Pyongyang City Sessions

We’ve been hearing a lot of noise out of Nottingham recently. A tight knit community within the city are forging a progressive movement with a solid base, encompassing beatmakers, artists, DJs, label owners and even shops.

Our very first PYC mix came from Nottingham resident Erra and our latest is from another denizen of that fair city, Hizatron. Part of the infamous Wigflex crew, Hizatron makes mental, techno influenced beats, somewhere between well, Hizatron and Hizatron. The sound is uniquely his own and part of the burgeoning sense of identity/aesthetic growing in Nottingham, pushed in no small part by Wigflex and recognised recently by Rob Booth, who featured a two hour Nottingham special on Electronic Explorations.

Hiza’s answers to the PYC Q+A are below, as is the DL link for his outstanding mix, which you can also find on the brand spanking PYC mixcloud.

Download – Hizatron – PYCMIX008

1. Thomalla + Martin riegelnegg – Eivar – (Unreleased)

2. Fairmont – Emax – (Beachcoma)

3. STL – Jungle sometimes – (Something)

4. Jesper Dahlback – Space of day – (AD Limited)

5. Hizatron + Bashley – Discharge – (Unreleased)

6. Cari Lekebusch + Joseph capriati – Missed Flight – (Drumcode)

7. Jay Pee Razz – No Melody – (Freitag Limited)

8. Oliver Huntemann – Dark passenger – (Ideal Audio)

9. Egbert – Vrijheid – (Gem Records)

10. Kolsch – Opa – (Kompakt Extra)

11. Hizatron + Bashley – Wanger – (Unreleased)

12. James Holden – Idiots – (Border Community)

 

Who are you and what do you do?

My real name is Joshua Harvey, but literally everybody calls me Hiza. I’m a founding member of the Wigflex Night/Label/Generally-dutty-movement etc. but I also teach Music Technology to rowdy young hoodlums as a day job.

How long have you been producing for?

 I started making beats when I was 16 at a community studio in St Anns in Nottingham, I started out making swanger ass Hip Hop on the Akai MPC, before learning Logic and taking shit to deep space. I’m 25 now.

What inspired you to start making music?

 Well I was always a pretty musical chap, always used to beatbox from like 11, although I never learned an instrument to any serious level. I first went to the studio with my brother Joel, who is an unbelievably talented rapper and he got me on the MPC and I was like, yeah, this is me.

Tell us a bit about the mix, what went into it, how was it recorded?

 The mix is just a collection of tunes that I really like at the moment, plus a couple I’ve been working on with my mate Bashley, and it finishes with pretty much my favourite tune ever (Holden – Idiots). It was recorded on CDJs in my bedroom!

How’s the Nottingham scene at the moment?

 Notts is poppin’ off… Bare folks making bare sick shit, and playing out better shit than ever. There’s a new generation of DJs/Producers/Promoters that’s taken over and we pay no mind to them big monopoly seeking cunts. We’re a collective, we work together, we get messy together and we promote each other. Its not a competition, we’re a movement. A scene. And a very fucking dutty one.

Nottingham has got a unique sound, which Wigflex manages to capture pretty well. How would you describe the music you make?

Well I believe I once coined the phrase “Rudeboy Techno”, which is still definitely the one, but shit’s getting more and more canyon now. I like to contrast strange and beautiful melodic sound with super mucky dancefloor blow off your headpiece arpeggiated filth.

Whose productions are you feeling at the moment?

Blawan is killing it, Peaches EP is straight muck, that Radiohead bloom remix is possibly the toughest thing I’ve ever heard. We had him down for the Wigflex 5th birthday in October and I have to say, he is also a lovely chap! I love STL’s stuff, Im also rating Thomalla, Egbert, Jesper Dahlback, but to be honest the best shit I’ve heard recently is Spamchop‘s. His new EP is dropping on MIMM in January, and im telling you its mucky. And strangely beautiful.

Any gigs/releases coming up?

Yeah, our annual Yuletide celebration Wigflexmas is coming up on the 23rd December at Stealth in Nottingham, you can catch myself and the rest of the Wigflex crew there on a Christmas eggnog-fueled-rampin tip. In terms of releases, I’ve got a new 4 track EP dropping on Loki Recordings in the new year, and you can expect to see plenty of releases from us lot at Wigflex in 2012. There’s been some awfully good stuff coming out of the camp recently!

Name three tracks you couldn’t live without?

Very tricky choice, my first thought was to answer this with nothing but Wu Tang Clan tracks, but in more relevant terms I would say….

James Holden – Idiots (Border Community)

Shed – Boom Room (Ostgut Ton)

Extrawelt – Wippersteert (Cocoon)

Give us some words of wisdom.

 “Shit is how it never was yo.”

A wise duo once coined this excellent phrase (well it was me and my mate Hobby on some fantastic acid), and I don’t think a truer word has been spoken since.

Biggin up PYC, reppin Wigflex, watch that, but don’t watch that if you get me…..