DJ Format's Statement of Intent
Written By: Joe Gamp

DJ Format’s debut album “Music For the Mature B-Boy” was one of the slow-burn success stories of 2003. Since then, the UK based turntablist released seminal cuts on Mo Wax and Bomb Hip-Hop. He’s worked with Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, supported the US crew. His next album, If You Can’t Join ‘Em… Beat ‘Em, dropped the more jazzy, beats and pieces style of mixing and went for acutely produced, tough loops which was quickly followed by a storming Fabriclive mix. Add to this his huge project The Simonsound with Simon James – an analogue focused project that was inspired by 50’s and 60’s electronic music, utilising Moog synths, tape machines, splicing and more to create the woozy sound of ‘Reverse Engineering’
 
But a few years have passed since his third album Mr DJ in 2008 and the landscape of music overall has changed rapidly. From digital technologies replacing turntables, the advent of dubstep becoming the most shifted electronic music in the world, and tracks standing in the way of physical product, the current plain for turntablism and UK hip hop hasn’t exactly made huge waves. But for someone as skilled and true as Format, this doesn’t matter – for Data Transmission, he discusses studio equipment, the evolution of hip hop in the digital age and sticking to your aesthetical guns.
 
'Statement of Intent' is the first album you’ve released in a while – what else have you been up to between this and say,  If You Can’t Join ‘Em… Beat ‘Em?
 After ‘If You Can't Join 'Em…’ I really felt like I needed to freshen things up a little and instead of jumping straight back into making more Hip Hop I wanted to explore some other areas of my musical tastes. I did a mix for Fabric (FabricLive27) which included hip hop, soul & funk and then I was asked to remix some of the Fania Records catalogue of Latin music, which I gave the B-boy treatment. Then I got together with my old friend Simon James, who was experimenting with electronic music, and we subsequently became The Simonsound and made an album together called Reverse Engineering which was mostly inspired by '50s & '60s electronics, music for film & TV and old B-boy anthems that we recreated on the Moog synthesizer. After a while I got the itch back for making hip hop and started concentrating on what eventually became ‘Statement Of Intent.’
 
How is SOI different in terms of sourcing samples? And how did you make this album? What equipment did you use?
SOI samples more late '60s rock/psych and a little less '70s funk & soul, although I listen to a lot of different music styles and genres so that is always going to shine through in the samples I'm using. I used my old Akai S950 with an Atari ST (to sequence the samples) on some songs that I started years ago and then went back to later, but most songs were made on my Mac using Logic. The 2 songs I made with The Nostalgia 77 Quintet were started with samples I'd found and put together roughly at home on the Akai, then I went to Ben/Nostalgia 77's house and we used either Logic or ProTools to write other parts for the songs and score them using horrible keyboard sounds in place of the instruments that were played live at a later stage. Most of the instruments were just recorded in bedrooms except the drums that had to be properly set up & recorded in a vintage studio.  The songs with The Simonsound were usually started by me at home and then I'd take the sessions to Simon's house and we'd expand on them there, sometimes using Ableton Live. So i guess for me, it's not really about what equipment I use, it's more about the original records I find & sample and how I fit them with other samples and occasional live instruments.
 
All eyes are on UK music cultures, with our fair land being hailed as an innovative hotbed for music including garage, house, dubstep and more....UK hip hop hasn’t had the same exposure. Why do you think this is?
I love the fact that the UK is respected for musical innovation with d'n'b and dubstep etc but you have to accept that hip hop originated in America and it took us a long time to find our own sound over here in the UK. I grew up loving some of the UK artists like MC Mello, Hijack, The Demon Boyz, Son Of Noise and many, many others, just as much as any US artists but for some reason we were always in their shadow. I think we had a style of our own (Brit-core/Hardcore British rap) that really was our own. Some people had issues with anyone from the UK with a slightly American accent but that was part of the learning process… at least our production was very much our own sound. Now everyone just raps with a London accent no matter what part of the country they're from and the production sounds the same as everyone else in the world. I don't really know why the media loves UK rap now when some of this country’s pioneers never get their credit.
 
You’ve also been marked as digging into lots of psyche records – did you know that DJ Food has done that with his new album? Why did you want to step into the world of weirdness?
Yes I'm very aware of DJ Food's music and I think the answer is probably the same for both of us. As a passionate music lover and record collector, you are constantly looking for the next fix... it's like an addiction! All the collectors that were digging for f45's after the whole Brain Freeze thing got bored with funk a long time ago and started looking elsewhere for inspiration. I think I've just made a natural progression as a listener and the fact that I've been listening to and buying a lot of '60s Rock & Psych records has just naturally crept into my production because that's what is exciting me at the moment...a heavy fuzz guitar or some vocals with lots of space echo. That kind of sound has been appealing to me for quite a few years so that's what I'm buying. I find it hard to find funk & soul records that really grab me by the balls so it's not so likely that I'll sample much funk if all I've got is my same old records that I've tried sampling before.
 
You worked with some new collaborators for the new album including Mr Lif – how was working with Edan for you though? He’s an absolute master at his craft...
Working with both Edan and Mr Lif was an absolute pleasure because they both had the exact same mindset. They never viewed the collaboration with me as a trivial thing to make a fast buck; instead they took their time to do their absolute BEST work as if it was for their own record. They are the sort of guys that will only rhyme over a beat that REALLY moves them, so I feel very lucky to have finally got to work with two of my favourite artists on the same album.

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