Dummy Mix 120 // Machinedrum

Responsible for not one but two of 2011’s standout albums – ‘Room(s)’ recorded under his own name and his co-production with Praveen Sharma, ‘Sepalcure’ – Machinedrum’s tracks turn the heat up. Full of tactile grace and propulsive energy, they move at hip hop BPMs, with the tectonic space of dubstep and the grace and wit so often missing from those genres. He makes serious music really fun and, from what I can gather, he’s a big fan of vocoders, so it was only a matter of time before he stepped up to do a Dummy Mix.

For the 120th, the American-born, Berlin-based Travis Stewart has contributed a great set of tunes in-between recording with Azealia Banks. You should listen to it below, and, if you’re lucky enough to call yourself a Londoner, make sure you’re down the front at XOYO for his set on Friday.

Hey Travis, what’s new?

Heyyy Dummy! Just taking a break from recording with Azealia Banks here in LA to talk to you. I just had a reissue of ‘Room(s)’ come out on record store day last month, did you hear about it? It’s got a bonus disc with remixes b-sides and unreleased jams on it. No promo.

What vibe were you on when you made your mix for Dummy?

I was digging through a lot of stuff that was given to me while I was on tour for the past two months and grouped together some of my faves around the 160-170 bpm range.

Please could you tell me about a couple of the tracks you included?

I threw on a tune that I made while visiting South America called The Palace. There’s a lot of dubs from friends like Om Unit, HudMo, Clicks & Whistles and Fracture which makes me really happy I can play almost a whole hyyyype set of my friends music.

What’s always in your record bag and why?

If by record bag you mean USB drive then I’d say I’d defo have my trusty Ghettoteknitianz folder of tunes, Hotflush records discography, new HudMo shit plus all my new tunes I’m working on! Oh and I also always have to have Alarma and my remix of Eprom on hand.

I’m really feeling the new beats teaser you posted on Soundcloud. What drives you to make music and when can we expect new Machinedrum tracks?

Thank you! What drives me is just the constant need for discovery. I love the exploratory nature of making music and art as it keeps life fresh and interesting. There’s gonna be new stuff droppin throughout the year stay tuned to machinedrum.net

What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Riding bikes in Berlin!

And finally, I’m very much hyped for the Planet Mu night at XOYO. What are the Planet My crew like when they party?

Planet Mu has always been a diverse label and so far whenever you get a bunch of us in a room together you are seeing very diverse personalities. Some are super outgoing blowing party whistles and shit like Chrissy Murderbot while others are a bit more reserved and quietly enjoying the music. It should be an interesting night.

Machinedrum will play live alongside Kuedo, The Host, Rudi Zygadlo and Tropics at Planet Mu’s takeover of XOYO in London this Friday (buy tickets)