Washington DC club duo Nadastrom could quite easily have grabbed their moniker from one of NASA’s deep space exploration satellites, or some such. Plainly, it’s a fusion of the pair’s surnames - Matt Nordstrom and Dave Nada - but out-of-orbit analogies remain apt when one considers the recent extent of their sonic trailblazing.
Nadastrom have been charting edgy, virgin dance music territory for some time now - and, finally, the rest of clubland is catching up. It’s all down to ‘moombahton’, a low-ridin’, bass-driven mix of house, reggaeton and electro which the boys kind of discovered on the hoof.
“Dave arrived at a basement party being held by of one his cousins” Matt begins. “He was expecting to play house and techno but the place was rocking to reggaeton [a fusion of Latin, urban and reggae dance influences], so he decided to pitch down some of his house records with kind of the same denbow riddim [the percussive building block of reggaeton] flow and it went from there. Everyone went nuts.”
The year was 2009. And the record that defined moombahton’s name, DJ Chuckie & Silvio Ecomo’s Moombah, as remixed by Afrojack. “Slowed up, it sounded like speedy reggaeton” Matt continues. “People understood the tempo shift pretty quickly; we stitched the track’s name to the reggaeton tag and moombahton stuck.”
It wasn’t just about the clever pitch manipulation of other people’s cuts; soon, Nadastrom and others were testing out their own experimental studio productions. “We use things you wouldn’t normally find in dancehall” Dave stresses. “The reggaeton vibe is there but we’ve basically given it a house structure, what with the builds, the drops, and some of the drums. The bass is also big, with a lot of influence from that whole electro thing going on in the house clubs today. Moombahton records are around 108bpm which is a similar pace to the hip-hop you hear in American clubs; it means people understand the sound, and when you add in all the house and bass elements, they go absolutely crazy.”
Well, most of the time. When Nadastrom first toured their big idea overseas in early 2010, there was a little confusion it seems. “We headed to four major cities in Scotland” Dave recalls. “The tour was a big success, the floor was popped up every night, but there were one or two people who thought our CDJs were screwed….”
These days, of course, moombahton’s low-end quirks are shaking a number of dancefloors worldwide, especially within mainland Europe, Japan and Australia. As such, those party-goers still unable to grasp the sound’s bombastic charms are an increasingly tiny and blinkered minority.
“The growth of this music has quite literally blown us away” Matt says. “But then we knew we had something early on. The first moombahton party Dave promoted in [Washington] DC was a sell-out and with the music so loud, people were dancing on the sidewalks outside too. Later on, his Moombahton Monday parties would outperform Fridays and Saturdays at the bar he was using.”
Is the current hype in anyway getting to them? It must be difficult to keep feet on the ground some days…. “We’re both pretty grounded” Matt counters. “We care about the music, and feel a lot of pride in terms of what we’ve started here; we’re not about to abuse that. At the same time, we have plenty of people around to smack us if we do get out of line.”
Aside from rapidly mounting DJ commitments, Nadastrom’s studio work has also been escalating. In the short-term, a new EP is due out this summer, and several remixes (including commissions for The Death Set and Alice Clare); beyond that, the boys are planning further releases with Switch’s acclaimed Dubsided imprint, whilst looking to produce local, emerging artists. To a level, Nadastrom’s role as scene mentor has already begun – “we’re working a few, different singer-songwriter projects right now” Dave confirms, “because vocals are important if moombahton is to evolve; it’ll run out of steam if it’s all just heavy drum tracks.”
Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom are by no means newcomers to music. Individually, over several years, they have forged cast iron reputations for club promotion and backroom studio work. Dave, an established resident at Spin magazine’s ‘Best Party In America’ Taxlo, and Matt, seasoned studio hand for renowned electronic labels including Minus, Ultra and Global Underground, partnered up in 2007 and promptly poured their fusionist tendencies into debut release, The Pussy EP, on Dubsided. Further releases Fired Up and The Saved EP lead to guest spots on BBC Radio 1, extensive overseas touring and studio collaborations with Laidback Luke, Diplo and Christina Aguilera – all activities reinforcing the duo’s reputation for the artful, energetic splicing of house, electro, hip-hop and even punk-rock.
Whilst the subsequent birth of moombahton will forever be attributed to Dave, and his radical, forward-thinking efforts alongside Matt, its rise should be viewed against the supportive backdrop of ‘bass’ club music’s current popularity. The juxtaposed rise of scenes such as dubstep, bass house, future bass, chill bass and nu-garage, and artists Joy Orbison, James Blake and Benga (to name but a few), has undoubtedly helped pave Nadastrom’s way.
“It’s such an obvious ingredient for the dancefloor” Matt offers. “Using the bass element in the right way gives a track the energy and impetus of something at a much faster tempo. People love that intensity and it’s no surprise the bass genres of club music are so popular now. Our timing has certainly been good; today, DJs aren’t deliberately cornering their sounds as much as they used to, and are playing a greater variety of music; that’s helped moombahton flourish for sure.
“Dave and I have noticed a big difference in how DJs are reacting to moombahton records, compared to even just a year ago. They’re not so stuck on one tempo or riddim; they’re starting a set at 90bpm, working up to some moombahton at 108, then hitting into house at 130-plus, and back down. They’re finally seeing moombahton as an opportunity to switch things up for their audiences and that’s really great. At the end of the day, it’s all good club music…. loud and proud.”
This exciting fledgling scene rumbles on.
Words: Ben Lovett
For more info on Nadastrom visit http://nadastrom.com/
