Stay ConnectedPaul Rose aka the musician, DJ, and label boss known as Scuba talks to people of significance from the world of electronic music about their experiences, observations, and attempts to cultivate a life for themselves in the murky and sometimes treacherous waters of the music industry.
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Copyright: © Copyright 2023 Scuba
We now have a facility for one-off donations to the podcast... to make such a donation using either a credit or debit card, or with Paypal, head over to scubaofficial.io/support.
Record labels, music journalism, artist careers, and the historical developments of the dance scene have maybe been the most enduring themes of this podcast to date. And they all get discussed on this episode.
Tom Lea has been running the excellent Local Action label since 2010, and is also, since 2021, label manager for Peggy Gou's Gudu imprint. His CV also includes stints as Editor In Chief of Fact Magazine, and as manager to artists including I.Jordan.
So there was plenty to talk about this week, and we got stuck into topics including the travails of the dance press, the pros and cons of Boiler Room, and the role of labels.
We also discuss whether the 2010s was a bad decade for music, the AI conundrum, and what it's like to work with Peggy.
This is a good one, get involved!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Berlin is the centre of the European dance scene. It's changed almost beyond recognition in the past two decades but its influence has steadily grown in that time, and while those two things mean that some people will inevitably be sniffy about it, the reality is that it's still the place to be.
Paul Hanford literally wrote the book on coming to Berlin as an outsider, and even though the path is extremely well-trodden at this point, the experiences continue to develop. The stories in his book are similar to my own experiences of moving over from London in 2007, but there are points of culture and geopolitics which distinguish the narratives entirely.
Paul is also the host of the Lost And Sound podcast, a musician with major label releases to his name, the former head of music at Secret Cinema, and a lecturer the BIMM Institute. So additionally to the book and Berlin, we discuss a range of topics including alternative media, cancel culture, and politics and populism in modern culture.
This is a good one, you're gonna enjoy it.
A reminder that the vinyl-only release of Hardcore Heaven II is imminent - grab a copy here.
And here's some more info about my forthcoming mixtape 'Digital Underground'.
Grab a preorder of Digital Underground here. (will be live shortly)
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A quick thank you to everyone listening in the UK... we made it into the top 10 music podcasts for the first time last week! Non-UK listeners: tell your friends so we can get up those international charts too!
What is creativity? Why do we value it so much as a society? And how do you unlock it?
These were not questions I was anticipating a deep dive on when I started researching this episode. As a long-time Krust fan, I was looking forward to talking about early Jungle and the Bristol DnB scene. And we do that in this episode, but quite a lot more as well.
After going on a multi-year hiatus in the early 2010s, he launched a coaching and consultancy business called Adapt The Canvas through which he works with a wide range of people to help unlock their creativity.
So we discuss all of that, as well as his own creative process, his last album The Edge Of Everything (which was released on previous NDP guest Damian Lazarus' Crosstown Rebels), the experience of touring himself into the ground with Reprazent, and the development of Jungle and DnB.
This is a good one, a worthy follow-up to last week's episode which was the most popular we've ever done!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Catch myself b2b with Chloé Robinson at the Skreamizm weekend takeover at fabric in London on 21 October!
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A lot of artists complain about the way success and the weight of expectation affects their output. But what about people who've been scrutinised in public since they were a teenager?
This week's guest has spent every weekend since he was 15 in clubs, and been the headline DJ for most of that time. There's not many other people who can say that.
It's almost impossible to describe Skream without resorting to cliche. Dubstep poster-boy. Legendary hell-raiser. The amount of rubbish that has been written about him over the years is quite amazing, even by the standards of the music press.
Some of it was true though, and on this week's show we dig into everything from stage invasions and tour bus fires, to record shops, school suspensions, and parenthood. We also discuss Autonomic, the nature of success, the compelling nature of music-making, and being marketed as a certain image.
This is worth it for the Benicàssim story alone!
Check Skreamizm 8 here.
Hardcore Heaven II vinyl preorder: scubaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/hardcore-heaven-ii
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What connects the overnight success of Oliver Anthony with alien landings in Brazil? This week's podcast will give you the answer.
