The Ripe Guest Mix with What So Not

Matt Bladin August 28, 2012 3

Get The Tracklist for this mix here.

Our guest mix this week comes from our friends up north in Sydney town, the ever impressive duo known as What So Not . Comprised of two already very established individuals, Emoh Instead and Flume , What So Not have been long favourites of us here at The Ripe and so it is with great pleasure we can present 30 minutes of infectiously danceable tunes hand picked and exclusively mixed by the lads.

First making big waves with their debut EP 7 Dollar Bill last year, What So Not have since grabbed the attention and admirations of names around the globe, such as Diplo , Boys Noize and Switch . Their tunes have gathered hundreds of thousands of soundcloud plays, been spun on BBC 1, released on Mad Decent and been official remixes for the Likes of Major Lazer , Van She and Parachute Youth. Not a bad resume for two dudes only making music together since 2010.

Now as they head around Australia as party of the triple j House Party National tour (due to hit Melbourne this Thursday), along with side acts like Nina Las Vegas , Beni , Deacon Rose and Flume, the boys have still managed to find the time to put together their Ripe Guest mix, comprising of their favourite tunes at the moment.

The 30 minute mix is jammed packed with What So Not’s signature 808 heavy, Tribal beats as well as a showcasing of tunes they’ve been playing recently across a range of names and genres such as Trap, House and Hip Hop. The massive, very danceable track selection is mixed through at a frantic pace, and shows just why What So Not’s live shows are gaining a reputation as very loose affairs.

Emoh Instead of the duo, took a few minutes of his day to take on some of our pressing questions about what the guys are all about and what they have in store for the future!

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Matt Bladin: You guys have been making music together since 2010, but how did the two of you first tee-up what is now known as What So Not? And since then, how has your sound developed?

Emoh Instead: Harley (Flume) only lives a couple suburbs away from me. We met through a mutual friend who lived down the road. I was DJ’ing the Aus Circuit, frustrated with the lack of quality music available to play & Harley was writing uninspired beats in his bedroom. What So Not was a quest for better music. We wanted to take all the sounds & genres we were hearing overseas & bring them together. We started with bleeping synths, tribal percussion & 808 kick drums. That’s still the core of our sound, but it’s now developed into a much more complex musical composition.

Your productions and remix work have a very identifiable and awesomely contagious sound to it, how would you describe the music you guys are making to someone unfamiliar with it?

It is hard to describe and it does vary track by track… but common elements are tribal/808 percussion, bent vocal hooklines & harmonies, trancey melodies/breakdowns, organic chords and wacked out drops. Chillwave, Trap, House, Dubstep & Hip Hop are all major influences on our sound right now

The 7 dollar bill EP was a precedent for the good things to come and received lots of loving on triple j’s Friday night shuffle as well as plenty of love from some big names overseas. What was your reaction to such positive reception of the EP? And how did this changed your outlook on the future project you have undertaken?

It was such an amazing feeling. We put 6 solid months day in day out to get those 4 tracks and we believed in them greatly. But we weren’t sure how Australia (or the world) would react to them. They were quite different to most of the conventional ‘easy tunes’ that were being pumped out by a lot of labels at the time. I still remember, it was like 8am, morning after the release went out on promo, I got a call from Adrian (Ajax). He was ecstatic. Sinden, Douster, Boys Noize & countless other had all given it rave reviews. Switch had even sent him a personal email, saying it was the best thing he’d been sent all year. So that was the moment it was confirmed, we were onto something. All we had to do was keep it coming.

Your self and Flume obviously have fantastic solo projects going on, as well as years of production and DJ experience between you. How do you guys go about managing the dynamics involved in production and DJing as a joint venture?

It works amazingly well actually. We’re like Ying & Yang. Different personalities & talents that fuse perfectly to form one solid unit of output.

The massive triple j house party national tour is coming up and will see you play alongside acts like Nina Las Vegas, Deacon Rose, Beni and of course Flume. What can the crowd expect from the show’s shenanigans?

Haha… What happens on tour stays on tour.. You’ll have to come down and see for yourself! Things tend to get pretty rowdy when I’m involved. This mix we’ve done for you guys should give you a great idea of what sounds to expect though!

Your massive “Get Free” remix has been signed to Mad Decent and has been getting sweet love from all over the place. The remix has obviously opened a lot of doors for you guys – what do you think is the most positive outcome of this new exposure has been for your music?

I guess the most positive outcome was the exposure it gave to rest of our tunes and us as artists. We’re now in contact with people like Astonomar, Baauer, Flosstradamus, Diplo & more, shooting each other tunes & chatting about future project. Also we have our tunes played at all the big festivals around the world, BBC Radio 1 etc.

What new works have you guys got in the pipeline that we can start getting excited about?

We have an official remix about to come out for Warrior by Mark Foster, Kimbra & A-Trak that we’re really stoked on! And our 2nd EP is coming along nicely! Hoping to get it out by the end of the year!