Monty luke has specialized in making our stereo explode and has done it again with the long-playing sound. Nightdubbing album, now available through Radio Slave’s Rekids label.
From the hand of one of the most outstanding musicologists on the scene, Nightdubbing finds former Planet E label director Carl Craig revealing a robust sound that draws on house, techno, dub, and reggae for one of the most dynamic and fucking brilliant albums of 2024.
«For some reason, sometimes my ideas take a long time to come to fruition.» Monty luke «One summer day in 2018, I was at my desk and the title ‘Nightdubbing’ came to mind. I immediately wrote it on a piece of paper and left it on my desk. It stayed there for a long time until I finally started working on the album itself.»
«In a world full of imitators, Nightdubbing is my attempt to seek inspiration from deep within me. It is an immersion in the influence that dub, house, and techno have had on me as an artist.»
—There’s a thematic connection between the title and the music. What is Nightdubbing, in your words?
Well, in a very literal sense, it is a play on the title of one of my all-time favorite albums, Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing. But it is not a coincidence that I like Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing. It is a mix of styles that includes reggae and dub. These two genres encompass my early musical influences.
The early production days of this album coincided with the days when I was working on Serengeti by Night, the album I made with Brendan Moeller under our name, Zodiac. So the vibe continued from there, actually.
—When did the project come to you? Does it sound structured, as if it was done with a plan, if not in a frenetic sprint, at least with the concept already in mind?
It was something I had in mind for years, but as I mentioned, the time to start working on it came right after the Zodiac album. I learned a lot about how to better approach what I wanted my version of dub house/techno to sound like as a result of that collaboration on the album. And one summer day in 2018, I was at my desk and the title «Nightdubbing» came to mind. I immediately wrote it on a piece of paper and left it on my desk. It stayed there for a long time until I finally started with the album itself.
It wasn’t done following a plan, but I made a conscious effort to achieve some sort of stylistic coherence across most of the album. For some reason, sometimes my ideas take a long time to come to fruition. Sometimes so much that time has transformed the original idea into something completely different. That was the case with Hard Work, Not Hype. It started as one thing, but then it went in other directions. With this album, one of my intentions was to create something more cohesive.
Hard Work, Not Hype by Monty Luke
—Two EPs containing part of the album were released, but not everything. What is your proposal for the listener to stop reading this right now and start playing the full album on Spotify, Bandcamp, or AppleMusic?
Hello, The two EP thing are something Re-kids I thought it would be the best way to introduce everyone to the album, the concept, and the artist (me, hahaha). But the full album is really how it’s meant to be experienced. The ebb and flow is what I imagined it would be. There are some housey bits, some techno bits, and some straight-up reggae vibes. Good for working out, a long bike or bus ride, or for doing your taxes, cleaning your house, gardening, etc. All the things people have told me they did while listening to it since its release.
The bits with vocals or samples are largely an attempt to infuse them with personality and blackness. It is a reminder that reggae, dub, and dub poetry are also very important components of the black music canon.
—This is your first album after moving to Berlin. You have lived in three very different cities as an artist. Is there something in the music that we attribute to your environment?
It is not entirely true (for example, Zodiac), but as a solo artist, yes.
Everything I do is influenced by my environment. I absorb shit even when I’m not aware of it. «Dark Paradise» is a title that is a reference 100% to the crazy city of Berlin, for example.
—This is going to be archived under the title of “dub techno” and that’s not even bad, but it’s very different from the records being made today. There is a more direct connection with reggae, beyond many reverb effects or burying a rocksteady somewhere in the mix, there is a thread weaving through this, with varying strength in each track. And toasting is part of the dub tradition, and there are moments here where I feel like you’re talking to spirits.
Yes, I mean I didn’t specifically want it to have that dub techno sound in grayscale. I think there is a LOT of inventiveness in that genre, but there is a servitude to the uniformity of the sound of that music that I really don’t like. And the parts with vocals and/or samples are largely my attempt to infuse some personality and blackness into them. It is a reminder that reggae/dub and dub poetry are also very important components of the black music canon.
Issue 5 of 213 Magazine
Release: May 2024
ROOTED: This was originally published in Issue 5 of 213 Magazine with electronic music pioneer Laurent Garnier, Monty Luke, Petals In Sound, Henna Onna, Paul Johnson, and more. Become a member for $2 a month And receive each issue in your inbox immediately!
—This is a very different record from Hard Work, Not Hype, but I… wrote about that album You may want to deliberately move away from writing music for clubs, but you can’t help it: there’s an underlying rhythm in everything you do, and I think that’s also true in this case. Even in tracks that I think are not made for club DJs, I’m always thinking about how and where something like that could fit. You’re inherently cool.
Hello, thank you! Yes, it’s funny. I’ve seen many cats in the UK in places like NTS playing «Cop Outside,» for example. This surprised me, but at the same time, OF COURSE the British are playing reggae. Reggae, dub, and bass are important components of the modern British cultural fabric. Obviously!
—Your fellow producer nerds will want to know about the glorious and expensive tool system you used to make this record.
Haha, well… it’s really nothing out of the ordinary. There are a ton of samples. I used a Urei 1601e mixer (a discontinued DJ mixer with a really weird effects bank) to create some weird reggae loops, then did some further processing after importing them into Ableton. This whole album, except for one or two tracks, was done in Ableton; the last album was almost all in Logic Pro. The standout parts are my Dave Smith OB-6 (which I also used a lot in Hard Work, Not Hype)… Many of the bassy/dubby elements actually came from my Elektron Model: Cycles.
—I thought «40 Acres and a Terabyte» would be the lead track. You’re always very direct in your messages and this is no different. Is there a reason you chose that song as the lead and the first thing the listener hears coming out of the album?
Yes, you know, as an artist it’s very hard not to pigeonhole yourself, especially if you’re a black artist. In Hollywood, they call it typecasting. That really bothers me and I’m always thinking of ways to subvert it.
I could have made the second track, «Nightdubbing,» the opening track, but that would be too obvious. What I try to do with «40 Acres» is to let the listener know they should be prepared for anything.
—How has the reception of the album been so far?
It has had a great reception so far, but honestly, I have NO idea. People tell me they like it, but when there is no solid publishing ecosystem and we are in an environment where tens of thousands of songs are released every day, who knows?
I recently saw a list of dance music albums released in March and I was blown away. I’m glad I didn’t know anything about them until after mine had already been released. It would have kept me up at night thinking about it, hahaha. Regardless of how it is received, I am actually very happy with the result of this album. For me, that’s the most important thing.
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