EVERYONE IS A DJ

EP. 15: IT'S TIME TO CALL IT ELECTRONIC MUSIC.

• KLUB RECORD • Episode 15

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SPEAKER_00

Alright, guys, let me fix my hat for those watching. Let me just make sure that we're looking good, looking sharp. Back for another episode. This is Everyone Is a DJ Episode 15. We can't get it wrong going forward. We're gonna get the number right. Now, episode 15. Bro, we're we're running through these podcasts, man. We are blazing through them. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_02

Bro, I'm feeling good, man. I mean, obviously, like I enjoy the conversation, but you know, because we're doing this, I guess, more recently. I'm I'm listening to a lot more podcasts just on my own time, like, you know, how things are structured, how things are flowing. And, you know, it's an accomplishment that we've done, you know, now 15 episodes. But if you look at those podcasts, man, I saw like some have like 2,000 episodes. But I guess those guys are recording like three, four times a week, which is not so full-time podcasters, I guess. But feeling good, man. Feeling good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, we've 15 podcasts, that's 15 weeks. Well, how many months is that? Four? Almost four, yeah. Almost four, almost four months. I know we missed one week, but yeah, we've been pretty consistent. The the numbers are good, I think strong, solid, healthy, and yeah, conversations obviously I think are flowing as they should. Next step is guests, which we're working on in the background. So if you have any any anyone in mind that you should recommend or you want to recommend for us to have on the podcast and have a conversation with, let us know in the comments, hit us up via DM. And yeah, man, let's rock. Okay. Should we should we do you want to do peasantries? What happened this weekend? I mean, I've I've I was I was a bit naughty this weekend. Like Sunday, I went out, it was a full-on session. Like all of yesterday, Monday had. My mate said uh the London landmarks half marathon, so that's like the almost like the pre-race before the London Marathon, which is in two weeks.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, people I guess use this as a as a test and you know as a warm-up race. So when went to see them the night before, I even had a lace set. So I played from midnight until 4 a.m. in West London, then maybe got four hours sleep, woke up, went to support my friends, and then ended up at the pub, blacked out. It was a blur, it was a blur, it was a blur, it was a blur, it was a blur. So um, yeah, yesterday I was recovering.

SPEAKER_02

I I guess so I texted Manu on Sunday, I said, yo, like let's let's hop on, man. We got some work to do.

SPEAKER_00

Let's do the podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Let's do the podcast. This guy just sends me a screenshot from the pub. Sorry, a selfie from the pub. I was like, okay. But it's cool, man. You know, I had I listen, I I was not the best behavior. I had a big night on Friday, man. So we found this this bar restaurant with a happy hour, five dollar beers, and I don't even know how many beers I have.

SPEAKER_00

Five dollar Canadian beers.

SPEAKER_02

Five dollar Canadian beers. So you can imagine it's like it's just on tap, man. And I was there from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_00

So imagine for the for those living in London, for those living in London, imagine having£2.50 beers.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah,£2.50.

SPEAKER_00

That's mad. Okay, so okay, so now I don't feel as bad.

SPEAKER_02

So Saturday, Saturday was a bit rough, man. I just I just chilled, rest, recovered. Sunday I was back, uh, back in action. But yeah, like for me, I can see this weekend. It's still a little bit cold here. Uh I guess now it's starting to warm up. I'm playing this weekend. Uh speaking of golf, I'm a big golf fan for those listening at home. I was watching the Masters. Shout out to Rory, back-to-back uh winner on that. So that was that was my that was my Saturday, man. Was just hung over watching the Masters.

SPEAKER_00

And how do you feel about Tiger not uh not not not being in the Masters this year?

SPEAKER_02

Look, man, like the guy's done it again, bro. Like that that DUI is everywhere. There's still memes flying around. Hey man, so he should have he should have been there, but listen, man, don't drink and drive, what can I say?

SPEAKER_00

Well, the thing is, obviously, you know, we we we are more concerned about his health and mental health and all of that. That's more important, right? Yeah, but still, man, like you know, he's the GOAT and people want to see him. People want to to see him perform and he makes the the sport more interesting. Uh, not only I think for the for the avid fans, but you know, for the casual fans, right? It just kind of elevates the sport and the attention around the sport. But yeah, man, that guy, he's he he's a naughty, he's a naughty one. Forget me. He's uh he's one that geez, man. He's gonna chill. He's gotta chill.

