Deeprhythms

It’s my utmost pleasure, no, a privilege to welcome back no other than mr Malcolm Moore aka Roxnadz for guest mix #102. Yes, that’s exactly 20 years and 100 guest mixes in between – his previous set “Of Spirit, From Chaos” can be regarded as a classic example of the term deepness.

We connected way back in the early 2001 through music and the internet, way before the social media, iPhones and Soundcloud were a thing. We bonded over our love for deep emotive house music with a strong sense of melancholy, music that you didn’t really hear anywhere in the clubs. Then (my) life happened and we lost the connection some time in 2010, finally met up a few years ago in Thailand and started talking about this mix. Here we are again, connected through music! Here’s to the next 20 years.

Hi there Malcolm, how are things? Can you introduce yourself briefly to our listeners?

What’s goin on, Timo Deep-rhyzzle! I’m a DJ since 2001, record label owner, entrepreneur, world traveler. My first DJ name (which I still use every now and then) was Roxnadz, but I now DJ under my own name.

I founded roxnadz.com in 2001, quickly discovered I wanted to try my hand at making music. Founded Altered Moods Recordings in 2004, began putting out music two years later. Threw a few parties in 2008 and 2009, decided it was better that people invite me to parties instead.

What’s been keeping you busy of late? 

Figuring out what the music life is like in a post-COVID world as well as the day job and a few musical projects here and there.

Speaking of COVID, what the fucc, man?! This virus basically killed all my shit. I had a bunch of stuff lined up in 2020 that all went to hell because of the p[l]andemic oops I didn’t say that lmaooo shhhhh.

What drove you to electronic music in the first place?

My first taste was from my local radio station in Minneapolis, KMOJ FM. Recorded a few cassettes from the Saturday night house show that went until about 2 am. Then, I got a tape from Chris Gray. I was listening to jazz and r&b and shit like that before then. I think it was from like 1987. I heard the first few songs and was like whoa where the fucc can I get more of this. I was hooked.

What about DJ’ing, and how did you get started?

Collected records for quite a while before I first got started in 2001. Finally, I could afford records and a mixer. I paid 900$ for a pair of Technics SL1200 MK3s that serve me to present day. Then I spent a few hundred on a Vestax PMC170A mixer. That’s since been replaced by an Allen & Heath XONE:32 which I still rock. I just started beat matching on my own with the records I’d collected. My first mixes were absolutely terrible. But I didn’t let that stop me.

Name a few records or songs that had a big impact on you in your early days and why?

Chris Gray’s “Fantasy”.

Glenn Underground/CVO’s “Inner Tech No”.

Damon Lamar’s “Tsunami Rain”.

Tyrell’s “Legacy” JUST FOUND OUT WHAT THIS WAS TODAY MY GUY!!!

Do you have any memorable experiences to share from your early days as a DJ?

From 2001 to 2006 I was firmly a bedroom DJ, only a few local gigs at raves every now and then, and hanging out with Darand Land and Jose Lau. I’d have to say 2007-2008 was when people started noticing me.

Even though I will likely never do it again, throwing the Deep Summit parties in 2008 and 2009 was an experience unlike any other I’d had. It showed I could herd cats and manage projects, as well as put a deep spin on the parties. I don’t believe anybody’s come close to that level of deepness. I’m sure it got me some of my first few gigs in Europe.

Even though we don’t speak anymore (yes, over some bullshit), I owe Berlin DJ Estimulo for hooking me up with a bunch of gigs in and around Berlin.

We go back 20 years when we both had just started our mixsites. There was an instant connection when I first listened to your sets. Can you tell us a little about Roxnadz.com and that era?

The Web was still new, I was just trying to get as many mixes as I could out, I didn’t know what the fucc I was doing. I just played what sounded good to me. I had a few nights where I would stream mixes which was cool (Timo’s note: yes, streaming existed before the social media! :)).

It didn’t take too long for your sound to get noticed. Was it via Discogs or how did the Deep Core group form? Any memories from around 2003-2005, or the 2008-2009 Deep Summits surely?

We were all on the Deepness forum on Discogs and we just weren’t feeling that, so we did our own group. Didn’t get too many members but that was okay. It was a welcome respite from the trash we saw on the main “Deepness” forum.

