Wednesday 29 February 2012

UK Glitch Hop on Glitch FM #2: Your Niece interview

Ahead of his first radio show for UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.FM, we caught up with bare-knuckle-crunk fighter Your Niece. Tune into Glitch.fm tonight from 10pm-12am GMT (party in the chat room!) or listen again at soundcloud.com/ukglitchhop


Introduce yourself...
My name is Rhys Clarke, better known by my DJ moniker Your Niece.



How would you describe your particular style of glitch hop?
I like the edgy more aggressive crunk influenced stuff. I guess you could say tunes with a bit of swagger. I use a lot of acapellas in my sets to thread different styles like dnb, electro and dubstep together. Before I'd ever heard of glitch-hop I was a sucker for any kind of rapping over dance tracks.

What first turned you onto crunk and glitch hop? Any particular artists or tracks?
In 2007 my friend came back from Burning Man talking about this thing 'glitch-hop'. He mentioned the the names Bassnectar and the Glitch Mob. As soon as I heard West Coast Rocks I knew that was the sound I wanted to play.



What's the scene like where you are?
I've been playing glitch-hop for about 4 years now and I'm really surprised how new it still is to a lot of people in the UK. There are now some really good labels dedicated to the sound and you can definitely hear it's influence bleeding into other styles whether people know it came from glitch-hop or not. We've just started a night called 'Uppercut' which will be one of the first glitch-hop specific nights in London so watch this space.


Where do you like to play the most?
I'd have to say at the Secret Garden Party Festival. I've played there for the past 6 years and I've grown with the festival, each year getting to play to a bigger crowd. The set I got to play before Bassnectar last year was pretty career-defining.




What's the craziest gig you've ever played?
Secret Garden Party put on a big Valentines Ball in this huge swanky venue (a boutique hotel in Brixton). They opened up the whole place including some bedrooms at the back and gave me a huge sound system and the keys to the master bedroom. I'd just started playing glitch-hop out so it was really exciting seeing the look on people's faces when an edIT tune dropped. It got totally out of hand, the 4-poster bed got flattened, the plasma tv smashed and their was an orgy in the hot-tub. Just like a rap music video!




What's your favourite track at the moment?
Probably 'Glass Bong' by Stagga and Monky, two producers from Wales, which, incidentally is where I'm originally from.



Who's inspiring you at the moment?
I'm loving some the stuff that the German label Robox Neotech is putting out. Experimental but still retaining the danceable hip-hop energy.



Who are you looking out for in 2012?
The guy that features in my first show Shamanic Technology has been working like a madman in the studio and has piles of fresh stuff he'll be unleashing which is sure to cause an impact. He's already getting recognition stateside picking up sets at Burning Man this year. Beat3 are another name to watch closely, they've got an imminent release on the Muti label and some exciting sounding collaborations in the pipeline.



Where can we expect to see you playing next and over the summer?
It's always busy with festival bookings over summer. Glade and Secret Garden Party I'm particularly excited about as I'm helping program a new venue that will be tying in with the 'Uppercut' night we've just started in London. I'm headlining Uppercut's Bare Knuckle Bass on 10 March vs. Head of State and alongside Sweet Jesus, Atomic Drop, Beat3 and SixAM.


What have you got lined up for your first show on Glitch FM?
I've got an all-originals guest mix from Shamanic Technology and getting excited about the line-up for Uppercut's area at Glade festival which is utterly ridiculous.



Catch Your Niece on Glitch.FM from 10pm-12am GMT Wednesday 29 February 2012. For an archive of UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.FM go to soundcloud.com/ukglitchhop

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