Pablo Fox Caha

In the first in an occasional series of columns on developments in the UK underground, Keysound boss, Rinse DJ and FACT contributor Martin ‘Blackdown’ Clark sits down with much-loved Manchester soundsystem/production team Swing Ting. To accompany the piece, we’d recommend listening to Swing Ting’s mix for Blackdown’s blog.

Blackdown: So how did Swing Ting begin and why?

Ruben Platt: Easy, might as well answer this… Me and Samrai started Swing Ting as an entity in 2008. We’d been messing around with stuff for a year or so before that, but I don’t think we really realised how much common ground we had until we started talking about how much we loved that whole jiggy period of hiphop/r&b from the early 2000s [Jay-Z, Timbo, Neptunes, 112 etc]. By this point we were DJing pretty sporadically and it made sense to give ourselves a base – I don’t think what we were trying to do was really accommodated elsewhere in the city. I think this is probably a common theme for a lot of the more memorable nights – offering something different and finding a space for themselves in the scene.

We had this concept of ‘street rave’ music which was just an umbrella term for all these areas of music we wanted to play. Essentially ‘urban’ – bleugh – music that works on a soundsystem. We never wanted to lose the club focus of the music we were playing – people were there to dance. And above all, we wanted to present this with no irony attached. You see it a lot now with people playing token r&b ‘classics’ like it’s a massive novelty that they’d be so outrageous to draw for something along those lines. Swing Ting has always been as sincere an event as possible, we just wanted to play the music that we loved in a space where people are ready for it.

Anyway, long story short, Swing Ting didn’t exist until around two months before the first event, for which we hired a tiny 90ish [I think?] capacity venue, stuck way too big a system in there and had the best time. We’ll be five come December this year. Production-wise, we’d been doing stuff individually for a while, but we got the opportunity to remix Mosca’s ‘Tilt Shift’ which we decided to tackle as a Swing Ting project in 2011. I think once we realised that we worked well in tandem, we moved onto original stuff, which is how ‘Creepin” and ‘Hold Your Corner’ were born – they were made pretty soon after the remix if I remember correctly.

Pablo Fox Caha: Well, I wasn’t there for the start – but I’m sure I started it.

Deejay Samrai: To add to Ruben’s points; I think coming from Yorkshire (Ruben) and Northamptonshire (myself) respectively it leaves you with a void for the sounds that are born from the concrete and bleakness of the city… the name was born from a little radio show where we’d play our favourite sounds: soul, jazz, funk and reggae music as well as ruder, street styles: hip hop, garage, grime and a little jungle. Soundsystem music with depth, swing and ruffage. We’d play a mix of these styles at house parties and a few clubs. I remember throwing house parties, hiring in systems, getting guest selectors to come down and building a bit of a following, yet we annoyed a lot of neighbours and had a few moments with police shutting us down. So it was time to take the sessions into a stable venue.

The first dance was a success. I remember a good mix of people – lot of music heads / promoters came out as well as good friends we studied with. We had met some great people through being regulars at the city’s record stores and from heading out to nights such as Hotmilk, Hoya:Hoya and Friends and Family and I’d been working at Fat City Records for a few years so I feel this stopped it feeling like just a rent-a-crowd session. We wanted to steer away from it being a straight student party as felt the vibe was always so much better when there was that slight tension between different groups of people from a diverse pool of backgrounds.

The first flyer said “hip hop, bashment, bassline, grime, house and funky” on it which weren’t a particularly trendy amalgamation of sounds. However, we had a lot of love for this stuff and wanted to change the negative associations that seemed to have developed, particularly around bashment or garage/grime or bassline nights being moody. I remember Starkey’s ‘Gutter Music’ went down at the first dance and I think our last tune was the ‘Message is Love’ by Silverlink / Badness.

Deejay Samrai: We loved this one from Mykal Rose – a 125 bpm bashment tune that could be doubled with a Funky tune like Sirens or African warrior:

Blackdown: So Ruben, really interesting you mention the word “sincere”…it’s something I’ve always pondered, mostly because those are my kinds of clubs. Because people can and do argue that dance music should be fun and hey, who am I to argue with that? And blokes stroking their beards watching a DJ and not dancing, where’s the fun in that? Yet I know exactly what you mean because there’s so much cheese or ironic clubbing etc and some of my best nights (FWD>>, Sidewinder, Metalheadz) have been “sincere” but really fun. So, for you guys, how does sincerity equate with fun in a clubbing environment in a Swing Ting environment?

Ruben Platt: I think Swing Ting has always been about having fun… it’s a party. I think we do sometimes play tracks that might be considered cheesy by some, but we play them because we love them. A prime example would be something like ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ – I’ve seen people play this track like they’re almost embarrassed by it, that they have to hide under the veil of being ironic because it’s a novelty track to them. Why can’t they just own their enjoyment of it? I’ll play it because I think it’s such a great example of the mixture between the sickly sweet elements of vocal garage but it still has that roughness. The bassline is pure junglist. I’ll play it and it’ll get a great reaction – not because our crowd is laughing at how outrageous I’m being for playing it, but because it’s presented in a context where it can be appreciated for what it is.