I walked down memory lane over there just a few weeks ago. I’d love to get discussion going on in that group again but…I dunno if anybody else would lmao.

2004 saw the birth of your label Altered Moods. During the years that followed it seemed like the sound of the label was an antidote for the overly produced and clean deep house that dominated DJ sets. Am I completely mistaken here?

That was by design. Don’t get me wrong, there were some really good labels that came out with fantastic music in the 2000s and early 2010s. But I just didn’t feel like it was deep enough.

I felt like people were more concerned with getting attention with catchy tunes, rather than musical development. So I was going to be that island, for myself and for people who were on my level musically (mainly, not knowing how to do jack shit lmaoooo.) AMR has become integral in launching a number of people’s musical careers. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Not because I need the limelight; I want others to shine because then I shine.

Tell us about your vision for Altered Moods and what’s in the pipeline?

AMR is kinda quiet right now. I am working on a really personal release under my luv.renaissance moniker which I’ve featured as a couple of tracks in this mix. Unsure how or when that will come out, but I’m actively working on it.

With the pandemic and everything I kinda went into hibernation, I know everybody used their quarantine time to make all this great music and shit, but I just wasn’t there. Mainly I was focusing on my mental health and trying to get to a point where I’m not just north of broque as fucc. I also took an 8-month trip across the United States in my converted RV this year to get my head right.

I’m always looking for new talent, and even old talent, but my guess is that AMR will, finally, be a place where I put out my own music for the foreseeable future, as myself and under various monikers like my luv.renaissance, Caldes d’Estrac, Deeplex One, and Mr. Done! aliases.

Pick one or two releases out of the catalogue and tell us a story behind them, please?

Any two, huh?

The Pancake Sessions (AMR-25) back in 2010… Got 3 big Chicago producers and myself on one track. The heads loved it. I was inspired by an early morning jaunt to a breakfast spot (Huck Finn’s on Archer, represent!) after a long night at a dusty Tetrode Sessions party. I think I was the only one who was remotely sober.

I approached them about it and they signed on, and the rest is history. They loved it so much that Finale Sessions (rest in power Mike Zucker…a year already? damn!) kinda bit on the theme a little with “Finale Underground Vol 3: Future Chicago”. They just replaced me with Hakim Murphy. I ain’t hatin’ at all btw lmaooo that record was dope.

The Lodge (AMR-38)… I’d heard so many D’Marc Cantu records and had a few in my collection. I figured with a catalogue like that he’d be stuck up af but I was like fucc it, lemme holler. So I emailed him and said hey, would you mind doing a record for AMR? I’m thinkin, EP, no big deal right?

This cat’s like “oh shit I had this house album I was working on that I was tryna find a label for because most of the labels I record for are more on the techno side and they won’t feel this shit.” He sent me a drop of the album. I spent the next 45 minutes picking my jaw up off the floor. Signed him instantly, put it out, then, got Chicago Skyway and Larry Heard to do a remix of the peak hour track. I was so sad when this whole release was over.

Where have you found the music and the artists for the label? 

A few artists came to me, but most of them I sought out. Hearing SoundCloud clips, hearing tracks in mixes and seeing if they were available. Most weren’t or weren’t interested, but that was fine; the ones who were, I think those releases turned out great!

What has been the most rewarding part of running the label?

Watching my artists shine, watching them get accolades and kudos and record deals for the work they did because they were noticed on AMR. Unlike any feeling in the world.

Your album “Deep Core” came out last year and almost feels like a retrospective in a sense. It was written in Thailand, can you tell us about the process of making it and the album?

It really is. It’s a walk through the last 15-20 years of my life, in all respects. It was written in both Thailand and Spain, two of my favorite places in the world.

It was a testament to fighting several challenges, on musical, technical, business, and emotional levels. The record shop I have a production and distribution deal with didn’t want to waste their time on it.

I had to get ignant (yes, not just ‘ignorant’) to get them to see my point of view. It was such a tall order for me. I had to give up social media in order to actually finish it. I don’t know what people even think about the album now, but I do know it’s the best selling AMR record by far. Eff ewe, haters! 😀

Did DJing eventually turn your attention into making music or was it always there right from the beginning?

