Hyperdub Records' latest signee, Proc Fiskal, is preparing for the drop of his debut EP The Highland Mob. The four-track release sees the Edinburgh producer combine a host of influences; grime, jungle, 2-step, and anything energetic and club-ready. His productions are already drawing comparisons to Novelist's Ruff Sound movement—both combining a prominent grime influence with 160bpm club music. To mark the release, we sat down with Joe Powers to talk about his formative years, originality, and his personal heroes of Scottish club culture. He also blessed us with the first play of "Lamentation", a cut from the new project.
Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into producing?
I've been making music since I was really young, but been making beats since I was maybe 13. Started out on a MPC 500, then I got a laptop and a copy of Ableton a few years later. I've always made a lot of different styles of music but I've felt rooted to what I considered grime. YouTube channels like SilverDrizzle were the only way I could ever heard the sound, though. I'd heard like Slimzee and Dizzee sets, plus some garage and 2-step stuff, but I grew up living outside of the matrix really. My parents listened to a lot of punk stuff, and a lot of disco and reggae. I was happy to find something new, and that's always been the thing that excites me: new sounds. I think a lot of folk settle for their parents' or previous generations' nostalgia with music.
Your productions take in a few different inspirations like grime, as well as more fast-paced club music—e.g. footwork, D&B. Was it always your intention to make versatile club music or was it a happy accident?
I love jungle, and used to be quite into footwork. Jungle was the first music I learnt to mix; I used to just sit on virtual DJ with awful quality rips of like Kemet and 3rd Party tunes from bait Russian sites. I like energetic, danceable music really. With the 160 thing, I get a feeling of freedom to do more creative stuff. If it's versatile, that's just an accident. I don't think about things like that when making music.
Tell us about Edinburgh's club/rave scene. How does it vary to the rest of the UK?
There's barely a scene; few good clubs, MCs, DJs and systems, but Edinburgh itself is a bit dead. A lot of shite house and techno nights [laughs]. But there is a core of sound folk who care about the music. Glasgow is definitely better. LVLZ radio is the hub, and everyone that's family there has inspired and encouraged me a lot. I might have just sat in my attic for years if Rapture 4D never got me through. I can't speak for other places, but Glasgow and Scotland has a nice sense of community, whereas there seems to be more of a divide and serious tone down South.
Are there any MCs you'd like to work with? The Ruff Sound lot have been showing a lot of love.
Yeah, I love the Ruff Sound thing—Novelist is big. Those Ruff Sound radio sets are some of my favourite. People like him, DeeCee, Hilts, Premz, SBK, everyone in Vision Crew, they're people I'd want to work with. Though I'm doing something similar, I do feel quite separate to what their doing though. I'm doing my own thing, and wouldn't call my music Ruff Sound.
What are your plans for 2017? Any big announcements we should know about?
I'm gonna be doing the next Ø show for Hyperdub on April 19 at Corsica Studios, which I've heard is a sick venue. Buzzing for that and a few other upcoming shows. I've potentially got a couple of other releases coming soon, as well as a few albums worth of unreleased material that I'm sitting on. I'm just about finished with an album of just straight melodies, no beats, that I really like and hope to put out soon.
