We Go Deep

Label Spotlight #036 - We Go Deep

An outlet for positive vibes and emotive sounds, South African imprint We Go Deep is the brainchild of producer Luka. Home to the likes of MzJay, Maya Spector & AfroMove, the label has steadily supported and fuelled homegrown talent over the past 5 years, providing a unique platform to discover music in a vast majority of electronic genres, dipping into deep lounge, nujazz, soulful, techno, tribal, electro and more. We caught up with Luka to find out more about the label and what’s coming up next for them.

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Could you give us a little bit of background on you, the label, and what your influences were and still are?

Luka is the pseudo-name and We go deep as the label. Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember, so after my neck injury when I was faced with having to evaluate what I was going to do with my life now being in a wheelchair, music became the obvious answer. After getting my head around the whole production process I had approached a number of labels and kept being told my sound was too deep. Constantly being told that gave birth to the concept of starting my own label and calling it We go deep, that would be a fitting description of what my music would be about. My music takes inspiration from various sources like sounds of nature to construction noises and various genres like jazz, soul, urban and even traditional African music. If you allow yourself to blend all these sounds and arrangements without really thinking about being correct or traditional in your production approach by sticking to set rules you can really come up with some unique bits of music.

What have been your favorite releases from the label over the years?

Don’t have one specific one but “Common Ground” featuring Maya Spector was where it all started. I’d spent so long trying to get the song perfect that once it was out it was a great weight lifted off my shoulders and I realized I can actually put out whatever speaks to me and do it my way. Some other releases of mine I really enjoyed putting together was “No limit” featuring Jackie Queens, “Overstanding” featuring Jaidene Veda, “Sunday Flying” featuring Sarah Jannat and “Next To You” featuring Sio. Each release gives birth to a new way of doing things so each project is really special in that way.

Tell us a bit about what’s coming up for the label

Recently released a project called “Closer” featuring Sio. Where I experimented with urban, house and pop elements. It’s a totally different direction from where the label started but still captures the essence of everything music should be about which is just having fun. A lot more experimental projects will be coming out this year and over the next couple of years.

If you could have signed any record in the world for the label, what would it have been and why?

If I could sign any song to We Go Deep it would have to be “Sweeter Love” by Blue Six. That song changed everything I thought about house music in the sense that until then, house was more of a music you played at get-togethers and parties but Sweeter Love was a song you could just listen to on your own and drift off into another world. It had so much emotion in the vocal and the production. It was at that point that house became more spiritual to me than just music you listen to.

What do you look for when signing a record for We Go Deep? Any tips for budding producers looking to get signed to the label?

We go deep was actually more of an outlet for me and a few artists I collaborate with to put out the music but on the odd occasion, I do sign bits of music from certain producers who have embraced a sound of their own. If I can hear a song and feel like it’s an honest representation of the person presenting it to me I’ll have no problem backing that bit of music. If you can create music be brave enough to not worry about whether it’s fitting into a trend but rather something people listen to and have an idea of what you are going through at the time you made it long after you’re gone from this planet.

Inside The Track with Kito Jempere

APR 20, 03:38 PM

Kito Jempere drops his latest EP ‘I’m Saved’ on the revered Berlin imprint Room with a View, with two sumptuous tracks that really are delivered from Russia with love. Already finding their way into the sets of the likes of Jimpster, Atjazz, Nachtbraker and thatmanmonkz, both EP tracks offer something totally unique in their design and abstract form.

Title track ‘I’m Saved’ offers a hypnotically jazzy, afro beat infused disco workout, whilst ‘Jun’ takes the listener deep into the underground where all the quality house music lives and breathes. Russia is not always thought of as the home of deep house, but with the sound fast becming a global phenomenon, it’s great to see pockets of outstanding creativity popping up in unique locations.

Having recently become a father, the St Petersburg producer found a little time to chat exclusively with Traxsource about the creation of this stellar EP, from conception to release, as we went Inside The Track with Kito Jempere.

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Congratulations on your new ‘I’m Saved’ EP via the Room with a View label. How is it being received in your sets and how are other club DJs responding to it?

Hey, I personally played the track ‘Jun’ at the end of sets when people were kinda really into and they want to completely dive into sounds and feelings of music. ‘Jun’ is perfect at that point of the night, as I made it quite long and repetitive, but with each square comes something new. I played all melodies live and didn’t quantize anything so it has a pretty nice live flow which works well with crowds. I worked hard to mix the track with a 70’s/80’s musical feel. As for ‘I’m Saved’, I heard Nachtbraker has played it already and it works well for him. I’ve also had good feedback from Atjazz, Jimpster, thatmanmonkz, S3A, Red Rack’Em, Ranier Trüby and others who have already played and tested it.

What was the main inspiration behind the EP and what prompted the musical direction?

The whole EP was a really nice trip for me. It started when I lost all my previous projects via a crazy HD crash. May 2015 was pretty intense for me as my baby boy Theo was just born and I was completely into the family thing, so I forgot to save my projects on the computer. At the same time, I was about to go to play at the Southern Soul Festival in Montenegro and right before my flight my computer broke down. I decided to start again from scratch and saw the incident as gaining wisdom. I lost my entire sample collection and decided to make something completely new.

NOTE: Click the images for large versions

Production wise, what is it about the tracks that makes them work?

It was a nice challenge for me, as in the end I didn’t used my usual studio and my usual sound engineer Roman Urazov. I’ve worked with him on all my records before and we will continue doing that, also he playing as a part of my Kito Jempere Live Band. I mixed the tracks in December in a city called Naberejnie Chelny, out in the countryside, with a a genuine ‘room with a view’ that looked out onto an open forest. It was quite strange as I didn’t have my monitors or any subs etc. I used only my headphones and tracks were ‘pre-mixed’ when I was recording the instruments, as I always try to find the best balance when I record them. Also, I was in constant exchange at that moment with Phil Dairmount to make sure that the mixdowns were good. His guidance was very important and we developed an awesome relationship in the process. Having both recently being new fathers, all these factors added to the release having a very intimate feel.

Is there one machine, program or technique that characterizes your sound?

Generally, I love to use the Juno106, MPC1000 and with my sound guy, we love to work on Neve VR60 at D Gray Studio here in Saint Petersburg. I used some African vinyl samples and also some percussions from Japanese records. On top of that. I added some drums that I collected and some instruments that I played live. I also used one outstanding synth pack called “Samples from Mars’. As I had lost everything, I found them by chance and bought some tape recorded synths set from them. It sounded really awesome and worked perfectly for the record in my opinion.

What is the one piece of kit that you simply cannot do without?

I would say the Juno106, even though there’s no Juno106 in either of these tracks!

Any advice for your fans on how to make it in today’s fast paced game?

Do the right thing guys. Do it for yourself, don’t care too much about what other people think. Personally, I just record music when I want to hear something special, for myself initially. Don’t follow trends; just do your own thing. Why waste your time trying to be somebody else? Be yourself.

Respect the art.