It probably was there right from the beginning. To be honest I feel like I could be a lot better at it, but I’m constantly learning. “Deep Core” was nothing but training, what can I do better, how do I get on the level of, say, Glenn Underground or Ron Trent? Can I, even? 

How have you evolved as a producer? 

I used to be very stuck into a certain style of deep house. That’s all I wanted to do. There just wasn’t enough of it out there dammit lmao! Then that got really boring, which is why my Deep Core album has so many different styles on it and starts off with a Caldes d’Estrac drum and bass track.

I wanna try different styles because I don’t want to be pigeonholed anymore. I can drop an ambient track and then I can drop a crazy D&B track and then I can drop an emotional house track. In one EP. Come see me.

Are there any new tools or musicians or artists who have recently inspired you?

With regards to people, I’ve kinda been out of it the last 1 ½ years due to COVID, so can’t really say, but inasmuch as tools? I love making music on iPads, even as difficult and technically maddening as it can be sometimes. I’m hoping the industry will finally gel and someone will drop a killer iOS DAW app that handles all the bizness. We’re just not there quite yet.

Out of your own releases, which do you have the strongest bond with and why is that?

Well, Deep Core (AMR-40) doesn’t count because that’s my album and by far I have the strongest bond with that record. So I’mma give you the second strongest: Thunder (AMR-29) by Chicago Skyway. Sean Hernandez is one of the coolest artists I’ve worked with, I’m proud to call him a friend. I went way out of my comfort zone on that remix because I was inspired to by the music.

Love: Lost and Found (AMR-04), The Lodge (AMR-38), and the Pancake Sessions (AMR-25) are my next runner ups.

What does the coming 12 months hold for you in regards to releases, collaborations etc.?

Here in Spain, Dubbyman of Deep Explorer and I are working on an original+remix EP for AMR. And since I’m back on this side, I’m very likely gonna run up to Scotland and bang out some ambient with my homegirl Rai Scott.

I haven’t really pinged others yet, this sorta-done-are-we-sure-maybe-maybe-not thing with COVID has kinda held me up with talking to people, but I’m going to be heading to Berlin at some point and checking in with folks there about possibilities to both do releases and gigs. I’m down for whatever, really!

What’s your setup like and how do you work on music (process, themes, details)? 

As I said previously, I’m currently all iOS. I have two iPad Pros and an Apogee Duet that I connect for multi-track. I use a variety of apps and plugins, namely BeatMaker 3 and Auria Pro. Each has their pluses and minuses, I’m looking for that killer DAW app that does everything. I’m considering also going back to a more conventional desktop setup and wrapping my head around Ableton. Always considering hardware but it’s gotta fit in a carry on bag.

What’s your current favorite piece of kit? 

The Duet. It prints great sound for a 4-in, 4-out sound card. I printed the whole Deep Core album on it.

You are an avid vinyl fan and record collector. Tell us a little about your collection and how you go about finding records to buy?

My collection spans stuff from the late 80s to pretty close to today. I have no real strategy on how I get them, where or when, I wish I could tell you but it’s very much happenstance. I mean, I was in Ireland just last weekend (October 2021) and I found a cat selling tubs of prime deep house cuts. Out of his damn van, at a market. In Limerick-ass Ireland. Yeah, That Limerick. So mainly, I’m just on the lookout and when I have the opportunity, I dig. I’ve bought maybe 3 records on Discogs. You go there to do research, really.

Though as much as I am a vinyl lover, I am not a vinyl snob. I will rock USB sticks to a gig and sleep like Michael Jackson on propofol. Nothing irritates me more than bullshit gear and medium snobbery. You are not a better DJ just because you lug around bags of vinyl. Don’t blame the MP3J for your inability to get gigs. Blame the lazy ass promoter who won’t look anywhere outside of Facecrook. Blame the venue owner who’s operating on such a tiny budget that they have to decide between fixing the sound system and getting alcohol for the week.

You’re known to love travelling and have lived in various continents. Do you have any good stories to share from clubs/DJ’ing etc? 

One of my favorite times playing in Europe was in Oslo in Norway. So fantastic…floor was packed, mufuccas was outside waiting in the rain to get in. It was lit, as these young peeps used to say a couple years ago lmaoooo.

