A conversation with podcast duo Matt & Sam masters of the demanding and sometimes complex world of the after party playlist
Photography By David Coleman
The after party, a place where strangers become friends, stories are repeated and Spotify fizzes through classics quicker than a Kisstory mixtape. Everyone has their own taste however there does come a time when we could all do with a bit of guidance, step forward The Afters a podcast which as Matt and Sam explain is 'An explorative journey through music inspired by the after party vibe where you can expect new, old and eclectic sounds from all genres that will both ease the soul and get you on your feet''. We speak about their ambitions for the Podcast and what advice they would give to artists starting in the Podcast world:
Where did the idea come from?
TA - "Typically this flat is used as a place to go with a big collection of friends who are enthusiastic about music, we would ultimately curate the music for that time, not in a forceful manner but we’d always do it, it would be enjoyable and we’d find our ourselves going on a journey and people would feedback ‘where did you get this tune’ ‘who’s this’ and a lot of the evening was spent discusing. Because we both have a love for music we thought there could be a way of putting all this energy into something a bit more formalised, like a podcast. The Afters isn’t in the literal sense, we’d like people to look at it more laterally with the podcast encapsulating a type of vibe where people can listen to different types of genres and express their opinions, also where the music could become quite heavy or chilled depending on the different stages"
CK – So the afters for this is a place where people have the opportunity to be expressive and curate in comparison to the club where you’re being told what to listen to, you come back and now it’s your turn to take control
TA - Typically with an afters you’ll get such a broad range of genres with different people in the room you have a 3 hour timeslot which can span an electric range of music. It’s my favourite bit of the night where people debrief, it’s also the first time we noticed we can bounce off each other, play a range of music from start to finish and no one interrupted
Listening to the podcast there’s a lot of influence from industry labels such as Ajunadeep, who else do you think out there is really pushing the industry forward?
TA - The first person that comes to mind is Skee Mask, specifically because his sets are so explorative, you could be listening to a track that’s minimal and then the set is bounced to a mixture of techno and jungle, it’s new but it’s really raw, so rather than mixing music similar to everyone else they’re actually creating a new sound. So if you were listening out loud you wouldn’t really know what to do with yourself and that excites us.
TA - Regarding Anjunadeep what James Grant has done is a phenomenon, it’s crazy the size of it with a global footprint, they’ve become commercial without a commercial sound. That investment to become more involved with a label spans much deeper, it’s more demanding of an experience, you want people to become part of it
In your last podcast there was an interesting quote from Roy Rosenfeld about how house music has become rigid within sub genres, do you feel this is the case?
"These days there are plenty of genres and styles within the electronic scene, which cause our minds to be fixated / square and stuck into the "rules" of those music genres. We can always pursue those styles and learn from them a lot, but always keep a warm place for our unique sound and style. We need to preserve and protect the uniqueness and specialties of each one of us. Do not let it run next to you. I believe this is the way to success".Roy Rosenfeld
TA - I definitely think the aim for the afters is to move beyond single genre. If you do listen to the podcast and the last 15 episodes, you’ll find we’ll cover a broad spectrum… we don’t want to pigeon whole ourselves in being a single genre podcast. I definitely think there are too many sub genres and I’m not sure why there’s a need to create them.
TA - You think how hard it is to find that type of track, what genre what playlist, We went to Tel Aviv for example and were totally absorbed by the sound so we created a Tel Aviv playlist irrespective of genre. It’s a bit chicken and egg, you don’t just want to produce the same shit as everyone else but you do want a) everyone to like it because they already like a kind of sound and b) be thinking oh this is quite new and that’s the challenge, the more people who create a similar sound the more it becomes a sub genre which for now might be the only way people become involved in a certain type of music.
Which guest would you love on your podcast?
TA - That’s a big question because you could go massive. If I’m being rationale someone like Moodyman because he’s a bit of an enigma and very mysterious and amazing DJ and producer who’s been around the block. If you’re going big someone like Carl Cox, great personality with fascinating stories. Someone also I’d love to get on is KINK, he grew up in war torn Bulgaria, his dad used to sneak in vinyl because it was illegal to bring in, he started mixing with a tape record. All his sounds and music production are driven by politics and culture, a very interesting artist. And Burial as well because no one knows who the fuck he is.
If you could get anyone to perform at your own afters who would it be and why?
TA - Quantic (famous tune time is the enemy) for sure, I watched a 6 hour set at Phonox all played through Ableton and in the space of 20 minutes he went through Grime, Classical, Paul McCartney, Dub, DnB and Samba and it all went together. Catching Flies as a selector also listen to a playlist on Spotify called beats and pieces, very late night tales vibes
Bringing it back to when it first begun what advice would you give to artist starting out and who are thinking about making a podcast?
TA - I’d say understand your listener, is someone listening for the talk or there solely for the music, or is it both? is simply mentioning the track name enough? The feedback we recently got is what they like the most is where we've heard the track, add some background. Also same as any business two words, focus and consistency
Looking forward what’s your goal and ambition for the project?
TA - We’re looking to start producing over the coming months, it’s a segway to help us understand our sound which is pushing us more into making music.
CK - Would you find it difficult to produce considering the broad spectrum of music you cover?
TA - Yeh, I guess so, but I suppose we’ll find out. Also, we’re looking at gigs and events, playing out more and bringing the sound to a venue.
Listen to The Afters on Soundcloud & Apple Podcasts.
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