You probably know I.D. from his studio partnership with Baobinga but he's an accomplished producer in his own right as his recently released Mustang EP on Sub Slayers shows. We caught up with I.D. to talk bass, Gilles Peterson and the future of vinyl...

A lot of your work is quite deep, very layered, but not overly bass heavy. At the same time there's definitely a more quintessential breaks party-time theme happening. How did you manage to fuse the two?

It's not something I consciously set out to do - I just love good drums, and interesting atmospheres. I love a good, agile, twisting break, which usually means you can't go super-heavy with it. Having massive drums means there's no space for anything else. Lighten up on the drums a bit, and suddenly you can go to all these different places without sounding too contrived.  

I'm interested to hear the 'not overly bass heavy' comment though. It's not the first time I've heard it, but I can assure you that my tunes have just as much sub as anything else out there! What they don't have, though, is this ubiquitous wagga distorted mid-range sound; but a lot of people seem to confuse that with 'bass' these days. It's as though, if they can't hear the bass on laptop speakers or their mobiles, they assume it's not there.

What are you listening to right now? Anything new?

Always!  I get a million promos these days, both as a DJ and as a writer, so I try to get through a few dozen every couple of days. As I type, I'm listening to the next release on Hotflush by Sepalcure. It's brilliant. In general though, I've been massively into Seiji recently, and I've also been rinsing the Havana Cultura Remixed project which was put together by Gilles Peterson. Perfect summer listening!

It's fantastic to see that garage lives on! What garage artists influenced you? Could the genre be making a bit of a comeback?

To be honest, I didn't listen to garage much at the time. I stupidly thought it was all commercial stuff back then, although listening back to the likes of Steve Gurley and Groove Chronicles I'm always impressed by the darker grooves. So I wouldn't say I was influenced by those guys, but on the other hand I've always been inspired by people like Zinc and Zed Bias, who managed to keep a lightness and step to their drums.  

I don't really see garage making a full-blown comeback. All things pass, and I think most people are looking forwards rather than back. Having said that, I am enjoying the resurgence of vocal-led tracks, skippy beats and so on. But most of it feels more like homage than a full return of that sound.

If you had to describe your sound in a nutshell, what would you say?

Dextrous drums, rolling subs. In a word, breakstep!

Tell us about your latest collaborations with Baobinga...

This week we've been sending out some new tunes featuring the awesomely talented Rider Shafique on vocals. They've already been getting support from MJ Cole and Zed Bias, so you should be hearing them sometime soon!

I see you're releasing Mustang EP on vinyl. Do you think vinyl still has a relevance today or do you, sadly, see it going the way of the dinosaurs?

Vinyl will always have its place, but I think its time as the dominant format is long gone, sad to say. I still play out with vinyl, and it's much more fun, but it's getting harder to find anything on wax these days, as well as finding clubs with decks that still work. Also, the prevalence of cheap mp3s is hastening the demise of the 'standard' twelve.

When you can get the track so cheaply online, you need a pretty special piece of artwork to persuade people to pay six or seven times that for the plastic instead. But it will survive, in its own fashion - between the collectors, those who prefer the sound quality, and those who need to have something tangible.

Anything much planned for the summer? Tours, new releases etc...

Hopefully I'll be hitting festivals in Ukraine, Denmark, Spain, Holland and Czech Republic. I'll also be launching the bassmusicblog label, whilst carrying on my writing. On top of that, there will be releases from a couple of my side-projects, some Baobinga & I.D. stuff in late summer, and hopefully some more I.D. solo stuff come the autumn.

 

I.D. Mustang VIP 320 by bassmusic

 

Download I.D.'s promo mix

 

Tracklist

1. I.D. & Baobinga ft Rider Shafique - Gun Talk (dub)
2. Dubbel Dutch - Throwback (Palms Out)
3. Baobinga ft Killa Benz - Wine Up (Steak House dub)
4. Ill Blu - Bellion (Hyperdub dub)
5. Snide - Clubbin (dub)
6. Warrior One ft Lady Chann - King Riddim (King Pigeon)
7. So Shifty ft. Ward 21 & Natalie Storm - Clap (Top Billin Mix Instrumental) (Top Billin)
8. Seiji - Todo Mundo (dub mix) (Man Recordings)
9. DJ C ft Miss Thing - Jump Up & Bounce
10. Wizzbit - Aquarius remix
11. Shortstuff & Mickey Pearce - Tripped Up (Ramadanman Re-Edit) (Blunted Robots)
12. Seiji - Yesman
13. Baobinga & I.D. - Wang It (dub)
14. Skinnz - Make Me Feel (dub)
15. I.D. - Feudal (dub)
16. Blawan - Iddy (Hessle Audio)
17. I.D. - Fresh Air (Sub Slayers dub)
18. Jakes - Time Ends (Tectonic dub)
19. I.D. - Tell Ya (Sub Slayers dub)
20. Marcus Visionary - Left Foot Skank (Liondub)
21. I.D. & Skinnz - Most High (dub)
22. Dark Sky - Something To Lose (Black Acre)
23. I.D. - Once Again (Passenger dub)
24. Setspeed - Flavour (dub)

 

• ID
,
• Baobinga

Related Links:

• Free Baobinga & ID Remix Parts
• Seiji Guest Mix
• Baobinga's Joint Ventures
• Bullet Train Mixed By Marco Del Horno
• Baobinga & ID To Release New Album

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