Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:29 — 92.7MB)

(Mule electronic / Morris Audio )

www.myspace.com/ironcurtis |  www.soundcloud.com/iron-curtis

After a short break for the holidays, we’re back and kicking off 2011 with a ripping mix from an incredible talent. Iron Curtis mixes up a few of his favourites and also tells us why he does what he does. With tracks from Frankie Knuckles, The Zohar, Kink and Melbourne’s own Tortoise, it’s sure to be darn good.

MD: Since planting your feet firmly in the industry in 2008, your unique take on deep house has been extremely well received. Was the whole Iron Curtis thing a long time in the making?

IC: Music has always played an important role in my life: I bought my first turntables when I was 14 and started djing in my kid’s room and ever since it hasn’t lost its magic for me..only the room has changed of course..
Also at quite an early age, I began producing my own tracks using lo-fi equipment, like a shitty tape-recorder and my father’s computer, combined with my piano-lessons-skills. The Iron Curtis alias came up in early 2008; at that time I was finishing some tracks which sounded different to anything I had done before and so I needed a new moniker that described the atmosphere in these new tracks. And since then Iron Curtis has been the name of choice for most of my productions.

MD: We first came across your work thanks to the incredible ‘There And Then EP’ on Morris Audio with that unforgettable Ekkohaus remix, can you tell us a bit about that record?

IC: Thanks! Stefan from Morris Audio and I had been in contact for quite a while, and when my record on Mirau was released he really liked it and asked me for some music for his imprint. I felt very honored because I always was and still am a fan of this longstanding label. I was really happy that Stefan liked the tracks that I’d sent him and he chose Ekkohaus as a remixer.

MD: You’ve since put out quite a few of your own records and done a fair few remixes on serious deep house labels like Retreat, Third Strike and Mule Electronic, what are some labels that you would love to work with in future?

IC: Actually I would love to continue working with the labels I’ve worked with so far, especially Mirau, Morris Audio, Jack Off and Retreat. All of those make me feel quite “at home”, even if they all represent different varieties in the widespread house genre. Mirau for example gave me the chance to release some rather intimate and reduced tracks while releasing the record on Retreat allowed me to show another side of my productions, including even some aslope, hip-hop like pieces. But to answer your question: I guess if Warp asked me to do an 6×12″ LP I’d possibly think about it too….

MD: From your travels, where in the world do you think deep house music is being received the best at the moment?

IC: I’m quite happy that Deep House has been on the rise once again for a few years now and that a lot of people are into it; I wouldn’t say that it is received best in any specific city…I find it really impressive that there are house parties with an outstanding line-up in berlin as well as in bukarest, melbourne or tel-aviv. For me, the best parties are usually those who provide a wide range of music than are just limited to the “classic” deep house sound: acid house crossed with weird slo-mo disco tracks meets dub-techno and soulful moodymannish house – and of course if the crowd is into it!

MD: Are there any plans in the works to visit us down under this year?

IC: No plans so far, but of course I’d love to go there!! Not without my girlfriend though.. because if I went to australia without her she’d probably cut me into pieces…

MD: Well, we’ve been eagerly anticipating this mix for a while! Were there any main idea’s behind the mix? Can you tell us a bit about how you put it all together?

IC: Well, to be honest it was a mess while putting this mix together: way too many tracks that wanted to be included, way too many different styles that wanted to be combined and a lack of time as always…
At first I thought about doing a pure new-school house & disco mix (whatever this means…), but instead I was pickin’ up more and more weird and cheezy pop- & proto-house tunes – and now I ended up with this kind of a genre-rollercoaster once again. But I do hope that you guys enjoy the mix anyways!

Tracklist:

01. Word up, Jocelyn Brown!
02. Harco Prompt – Cool (Jamie Lloyd & Jimmi James Edit)
03. Garnica – Das Tor
04. Aera – Port hope
05. Roof Light – Midas
06. Sade – Paradise (Nicolas Edit)
07. The Escofferys – Look who’s loving me (Dub)
08. Frankie Knuckles – Tears
09. The Zohar – Another damn one
10. The Tortoise – Next Time Around
11. Move D – Your Personal Healer
12. Christopher Rau – Stockings
13. Tom Trago – Shutter
13. Cally Chocolette – Wake ooops, you east street skudge! (Leaves Edit)
14. Kink & Neville Watson – Metropole
15. Lauer – Banned
16. Nami Shimada – Sunshower (Original Mix)