created overnight? They take months of honing, sculpting and musical massaging to refine them into the faultless gems that they are. Seriously though, there have been a few tracks in progress which all seem to have taken shape recently and none have been quite ready until now. I’ve been travelling, DJing, producing, entertaining…the usual stuff. It’s been a busy summer all round. I’ve gained more passport stamps from Asia, America, Canada and Europe since my last release and national stocks of Spanish Vino Rosado have depleted somewhat.”
Have you had an inspiring summer?
“Ha! I see where this is going. Yes, I live in a beautiful part of the world where the summer months can be somewhat responsible for a slight easing off the throttle studio-wise, but what I lose in studio time I more than make up for in warm feelings to take me though the winter come down.
Tell us a bit about the new track…what’s it all about? Any inside knowledge we should be aware of..?
“Well, it’s the time old tale of troubled love told as only my co-writer Rae can tell it. Of course we have a previous working relationship but this time we felt it was time to throw another set of vocal chords into the mix and luckily Lisa Shaw loved the track as much as we do. She stepped up to the plate and totally made it her song. I don’t do ‘troubled love’ personally; too old and impatient for that, so I concentrate on the feel-good element of any song I’m involved with.”
Where do you get your inspiration from?
“A club-footed Columbian guy in El Pueblo.”
After a relatively quite spell, release-wise, you’ve now got quite a few coming out…
“We actually go up until about March. Before Christmas, there’s ‘Walk Away’ with Lisa Shaw, a collaboration with David Penn called ‘Sentimiento’ and to round things off ‘This Is Not A Test’ which, ironically, is getting road tested to great effect right now. I loved my few days in Madrid with David. He’s a great guy and we get along well and, I think, ‘Sentimiento’ is what you’d expect to hear when you put the two of us in the studio together. I’ve also mixed the next Nikki Beach In The House which is released early November.”
Is it a struggle to keep producing original material, or do you find it easier the more experienced you become?
“With house music you do feel like you’re trying to re-invent the wheel sometimes but then something will snap into place and you feel as excited as you did when you made your first record. There’s very little that’s truly original nowadays but I find keeping one foot in the past and the other edging forward keeps me hobbling on the right track. What I am learning with experience is balance. Not to throw myself for too long into one direction and not be scared of making tracks that aren’t meant to tear the roof off. These days I try to shake things up constantly with tracky EP’s, quality songs and big room cuts.
From someone who was there the first time around, what do you make of the current trend of backward-looking productions, with old records from MK, Kerri Chandler etc… currently representing the in-vogue sound?
“It’s great because I don’t have to buy them again and I even have the B-sides to play! I’ve spent the past week recording and archiving old vinyl (something I’ve done many times before) and it’s amazing how I can still find something that catches my ear afresh. There were, of course, other producers who were hot back then so it’s nice to dig out something equally as good as ‘Burning’ or ‘Hallelujah’ that can surprise people even more. Quality always prevails. These productions and their producers weren’t popular by accident first time around and essentially the hooks and musical elements work just as well today as they did 20 years ago. All that sometimes needs a little update is the power and punchiness of the drums. That said the current trend even does away with that need as guys like Jamie Jones, Tensnake and others champion the retro in its entirety.”
Which artist above all others has impressed you this year?
“What recently made me ‘wow’ was the announcement of The Swedish House Mafia selling out Madison Square Garden and Milton Keynes Bowl. That’s a pretty big deal for any artist, let alone three DJs who not long ago were fairly happy reaching the DJMag Top 100. Whether you’re into their music or not it’s hard not to be impressed by the machine that achieved that. Musically, however, David Herrero has a good groove as have UK young blood Grant Nalder and Dutch duo Roul & Doors.”
