Extended Play - C64 talks with Denis Benson Eye Weekly Magazine (Toronto, Canada)
“I think a good DJ is someone who puts a lot of thought into the music that they choose and who has a specific taste. In drum ’n’ bass or techno or any club music, if you want to be that person who just plays the top hits, you can be, but I think that’s more like a glorified jukebox. I don’t think you’re staking any claim to what you actually like about the music if you’re doing that.”
So says Chris Minifie, a local DJ, promoter and label owner who has steadily carved a distinct musical path — and an artist identity as C64 — out of his love for outsider music. The 29-year-old from Markham originally fell for electronic music as a love for industrial dance bands like Skinny Puppy led him to the more experimental sounds of artists including Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Through hearing the cassette mixes of influential local DJs including Dr. No, Roughneck and Jungle Ph.D., Minifie also discovered British drum ’n’ bass and began attending the Syrous and Dose mega-raves in 1997.
When he started spinning two years later, Minifie deliberately set out to mix sounds that extended well beyond the “same 40 or so tracks” that would be played most frequently at the larger parties. He blended both chilled and choppy drum ’n’ bass with digital hardcore and early breakcore, developing a reputation as a creative DJ with tight mixing skills and a love of complex drum work. Whether DJing an intimate local spot or touring parts of Europe, the US and the UK — as he’s done both solo and as support for producers including Venetian Snares and Knifehandchop — Minifie says he’s got the same goals in mind.
“I’m always working to try to give people what I would describe as challenging, creative dance music. I think stuff that challenges listeners is important to play.
“For example,” he continues, “within drum ’n’ bass, I think a lot of the drum-heavy stuff got marginalized in the late ’90s when D&B started to go smoother because there was the thinking like, ‘This new influx of junglists, they can’t really handle the old-school, drum-heavy stuff.’ Well, if you don’t play it for them, then of course not. I think you undermine an audience when you think like that.”
Minifie would rather raise the bar and work to connect with an audience, as he’s done on the decks, promoting diverse drum ’n’ bass parties with his Splinter Productions, and through
Make:shift, the “deeper, drum-oriented jungle” label he founded in 2003. Giving props to local D&B DJ Frankie Gunns and promoters Soul In Motion and Two-Tone, Mr. C64 speaks with excitement about Toronto’s current drum ’n’ bass scene, saying it’s not nearly as dormant as some would portray.
“With drum ’n’ bass, we obviously don’t get the massive parties that we used to and you might hear people complaining about that, but I think this scene is actually healthier and more DIY than it used to be,” Minifie enthuses. “There’s much more variety.”
Variety is the buzzword for Minifie, who also contributes more experimental breakcore and IDM sounds through his Dross:tik label and related events. Since 2002, he’s released music by artists including Belladonnakillz, Unitus, Venetian Snares and Sincere Trade, and is psyched about a coming EP by Massachusetts breakcore producer Dev/Null.
Having recently spent a year living in Edinburgh, where he completed his teaching degree, Minifie also had the opportunity to attend and DJ at numerous events devoted to an array of left-field electronic sounds. Inspired, he returned home to co-produce the recent Why? Festival, two nights of breakcore, drum ’n’ bass, glitch, dubstep and more.
“I think it’s a great idea to gather these marginalized aspects of electronic music under one roof,” he says of the festival, which he hopes will help inspire similar thinking.
“There are ways of including all of these different things, even sounds that some people might think are too extreme,” he emphasizes. “It’s not like you have to do an hour of experimental tracks, but I think there’s room to take it in different directions.
Polska - Skeptic - 100% Magazine ( Australia)
Put down the magazine. Go to your nearest niche record store. Buy this album. Skeptic, the debut album from Ireland’s Polska is DnB with a difference. With ethereal soundscapes and chilling samples set to some of the more innovative beat foundations on the market at present, this album oozes sophistication and class. To call it groundbreaking is unfair, to call it brilliant is an understatement, to combine this many influences and styles in such a cohesive manner is nothing short of genius. Dub, breakbeat, jazz, funk, minimal, it’s almost unsettling. Skeptic kicks off with Summertare, an atmospheric winter chill-out track that sets the stage for the clever collaborations reinforced by tracks like Da Truth, Loose Grip, the haunting Ratrace, underground Jazz den How R U, the surreal Rollmode, (resist temptation to post entire track list) and rounding out with the serene, oriental and aptly named Afterwards - cuddles and pillow talk.
