This article was originally published on THUMP UK
Since launching as a label proper in 2010, Night Slugs has gradually carved out its own distinct space and tone of voice within club music. Be it through collectively mining and refining tropes, the icy synth work that defined their 2013 output, or uncovering key unsung tracks, it's the constant, ongoing dialogue between the label's core family that imbues it with such a pronounced sense of identity.
With their brand new Club Constructions Community launching today, we caught up with founders L-Vis 1990 and Bok Bok to talk about the value of community, working under self-imposed limitations, and what they hope to discover with Club Constructions Community.
THUMP: First up, for the unfamiliar, what is Club Constructions?
Bok Bok: It's a series of releases that forms part of the Night Slugs label. When L-Vis wanted to do a new record after his album, we realised that what the label needed was a way for us to always have direct communication with the club world. It was also the year that we released Jam City's Classical Curves LP, and Girl Unit's Club Rez double pack; things were getting a bit more diverse - to some extent moving away from the club, and towards pop and more experimental directions - so it was necessary to have a channel to keep sending club stuff down.
L-Vis, what made you release under the Club Constructions template after Classical Curves?
L-Vis 1990: It was a way for me to let off steam after the long process of making an album. With Neon Dreams, each element was carefully considered. Nothing was left to chance. I wanted to make tracks that I really didn't have to think too much about when making them. To let the machines do the work.
I pretty much limited myself to one drum machine, one outboard FX unit - and nothing else. It was so liberating. I wanted to show what could be done on the dance floor with as few elements as possible. Club Constructions was originally going to be the name of my EP, but we thought it would be great to have an outlet for all of us to just let loose on pure club trax.
Was the objective to have a series of releases that grew out of one another, or was that a happy accident?
Bok Bok: Well, we definitely wanted to do a consistent series, so the fact that it ended up working that way is really good luck. It's similar to the way things were happening in 2010, everyone reacting to common influences and each other. When Hysterics started doing that project, his stuff fit instantly with what we had in mind for the series. With Jam City, we prompted him to contribute a volume after his album; giving him the criteria, and asked him apply it to his own process.
Then there's the L-Vis, Lil Silva and KW Griff releases. Having the Lil Silva released between the other two was cool because his tracks had more of a half-time feel to them, so it showed another dimension to the series. Helix is really key to it too. He just is Club Constructions. The kind of effects he gravitates towards... it's a certain kind of short metallic reverbs. Where you can really sense the small room.
So, Club Constructions Community is launching. Can you explain what it is?
Bok Bok: We are releasing the Club Constructions manifesto to the public in a call to arms for new producers. James (L-Vis 1990) came up with a series based around a set of criteria - the first email was titled "Club Constructions Manifesto Lol". It's funny to think now... we've never wanted to take that too seriously, and I'm the first to say that all the rules have been broken at some point. We actually encourage that.
There's a website with all the information and an upload page, so producers can upload their tracks for us. We will check them out and, where we see fit, give feedback.
Club Constructions Community is not a competition. It has no set end time. Now that it's been announced, and once we have an idea of the quality level of productions, we will work out what will happen with the tracks; be it compilations, joint EPs, singles, or something else.
What was the impetus behind launching it?
L-Vis 1990: We really want to inspire a new generation of club producers and give them pointers along the way. Night Slugs was originally built around a small community of producers and DJs, all helping each other and developing together. We were very lucky to have this amazing group of people with similar ideas and aesthetics. Out there in the world, some people might not be so lucky. We want to reach them and develop a more expansive community.
Bok Bok: It's a big experiment for us. I can't wait to hear what people do with this and where they take it. We're telling people to break the rules, but only where it works. The points of the manifesto are just aesthetic guidelines. It's an attempt at a framework. In a genre-less time, it fees like not a bad idea to play with limitations.
You said you also wanted to qualify why genre tags can be a good thing sometimes?
Bok Bok: It's funny, because it's been us for years saying that "Genre doesn't exist" - and I still believe that everything can be everything else - so it's not like I'm turning my back on that. It's less genre, more style. Sometimes style cues can help a community to develop. In a post-genre environment, it can be tough to find continuity. That's a challenge that DJs like us have now, and that's why Club Constructions is such a god-send to me, because it creates the perfect glue in a DJ set. The tracks are speaking the same language. That's how a community forms - common reference points bouncing off each other. That coherence is how you put together DJ sets full of new music.
And it makes DJ sets more fun.
Bok Bok: Exactly! They are functional tracks.
It goes with out saying grime is a key part of your musical world view. The way those tracks are built and subsequently used in sets in a modular, 'lego brick' manner is something you've mentioned as a big influence.
Bok Bok: Definitely. There was a lot of very diverse tracks that still somehow felt like they were all on the same grid. I recently spoke to Geeneus about his influence on the community of East London producers in the early '00s, popularising the use of a specific set of sounds from the Korg Triton and PlugSounds plug-ins. In the end, he was less bothered about the common sound he initiated, and more proud of the platform he had built with his friends. That they were all doing it together.
Are there any examples of active scenes at the moment which embody this kind of local dialogue?
Bok Bok: Jersey Club is a scene that I follow; a really localised sound (geographically specific to New Jersey) yet one that has survived in the digital age. Vine is a goldmine for Club, but the last time I was driving past Baltimore with Kingdom, there was Club on the radio, so it still lives in both worlds. It's also just as modular as grime, and has even more audio-memes. The genre constantly mines its new tracks for samples to add to an ever-growing arsenal of re-sampled tropes. I love that there's this group dialogue with Jersey Club. Even before its release, I heard the MikeQ and Sliink collaboration being re-sampled in new tracks.
You've made a point of saying that the records within Club Constructions have influenced each other, so equally if someone was to submit a track and you put it out, there's every chance that that would then fire off some ideas on your side.
Bok Bok: That's why I love new producers and new music. Having new stuff in my crate gives me life as a DJ. To feel that there's a cohesion there, and tap into it.
L-Vis 1990: I'm sure there are going to be plenty of producers out there that will inspire us. That's the great thing about this project. I'm so excited to see how Night Slugs club music evolves over next few years.
Club Constructions Community launches today, right here.
You can follow L-Vis 1990 on Twitter here: @lvis1990, and Bok Bok here: @bok_bok