SPEAKER_02

You never look, you never know what's going on behind uh closed doors, right? Um but yeah, I'm I'm there for the memes. I'm there for the memes. You're there for the memes.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there for the memes, right? Um right, okay. Let's talk some music. I think that releases, we haven't talked about releases in a while. I'm not sure if like there's any you know, we don't have to go through the whole kind of last Friday release schedule. No, no, I think any tracks, any tracks that are on replay for you, bro. Any tracks that are on replay for you at the moment.

SPEAKER_02

I think before we get to that, man, something that we should have talked about last week is two massive remixes of uh Desert Rose, one being Dark and the other being Zake Spantweeney. Did you catch those ones? I was sleeping. Man, so Desert Rain is like a really big uh track from Sting. Okay. Um Desert Rain. Desert Rain. Um, I'm not I look, I'm not a huge fan of the vocal personally, but it's been a massive track, you know, when you and I were both kids, massive song, you know, all over the radio, all over the news, and they dropped a remix pack. Um, and it was Bedouin, Zakes, Bantweene, and Dark. Umg. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. How are they how are they streaming? Pretty decent. I mean, Bedouin's definitely winning that popularity. They're on like 226,000. Dark 18k. So not look, not the greatest for for an actual.

SPEAKER_00

125,000 Bedouin.

SPEAKER_02

Bedouin, yeah. Two is for two weeks ago. April 3rd release. April, okay. I was like, so two weeks, yeah. Two weeks. I was like, yo. But I mean, I thought, like, for the culture, I mean, that's like a collab I never would have, you know, expected. Um, so that that caught me by surprise completely. So that that's massive. I mean, Sting and Afrohouse, if you had asked me a couple years ago, I would have said you're lying.

SPEAKER_00

You know, but mate, didn't you see? I mean, is it Afro House? Is it not Afro House? I don't want to go straight into Coachella. I know that's probably gonna be a section of our podcast, but did you see Snoop Dogg and Who Girl, like Big Sean, Who Girl? Like, and I'm I'm like, I'm I'm looking at Who Gail's real on Instagram, yeah. And obviously, like the instrumental is Afro House, and Snoop Dogg's trying to rap over it. Not sure if I liked it, but it's good for for the sound. But I was just like, I'm not sure, mate. But listen, it works. I'm sure it's gonna stream like the second track, the second uh ranked track on beatport is is Hougel in French Montana, right? Like there is a sound there that is forming. Yeah, it's it's it's completely new though, man. I don't know what's what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02

But I think the like Huguel for me is becoming an interesting one again, right? So he's he's been doing his thing, we know that we've talked about it. But I think what I find interesting about Huguel right now is that he is kind of forging his way into I guess mainstream celebrity life in the US specifically, right? So I think like Huguel is gonna be one of those DJs that you see kind of in that circuit of of fame and whatever, and um, you know, Snoop Dogg being like I guess a first step of that. Wait until Miami F1, that's in a couple weeks, too. I bet you're gonna see Hugel up along time with some other people. So I think that's just what's happening for him out there is that he's he's getting into that circle, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Would you say who gel is like the biggest celebrity right now? In in like who who's up there with who goes in terms of like celebrity status in Afro House, house music, electronic, like as a DJ, do you know what I mean? That's like crossing over to other genres, like who's doing it like him? And you know, listen, I play a lot of who gel tracks and remixes, yeah. So I respect the work, I respect the hustle, the the brand, the content. It's crazy. Like the guy works and it's a machine, it's a well-oiled oiled machine. But yeah, who do you who would you put up there?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know, man. That like I don't I don't I can't give you an answer right away because I have questions. Rampa. Yeah, but then then like then we talk about a Diplo, which is like you know, is that another tier up or are we talking about the same thing?

SPEAKER_00

Probably. I mean Diplo's been doing it for years, but I'm saying new kid on the block, I would say Rampa. Rampa. Coffee-ish. I think Shimza is is is making his way up. Yeah. For sure. He's definitely like walking up the hill.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I know Coffee has kind of been around, and you know, it's not I don't think it's as publicized, but he definitely has friends in those in those higher-up circles for sure. Who else, man? Who else? But it's yeah, look, celebrity, celebrity world and DJ, like I think there's tears, right? So you have Diplo's level, and then you take like a much more mainstream guy who's been around for as long as I can remember, like Steve Aoki. I mean, he's like, you know, he's shown up anywhere and everywhere, you know, in the world.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but I mean, I'm talking more about like, you know, new kid on the block, like I mean, who kid on the block. He's been he's been around. Listen, he's not a new kid on the block, but he's been around. But of course, you know, tracks like Adore You, Jamaican, which which came out earlier this year, like those are monumental, huge, huge tracks that have have even pushed him even more.

