If you looked up the word poxy in the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary you’d find the colloquial definition as ‘of poor quality, worthless’. Thankfully, as Sameer Sengupta pointed out to me, this was not where the inspiration for the name Poxymusic came from. Instead it’s an abbreviated amalgamation of Sengupta’s production alias, Pocket and his studio partner Ken Cloud’s name.
Sengupta and Cloud have both been prominent figures in the Sydney dance scene for several years, both collaborating individually on the city’s Thunk recordings. When asked how the idea for the Poxymusic project came about, Sengupta explains that “I had come to a point in my music where I was getting really bored writing by myself. Having another perspective to bounce off is always a good thing and so I started collaborating with a number of friends. I did a few tracks with a number of people and always had intentions to do something with Ken too. Almost 2 years ago an opportunity came up for us to do a remix of Swag’s “Metroride”. It was our first bit of work together and we we’re quite pleased with our results after 3 days. My next Pocket single also needed a remix so we knocked that over too. Soon a few more remixes came our way and we just seemed to breeze through them. For me, I discovered that I work much better in collaboration rather than as a solo artist and also Ken had been yearning to seriously sink his teeth into music for a while. We discovered that we did good work together and had fun in the process, so it just made sense to concentrate on it further really.”
The remix dossier of Poxymusic is impressive to say the least, not only have they done work for the lesser known underground labels but their skills behind the desk have also been snapped up by the major labels, adding their golden touch to tracks such as Nelly’s Dilemma and GT’s Kid Dynamite. One label they have done a fair share of work for is Aussie label Hussle, it was this label that also enabled them to collaborate with fellow Sydney DJ, Kid Kenobi, remixing Green Velvet’s La La Land into one of the most successful Australian breaks releases. The Poxymusic remix machine keeps churning out fine house and breaks remixes, lending their interpretations to Presser’s new release of Hussle, 2 Black 2 Gay, and Benny Benassi’s massive new track Satisfaction. Although such releases could see them pigeonholed into a particular category, Sengupta explains that “I hate to be in any scene, We like to work on whatever tickles our fancy that day – be it deep house, breaks, electro, super pop-commercial, blah, blah.” Well they do say variety is the spice of life. But there are limits. When asked who they wouldn’t collaborate with, the given response is anyone that makes and loves trance music.” Nuff Said.
Poxymusic though are by no means a remix only project, with plans in the pipeline for both an original album and a live show. However as Sengupta points out, producing original material from scratch is vastly different from remixing other people’s work. “It has become a real priority of late. The real problem with writing original material is that there isn’t that urgency with looming deadlines. What takes us days to do in a remix, takes us weeks or months to complete.” “The time in the studio itself is generally pretty fun. We sit around, check our email. Work on the track for a while. Browse the web for a bit. Go to one of the other studios in our building; listen to what others are working on. Go for the occasional walk to clear our heads. Go to a record shop, listen to other stuff. Someone might drop in – have a chat and a listen. Download tracks off the web; listen to them for ideas… Turn on the telly, watch the news.” “It’s important not to get to precious about your own stuff…we should see an EP out on Hussle by the end of the year.”
On the topic of downloading music off the internet I asked Sengupta on his views of the current trend of people ripping tracks off the net and pressing them into white labels/bootlegs before the official release. “On one hand, I am very sad about the demise of Audio Galaxy, because for me (and many others I know that used it), it was a supreme reference tool. I could listen to almost anything I wanted. If I needed something to sample or replicate, or simply be inspired by, I could have it within minutes of searching for it. It’s almost like ‘Selective Radio’...At the level that we work at, I don’t think it affects my overall sales. In fact, in true independent style, it means MORE people will be exposed to our tracks than not, thanks to the cheap and simple distribution of the web.” Sengupta expresses a similar opinion in relation to the bootlegging issue. “I rely on the fact that bootlegs like that can exist before a legitimate release – as in most cases these days, if the proper channels are later used, everyone including the label and original artist benefit. I think it’s wrong for the original artist to be ripped off, but I am in favour of doing it, and doing it the right way.”
As for the live show the two are in the beginnings of putting together one right now, having played a couple of live gigs as Poxymusic. Although they admittedly have a period of time till the ‘show’ is complete, Sengupta is content with punters watching them “make arse[s] of themselves as they play their tracks from behind the table-of-boxes-and-stuff on stage.”
While the boys from Poxymusic might be ironing out the bugs in their live show, one thing is for certain, if the quality of their releases remains as high as it is then the dictionary might need to look at changing the definition of the word poxy.
Poxymusic play at Taboo, the Smirnoff ICE ITM Members Party this Friday, 18th July, in Canberra. To RSVP for your FREE entry, click HERE.
