The word "indie" may arouse a number of feelings within you: for some it may be the half-nostalgic, half-cringe-worthy sensation of those years spent listening to those heart-on-sleeve indie-rock bands with their perfectly preened brow-swooping hairstyles and lyrics to make you weep. For others, it may be an umbrella term for the cross-over outfits you're reluctant to pigeonhole or a way of capturing the intangible blend of zig-zagging musical ideas and concepts. Despite the misconceptions, "indie" is, essentially, anything that isn't affiliated with a major record company and as the underground electronic music scene begins to brim at the edges with the number of independently run imprints and collectives multiplying and asserting themselves as the very foundations of the avant-garde sonic sphere, it is much easier to embrace the term than to fear it. Gilles Peterson is a man of many things: his BBC Radio 1 show and his Worldwide Festival in Sete, France which sees world-renowned artists such as Flying Lotus, James Blake and Sweden's FM Belfast headlining this year. 
 
However, his greatest assets is, arguably, his London-based indie imprint Brownswood Recordings, which has been churning out gem after gem since opening its doors in 2006 with a single aim of releasing music with soul, charm and universal appeal. Peterson's hunger for cutting-edge world music never falters and his insight into the most obscure corners of electronic music, spanning folk, dubstep, orchestral and everything in-between, comes to a head this week as he releases his next offering, 'Brownswood Electr*c Volume 2', a follow up to the first collection featuring Mount Kimbie, George Fitzgerald, Pearson Sound, Rockwell and more. With the theme of all things worldwide, we wanted to view the imprint in profile by speaking to four producers, Jus Wan, Monky, HxdB and mfp, who have contributed to the second instalment of the Brownswood Electr*c series touching down in Japan, San Francisco, Vancouver and Cardiff. 

Jus Wan

Many will associate you with imprints such as Applepips and Naked Lunch – did you perceive your releases on reputable labels such as these to be the clear entry point for you?
"I didn't have any "entry point" in mind ever, I just started writing music to see if I could, and then sort of on a whim sent some of it to people I thought would get what I was doing. Apple Pips didn't even exist when I sent music to Appleblim, likewise with Naked Lunch. It all just happened organically. "
  
Take your Azure/ Dwell release back in 2009, for example, it's a hybrid sound more than anything, washed with garage, techno and 2-step – what has been the major influence? 
"I could go on for days about music I've been influenced by, but you guessed it, 2step and techno are two of my favourite genres and I love trying to fuse the two. For Azure, I'd say El-B and Horsepower Productions were what inspired the beats. Drexciya and Aril Brihka for the atmosphere."
  
I read on your blog that you planned to take an extended hiatus from music production over a year ago, what made you take this decision? 
"It was a decision made for many reasons, but one of them is it just didn't feel right anymore. I couldn't get back to the state of blissfully writing music without any concern for how it would be received. My ego had gotten in the way and I hated that feeling."
  
To quote you from another one of your blog entries, you talk about "unrealistic expectations" in the business – what were the most prominent frustrations at this time? 
"Mostly, it was just me being my own worst enemy. You have to avoid getting too wrapped up in the business side of things. If you are doing it for money or success or fame, then it's easy to get lost in that world."
  
Would you say that with your most recent production, Miles Away, on the forthcoming Brownswood Electr*c 2 compilation, intends to depart from your earlier work or a continuation from earlier passions that you put on hold? 
"'Miles Away' was written a while ago, and I've written a lot more since, but I think it is one of the best things I've done. I would like to be able to make more in that vein, but it's not something I can control really. We'll see what the future brings."
  

HxdB

First of all, let's get to the foundations of your music: how did you get into electronic production and sound?
"I remember catching DJ sets on the university station CITR here in Vancouver in the mid-90s. Naturally I started attending raves and other shows and started becoming aware of different sounds in the early rave scene. Jungle and drum & bass were what really drew my attention for many years; by I always tried to look for other things on the horizon."
  
Your track Savage Pets is coming out on Brownswood Recordings later this month, but you've already had numerous releases on UK labels, such as Manchester's Mindset for example. How does it feel being so strongly tied to a scene in a country other than your own? 
"It's strange and gratifying simultaneously. I mean, my musical tastes and influences have primarily been from UK dance music. When my own productions came along enough, it only seemed natural that UK labels were showing interest. I'm really excited to finally have the chance to visit the UK in the fall for a tour of your fine land!"
  