SPEAKER_02

Um Yeah, I think I think no one's then okay, then the answer is I don't think there's anyone at the moment who's on par with Hugo.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I would say in our space with this kind of melodic Afro House House biggest names, uh, you know, even if we put celebrity status to the side, I would say Huguel, Carney Music, Black Coffee, Another, Paulsa, Mal P, John Summit Michael B. Michael BB. But you know what I mean though, it's just like you know when you look at I mean I saw I think in South of France, there's like uh is it is it the Grand Prix, is the Grand Prix coming up? Monaco something, something coming up. Okay, and they've got like two weekends and they've released like the lineup at this super exclusive club. But all the DJs that I just mentioned are the ones that they've booked, right? And it's just like the top of the top, hottest names at the moment in our in our space, in this kind of can't even call it Afros anymore. It's just like this this 118 to 125 BPM area of music.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. So uh that's like so the Monaco Grand Prix is in June, but we do have Miami F1 coming up at the end of this month. So I'm interested to see who is gonna be there. I think at the Vegas one, Adam Port was at the Vegas one, if I'm not mistaken. Um, and that was a weird one because he was just playing in kind of the VIP section, and everyone was just kind of sitting, chilling, you know, lots of money, you know, it wasn't like a crowd or anything, he was just kind of by himself behind the DJ booth. I don't know if you saw those videos.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but the thing is like bro, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. They they you you you're getting paid to press play. Yeah, doesn't matter, doesn't matter what the vibe is, and you know, you get paid before whatever happens afterwards. Yeah, exactly. That's that's up to God. Like, I'm just I'm here, I show up. Forget, forget getting paid to press play. You're getting paid to show up. That's it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean that's that's kind of the the celebrity, the celebrity life. So something I have actually been seeing quite a bit floating around is I didn't know Ty Dollar sign was a DJ. Did you know that? Okay, everyone is a DJ. Finally, we have something on theme, like properly. Ty Dollar Sign is a DJ, bro, and he plays a lot in LA, like a lot.

SPEAKER_00

We're gonna remove this this section of the podcast in in the final edit. Yeah, I'm I'm editing this out. If Ty Dollar Sign is a DJ, and listen, Ty Dollar Sign, amazing singer, he's got bangers, he's got amazing songs out there. Yeah. But why is everyone being a DJ now? Why? Why? Why, why, why? And I understand it, like RB hip-hop, not as hot as as electronic music. Just that's a fact. If I look at hip-hop right now, apart from Kendrick and you know the top guys, I couldn't tell you some some some hot music out right now. Like, I really couldn't tell you. And if I did, it would have to come from TikTok. Like now, I feel like that's where I get my music first, is TikTok, and then I'm like, oh, this sounds good.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Then I go on Spotify and add it. But yeah, just just directly getting new music suggestions from from Spotify, hip-hop-wise, it's hard, man. Like I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02

So I have a question for you on that topic. Do you think do you think people just shift into this DJ kind of realm because that's where attention is, or do you think they actually care?

SPEAKER_00

Do they care? I think they care, but also you know, when you realize like DJing is not that difficult in terms of the actual mechanics and playing and mixing tracks, and you're like, okay, I can do this, sure, fine. Like, imagine if Travis Scott just came out today and was like, I'm DJing.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, he he's probably next. This guy shows up in Abiza. It's finished, it's finished, it's finished, it's finished. But also, yeah. I have a story. There's there's this uh artist I know in Toronto. She had been working really hard for a long time to she's a singer by trade, right? So, you know, trying to make it live performances, you know, putting music out. Um, and it's been a while for her, probably about 10 years. This was, you know, I met her back in university um at one of my first jobs I was working, and I bumped into her recently. I was at a friend's um event, and she was DJing. She was the opening DJ. So I said to her, like, oh like oh, you're a DJ now. She's like, Yeah, like I couldn't couldn't really make it as a singer, so like I still want to be in music, so this like is my path. And now she's playing at one of our biggest festivals of the year. It's called Electric Island. She's she's playing after only DJing for like a year. She's looking. Pause.

SPEAKER_00

But it's that is arguably a very I mean, it is a very important question.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I don't want to be that guy that that that only makes it about that. But you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. There there is a game to it. There is a a game and a prejudice or a bias. I don't know what the right word is. It's too early. But um it's the game, right?

SPEAKER_00

I think I think it's okay. I'm not I'm not a gatekeeper. I don't want to be stopping people from getting a piece of the pie and doing what they actually want to do. But yeah, no, it's ridiculous, you know. It's ridiculous. We we talked about this many times about the the kind of um yeah, the DJ culture and what and what is happening. It's it's it's easy and that's what that's what's hot at the moment. So naturally a lot of artists are gonna are gonna do it. But um Coachella, let's talk about Coachella.

