- Grime of the times.
- It seems that Paul Lynch has become a leading figure in the recent wave of instrumental grime by going with his gut. He started Boxed, a party that's considered to be the scene's key stomping ground, because he and the event's cofounders—Oil Gang, Logos and Mr. Mitch—simply "wanted to play weird grime on a big system for six hours." Lynch has been releasing music for a few years now, and he recently told us that in the studio, "I just write things and throw drums on the screen and see what happens." This approach has yielded plenty of weird club music—a sound that has grime at its core but frequently takes stylistic left turns—on labels like Local Action and Unknown To The Unknown. Last month Lynch released his first album, the excellent Palm Tree Fire, and again, he wanted to keep things as natural as possible: "I don't necessarily view it as some big grandiose statement in the way that some albums can be," he said. Across 16 tracks, he processed his long-running obsession with grime (Lynch was also the man behind Grimetapes, a respected resource for old radio recordings) and spat out a rich, melodic statement on the possibilities of the genre.
So of course, when it came to his RA podcast, Lynch took a relaxed view on the task. The mix is an off-the-cuff, one-take affair that stacks the best in grime's current instrumental flavours.
What have you been up to recently?
Aside from the boring 9-5 stuff, making loads of bass sounds has been the big priority lately. I've been up all hours of the night doing that recently. Otherwise, sorting out venues for our Boxed night for the next few months. My girl and I are starting to plan our wedding as well, but that's mostly me just nodding and agreeing so far.
How and where was the mix recorded?
One take, in my mate Oil Gang's front room on my mate Tom's CDJs with a slightly erratic Serato setup. It's actually the third try at doing it, but I had massive technical failures the two previous times (glitches on the first one, then one I did in America was really, really distorted), so I felt it was cursed for a while.
Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?
I just wanted it to be an off-the-cuff thing as I never really plan my club sets bar maybe the first two mixes, sometimes not even that. Occasionally I'll plan out a mix and try and figure out a flow and that, but I wanted this one to be a bit more loose and spontaneous as that's what I sound like when I'm playing out, really.
You told us recently that you "try and make some stuff I haven't heard before." Who do you particularly admire for producing fresh sounds?
I think Murlo has got some incredible things going on, some bass sounds and styles I've never heard before. JT The Goon when he's feeling particularly mental (his stuff with Dullah Beatz is incredible too), and Bloom, who's probably the king of that at the moment. JEB1, Trends, Tarquin, Nammy Wams, Shadow Face, Sirpixalot. There are quite a few at the moment, definitely loads I've missed. Outside of the grime thing there were parts of that new Vessel album I really admired.
Grime is obviously rooted in the UK, but do you see evidence that its latest wave is taking hold in clubs outside of the country?
Yeah I've played in a few different countries over the past year or two and mostly people have been really receptive to it. Not everywhere, mind, some places hated me. But you see people from our little scenes turning up in strange places a fair bit now, and people listening to you online from loads of different spots, which is nice.
What are you up to next?
Writing the next release, whatever that ends up being. I've got some ideas and sketches down but it might sound completely different by the time it comes together.
TracklistJEB1 - Unlucky
Slackk - Millipede
Strict Face - White Rovers (Finn Remix)
Lolingo - Big Mac
Hayfever - Ground Collapse (Tarquin Bootleg)
JT The Goon - Twin Warriors (Murlo Remix)
Neffa T - Poison Clan
Dubbel Dutch - Load It
Inkke & Milktray - 848
Sudanim - Floor Lock
Spooky - Coolie Joyride (Murlo VIP)
DJ Marsta - Hollow (Blastto Edit)
Spooky - Freekin
Inkke - Drum Hunt (Detroit Edit)
JT The Goon - Twist Of Fate (Sirpixalot Remix)
Shriekin - Go
Tarquin - Luv Sng 2
Plastician - Safari
JLSXND7RS - Aries
Claves - Untitled
Shriekin - Bananas (Finn Remix)
Gage - Telo (Slackk Remix)
Trends - Hypnotised
Finn - Full Stop
JT The Goon - Without Warrant
Grandmixxer - Windrush VIP
Tony Phorse - Alert
TOYC - Keyframe (Bloom x Gage Remix)
Akito - Meta Message (Murlo & Famous Eno Remix)
Fallow - Make Me Wanna
Murlo & Famous Eno - Ariel VIP
Hi5Ghost - Kung Fu Kick (JLSXND7RS Remix)
Ruff Sqwad - Together (Tarquin Bootleg)
Inkke - Think Starr (Gage Remix)
Slackk - Intercept
Murlo - Cold Stroke
JEB1 - Amber Leaf & Cheese
Inkke - Warship
Finn - Keep Calling VIP
Adina Howard - Sexual Needs