Your music is highly experimental but there's a tangible techno influence. Has techno been one of the key precursors to your creativity? 
"Historically, no. Recently however, I've been fascinated by some incredible techno and more specifically house. This has certainly changed the color of my musical palette. The importance of techno to me is huge now, simply by changing the way I think about dance music."
  
In 2011 you have been working with Atlanta producer Distal, but who would you most like to collaborate with? 
"Ha! Too many to name, but off the top of my head: Dark Sky, Dubbel Dutch, XI, Bok Bok and Starkey."
  

Monky

With the majority of bass music produced in recent years, dubstep has become a very loose term to define all of the peripheral, cross-pollinated blends of electronic genres. How do you define your music? 
"I always find it really difficult to define the type of music I make, usually I just hit the buttons and see what develops from that and yes, as you say dubstep now seems such a loose, vague way to describe music these days; calling it that would be a bit misleading. Electronica seems like a better way to describe it. So the way I would define it would be "Bass-heavy Electronica" for dance-floors, with a psychedelic sprinkle of hundreds and thousands on top."
  
Your forthcoming release on the Brownswood collection, Drunkerdz, is both bass-heavy and atmospheric – when did your fascination with electronic music begin? 
"I have been fascinated with music in general ever since I can remember and have always found it much more of a physical experience than just an audible one. When I was four years old I used to be obsessed with Shaking Stevens (laughs), not very cool hey. But that gave me a feel for listening to records, and then I found my way into my mum's record collection and would listen to bands like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Dire Straits and James Taylor. Then when I started hanging about with a bunch of the older kids on my street they were all listening to "Rave Music" which was really big at the time like Top Buzz, Fabio and Grooverider and also artists like LFO, Depth Charge and Joey Beltram. This kind of music really appealed to me because I was always more interested in the sound of the music rather than the vocals in the songs, and it made me kind of imagine people making music on the bridge of the star-ship enterprise. So that's where the fascination began. From there I started DJ-ing and got into turntablism. The production side of things came a lot later. "
  
Everyone takes a different approach to their production – are you one of those producers who likes to know what's going on in electronic music, or do you tend to shut yourself off from that? 
"Yeah I really like to try to stay on top of what's going on with things musically, although it's really difficult to these days because there's so much going on. But I'm very fortunate to have lots of friends who have great taste in music who keep me up to date with lots of stuff. There's so much amazing music out there that I love, and when I discover something new I can't help but be inspired by it. I hope when people listen to my music they can hear what influences me, but I don't like the idea of people biting people's styles. I think everyone needs to find their own sound; we do live in a world of infinite possibilities after all."
  
What equipment and/or software are you currently using? 
"I use Cubase 5 and Reason, with lots of free share-ware synths and plugins. I also have a Roland Juno 6 in my studio that i use a bit, but not enough. My dream when I can afford it is to have a studio full of real vintage synths. That'd be the jump off." 
  

mfp

One could define mfp as psychedelic hip-hop music, but is there something classical beneath the surface of your creativity? 
"I never thought like that (laughs) but if I had to say, I would say I'm a hip-hop cat and still follow those golden age hip hop manners. I'm still diggin' the crates and still MPCing."
  
Future Hopes is your input to the Brownswood collection – what was the idea behind this track? 
"I made this track when I was in Toronto. They had a monthly event called Beat Lounge, which is a type of CDR session, but more in  a hip-hop way. All the producers there wanted to rock the audience and catch their attention and I was like a regular member at that time so I had to constantly prepare the nuclear weapons for them (laughs). Ya know, Elaquent was there, Sunclef was there, it was a very, very high level thing! So I had to make something different, something strong, something weird. "
  
How does your music fit alongside similar Japanese producers in electronic music at the moment? 
"I'm not even sure if my music can ever fit in this scene (ha ha), but there is this type of electronic hip-hop movement here in Japan as well. You may know Super Smoky Soul, RLP, Kan Sano, Monkey sequence 19, Ichiro, and cats like that. We all know each other and are almost like a family. I'm a part of Cosmopolyphonic Radio (A Japanese quality podcast; http://cosmopolyphonic.podomatic.com/ and we released a compilation album last year which we all featured in."
  
I assume that you use a live set-up for your performances - What equipment do you use? 
"I use Akai MPC1000, Korg Kaoss Pad, Roland SP404, Danelectro Reel Echo delay, and a mixer."
  
Why does the live element appeal to you? 
"Because it's the best way to share my world!"
  
Do you have any plans to venture across to Europe in the future? 
"Have no plans yet but yes, many wishes to do so. I'm currently working on my EP and will be out very soon so I hope to make it happen after the release."