Tom Trago & William Kouam Djoko - Trouw & Out

Now an international name across clubland (check huge hit-releases like 'Use Me Again' and just see its effect on the dancefloor), Tom Trago’s focus isn’t set on the global stage but on his home-roots in Holland. At the centre of the new, loosely-labelled ‘Dutch sound’, Afrojack is no longer applicable as a fresher, eclectic movement is holding up the country’s club circuit. Through his work with prolific label Rush Hour and his own series Voyage Direct (a platform solely for Dutch producers), Tom, amongst others, is pushing a tight network of emerging DJs and producers into a new light. Joining him in the mix is collective-peer and Rush Hour associate William Kouam Djoko. Having met only this year, they’re examples of how strength of community is channelling some of the most exciting and eclectic sounds to come from one location in a very long time.

Pulse: Can you tell us a little bit about your mix? What are the influences behind it? Tom: We wanted to showcase what’s happening around us here in Amsterdam. When it comes to Amsterdam music, we’ve really been inspired lately by our close friends and people that are here in Holland. The scene is really lively right now; we just wanted to show that.

Are there any stand-out tracks for you? T: They all stand for this certain eclectic sound. Our third release, ‘To The Next’ by Maxi Mill is a track that really embodies this crossover sound between house and hip-hop, really avant-garde electronic music. It’s way less straight than any other house music we’ve been listening to. It’s less afraid to experiment with arrangement.

Would you say in Amsterdam you guys have a signature sound? T: There’s definitely a signature, I don’t know if there’s a word for a ‘genre’ yet. I think it’s a bit weird.
William: It’s energetic. A couple of years ago you had people talking about the Amsterdam sound and it was more the minimal techno sound coming through. Now it has a lot more energy, it’s breaking right now much more internationally.
T: Amsterdam, Holland is known for so many different things. There’s Chuckie, Dirty Dutch, commercial house, there’s a really big minimal scene. You cannot really talk about a certain Dutch sound as you can a certain UK sound. But I think what’s really significant is that it’s eclectic. There’s more sounds simultaneously living here in Amsterdam.
W: That’s also the point of the mix, it’s quite eclectic. There are sounds, for us, which are completely new. Friends of ours made them; they’re sounds that get to exist because we are here, we’re all connected with each other and we are all friends. We’re all close but make different music...that’s the difficult thing about labelling it a Dutch or Amsterdam sound.

Does this eclectic sound translate into clubland? T: Definitely, it’s one of the things that have created this ‘sound’ – way more if I’m in London. In London there’s a dubstep night, there’s a house night, it’s all really strict. The last five years in Holland have been quite varied when it comes to clublife. You can hear hip-hop and house if you come to the same night. I think the clubs are far less specified to one genre. It influences a lot of producers to be able to make what they want, whatever comes natural to them.
In the mix there’s a lot of our friends who’s inspiration is clublife. I think it’s something we can cherish here in Amsterdam, it’s not new but it’s a sound ideal we want to carry out.

Where should we go on the Amsterdam club-circuit? T: Because we’re both residents at the club Trouw, we’d say go there! It’s a club which is really standing out at the moment. It really brought me and William and a lot of other people together, trying to feed this scene of really enthusiastic musicians.
W: The word actually means loyal, Trouw in Dutch means loyal. It just emphasises what we want to do.

You mentioned you’re residents, do you think residencies still have importance in modern clubland? T: I think they are important. They’re super important. You can grow together with a certain crowd and make progress with listeners. You can give a certain club a certain sound, show what the club stands for. If every week you have a different DJ who comes along and plays hit records it’s harder and less stable for people to commit. It’s also important because local DJs are always the guys who bring the people, their friends.

Being residents, playing to your friends – do you think it’s effected how you DJ, your selections? T: Yeah I think so definitely. When you play and your friends are there; your community is around you, you feel a certain pressure, or maybe you feel like it’s a task to supply them with dope new music. It’s not so much about entertaining the crowd, it’s about tracks you really love. When I fly out, I don’t know the people. You just do your set and there’s always love but there’s not so much love for the location or the people around you.
W: When you’re a resident you get to experiment. People trust you a little bit more that you’re going to bring it. You get a lot of trust from the club to get the residency: It’s quite important.

How does your pairing work when coming to the mix? You talk about this community, how far do you guys creatively go together? T: I work with a lot of people; Maxi Mill, I’m now doing tracks with William. We all have studios in the same building. Maybe there’s too much co-oping.
W: In Amsterdam what’s setting us apart is this gateway of artists who work together. There’s a whole bunch of us which are all friends, all musicians, all performers.
T: Making tracks together, working in duos you can make a really strong collective.

