We love how soho808's bio begins: "One of the best parts about raging at an after-hours is the people you meet. And so begins the story of soho808 – New York’s dynamic DJ and production duo made up of Nathaniel Jay and Dave Robertson." The story may have begun at an after-hours, but it is just starting to be written. From their awesome parties at subMercer, to their tracks being featured on compilations by Soul Clap and Jamie Jones, to their recent releases on Mystery Meat & Wurst, to their cool as all hell podcasts for Autobrennt, The Dog & Pony Show and the Adventures of Soul Clap - soho808 are clearly the downtown disco duo on the rise!
We recently caught up with Nathaniel and Dave to chat about their productions, parties and records that are always in their crate. You can catch the fellas at our next Forward Disco event, this Saturday October 22 at Open House NYC. RSVP to [email protected] for free entry.
So, you met at an after-hours party, do you recall any details of that party? (because we can never recall any details from the after-hours that we attend!)
Yes, we did. It was a Resolute party, Terry Francis was playing, it was on a boat that didn't actually sail, it was just docked in a river in Queens. We started talking and realized we had a very similar appreciation for absurd humor. We realized we were on the same page in that respect right away.
How has working with a partner helped each of you grow as a producer?
Nathaniel: From my standpoint, I knew nothing about producing. Dave is the production wiz. So, I learned everything I know about making tracks in the last two years. I was coming at it from being a DJ and a record collector. I basically just said to Dave at one point, "Oh, you have a studio? We should make some tunes!" And here we are.
Dave: Nathaniel has been obsessively collecting vinyl for over 10 years, as a result he has an intrinsic understanding of what works in a song - both in terms of overall arrangement and also certain tonal qualities in individual sounds. We work well together because as i'm playing in parts on the piano or bass i know he has the overall aesthetic in mind at all times.
After releasing your first track last year, you had two of the industry’s heavy hitters grab your tracks this year for compilations (Soul Clap for the Social Experiment and Jamie Jones for Fabric 59 – both highly recommended!) – does that put additional pressure on you to follow up strong?
Both of those did LOADS for us this year, obviously. We know Eli from Soul Clap, so that one happened naturally. We sent him some tunes and he liked them. Jamie just came out of left field entirely, we don't know him at all. We think Dikso sent him some music and he liked it, obviously. So the Fabric thing seemed more serendipitous. Just really took us by surprise. However, while those were huge, we don't think it really added any pressure, no.
We are loving the Soul II Soul edit on Mystery Meat. Where you always planning to release these edits, or where they originally intended for personal use? Any other edits in the works (that you feel like sharing)?
The Soul II Soul edit is very near and dear to our hearts. A friend of ours, John Patrick, started bringing the acapella of that track over to Nathaniel's house and playing it during afterhours. When we hit up the studio, we decided to give it a go. Normally with a track that's been sampled as many times as that one has, you'd steer clear, but like we said, it was close to our hearts. The edit just really happened naturally, the keys and the bassline, we were excited about right away. We played it for some people and they loved it, it even almost made onto another edits label, but they sat on it forever. Finally the mysterious guys at Mystery Meat got in touch, and we were really digging the release they had coming out with Bicep, so it was a perfect fit and we're very excited.
Regarding edits, we have done a couple others, always available for free download on our Soundcloud. We think of edits as a bit of a phase, so we probably won't look to do anymore. At this point, you can consider the Mystery Meat release as our sole and final word on the edits thing. We'll do some more sample based stuff, sure, we're already working on a couple ideas, but probably not edits in the modern sense.
You guys have definitely played some unforgettable parties in NYC, what was a party that really stands out for you?
One party from the summer that really stands was a gig we did at The Palms in Queens. It was a big, dark, dirty, sweaty basement and people were going nuts. It was so hot (this is a cliche, but its true), sweat was literally dripping from the cieling, literally. We had gunk all over a couple of records from that! Great, great party. Tensnake remix of Runaway absolutely crushed the place.
Also, subMercer is amazing, each and every time. That club is becoming something of a spiritual home for us. We were supposed to do a guest slot there but ended up playing the whole night, and Gabby, the manager, loved our music and we've been back monthly ever since. There is a whole little subMercer family of DJs that includes Roy Dank, Justin Miller, Marcos Cabral, Eli Escobar and many more. We're excited to be a small part of that. The quality level of the music is very high there, and Gabby has just started a subMercer label as well.
Your sound is pioneering the current movement of pitching things down a bit, and taking the crowd on a bit of a musical journey. Who are some of your musical influences?
We have been banging on about Pitch it Down for years now! It first started with deep house, so the initial influences for that would have deep house guys. Dixon, Scott Grooves, Patrice Scott, people like that. Then, when we really started getting into pushing things down even slower to the 110 and less arena, influences came from guys like Mark E and The Revenge and stuff like that.
Last thing before we go - What are the five records that are always in your crate?
Our crates are always evolving. There are classics that have lasted years, of course, but it's a rotating cast of classics, mixed in with the new stuff we take to every gig. Here are some tunes firmly lodged in our crates at the moment:
Rayko - Broadway edit
MCDE - LOVE (Basement Edit)
KZA - Le Troublant Acid
Alice Smith - Love Endeavor (Maurice Fulton remix)
Chaka Khan - I Know You, I Live You
You can grab soho808's recent releases on vinyl
The Wurst Music Ever Part 1 | Trouble and Strife and as always check out halcyon the shop for the latest releases from soho808.
soho808 | AB Logic | Sean Cormac | Nocturnal Soul
OPEN HOUSE | 244 East Houston bet Ave A & B
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