We don’t play entire sets of vocal cheese and by the same token, we don’t play sets full of future-whatever with one ironic r&b selection shoehorned in there to show ‘diversity’ or how fun we are or whatever. It’s just all about balance. Thinking about it now, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many of our peers, especially in the more developmental stage of Swing Ting were multi-genre DJs. Hoya’s Jon K is the obvious one I think – he’s someone we’ve known/gone to see play since our first year of living in Manchester, he’s a master of drawing from all areas of music and bringing them together to make a coherent whole. But you’d never hear him described as a ‘mash-up DJ’ – of course his sets can be and are great fun, but there’s a consistency in the quality and there’s nothing insincere about it.

Blackdown: Samrai, interesting to hear you mention such a wide range of genres. So you think it’s important to your style to have established a foundational understanding of these types of music; to have gone back before you go forward?I (and I’m sure Bal feels the same way) would never play something just for a reaction, I want to be able to justify why I feel it’s such a great piece of music. If I’m playing something like “Laundromat” by Nivea, one of the most R Kelly of all R Kelly productions, I know people might see that as being ironic, but that is a piece of music that I genuinely love so much and I think the crowd at Swing Ting understand that. In a way I think it’s nice that tunes that were relegated to novelty nights/DJs can be appreciated in a new light. I’m not trying to educate anybody, but it is nice to re-contextualise things sometimes.

Deejay Samrai: Yep, I feel it’s been important to go back and learn as well as experience a wide pool of different sounds, and build a foundational knowledge of club and soundsystem music to be able to move forward and open up the scope for longevity. I think this leads into the production side of things. We felt more comfortable understanding what we liked hearing/playing out and what would hopefully work on the dancefloor from the reaction of the crowd at our party. We wanted to strike that balance, as not to alienate people but also be true to our own taste – it’s helped to create a focus and well as being a great testing ground for productions.

I would say style comes into it but more in terms of a DJing style that we were inspired by  – as Ruben mentioned before, guys like Jon K managed to play these amazing sets that had you fiending for the next selection yet covered a wide variety of styles incredibly smoothly. Always maintaining a balance between personal taste and feeding off the crowd, It’s a great skill to be able to thread a coherent vibe like that and we wanted to at least attempt to learn how to do it. I think that you can incorporate a lot of different sounds / styles into a set that doesn’t shift too much in tempo but I think it takes a lot of courage, access and possession of a lot of great selections or dubs to do this and programme it smoothly. We didn’t have access to this so we widened the pool of sounds so we could keep the quality control high as well as give our crowd a broad yet consistent sound.

Use your keyboard’s arrow keys or hit the prev / next arrows on your screen to turn pages (page 1/3)

Ruben Platt and Balraj

Blackdown: Murlo, I don’t feel like I’ve explored your involvement with the night. How did you become resident and what does the night mean to you?

Murlo: I was first introduced to Balraj through Ralph (Wifey) back in 2011. We were sending each other our tunes for ages and chatting and he invited me up to play a set at Swing Ting in March of 2012 and I had a wicked time. It was a few months later, around July / August, Bal and Ruben asked me if I wanted to join them as a resident. I go up every other month or so alternating with Joey B.

As for the night I think its pretty special, like Ruben mentioned we all just play the music we love, I look forward to playing every time ’cause the Swing Ting crowd is always so responsive. They are amazing. I think longer about what tunes I might play at a Swing Ting show than most other shows ’cause I know I can play anything there. The only crowd like that I play to is the HDD crew in London who are on the same wavelength. It’s wicked knowing I can draw for r’n’b or grime or even soca and knowing that the crowd will respond. As well as playing, though, I’ve produced with these guys as well. I refixed their tune ‘Head Gone’ in 2012 and earlier this year me and Bal sat down for an afternoon and produced a tune thats coming out later this year with Fox again on vocals.

Ruben Platt: Still can’t spell my name right though, can you “Kris”?

Murlo: I have no idea what you’re talking about mate [laughs]

Blackdown: Can you guys describe your progression from DJing & the club to production?

Ruben Platt: I’m pretty sure both me and Bal were making music before we started DJing. I can’t say anything I was doing was too successful though. It was always part of the plan, although it wasn’t really until I bought Logic and made a conscious effort to do things a bit more properly that things started working. The Mosca remix was the first thing that me and Bal did as Swing Ting – there were a few things previous to that of which I have no intention of anyone ever hearing – and I think that it was the first time where things started to click for us in terms of making music that was informed by all this stuff we listened to. Even though the production levels weren’t as high as I would’ve liked, I still feel like we were making music that didn’t really sound like anything else and we just kicked on from there.

I actually feel like ‘Hold Your Corner’ [which came out not too soon after the Mosca remix] is the most successful thing we’ve done in terms of bringing together all these influences to make something new. It’s definitely the track that I’m personally most proud of and probably our most well received.

