[San Francisco, USA. September 7th, 2009] -- Original, free-form, and funky, Dave Aju (real name Marc Barrite) sure knows his way roundabout his mouth. Hailing from San Francisco, where myriad cultures and musical styles fuse in a warm sophistication, he is a pride of the American west coast for his releases on Circus Company and a guiding light for producers also looking to “rescue dance music from the blahs.” On the one hand serious about his musical mission, and on the other simply a light-hearted dance enthusiast, Marc brought together some semi-recent gems of the "nu-boogie" persuasion for the below podcast... stand tall, and open wide!

In LWE and RA, you have been asked a good deal about your musical past and influences. What about your musical present? Aside from Dave Aju being a full time thing, what other musical ventures do you involve yourself? Aren't you in a massive cross-over deejay outfit with six other San Franciscans?

There are a few side projects I'm working on and I still make hip hop beats for my friends in the south bay where I grew up. And the DJ outfit you mentioned, The Magnificent Seven, is a lot fun and takes up a fair amount of time and energy as well. It's basically seven dudes from different music scene backgrounds that come together and throw down guilty pleasures and crate treasures for the masses. It's always a good time, and provides a perfect break from the seriousness of the industry.

And how about your musical future? Aside from things like upcoming releases, where exactly do you see yourself going? Could you speculate how you see yourself being situated in 10 years?

I'm not the best at planning, but know that music production will forever be a part of my life. I imagine a natural progression toward mellower, more listening-oriented composition. Maybe some soundtrack or foley work to help feed the kids etc. I also aim to have a label eventually, and release some of my own stuff.


Your father was a graphic designer. What kind of work did he do, and how (in any way) did this influence you as a artist? It sounds like you do a bit of graphic design here and there yourself -- how so? Who did the Dave Aju collage graphic that you have used?

Yeah, my dad kept a good balance between playing music and working as a graphic designer. He started out as an engraver in the pre-computer days and just evolved with the technology into desktop publishing and graphic work. I always drew as a kid and eventually worked for his firm while I was in high school. It was a good influence in learning how to focus and get the message across. I still do some visual artwork from time to time, but have a bit of an issue with how visually reliant society tends to be, so chose to spend more time on sound. I made that collage out of some blue note album covers as a kind of tribute to Reid Miles and Romare Bearden, two of my favorite artists. My girlfriend is a talented painter and re-rendered it on canvas, it became a perfect avatar.

The mlat podcast you did is steeped in this nu-Boogie sound (Firecracker, Prime Numbers, DC) that has really started to be the new thing. What is some of your favorite material currently being released?

Yeah, the boogie trend is cool, especially in how it helps narrow the gap between what some hip hop and house DJs are playing again. It's great to see folks, like the labels you mentioned, reaffirming the roots of the music they do. I was fortunate enough to grow up hearing that stuff the first time around in my brother's mixes, and a friend actually made a crack the other day that he's never heard me not drop a Cameo track, and that's probably true. As for favorite current material, Dam Funk is doing a great job evangelizing modern funk, and from what I've heard so far, the upcoming Linkwood album sounds like an amazing set of boogie-influenced cuts. I've also always liked the electro and techno producers that incorporate those roots in their work, like Stinkworx and of course Drexciya / The Other People Place.

Included below is the "Dave Aju 7-Point Manifesto" that you relayed to Phillip Sherburne in XLR8R over a year ago when he was bumming over the music industry. Does this manifesto still hold up, or do you have any additions or amendments?

7-Step Dance Music Production Honor System:

1. Try to emphasize content over form.

2. Challenge yourself. If it seems too easy, it is questionable at best.

3. Personalize all sounds, effects, and arrangements wherever possible.

4. Refrain from releasing or submitting any track that:
    a. sounds like it could be the work of another producer,
    b. sounds redundantly like other works of your own, or
    c. only evokes the emotion of being in a club.

5. Treat every track as you would a loved one; support and encourage its individuality, and never misguide or manipulate it for popularity purposes.

6. Study and consider the history of dance music and make every attempt possible to carry on its creative and positive traditions while respectfully avoiding mimicking, re-treading, or capitalizing on its origins for content.

7. Honestly question your motivation and objective, particularly if your interest in dancing and dance music is a result of certain chemical experiences.

I'm glad you brought that up, it was an interesting scenario. I actually made a more humorous/ironic one first, but then thought about it and decided plenty other folks would do that, and went for a strict and sincere approach. Some people weren't so happy with it, I had some close friends and high-profile peers asking "wow man, you really mean that!?" Like Phil, I too was in a funk for awhile about the state of the music industry, and wanted to call out lazy and derivative producers and those who make technically pristine tracks that are more or less empty. Things have changed for me. My dad passed at the end of last year, and it's helped remind me to lighten up and take things a little easier. So for amendments, I'd rephrase number 2 and 5 to "challenge yourself by trying something new in each production" and "allow each track to be itself, in both good and bad ways," put numbers 1, 6 and especially 7 in boldface and rename it "Seven Steps to Production Heaven."


MYSPACE







  1. Linkwood - Hear The Sun [Firecracker]
  2. Soulphiction - Prison Song [Sonar Kollektiv]
  3. Curtis Mayfield - Love Me Now [RSO]
  4. Unknown Artist - Who Is To Blame [Moxie]
  5.Dave Aju - Crazy Place [Circus Company]
  6. Losoul - Soul Down [Playhouse]
  7. Arch_Typ - Love In Slow Motion [Raw Fusion]
  8. Kelley Polar - Rosenband (Magic Tim mix) [Environ]
  9. Cameo - Back And Forth [Mercury]
10. Fudge Fingas - DinDins4Dada [Prime Numbers]
11. $tinkworx - Raise Up [Delsin]
12. The Other People Place - It's Your Love [Warp]
13. Dam Funk - Galactic Fun [Stones Throw]
14. Nick Straker Band - Little Bit of Jazz [Prelude]
15. Nebraska - Vicarious Disco [Down Low]
16. Arken - Arken 10 [Sonar Kollektiv]
17. Oasis - Oasis #9 [FXHE]

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Along with electro house deejay/producer Codebase, Dave Aju joined Made Like a Tree for the "Tree + Mountain" showcase (Saturday, September 26th at Sole Repair Shop) at Seattle's Decibel Festival of Electronic Music, Digital Art and New Media. Documentation of the night can be viewed here.

TREE + MOUNTAIN SHOWCASE-------->DOWNLOAD!!!