Language: Having Larry Heard AKA Mr. Fingers at NegroClash – that was amazing for me not only because I’m from Chicago, and Larry’s maybe THE greatest Chicago House producer in my humble opinion, but he also told me afterwards that it was the first time that he had ever played in NYC. I was so proud of that, and playing after him and feeding off of the energy that he brought was incredible. Playing before Metro Area and DJ Spinna at the Diesel party at WMC Miami a few years ago was just bananas – playing for a thousand or so of my peers in between a huge swimming pool and the beach as the sun was setting, and the music was just sounding incredible. Also, playing at Kai Alce’s house night at MJQ in Atlanta is maybe the closest I’ve ever come to having a religious experience while Djing – just the most amazing dancers and beautiful response from the crowd.

DM: I love the Negroclash CD! How did you guys put that project together?

Language: Thanks – glad you’re feeling it. We knew pretty soon after our party took off that we wanted to put a mix together, partly just to document the unique dynamic that came out of myself, Lindsey & Duane playing together, and also the answer the frequently posed musical question, “What’s does NegroClash sound like?” We spent a few sessions together where we each brought some of our favorite records and began to piece things together from there. I think we did a nice job not only of showing what a wide range of sounds that we play at the party but also drawing out connections between those different styles and genres – basically trying to show the listener how we view music through the lens of the NegroClash aesthetic, which is really just anything soulful and electronic. We take an essentially old-school hip-hop and disco/house approach in that we throw together a lot of disparate elements in the mix and try to make them coherent. You have to remember that before there were hip-hop records there was hip-hop that as a musical culture ten years prior to that, and before there were house records, there was house music, a shortening of warehouse music, meaning whatever Frankie Knuckles played at the Warehouse club in Chicago.