Line Noise

Today on Line Noise we bring you an interview with Flinty Badman, half of the iconic rave duo Ragga Twins, a band who essentially invented ragga jungle alongside their friends in Shut Up And Dance. They are a brilliant, brilliant band and this interview was fascinating for me. We talked about London soundsystems, rave, political commentary, reggae owing them money, Skrillex, James Blake and more. Deman Rocker, the other half of the duo couldn’t be in on the interview but I am hoping to speak to him soon. Until then, enjoy!

Ben Cardew met Lille's finest purveyor of sunshine house, two-time platinum producer Myd, to talk losers, geeks, Theophilus London, the brilliance of Ed Banger, learning to sing live and Fatboy Slim.

Today on Line Noise we welcome Haitian house artist Francis Mercier, a producer who has worked with and / or remixed everyone from Manu Chao to Black Uhuru, Amadou & Mariam to Rachid Taha in his quest for a truly global house sound. We talked about house music as global force, sampling with respect, growing up in Haiti and maths and music. You can also watch the interview (for a limited time) on the Radio Primavera Sound Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/radiopri...

Today’s guest on Line Noise is a giant of electronic music: Gez Varley, a member of seminal Bleep techno duo LFO, who later went on to make music as G-Man, producing the huge techno tune Quo Vadis. We talked about breakdancing, about LFO, getting a record deal in a club car park; we talked about musical history, What is House; the OTHER LFO and so much more. I hope you enjoy it.

KILIMANJARO and Junior Simba are two of the UK’s hottest new DJs, playing Afro-inspired house and club music. They are also friends and now collaborators, producing the excellent single Channel Z one hungover afternoon. It has now been released on none other than Diplo’s Higher Ground label, so we invited them into the RPS studio - via Twitch - to talk pop bangers, hungover creativity, Dundee, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Plus, Junior Simba promises to play some Sheryl Crow. The interview is by Ben Cardew and Johann Wald. And you can, for a limited time, watch it on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1...

Today on Line Noise we welcome none other than Roni Size to the microphone, a Bristol producer who has more drum and bass hits than you’ve had awkward breakfasts with your partner’s parents. We talked about jazz, The Wild Bunch, Reprazent, Method Man and more. Thanks to the people at the Hospitality in the Woods festival for setting this up. It takes place in Beckenham Place Park on August 19, with a stellar drum and bass line up, including Roni himself, High Contrast, Dillinja, Bryan Gee, Jumpin' Jack Frost and LTJ Bukem. And this IS the final Line Noise of the season. Back in September.

Today on Line Noise our guest is Hubert Blanc-Francard, known to French house fans worldwide as Boombass, a fabulous producer in his own right and also one half of Cassius. We talked about his recent EP, WWWipeout, about the influence of the Playstation, Philippe Zdar, the French Touch, hip hop, MC Solaar and more. Photo by Matthieu Couturier.

This week our guest on Line Noise is Shawn Reynaldo, radio host, journalist, founder of the influential First Floor newsletter and now author, with the release of First Floor Volume 1 by Velocity Press. We talked about the challenges of electronic music journalism, what he’s learned about music from writing the book, artists as interviewers, public debate, streaming, second thoughts and a lot more.

Ben Cardew caught up with house legend K'Alexi Shelby to talk about the early days of Chicago house,  his incredible mentors and keeping it nice and rough. His recent EP BM11 was released on Bad Manners Records on May 26. 

On this week’s Line Noise, Ben Cardew spoke to Danny Briottet, one of three members of London’s Renegade Soundwave, a hugely influential electronic music group, who combined punk, electro, dub, indie, hip hop and industrial into a splendidly strange mixture that blew up raves, ignited college radio in the US, influenced The Prodigy and even translated into chart hits. You have almost certainly heard their best-known song, The Phantom, but each one of their four albums is very much worth your while. We spoke about coming up in London, sampling The Clash and internal tensions. I hope you enjoy it.