DECA Rhythm: interview + label mix

Here's my interview with Robert Davies aka Orphan 101 - one of the bosses of excellent and respected techno / bass label from Bristol called DECA Rhythm. Below you'll also find exclusive label mix prepared by Orphan 101 and Bloodman (first broadcasted in my Basstion radioshow on Czwórka). Read it, check the mix and you will know almost everything about the label.

What was the beginning of Deca Rhythm?
Deca Rhythm was originally mine and Roger's (Bloodman) idea. We wanted to start a label primarily for our own and some friends alternative musical output. I sent the start up catalogue to our close friend Tony Williams to see what he thought of the idea. He was really into the concept and wanted to be apart of it, which we of course were more than happy with.

Is Tony (also known as Headhunter and Addison Groove) still part of the gang these days?
Tony financed the label and without him we wouldn't have got it going at all, this is an important fact he also invested a lot of his time into Deca and now he has such a busy schedule with his Addison Groove project he really leaves the day to day running of the label with me and Roger.

How big is your catalogue and who records for Deca Rhythm?
Our catalogue is currently at release number 27. We work very closely with our artists and look to not only release their music but also promote them as well. One of our best selling artists is KAMIKAZE SPACE PROGRAMME (Chris Jarman), Chris got in touch with some of his techno tracks in 2011; a new direction from his Raiden drum n bass sound, we were instantly in to the tracks and we have since built up a business and close personal relationship with him. He has some great developments in the works at the mo and we’re really happy to see him get the recognition that he deserves as he works tirelessly at this project. In 2012 Chris introduced us to a friend of his FIREJOSÉ who’s tracks really blew us away his first E.P with us got a great response which we were very happy with Firejose and Chris work together regularly and have also released a very well received collaborative E.P with us. GENOTYPE, who has had great success in the drum and bass scene, sent us some of his slower techno work which we loved, after a chat about what both parties wanted we went for it and it turned out really well. He’s a prolific writer and is never short of material so there’s a lot more to come from him! We've worked with ARKIST on a few releases, he's a close friend of ours and has such a talent and real drive which has seen him release on Hotflush and Applepips to name but a few, we're always trying to poach his music so hopefully you'll see more of him on Deca in the future. We've just put out a collaborative EP from prolific Bristol producer GATEKEEPER and ORPHAN 101, the combination resulted in a fresh spaced out bass sound, there'll surely be more from Gatekeeper soon. We have also worked with Bristol's DREAD MC, Russian artists SNOE and Polish THINK; all talented musicians with their own unique sound. (and there's BLOODMAN too - Harper)

In which format you release your music?
We strongly believe in digital releases as most accessible and future proof media for this genre.

How would you describe DECA Rhythm sound?  What makes it different?
I don't know if we have a particular sound, we just release music that we like. We generally put out material in the 123 to 140 bpm region so style can vary greatly within bass, techno, house or dubstep its really just about promoting stuff out that we find fresh, experimental and above all interesting.

How has Bristol been influencing DECA Rhythm?
Living in Bristol has massive advantages when it comes to music, the city has a huge musical network and inspiration is never far away; I've never experienced any negativity in Bristol when it comes to music and everybody has always helped each other here.

What's your biggest success so far?
The success of the label in general has been overwhelming and the support that we have received has also been overwhelming, some big names have taken a chance on playing the material we’ve released as a few years ago no one was really into Dubstep / Techno crossover tunes. But with all things that you put faith into you have to keep driving it forward and we're proud of the reputation we've built up.

What can we expect from DR in the next months?
We're excited to be releasing an E.P Komonazmuk plus our regular artists; K.S.P , Firejosé, ourselves Orphan 101 and Bloodman plus we have a large compilation in the pipeline titled 'Time Capsule: 2012' that will feature some great tracks from the majority of the artists we have released over the years plus a few new ones; a timestamp of Deca Rhythm's sound right now.

Can You tell us about the mix you've prepared?
There's a mixture of tracks from our artists as well as some producers that we are feeling at the moment; a trip through some forthcoming Deca Rhythm bits plus some tracks you've hopefully not heard before.

Orphan 101 & Bloodman

DECA Rhytm exclusive Mix by Orphan101 and Bloodman

----> DOWNLOAD

tracklist:
Bleecker vs Hang Massive - Once Again
Firejosé - Buckwhirl
Orphan 101 - Oggy Boogie
Kamikaze Space Programme - Curiosity - DecaRhythm
Bloodman - Chaos Reflector - Broken Audio
Kanvas - Subverse - Vital Sines
Firejosé & Kamikaze Space Programme - He Just Went Out - DecaRhythm
Arkist - All Good Things - DecaRhythm
Orphan 101 - Eskimo Shuffle - DecaRhythm
Gatekeeper & Orphan 101 - No Way Out - DecaRhythm
Gatekeeper & Orphan 101 - Deep Space Objects (Bloodman Remix) - DecaRhythm
Orphan 101 - Well End
Bloodman - Devil Dan - DecaRhythm
Orphan 101 - Freak Bass - DecaRhythm
Firejosé & Kamikaze Space Programme - Double Take - DecaRhythm
Bleecker feat. Craig R Ninjah - Hartha Rhythm
Kamikaze Space Programme - Trieste - DecaRhythm

useful links:
http://www.decarhythm.co.uk/
http://soundcloud.com/decarhythm