Deeprhythms

UK based Ornate Music, established in 2008, has already become synonymous with quality.

Last year’s releases included names like Agnes, Miles Sagnia (don’t miss this one!) and Fish Go Deep. Reading that, I’m pretty sure you get the picture what we are talking about – deep house of the heaviest caliber.
Ornate music is a jointly run by Jonathan Venables & James Thomson, who also DJ and produce under the Jonno & Tommo alias.
The guys already have pretty sweet release schedule for 2011 with YSE, The All City Harmony Show, Digs, Azuni, Dubbymann and Ethyl all in the pipeline
Check out the interview and listen to the sweet, sweet mix they lovingly crafted for deeprhythms, bliss…

Hey there. Could you introduce yourselves to DR listeners real quick?

– Dj’s, Producers and label owners, JONNO & TOMMO hail from London’s Deep House music scene.
JONNO, (Johnny Venables) originally from Nottingham and a DJ involved with the Smokescreen ‘free party’ scene, is now head honcho of Rival Recordings UK and has also released under the guise of Arch Rivals.
TOMMO (James Thomson) spends his days working at award winning on-line music store Juno Records and running influential deep house label Ornate Music.

What are your fondest musical memories from your childhood?

T – I was really into Elvis when I was young so I think it would have to be that though I did really dig the Segnor Rossi cartoon and soundtrack too funnily enough.
J – The theme music from Segnor Rossi!

What was the first record that made an lasting impression on you?

J – ‘Hand In Glove’ by The Smiths
T – Rockabilly Psychosis and The Garage Disease which was a compilation with artists like The Cramps, The Meteors & The Legendary Stardust Cowboy.

Sueno Latino – Sueno Latino (Derrick May remixes), Creative 1992

What are your favorite pieces of music you’ve owned and why?

J – The Derrick May remix of Sueno Latino on Creative records. Loved that record in ’92.. and still have my copy now .. 11 mins and 15 seconds of: pure bliss 🙂
T – I think James Mason – Sweet Power Your Embrace as it’s such a killer track and it really reminds me of coming down to London when I was younger and staying with my brother. His girlfriend at the time was really into rare groove and I think it was the first time that I realised what a special thing music/vinyl was and what an important thing it was to a lot of people.

Tell us a good story about a clubnight where you were dj’ing and suddenly…

J – Back in the late 90’s, me and my DJ friend Sam (Sam & Johnny) had been book to DJ in Lincoln. One of the organisers handed me a freshly opened beer. We were rockin it !!
All going well.. my beat mixing was on it… all good.. about half way through our set.. I noticed something in my last gulp of beer.. I ducked behind the decks to void my mouth thinking someone had exstinguished a cigarette in there… grim.
By the last two or three tunes of our set, my beat mixing was starting to suffer. It was taking all my concentration just to keep the records in time…The decks were 20 feet in the air above the bobbing heads. I felt very strange indeed.
To cut a long story short the guy had unknowingly passed me a beer with an acid tab (LSD) in it.
It took me a long time to work out what had happened!
T – Don’t think I could top that one to be honest… though I did take a record of the deck whilst it was playing once … whilst with a certain equestrian friend:) but we don’t talk about that…hehe

So, Ornate Music, what’s the motivation or vision behind your label?

T – I think the sole purpose and goal for Ornate Music is to make people dance, have fun and forget about their troubles for a while…but hopefully they don’t have any and can concentrate on the dancing and having fun bit.

Did you have any experience in the record business?

T – Well I have been working at Juno Records for over 10 years, now which has given me the opportunity to try my hand at lots of really great stuff, such as working on the Juno 10 project, choosing tracks and commision remixes from people like Carl Craig and DJ Harvey.
I also help run Juno Distribution as well which has widened my knowledge of how the whole process of releasing a record/running a label works .
J – I had a Nottingham based label back in the mid nineties called Rubberneck Records.
We managed four releases before running out of money. We released one of the Toka Projects early records, who have also released on Ornate.
Things were very different then, doing runs of a thousand records. No downloads or cd burners.

How does Juno fit in the picture?

T – Juno helps to feed my addiction to music and gives me the really lucky thing of being able to work with something I love and with some really ace people who also have a serious passion for music.
They also distribute Ornate Music too and have just added My Love Is Underground and Miles Sagnia’s Atmospheric Existence labels to the roster which i’m really excited about.
J – Juno Download also hosts the Rival Recordings back catalogue too.. 23 releases

Name a few labels you feel are close to Ornate either musically or in some other way?

T- Labels such as DiY Discs, Remote, Love From San Francisco, Tweekin and Grayhound have all had a huge influence on Ornate Music which I hope comes through.
Currently I really like labels such as Boe recordings, My Love is Underground, Kolour, Deep Explorer, Balance Alliance, Fear Of Flying and STHLM Audio. Maybe we are not always close musically but I’d definitely like to think there is some cross over.

