Crosstown Rebels fave Russ Yallop is back on his journey – The Journey. Said track, released on Crosstown Rebels this summer, was a gloriously dark and ethereal slice of deep house featuring incisive vocals by Aimee Sophia; all of which struck a resonant chord with thousands of dancefloors around the world. Flipside lick, How I Feel, featured the feisty tonsils of Bellee over a similarly, beautifully twisted soundscape, and only added to Yallop’s impact. So why revisit it now with remixes? How do you add to perfection? Defected's Ben Lovett asks the question.
“Me and Damian [Lazarus, Crosstown Rebels chief] were chatting in DC-10 and he suggested maybe giving the [Sophia] vocal away as a free acapella people could use” Yallop begins. “I then suggested a remix contest and the seed was planted. I’m very happy we did, as a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into recording that vocal – it’s nice to get some more mileage out of it! Plus it gave me a chance to create a dub version which a few people asked for when it originally dropped.”
The resultant competition, via Beatport, was won by two young Laurent Garnier-loving Frenchmen under the studio mantle of Melokolektiv. Their sleek, tech-y remix of the title track adds welcome rhythmic deviations, combined with sharp pulses of acid and melody. Yallop himself provides weighty dubs of both The Journey and How I Feel. How focussed is he on supporting the next generation of electronic talent, being so relatively fresh to the limelight himself?
“The [Melokolektiv] boys did a great job, hats off to them” he beams. “Actually, behind the scenes, nurturing talent is a huge part of a DJ’s role. You receive a constant stream of new music from new producers and often find yourself giving feedback so you’re the first person to break a particular bomb.”
Yallop has actually been, in his own words, “DJing and talking tunes for nigh on 10 years.” It was back in 2004 when he decided to pursue DJing full-time, having just hit Ibiza with friends Jamie Jones, Richy Ahmed and Lee Foss. There were studio experiments before that but no compulsion to drop everything and focus only on music.
“It was the belief that I could do it,” Yallop says simply of his eureka moment to become a full-time artist. “It was when it truly sank in that if I learnt the ropes and stuck at it, that one day it could happen. If I wasn’t doing this I am really scared to think what would have become of me. I’d probably be having a mid-life crisis right now, contemplating giving up my boring job in the city for something creative.”
Yallop’s ascent hasn’t been easy, nor has anyone mentored or sponsored him. Today, the friends he hung with all those years ago are, like him, well established names. Back then, however, most were on the same low rung of the ladder, attempting to climb. Yallop has helped himself. “My success today boils down to hard work and making the right choices” he explains. “For example, I realised early on that the only thing worth spending your time on is learning how to make music. Chasing small gigs is a fruitless pursuit. I had to teach myself everything as at the time I knew no-one locally making music. But I don’t recommend it – use every opportunity to learn from others...it’s so much faster.”
True enough Yallop’s relatively recent production strides have prompted, at least in part, a rise in DJ bookings and artistic status. His creative stock continues to surge and studio is very much the driving force. Of course, Yallop hasn’t yet released much. His EP debut, I Can’t Wait, arrived in 2010 on Crosstown Rebels, Lazarus – with several connections to Yallop and his immediate friends - having heard a demo and been instantly sold on those now classic disco-fied nu-house stylings. Lauded tracks have followed for Rebels sub-label Rebellion (Crossroads), Losing Suki (Harlem) and Nurvous (Making Me High, alongside Ben Gomori), not to mention robust work with Rusty James, for Mothership and Leftroom) and snappy remixes of Jamie Jones and Louie Fresco. And yet Yallop’s discography remains firmly in the making. Is he bothered that he’s not had time to do more as yet?
“I’ve made probably tenfold what I’ve actually released. But my take on things is if people can’t trust me to only release great music, why would they trust me to only play it?” he calmly argues. “As a DJ, people are putting their trust in you and by only ever releasing music I 100% believe in I’m hopefully building their trust.”
Career coming nicely to the boil in 2013, has Yallop started considering an album? Clearly, he’s not about to get ahead of himself just yet. “I’ve always said I’ll make an album when these three criteria are fulfilled – one, my DJ career is at a stage where I can take an extended period off; two, my production skills are at a place where I can sculpt anything I want; and three, enough people believe in me to give my album their full attention. There’s a looooonnnng way to go yet!”
