One massively important aspect of who we are here at FUXWITHIT is making sure the underground is always heard and always has a voice. Arguably no corner of dance music rides for underground culture more so than the drum and bass community. And over the past few years, especially 2020, we’ve been witness to so something special that’s happening in North America. That is of course the rise of DnB. We’ve already been blessed to host one of the hottest names in DnB in North America right now in REAPER, and now we couldn’t be more excited to give you a deeper look into another trailblazer in the scene.
The man in question that has been consistently pushing the sounds of DnB across North America is, Chicago native CLB. Since re-focusing his project from the sounds of UK baseline to DnB, the young innovator has been in a groove, to say the least. In a true representation of the underground, CLB refuses to be tied down by the confines of genres, even within DnB. From neuro, rollers, and liquid, CLB has shown that he’s not afraid to tackle all corners of the genre. 2020 marked a massive year for the young trailblazer, earning the honor of being Space Yacht’s first release on their new label with his single ’Moving Forward.’ In addition to this, the rising star also landed an official remix with his remix of ‘Written Maze’ by the legend DROELOE.
With all this being said, It’s an honor to able to have the chance to ask this young talent a few questions, and of course, it’s an honor to have him be our first guest mix of 2021!
First off, thank you so much for stopping by! Guide us through this mix, what direction did you take this?
I wanted this mix to showcase the darker side of my productions. I’ve been missing being in a small dark club filled with fog so I framed the mix around that kind of environment. I’ve also been dabbling in some grime production and I wanted to showcase a little bit of that towards the end. I love making more radio-friendly music like I did last year, but my heart lies with the really aggressive dark side of things, so this mix is a reflection of that.
Give us a little bit of insight into what it was like growing up in Chicago. What’s the music scene like? How much influence did that have on your music?
The music scene here is great! There’s something in the water here because the artists and the sounds that come from Chicago seem to influence a lot of the world’s music. Obviously, house music is such an important cultural part of the city and I take a lot of inspiration from that even when I’m not writing house. With Chicago being so large, I get exposed to a lot of different genres/sounds that I wouldn’t otherwise hear if I was somewhere else. I make a big effort to pull things from all of those genres and put them in my own productions.
I’ve never felt healthier creatively and I can’t see it stopping anytime soon.
Your newer fans might not be too familiar with your UK bass days, which is weird to think about. How was it navigating a change in direction in your project, and how did you end up at this point in your career?
I had reached a point in 2019 where I felt like I had used up all my good ideas for UK Bass, and everything I was making was starting to sound like a copy of someone else. I had been dabbling in making drum & bass my whole career but never put anything out that was good enough to my standards. Towards the end of the year, I ended up taking a trip to the UK where I was able to go to a few shows that had some drum & bass acts on it. I remember standing in the middle of a crowd watching Kanine play and I had this epiphany thatthis was the music that I wanted to make, and I haven’t looked back since. Transitioning wasn’t very difficult, I just made sure that everything was up to standard before I started releasing anything. I’ve never felt healthier creatively and I can’t see it stopping anytime soon.
You recently launched your label Sine Clash Recordings. First off, massive congratulations man! I love to see another home for drum & bass in America. What are your goals with Sine Clash? What’s the end vision?
Thanks man! At this point in time it’s really just a way for myself to self-release my own music. I want it to grow into more than that, but it takes time to get everything right, and I’m not at the stage I want to be yet to release other people’s music. I can be really picky about music I play, let alone sign to a label, so once I sit on it some more I’ll know exactly what kind of direction I want to go in. I’ve gotten some crazy demos already from some great North American producers though! The end vision is to just be a recognizable name in the American bass community.
What do you make of the rise of DnB in North America? Has it hit a peak yet?
I’m not sure to be honest! Like most things, COVID really put a damper on that. I feel like 2020 was going to be a good year, and I was excited to see if drum & bass would get a spotlight in festival season, but obviously that didn’t happen. Although I’m relatively new to the scene, it seems like there’s always a good amount of push for DnB to be the next hot thing every year but it never really takes off. A lot of the popularity comes from established fans, but I think there’s a good handful of people in my generation of dance music fans who are warming up to it.
if a Pryda snare sounds good in there, fuck it, it sounds good.
I’ve seen a lot of discussion over elitism within the DnB community and read my fair share of “Ew, dubstep drums in dnb” tweets. People are quick to judge both sides, but how would you break down these issues to someone who isn’t aware of the culture and history behind DnB?
Elitism is an issue in every single genre of music and it’s not something that’s going to go away any time soon. I’m of the opinion that anyone can make any type of music they’d like, although with some caveats. Having respect for a genre’s culture is incredibly important, and I try to do as much research as I can so I’m not stepping on the toes of the people who influenced me. I mean, I’m a white dude from the midwest with a corporate day job, I’m probably the most far removed person from the jungle scene you can find. That being said, I make an effort to be an active part in that community, even if it is thousands of miles away. As long as you approach it with respect, you should be fine. At the same time, bringing something new to the table is the only way to stand out, so if a Pryda snare sounds good in there, fuck it, it sounds good.
On a lighter note, tell us what we can expect from you throughout this new year?
Loads more music! And definitely more variety than in years past. I have one last house song that’s dropping soon and after that I’m only going to be doing bass music. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been really into 140 dubstep/grime stuff and I’ve finished an EP of that already I’d like to get out this year, too. Other than that, just a lot more shitposts on Twitter :)
It’s been a blast watching you evolve as an artist and constantly level up. Which brings me to my final question, what’s your grand vision for the CLB project?
Big ups! I’m not sure that I have an answer for that. From day one, the only thing I cared about was writing as much music as possible, and I’m going to continue to do that. I think with that as my only goal, all the other things will fall into place. It’s gotten me this far, and I can only imagine where I’ll be in five years if I make writing music the only constant.
Tracklist:
1. CLB & NuBass – ID
2. CLB – ID
3. Serum – Red Meat 4. Bou – ID
5. NuBass – ID
6. CLB – ID
7. Hoax – ID
8. Chase & Status – Retreat 2018
9. Formula – ID
10. Codes, CLB – ID (CLB’s Roller Mix)
11. Dutta, T>I – One Round
12. Deppz, Charlotte Meldrum – ID
13. Bou, Mark XTC – Breathe
14. CLB – Nightmares
15. CLB – ID
16. Mark Dinimal – Billy
17. Teej – ID
18. Majoriti – Loopy
19. Riko Dan, Wen – Play Your Corner (Kahn & Neek Remix)
20. CLB – ID
21. DE-TÜ – Come to Play
22. Flava D – Berlin
23. CLB – ID
