Dummy Mix 36 // Pariah

The first I heard of PARIAH was his hauntingly beautiful, Burial-esque remix of THE XX Basic Space (get it here) last July. Since then he’s hooked up with R&S Records, who released Orpheus/Detroit Falls, his excellent debut 12”, at the end of March. We’ve been chatting about him doing a Dummy Mix for a good long time now, so this very tasty selection of UK Garage and a touch of Dancehall more than makes up for the wait (download it on the right). Perfect summer vibes. Catch him on Mary Anne Hobbs’ Radio 1 show on June 2nd and check PARIAH’s myspace for upcoming gigs.

So what kind of mix have you made?

Well this mix is simply just a selection of some of my favourite garage tunes and these are tunes that I play out regularly. The mix is an all vinyl mix done in one take so I apologise if the beatmatching isn’t perfect all the time. I’ve just finished uni for the year so it was definitely inspired by the prospect of a nice summer break and the fact that these tunes are perfect for this time of year!

Please tell me a bit about a couple of the tracks you’ve included and why.

Hmm… I guess, The Streets Has It Come To This, which opens the mix, was an important one to include because it’s a tune that I’ve rediscovered over the past 6 months or so. I was a massive fan of ‘Original Pirate Material’ when I was growing up but I wasn’t into garage. Back then, I never thought of this album as a garage album… more hip-hop than anything. What I find strange is that as I’ve grown up and grown to love garage, I probably appreciate this album more now than I did when I was younger. Listening to it gives me this feeling that is some kind of weird mix of nostalgia and freshness.

I love Orpheus/Detroit Falls, your recent debut record on R&S. Does it feel good to have it finally out there?

Thanks very much! Really glad that you are into it. It feels great… It took so long for it to come out due to circumstances that were really out of anyone’s control so I’m a bit sick of those tunes now but it’s definitely nice to finally have them out there. I just can’t wait to get more releases under my belt.

What do you have coming up release-wise? Is there an album in the works – and would it be on R&S?

Well I’ve got a 2×12” coming out shortly on R&S which I’m just finishing off at the moment. Hopefully, I will have it finished in the next couple of weeks. I wanted to do a release that has a variation of styles and tempos and I think that this double pack is shaping up nicely. After that there’s going to be another 12” on R&S which will feature this Detroit-meets-Berlin influenced techno tune that I’ve written. Also in the pipeline, is a three track EP for Black Acre but I haven’t started writing it yet so I have no idea what its going to sound like yet.

In terms of an album, I don’t, as yet, feel like I am ready to do one but I’ve definitely been thinking about it. When I come to do it, it will almost definitely be on R&S and the earliest I can see it happening is probably towards the end of 2011. At this moment in time all I want to do is release a few more singles and concentrate on DJ’ing as much as possible.

Who’s getting you excited music-wise at the moment?

Ah there’s so much great music around at the moment. I’m really excited to hear what Hessle Audio and Hemlock put out over the next few months. For me, those labels are releasing some of the most exciting and interesting music I’ve heard in a very long time. I also heard the Mt. Kimbie album the other day and it’s an amazing record. The new Caribou album is amazing too… perfect for this beautiful weather that we’ve got at the moment. My single of the year so far though has to be the ‘Earth Tones’ EP that came out on Soul People Music. It’s a split release with tunes from Move D, Steve Oh and Black Jazz Consortium. I love it so much!

What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Well, I was going to be playing out in Russia but I think that show has been cancelled which is a shame. I can’t wait to go back out to Amsterdam though. I had such a great time when I was out there in April. Apart from DJ’ing, I’m looking forward to writing as much music as possible. This time last year I got really bad writer’s block which was pretty frustrating so I pray it doesn’t happen again.

What’s your favourite colour?

I honestly have no idea haha… Blue, I guess.