Polska - Skeptic - Igloo Magazine ( USA)
Polska are extremely successful at marrying the dreamlike atmosphere of classic trip-hop to a jazzier version of the drum sounds that Squarepusher dropped all over Hard Normal Daddy and Music Is Rotten One Note. The best example of their technique is "Stu Tt Er," with its gorgeous vocal sample and drifting, hazy ambience. But this is a disc so loaded with greatness that there are no real highlights - it's all excellent. The title track is the next step in ambient-d'n'b - d'n'b tempos but completely chilled out. I don't know what they're putting in the water in Ireland, but I like that Polska is drinking it. Big thanks to Toronto's Makeshift Records for bringing this stateside. This is an early contender for album of the year.
Various - On the Lam - Cyclic Defrost Magazine (Australia)
"It has been 2 years since the first 12” came off the production lines at Canadian Make:Shift Records and little but silence has followed. After that abortive beginning, On the Lam is intended to be the label’s manifesto to the world: to push drum ‘n’ bass into new directions.
The first CD reveals the results of such a push – people like Fanu, Alpha Omega and ASC lay down some incredible tracks that stay away from the darkest depths of DnB while still innovating. Anyone familiar with the newer 12”s by Noisia will know that you can push broken beat into new realms, but the producers featured here do what Noisia seem to have failed to achieve: keeping a coherent, melodic structure in place. On tracks like Sincere Trade’s ‘Bend from Heat’ we almost seem to have drifted away from DnB totally, entering the cold environs of electronica before a more familiar, if still different, break starts to work.
Label frontman c64 provides the content for the second CD in the form of a 77 minute DJ mix, this time very firmly situating itself on the dark side of DnB. The tracks are almost 100% culled from Make:Shift or Gamma Ray artists and provides a pretty good example of what’s going on in the Make:Shift guys’ heads.
If you’re getting bored of the endless stream of seemingly computer generated DnB then this 2CD set is definitely an essential purchase. If you think you’re already listening to cutting edge DnB, then you could do worse things than buying this set, if only to tell me I should be checking out DJ Jihad from Ghent or wherever. The CD set is limited to 400 copies so be quick!"
12" ASC - Black Steel/Wizard - What Lies Beneath - ESB (Canada)
"Here is the first release from this collectively ran Toronto based label, and what a storming way to kick it all off. This clued up crew enlists the talents of the extremely versatile ASC and local Toronto madman Wizard to christen this new venture of pushing the more forward-looking sounds within drum & bass and downtempo. On this release the focus is kept within the d&b genre. ASC is given the A side duties with his chaotic yet cinematic “Black Steel”. A track that has been causing a stir on dub over the last few months and in true ASC style there is as much attention put into the atmosphere and mood of the track as there is in the drums. If you are at all familiar with this man’s work then you know that he can paint an aural landscape with cleverly placed strings, pads and triggers along with ever switching drums pinned underneath to keep the listener is awe. Once again ASC delivers with flair and originality that is second to none. The flipside duties are given to Wizard whom displays a tribal feel on “What Lies Beneath” with its mix of running bongos, swirling pads and syncopated kicks. As you would expect from the Wizard, space is indeed the place. The whole track displays a very futuristically ethereal feel throughout that will definitely appeal to fans of 720 and Cadence Recordings. Without a doubt, one for the late night floors. All in all, a very strong first release for a promising new label."
12" ASC - Black Steel/Wizard - What Lies Beneath - DE:BUG Magazine (Germany)
"Neues Label aus Toronto, dessen sechsköpfige Crew mit „do it yourself“ Strategie die erste Veröffentlichung realisiert hat. Respekt, ist es doch verdammt schwer für Drum&Bass-Labels, die nicht mit den Big Players und deren Sound konform sind, überhaupt Vinyl zu veröffentlichen geschweige denn einen Distribution-Deal zu finden. ASC flippt auf „Black Steel“ gekonnt den „Kickback“-Break und verzweigt sich immer weiter in knarzige Synthie-Lines. Wizard‘s Beat scheint dagegen eher aus einem 80‘s-Drummodul zu hüpfen. Coole erste 12“ und ich bin sehr gespannt was Make:Shift in Zukunft zu bieten hat."
12" ASC - Black Steel/Wizard - What Lies Beneath - Knowledge Magazine (UK)
"Top abstract funk from this new Canadian label. ASC lays down an avalanche of intricate breaks and then tops it off with some rolling low ends and serene, far off melodies; while Wizard goes for a clean and warm sound that recalls the classic Detroit techno sound of the late 80's. High end chin stroking gear that's also capable of of moving the feet."
