We love producers who combine 4/4 house beats with what some might term “real music” – that is to say organic, instrument-led, non-electronic music. dOP, Nôze and Stimming have been amongst them in recent times, and now Switzerland has another act of its own to join the fold.
With a background that combines DJ training alongside provincial lifestyles, the duo broke through this year after Jesse Rose discovered them in 2009, declaring them his favourite house DJs of the year (after seeing them utterly smash Sonar By Day, we can pretty much agree). He signed them up for releases on his Made To Play label, with their massive Cut To The Top one of DT’s biggest anthems of the year thus far, combining Latino ska with woodwind for a summery and fun feel. Remixing stars of the “alternative house” scene like Solo and Mowgli further demonstrated their skills, and we can’t wait for a debut album on the basis of their wonderful swing and jazz-fuelled grooves.
How and when were you first infected by dance music?
Marc: When I was 17 I had this friend in school. We were both DJs. I was really into hip-hop, jazz and this DJ Shadow kind of stuff. the other guy was into house. He always made these great mixtapes and recorded live sets from house DJs from the radio. We were listening to these tapes all the time during class. That was my first touch with house music.
Biru Bee: To be honest I think it started maybe with some really bad CD Samplers. Some bad Euro Dance stuff from my older Sister! Sorry, I was young…hmm and then a bit later with Daft Punk maybe?
When did you start making music / producing, and how long was it before you started making tracks that you were really happy with?
Marc: I started producing music maybe 5 years ago. It was quite hard to learn all this stuff because I’m not a tech/computer nerd at all. In fact I don’t even like computers that much. I do a lot of stuff on the road. I just need my Macbook and some headphones, that’s it. When i have something like a sketch or a loop we go to the studio which belongs to our friend Benfay and we finish the track with him. We’ve worked with Benfay for the last two years on all of our productions. It was a huge luck for us that we met him and that he was so into the idea of producing music with us. I think the first time I was really happy with a tune was the Radioclit Secousse remix i did. That was also the first song that Benfay mixed down.
What have been your personal favourite tracks / productions so far?
Marc: To be honest I like all of them very much. My favourite at the moment would be Stomper from our new EP on Made To Play. Or the Tensnake Coma Cat remix we did for Defected.
Where does your name come from?
Biru Bee: It comes from a hip-hop record which we used for scratching in the early days…
Who would you most like to work with?
Marc: James Murphy maybe or Beck.
Biru Bee: Justin Timberlake! That would be amazing.
What have you got in store for the coming months?
Biru Bee: Our new EP Cut To The Top came out on Made To Play last month. There will be also a lot of remixes for people like Jesse Rose, Tensnake, Solo, Mercury and many more!
What can we expect from one of your DJ sets or live sets?
Biru Bee: We never prepare anything, so every show is diffrent. I think you can expect mostly good house music and a lot of stuff we did ourselves. If your feet hurt from dancing at the end of the night then we are happy.
If you weren’t a DJ/producer/artists, what would you be?
Biru Bee: Maybe a lifeguard?
Marc: a TV writer.
Which other producers and DJs and artists do you really rate?
Marc: Right now it would be: Catz'n Dogz, M.in, David Keno, doP, Kink, Four Tet, Till Von Sein...phuu a lot more and of course all the people from the Made To Play and Deadfish family. There is so many good stuff out there at the moment.
www.soundcloud.com/round-table-knights