On the Record... Kris Wadsworth

This week we ask Atlanta born and raised house and techno producer, Kris Wadsworth about some of the music which soundtracks his life most often.

Although still regarded as part of the new guard of Detroit producers (despite being born in a different sate), Kris Wadsworth has actually been making techno for over a decade. Releasing records for the likes of Get Physical, NRK Music, Morris/Audio, he weaves intricate percussive foregrounds with the more consuming kicks and toms which roll along below. There’s a confident restrain to his productions, but that’s not to say they are devoid of charm, far from it. You can expect his deep, drawn out odes to house and techno to be peppered with churchy vocals, keys, sax, horns, whatever, as long as they fit.

Although this year has been much quieter than the last in terms of original productions, Wadsworth’s ‘A Sexual Position’ EP on Morris/Audio was yet another master class in propulsive, original deep house and, as such, has kept him firmly in our conscious. Read on, then, to find out about some of the music with which he surrounds himself, or catch him at Simmer, London on 6th November or at The Russian Bar, also in London, on 13th November.

First record you bought...

I bought a Yoshitoshi record.

Last record you bought...

A bunch but notably the WAX series 1-3.

Record you wish you'd written...

My own, ten years into the future, but this week.

Record which makes you happiest...

Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock” It makes me cry sometimes. I had a day job once as an Assistant Funeral Director. I would regularly B L A S T this track when I had a dead body in the back of the fleet van. The van had the company name on it too, so it was side-splitting to see the concerned looks on people’s faces when the death mobile is blasting music at the stoplight. How’s that?



Record which makes you saddest...

Eddie Hazel “Maggot Brain.” I want it played at my funeral. REALLY LOUD. I have something weird happen to me though. Sometimes when shit isn’t even sad, it makes me cry listening to it. Even opening ceremonies to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi made me tear up. Its strange. I think music taps into me and affects some very strong demons I collected over the years or something. Some metaphysical kind of bullshit, but yeah…music makes me weird-out.

Record you put on for sexy time...

Black Label Society “Suicide Messiah.” I actually don’t like music when its time to dose out the business, its passé in my view. You need to hear certain things in life without music and make your own “sexy time” track. Sexy music is an after thought for me. People don’t play music when someone is defecating, for instance, so why do so when having sex or fucking around? Some things just need to be heard…

Record you'd reach for (when DJing) if the dance floor was empty...

Something really stupid because empty dance floors are fucking stupid. Frank Sinatra or something totally obscene to that situation would be beyond hilarious. Just think; Sour faced weird-o’s looking like they are about to shit themselves because “My Way” blasts through at a million middle-fingered watts on a desolate dance floor. Hell. Yeah.

Record you couldn't live without...

A whole lot! Really? You are asking a musician with a huge-ass palette of taste what he couldn’t live without? How about all the Metallica albums up to the black one? Or Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain.“ That’s a weird question. Howlin’ Wolf? Old Mobb Deep tracks? I wouldn’t know where to begin to really answer that with a concise response.

Best set closing record...

Blues records in the right place at the right time. Otherwise, whatever record I can get to before they tell me I’m done. I try to get something warmer, or calming to a certain degree…something that can break down into itself by way of the producer’s technique. That way I can stop and smile and interact more with the people who have paid to get in to see me, stood in front of my booth all night, and more than likely bought my records, before I have to take off somewhere else or go to my room. Closing is an important time to reach people and let them know that you appreciate them..

Best after party record...

I don’t know about you, but I love dub techno. So, seeing as how most people want obnoxious stuff with lots of obvious elements usually, I prefer subtlety in a small afters kind of place. Otherwise, some old Profan shit that knocks the blocks and is repetitive as hell.



Record you had your first kiss/dance to...

I was getting pretty busy once when I was younger and this movie Wayne’s World was on. “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix plays in that movie and it was like an orgy from Venus came and massaged my brain while this young lady and I were effing. I was like 19 and had been partying all night, so…yeah. Like perfect synchronicity though, man. I still feel weird every time I hear it.

Favourite non-electronic record...

Oh shit, I was unaware of your specifics before. I kind of screwed that up, yeah? How about Nirvana “Dumb.”

Record which had most influence on you...

G Man “El Jem” was a huge one. The aquatic textures and just the arrangement of the whole piece are out-cold brilliant…that and all Basic Channel.

Your own record you are most proud of...

Hmm…I really stand up for this cut I have on a new EP for Get Physical. The name is called “It’s Time.” It’s my most intensive piece I have ever done and is going to be the first music of mine that has me on vocals really addressing some things that need to be said. Its fuckin’ badass, I have to say it. It secures me FIRMLY as a multi-faceted artist, not just a “house music producer” like people have called me for years.

Current favourite record...

I think some Black Keys stuff is pretty badass. But speaking electronically, I really like this guy Chelonis R. Jones. His music is really different and I can hear innovation and fusion in his work, rather than just cheap copies of the same old shit that has been kicked around into fuckin’ dust. He’s the bee’s knees for me and I have enjoyed his stuff for a while now.

Kristan J Caryl