We present you the second volume of our HARD ASS SESSIONS

After introducing you the volume I with DJ Znobia now comes the volume II and this time we came up with a total different concept: we challenged music producers to make a Kuduro beat.

Instead of boring you with long bio’s and information that you can find all over the web we asked them to introduce themseleves, what they felt when they got this invitation, how it was making this track and what songs they’re really into lately. Here’s what they have to say:

NIC SARNO (Italy)
Track – “Mana Wasa”
- My name is Nic Sarno and I’m from Italy. I’ve started as a dj when i was 13 playin’ in my home with friends after school, with two crashed turntables, smoking weed and listening to nonsense italodisco, hip hop, Sex Pistols and Michael Jackson stuff. Then came the first evenings in clubs, and slowly over time, i’ve sharpened my musical selection. When i was 16/17 years old I’ve started to play in small club and illegal raves and then this strange game turns into a real job. At that time my bag was full of records from Trax, Djaxx Up Beats, Hi Bias, Strictly Rhythm, Power Trax…i was totally into acid house. And then I got my first R&S rec and Warp stuff, like Joey Beltram, AphexTwin or LFO……The productions comes a few years after….but in the same way….playing with samples and synths…without any particular idea about what to produce.
- (working on this project) was a great pleasure. I’ve always been involved in Buraka’s productions. They really inspired me and I am very attracted by the idea to be confronted with different kind of styles. I have always defined me as a DANCE dj – not a techno, or house, or whatever dj. I think this is the real essence of being a dj – MIXING DIFFERENT THINGS – and trying to give it a sense. I’ts just a matter of time and space.
- 5 songs I am into: GONJASUFI – Kowboyz And Indians; STARKEY – Alienstyles
CARIBOU – Sun; MARCUS PRICE & CARLI – Var e Naaaken ( Bok Bok rmx); IL TEATRO DEGLI ORRORI – E’ Colpa Mia

BOK BOK (UK)
Track – “Dance Report”
- I am Bok Bok, I’m a DJ and producer from South London. My tracks live in Tron.
I am co-founder and boss of the Night Slugs label and club alongside my fam L-Vis 1990. I build house tracks for the world of UK bass-heavy soundsystems. I started off playing grime music back years ago and that 100% informs my aesthetic to this day.
- When making “Dance Report” I had to get my head around a whole different type of groove to the one I normally use. I love the totally alien banger aesthetic of real gutta kuduro, and for my track I tried to channel that in the form of hard shaker triplets, massive compression and that crackish repetitive, hypnotik groove. It’s not my usual aproach but I’d like to think on “Dance Report” my grimey house style and the Kuduro style met somewhere in the middle, somewhere sweaty.
- 5 songs I am into: LIL SILVA – Perfussion; GIRL UNIT – IRL; L-VIS 1990 – Forever You; IKONIKA – Look (Final Boss Stage); GUIDO – Mad Sax

Douster (FR)
Track – A Mi a Louco
- I’m a Dj/Producer form Lyon, France , mixing all kind of stuff, from dancehal to house, cumbia to gabber… My music just sounds like my influences, well… all blended together, i can do stupid house music, trippy carribean tribal stuff or straight bangin rap, i like it all! I have stuff out on many different record labels, Nueva cumbia kings ZZK records from Argentina, parisian house music saviors Sound Pellegrino or Family buisness Bebup with my boys Jay weed and Arcade here in Lyon.
- I play kuduro in my sets very often, and a few of my tracks are really kuduro-inspired but i never did a proper kuduro track. I really like very atmospheric kuduro, but i like straight to the ground kuduro stuff too… i kinda get lost into that second option while making the track, as it’s 140bpm stuff, you can easily go half tempo, so i grabbed my autotune and did a little vocal part. The rest of the song is actually pretty basic, Kuduro percussions, gunshots and half epic half gangsta melodies.
- 5 songs I am into: JAY WEED – City Staccs; VYBZ KARTEL ft POPCAAN & GAZA SLIM – Clarkes; DVA – Ganja; DJ ERICK RINCON – La Bomba; MARCUS PRICE & CARLI – Mat, Bira, Kvinnor, Weed (Kingdom Remix)

Zombies for Money (PT)
Track – Me Toca So
- Zombies For Money are Dj Manaia & Klipar, although we have different points of view on electronic music we share a common goal, to make different music getting the right connection between world music and electronic music, from house to techno.
- Its was very interesting to do this track, kuduro is very energic and fast, what we did was trying to do a low tempo kuduro and “Me Toca So” was the result.
- 5 songs I am into: SIDNEY SAMSON “The World Is Yours”; J-WOW “O Dedo!”; BART B MORE “Romane”; KID KAIO & D-RASHID “Tarzan”; LA RIOTS “The Drop”

Tracklist
01 – MANA WASA – Nic Sarno
02 – DANCE REPORT – BOK BOK
03 – A MI A LOUCO – Douster
04 – ME TOCA SO – Zombies for Money

More info about the HARD ASS SESSIONS here



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