But it doesn’t stop there DMC dudes. In advance of the release of his Nikki Beach In The House compilation, ATFC has put together an hour mix comprising no less than 23 records that have inspired him over the course of his life. Ranging from Herbie Hancock to Public Enemy, this is a highly eclectic journey through the musical mind of ATFC. Check out…
http://soundcloud.com/defectedrecords/atfcs-nikki-beach-inspirations
Over to the main man…
1. Funkadelic – Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
This seemed the perfect sentiment with which to kick off the mix and comes from a totally ‘out there’ album, apparently recorded within 24hrs while the band were completely off their nut. Not an unusual occurrence in those days but ‘Free Your Mind…’ took funk into another, heavier dimension.
2. Frankie Valli – Grease
From 1978 and one of my first musical memories. It’s been so overplayed and hijacked by the tacky Saturday night Karaoke brigade one forgets how good the music actually is. Fantastically warm production which conjures up many good memories and a few desperate ones of my futile search for a fly leather jacket and Yale cardigan.
3. Michael Jackson – PYT
I recently dug this out to play at Cafe Mambo Ibiza and felt the atmosphere lift immediately as soon as it dropped. The groove is sooo tight and clean with Michael nailing the vocal to within an inch of its life and it’s an often overlooked cut from the album. Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones….what’s there not to be inspired by?
4. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Live @ Union Square
I listened to this over and over with my head in my hands thinking ‘how the hell did Jazzy Jeff do that?’ From then on I collected all the Ultimate Breaks & Beats albums and began practicing…hard. I got some way with scratching and early turntablism and this set a benchmark (which I never reached I’m sorry to say!)
5. Herbie Hancock – Rockit
Before the scratching came the body-popping and breakdancing. I was fairly useless and this record was the soundtrack to many lost battles in my ‘hood’.
6. Colonel Abrahms – Trapped
I once DJ’d at a gig where Colonel Abrahms was singing. My girlfriend at the time decided to keep him company while I was playing and at the end of the night she told me what a nice guy Colin was. I still ended up marrying her.
7. Aleem – Get Loose
Along with Release Yourself this is an absolute standout cut from Aleem who apparently shared an apartment with Jimi Hendrix. With Leroy Burgess on vocals it combined electro production with soulful overtones perfectly and was another excuse to buss’ out the lino.
8. Bob James – Nautilus + Linda Clifford – Ride The Storm
A lot of Bob James’ stuff can sound a little hotel lobbyish for me but this deep, dark jazz-funk groove is so atmospheric and menacing, if you close your eyes you’ll literally feel 20,000 leagues under the sea.
9. Stevie Wonder – Living For The City
‘New York, just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and evrythang!’ I waited many years to be able to say that but when I did, I blew an air kiss to Stevie on Madison Avenue. If I had to pick, he’s probably my artist of all time.
10. Roy Ayers & Ubiquity – Life Is Just A Moment Pt. 2
This man is responsible for many of my £’s spent on records and entrances to Ronnie Scotts. I once interviewed him at the back of his tour bus and remember being speechlessly star-struck. A disastrous 10 minutes that ended my career in journalism. This is one of my favourite lesser known tracks and while Part 1 is pretty decent, I imagine this came after a step out of the studio, a quick fag and back in to lay down this heavy alternative take.
11. James Brown & The JB’s – Mind Power
What inspirations list wouldn’t include a bit of JB? Whenever I think of James Brown, for some reason I think of this…
12. The Fatback Band – I Found Lovin’
One of those tunes that got a roar as soon as the first bar cut through the system. So recognisable, and one that re-united the guys and the girls on the dance floor after the breakdance competition had climaxed. Brought back into blokey territory on a re-release by Steve Walsh and his ‘You What? You What?’ call to arms – I never understood that version….
13. Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
These guys were my ‘Sex Pistols’ I suppose, and as a white kid from the suburbs they should have meant nothing to me, but their angry, rebellious rawness appealed during my teenage years. Perhaps I was angry I had nothing to be angry about??
