I think Shortstuff is the bee’s knees. Only a few tracks deep of actual releases available to the world, every one has been total quality and just, well, thick. It’s amazing to me when young producers, as in people who are pretty new on the scene (at least when it comes to a discography of releases), come with a sound that’s totally round, full, and fully formed. Judging from my own few quick production attempts a long while ago, I know how hard it is to give a track space, complexity and spacing as you’re starting out and just trying to get ideas down on paper as it were. But Shortstuff totally unleashed his productions fully formed on the world (FaultyDL is like that too). Kind of inspirational.

My favorite tune of his of the moment is one he did with Brackles a little while back, Sutorîto Faitâ (Street Fighter in Japanese). BUT, Ramp has just unleashed “A Rustling / Stuff” and both sides are just killer, solid creations that walk the line somewhere between Dubstep, Funky, and the more abstract … and they still both work incredibly well as a party music (the awesome, tasteful use of samples don’t hurt either)!

Turns out he’s a linked up with Brackles and 2 other folks to form the Blunted Robots collective (seems like you can’t have an artist without having a collective these days … ) and was kind enough to answer a few quick questions for me. See below, then be sure to grab the Crazy Legs mix he just did for Fact Magazine afterwards.

———————————

KK – What’s background musically?

SS – I played guitar from an early age in various pretty appalling hardcore bands. Started to make electronic music on my PC when I got to University in 2003, but really began to take it seriously in 2006. The first tune I ever fully finished and handed out was Broken Harp which I made with Rob ‘Brackles.’

KK – How’d you link with Brackles?

SS – Met Brackles on first day of University back in 2003. He was in the room opposite me and noticed I had the first Dizzee album, so we got chatting.

KK – What’s the difference between Blunted Robots and Shortstuff?
SS – Blunted Robots is really the combination of me and Brackles musically - so some of our individual releases (like LHC, or A Rustling) wouldn’t really fit want we want the label to be about. We had planned to put Sutorito Faita out before Mu expressed an interest and you’ll hear plenty more similarly ridiculous collaborations in the future. We were both really into Martin and Mickey’s music and it was those two tracks (BLR001) that prompted us to create the label and they both continue to blow us away with what they’re doing.

KK – What info can you reveal about upcoming releases (and what is it?)

SS – Next up on Blunted Robots is a Martin Kemp 12″ featuring After The Night and Aztec. I have several more bits coming on Ramp before the end of the year (after A Rustling/Stuff) as well as a track on Wigflex, a 12″ on Formant and a couple of really exciting bits that I’m not allowed to talk about yet. We’re also completing remixes for Berkane Sol and planning a series of Blunted Robots parties in Bristol and London that we’re going to call Robot Dances.

KK – If you could remix / collab with anyone, who would it be?

SS – I don’t think I’d want to work with any of my favourite artists. I’d rather work with someone I hate and resent.

—————–

Shortstuff’s Crazylegs mix from Fact Mag (plus a longer interview about Blunted Robots here.)

————

Other things currently rocking me are Teeb’s new(ish) mix for Dublab, which is a wonderful sort of meander through his musical mind… Teebs just strikes me as a wonderful human and his tunes, while sometimes on the simple side, manage to touch my hearstrings, and I’m really curious to see where he’s going. Check the latest mix here.

Finally, been playing a bit with my Dub Siren app for the Iphone, sent to me courtesy of its creators. Basically it’s kind of like a live Infinite Wheel, letting you dub out either stuff from streaming roots/reggae/dub radio stations, or stuff from your own music library. It’s only in its first incarnation at the moment, but eventually it’ll get more features (I’m hoping for ways to dub out my conversations in real time!) Check it! – From Daisuke, their bio: The Creators of Dub Siren are Daisuke Sawa and Ayumi Obinata. Daisuke Sawa is an award winning Sound Designer in Hollywood. His partner, Ayumi Obinata, is located in NY and Tokyo, and is a well known music producer himself. They have been to Jamaica together many times, and are fascinated by Jamaica and Jamaican music. Their facsination turned into this app.