SPEAKER_02

Let's talk about Coachella, man. I mean, I look my my my whole thing, I think we we did mention it in in the last episode of who was on the lineup, but for me seeing Shimza and Afrojack play back to back, I mean it's great. Look, it's great, but I like I feel weird about it just because it's two eras of my life, two heroes in different eras of my life playing together on the same stage, it just doesn't feel real.

SPEAKER_00

How old is Afrojack? He doesn't look that much older than Shimza, though. He really doesn't. I know he's tall and he's double his size, but he doesn't look like that much older than Shimza. He's 38. Yeah, Shimza's like 35, 36, 37. What? Wow. Okay, so Afrojack's Shimza's like a couple years older than me, and I'm 35, so. Yeah, he is 36.

SPEAKER_02

Shimza is. Shimza's 36. So I mean, I guess they are they are close in age. I mean, I know Afrojack also did play with Francis. Um, I forget where. Um, but they they have played together. But you know, I don't know like what it was for you when you were let's like talk about 2012, you know, that era of you know, everyone wanted to go to Tomorrowland, EDM was the thing. You know, that was like my Afrojack, Steve Aoki, Avici. You know, I was that guy. I don't know about you.

SPEAKER_00

No, me, not at all. Not at all. Really?

SPEAKER_02

Not an EDM kid?

SPEAKER_00

Completely hip-hop, completely like Afrobeats. Wow, man.

SPEAKER_02

You missed out. You missed out on a whole I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, the the popular tracks, Avici, etc., yeah, of course you know, but yeah, nowhere near I was following EDM or electronic music as I am now. Not nowhere near. It was it was very casual, so even Afrojack, I'm not super familiar. I know the name, but if you told me it was an Afrojack track. Yeah. Silent. Um they played in front of a lot of people, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Coachella was. I feel like Coachella was big this year. We might have made a mistake. I think on the last podcast we were talking about Coachella's kind of dying. It's not. It's definitely not, it's definitely not.

SPEAKER_00

We were in the wrong. You know what it is? Maybe it's just out of our out of our budget. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe, man. Maybe that's what it is.

SPEAKER_00

I was seeing, yeah. I was seeing like lots of lots of conversations around costs and prices and what people have to pay, and and if you don't have this amount, forget about it. It's it's expensive, man. It's expensive. Um but no, it was cool to see. They put I think they played like it looked like over 10,000 people. Bro, it was huge, huge. That they were playing in front of. Wow. He was playing some some some real Afro House as well. He played that that Pierre Johnson Simeon track, uh Corner, which is nuts, actually, to play that in California in front of, you know, but I was just like, it's good though, it's good, you know what I mean? It's good, it's good. Um, I liked that mashup he played of uh what is it? Firefire and Rufus to Soul.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That looks crazy.

SPEAKER_02

Big moment, man. I mean that that's like something like you know, first of all, a massive congratulations to Shimza, but also even to Afrojack. I'm not I don't even think he's played Coachella before. I could probably fact check that, but um I think just for the culture, electronic music in general, to have those two guys playing in front of that many people, you know, and people actually sticking around for it, it it goes back to what we're talking about before. It's like I think that's just where the attention is. Um but something I found interesting. I mean, I know it's not really in the realm. Did you see the whole Justin Bieber thing? I mean And how he performed?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, the main thing I saw was like he was browsing on browsing on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So apparently there's a reason he did that, right? It wasn't just like it had to do with the ownership rights of them the music and performance rights, and the only way that he could perform this music is if he streamed it on YouTube because that is not linked legally to contractual ownership of his catalog. So that's why he did it. I mean, people loved it, but there was a there was a business reason behind it as well.

SPEAKER_00

I see. You see the the video of Katy Perry commenting, and she was like, Oh, at least he's got YouTube Prime and it's not the free version. Yeah. Because imagine like he's trying to load up and then there's an ad pops up. In front of a million people, mate. Imagine. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I thought I thought that would that was really interesting as well. But you know, I thought there were other cool moments for me at Coachella, definitely Major Laser. You know, that that for me was um all over my my uh social media as well. And their crowd was just like huge, man.

SPEAKER_00

Really? Like I don't know. From our from our scene. I know our Rotis.

SPEAKER_02

I Rotis, I didn't see anything. Who else though? Was that it? There was Bontan, back-to-back ape drums. Maybe we've got it wrong. Is there Coachella weekend too?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there's two weekends, and our Rotus is doing two weekends. Yeah. Aren't most people doing two weekends? Most artists doing that?

