Slow Hands

The latest addition to the ever-popular Wolf + Lamb family is New York City’s Ryan Cavanagh, known to the music world as Slow Hands. While he does have more than one moniker up his sleeve (Addled, Male Madame and Worst Friends), as Slow Hands he writes laid-back and sultry, deep house and disco-esque tunes, perfect for late-night-into-early-morning dancefloor sessions. With his debut as Slow Hands only being released less than 2 years ago, Ryan has certainly done a good job of getting himself noticed, thanks to tracks like 'Fast Tounge' and 'Ladyluck', the latter being a remix of fellow Wolf + Lamb-ers No Regular Play. Kon Glikos speaks to the promising New Yorker about his musical background and influences, the New York City music scene and collaborating with Tom Croose. 

Listen to Slow Hand's Exclusive mix for Pulse here

Tell us a little bit about your musical background. When did you start to DJ and make electronic music? I went to music school in Philadelphia. At the time house music was on high in NYC (which was only a couple hours away) with the likes of Twilo etc. Josh Wink was a big local force in town, and there were record shops (611, Que) everywhere, it seemed. Tigerhook Corporation, who released on Hooj Choons and Bedrock were also there, they were this collective of producers at the time, so Philly was very wrapped up in the whole scene. After a year spent in a practice room with a guitar, I got fed up with school and jazz/classical, so I left and started going out to listen to all these guys play. It seemed so rudimentary and basic to me, to go to a club and freak out over a loud 4/4 kick on a club system was the polar opposite of what I had spent the previous year of my life doing... so primal. Natural progression eventually led to me buying these records I heard, turntables, and eventually starting to build a studio. I moved to NYC a couple of years later and just kept doing what I was doing. I eventually got over my frustrations with jazz and the guitar.
 

"I make music that I start out liking, usually hate after the 60th hour working on it, then appreciate and love again a year after it’s been out."

What is it like to be a DJ/producer in NYC right now? Expensive! [Laughs] No, NYC is the greatest city in the world as far as I am concerned (nothing against Albuquerque). There are so many amazing musicians and DJs here, and it’s super supportive. To be honest, though, I think that the family vibe is fairly pertinent worldwide in this scene now. 8 years ago it felt to me that there was a massive separation as a result of genre. Minimal followers went to minimal parties and house followers to house parties, of which there were 20 different sub-genres that all had their own party.
You go to a party in NYC and there are fans, fellow musicians, and DJs of all different styles and genres, it makes for a really good time! I think that is just this scene maturing though. I have had similar experiences in London, and Berlin.
I will say this; NYC did have a strong hand in bringing the electronic music community together. With genre crossover acts like LCD Soundsystem, Matthew Dear, and all the types of acts on the Wolf + Lamb roster all being from NYC, the border lines between DJ styles and the kind of music you hear out in NYC has become very blurred. I think this led to the world opening it’s mind to Djs playing all different kinds of music in a set, and not sticking to just one style.

Do feel like you found a musical niche here yet? Sure. People send me music now saying “listen to this, it sounds like Slow Hands stuff”, so I think that’s pretty awesome, but it’s a double edged sword. I also think that when that starts happening it means you have to change it up, and stay ahead of the game. Start doing/playing different stuff, otherwise people will know what to expect and won’t have any reason to come and see you.

What are some of your influences, dating as far back as you can go; to the music that inspires you today? Oh boy! Hope no one is printing this, they will need to fill their printer with ink and paper:

Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Johnson, Mark Knopfler, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Pass, John McClaughlin, Townes Van Zandt, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Sufjan Stevens, Jeff Buckley, Deerhunter, James Holden, Paco De Lucia, Superpitcher, J Dilla, Nujabes, Charlie May, LCD Soundsystem, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Boz Scaggs, Animal Collective, Eric Satie, Charles Mingus, The Revenge, Nicholas, Andy Butler, Al Usher, Bostro Pesopeo, Ariel Pink, Jamie Lidell, Sparklehorse, Danger Mouse, Little Feet, Washed Out, Jack White, George Harrison, The Books, Born Ruffians,Todd Terje, Prins Thomas, Lindstrom, Hunee, T Rex, David Bowie, Erlend Oye, James Blake, Padded Cell, Gold Panda, Erdbeerschnitzel, Ink Spots, Ichisan, Discodeine, Edward Sharpe, Four Tet, Matt Dear, Mock & Toof, I:Cube, Kurt Vile, The Black Keys, Battles, Aloe Blacc, Caribou, DJ Koze.

When I first heard you DJ, the aspects I found most interesting were how expansive your tastes are and how it translated into your Djing. Does it happen naturally or is the variety what you strive for? Variety is the spice of life! I suppose my musical taste comes naturally, I always have music on, and it’s almost never stuff I have heard before. It’s also the reason I am always broke. There is so much good new music out there, I wish I had 3 lifetimes to try and cram in listening to it all.
I have no greater pet peeve than when people tell you they have crazy eclectic musical taste, and when you ask for an example they say something along the lines of “oh man, it’s crazy, I shuffle my ipod and one second it will be U2, the next song will be Led Zeppelin, then Johnny Cash, Sade, and then 50 Cent! Its nuts!” I have heard radio stations that play all that, it isn’t really much of a stretch. Of course, It depends on how you’re raised, most people have to go and seek music out on their own, I was fortunate enough to have a mother that listened to and exposed me to all kinds of music, so to spread out from the umbrella of her taste I really had to stretch.
I Dj what I like and what I think is interesting. So it is a bit pre-planned, but mostly natural I think. Sometimes that blows up in your face, but a lot of times it means that you will find gems that no one else might find.