July of 2011… I was in Berlin and Estimulo and his crew threw a party at about:blank near Ostkreuz Station featuring Hardrock Striker. Originally I wasn’t gonna sail through until much later, but then Esti called me at 1:30 like “get the fucc down here now! We need you to open up the small room by the garden!” So I grabs my shit, hop in a cab, and 20 minutes later I’m at the club. 5 minutes after that I’m in an empty room playing “Emotive Vibrations” by Fred P. 3 hours after that I handed off a rammed-solid, shouting dancefloor to Esti’s homie Makarov to close out the night. Fucn magical, that was.

Oh yes, how could I forget Moog in Barcelona! As you might already know, Moog is a techno club for the most part and really finicky about that. So they brought me in with Tres Manos, another local guy here.

The week before I was scheduled to play, the homie Arildo was down there doing a gig with a bunch of other dudes. So I was in full on research mode. Collected all the info I needed and dipped. Started selecting a few days before the gig. When I stepped up on the night, I had a nicely filled floor with people ready to hear what I had to say. I dropped like 4 techno tracks then I blew em out with house the rest of the night. They let me run 30 minutes later despite having a hard shutdown requirement at 5:00. Here’s a vid of the end (Facecrook).

What have been your most memorable record finds? Any good stories?

• Just today!!! I finally got an ID for a record I’d been hankering for for 18 years! Tyrell – “Legacy” Bigg shouts 2 Rubicon on SoundCloud for that hit my playa!
• Probably about 5 years ago at Gramaphone in Chicago I picked up Groove Box’s “The More You Want” … it was an old dusty test press with a specific mix that I’d heard on an old Dylan Drazen tape … not the one with all the guitars and shit that you can get on Traxsource or whatever. I bangs that shit at any opportunity.
• At Discos Paradiso in Barcelona in 2015, I was finally able to snag Iz & Diz “Wiggle While We Work EP” for that ridiculousness “Biolatinoids”…whooo I get chills whenever I hear that shit in a mix!

Do you have a comfort record, one you can put on that makes you feel good no matter what?

“Devotional” by David Alvarado. Can’t think of a better rise up track. Oh, and practically anything on Mayasongs.

Name five tracks or releases that are currently on heavy rotation?

“Ready” by Charles Webster featuring Terra Deva – that’s my “c’mon baby, you can open up to me” record lmao. It’s on this mix.

“Can’t Believe” by Nancy Martin – yep it’s on the mix too. Fight me. I can’t believe it took the Black Madonna/Blessed/whatever her name is for this track to get traction, I first heard this on a WKKC tape in 1988. But I thank you anyway Ms. Stamper. 🙂

There are a couple tracks on this mix that I need the IDs on!! Start times are 15:30 and ~45:00. I have no idea who these folks are but I can’t get enough of either track. Amazing work (if anybody knows help a mufucca out!). 

On the DnB side, JLM Productions’s “Afraid to Tell” is the hotness, of course from the 90s. Caldes d’Estrac finna make that type of fire, ya feel me?

I know this is 6 but I gotta include PFM’s “Hypnotising”, another outta this world DnB track. Just…man what in the fucn fucc. Jesus Christ on a crutch. How high were they when they did that craziness lmaoooo? More Cd’E fodder!

Who are the artists and DJ’s you think deserve more attention than they get currently?

My dude Arild Lopez aka Arildo here in Barcelona. Homie runs a night every Thursday called “The Dijous (‘Thursday’ in Catalan) Saved My Life”. I call him “El Nefe” (a portmanteau of “nephew” and “jefe”). Dude throws wax unlike few cats I’ve ever seen (think Estimulo, Truly Madly, at that level). I won’t b2b with hardly anybody but I will all day with this cat.

My homie Tim muthafuccn Deep… I don’t understand how he hasn’t gotten more play. I know he’s popular in South Africa but his style is just so smooth and laid back. When I was in my midlife crisis back in 2015 I swear I was caning tf out of his mixes bruh. He even got me listening to atmospheric drum n bass and deep jungle. His joints still take up a majority of the music library on my iPhone right now.

What’s your take on the current state of electronic music?

The good news is COVID gave everyone a break from shitty music. The bad news is, now that COVID appears to be waning, those same shitty artists are making even shittier music.

