Hype Williams put USB sticks into apples, apparently, and actually tell the truth sometimes

Interviewing Hype Williams and getting a straight answer out of them isn’t easy. We tried it last year. However, Rory Gibb at The Quietus seems to have managed to cut through some of their tricky, press-shy image for a great piece. For example:

“ I’ve always thought your music was closer in tone to London, early dubstep and grime, though pretty well deconstructed. I guess the Wiley bar titles on One Nation also make reference to that. How strong is your connection with London dance sounds? And what impact do you think they have on the music you write?

DB: I grew up around it. Sounds corny but a certain sound and rhythm gets ingrained… This is probably why that record sounded the way it did, especially as we recorded it at Denna’s in Tottenham and I used to go raving around there when I was younger. Wasn’t really intentional. I think today is pretty funny, this recent obsession with ‘bass music’, house and techno. Everything sounds natural at its birth, because it is influenced by stuff not so easily identified to its own.

Now things are too easy to replicate… ‘Bass music’ is jokes also. Last time i checked, Om was pretty fucking bassy, so was Aba Shanti-I or Shaka, or Sabbath… Dance music ain’t the only stuff out there… I try to stay as far away from that whole thing as possible. Wasn’t too involved or interested in it to begin with. That said, there is still a lot of decent stuff out there as well…”

It also ends with the following statement that this will be their last interview:

“Postscript: According to their link to the outside world Denna Glass, this will be Hype Williams’ last interview. In the wake of the Farthing Wood/taxonomy fiasco, Dean’s lawyer has stated that he’s no longer allowed to talk to the press.”

Read the interview at The Quietus now.

Hyperdub released Hype Williams’ ‘Kelly Price W8 Gain Vol. II’ on 4th July 2011