It follows that his response to questions on peoples’ rising expectations of him, and the pressures that brings with it, is similarly serene and composed. “Of course I feel a weight of expectation” he says, “but I’d say every DJ does.”
The pressure certainly isn’t getting to him. In recent months he has regularly wowed the Balearic crowds at DC-10 as part of Jamie Jones’ Paradise residency, and served sonic delights to prestigious dancefloors in Miami, Barcelona, London (notably EGG), Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow and, latterly, Peru and Mexico (where Yallop is currently on holiday). His prowess has been reflected in the growing levels of fan and industry attention he is now receiving. What has been his favourite gig this year?
“When I think of 2013 I can’t help but immediately think of Paradise and DC-10” he ponders. “It was Paradise’s second year at DC-10 and it is so great to be a part of it. I’ve grown up attending that club and this year I played to a packed Terrace and played my first Circo Loco, as well as playing at some afterparties I’ll remember for a very long time. It’s not often you get to play on a converted World War II minesweeper [in Ibiza].”
But a definitive highlight?: “That was, without a doubt, playing with Richy [Ahmed] to a rammed DC-10 Terrace before passing the mantle to Richie Hawtin [at Paradise, early August]. Myself and Richy have been going to DC-10 for about 10 years, together a lot of the time, and we were both huge Hawtin fans growing up. That was a special, special night.”
The summer release of The Journey – Yallop’s most recent release, before this month’s remix package – has undoubtedly given him another career high; a striking yard-marker for the pioneering path he wishes to pursue in the future. A ‘journey’ everlasting.... “The original is an example of a track where I just thought fuck it, I’m gonna make something dark, scary and different. I had the rhythm, melody and general vibe of the song in my head for months and once I found a suitable vocalist I made the track. The result is a pretty intense seven minutes...not for every dancefloor...but I’m extremely happy with it.”
It also, maybe, answers those critics who talk increasingly of the predictable, cliquey hegemony of Crosstown Rebels and other taste-making underground house labels like Hot Creations and Leftroom. “In this internet age anyone with a connection can suddenly be a ‘critic’,” Yallop asserts. “The only criticism you learn to listen to is those who you look up to; those who are actually doing what you are doing and have learnt how to do it successfully. What they say rarely chimes with the chitter-chatter you hear elsewhere.
“But I won’t dismiss the question out of hand. The criticism should be directed at the whole market, not just a few labels. It’s a very deep and complex subject, the nuances of dance music are in a constant state of evolution, and that rate of evolution is far from fixed. Perhaps the rate is slower at the moment than it’s been in the past, but putting that at the door of a few popular labels is ridiculous. There are three entities involved – producers, labels and record buyers. The labels have the least influence on the music we hear, since if a group of producers makes a new sound that the public is after and one label decides not to use it then another will. The label that does will blow up from it and replace the others as the new talking point. The truth is labels like Crosstown and Hot Creations are where they are because of their experimentation. Look at their releases in isolation and you’ll realise this. The mistake these critics make is in blaming the originators for the deeds of the imitators.”
Turning to Yallop’s immediate future, and the self-assured DJ-producer has new material on the way but no specific details for now. He’s sensible enough to plan but realistic in spreading those plans across just a few weeks at a time: “I do set daily and weekly targets in terms of work I want to get done, but not annual ones as so much of this game is beyond your control.”
Prudently, he has also given himself a week off in Peru and Mexico (this interview and a couple of intimate gigs for early Yallop adopters Difficult People and 4BeatsPeru aside) to recharge after a busy, swaggeringly good year. “It was well needed and well deserved” he happily sighs. “Then I’ll be back in [home city] Brighton for Christmas with my olds; and what I’d really like is some socks and a shower gel gift set. Lynx Africa is pretty popular with the girls from what I’ve seen on TV.”
Yallop needn’t worry about such things, for the whiff of popularity is already thick around him.
Words: Ben Lovett
Russ Yallop’s The Journey (Remixed) EP is out now on Crosstown Rebels (UK).
