Introducing: Huxley

 

Truth is, London based Huxley aka Michael Dodman is probably already past the point of needing to be introduced. His deep house sounds have already been picked up by many given their release on high profile labels like Cecille Numbers.  Recently though he's been on a storng run of form, fomenting relationships with new labels like Tsuba, Morris Audio, and co-producers like Sam Russo.   What's more, he's launched his own label, Saints and Sonnets, alongside Jimmy Posters of pulseradio.net fame, and the first release - due soon - comes backed with a very tasty Roman Flugel remix.  As such, we checked-in for more...

Introduce yourself…

Hi my name is Huxley, and I’m an alcoholic. Who makes music in his spare time.

How and when were you first infected by electronic / dance music?

The first time I heard electronic/dance music was when I was 11 years old. My best friend at the time brought round the Dreamscpae Extra Sensory Perception mix cds. These had 3 cds in each; Happy Hardcore, Old Skool and Drum ‘n’ Bass. This kind of changed my whole direction and was the first time I really connected with a type ofmusic. Then onto garage, then onto house.

How and why did you get into DJing and producing?

I started DJing after I convinced my parents to get me the worst Soundlab, belt drive decks shortly after I heard the Dreamscape cds. It seemed liked a natural progression, although I had no idea how to use them and no one around to teach me, so I just played about with them for about a year until my brother realised what we were meant to be doing. I would say I didn’t start producing properly until I was about 16. Again, my brother, who is the realmusician of the family use to make some music and he slowly, taught me what I should be doing. I started out on a dos based program, called, Impulse Tracker. I don’t know how it all snow ball into what I’m doing now, but it did!

What are the most important things for you when making music?

This is a hard question to answer. It depends from track to track. I guess the end product has to have a certain vibe to it, but I couldn’t really tell you what that is. I have a lot of ‘finished’ tracks on my hard drive that will never see the light of day as I’ve listened to them a few days after making them, and just thought, “what the fuck were you thinking…”. I guess one thing I would say is I try not to follow trends or go down the obvious route. I think a lot of my tunes are completely different and don’t follow a set theme, or even genre. I couldn’t think of anything worse than just making the same track 1,000 times.

Same question when DJing... what are your goals?

I love djing. I stopped doing it for a long period over my university days. Partly because of studying and partly because I got a bit fed up with it all. But I’m loving djing again now, and being flown around to do it is something I didn’t think would ever actually happen. So I guess my goal is to hopefully carry on and go and explore even more places across the globe...

Who or what would you consider as your main influences?

Really my influences come from everywhere. I’d probably say, Tuff Jam, Kerri Chandler, Chez Damier, MJ Cole and the Nice ‘n Ripe guys are my original influences. But my modern ones range from anyone like Ripperton, Simon Baker and Roman Flugel to Burial, Blawan and J Dilla. It’s quite a range. I don’t really ever find myself listening to one style of music. So I try to take what I can from each.

What makes you, you?

My constant moaning and complete inability to do a 9-5 job.

Musically, what got you most excited recently?

Dappy – No Regrets.

What are you working on?

Well, I’ve just launched my label, Saints & Sonnets, with my pal, Jimmy Posters. The first release is myself and Ethyl with 2 stunning remixes from the legend, Roman Flugel. We’ve got a lot more lined up, so at the moment that is taking up a lot of my spare time. However I have an EP coming out on Hypercolour, a full ep with Leftroom with my housemate, Sam Russo and also working on a few other things, which I’ll keep under my hat until it’s sorted.

Who are you outside of music?

Batman.