Drop the Lime comes to Seattle with bass motives.

As usual with Data Breaker interviews, a lot of content doesn’t make the final cut for the print version. In the interest of serving hardcore Drop the Lime fans and those curious to know more about him, I’ve put the full Q&A of our interview (all 1400+ words) after the jump. Sadly for Ari, there is no discussion of Drop the Lime’s hotness.

Drop the Lime plays Re-bar Friday Feb. 9.

What was it about the NYC rave scene that attracted you? What motivated you to start making your own music?

Drop the Lime: I heard jungle music off a taped pirate radio show, through a friend of mine who went to study abroad in London one year. I must’ve been 12 or 13, and it blew me away. I think it was this House Crew tune, “Superhero.” And it had every layer of sound stacked in its perfect place. The drums were chopped up but danceable, the sampled diva vocals dark but pretty, and the bass so sub heavy it gutted me. I got jealous and wanted to make it myself immediately. I started to going to parties after hearing more mix tapes and radio sessions that he’d mail over to; man, it was nuts. I got a drum machine and sampler and never left my room. I was still new to the whole sampling thing though. For about 6 months I tried to make the “Amen” beat, not knowing it was a sample from the Winstons song on a drum machine and a lot of distortion and compression. It wasn’t until I phoned up a shop in NYC, Breakbeat Science and played the beat over the phone to them and asked how to make a beat sound that way did I learn. The shop guy was like, ‘Um... that’s a sample fool.’

You’re very prolific. How long does it generally take you to make a track and what does the process involve? Feel free to list your gear; lots of geeks read my column.

It really all depends. I can go months where I work on only one or two tunes, then ill hit a stride (usually when I’m touring) where I’ll bang out a tune a day for a good two weeks. When I’m in the studio, I tend to make most of my bass lines on a CZ-1000 or Dave Smith's evolver; that thing is a beast! I record and mix everything down in Logic and run a lot of the drums through an Alesis Compressor to get a punchy sound on the kick and snare.

Your sound is very non-purist and multidimensional. Do you think the key to musical growth is to assimilate influences from as many genres as possible?

Yes, of course, especially now with a new subgenre popping up every second. I hate labeling music or sticking to producing one genre. Taking one best element from each genre and combining it into something new sparks a unique sound, and naturally, that’s what I find myself doing these days.

From what I can gather after listening to This Means Forever, Shot Shot Hearts, We Never Sleep, and the tracks on your MySpace, your music seems to be getting more accessible as time goes on. Would it be accurate to say that you’re more concerned with making people dance and have fun now than you were a few years ago? Any aspirations to break into the mainstream?

Shot Shot Hearts and We Never Sleep are both themed projects, where I constructed each song to balance the other. This Means Forever was more of a compilation of tunes from 2000-2003, an experimentation with music and sound. I have always DJ’d techno and house and related styles, but for some reason felt that I needed to fuck up sound in order to inspire and move an audience. I was so wrong. After touring for two years playing breakcore raves and festivals, I got headaches from the 250-bpm splatter breaks. I would drop techno into a set and realized I had more room to improvise in a live set with a slower 130/140-bpm tempo versus the hyperkinetic drilled-up “Amen” breaks... I couldn’t beat match my own tunes for god sake... Where’s the satisfaction in that? So, yes, I want people to dance, and by dancing you allow people to feel free.

I am already collaborating with artists who play with bands on labels like DFA and Modular for future projects, so, yes, I plan on touching a wider less experimental audience, but [will] stay close to my underground sound. I would never give creative control over to a label or producer; once I do break into the mainstream, my music will still have the dirty bass lines and twisted vibes that it does now.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the return of rave (see the latest issue of XLR8R, the rise of the Klaxons, etc.). As someone who was inspired by NYC rave scene, do you hope that those values and sonic approaches make a comeback or do you prefer to look forward and strive to innovate?

This is a tough one, because it is very close to home. I’m friends with some of those bands who will remain protected, but they only called themselves new rave as a joke. It blew way out of proportion, only shooting them and their followers in the foot. It’s tough because I got excited, thinking, “Damn, finally people are back into the energy of rave music.” But no, it’s just an image thing and already on its way out. For producers like [me] and many others I’m close with, we got confused. Half of these bands don’t even know who groups like 2 Bad Mice or Sonz of a Loop da Loop Era are. Really, though, it only helps us, because now indie kids are finally opening their ears to more electronic music, and the good stuff will push forward.

Any theories on why bass has such a profoundly powerful effect on people?

Yes. I’m reading a book right now by Daniel J. Levitin called This Is Your Brain on Music, and it dips into the reason why music has such a strong effect on us. Music is just the vibration of molecules, and in our brain we have 100 billion neurons that are waiting to be excited by different vibrations. Bass, especially sub bass below hearing level (30hz to 20hz), gives us a feeling of nervous excitement, causing the musical experience to be physical, like a rollercoaster. Experiencing music without bass isn’t as stimulating as with loud pumping bass in a club, and people are less likely to dance. It’s amazing what a couple subwoofers can do to a crowd.

What’s the atmosphere like at Trouble & Bass? Seems pretty frenzied (and popular) judging from the photos I’ve seen.

Yeah, we really have something special going on right now in Brooklyn. It’s constantly packed, line around the block, and we play EVERYTHING BASS HEAVY. We’ve got T-shirts that say I'LL BASS YOU that people rock and posters that say the same. People tear them down and wave them around like flags and bash around the club. It’s nutty. I mean grime to acid techno to electro house to old school rave music and everybody gets down. People go mad. The spot we’re at is getting way too packed, though, so were going to be moving venues soon to a bigger spot and better sound system come summertime.

What can Seattle expect from your live set? Will you be bringing the air horn?

Ha, don’t think security will let me bring an air horn on board, but if anyone can remember to bring me one I will pump it loud! In my live set I tend to improvise a lot and jump between all the different genres I produce as DTL. B-more, grime, techno, house… I tend to perform live the same way I DJ, except I only play my own material. Nothing is structured, so every set is fresh and exclusive to the night. I also incorporate my own vocals, sampling myself chopping it up, having fun. The live sets are about getting down and having a good time with the crowd. It’s not really a ‘watch me perform’ type of concert. I will also be doing a new side project of mine, which is a disco-electro thing dropping on a French dance label in the spring.

What are your plans for the rest of 2007?

A lot of new side projects, and many DTL remixes for bands. Trouble & Bass Recordings will be releasing 3 new EPs this year, vinyl and digital, so expect some goodies dropping soon from NYC, Paris, and Berlin artists. I am also releasing a new series of mixtapes, Heavy Bass Champion Volumes 1-5—all exclusive joints from stateside and overseas producers whose tunes revolve around bass being the dominant hook. BOOM!