The Tales of Toby Tobias

Forever busy in the reworks, remixing and crafting of deep-grooves and house-beats, Toby Tobias is a slave to the disco. Long-time signee of the respected Rekids imprint, his releases have become staples on the dancefloor. Sliding through techno, house, Balearic and boogie (title him anything but ‘nu-disco’); his tracks bridge beats, genres and decades to great acclaim (check his debut Space Shuffle, collaborations with Kathy Diamond and Toby’s reworks of Das Volt and Chaz Jankel - to name some career highlights). Pulse caught up with Tobias to chat about his impending autumn offerings, radio slots and future label-business.

Pulse:  How have you seen your sound develop from your debut to the releases coming up this autumn? Toby Tobias: Technically, first and foremost - you are always looking to improve the quality of the sound that comes out of those club speakers as well as headphones and this mainly comes from experience in the studio, djing and working with other people, picking up tips along the way. Of course as the years go on new artists appear all the time along with discovering old gems and so you pick up even more inspiration from there which all can reflect in the sound of the studio on any given day. I have gone full circle: I have a studio full of early hardware equipment that I have amassed in the last year or so which is what I used when I first started making music in the early 90's (even though back then it was a more basic set up consisting of a sampler, synth and mixer - I sacked that gear off in 2000 when I discovered software - and my productions started getting finished). So now I have a rich mix of hardware and software - things are getting finished and I’m happier with the sound.

Do you feel you’ve found a sound you’re comfortable with now bridging house and disco or do you see your direction changing?  My ideas are always the same - I like making tracks that have longevity - that will hopefully stay in the box (or the cd wallet) for a long time. Be it a techno banger or a balearic classic: that is my mission, that’s the carrot dangling in front of me. I just see myself making dance music. Sometimes it has a repetitive hi-hat and may be considered house, sometimes it has an arpeggiated bassline and may be considered disco - but yes I feel very comfortable with it.

Have you got a favourite release you’re particularly looking forward to coming up?  I really look forward to every release that’s got my name on it. It’s a piece of me that I’m putting out there for public consumption. My release on More Music with Brendan Reilly is something I’m excited about as it’s such a strong vocal and a really nice song with some production that I’m super happy with.  I’m also really looking forward to my two releases on Let's Play House and Quintessentials as I think they should create some great drama on the dance floor and I really looking forward to seeing what people think of them. And I’m looking forward to my release on Croatian label Burek as it would be great to be in such good company as Kink and Vakula.

Do you feel confident in getting the same acclaim as Space Shuffle?  I think it’s different to delivering an album as it is seen as quite a separate entity; it reaches a much wider audience for a start , I hope to receive an even better response when I deliver my second album, mind.

Do you feel disco has been sidelined at the moment while house has centre-play?  I think music that hits hard has made more of an impact recently , you could argue that this is down to more warehouses popping up, recession, club drugs improving, dubstep turning into house, less people playing vinyl,
but that’s fine - disco/boogie - or music of that era will always create a fantastic vibe. It’s true party music, it just needs to be operated by people who know and care about it so you can hear it and experience it in all its glory. So it’s probably best kept intimate: point in case - Horse Meat Disco and The Loft. 

Tomorrow’s Bringing has been reviewed as going back to the old-school spirit of disco; how important do you feel the history of house and disco, the nostalgia surrounding it is to its sound now in 2011?   I’d say it’s more in the spirit of boogie than disco (but that’s just me) all I can say on this matter is if you listen to Cybotron - Clear right now it’s just as relevant to today’s music as it has ever been - and there it is, never underestimate the importance of the music that came out of Detroit and Chicago in the 60 's ( yes ), 70's and 80 's but also globally everywhere else including the UK.

Tell us a little bit about your slot on Ministry’s Nu-Disco; how do you go about choosing tracks etc?  I’ll be honest, I’m not really into the term nu –disco. I play not surprisingly right across the board from balearic, house, techno, garage - whatever, but that is the name of the slot I am in, and I enjoy doing something a bit different - even if my presenting skills are a bit ''rough '' shall we say. The show always varies - sometimes I’ve got so many new tracks that I’m excited about that it’ll be all promos and buzzy records, sometimes I won’t have had time to download all the promos - so i’ll use it as an excuse to raid the archives and just pull out some forgotten gems. Ideally it would be both of the above to make an ideal show.

Do you think radio is undergoing a new lease of life with internet-based broadcasts championing dance music?  Yes – I just bought a dab radio which is cool , lots of good music stations on there too - I wish there was more decent old school pirate radio stations though as I still like to listen to the airwaves especially when driving. I’ve been listening to some old Colin Dale Kiss shows that I found on the web - that was a trip down memory lane.

Your remixes cover a wide-range of artists; do you find this pushes you more in creativity, gives you more freedom when re-working a track? Have you got a favourite remix of yours at the moment?  No - you have less freedom and are slightly restricted in as much as you don’t have a blank canvas - but I do enjoy working with the tools I have and trying to imprint your own stamp on the track. I think my favourite remix recently was perhaps the Toro Y Moi remix - because the original parts were so gorgeous, I didn’t have to do that much – but think I did enough.

What’s it like being released on such a respected electronic label as Rekids?  It’s been fantastic - and long may it continue – I’ve enjoyed my relationship with the label; they have continued to thrive through tough times and have continued to be very supportive of my sound.

How about More Music? Do you enjoy releasing on lots of labels instead of having one, firm home?  I think it’s the only way these days. I call Rekids my base labe, but have a small pool of labels I will work regularly with.

Do you feel being an artist signed to other labels has improved your own venture Tracky Bottoms? Not sure about that as I’m not certain everyone knows it was my label – I’m not pushing my name - just trying to deliver a good product with great music on a semi - consistent level.

How’s the label going? Anyone you’re excited about signing?  I’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline , but not confirmed yet , so I’ll keep that tight for now - but I m really pleased with the Deep Space Orchestra - Stolen Future EP that's out now.

What’s the pipeline for you, what's for the future?  Well I’ve got a few good remixes on the table - namely remixing the Hardway brothers alongside an Andy Weatherall remix ( for the label ''Is it Balearic'') so that should be a good package. I’m also remixing Crazy P and a new Swedish Pop artist but both great songs to work with. I’m just about to deliver my Remix of Odyssey too – it’s a brand new track by them - the original is kind of afro disco - and I’ve done a bit of deep jacking house take on this which I think works really well.. I have recently remixed Franz Ferdinand and that should be out any day and as mentioned before I have an EP with New Yorks' Let's Play House (which is a collab between Throne of Blood and Jaques Renault and Nik Mercer of Let's Play House), a single with Quintessential Music called ''Sounds of the Archives '' and an EP with Croatian label Burek called '' Michael '' (which will come out next year in April). I’m also looking to finish my second album with Rekids hopefully this year and I’ ve got a couple of sneaky collaborations happening: one with Pete Herbert , which is in conjunction with our new project Fly By Night - the opening night of this is on October 21st at the Nest , in London. DJ wise look out for a podcast from me on the Mixmag website - and I’ll be visiting some of my favorite places to DJ - Berlin and Oslo among others in the next couple of months.

Toby Tobias- Tomorrow's Bringing is out now on More Music, for more information head here

Listen to Toby Tobias on Pulse.