The thump was constant and the bass rattled the ground of the palatial Avalon in Hollywood. It was a Control Friday show (8/21) and the warm summer night was perfectly complimented by an exciting Dim Mak double feature with Canadian drop kings Botnek and burgeoning House wunderkind Jacob Plant.
After a fun, throbbing warm up set from resident DJ Sam Hiller and a hard hitting set of bangers from James Egbert, one of the most inventive and busiest duos in the electronic music scene took to the stage. Botnek gave the young crowd over an hour and a half of non-stop drops and fun plugs of great tracks from Queen and Run the Jewels. They dropped cerebral originals like the chainsaw revving “Grindhouse” and their jump-up worthy new single “Tremors”, for which they invited vocal guest Go Comet! on stage to take command of the stage and hyped the crowd for the immediately memorable drop.
No matter what tempo they mixed in every track got an insane reaction from the crowd. The duo, both wearing an all black ensemble, had big smiles on their face every time one of their songs garners cheers from the dancefloor. If you haven’t heard their great originals (“Through the Night” is a must for anyone who wants to hear the track Jack Beats could only wish to make) or their slew of unique remixes (their rework of “Hummus” by Crookers is wonky and loads of fun), this duo is one of the best in the scene right now and no one can match their sound.
After their set came an electrifying closing mix from the fast rising DJ and producer Jacob Plant. The Briton has been making a name for himself with his unique brand of Future House, which can be described as a stunning blend of deep house, banging electro house. His most recent single “Hunger” is a thumping house jam that has been garnering a lot of accolades and radio play on BBC 1. Plant ended the night perfectly with a cerebral mix of house and downtempo. Before his set I got to have a quick chat with him about his tour, his label Shakedown and Dim Mak.
Read the interview below:
You played San Francisco yesterday, Los Angeles today and Vancouver tomorrow. How are you feeling about this leg of the tour?
Jacob Plant: Good! I love LA, it’s my favorite place and I’m always excited to be here and I’m very excited for Canada tomorrow, it’s my first time in Canada, really excited for [Vancouver].
You’re going back to Reading and Leeds again this year?
JP: It’s actually my third time, third in a row, which I never thought would happen because normally you don’t see the same people at a festival every year. It’s cool to keep coming back.
What do you think is the difference between US festivals and UK Festivals?
JP: There’s quite a big difference, there’s way more dance festivals in America compared to the UK, there we have a few, but Reading & Leads is good because we have a mix of rock, hip-hop and dance as well.
You have Budweiser’s Made in America (Philadelphia) and Voodoo (New Orleans) coming up, are you excited for those festivals?
JP: I’ve never been to New Orleans, really excited for that. Made in America is wicked because the lineup so sick, can’t wait.
Hunger is great! Is there a new EP in the works?
JP: Yeah! I’ve already put two EPs out before and I’m working towards another one, singles first then I do another one.
What can you tell me about Shakedown (his label)?
JP: I haven’t touched it for a while, we first made it to put music out between bigger labels, just a quick way to get stuff out. Kind of held back for a while because we already had stuff in the pipelines. Going to build it up this year.
Do you have anyone you want to get onto Shakedown?
JP: Yeah, we’ve been speaking to some people, I’ve been speaking to kids on Twitter. I want to find a really young kid whose 16, just try to set them up. Building [Shakedown] up in time, just rebranding at the moment.
What do you enjoy about working with Dim Mak?
JP: Just really nice guys, the creativity behind them as well. The content they put out, along with the artwork and visuals, it’s just good! It feels like you get more from them than other labels, which I really like.
You’ve been using Pro Tools since you were 13, what software would you recommend to producers using the program trying to get the best out of it?
JP: I was having this chat with Botnek earlier, I use Pro Tools but it’s an old fashioned thing to use, I don’t think many people use it anymore. I think Ableton would be probably be a good thing to produce on. I use ion for a mastering side of things, it’s really good… It’s all the same it’s just what you do with it.
What are some other tour plans for the rest of 2015?
JP: Probably more European and other side of the world, probably not America till January.
Who are some artists in the house scene that have caught your attention?
JP: Mala, his stuff is sick, really good, it’s quite deep but still quite hard. At the moment he keeps putting out mixes on Soundcloud, he’s sick. Him and Tchami.
What do you think is the secret to a good mix?
JP: When it’s in key, that’s the secret to it all.
What places do you want to play that you haven’t played yet?
JP: Canada, Australia, South Africa, love to play South Africa and Asia. I played in India but I’d love to play in China and Japan.