Do you see Ornate as a deep house label? What exactly is deep house to you?

T- I certainly do! I’m a bit single minded in the respect that I just bracket all the house music I like as deep house, as long as it’s got a serious groove to it, is interesting sonically and has a soulful element in it that’s deep house to me.

How do you select the artist for your label’s roster?

T – That is another joy of working at Juno is that I get to hear a lot of the new artists coming through early doors and get the chance to hear how they and other artists evolve on a day to day basis so it has been a really great resource and help when it comes to signing artists.

What’s the toughest part: distribution, promotion or getting recognition?

T – I think the part I dislike the most is having to tell people that you are not interested in signing their tracks to the label especially if they have sent you a whole bundle and are already established artists in their own right.

You do both digital and vinyl releases, do you think digital formats and their easy availability have had an impact on how people value music?

T – Definitely…I think the age of file sharing (not saying that I renounce it as I do a bit myself) has certainly made the music feel slighlty more disposabale, I could tell you the artists, ep name, track title and label of all the vinyl records I play but for some reason I would have trouble doing the same with all the digital music I play.
I think the fact that you can just burn tracks again if you lose it or it gets damaged takes away its value and worth. Though I’m definitely not saying the content is any less valuable.

What has been the most memorable thing with Ornate to date to you personally?

T – I think hearing one of the tracks of the first Toka Project EP get a big cheer when DJ Heather played it at Fabric was a pretty special thing for me.
Also getting Digs from DiY to do a remix on the same ep was a really big thing for me as they were and are such a huge influence on me and partly the inspiration for me starting Ornate Music. He’s got an EP forthcoming for Ornate too so keep your ears peeled for that one.

What’s coming up in 2011?

T – Definitely a Jonno & Tommo EP on Ornate and hopefully a few other labels.
We are also starting a regular Ornate Music party in London.
The first one is on February 25th where we have the super talented and all round top dude Mr Brawther spinning so it should be a good knees up.

You also produce yourselves. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

J – When we first started DJing as JONNO & TOMMO – Tommo had already set up Ornate Music and I had a recording studio and production experience with the Rival Recordings stuff…
I have had a studio in various forms for many years, since doing Rubberneck Records in the mid 90’s. After we started DJing together it was a natural progression for us to fire up my studio and start producing tunes.

Software, hardware or undewear?

J – All three!! I still have a love of out board gear… we have a load of old Roland synths like the Juno 106, SH101, SH09, SH1000.. an old Simmons drum machine… Lexington reverb, … a Focusrite ISA preamp.. some old sound modules..like the FB01…all plumbed into a 24 track Allen and Heath desk.
However .. 80% of our sounds come from software synths / compressors / effects etc … whilst we love hardware..and still use the synths (esp Juno). Software is just so convenient and quick to use..

Any releases in the pipe?

J – We have a deep disco inspired release for Sccucci Manucci, we’ve done a remix of a D-Nox tune..
T – There’s a Jonno & Tommo Ornate release for early 2011.

Get this in your Disco diary! Friday 25th February Ornate Music party with special guest “BRAWTHER (Balance)”.

What would be a perfect year 2011 for Jonno & Tommo?

T – World peace and an end to famine… but maybe we’d just settle for playing at the Paranormal Bar (Panorama) In Berlin, doing a remix for Chez Damier or vice versa and getting a Jonno & Tommo track signed for thousands of pounds for an I tunes ad or something… though world peace and an end to famine might be slightly more realistic:)

So, the mix, tell us a little about that. I’ve been listening to it a lot while commuting to work I get funny looks when I wiggle on my seat in the bus. Some people…

J – We take it in turns to pick tunes, and string em together.. one deck each.. pretty traditional fair. We always like to drop one or two old skool numbers in with some very current stuff.
T – I think both you and Johnny have summed it up for me I hope it represents where we’ve been and where we’re at musically and if it makes you want to jump around your front room with friends or gets you strange looks from people as your wiggling your butt on the tube (don’t worry I do too) then it’s job done!

Oh, Nottingham Forest – you reckon they are going up this season? At least to the playoffs!

J – well Tommo is a Villa fan, Forest for the play offs a cert ! You Redsss :-

Playlist

01. Dazed Dolls – Neon – Circuit US
02. Miles Sagnia – Interplanetary Visitors – Ornate Music
03. Ron & Chez – Don’t Be Afraid – KMS
04. Session Victim – Million Dollar Feeling (Gerd’s Old School mix) – Delusions Of Grandeur
05. MK – Can You Feel It (MK dub) – KMS
06. Elef – Be My Friend – Consistent Germany
07. Fish Go Deep – Model One – Ornate Music
08. Traxx – Enka – Nation US
09. Rob Slac – Far East Flow (Sasse remix) – Chillin Music US
10. Matthias Vogt – Accelerator – Urbantorque
11. Nick Holder – Space Traveller – NRK Sound Division

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