If you live in our capital city, like good music, and like to frequent bars and clubs then no doubt you would have heard of Chris Read. He has just dropped "Latin Concrete". We dropped round his way to see what was going down and to get some answers to our questions regarding his latest release...
Give us a brief intro for those who dont know...
"I am a DJ, producer, music enthusiast, recording artist for BBE and Breakin Bread. I reside in East London, play and make music and enjoy all that has to offer as much as I can."
Let us know a little more about 'Latin Concrete'...
After doing the BBE 15th Anniversary album the label asked me if I would like to do a compilation of my own, potentially as part of a series like Kon & Amir and Mr Thing had done. Although I sometimes get labelled as a collector, I really view myself as a DJ above all else so I wanted to do something that reflected my DJ sets and the so called 'New Latin' or producer led Latin stuff is something that I've been playing (and making) much more recently. There have been lots of Latin comps of course including some on BBE, but very few if any I knew of that focused specifically on the type of tracks I wanted to represent. Plus, the opportunity to present them in a mix format adds a different dimension.
How long did it take you to finish?...
It's hard to quantify that really. All of the featured tracks were released in the last decade really and in most cases stuff I've come across in the last five years. Choosing the initial selection was pretty easy because it was based on sets I've been playing out. Legal clearance takes a while and a few tracks couldn't be licensed for one reason or another so I had to re-visit the selections. The mix took a while to perfect but as it was based on something I'd played out many times I knew how it would all fit together from the outset.
Who features on 'Latin Concrete'?...
New York's DJ Center & DC producer Oddisee who together I've just completed a remix for (coming out on Push The Fader records next month - you heard it here first), Quantic who's an old friend I used to DJ with when I lived in the Midlands and who you might say is the poster boy for this particular new wave of Latin sounds, RSL who are a band from Manchester who played at my club night in Birmingham almost 10 years ago now, Captain Planet whose track Samba Radiente I recently remixed for Bastard Jazz, plus a host of others: Palov & Mishkin out of Greece, Sweden's Beat Fanatic, Juju Orchestra from Germany and there are two of my own tracks on there too.
What happens next for Chris Read?...
Quite a lot right now - The DJ Center / Oddisee Remix comes out in about a month. I also have another single for Breakin Bread about September time and two 12" EPs also for Breakin Bread which are connected to the Diary mixtape series - all will be revealed soon! I'm also producing an album for a jazz / electronica sort of project with Lizzy Parks (Tru Thoughts) on vocals which is getting closer to completion. Currently I'm recording an EP with Chicago rapper / vocalist Pugs Atomz plus slowly chipping away at an album of my own although that's still some way off. There's also another range of Classic Material products coming out in June / July in collaboration with Foot Patrol which is also exciting.
Thank You Chris.
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