On the eve of a whirlwind series of gigs throughout Australia, famed dubstep, grime and hip hop producer Joker takes a little time out to talk shop and share thoughts on the scene with ITM. Aged just 19, the man the dubstep scene know as ‘The Joker’ is an immensely precocious talent, bursting onto the scene this year with the vibrant Grimey Princess and Gully Brook Lane which were released on the Earwax and Plastician’s Terrorhythm imprints respectively. His productions possess a rare duality in that they are both instantly identifiable, yet impossible to classify.
His musical peers include Rustie, Gemmy as well as Kode9, boss of the Hyperdub label and recognised tastemaker, who identified the newcomer as one to watch. His productions are battered by DJs stretching form Appleblim, Pinch, Plastician and Rustie, and he was recently been named Pitchfork’s Producer Of The Year, and his latest release Kapsize002 sold out in two days. Although born to grime and adopted by dubstep, Joker refuses to be tagged and his soul drenched productions have been described as Jehri Curl Boogie and Wiley stuck in an elevator with Cameo. Whatever you want to call it, as we move towards ‘09, Joker is one of the shining stars that can be seen in the distance. ITM’s Crabman speaks to dubstep’s brightest young talent before to mark his debut Australian tour.
Your dubstep seems to have a major hip hop influence. How much has it been an influence and what other styles have influenced your production?
Everything I have listened to my whole life has influenced my beats. I love hip hop especially the newer stuff and I did a tune with my man Rustie just out on my label Kapsize. Its funny through as people still call my stuff dubstep but others grime, and you say it’s a bit like instrumental hip hop, like everyone’s right because I want it to sound like different stuff rather than just be dubstep which is boring all the time, or grime which is boring all the time too. I like to mix it up all the time…
Most of the dubstep coming out of Bristol seems to be very minimal and stark while your tunes have a warm, alive feel. Where does your love of synths come from and what hardware do you use?
Yeah it’s funny, Bristol has its own sound almost, I don’t know why but it just happened. Especially for straight dubstep like Pinch, Peverlist and those cats don’t sound like the London lot and that’s cool. For equipment I always loved synths and the stuff I use is Korg MicroKorg, Yamaha DX-27 , Roland SH-201, Emu-proteus 2000 but only starting to use it all to full effect now. All my crazy synth tunes were done in reason.
Some of your tunes fit perfectly into the grime genre. With Wiley and Dizzee now making radio hits, what do you think the future is for the UK grime scene?
You know I don’t listen to a lot of them anymore, far more interesting music around really. Don’t know what the future for grime is either, hopefully it stays fresh and producers keep pushing things forward.
Do you prefer working in the studio or playing in front of a crowd?
Both are cool for me, different ya know but don’t like one more than the other, each has a different angle and feel but enjoy both. I suppose the energy of a dance can’t be matched when its good party on a good sound system playing your own beats and crowd vibing on it.
It seems every producer has their own label nowadays. How did your imprint come about?
Mostly friends said I should start a label. It’s cool you know because you don’t need to worry if people like your tunes to put them out, owning your own label you can put out what you want and when you want. The first two releases have sold awesome and the 2nd release with Rustie sold out in like 2 days. It’s on a repress already. Third one coming soon…
Seeing as MC Nomad has done that amazing Island Life tune, do you have any plans to record with him?
Its not like that as me and him are tight like brothers so if he wants to do a tune we do we Can do it easily. But yeah we work together all the time and I wanted him to be out in Australia hosting my sets but couldn’t do it unfortunately, maybe next time..
Kode9 spoke highly of you when he selected you for the Generation bass showcase. Any plans to release for Hyperdub?
Yeah it coming soon bro. Look out!!
Catch the Joker turning the dubstep scene upside down at the following shows…
Fri Dec 5th – Phoenix Bar, Sydney
Sat Dec 6th – Bar Soma, Brisbane
Fri Dec 12th – Shape, Perth
Sat Dec 13th – Laundry Bar, Melbourne
Check out this clip of Joker performing live in the mix on BBC Radio 1…
