Emmerald: You usually have your hand in quite a few projects at a time. What are you working on/with whom are you working now?
Somatik: At the moment, the main things happening are the 4 Hero LP which is work-in-progress, the Visioneers album which I just mentioned, and a project I've been working on for about a year now called 'Hidden.' Hidden is collaboration between me and a singer/songwriter/musician/actress I know called Lita Joy. We've known each other for years but were apart for a while and only hooked up again last spring. She is crazy, writes the most incredible lyrics and is really driven. The music is quite different from what you would maybe expect from me. It's more song-based with elements of psychelia, breaks, folk, and electronica. You'll have to wait to hear it. We're about halfway through recording an album, and should be finished sometime next year. We have been fitting it in between all our other individual commitments, but the breathing time is always good. It's some of the most satisfying music I've been involved in making, feels like the real me coming through at last. We'll see. In other news I just mixed a few tracks for a singer from Australia called Vassy (one of which she wrote and recorded with Rich Medina and Jneiro Jarel). I've also been doing some 'remote mastering' for Portuguese act Melo-D which is sort of cool jazz-funk vibes. Last year I mixed most of the latest Ivana Santilli album. She'd worked with all kinds of producers, from Dego to Dwele to Omar. She collected all the studio data, burned it all onto CDs and Fed-Exed it over from Canada. I mixed it, we talked a lot on the phone, it was cool. The album sounds phat if I say so myself! Since getting broadband out here in the country I've been able to do more and more remote work, mixing and mastering for people all over the world. It's a great system. I have the time and space to do the best job I can without the usual studio pressure. Plus it costs the artists a lot less, 'cos there are no expensive studio or accommodation fees and so on. Oh, and of course more Twisted Funk bizness as usual, and the ever-growing NuWave.
Emmerald: Do you have any aspirations to put together a large scale project, say something like Build an Ark.
Somatik: Maybe one day. Musically I try not to have big aspirations 'cos they most often lead to disappointment 'cos of the messed up nature of the industry. Not that I mean to sound too jaded, I just find it more satisfying to focus on what I'm doing at one time and to enjoy it for what it is. I just aspire to be happy, and at the moment simplicity is the key-- on every level! But hey, one day we might need that ark, and I give thanks that I'm managing to learn one or two useful skills for after the deluge.
Emmerald: The 'West London'/'Dollis Hill' massive (e.g. 4 Hero, Bugz, you, Domu, Mark de Clive Lowe, etc) operates as such a cohesive group, and you all have enjoyed some successes together. What do you think keeps you all on the same page or at the least, a page that you all can read from?
Somatik: Hmm, not sure we are all on the same page. That's what makes it exciting for me. Definitely we all have some influences which link up. Although we all don't have the same influences, there are crossing points between the individuals which connect us. There is obviously an element of solidarity there, the feeling that if we are all united we might stand more chance than trying to 'go it alone.' I suppose that's natural for all so-called 'pioneering' movements, but for me, it's about the diversity. I think the key people in the 'massive' get a buzz out of seeing where each individual can take it, whatever 'it' is! If you know what I mean.
Emmerald: Why do you think that London has largely been the center of innovation in dance music?
Somatik: London? Where's that?!! (laughs) Well, I suppose it's about the vibrant cross-section of people there. It's like a meeting place. People from all around the UK who wanted to 'break into the music industry' used to end up there most often, mainly because all the major labels were based there. That's not so relevant now in the days of the digital music revolution. Dance music has always thrived from diversity and I think London has that diversity. It especially did in the 70s and 80s, with big reggae and punk influences, soul artists, new romanticism, then acid house and rave, the whole melting pot.
