I’ve had a pre release copy of The Elementz production compilation ‘Crushmode’ given to me a couple of weeks back from Park Street PR and although I’ve never heard of these guys before I really enjoyed what I heard and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of big name UK rappers they had managed to work with so I thought it only best to try and get an interview with these Nott’s Dwellers.
As I’ve not really heard much from you guys before can you start from the beginning and let us know how you became ‘The Elementz’, and how did you guys meet each other?
Liati: We met each other DJ’ing on the Jungle circuit in the late 90’s. Zoutr had a night called Kung Fusion which was getting kinda big so I got asked by the magazine I was working for to go review it. From then we decided to link up and play each other some of our bedroom beats, I thought his sound was fresh and really musical, and he was feeling my stuff too, so we started doing some rough sketches and playing them to friends to get a response, then one day we got call from Dealmaker Records who wanted tracks for a compilation record they were putting out, we needed a name so we went with The Elementz cus it represents everything about us - you need essential elements to make something with substance - like natural rhythm, hot melody and the sweetest drums and bass you can cook up. We played a track to Scor Zay Zee, he went nuts for it and that became Voyage which was our first ever release.
After checking out the compilation album ‘Crushmode’ I have to say that what I was most impressed with was the clarity and general studio engineering that went into the record. What sort of mixing techniques do you guys go for? Do you control it all in the computer or do you use outboard gear? Zoutr: Most of this record was done in the computer using our library and some soft synths but we also used MPC's, a CDJ and a microkorg. We record vocals through a 1960 Drawmer compressor which gets them real crisp and clear. The beats evolved when we switched to Apple Mac back in 2004 and kinda stopped using dusty ass samples as much. I still like 90's Hip Hop but you can't live in the golden era forever! We spent grands on new and old gear and just went wild til we found our favourite sounds. The mixing and mastering is done in the computer at the moment with help from our in house genius John Ashmore. Once we get paid for this record we're going to cop some new ish and take it up a next notch.
What are your personal favourite tracks on the ‘Crushmode’ compilation? Liati: The 1st single “Gimme That” Featuring Blemish Blackstorm is a hot joint. It’s got a real grimy feel, but it’s sexy too and a straight dancefloor shaker. The drums hurt you on this one. One dude said in our listening sessions that if this track plays in the club when he’s out with a girl, that’s when he knows its time to go home and f***! Also 'Ruinin My High' Featuring Dubbledge feels good to me. It kinda represents a shift in sound for us and a step away from what we’ve become known for, Dubble’s a cool guy too, he laced it up quick time and he really put some valuable words to a heated debate - you’ll see what I mean when you hear it.
Zoutr: My favourites; 'We Be Them', 'In For The Kill' and 'End Game'. The darker side of The Elementz sound...
I’m Feeling this guy Blemish Blackstorm who you’ve worked with, although I’ve never come across him before, can you tell us a little bit about how you found him and what it was like working with Blemish in the lab and if you’ll be working together again? Zoutr: Blemish is the safest rapper I've ever met. Our good friend Michelle from The Voice asked us for beats for Blem and he tried to cop all 18 tracks off us straight! That was our first encounter with him. We sent him the gimme that instro and he sent it back about a week later laced up. We wasn't gonna put this single out first but our arms got twisted by the bigness of it.
I see that there are two tracks featuring the almighty Taskforce here I especially enjoyed ‘Crush Theme’, but how did you get your beats to Chester and Farma? Did you know each other before hand or were they just really feeling your beats?
Liati: We’ve always been big Taskforce fans, for me they always understood that Hip Hop made in the UK doesn’t have to be slow, badly produced and generally dusty and unpopular. They keep their eye on what’s hot and stay current in a kinda melancholy concept driven way. Karizma’s a good friend of ours and he’s known Taskforce since the Out Da Ville days so he hooked me up with Farma’s phone number, I called him and played him a beat down the phone, then a couple weeks later we were jamming at Farmyard studios in Highbury working out a concept for On My Case, we been friends ever since, when they reach Notts we go eat and kick it, when were in London we go Farmyard and sip a Guinness or two ya know?
I hear some electro and contemporary dance sounds in many of the tracks featured on ‘Crushmode’ are you guys into leftfield or dance music at all and if so who are some of the artists you have drawn inspiration from? Liati: I’m deep on my electro influenced stuff right now, I'm digging again hard, which is weird now cus its not just vinyl, you can find stuff everywhere if you look - even if you don’t know what your after, just be smart with your Googling, you can even dig at iTunes nowadays, its so open market and there is a big change happening in popular music, the small guy is on the pulse and the majors are slow right now to figure out what’s hot. The whole 80’s and early 90’s influence is dope cus that’s where we started really listening music hard and growing up. We DJ a lot of catwalk shows with our friends at Bantum Clothing and that’s really influenced me, I can play all this crazy bugged out stuff and it goes down sweet. UK Hip Hop hasn’t been cool for a long ass time, this fresh music that jumps genres is the new brave UK sound, were just going where its hot man. Wait till you hear the next joint. Name check wise for influences, I’m feeling people like Sa Ra Creative Partners - they have the future funk game sewn up, Toddla T is a badman to the fullest, South Rakkas are popularising this Electro Dancehall thing, Diplo is “The Truth”, The Cool Kids are the future of Hip Hop in my opinion and the French dudes at Ed Banger Records & Sebastien Tellier are so on it right now with quality and colour, its just open man, I’ll play across the board when we DJ now, I’ll even bus a 4 x 4 these days. Big up Roll Deep’s “Give Up” track as well man, it’s like 'Wearing My Rolex' for 2009.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Crushmode’ I noticed a lack of scratching or turntablism, are you guys into the art of DJ’ing? As I thought your style of production would sound heavy with some cuts laced over them.
Zoutr: It does sound good with cuts over but we made a decision back in 2004 to leave the cuts out of the majority. A couple of reasons being my Mum hates scratching (serious) and the main reason is the dj's can go nuts themselves. We like the DJ's to holla for the instros so they can do their own re-edits and make a better set.
Another track I really liked was the one with Dubbledge called ‘Ruinin my high’ which appeared to me like an almost anti weed song, what are your opinions on cannabis in regards to its legalisation in the UK?
Liati: Zouts is the expert here! I just think natural weed is the only way man, go check your local dread for that bush weed high grade if your gonna blaze, cus all the chemicals in skunk weed are so strong now, its murdering the yout’s brain cells man, its like coke or something, weeds supposed to relax you not hype you and send you nuts!
Zoutr: it makes sense bro your right and UK herb is the worst. When you go dam and it’s the hottest ish on the list I just have to... If it was legal here I reckon it would be gank anyway. It’s all about my organic growers they gotta straighten it out and weed out the sand and glass men messin up the minds.
I really loved the compilation and I think you guys are doing something new and innovative, thanks for you time. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of the excellent ‘Crushmode’ CD when it drops on OYM Records in May 2008. the album features Wretch 32, Loudmouth, Wariko, Taskforce, Sarai Jazz, Big Cakes, TB, Karizma, Kof, Stan, Shameless, Emcee Killa, Rukus, Malik, Shade One, Yogi, Fiasco, Dubbeledge, Blemish Blackstorm, English, Skinnyman, Shiva & Scorzayzee.
In the meantime make sure you check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/elementzuniverse.
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As I’ve not really heard much from you guys before can you start from the beginning and let us know how you became ‘The Elementz’, and how did you guys meet each other? 
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