SPEAKER_02

I think maybe it's maybe it's the following weekend. Let me let me take a look. So weekend one was Friday. Sorry. Um so there's Paulsa played, Gordo, Rhodes, Hugel. Yeah, that was uh Friday, Saturday, David Getta, Alfred Action's uh Bedouin, Ben Sterling, Mamma to Uran. Oh Mammood, okay. Yeah, I think that's more or less it for Oh, and then Sunday you had Who Made Who, Mestiza, and Friends, Fat Boy Slim, Dupe Dumont. So there bro, there was actually quite a bit of electronic music this time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, definitely a bigger presence than last year for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely a bigger presence than last year. It's good to see, man. We're growing. I think the sound is is reaching yeah, reaching crazy crazy exposure and and and locations. Yeah. But I still think that the hottest sound at the moment is disco. Um, so another another wasn't at Coachella. That's surprising. No, no kind of music, no another.

SPEAKER_02

Not that I saw. Not that I saw no.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, man, I still I still think that disco, you know, although we've seen this kind of strong presence in Afro Melodic House at Coachella this year, even the same producers that we're mentioning. I I think there are some of them are kind of testing and experimenting with with with disco and house music. And for me, that is the sound of 2026 and 2027. Yeah, the the I think the real Afro House tracks, those productions are gonna decrease massively. But how do you how do you feel about that conversation?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, look, I mean this is something I would have predicted um you know a while ago, is when Afro House was at its peak and everyone was everyone wanted to be playing it, the kind of music boom, or however you want to categorize it, that's when you had the big wave of young, new, um I guess unknown producers kind of wanting to ride the wave. And I think that has died. I don't think you can ride the wave um into that level of success that that you can anymore, and I think disco is is the next one. But then I do think that you know the OGs are gonna stick around, the guys who love the sound, who have been in who have been in the sound, built a career for the sound, have a passion for the sound, are still gonna be here, right? But if you take a look at um another's let me talk to you, I mean there was a time where that video was on my Instagram and TikTok like every second video, right? So that virality, I think you're just gonna see a replication of you know, guys trying to replicate that. I mean, same same thing happens with the Magnifique sound, you still see a lot of replication and you know guys wanting to to do that. But what I'm interested as well is how our demos are gonna shift starting from now, basically, right? I think even now we get way less afro house, we get a lot more like I guess melodic to an extent, but I'm wondering if we're gonna start to see a bit more like discoe going forward.

SPEAKER_00

Keep going, bro. Keep going. Let me. I'm just I'm just pulling up our track stack. I want to see how many tracks we have in there. Uh yeah. Okay, 306 demos. I think we've cleared quite a few, but yeah. I mean, I'm just looking at how these demos are tagged. Melodichouse, Melodic House, Deep House. Okay, obviously a lot of Afro House, but yeah, guys, we we never used to get this much Melodicause and other genres in our in our inbox. Yeah. So, you know, don't take it from us, take it from the people that are actually making the music. I think there is less interest in in making Afrohouse or a track that sounds like Adam Port Move or a track that sounds like uh, I don't know, Alex Swan Noekshake. Yeah. But there's more interest now in making a track that sounds like Talk to You or Um's other good example? In anything Sam, to be honest. Anything Sam, anything, I'm trying to think. Juno, anything Juno? Anything Juno. Yeah, Juno is a great one, actually. Um but yeah, man. Also, the groove has completely changed now. Before it used to just be like four to the floor with that lead, now it's like that's the groove now. It's just like you got the clap in the middle, you got that you know that disco clap is back, yeah. That that is everywhere now. That is the groove. And listen, I like it. We're we're starting to release some tracks. We've signed some tracks recently that have that that groove and that sound. Yeah, but also like when you sign those tracks, a part of you is like, mmm, you know, this isn't the original club record sound. Although, you know, we have to evolve and and we can. You're always like, mmm, this is a bit different, Rice. Like, okay. It's I mean, it's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Look, I I'm with you on that. Uh, you know, you and I have been purists and fans and Afro House people for a long time, but at the end of the day, it's about the music that speaks to us, right? Like, if we if we get a demo and it's not Afro House, but we're like, yeah, this shit fucking slaps, we sign it, right? And that's just you know, me music fans generally. But you know, when I so I I learned to DJ when I was, I guess, in high school, and then when I moved to university, I stopped for a long time. And then I made a friend, and he bought uh you know one of those new mark kind of controllers, and he was a big disco guy. So I learned to DJ again on disco music all because of him, and it was all his catalog, and so you're happy then.

SPEAKER_00

You're like, this is my time, this is my shit.