Unlike techno, disco has a very rich history here in NYC. Have you always incorporated disco into your DJ sets? Would you say that disco is making a comeback in NYC? Disco is NYC, end of story. I would arm wrestle anyone who challenges that statement. But to be honest, I am not much of a historian on the style. I have friends who are, and man, they would make me feel like an ass for being pegged as being a player of disco [laughs].
It was actually JP (the other half of Worst Friends) who peaked my interest in the genre only about 4 or 5 years ago. He was really into Larry Levan at the time, and I was a slacker DJ who only really listened to contemporary house. We would DJ and he would play all this awesome disco stuff, and over time it really started to grow on me. He played Chic’s I Want Your Love one night and that was it, I was hooked. Ignorant rock n’ roll heads ruined disco’s image, but it’s always been around, especially in NYC, it never died. Francios K, David Mancuso, Rub n’ Tug, James Murphy & Pat Mahoney (to name a few) have all been Djing disco around (and mainly in NYC) at some point over the last 30 years. It’s a genre whose history should be respected and paid homage to in any set by a DJ who claims to be from NYC.

How would you describe the music you produce to someone that hasn’t heard you before? Oh man... how did that one person describe it? [Returns after looking it up] “Make out disco” [laughs]. I make music that I start out liking, usually hate after the 60th hour working on it, then appreciate and love again a year after it’s been out.
 

"... to go to a club and freak out over a loud 4/4 kick on a club system was the polar opposite of what I had spent the previous year of my life doing... so primal."

Tell us about your recent European tour? Where did you go and what was the crowd’s response to your sound? It was based out of Berlin and I played in Berlin, London, Hamburg, Manchester and Rome. It was an amazing experience, and I was really happy I got to share it with friends like No Regular Play Gadi and Soul Clap. All the parties were nothing short of amazing, really, not one bad gig the whole time.. well, maybe one, but we won’t mention it.
People seemed to really respond well. It obviously helps to play with friends, because when people see you are having fun they really feed off of that, but they really responded well to the music too. It’s weird, when you live in NYC, you are constantly exposed to yourself, in a way. I play here so much that I feel like everyone plays like I do. When you go abroad you really realize how different this sound is, especially when you are slotted in a place like Fabric where the main rooms are playing some really heavy stuff.
I played a party a couple of weeks ago when I got back, and some friends from Berlin were there, they asked the next day how I thought it went, and it was the first time I really felt that the way I Dj is New York in style. Maybe because of the crowd response? I don’t know why specifically. It was surprisingly gratifying to think that.

I know your open to collaborations; tell us about your Worst Friends project. Also, Is there any one particular artist that you would like to work with in the future? Worst Friends is collaboration with my best friend John Paul Jones (a.k.a. Tom Croose). We moved to NYC around the same time, and John crashed at my apartment for a bit. This was prior to our really being friends, we barely knew each other then. I had turntables at the place, so he started buying vinyl, and I showed him how to mix. Little did i know that he would eventually become a much better DJ than I. He has the best musical taste of any person I know, hands down. You think you know someone who knows about what’s what in music? Meet John and that will change. He should be an A&R guy for a major label, but unfortunately, neither of those things really exist anymore, at least as a career option.
Anyway, we started making some music together and Jakub and Sam at Ghostly International found us (or we found them) from a remix we did of Benoit Pioulard. We did a remix for Jack Johnson, put out a couple of our own records, fought/fight a lot, put out a record with Future Classic, and have a record coming out on Internajional with some monster remixes.
I also have a project called Male Madame with my friend Nick Dalagelis. We have one EP out, and are working on another one at the moment... It's much different than the last.
People I would want to work with? So many! DJ Koze, No Regular Play, Zev, Jacques Renault, Tensnake is rad, Prince Language makes amazing stuff! The whole Permanent Vacation roster is pretty bad ass, love the artists on Retreat and Benjamin Sun makes killer music too!

How are things going between yourself and Wolf + Lamb? Are there any releases with them on the horizon, or any other labels for that matter? Oh man, I hate those guys! Jokes, jokes, they are the best. It’s like a family. We fight, kick, scratch, disagree on music, make up, then watch Jersey Shore together.
Gadi and I just did a remix for Will Saul that should be out pretty soon on Simple, and I have a couple of remixes i did of Greg Paulus that should be out in the future on Double Standard. I also have an EP that will be coming out on More or Less early this year. Myself and John are working on a Worst Friends remix of the new signing to Wolf + Lamb called Voices of Black, they are killer producers and the track absolutely blew my mind when i heard it!

Kon Glikos