2008 has probably been Christian Smith’s best year yet.
If you’ve been anywhere that they play techno in recent months, you will have undoubtedly stumbled across (or rather been battered by) Christian Smith & John Selway’s monstrous
Total Departure.
You know, the one that sounds like it’s taking off for about 5 minutes and builds up and up ‘til you feel like your head is about to explode, all pummeled along by that chunky mofo of a bassline. It’s a record you can only get away with playing in certain situations, settings and locations, due to its fiercely peak-time, intense nature. It will go down in the books as one of 2008’s biggest tracks, played by house and techno DJs right across the board.
Then there’s their huge reworkings of Mark Brown’s
New Heights and Kevin Saunderson’s
Rock To The Beat, hot new remixes and productions for Dubfire’s Sci+Tec, Renaissance and Jesus Loved You and his stunning double-header of spine-tingling, proggy techno for Bedrock...
But perhaps you don’t know as much about Swedish born Christian Smith as you should. He’s a phenomenal DJ, and for the last 12 or so years he’s been churning out consistently delectable, chunky, mouth-watering, groove-driven techno, both on his own and with the aforementioned American producer John Selway. His currently defunct label Tronic, Primate, Intec, Underwater Records, F Communications and Yoshitoshi are just a handful of the hugely respected labels he has produced tracks for, and with all his breathtaking recent productions, 2008 looks set to be the year that the wider dance music community remember his name for once and for all.
Here we have an hour of his set from the massive Skol Beats festival in Brazil from September, where he rocked over 10,000 people into submission. Big ain’t the word…
Sum up this podcast in 10 words...
This is 1 hour of my recent gig at Brazil’s biggest electronic festival, Skol Beats.
That’s 14 words Christian! But we’ll let you off. What’s your personal favourite track on it?
I would have to say my own track Christian Smith – Flyertalk – Bedrock, Not because I made it but because this track got the best reactions and it was a great moment in the set.
What’s the special ingredient in this mix?
The crowd. Without a good crowd it’s hard to play proper sets.
What’s the best gig you’ve played recently?
Wire Festival in Japan last month. 20,000 people in an arena all going totally bananas to Total Departure. Made me very happy
J
What have you got coming up?
Christian Smith & John Selway – Push Factor – Sci-Tec
Christian Smith & John Selway – Updraft – Renaissance
Sam Ball – Atlas (Christian Smith & John Selway Remix) – Saved
Tom DeClerque – Pleasant Noise (Christian Smith & John Selway Remix) – Jesus Loved You
And finally, do you have a special message for our readers?
You snooze you lose. ;)
For more info please visit: www.djchristiansmith.com