SPEAKER_02

Dude, I can listen, I can I can groove, I can groove with disco. I like I like a bit of funky, I like a bit of you know, um that kind of style, but I look Afro House till I die, but it's okay to like other things too, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Still though, still I think I think it's almost like Afro House didn't even get two or three full years. I know it was so quick, man. It was so quick. It was like it came, people realize people realized that that it came, it was super hot for about a year, and then another came, other people came in, and it completely shifted. But I think it might shift again, honestly. Um, yeah, I mean one of the reasons why it shifts is because you know, if you factor in AI and accessibility in terms of music, music production, right? What that causes is ARs and gatekeepers to to filter and impact what's been released. Uh because what happens is, you know, as an AR, you get a track that sounds like this, you get a track that it's too formulated or doesn't really have that human element, and you're just like, no, this doesn't this doesn't work, right? And then what that causes is people to kind of go back in the lab and and experiment and find new sounds, which is good. Um but I think I think that is gonna accelerate more and more, especially now with AI, because yeah, making music now it's it's it's it's not easy. I think making music is hard, but it's more accessible.

SPEAKER_02

What about what about kind of what we were talking about, I think in the last episode? So you have fans that follow a certain DJ, right? So a kind of music, you know, and another and whatever, right? So those guys were playing Afro House, and then you know, they start to play other types of music as their sets change and and evolve. Do you think that also has a massive contribution to things dying down?

SPEAKER_00

Ask the question again.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so like you take you take a kind of music or in another who were playing Afro House music, you know, let's say two, three years ago, that was like the hype, the pinnacle of that moment, and then they start to play other stuff in sets in recently. Do they take their fans with them away from the sound just because it's the DJ, of course, not the sound, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, of course. But also when I speak to producers, more so I uh I say about like late last year. Yeah, all of all of 2025, you had conversations about you know, we want to do our own thing, we want to go back to our roots and what we like. We're tired of this Afro House BS, we're tired of this Afra House, you know, same sound. Everything sounds the same, right? But it's also like ironic because now everyone's doing this now, you know? It's like it's repetition you're saying, like, oh, Afra house, everything sounds the same, but then now everyone's doing this kind of housey disco disco style. So it's like, yeah, but are you also realizing that the track you're putting out now, the music that you're putting in now sounds like these guys, so it's just like where's the autonomy and where's the yeah, where's the personality? I think um that's a great point. I say that, I say that, but at the same time, I do think that you know originality has improved and people are a bit more intentional, but it's still BS, man. It's still like you said this a year ago, but now you're doing you're doing this.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think that'll ever change, man. But I feel like there's there's very few cats in the game that actually are super original.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, who's it? Yeah, it's the cats. No, but it's the cats that have their own sound.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And we say this all the time, but you know, when you press play on a track and you're like, oh I know this is Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, that that's a demo conversation we have a lot, guys. I mean, that's a little bit of insight to you is that if you if you submit a demo and you kind of know that it sounds like someone else and you've tried to replicate it, we know it right away. And we call it out.

SPEAKER_00

Let's let's talk about it now. What uh what producers have the most recognizable sound to you? Like you you press play and you're like, yeah, I know I know this is straight away. Bonchapa.

SPEAKER_02

Um I think starting starting to be ape drums, he's start I like I can recognize his groove, ape drums for sure. Um obvious ones. I mean, I will save some names to you, Juno, Sam. What like what about you? For me, remind. That's a good one. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_00

Remind to Remind to me. Immediately I'm like, that's remind, which is which is so nice as well. Like he's his his music just yeah, takes your breath away. Remind for me, it's just good. It's good. It sounds like him every time, but it's different. Um I think you've I think you've mentioned all the names, bro. Him, Ban Shappa for sure. Instantly, I'm like, I know this is mate. Is that it? Oh, Frank Faller and Benja. Those are two guys, those are two guys that recently I'm enjoying playing their music a lot, and I'm like, yeah, this is them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's look like because so then it's then you take the thing is like okay, we can think of a a good handful of names there, but Masala Masala is a good one now.

SPEAKER_00

Masala gets gets yeah, yeah, we have to mention Masala. I'm sure we can come up with some more names, mate. Is that it? Is that all we've got?

SPEAKER_02

Who else? That's really really signature.

SPEAKER_00

That's super super signature.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I'd say deco, deco.

SPEAKER_00

Maz and anchdot. Oh yeah, yeah. That's an anchdot. I have to put him up there. Nah, nah, nah, nah. I don't think deco. Although I love him.

SPEAKER_02

Not Deco, okay. Um L has his own thing.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, Sun L.