Do you want to take the collective global? T: I think it’s necessary. That’s what I’m trying to do is get everyone together under one name to release music. Everybody has their own character thought and we also need to give each other time to develop themselves and become secure enough to know what their sound is before having to commit to a group. It’s really important for everyone to develop.

Could creatives from outside of Holland learn a lot from how you’re processing music? W: Well I think the community thing is alway good. You don’t stand alone. People can motivate you.

Which of your peers should we pay attention to? Who’s grabbing your attention? T: There’s a whole list but I think personally the Rush Hour guys have always been there to inspire. They released my first music. There’s this big DJ legend called DJ Dimitri who really did a lot of stuff at the beginning for house music, electronic music. There’s so many guys...KC the Funkaholic, he’s been around for the last 20 years. He always gets it.

W: For me I’m still looking around the present tense. You’ve got my boy Makam who’s doing really well. Some stuff on Sushitech, which is responsible for bringing me into the deeper vibe. Not to forget about Boris Werner, Ion Ludwig and Tom Ruijg. It's to difficult to name them all - everyone is so interconnected.
T: Clone Records too this whole crew is really on the frontline for so long; 20-25 years they’re releasing and pushing great music in Holland.

Do you think it could ever be a bad thing, everyone being so close within a group of musicans? T: Only in the sense that at one point when or if egos look around the corner. People are going to be this is my turf and they’re going to fight for it then it’s going to be a bad thing. Holland is such a small country with so much potential, so much talent in every possible way.
W: As soon as ego sticks its ugly face out then it’s going to be a bad thing but at the moment me and Tom are trying to push this positive vibe, to be positive for the collective.
T: Groups of people come and go, but they can stop a forward motion.
W: Overall though I don’t think hostility is something we’re going to encounter yet.

Finally, what’s coming up for you guys in and out of the collective? T: Next week we have a party in London, Tief for a Voyage Direct showcase. I’m setting up these in a lot more countries; London’s the first then France, Italy, Germany. We want to have nights that showcase artists only from Holland. Apart from that we’re going to keep on releasing fresh music, keep helping each other to do good music. I’m also working on a new album to be released on Rush Hour, February it should be ready.
W: I’m keeping playing a lot of new music. I don’t have any concrete releases planned but I want to further work on my act. Working on my resident night I host with Boris Werner at Trouw: Late Night Society.
I’m playing some nights with the Visionquest guys. And yeah, just working on the collective in Amsterdam.

Download Pulse.089 - Tom Trago & William Kouam Djoko here

1. Shoebox 33 edit #2
2. Makam - Desire [sushitech]
3. Awanto3 - Get Dat BDB [Voyage Direct]
4. Kib Sublime - 04-DG10002 [Dopeness Galore]
5. Tom Trago - My Love (Melon EDIT) [unreleased]
6. William Kouam Djoko - Music Man [unreleased]
7. Tom Ruijg - Session 1.2 [unreleased]
8. William Kouam Djoko - Enforce YS [Voyage Direct]
9. Maxi Mill - To The Next [Voyage Direct]
10. Tom Trago - We Like Dubs [Rush Hour]
11. Tom Trago - On The Side (Rushhour)
12. Aurelius ft San ‘Champagne’ Proper - Twsted [unreleased]
13. Boris Werner - Heyheyheyheyhey [unreleased]

{SECOND HOUR}
1. Overlast - Nuc Wombitch Rangerrover {Voyage Direct]
2. Ion Ludwig pres. Tone Bardo Therapy - Mirrors Placed In Front of Me [HENK] 3. Alfabet - Chicago Thank You [Rush Hour]
4. Tom Trago - Hunter S Thompson [unreleased]
5. William Kouam Djoko - We Are Your Brothers & Sisters [Voyage Direct]
6. Maxi Mill - Drive Fear (Voyage Direct)
7. Dexter & Awanto3 - Jean [unreleased]
8. Tom Trago & Cinnaman - Praise Your Love (Rushhour)
9. Alfabet - Hell Of Samba [Rush Hour]
10. Melon - Feel Like You [Voyage Direct]
11. San Proper - Night Falls [Rush Hour]
12. Tom Trago - Shutters [Rush Hour]
13. William Kouam Djoko - Mystic Niger [unreleased]
14. Simon Weiss - Parallels [unreleased]
15. Policy - One Last Time (Tom Trago & Maxi Mill RMX) [Rush Hour]

Listen to Tom Trago and William Kouam Djoko on Pulse Radio