Damian Lazarus

Forward thinking, left field, weird and wonderful; Damian Lazarus encapsulates it all with his productions, his mixes and his label Crosstown Rebels. If you have ever caught one of his sets, listened to a Lazpod or been in the same room as him, you'd know exactly what we mean. There is no surprise that Fabric have asked Lazarus to mix the next installment in their esteemed series, and Pulse Radio caught up with The Lord of Darkness to chat about his mix, the rebels and taking over the world.

Pulse Radio: Tell us all about your fabric mix; how long did it take and what were your inspirations and motivations? Damian Lazarus: I signed the contract with Fabric to make the album in February. I spent the next 3 months thinking about it every single day and I recorded the mix in Berlin in the middle of May. I knew I wanted to make a more 'clubbier' mix than the Sci FI Lo Fi and Other Side of London mixes, and making the Fabric album was the perfect opportunity.

What are some of the artists and songs you used in the mix and why? One of my favourite moments comes at the end where I drop in some weird music from an artist called Bill Holt. I was in Japan earlier this year when I discovered this crazy record shop in the middle of nowhere, inside I found this dusty album called Dreamies that immediately caught my attention. The cover was so out there that I knew the music would be just as mental, and I wasn't wrong. It turns out that this guy made these two 25 minute continuous tracks in 1973 that sampled weird sounds, fx and Beatles records and we managed to license two pieces for my Fabric mix, which is pretty cool.

Is the approach you took with the Fabric mix different to the approach you take with your Lazpod? Not really in that with every Lazpod, I continually make notes and add and subtract tracks from playlists on my computers. Whenever I hear something that catches my attention that I think might work, I add it to the list. Then every week I go through the lists, listening again. I used a similar process for Fabric but with this album, I was also taking the tracks out to clubs and parties at the same time and playing around with them live.

Crosstown Rebels has some exciting talent on board with the likes of Art Department and Soul Clap joining the ranks as releasers, does this mean a new direction for Crosstown? What are these artists bringing to the table? No new direction, just the next phase I think. We are always developing as a label, always trying to push the boundaries and I think that right now, many of our new artists; Art Department, Soul Clap, Deniz Kurtel, Maceo Plex, are picking up a great deal of love and attention. However, I do believe that some of the music we are about to release on the label is the best music we have ever had the good fortune to be working with.

The Rebel Agency has also taken on Art Department, Ryan Crosson and Konrad Black; are you secretly planning to take over the world? If it means more amazing people around the world get to dance to great Djs and amazing music, let's do it!

Can you give us some juice on this Maceo Plex album we keep hearing about? We're dying to know when it comes out! Hold tight. Maceo Plex, otherwise known as Maetrik, will be with us very soon to put some real soul into our lives.

Check out our review Damian's Fabric mix here.

Australian Tour Dates
AGWA Yacht Club - 05.02.11 Sydney
Children of Realness - 06.02.11 Melbourne
Playground Weekend - 17.02.11 to 20.02.11 Wisemans Ferry (NSW)

Casey van Reyk