We never really set out to make a particular kind of tune – they’ll inevitably lean towards one style or so by the end, but there’ll be influences from all over. I think that if you look at our discography at the moment, it might not seem all that coherent, but I’d hope that once we put more things out and they become part of a bigger picture, things will make more sense. Nothing that we’ve put out would sound out of place at a Swing Ting club night, which I think is important.

Balraj Deejay: I’d had some experience of production / co-production, working on programs like eJay and Fruity Loops, but took it more seriously after taking a break, concentrating on DJing and putting on the party for three, four years and soaking up those foundation sounds, as well as developing a better ear for club music through going out and seeing people play / checking vibes. At some point we were just ready.

I feel my sense of arrangement for a tune came from playing, enjoying and listening to DJ-orientated production. the way you have to think, “can you can mix it?’, or, “the intro needs to be this long,” or, ‘this breakdown could be a great tempo changing moment,” or maybe, “start with drums here and have a big section at the end to mix out,” etc. Of course, a tune needs to have to have more than a functional quality – it needs to be special in its own right, but often it’s the experimental / exciting sonic elements of tunes combined with their usability that keep them in the record box dance after dance.

Around the time we came to building our own sounds, it felt organic – I got a buzz from that feeling of creating something from nothing. I think with the Mosca remix we could solidly identify and recognise the sound we wanted to create. It felt right, yet it felt smooth and natural. Like Ruben said – maybe the production values weren’t fully airtight at that point, but our ideas were overflowing and we were on the same page and could be honest if we were into or not feeling a particular pad or hi hat or whatever! That lack of love-loss was definitely important in the early stages.

All the tunes we’ve released definitely suit the party at times even built with it in mind and hopefully in time it will make sense in a bigger picture bringing together other elements of music we want to represent. Like I mentioned in the last question, we have the long-term in mind, we don’t want to just spring up and disappear in a flash. There’s a rich club and soundsystem history in Manchester. We’d feel honoured to form a part of that, hence it’s important to take your time yet to build that loyal, respectful following yet at the same time to maintain a steady work-rate to keep things simmering.

‘Hold Your Corner’ is definitely a tune that I feel marries the different styles we’ve always been pushing and it gets played at almost every Swing Ting party either by me, Ruben or Joey B. I remember having a conversation with a mate who was working on production a few years before we made the step from DJing to writing who described DJing like crack: it’s great and you can’t get enough of it but it’s a quick fix and when it’s over there’s no memory of it, it’s just about the next hit. Whereas the feeling of playing your own tune, in your own club and to have it go down a storm is a different level of high…and I have to agree. Parties are amazing but after great parties only a memory remains. These memories fade. Having a soundtrack of releases that were broken at a club and formed part of that memory keeps some of that magic alive and bottles it…

Blackdown: That is a sick insight Samrai. I feel the same. Some of the parties like FWD>>, DMZ or Sidewinder or Metalheadz that changed my life… I wish I could relive every moment but they’re gone now. DJing is even more hyper accelerated, because you’re in the mix and the adrenalin is pumping… 90 mins can go in the blink of an eyelid, like an augmented time-frame. Thinking out loud, I wonder if it’s actually the same for live music, like bands and stuff, because there’s something uniquely transitory about rhythmic dance music, like its propulsion directly mimics the sense of movement… high speed movement… whereas indie/rock etc doesn’t have that pulse, for me. Perhaps it has to be about that pulse… or maybe adrenalin gives you the same feeling in any style of music…

Deejay Samrai: Yeah, I feel you. I didn’t go to Sidewinder or Metalheadz but feel through listening to the records that are associated with the parties or the frequently featured artists that released music at the time that I get a sense for what the dance epitomised. I feel recordings from nights or radio sessions from a certain period are another way of preserving some of the memories and that intensity. I’ve always been fond of hosts at parties and on recordings; it cracks you up when you hear a funny moment on a soundtape or radio set from an MC. In a rave a skilled host can create a great dialogue between the dancers and the DJ. It’s one of the reasons we always have to have a host at our parties and we’re blessed to have Pablo Fox Caha as a resident!

Blackdown: Yeah, you need that agent of connection between the DJ and the crowd…

Deejay Samrai: The time definitely does fly when you’re in that rolling, adrenaline-fuelled DJ mode. It’s a massive rush! I actually used to play in a band a long while ago but I don’t think I ever really had the same natural high that I’ve had through DJing, perhaps because it wasn’t as close to my tastes as my current ventures with ST. Although I’m sure live performers seek the same addictive rush.

What I find frustrating is when people try to claim one is greater that the other. The concept that something that’s ‘live’ or made with ‘real instruments’ or even dance music that’s made or performed with ‘analogue gear’ is more superior. I feel it can be a way of disregarding and discounting a whole generation or producers and writers that maybe choose to do it their own way. Surely it’s the end content that matters? Some of my favourite ever music has been made using solely a computer. Anyway, don’t mean to go off on a tangent here!

Use your keyboard’s arrow keys or hit the prev / next arrows on your screen to turn pages (page 2/3)