Luke Solomon’s new album is about not fitting in; so much so, that it didn’t even want to be an album originally. Confused? Here’s Defected’s Ben Lovett to explain…
“I was working on singles with other artists, demos bouncing backwards and forward between us” he opens. “I liked that collaborative vibe; it was a nice creative process which suddenly prompted something bigger and more profound.”
Recorded, tellingly, under his alias Digital Kid vs The World, the Barnet-based DJ and producer’s latest opus speaks volumes about his interests, beliefs and career to date. A Minor Digital Experiment reflects a deep love of film (everything from blockbuster-on-steroids Transformers to compassionate Oscar-winning drama A Single Man) and, deeper than that, the fundamental urge to resist musical tradition. Hence, listeners are treated to 11 standalone tracks striding confidently beyond accepted house and techno boundaries, as well (at the close) as those component parts re-formatted and mixed together and, on a companion vinyl EP (A Minor Analogue Experiment), re-interpreted by carefully selected outsiders.
“I love concepts man!” Solomon jokes, but only very briefly; he remains a committed rebel rouser at heart. “The album has a real us against them mentality. It’s about not belonging; to be honest, I’ve always felt that way. I’m trying to do something different, as are the like-minded ‘weirdos’ I’ve attached to the project. I’m rebelling against the traditional digital DJ album where particular tracks are cherry-picked and the overall message, or feeling even, is lost. Ironically, people will probably digest elements of my album in the same way but at least I have attempted something new. I’ll keep fighting against the flow.”
The last time Solomon donned his Digital Kid disguise was way back in 2001, concluding the earliest phase of a discography which began in the late Nineties. This month’s revival is a nod to those golden days but nothing more; Solomon isn’t jumping on clubland’s current retro-house bandwagon. “I had a discussion with Kirk Degiorgio [London techno producer] on Twitter about retro-house the other day; re-creating the past bothers me” he says. “I’m inspired by the older house and techno records, I grew up with them; but the challenge has always been to take their essence and move it forwards. I understand that there’s a younger generation who haven’t heard the older records before but simply re-creating them does nothing to move our scene forwards.”
If A Minor Digital Experiment tackles four-to-the-floor from both the crispy, tightly-wound micro-house and warm, melodic, funky free ends of the spectrum, then Solomon’s next album, already scheduled for release in six months’ time, will cover lounge-geared Balearic and deep, acid-splashed disco – more feathers in his finely plumed stylistic cap. Timelines, Solomon indicates, stretches its highly bespoke home and club soundtracks over two discs, incorporating digital trickery alongside live, organic instrumentation.
Beyond that, Solomon continues to evolve Classic Records, the groundbreaking, vitally outlandish label he founded with Chicago legend Derrick Carter in 1995. Classic famously counted down its releases from 100, promising to cease operations once ‘zero’ was reached. But new material kept trickling past that milestone, achieved in 2005, via savvy new edits, re-masters and mixes of back catalogue glories. Today, the creative trickle has become a Niagara-style torrent, Carter and Solomon moving past former highlights onto bold new standalone ideas. Classic has been reborn.
“It’s so exciting, I really do feel like Classic is a completely different beast now” Solomon enthuses. “The label has taken time to find its stride since we officially re-launched it [in early 2011]. I think Derrick felt like the work with the back catalogue was a step backwards; he’s very focused on pushing forwards all the time. Of course, we both had concerns about being second bested if we started releasing brand new records. I mean, how would audiences take Classic? Would they feel it wasn’t a patch on the old Classic? But we’re really picking up pace now. The new releases are exciting, as are people’s responses.”
Classic’s forthcoming schedule sounds impressive. A new label sampler is due any time, featuring intriguing new signing Mikey V – “Derrick found him; he combines a modern day take on Derrick’s ‘bumpty bump’ sound with Prince-like vocals, which I can’t wait for everyone to hear” – and the return of long-standing indie-edged affiliates Greenskeepers – “their new track is a real departure for them, like funk at a house tempo; it’s great to have them back.” Elsewhere, Classic promises releases from Chris Coco and E-Smoove; the latter, re-issuing 1994 Sound Of Detroit lick Freedom Train, a favourite cut of Solomon’s close DJ-producer friend Kenny Hawkes, who passed away last summer.