Matthew Dear is a musician, producer, and DJ, who also teaches at the University Of Michigan. He's also very much a part of the Ghostly Int. label, which he has in common with recent guest Sam Valenti.
As the above might suggest, this was a wide ranging discussion also covering many of the AI-related issues I talked about with Mat Dryhurst last week, as well as minimal, Detroit, and sampling.
Check this one out, you might learn something!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When I make a specific effort to talk to people about AI, the responses range from the occasional Chat GPT enthusiast to a much-more-common feigning of indifference, hinting at a deep insecurity and probably-quite-pronounced fear.
This week's guest is perfectly placed to offer a degree of reassurance, or at least a bit more of a balanced view on the coming storm. And make no mistake, it is coming.
Mat Dryhurst, along with Holly Herndon, has long been engaged in important work at the intersection of music and emergent tech, from the Holly+ project with its AI and web3 interaction, to haveibeentrained.com, which enables artists to opt out of Large Language Model training datasets, and the Interdependence podcast.
We discuss aspects of those projects, as well as the more general trends and developments that will impact musicians and creative people over the coming months and years.
This is an important one, covering some really crucial areas, but it's still a highly enjoyable listen... so get involved!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Regular listeners will have noticed my frequent references to the comedy podcast circuit, which is a great ecosystem and rewards repeat appearances by guests and conversations which deviate from the sort of profile-type interview which music shows (including this one) often resolve into.
So this week we welcome our first return guest, Recondite, who appeared all the way back on episode 002. We discuss his involvement in the phenomenon of Afterlife, the Ibiza incarnation of which he played last week and which he has been associated with since the beginning, and the changes in the wider scene which have seen that party and label gain so much popularity.
And we also, amongst other things, discuss the coming AI revolution in some detail, particularly in the personal reaction of musicians and people generally to something which seems to be real but the details of which are very much still up in the air.
This is a good one, definitely worth the repeat visit!
My appearance on the Willy Joy podcast can be checked here.
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all (most of) the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We do like a history discussion on this show. And who better to discuss the history of DJing with than the co-author of the most authoritative book on the subject?
'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life' was originally published in 1999, but there's a 2022 edition and I highly recommend getting hold of a copy. It's a genuinely important work and something every fan of the culture should be familiar with.
Actually my conversation with Bill Brewster is probably more about him than DJing at a wider level. We talk about his journey into dance music in the 1980s, and his time exploring the 90s New York club scene while working for DMC.
But we do touch of some really interesting angles to the history too, including the influence of a certain disgraced former BBC personality, the impact of Thatcherism on the developments in the UK (and therefore the wider culture), and the more recent forces of technology and commercialism which arguably define DJing and dance music today.
This is a great episode, worth taking a holiday for!
Here's Chuck Klosterman's book 'The 90s', which I reference in this week's episode.
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to much of the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Despite the appearance given by my conversation with Sam Valenti, I was on holiday last week. I've latterly decided to extend my break by another seven days, just because I realised that I really need it. So to fill the podcast gap we present my appearance on the Will Clarke podcast from a few weeks ago.
We discuss many familiar issues, including the music press, social media, and the running of record labels. It was a fun conversation to have and an illuminating look into the running of one of the few other podcasts of this sort that goes out every week.
Back on schedule next Tuesday with a full ep... and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a good one!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Any person who has run a label for knocking on a quarter of a century is someone I want to talk to.
Ghostly International was launched in 1999 by Sam Valenti with a single by fledgling producer Matthew Dear which would go on to be sampled on a global hit by Fedde Le Grand. You know the one.
This episode is actually almost a sequel to episode 077 with Shawn Reynaldo. Of course we discuss Ghostly, and particularly the early period of the label, but I really want to pick Sam's brain on a few of the key issues which came out of that episode from a few weeks ago.
So we discuss issues including the decline of local scenes, the value of gatekeepers, the comparative lack of anthems in contemporary music, as well as his substack project Herb Sundays.
This was a good one, you're gonna enjoy it!
If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features regular bonus podcasts and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation there in the public channels, so please do!
Listen to all the music discussed on the show via the Not A Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
For more links and other info visit the official Scuba website
Follow Scuba: twitter instagram bandcamp spotify apple music beatport
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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