TNGHT: ‘Whilst everyone’s making trap, we’re just making something else’
Amidst an enraging onslaught of interest in trap music lies TNGHT, the transatlantic duo making most other acts look comparatively mild. What they make can’t even be classified under the ‘trap’ umbrella, instead the sounds wallow in a place where the bass hits lower and the kicks thump harder. Here, the duo, comprised of high-profile producers Hudson Mohawke and Lunice, recollect playing music for Nazis, the status of their current project and rappers.
How did you guys hook up at the start?
L: I saw one of his tracks that remix of the Gucci Mane track ‘Party Animal’. It was the craziest rap track that I’ve heard in a while and I didn’t know he was on to the type of stuff with that type of beat. Really simplistic, but very hard hitting. I approached him and was like ‘yo, we should probably do something’, but we didn’t do anything till about four months later.
H: We’d known each other for a good while before that though and we always talked about doing something but we never got round to do it. Only recently we’ve started to do stuff.
What’s it like working with each other?
L: You know what, we’re both one hundred on everything from the kicks to the snares. For example, I will lay a drumbeat and then he would go on that drum loop and change the kick something a lot harder. Then I will come back in and change the snare, he will come and do the melody. It’s not like half half or anything like that. We take care of each part of the song and it’s a fluid process. That way we don’t really encounter writer’s block.
Who have you guys been listening to?
L: Right now, I’m totally supporting the whole A$AP (Rocky) crew and those dudes who are on their kind of Memphis style beats. In terms of our project, it stands alone in terms of the way it sounds. Its really like mixed ideas of all the rap stuff we like.
H: It’s kinda like our response to realizing that quite a lot of pretty big producers are borrowing ideas from people within our little circle of friends and producers. We came to the idea that we might as well just go for it ourselves rather than people borrowing ideas from us and applying it to rap or whatever.
So HudMo, when Rustie came out with his album it had me thinking there’s something in the Scottish water because both projects were really good. What other Scots are doing it for you at the moment?
H: Yeah, there’s another producer from Scotland called S-Type who has a record coming out pretty soon. He’s been producing for years and years, the first time I spoke to him was back in the MSN days.
L: Shout out to MSN!
H: Yeah (laughs). He was the guy to give me tips when I was just DJing and not even producing yet. He would help me to work on Cubase and stuff like that. He’s put out a couple of records with some MCs and stuff but he didn’t always do the traditional boom-bap stuff. Now he’s got an instrumental record and its still rap but it’s as good as any Rick Ross tune.
Recently there’s been this sudden outburst of interest in trap music in the UK. What do you think has contributed to this change?
H: We did the record last summer and it only seems that recently people are all over trap. It’s never something that we thought out or planned out. It just seemed to coincide with this new wave in music.
L: What’s pretty interesting is that there’s no way that any of the songs on the EP sound anywhere near trap. That’s what I like though. I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to be one thing, I like to appreciate certain elements and then put it in my production and mix stuff. There are similarities in how hard it hits and just because of the 808s people assume its trap. Whilst everyone’s making trap, we’re just making something else.
What have been your weirdest experiences as DJs?
L: Man, I played for a Nazi once. He asked me to play something ‘less black’. I played for about 20 people by a pool table and one Nazi on the side. It was out somewhere in middle Canada by a farm, no disrespect to farms though. After that I just played more for the whole set.
H: I was in Australia and that in itself was weird for many reasons. But we won’t go anywhere further than that. More specifically, New Zealand. But it’s just got some of the most strange, inbred stuff there.
The joint EP comes out at the end of the month. What are your hopes for it?
L: What do we want to gain? Rappers! That’s it.
Who would be your dream collaboration?
H: We were both talking about Meek Mill. We’ve got a remix that we did for Wacka [Flocka Flame] that will be coming out pretty soon for his next single ‘Rooster In My Rari’ as the official remix.
L: Yeah. Meek Mill, Wiz [Khalifa], Dipset, A$AP Crew. You know, just dudes like that.
Is this going to be a permanent side project then?
L: This is just an opportunity to bring two ideas together, but we’re more full time with our solo stuff.
What are your plans for the summer?
H: We’ve got a load of festival dates coming up in the summer and we’re really conscious about not doing too much because we want to keep our solo stuff happening. Then there’s about 10 TNGHT tour dates over the course of the next three or four months.
TNGHT’s eponymous EP is released on July 23 via Warp and can be purchased here.
Tagged in: collaborations, DJs, music, production, Trap-
http://www.facebook.com/james.o.merrill James Or Jake Merrill
-
http://twitter.com/djlueB Lu’e-B
-
http://www.facebook.com/omar.allsop Omar Allsop
Most viewed
|
|
Latest from Independent journalists on Twitter