London label Night Slugs is a classic case study. If you want something done well, do it yourself. Friends Alex Sushon, (aka Bok Bok), and James Connolly (aka L-Vis 1990) were happily running a night, heavily inspired by the sounds of emerging sounds of grime from their neighbourhoods, and started to notice the tracks receiving the biggest response were unreleased dubplates. One of the tracks in particular was Kingdom's "That Mystic." Quick witted music moguls that they are, Alex and James started a label, released the track, and irreversibly altered the course of their lives and the lives of music fans everywhere. They've been on and ahead of the curve since, signing Girl Unit, Jam City, Egyptrixx, and generally redefining club music with new configurations of grime, club, pop and experimental sounds. Bok Bok is in Australia touring with label partner L-Vis 1990, and we caught up to hear their predictions for the future of dance music, and to hear what tracks they chill to when not running the world.THUMP: You mentioned in an interview a few years ago that your "Ears get tired of hearing the same thing…I guess years of the dominance of greyness in post-UK garage music has left me and a lot of others hungry for color, and 2009 was really the year of feeding that hunger. It's been the year of the neon synths!" Several years later, what are your ears hungry for now?
Bok Bok: My favourite thing right now is hearing songs full of a lot of personality, melody, style and charisma sliced up like fruit, their fruit juice filling new structures optimised for the club.As a label, how would you say Night Slugs has evolved, and what does it represent now to you?
It's definitely evolved to keep up with the artists we release, although the framework has really stayed the same! To me it now represents a community and to some extent an approach or certain way of doing things. All the artists crossover in interests and influences, and while some of those have evolved, many have also stayed pretty consistent since the start. The common influences created a foundation which we have all just been building on since the start.Can you take us behind the scenes a little into the A&R side of things. Which artists or communities of artists do you have your eyes on at the moment? Can you share any predictions for music over the next 6 to 12 months?
We're loving the edit / bootleg culture that's developed in the camp especially amongst some of the newer artists like Helix, Deamonds, Georgia Girls, Neana and others. Even before my new EP came out for example, I already had several "warnings" from some of those guys about the edits that are about to happen. LOL. Much of that is continuing in the great bootleg traditions of both house and grime and is giving me a lot of life. Also the hubs of localised club mutations of Chicago, Jersey and Durban keep giving and giving. Other than that I've been enjoying listen to the radio a lot and taking a lot of inspiration from that as always.On a personal level, what are your plans, musically and otherwise for the year?
Basically just get home from this two month tour, the longest time I've ever spent on the road continuously. I'm looking forward to sessions with people I'm excited to work with, but don't want to spill the beans until that's ready. Otherwise the second wave of collaborations with my friend Tom Trago are about to drop this summer. On the label front Slugs is also going to release "Papaya Lip Gloss," the track I did with my friend Sweyn J. Other than that I'll be mixing upcoming Night Slugs releases from Hysterics, Deamonds, Neana and whoever else is ready in time.You mentioned you're looking forward to head home after such a long time on the road. What are some of the best tracks to help you unwind?
No problem, here's some downtime jams from me!Janet Jackson - "I Get Lonely"
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Bok Bok: My favourite thing right now is hearing songs full of a lot of personality, melody, style and charisma sliced up like fruit, their fruit juice filling new structures optimised for the club.As a label, how would you say Night Slugs has evolved, and what does it represent now to you?
It's definitely evolved to keep up with the artists we release, although the framework has really stayed the same! To me it now represents a community and to some extent an approach or certain way of doing things. All the artists crossover in interests and influences, and while some of those have evolved, many have also stayed pretty consistent since the start. The common influences created a foundation which we have all just been building on since the start.Can you take us behind the scenes a little into the A&R side of things. Which artists or communities of artists do you have your eyes on at the moment? Can you share any predictions for music over the next 6 to 12 months?
We're loving the edit / bootleg culture that's developed in the camp especially amongst some of the newer artists like Helix, Deamonds, Georgia Girls, Neana and others. Even before my new EP came out for example, I already had several "warnings" from some of those guys about the edits that are about to happen. LOL. Much of that is continuing in the great bootleg traditions of both house and grime and is giving me a lot of life. Also the hubs of localised club mutations of Chicago, Jersey and Durban keep giving and giving. Other than that I've been enjoying listen to the radio a lot and taking a lot of inspiration from that as always.
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Basically just get home from this two month tour, the longest time I've ever spent on the road continuously. I'm looking forward to sessions with people I'm excited to work with, but don't want to spill the beans until that's ready. Otherwise the second wave of collaborations with my friend Tom Trago are about to drop this summer. On the label front Slugs is also going to release "Papaya Lip Gloss," the track I did with my friend Sweyn J. Other than that I'll be mixing upcoming Night Slugs releases from Hysterics, Deamonds, Neana and whoever else is ready in time.You mentioned you're looking forward to head home after such a long time on the road. What are some of the best tracks to help you unwind?
No problem, here's some downtime jams from me!Janet Jackson - "I Get Lonely"
SOS Band - "For Your Love (Extended Version)"
Sadie Ama - "So Sure"SWV - "That's What I Need"Jam City - "Love Is Real Demo"The Phantom - "LP1"