James Kumo brings three original cuts to his KMusic imprint this September.
James Kumoโs KMusic plays host to material from artists like Dan Curtin, David Hausdorf and Oliver Deutschmann and now the label-head himself prepares his โDrifterโ EP for release on the imprint. With a career that spans over twenty years, Kumo has had releases on some of the finest underground labels including Delsin Records offshoot Ann Aimee, Metamorphic, Curle and Falkplatz amongst others.
Premiere and titled track โDrifterโ delivers celestial pads swell alongside rumbling sub bass and ethereal arpeggios.
https://soundcloud.com/changeunder/cuppremiere-james-kumo-drifter-kmusic
Youโre about to release your new EP โDrifterโ with a remix from New Yorkโs DJ Spider on your KMusic label, could you tell us a bit about the vibe of the record for those yet to hear it?
Yeah sure, side A features the title track โDrifterโ, which is a fairly thumping electronic house jam, alongside that is Spiderโs remix, a brilliant dark n moody re-work, with his trade mark heavy bass lines and scatterings of muffled percussion. On the flip, there are a couple of other originals from me, โEvolutionโ which has a more synth driven house flavour to it and โSpectro Jazzโ which has that UR vibe in it.ย
KMusic has been going for a while now with a slow but steady release schedule which seemingly focuses on quality over quantity, could you tell us a bit about the labels ethos and what made you launch your own platform?
I launched KMusic back in 2011, after I had a few releases out on other labels, the main objective of being able to manage and put out my own material, when I wanted and not have to rely on other peoples label programming, which can mean months and months of waiting around. Doing it your way you have total control of pretty much everything which is hard work, but very fulfilling.
Youโve released on Curle, Delsinโs Ann Aimee and Autoreply previously, a pretty telling sign of the quality of your output, what do you produce with and did it take some time making music and throwing away material before you felt comfortable sending your demos to such prestigious imprints or was it an instantaneous thing for you?
I like Native Instruments a lot, Maschine in particular, also Propellerhead Reason, & Apple Logic is a fav too. I like my synths, so have had various by Roland. Like anything, you need to learn the tools youโre working with, before you see tangible results. I found I focused on 2 or 3 and mastered them, you soon realise what works and what doesnโt work for you. Regarding sending my music out to labels, I only send them once iโm 100% comfortable with the end result, then its down to them. At the end of the day, music is so subjective so what you might think is great others may not, plus more often that not labels will have a very precise sound theyโre after, general focus and direction they want for their label to head in. The key is not to feel disheartened and persevere in what you are doing.ย
Previous KMusic releases have featured remixes from the likes of Dan Curtin, Binny and Oliver Deutschmann, are these artists friends of yours within the industry or just artists you admire and wanted to have on board with the label?
In Danโs case, Iโd listened to his musical output since I was probably 17 or so, thatโs like 26 years ago now, so to have the opportunity to work with Dan on my label, and his own Metamorphic label as well was a real treat for me.ย So yeah, Iโve known Dan for around 9 years now. With Oliver, and Binny it was quite simple, I liked their previous releases and got in touch with them and worked on some tracks.ย
Iโve also worked with other great people on the label, Diesel (XPress 2), David Hausdorf, Terje Saether and Ozka.
What or who would you cite as being heavy influences in your compositions? Whether that be an artist directly or the city you live in, or anything else?
Generally speaking I canโt help but have some people in mind when Iโm producing, DJโs, other producers/labels, also some clubs actually. I need to get in that mood, picturing the music being played out, loud. I donโt go out and think, โIโm going to make a track like one of [add producers name here]โ, but I might make a track which I think a particular favourite DJ might like & would work for them in their sets, which would be much more fulfilling having someone youโve followed the career of for many years and respect, who likes your material and plays your music out, thatโs just great!
Whatโs next for James Kumo and KMusic?
Other than the Drifter EP, which is out on 12โ vinyl only in early October. Iโm always working on new material for KMusic and other labels. I also like to keep in touch with like minded producers who I like, and try and collaborate with, so watch this space.
Otherwise, on the DJ front, Iโm really keen to get out there a bit more and play some cool venues soon. So feel free to drop me a line ;)
James Kumo โDrifterโ EP drops on KMusic late September 2018.
