Coronavirus lockdown gave us a chance to get everything together

By Dylan Robinson

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The Brightonian who brought us ‘Umm.. Random Shit’ is back with his next EP ‘blue.’ Dereck d.a.c. hosts a fully Hove trident on a project started when he was in-between homes last year.

Can you give us some insight into ‘blue.’? 

Dereck d.a.c.: I was homeless at the time and had nowhere to stay and ended up staying in Jules’ house for a little while, and that’s how we got to do this project. We made it around January to March 2019, so it’s been in the holster for quite some for time, more for the reasons of both of us being too busy to finish it. Coronavirus lockdown gave us a chance to get everything together and do it very much DIY. I’ve been doing all the promo visuals myself, and even the cover of the project was me on photoshop with my little knowledge. (We were) playing more instruments in, there are fewer samples in this project and I played the keys on “Sun”. For ‘Whata Shame’ I was digging through some CDs from a charity shop and found the main bass line drum loop, which Jules wrapped up into a juice beat, and we ended up getting NuphZed to master! Big ups to NuphZed”. 

How does this project differ from ‘Umm.. Random Shit’ would you say? 

Dereck d.a.c.: It’s more soulful with neo-soul influences. I was listening to a lot of Sade every day on the train to uni, stuff my parents would play and listen to when I was a kid, that’s what mainly influenced ‘funky’. I originally wanted to sample a Sade song, but Jules (Otherside) ended up playing all the instruments in and made a new song himself. I’d say the difference from ‘Umm.. Random Shit’ would be different producer, instead of ‘KianVsLife’ it is Jules (Otherside). So different equipment and work process, with me and Kian we very much loved the lo-fi MF Doom style of production, so we clicked together and made something beautiful.

‘blue’ is out on all platforms now, or get yourself a limited edition translucent turquoise cassette tape, for that timeless feel. 

Stay in touch with Derek d.a.c.:

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