Guest mix - Mat Payne

The second of our April guests to give us an exclusive mix is Mat Payne - He's big in Belguim and Justice 'Heart' him (check out his facebook group for photographic proof!)

Here's a quick interview we did with him...

what 4 records have defined your life so far, and why?

The Smurfs All Star Show
I used to own this on vinyl, it was more than likely the first album I owned, I used to love listening to it all the time, I think I must've driven my parents crazy with it, as they ended up getting me my own means of playing music. So I gues it was pretty defining in the fact that I could now listen to my own stuff in my own time, this probably involved my other big record of the time which included the more popular nursery rhyme hits of the time. The cool thing I remeber about it was that it didnt really matter if you listened to it on 33 or 45 as the voixes were chipmunk like anyway...

Public Enemy - Takes a Nation of Millions... / NWA - Staight Outta' Compton
I'm going to get away with having two albums in one here, just for the fact they were both copied onto the same tape (on either side) by a friend of mine at school. I must've been around 88 / 89 I was about 11 at the time. I seem to remember being into the usual stuff kids were into at that time, stuff that was in the charts and on the radio, but took quite an interest in some of the Rap that was being played, stuff like Salt n' Pepa, Wee Pappa Girl Rappers, Bomb the Bass, S Express Etc... I remember getting told that one of the guys had this album that was like the rap in the charts but it had loads of swearing on it, swearing in music? Michael Jackson wasnt doing that on BAD... I really got into both these albums over the summer holidays, they were all about a lifestyle that was very different to the one I was growing up around in the Manchester Suburbs. These two albums completely changed my outlook on what music was and that it wasnt all about boy meets girl and that music existed outside of the charts / the radio.

Stone Roses - Stone Roses
I was forunate to be in Manchester around the time it was the centre of the musical universe, dont expect any tales of pilled up nights at the Hacienda or drunken tales of Spike Island, I was at most only 13 and probably only caught onto it at the back end anyway. I couldnt get enough this album along with others by the likes of The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and James and I wanted the world to know, cue a stupid haircut, bell bottom jeans and some crazy T-Shirts. I'd say this was probably the first time I felt I belonged to any sort of musical movement, hence the influence. Plus the Indie / Dance crossover appeal would come back to haunt me in later life...

Orbital - Orbital
I had long hair, listened to Pantera, wore Metallica T-Shirts and thought all dance music was terrible, then this album was released...

what role do blogs (like this one) play in your life as a dj?
Its reallyhard to escape from the blog culture, esp. in this line of work. I could argue (and probably have done) for hours about the pros and cons of it all. I'm really against blogs that post up really high quality rips of the latest promos esp. when they dont even bother writing anything about the tune. But love getting bedroom remixes from places such as Palmsout and SBC, there are some real hidden gems out there. Blogs have been great for me too, its crazy to think that my Rainbow Man remix was up on a blog one day and then 48 hours later Goose is playing it out peak time at one of the biggest clubs in Barcelona.

The whole blog mixtape thing astonishes me too, its a great way to get myself promo by doing little excluive mixes for blogs, the first one I did for 'Get Weird Turn Pro' got over 20,000 downloads, thats as many people as go to some Premier League football games all with one of my mixtapes on their PC or IPOD. and to think the Radio Soulwax Volume 2, which is one of the most popular commericial mixe CDs of recent years which everybody I know seems to own or have owned at some point sold around 110,000 copies. I've managed to reach a fifth as many as they did without any cost. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Forget NME or Smash Hits, blogs are the new taste makers, if someone like Fluokids likes what you've done puts in on their blog, thats pretty much as good as getting on the front cover of a magazine...

what are the best and worst things about the manchester scene?
In terms of promoters and DJs, I like how everybody seems to know everybody else and most people get along with each other and play at each others nights. Thats kinda' good and 9 times out of 10 you'll get into places for free as they know you'll do the same for them. Its a proper community vibe and with the exception of a few nights its a real cottage industry. There's some talented DJs out there too, its just weird that not many people seem to get much coverage or gigs outside of the M postcodes...

We've been getting loads of great DJs playing recently although its a bit discouraging for the smaller nights that places like the Warehouse Project and their clubnight are snapping up all the big names, but I've really enjoyed every night out I've had at WHP so they're doing it all right, I'm probably just bitter I've not played their yet, lol! Credit has to go to nights like yourself, P&P (they've done an amazing job) and Sex with Robots for taking chances and getting people over to play.

There's a few nights that seem to get all the press coverage though, I think this needs to be spread out a bit more, yeah they're doing some great nights, but let the public know about the other nights that are doing good things too!

And also the council need to let people advertise their nights a little easier, just look at the case of Tramp, who brought Manchester the early gigs of people like The Klaoxns, Diplo and Justice, they got a £10,500 fine for blu tacking posters to walls and now had called it a day. Its crazy. Plus I bet the council are paying some Pr company an obscene amount of money to attract visitors using 'Manchester's Musical Heritage' as the reason to visit. These small nights / bands are the musical heritage people should be talking about in twenty years time.

what one record is doing it for you more than anything else right now?
At this moment now? Erm, I just got the Bobmo EP on promo, thats alright, I'll probably be bored of it in an hour or so, ha ha!

Brodinski was my hot tip last year and he's really blown up now. France is still doing it for me, although like many people I'm bored of the whole Justicey distortion sound, and the Herve / Sinden thing is starting to grate and is reminding me more and more of Happy Hardcore every day. Hostage, Detboi and Andy George are doing interesting things in this genre though. Yeah WONK is quite massive at the moment isnt it. Jo Whiley's a big fan though :(

I'm quite into Sally Shapiro at the moment, for me its going to all be about ITALO this summer...
I am very excited about the forthcoming Portishead album too.

If you were a biscuit, what type would you be and why?
Can I be one of those variety packs? Family Circle or something like that?

Mat Payne - Robot Soap Mix part 1
Mat Payne - Robot Soap Mix part 2

Tracklisting:
The Whip - Divebomb (Crystal Castles Remix)
D.I.M. - Is You (Brodinski Mix)
Andy George - Big Dipper (Hijack Mix)
The Shoes - America (Brodinski Mix)
Thunderous Olympian - Live As Hell (Olin Dub)
Alter Ego - Why Not!? (Joakim Remix)
Digitalism - Jupiter Room (Erol Alkan Edit)
Bumblebeez - Dr Love (Crookers Remix)
Altern-8 - Frequency (Hostage Remix)
Dead Prez - Hip Hop (Lars Vegas Here We Go Again Remix)
Chemical Brothers - Do It Again (Elektric Cowboy Remix)
Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die (Grum Remix)
Busy P - Rainbow Man - (Mat Payne 130BPM Edit)
Sonny J - Enfant (Riton Rerub)
Sinden and The Count Of Monte Cristal - Beeper (Fake Blood Remix)
Sinden And Count Of Monte Cristal - We dont give a damn
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
Dusty Kid - The Twister (Nathan Detroit Edit)
Roman Flugel - Gehts Noch? (Steve Angello Vs Whos Who Mix)
OH SNAP!! - Bill Cosby Sweater (Hostage Remix)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Loud Pipes Remix)
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (ft. Au Revoir Simone)
Ladytron - Open Your Heart
Federico Franchi - Cream (Franchi Alternative Mix)
Daft Punk - Prime Time of Your Life (Night Facilities Remix)
Underworld - Boy Boy Boy (Switch Remix)
Robbie Williams - Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Vocal)
Inner City - Big Fun (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)