Sitting in a bustling French café in Vancouver, my fellow THUMP writer Ziad Ramley and I sipped tea and patiently waited for a telltale Skype ringtone from Joshua Mooney on the other end. Joshua produces house and garage under the name Wilfred Giroux from his home base in Hackney, UK. Wilfred came into the limelight after he released a remix of "American Boy" by Estelle. It was groovy, upbeat, and ceremoniously adored by yours truly. He later cemented his relevance in the dance community with "Stronger," a gorgeous house tune that samples the classic female pre-game anthem "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae. As we got to know each other, it became clear that Joshua was more than just a talented musician; he had a penchant for falafel and was full of hope for the future.Whether it was playing gigs topless in punk bands or crowd surfing over Midlanders, it was clear from the dozen stories he told us that music always played a role in his life. After several wild adolescent years, he rekindled his love with electronic music before making his debut as Wilfred Giroux at Haus, Liverpool just over a year ago. He described switching his performance from guitars and drum kits to CDJs as a bit of a learning curve. "I'd been DJing for years before that," he explained, "so I knew what I was doing technically. I just didn't know what these people would want… it was cool." At that point in time, his "American Boy" remix had just been released and he laughed as he told us he wasn't sure anyone at Haus knew who was DJing anyway. I'm not sure if it was his willingness to describe the lowest point in his career to us, or the fact that he was Skyping us while still in bed, but I knew right then that all the emotion conveyed in his music was sincere.Lady and the Tramp, Josh. It's Lady and the Tramp.Links:www.soundcloud.com/wilfredgirouxwww.twitter.com/wilfredgirouxwww.facebook.com/wilfredgirouxmusicIf you liked this article, you'll love:
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Fast-forward a couple of months and Joshua is riding the waves that "Stronger" conjured for him in the dance scene. The next two weeks will see him sharing studio time with vocalists while also enjoying tzaziki and falafels with his girlfriend. Joshua describes studio time as "cool to have a real human being to work with and write around something." He then described the falafel as being "like that film with the dogs."
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