That said, we still have a lot of good folks out there bringing the deepness. Rai and Brad/Inner Shift, Dubby, Jesus Gonsev, my peeps in Chicago (Skyway, Specter, Chgodeep, Taelue), the Detroit cats (Kai, Theo, etc.), the South African cats, and others. I would say me too, but I’m mediocre af so, you know, whatever lmaoooo.

What’s your favorite city and scene?

Barcelona, Spain. By far. The scene here is really small, for sure, but these people here are so kind it’s ridiculous. I’ll take that any day over a scene like Berlin where everybody’s tryna DJ. As long as you can make them decks smoke, you have a place here. No silly politricks and game playing and tongue-bathing the promoter or any of that bullshit. Hell, I wasn’t even 24 hours off the plane and my dude was like “aight when you comin to play mufucca?!” After 2 years away.

I hear Johannesburg is the bomb also from several artists and friends of mine but I can’t call it the best because I haven’t experienced it my own self haha.

Can you name a few acts, events or locations that should be on people’s radar?

As previously mentioned – Arildo and “The Dijous Saved My Life” every Thursday night at Switch Pocket Club in Gràcia, Barcelona! Good times on other nights too my nucca! I swoop through when I’m here in town (did I tell you I’m moving here next year?)

So the mix, can you tell us a little something about that? 

I had to do the 102 guest mix. Thank you for your patience Timo, I know it took me like 789 years to get this to you lmaooo (Timo’s note: all good my man, still days left in 2021 and it’s 20 years since we started!).  It just needed to be near perfect (for me…it’s not haha, but *shrug*).

It’s a mix of old school classic jams, I tried to not be too safe with that, but there was stuff that was personal for me that had to get on there. A little bit of that, a little bit of new unreleased stuff, a little bit of unknown talent. I specifically decided not to load up the mix with like 98 AMR tracks, I hate when DJs do that shit, fucc outta here, promote on your own time dammit, you’re supposed to showcase others’ music.

Many thanks, anything else?

• Big luvv to all my Barcelona peeps! Arildo, Ana, Sergi, Ricky, Cherry, Alexis. So glad to be bacc!!
• Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. Red lives matter. Trans lives matter. Gay lives matter. All L-G-B-T-Q-I-A+ lives matter. White lives matter too. Stop hatin, start celebratin’ lmaoooo! But I’m actually serious, frfr, fucc around and find out, playa.
• Life is way too short for the bullshit. If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that life can end for you in an instant. House legend Paul Johnson went from banging the box to straight-up dead in 22 days. Anybody who’s reading this, sitting up here salty, hatin on me for whatever bullshit that happened in the past, or if I’m hatin on you, for any reason, let’s squash it, all rite? Get at me. Or let me get at you. Whatever it is. Music is what brought us together, it shouldn’t ever tear us apart.

Playlist

00:00 luv.renaissance – sweetsexiluvlee – unreleased
02.25 charles webster – ready – born on the 24th of july – peace frog
08.10 nancy martin – can’t believe – atlantic
12.05 larry heard – outer acid – cerebral hemispheres – alleviated
14.55 derek carr – red – knoe 5/3 – for those that knoe
17.35 theo parrish – moonlight – moonlight, music, and you – sound signature
22.10 glenn underground. – inner tech-no – muzic vision records
27.45 larry heard – inner acid – cerebral hemispheres – alleviated
31.05 reggie dokes – house iz my home – house iz my soul ep – ojo de apolo
34.35 diego gamez – no depen-dance – traveling through phases ep – deependance
39.25 reggie dokes – she’s on my mind – house iz my soul ep – ojo de apolo
41.55 gari romalis presents detroit soul factory – raising sun – all dat jazz – jd records (spain)
45.15 native explorer – out for love – out for love/waterworld – renegade
50.55 omar s – miss you – 002 – fxhe
54.15 vince watson – rephlexions – moments in time – all
58.35 florian kupfer – feelin (dubb micx) – lifetrax – lies
62.15 synths/audiolouis – b2 – limited 003 – limited
66.55 imugem orihasam – relation – relation ep – sistrum
72.15 luv.renaissance – luv calls (swish rapture mix) – unreleased
75.27

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