SPEAKER_02

Sun L.

SPEAKER_00

Sunel, Sun Musician has got that 100% Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He's he's on his own, in his own.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you said Juno. Who else, man, that's ripping it at the moment and just going crazy.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, there's a lot of producers that make I wouldn't like a variety of of sounds. And Les is good too. Andlas is a good one. So there's a lot of they make their own sound, but then you know, there's there's certain people that have a very distinct, I guess, uh signature sound. Like one thing I remember in your interview with Cairo, you were like king of claps, right? That's what you said, and like that's exactly why the first thing I thought of was Cairo, because he's the king of claps.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Cairo's claps slap. Um yeah, I think that's a great conversation though, because it's like no matter what happens, these guys, although they might you know slightly tweak and and and go in different directions genre-wise, they still have those sounds that are that are theirs, and you're like, Yeah, that's him. That's him, that's it. Yeah, I think it's so important. Like, I don't I don't think you have to have it to be successful, yeah. But it does add immense value, bro. It really does, it makes you special because it's like, mmm, you've got you've got your thing, and you created that, you know.

SPEAKER_02

But then it's also like there's certain examples where there are people who try to replicate it and they kind of can. I mean, maybe not to the same exact level, but then you take other producers that I ha like I don't think you can actually replicate it, right? Like I haven't really heard like a like a Bon Shapa copycat or a Cairo copycat really pull it off.

SPEAKER_00

Agreed, agreed, right? I I need to mention Hot Lab because they're doing really well now. I feel like they they're also in that conversation of like they they found their sound and their production style. Yeah, and they're really yeah, they they they're owning that fully. But it's difficult, it's difficult. I think you know, I just did a a post on my on my wavy social media page with with Remind, just today, literally, which is um ironic, I guess. But yeah, his feedback, let me read it actually out loud. I was like, can you share a can you share a production tip? And I was like, he said, this is what he said, where is it? Okay, okay, this is from Remind himself. So he says, always think differently. Labels, artists, whoever you're aiming for, get flooded with demos that mostly sound identical. If you want to get noticed, build your own sonic identity, dive into synthesis, uh, learn sound design, don't be afraid to experiment. That's how you become a creative, unique producer, you know. So this is you know what we're talking about now is what Remind is preaching, which which that's that's gold, that's a gold, golden nugget, right there, man. That's knowledge. Um Good guy.

SPEAKER_02

What about like when you talk about experimentation, right? Do you think that experimentation means that you know you you tried something new on a track and like it works, you like it. Do you have to put it out? Or it's just like for those repetitions in production where you know, when you do make a track, you you have that practice of doing something different that you might incorporate, or it's like both both?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, I feel like experimenting is like to me that that means don't be afraid to fail and try different things, and even if it doesn't make sense and it's not conventional and people don't usually go this route, you try it anyway. You know, it's like uncharted waters you go and you see what happens. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you know it doesn't work, otherwise you'll never know. I think that's important.

SPEAKER_02

It's like just you know, don't leave any any stone unturned and so so so talk talk to me about talk to me about wavy a little bit more, man. Because I mean, you know, you've you've you've given me the high level of of kind of how things flow. So like I'm a producer, you know, I'm I'm kind of starting out. Um what I come to you guys, like what happens? What's the flow?

SPEAKER_00

So I feel like Wavy at the moment is mainly for up and coming producers. You know, they finish a track, they don't know what's next, they don't know how to. Sense check it, they've got no um no way to connect with a real professional engineer or producer to get feedback or get your track mixed and mastered or elevate it production-wise, which is a huge gap in the market, like it's it's huge. I mean, you and I go through this, right? We're always in kind of making music or just just test testing stuff out, and even though you know it might not be a finished track, you've got something, and you're like, okay, is it am I in the right direction? Where do I go from here? Um, yeah. So Waby is built for that. And you know, when it comes to the other services like mixing, mastering, that is where you know we we can also engage with more experienced producers. But yeah, right now the main thing, the main kind of um engagement point is track feedback, and uh, you know, I do these free track assessments to start to engage potential clients, but it's working, man. We've done over a hundred in a few weeks. Wow. People have given amazing feedback. Uh we've started to make money. I've got about 10 engineers worldwide. Like it's it's you know, it's it's I've proved that it that it works. I think now it's just like polishing the business and making sure that every kind of touch point and and the entire experience is fluid and works. But bro, without AI, I wouldn't have been able obviously to do this because you know you've got to think about engaging an uh a coder or or website guy to do it all for you. But with with AI now, you can just vibe code, get it done in seconds. Very expensive, don't get me wrong, but it's it's instant, like it's it's it works.