It doesn’t end there. Solomon is probably working harder than at any other point in his career, finalising further projects with new “vanity” label Little Creatures (one involving New Jersey original Cassio Ware) and “hobby” band Mother Rose (“Alabama 3-style shenanigans” alongside Andy Neal), not to mention under his own name. Luke Solomon, the artist, promises a raw, Chicago-stacked EP for Rekids in the coming weeks and, possibly next year, a new studio album. There is talk of a disco long-player beyond that.
Solomon’s story starts back in 1990, his Friday night residency at Middlesex University – juggled with work in both a local Barnet record shop and fishmongers - leading to regular DJ bookings, a position at Freetown Records (A&Ring Roger Sanchez) and pirate radio show with Hawkes on Girls FM. Solomon’s widening profile paved the way to a further partnership with established house producer Rob Mello, who would become something of a industry mentor to him. The pair began recording together for Freetown and Chez Damier’s Prescription label; Damier knew Derrick Carter and so followed Classic. Meanwhile, Solomon was developing a production project, Freaks, with Middlesex cohort Justin Harris and complimentary imprint Music For Freaks.
Solomon, then, has always been industrious. But whilst DJing and label ownership runs consistently throughout his career, the studio has fully impacted much later on; as, indeed, his current production pipeline attests. Solomon’s discography began in the mid-Nineties but volume and frequency of output only properly materialised a decade or so later – Freaks, possibly, the exception to the rule. He’s working harder in the studio today because?
“The competition is fierce today, and there are less gigs – you have to be in people’s faces continually or it’s the end of your world” he reflects. “It’s relentless. I detest this notion of brand building; it makes me feel bitter, because it usually destroys creativity. But despite myself I have to do it too... build my name. I’m fairly fortunate, because of other things away from music, that I can DJ when I want; there’s basically no financial pressure there... everything can run organically. But I’ve felt that I’ve needed to push production a lot harder in recent years. I’ve been slaving away; if you don’t, the laws of probability are massively stacked against you.”
Solomon insists that he’s an optimist about the electronic scene and yet there is much that “bothers” him, as indeed he frequently comments within his personal, widely followed blog. “I am upbeat about the music industry, I really am; some of the changes coming through are good ones” he stresses. “But proper artists are few and far between; many within music today need to take other jobs to supplement their careers. I worry if that will happen to me in the future; I mean I wish I was more comfortable from this life than I am.”
Solomon also worries about the negativity of others: “People are always criticising music that they don’t need to listen to; it’s a result of social media and wider access to tracks. Dance music is a vast beast and, ultimately, there’s enough exciting, inspiring music for everyone. You need that positivity to be creative - just focus on your area and don’t waste energy attacking somebody else. Whether or not I like Swedish House Mafia is irrelevant; I don’t need to listen to them to do what I do. I’m a decent human being who has better things to do than troll the internet.”
Do his annoyances ever become too much? Has he ever considered jacking it all in? “Never,” is the immediate reply. “But elements – mentally – of defeat have been creeping in. There have always been negatives in my life, personal or otherwise, and I’ve needed to fight through them. I’ve become very self critical, very self evaluating. There’s a lot, musically, I still need to achieve but I thought my first release on Little Creatures [last month’s Cutting Edge Remixes EP] was a real achievement; perhaps the closest I’ve ever gotten to conveying what’s rattling around inside my head.”
What is that exactly?: “I’m not the greatest talker about my feelings so music is a therapy of sorts. My very darkest, deepest thoughts are embedded in the music I make; they are documented. But there are other feelings and ideas as well. It’s complicated. We’re all complicated.”
Solomon is talking just a few days after losing one of his closest Fortysomething friends. The sad news follows so soon after Hawkes: “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about Kenny; more so this week. He was a dear friend and his legacy is his sense of humour, his rebel spirit, his spirituality and, of course, his music. All of that has embedded itself in me; it definitely comes out in my own music [Solomon released tribute single Lonely Dancer (Dance Away The Pain), featuring Jon Marsh, on Classic this summer]. My music is an amazing therapy and I hold on to that tightly.”
Words: Ben Lovett
The Digital Kid vs The World – A Minor Digital Experiment is released by Classic on November 26; vinyl remix EP A Minor Analogue Experiment arrives on October 29.
