American drum & bass producer Random Movement has an album coming out on DJ Marky's Innerground label in September so we grabbed a few words with him to find out more...

Please introduce yourself...

I'm Mike, a Warp-Records/Stax/Industrial-music-listening upright bass player of jazz that somehow slipped into the wild world of drum & bass and never looked back. Random Movement started in 2002 as two people and I eventually took the reins of the project and kept on galloping away toward the sunset.

I've been doing musical things nearly my whole life with piano lessons starting at age three onto guitar at 14 and playing in different rock groups / big bands / jazz combos through my years at university and beyond, and the drum & bass thing just really caught my soul and carried me to this strange new place where we are today.

Tell us more about the album you're releasing. Any concept behind it?

The Lucky Guess album is a collection of tunes I've done over the years that I wanted to put into an LP to give people a good idea of what I'm all about as an artist. The tracks on it vary in style but all tend to have the Random Movement groove to them.

It's coming out on DJ Marky's Innerground label, how did this come about and what does it mean to you?

Marky discovered me five years ago after my initial success with tracks like Stars in the Dark on Bassbin, and over the years he has really believed in me and what I do musically. Back then he told me "I wanna do a Random Movement album" and ever since I have continued to strive to meet his expectations as well as my own.  Marky's ongoing friendship, guidance and love for the music I do has continued to inspire me to keep trying to achieve my dreams and never lose that "wet behind the ears" mentality.  

How does working on albums compare with of singles?

I tend to think without context or aim when it comes to writing music, simply because when I think "I need to write an uplifting track that this label will sign" by the time I make any headway the track sounds like shit, like it was forced. I try not to be goal-oriented when I write a tune to avoid all of that sort of thing, so it's safe to say I felt no difference in writing the tracks for the album besides that I wasn't able to give them to too many people for a while to keep all of the music as fresh as possible.

Can we expect anything different on it?

I think you'll notice the variance in styles upon listening to the disk, with a track or two being a bit slower and a couple of others having a much harder edge than you may expect from me, but overall it is a collection of drum & bass tracks, a dj-grab-bag of Random Movement works.  

Who have you collaborated with on it & what was it like working with them?

I worked on several tunes with Mixmaster Doc and Focus, and working with them was sort of a "let's throw caution to the wind" idea so we could run in any direction with the music. Although we stuck with the drum & bass vibe, I think we went in some new directions for all of us. I feel really liberated to be able to work with people who get me thinking differently about how to write these tracks, because in the end it helps us all grow within our own styles.

Over what period was it made?

The tracks span as far back as 2002 up to about four months ago, so you can hear how my style has changed over time, and in a lot of ways, how it has stayed the same.

What are you working on at the moment?

Aside from working on my ongoing podcasts (available at www.randommovement.org) as well as my radio show on Bassdrive (every Wednesday 23:00 - 01:00 GMT), I have just gotten done moving my studio to Florida from Ohio and am starting to work on a whole new set of fresh material to drop on the masses as soon as I can. I've also been on a sampling marathon lately to get more inspiration and ideas for new tracks, so expect a lot of fresh new bits from me shortly!

Anything else you want to tell us about?

I am planning on coming back to South America towards the end of the year and then back to Europe and the UK at the beginning of 2011. Please be on the look-out for dates in your area soon!

 

 

Lucky Guess will be available as a 12 track CD album, as well as two 12" vinyl samplers. Click here for audio of all the tracks.

 

CD (INN035CD)

1. Waterlogged
2. Yeah, That's It
3. My Sentiments Feat. Mixmaster Doc & Focus
4. Change For The Train Home
5. To Create A Mood
6. Can't Resist
7. When You Come Alive
8. Fessing Up About Nothing
9. Lucky Guess
10. Kids In The Sea
11. Bandaids
12. The Self-Aware Convection Oven

Vinyl Sampler 1 (INN036)

1. Waterlogged
2. Change For The Train Home

Vinyl Sampler 2 (Inn037)

1. Yeah, That's It
2. Can't Resist (SPY Remix)

• Random Movement
,
• DJ Marky

Related Links:

• Random Movement Guest Mix
• New Remixes From Intrigue Music
• DJ Marky Interview
• Influence Announce Two New Albums
• 98 (May 2008)

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