You probably know Appleblim first and foremost as co-founder, along with Sam Shackleton, of Skull Disco – the label that’s probably done more than any to push modern bass music to the limits of innovation and idiosyncrasy.
While Shackleton’s early productions explored a dense, Moroccan and tribal-influenced psychedelia, Appleblim’s ‘Mystikal Warrior’, ‘Cheat I’, ‘Girder’ impressed with their sheer menace, their metallic sturm und drang. On SD006, though, something really special happened – Appleblim, real name Laurie Osborne, dropped ‘Vansan’.
Thanks to Ricardo Villalobos’s support of Skull Disco, culminating in his remix of Shackleton’s ‘Blood On My Hands’, the dialogue between techno and dubstep was already open and audible; but with the immaculately strung-out, richly textured ‘Vansan’, Appleblim crystallized that relationship once and for all. Taking its cues from Detroit and Berlin alike, ‘Vansan’ was a massive step forward for Appleblim, and has turned out to be something of a giant leap for dubstep and techno both. Since its release last year, a new wave of producers – among them 2562, Martyn, Headhunter and Appleblim’s sometime co-producer, Peverelist – have zoned in on the fertile grey areas between techno, house and dubstep, while still incorporating technique and influence from the original dubstep building blocks of 2-step, jungle and broken beat.
With impeccable timing, Osborne has founded a new label, Apple Pips, with a mind to pushing this brand of “forward-thinking techno-drenched dubstep, with swing and soul”. The label kicked off last month with Martyn’s killer post-2step double-header, ‘All I Have Is Memories’/’Suburbia’, and is set to showcase the talents of Jus Wan, Beat Pharmacy, Greena and Peverelist on its next few releases. As if that’s not enough, April saw the arrival of the Appleblim Rinse FM podcast series – each essential monthly transmission sees Laurie mix up classics from the vaults (think 2 Bad Mice, Steve Reich, Alice Coltrane and Mr Fingers) with upfront dubplates that somehow collapse any notion that house, techno and dubstep are separate entities.
Wait! There’s more. Appleblim’s Dubstep Allstars Vol. 6 dropped this week on Tempa. Eschewing the ravey over-exertions of the series’ last instalments, the man I can’q quite bring myself to call ‘Blim demonstrates his taste and acumen as a selector, showcasing all manner of progressive woofer-thumpers from the likes of TRG, Skream, Geiom and RSD. Check it out.
Basically, Appleblim’s your man right now. Time, we think, for a chat.
How did techno start infiltrating Appleblim’s sound?
“House music was one of the things that I first went out to, hardcore too, so it’s always been an influence, I guess. It wasn’t a conscious thing at all. Playing at FWD>>, I suppose I wanted to do something a little different to the Croydon guys – they’re so good at what they do, and they have the tunes; me, I’m not the best technical DJ, so if I played all the same records I wouldn’t be bringing anything new to it. So I think I just tried to bring in new things, come up with my own sound a little bit.”
I know you’ve been busy with Apple Pips, but are you working on any new Appleblim productions?
“Yeah, mainly doing collaborations and that. I’m happy with my home set-up, it’s OK for working on loops and half-written ideas, but I haven’t really got any proper equipment of my own. I need to invest some money into it because it’s holding me back. That said, it’s really interesting and educating to work with other people and see how they approach things. Me and Pev [Peverelist] have found we work really well together. I’m making more and more trips Nottingham to work with Geiom – we’ve really enjoyed bouncing ideas off each other, and we’ve got a couple of things finished. Oh, and right now I’m in Leeds, making tracks with Ramadanman.”
Why the decision to found Apple Pips? Why not just release the new records on Skull Disco?
“Skull Disco is me and Shack, so if ever we didn’t agree on something it wouldn’t go on a Skull Disco 12”…Apple Pips is entirely me, and yeah, there were a couple of things that weren’t really the right fit for Skull Disco, that I’d earmarked to maybe do something with in the future. The Skull Disco sound’s very particular, it’s nice to keep that sound. I mean, we thought Skull Disco would always be us two and us two only, but then to my surprise Shack was really into the Pev thing (Appleblim & Peverelist’s ‘Circling’/’Over Here’), so we ended up putting that out, which is great.”
“The other thing is, I get passed lots and lots of music. You know, it’s cool to go around the world picking up tracks like that and DJing them everywhere; but ater a while you want to go one step further, support the people who make the music and give something back by actually giving them a platform to put their music out…”
Tell us about the new Rinse podcasts. Davey Graham, Alice Coltrane, Fun Boy Three – not exactly your usual Rinse fodder…
“Haha, I was surprised the Rinse guys went for the idea at all, actually…I think maybe they haven’t listened to ‘em the whole way through, because I could see them being really spun out by some of the tracks I put on there…”
You’re based in Bristol now, right? How do you find it there?
“When I first discovered FWD>> I’d just moved away from London and gone to uni in Bath. I used to go out in Bristol ‘cos Bath’s a bit quiet clubbing-wise, and that’s where I met Peverelist and those guys. I’ve been in Bristol for two years now, working for Tempa part-time, but that’s been taking it out of me a bit. I’m in Bristol a lot more now, I guess I’ve come to think of it as home. “
Is Bristol more laid back?
“Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, when I used to live in London I used to almost look down on it for that a bit, you know? I used to think ‘Lazy Bristolians!’ But I misunderstood it, really. I think when you do stuff in Bristol, make music, put on nights or whatever, you have a certain freedom that’s harder to come by in London. That freedom comes of, you know, not always being on the absolute cutting edge, not always having to look around you and think “Am I doing the right thing?” . I think things develop more slowly and naturally in Bristol.
“That said, I fucking love coming back to London. And I really miss going to FWD>>. “
Do you play out much in Bristol?
“More and more. I’m gonna launch the label in Bristol…I’d love to do something regular there…At the moment I’m all about about finding the right venue. There’s people I’d like to bring to play in Bristol too, like Will Saul, you know, who runs Simple Records? I just really like his stuff, and would love to get him down for something.”
So what’s next on Skull Disco and Apple Pips?
“We’re currently working on the next Skull Disco compilation,. The first once compiled more or less releases 001-005, with the Villalobos mix [of Shackleton’s ‘Blood On My Hands’] tacked onto the end. We’re planning the new comp as 006-010, with each track remixed by one of the artists we’ve come into contact with over the last year. Should be interesting…
“The next release is the Beat Pharmacy mixes of ‘Over Here’. ‘Over Here’ is by me and Pev, and originally came out on Skull Disco; Brendan [Moller, aka Beat Pharmacy] has done two mixes, including a 120bpm, dubby house version that I love. Then we’ve got things coming up from Jus Wan, and then Greena. Greena’s from Brighton, he’s done a track called ‘Houze’ which is great, and he’s just getting better and better. He’s making some really interesting, odd stuff – including a weird crunk version of ‘Vansan’ – when he played it at FWD>>, Rustie went mad for it!”
How do you feel about the current dubstep climate? Do you think the division between post-Croydon wobble and the more, er, intelligent stuff is widening?
“Well, the thing is, all those producers I really admired from the start – whether it be Skream, Benga, Kode 9 or whoever – they’re still making really exciting, interesting music. They’re still taking it all forward. Of course, dubstep’s got bigger; the nature of the beast is that as more and more people make dubstep, then tons more shit will come out, but then tons more good stuff will too. I’m constantly surprised, amazed at the quality and innovation I’m hearing from new records and producers.”
Kiran Sande