SPEAKER_02

But uh so I want to go back to just just so I'm understanding like correctly. So you at Wavy, you kind of are able to assist with various phases of a track's life cycle, right? So, you know, I've got an idea, I think the idea is it's a good groove, but I don't really know what to do next. Can I come to you guys and be like, yo, what do you think I should do? Like, what are my next steps? Like, I can do that in addition to giving you guys a finished product.

SPEAKER_00

Anything, man, anything. There's there's there's four services track feedback, mastering, mixing, and production support, which it's it's full comprehensive and production support. I know a lot of people that might be like a bit taboo, or is it ghost production? Might be, and what's wrong with that? But mainly it's it's for you to come with us with an idea or with something that you believe in and has potential, and then our engineer can analyze it and say, Okay, we can help do this, do that, and and it's it's hands-on, right? We can kind of hold your hand and and but the main thing as well is to educate you, right? We don't just want to do things for you, yeah, especially with the track feedback, like how the how the track feedback is built, it's it's it's got sections that um actively educate you, and you can you can gain knowledge on on the production side, on mix mixing and and technical notes. So that's very important. It's not just like we just take your money and and hoping that you come back. Obviously, we hope that you come back, but we we want you to grow your career, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely, man. No, I think I think it's sick. I mean, like it's it's really difficult. I mean, you know it, you're you're a producer, you know. I'm I'm a producer a few years behind you, but it's it's a tough world, man, when you're learning and it's so overwhelming, and then you know, over time you're like, okay, then you make like you know, a loop, right? Like 16 bars or whatever it is, and and you're like, yeah, this is sick. There's something here, there's something here. But you don't have the know-how yet to be like, all right, I need to arrange this, I need a melody, I need a breakdown, you know, some chords and whatever. Then it's like, what do you do? Right? And you can spend hours, if not days, if not years, like trying to learn what to do next. But you know, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a never-ending black hole music production. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00

The main thing about wavy and this whole service, the emotion behind it is that I understand that the music production process is lonely, and usually people just don't have like a soundboard or someone, someone trustworthy to give you constructive uh accurate feedback. Because you can't you can't send your track to you to your friends and hope for and hope for feedback. Like you just you're doing yourself a disservice. Like obviously you can, but that's just not not how it's done, especially in your early stages as a prediction. It's almost so wavy's.

SPEAKER_02

Um, I know it's not the main thing, but but yeah, it's like what do what do I do next? And then you know, you guys say something, and it's like, oh, that kind of sets me off in a direction or or whatever. That that's pretty cool, man. That's pretty freaking.

SPEAKER_00

No, it's cool, and you know, there's different, I think, personas here. You know, you've got the you know, the the producer that is just starting, doesn't want to spend too much money on it, so yeah, every now and then wants to send us a track, right? So there's a price point for that. There's a producer that wants to start aiming higher at more established labels, and you know, with those guys, we get you know, we've had a guy, he's so he's he was working on a track. The first time he sent it to us, we told him, Alright, make these changes. He went away, made the changes. So that's the second revision. More comments, third revision, and again, right? So you've got those types that also invest, and of course, mixing mastering, but um, yeah, there's different different different different personas that that uh that it works for. It's good, man. It was something that was missing, and I mean just with my background in music, just you know, through reactions and and sharing my my thoughts, and I you know, I don't have a a theor theoretical technical background, I just go off raw feeling and and everything that I've done. But yeah, yeah, just through conversations, I was like, all right, this is something that people want. Let's give it a go. And I think it's working, man. I think it's working, and also like there's so many other services that we can add to it, but you know, you gotta just do one thing at a time, make sure that that one thing is done correctly and it's fully fledged out, and then you move on to the next one. Otherwise, it's it's yeah, it becomes too messy. Insane, man.

SPEAKER_02

Insane. I mean, I'm I'm definitely gonna be using it. You should try it. You should try it. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_00

Discount, discount, discount.

SPEAKER_02

You know, you know, for the boys. Anything for the boys. Weekend is coming soon, my friend, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, listen, 15 minutes in. Wesley has to go to work now. Let's uh let's wrap it up. Guests coming soon, so let us know in the comments which guests you would like to have. Nothing is off limits. We can have anyone you want, you know. We can ask the question if they say yes, that's out of our hands. But hope you enjoyed this podcast, man. Everyone is a DJ episode 15. My name is Manu. Peace, guys. You have to say your name, bro. You have to say your name. My name is Wesley G.

SPEAKER_02

I'm Wesley G. Bro. We have to rehearse next time.

SPEAKER_00

Peace Wesley G. We're out. Peace.