Submitted By: yodonks

Genre: Breaks

Date of Set: Feb 2nd, 2003

Filesize: 25.00 MB

Total Downloads: 26

'Dance music generally has got smaller, but in our world, it's grown. If I talk to a bunch of house DJs, they'll be moaning: I don't get paid so much, no-one one wants to kiss my ass anymore, I don't get paid £10,000 a gig anymore. Us breakbeat people are playing main stages. We're not in the backrooms any more, we're not leftfield anymore. We're mainstream.' – Dom Stanton

The Stanton Warriors have been busy. Over recent months they've pulled together their debut artist album, rolled out the follow-up to 2001's acclaimed, mega-selling Stanton Sessions Vol 1, and pumped up releases on their own Punks label. That would be enough for most folk but the Stantons are busy on a supersonic scale. Take their DJ schedule: not content with killer slots at Fabric and Manchester's Sankeys Soap, Dom and Mark, both from Bristol, have been spreading their sonic freshness to audiences across the world. They are huge in Australia, wildly popular in the Far East and South America and massive with dancefloors in Canada and the USA. Why? It's all in the edits, the grooves and deep down and dirty in the mix.

But before we slide out onto the dancefloor, let's stop a minute. The Stanton Warriors' debut album is a party-twisting selection which rolls it out, Stanton style – and still makes space for their own take on gorgeous, heavy downbeat like on unexpected highlight 'Still Here', featuring Eska. 'The track with Eska is really beautiful, but with a raw, heavy beat. That'll be a big surprise for people.'

'Lost Files' is an exercise in amping up the fresh. It features nuggets from singers who straddle genres including reggae (the bass'n'breaks boost 'Bounce & Twist' featuring Sandra Melody) soul (Tina Gray's on the jewellery-box moment, 'Slip Away'). Detroit techno styles on 'Blue', raw, rolling breaks on 'Hope Time' featuring the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It's all underpinned by the Stantons trademark breakbeat sound – take the sub-bass power of opener, 'Seeker' and closer 'Who Are The Warriors'.

'There are three strings to the album,' says Dom. 'There's a hip hop angle, there's the way we put soulful, jabby vocals over breakbeat and there's the world of house. We're just breaking off and doing our own thing. We've got singers and rappers and instrumental moments and deep house styles and a heavy Stanton Warriors feel.'

That Stantons feel includes a collaborative nugget with Rodney P, the killer 'Dip 'n' Get Low'. 'In the early garage days we were the first people to use MCs. This time round we wanted proper up-tempo hip hop rappers as opposed to garage MCs which aren't so much our thing. So we asked various performers like Rodney P.'

Part II of 'Lost Files' is the long-awaited Stanton Sessions Vol 2. Where part one introduced the world to then-new acts like The Streets ('I heard him on pirate station and really liked him. I thought he'd be big'), Vol 2 showcases Stanton edits of some hot new tunes: M.I.A's brutal Bucky Done Gun, LCD Soundsystem and Coburn's massive We Interrupt This Programme. Dom played the whole thing at Fabric recently and the dancefloor reaction proved that Vol 2 retains the Stantons' killer punch.

'It'll have something for heads to get into, tunes for trendy kids, moments for 9-5ers - not too much urban, not too much indie - basically, a good block party mix. We're very into the art of the party mix.'

The album was recorded over two years, with sessions finishing early this summer. By the end, they had 50 tunes in the bag, and have hand-picked the finest of their sonic brews. It's been quite a journey: three years ago their East London studio was broken into and 'robbed blind by crackheads' who also relieved the duo of their hard drive. So they moved into a windowless studio in the West London Rollover Studios complex where they settled down into hyper-productive tune creation – and found a number of peeps to draw into their new release: these included 'A few ragga guys, some hip hop MCs and some accomplished singers. We also tracked down Sway. He knocks all the grime guys out of the window. Beatnuts and Big Daddy Kane did something too. It just adds to the blockparty feel. It's fresh.'

So what next? Aside from some well-established hook-ups with American's vast booty bass scene ('There's Orlando this, Detroit that – but it's all about big basslines') and keeping on top of their Punks label, they'll be touring the Far East and Australia, planning their live shows and 'Turning down remixes 'cos they take up too much time.'

Finally, it might be a few months down the line, but of course there's Carnival. 'We do a big party every year, this year in a warehouse in the thick of it with various exciting guests and loads of rappers. It's the perfect place to hear our music – a diverse selection of people and a really big sound system.'

And that is the Warrior credos in a nutshell

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