We first met Kanji several years in 2006, when he would regularly come along with a group of mates to Braindrop at the Purple Turtle. The next time we bumped into him would be early 2009. In those few years he’d transformed himself from a bedroom producer learning the ropes to a massively respected, in demand artist and future bass pioneer.
He’s already officially remixed Roisin Murphy, AC Slater, Mikix the Cat, Kid 606, Drop the Lime, Adam Freeland and Subeena. And his recent rerub of 16 Bit’s earth shaking Chainsaw anthem should definitely win most ridiculously gurn inducing tune of 2009.
We caught up with in advance of his Braindrop @ Bloc set his to ask him some very important questions. And the lovely chap has given us one of his biggest anthems for FREE download – the absolutely massive Deep Down South. Link is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!
BD – Hello mate – how are you?
KK – Good thanks! Been enjoying the London snow bringing everything to a halt…
BD – What’s new in the land of Kanji Kinetic? Any exciting news /collaborations / remixes / signings?
KK – Lots of stuff coming in the next few months actually! I have a new 12″ coming out soon on Senseless Records and another one to follow on Sleazetone, as well as something a bit different on Tigerbeat6! Very excited about getting these out there…
My remixes of 16bit’s Chainsaw Calligraphy and my Roisin Murphy remix have just been released, check em out! And a whole bunch more remixes in the pipeline!
BD – How would you describe your sound and what are your main influences?
KK – Without wanting to sound pretentious, I still don’t really know what genre to call most of my stuff really. Basically I’m taking the framework of bassline and 4×4, and crossing it with ugly noises you might find in dubstep and drum & bass… but also heavily influenced by oldskool breakbeat hardcore, chipmusic and a bunch of other stuff!
BD – Where does the name come from?
KK – I’ve had a fascination with Japan since I realised as a kid that pretty much all the video games I loved came from this small island! ‘Kanji’ are the pictograms that make up the Japanese language and I thought it would be a cool name to use since I was studying the language at the time. I found there was another DJ Kanji so I added Kinetic on the end which is the energy created by movement, I thought this was pretty appropriate for music to go nuts to…
BD – You’re playing b2b with Raffertie for our Braindrop Bloc Weekend showcase – alongside DJ Hype, MJ Cole, Reso, Vent, AGT Rave Cru and ourselves. How does a Kanji vs Raffertie show work? What can we expect from your set?
KK – I’m very excited to be working live with Raffertie as it’s something we’ve been talking about for a while! I can say that there will be a bit more to it than a regular b2b session…
BD – What equipment / software do you use to make your music
KK – I use Logic Pro (still on version 7 – haven’t felt the need to upgrade) alongside Ableton Live 8, with various plugins. I have a couple of MIDI keyboards for composing and the Akai APC40 for live stuff (lovely piece of kit).
BD – Which artists are you really rating at the moment and why?
I recently heard a bunch of new tracks from Sharkslayer which have been smashing up the dance, watch out for him! DJ Manaia is another madman producer, all his tracks are crazy in a different way. Check out Mindtransit for some oldskool ravey vibes brought up to date… Also Egyptrixx has been pushing his house-influenced sound with all sorts of bizarre noises which is unlike anything else I’ve heard.
BD- You run your own label, Electrostimulation, alongside our mate Z-Kat. What’s the ethos of the label and what are your upcoming releases?
KK – The idea behind the label is to support undiscovered, emerging and established producers who we think are coming with fresh, unique sounds that deserve as much exposure as possible! We’re very excited to be releasing an EP from Temper D – known for his drum & bass productions and DJing, he’s moving into new territory with this release which will be out soon. Also due shortly we have a release from Nonewyork (with a great remix from Squire of Gothos) and an EP of remixes of my ‘Splatterbass’ EP which I’m really looking forward to getting out there!
BD – You’ve been to Braindrop since the crazy days of the Purple Turtle. Number one Braindrop memory?
KK – Seeing Limewax a few years ago after you moved to Jacks Club, I turned up just in time to catch his set having not slept for 2-3 days, the atmosphere was amazing!
BD – All time 3 top tunes (anything at all)?
KK – That’s a tall order…. I can give you 3 tracks I like a lot:
BD – Current dj top 10? What’s in your box?
KK – New stuff from Squire of Gothos, Sharkslayer, Syntonics, Mindtransit, Luke’s Anger, Ricorb, DJ Manaia, R1 Ryders, Noiz, Blackmass Plastics…
BD – Top 3 animals?
BD – Favorite Youtube video?
KK – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laXT4a_pkkg
Thanks Kanji – download his amazing Deep Down South below. We’ve been caning it in our sets and it always turns the dancefloor into a neon-rave mosh-pit.
[audio:Deep Down South.mp3]
[filebase:file:file=16:tpl=tune]
Remember you can catch him and Raffertie back to back at Braindrop @ Bloc Weekend. Get your Bloc tickets HERE
And grab his mental 16 Bit Chainsaw Caligraphy remix whilst you can – get it now from Chemical Records.
Check Kanji’s myspace HERE.
Posted by chris in Interviews, Tunes.
Comments
SIMcommander
Jan 20th, 2010Massiv download and so cool that Kanji is wearing his Lowriders Collective T-shirt!!!
Mile High Disco
Dec 8th, 2010can we get a re up on deep down south? I seemed to have lost the tune and would love to play it out again!
Kanji
Jan 28th, 2011Here you go
http://www.mediafire.com/?451n44zjg1566im
Mile High Disco
Feb 9th, 2011Cheers mate
Leave a Comment