Dakosa are a drum & bass production outfit comprising of Dave (Dready) Marsh, Mike (Kemikal) Craske and Leo (Soulific) Tomlinson from Maidstone, Kent.

Although newly formed as Dakosa (they only got together in early 2009), their musical paths have crossed on numerous occasions in the past as far back as '98 when Dave and Mike shared a residency at a local night. At this time Dave was also a resident at legendary D&B night Pure Science and regularly DJed across the country.

At the same time Mike was studying music production and DJing at local events within the house scene, which is where he met Leo, but both also had a mutual passion for drum & bass. Moving forward to 2005, and at a time when there weren't many D&B nights in Kent, Leo was a key instigator in founding an event called The Liquid Sessions. A night still running strong today and is influential in bringing quality D&B to Kent.

Dakosa have a slew of releases forthcoming on labels such as Broken Audio, Qilin Music, Touched By Records and Buried Audio and recently released an EP called Hideout on .shadybrain.

What inspires Dakosa as a unit?
Leo: I really enjoy listening to new music of all different genres. I take inspiration from any little bleep, squeak or bass tone I hear. Groove tracks really intrigue me. I like to hear a groove in a genre other than d&b and try and replicate it in a d&b format.

Mike: We initially really liked being involved in trying to make new music and seeing what other people thought of it. The passion for making music has grown out of that really.

Dave: We take inspiration from anything that we can vibe off. Like Leo said, it can be anything from a simple bleep, to a whole track.

Do you find working as a trio compliments your decision-making, or impacts on your ability to compromise with ideas?
Due to other commitments it's not always the three of us that will see a tune through from start to finish, but we will always make sure that all of us are happy with the finished product. This keeps things fresh within the studio as it changes the dynamic.

Sometimes one of us will start something, then leave it for us to all finish, or two of us will just do a whole track. We think it definitely helps the decision-making process as having three people's opinion on something has improved quality control plus we don't often get stuck on a tune. Someone always seems to have an idea of what to do next.

Was there prejudice pigeonholing Liquid Sessions from the surrounding area's double-time MCs and wobble bangers, and has that history coloured Dakosa's sound and ethos today?
Leo: We never noticed any prejudice, but I do feel people enjoy The Liquid Sessions as it is something different. What I liked most about the early days of LS was house heads coming up to us and saying they didn't think they liked drum & bass, but this is really good. I think that this has affected our work as Dakosa as we have always wanted to make tracks you can feel, make you think and still make you nod your head.

Mike: Plus I don't think we're up to the standard yet to make the wobble bangers.

Dave: There are still many people who don't understand anything other than what they mostly hear and that would be more on the jump-up side of things, so we feel that it is good to offer an alternative, and without sounding too pretentious, perhaps a bit of an education - just to show people that d&b is a very progressive and musical sound.

Were there times where you all fell in and out of love with drum & bass music due to politics, styles changing, or has it always been constant?
Leo: I have always been into drum & bass, but there was a dark time for me in the early to mid noughties. I was still buying tracks, but I was going off them in seconds. It wasn't until I focused on music that really moved me that I really started enjoying it again. This was about the time we started The Liquid Sessions and from then on, on a daily basis I've become more enthused about the scene. If you steer clear of what I call the more commercial side of d&b you find music with more longevity and more soul. Music that really moves you.

Mike: Yeah, I'm the same, but I explored other genres like house and techno. It was when neurofunk had its regeneration with people like Noisia putting a new twist on it that I really fell back in love with d&b. The fact that this genre always evolves is what keeps it alive and what makes me proud to say I'm into drum & bass.

Dave: Having been a DJ within the scene for over 17 years I have had many times where I have been disheartened and fed up with things, but I have never fallen out of love with the music. That's not to say that I haven't thought there was a lot of crap out there. But due to the music always pushing boundaries and always hearing something new whenever you go out, it's hard not to love it!

Do you believe your love of music in other scenes strengthens your long term goals and inspiration to write what you do?
Definitely. It's helped us draw on influences outside of drum & bass and maybe one day we'd like to take what we've learnt producing drum & bass and try our hand at producing those genres that have influenced us in the past. We all love music and it's a massive part of our lives, so as long as we can make something interesting, we're happy.

What advice would you give to producers starting just starting out?
The only advice I think we could impart is that even though you should only put in as much time as you feel comfortable with, be mindful of the fact that to get the results takes a lot of time and determination. That said, you shouldn't overwork yourself in the studio. If you can't get it sounding how you want then try doing something else and come back to it later. Making a good track is not a quick process and shouldn't be rushed. And things usually sound different with fresh ears.

What would you say to fans to keep them keen on following your endeadvours?
Even though we have been producing for separately for a few years we have only been producing together for almost a year. So we are constantly developing our sound and believe there is still room for improvement. We also have various collaborations in the pipeline which we're excited about. Watch this space...

On that note, what are Dakosa's plans for the year to come?
We have several releases lined up for the first half of the year and hope to develop our sound further as I think we've still got a lot to learn as a collective. We're hoping to get more creative with our DJing and are working on a way the three of us can DJ together. As we said earlier we have some collaborations in the pipeline and are very much looking forward to working with the artists we have lined up.

Finally, could you describe your mix...
It moves through the styles we are really feeling at the moment. We would've liked to make it more of an epic mix, but we knew we couldn't make it too long. There are a lot of good, new artists around and we wanted to include as much of their stuff as possible. Then there's obviously tracks from more established artists that we just can't get enough of.

 

Words: Muttley

 

Download Dakosa's guest mix

Tracklisting

1. Skeptical - Warp - Digilab Dub
2. Icicle - Time to Remember (Thorne Remix) - Shogun/Knowledge comp winner
3. DLR - Tundra - Dub
4. Dominic Ridgway - Meditation (Eleven8 Remix) - Influenza Minus Dub
5. Flatliners & Mental Forces - Mount Erebus - Foundation X
6. Anile - Induction - DSM Dub
7. Data - Tapeworm - Horizons Music
8. Dakosa - Nobody Else - Dub
9. Anile & SynthSense - Seeking You - Dub
10. Syntex & June Miller - Sleep - Dub
11. Spectrasoul - Mimic - Subtitles
12. Dakosa - Pseudo Science - Dub
13. Spirit - All I Need (Anile Remix) - Inneractive Dub
14. Blocks - Tangier - Inside Music Dub
15. Data & Kingsin - Baggage - DSM Dub
16. Dakosa - Hideout - .shadybrain
17. S.P.Y. - Playing With Knives - Cylon Dub
18. Dakosa - Unknown Quantity - Shadybrain
19. June Miller & Anile - Untitled - Dub

• .shadybrain
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• Dakosa

Related Links:

• Anile Guest Mix
• Displaced - Descending Mist Mix
• Bassdrive Sessions Miami 2011
• TRUE Hip-Hop By Mike Schreiber
• Guest Mix: Skeptical

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