14. A Tribe Called Quest – Oh My God
Probably my favourite Hip Hop act and I was truly sad when they split. Q Tips flow and the simple but untouchable, lazy MPC beats of Ali Shaheed together with Phife’s childlike pitch took The Native Tongues to another level. Although De La Soul and The Jungle Brothers were close contenders, Tribe win it for me in this inspirations mix.
15. Soul II Soul – Fairplay
When these guys arrived their sound was totally fresh and very much ‘a London Thing’. I was lucky to see them at their club nights at The Africa Centre and The Fridge and bought the T-Shirt too. There has never been a more appropriately named album than ‘Club Classics’.
16. John Coltrane – Acknowledgement
The album ‘A Love Supreme’ is made up of only 3 parts, is fairly heavy going in some parts but very spiritual and was on constant rotation in my room during my studies at University – a coming of age, ‘grown-up’ record.
17. MARRS – Pump Up The Volume
This had the same effect on me as ‘Live @ Union Square’, except in a production context. Years before I stepped into a recording studio I’d begun to wonder how these sounds were made and think it was possible I could do the same. In 1987 I would never have believed that 20 years later I’d be sat next to CJ Mackintosh, 37000 ft in the air, talking about how the record influenced me.
18. Jaydee – Plastic Dreams
It’s a little difficult to classify this record and the proof of which is that it was my house hating friends that first put me onto it. At the very least, I don’t think there are many DJs of any kind of dance genre who haven’t played this record.
19. Barbara Tucker – Beautiful People
Although I’d bought a few ‘House’ records previously, this one helped change the way I saw it. One night I found myself standing on a speaker stack, pumping my arms in the air to the sound played by a dj from New York. I woke up the next day, threw a mix tape I’d been given the previous night into the cassette player and on came ‘Beautiful People’. The ‘feeling’ came flooding back and I can honestly say that’s the day ‘House’ music truly made sense to me. I got on the next train to London, straight to Release The Groove Records, and spent my student allowance on the latest shipload of US House and Garage.
20. Constipated Monkeys – Cro-Magnon
One of the last times I can say I was truly inspired on a production level was when Eric Morillo launched Subliminal records. It spawned a new era of funky but main-room House Music that I’ve tried to adhere to in the studio since then. Bridging the gaps between prog, tech, funky and deep house, Subliminal fired out a number of classics in their first 2 years and was a no questions asked must buy label. Cro-Magnon had me and Warren Clarke looking up at Harry & Jose as Deities for a long time after that.
21. Lil Louis – French Kiss
Another record that you’d hear all over the club scene regardless of style. One that on paper should be restricted to specialist techno dark rooms but thanks to its provoking breakdown and innovative ‘slow-down’ gained fans right out to the holiday resorts of Turkey and beyond, where I first heard it. I stupidly sold my original copy to the local dj in return for free drinks the next night…..
22. Nuyorican Soul – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun (4 Hero Mix)
A major influence and possibly my favourite Dance producers were Masters At Work. I could have included a number of their productions in this mix but I chose, instead, to feature them as artists being remixed. The original by Rotary Connection is a desert island record for me and Nuyorican Soul covered it impeccably. This genius bit of A&Ring by Gilles Peterson gave rise to a Drum & Bass gem (a genre I’ve not been a huge fan of) and possibly one of my all-time choice remixes.
23. The James Gang – Ashes, Rain & I
I end with a track that contains the string sample (wait till the very end!!) upon which my professional career is hugely indebted to. I can’t take the credit for unearthing it but when researching Norman Cook’s inspiration brought me to this, it proved to me that there is an absolute validity in sampling as an art. Inspiration can come at any time and from anything and while this list could have included music and songs that are more worthy and would, indeed, be higher in my iTunes ranking, these are the ones that came at a certain time and a certain place, and the ones which, like it or not, inspired me.
Nikki Beach In The House mixed by ATFC is out 31st October
Pre-order http://itunes.apple.com/gb/preorder/nikki-beach-in-house-mixed/id475388235
‘Walk Away’ is out now.
