 13/09/2007 Justin Rushmore and Jem Panufnik not only brought UK breakbeat the funk-driven Finger Lickin’ Records, but as Soul Of Man they have produced seminal breakin’ beauties and spun them with such finesse the world over that Notion couldn’t wait to buy these guys a beer. Or five...
WHY DOES ANNIE NIGHTINGALE CALL YOU ‘CLASS A PARTY BOYS’?
JEM: We met Annie in Miami, absolutely hammered, surrounded by bottles...
JUSTIN: The party baton that’s been passed from me to Jem, he’s definitely flying that flag now! I burnt my credit earlier, but it still goes on...
JEM: What, passing me your baton?!
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BREAKBEAT’S MATRIARCH ALSO SAID YOU MAKE ‘BLATANT PURE SEX BREAKS...’
JEM: Our music is groove-based and funky, it makes you wiggle; what kind of wigglingis up to you...
JUSTIN: It’s different from what gets called breakbeat - dark, lads’music, heavy, strange rooms rather than bright lights... Our roots are more infunk and disco... I hate it when politicians use ‘sexy’ in the wrong context butthis is kind of right, it’s sexier than most breakbeats and appeals to girls – sexierthan men!
JEM: Don’t print the sex bit though, Annie needs no encouragement!
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WILL YOU EVER FLIP TO THE DARK SIDE?
JUSTIN: Never completely! We keep a foot in the dark side but bring on the funk...
JEM: You’ll see one day we’re not always all about the party... Until now it’s been about tunes to play out, which can restrict beats and tempos.
JUSTIN: Our next artist album move direction. Stuff like Nightmares On Wax inspires us; we want to be more musical, deeper and varied, with instrumentalists and vocalists. It’ll flow...
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WHY DOES BREAKS FALL BEHIND EARLY DRUM N BASS OR TODAY’S DUBSTEP?
JUSTIN: Dubstep is hip but won’t be around in a few years; breakbeat is a generic genreas it encompasses anything, hip hop through to electro...
JEM: It’s its strengthtoo, though, it’s a many headed beast...
JUSTIN: That’s good for longevity, toughfor a fresh angle. One promoter told me electro house DJs won’t play alongsidebreakbeat DJs; we got into the scene making house, but we weren’t in the boys’club. 10 or 12 years back we met Matt and Aston (The Freestylers); from themwe met others, and no one was snobby or fascist.
JEM: Those DJs realise thatbreaks DJs happily play electro in their sets, then they have no variety...
JUSTIN: And they play Plumps tracks... Erol Alkan and Simian Mobile Disco...
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HAS THE TERM ‘BREAKS’ MORPHED OVER TIME FOR YOU?
JEM: I want to resist it, so now I just treat it as a wide term...
JUSTIN: D Ramirez worked with Meat Katie, then he suddenly become part of electro house, but could have been labelled electro breaks... We work with guys like Micky Slim, who Pete Tong champions, but musically their work ticks breakbeat boxes. It’s not 4/4, no straight kick and high-hat - all over the place! Using studio sounds rather than old samples - that’s what’s changed since we started. Finger Lickin’ includes these people, to break down these preconceptions..
IS THAT HOW FINGER LICKIN’ WAS BORN...
JUSTIN: Well, we needed something to put our music out on!
JEM: After house we latched onto this whole other sound; we threw out different ideas under several names – Two In The Bush, Osmosis, Freaky Jalepeno... We were leaving the white label era, labels were less anonymous and people were following them because the music was fast, almost ephemeral.
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JEM, YOU STILL DO FINGER LINCKIN’’S ARTWORK...
JEM: The sleeves are essential, another guard against piracy, and collectable packages are part of the vibe and character. I draw by hand then add colour in Photoshop. I love translating music visually, the combined force; the ink’s smell...
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YOU’VE JUST RELEASED ‘RE-LICKED,’ AN ALBUM OF ORIGINAL SINGLES AND GUEST REMIXES...
JEM: It’s amazing hearing them together; you worry whether tunesrecorded 6 months ago will match those 8 years ago... JUSTIN: ‘Between TheEyes,’ was inspired by Westerns, we raked through loads for samples. The oldtunes sound low quality production-wise, but they’re all cheeky and funky,with dark edges. ‘The Drum’ was after Glastonbury; through the smoke...
JEM:Hopefully people will go ‘I remember that,’ or, ‘I didn’t know they made that!’
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A-SKILLZ, MERKA, TROUBLESOUP!!, DEEPCUT AND KRAAK & SMAAK HAVE ‘RE-LICKED’ YOUR BABIES – DID THEY TREAT THEM KIND?
JEM: I loved digging out the oldsamples, a lot were done on an old Emu sampler, there were good nuggets to play with, and they all went to town..
JUSTIN: We chose Kraak & Smaak for afunk workout, mid-tempo thing. Merka’s got this jazz-like logical progressionthing and scratchy, crunchy sounds...
JEM: A lot of them were fans;TroubeSoup!! asked to remix one before at their request. All were intelligentand musical, not just in-your-face breaks.
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HOW DOES ‘SOUL OF MAN’ SOUND 10 YEARS ON?
JEM: Sometimes I hate it! You can take it on so many levels. Our first big track had this sample: ‘Love and hate coming straight from the soul of man’; Robert Mitchum playing a crazy criminal disguised as a preacher, with ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattoos...
JUSTIN: It’s soul as in James Brown... Krafty Kuts says we need a decent name; it’s a bit crap but depends how the wind blows! We’ve grown into it and let the music talk, but if we find God, it all changes... |
