Perfect vision

As always we love to spread the love. This summer a free compilation album will be handed out to visitors in around our venue to showcase talent and tunes from the formidably enduring label 2020Vision. Based in Leeds, owned and operated by Ralph Lawson, his team of dedicated and genuine music lovers have shaped the imprint into one of the most respected house labels in the world. Since it’s inaugural pressing in 1995 the label has achieved it’s status of quality and consistency from the point of view of both artists and the record buying public alike. At We Love we are delighted to have not only a talent such as Ralph, with a label so prestigious as 2020Vision at our disposal to compile this compilation – but also from a promotional point of view being able to provide you, our patrons, an objet d’art at no cost to yourselves is such a simple but effective way to give something back. As Mark says: “Simply the best promotional tool we have used in years, a back page advert in popular monthly music press is around £4000 and 10,000 fully finished CDs costs around £3500 delivered. Do the math.”

Ralph will be playing for We Love on the renowned Space Terrace in Ibiza on June 20th, July 25th and September 12th. There will also be a special appearance from Ralph’s live project when he will roll into Space along with Danny Ward, Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza in the form of 2020Soundsystem on the 22nd of August. Their album Falling released last year struck the demanding task of a cross-over electronic album being a clear picture, a representation of the artists involved, a “thing-in-itself” and balancing that with enough dancey, trackey elements for the underground to fall in love with it. We’ll leave it to Ralph to explain how the We Love 2020Vision mix came about and his thought process behind the selection…

“The label mix album came about as an idea from Mark Broadbent from We Love last year with the first one featuring Steve Lawler and Viva. It worked out well for everyone as it profiles the DJ who mixes, their label and also provides clubbers with a soundtrack to their night at Space as a present. I have worked for We Love for many years but in the last couple of years it has really started to click for me on the Terrace. I think firstly there was a move towards my style of House music in recent years and secondly I have enough experience under my belt now to know how to play it and get it going off. It is always a high pressure gig playing at We Love and it takes quite a few attempts to learn how to do it right.

Label compilations are very very hard mixes to do. For a start there are fewer tracks to choose from on a normal mix and also you have to represent as many of your artists as possible which further tightens the selection. Then they have to be put together into a smooth flowing mix! Not an easy challenge. I also wanted it to be as fresh as possible so I chased up producers for exclusive up front material. I also had the idea to include a couple of my favourite remixes from Blaze and Layo & Bushwacka so I had to ask permission for those. As 2020Vision is all about having ‘perfect vision’ we include many styles on the label and I needed to highlight this. The CD starts with Nu Disco from 2020Soundsystem and Crazy P which is actually much slower than House so I worked in tempo changes. It then picks up the pace into House and some more techier moments before leaving people with ‘Lovelee Dae’ by Blaze as a kind of happy last tune to go home on.

That was from the label perspective. I also needed to keep an eye on what works for We Love so I had a rule that all the tracks had to be playable at Space on Sundays. I picked a couple from the last year or so that were big for me on the Terrace last year such as Art Of Tones – Call The Shots and Mark Broom – People. Then I included ones I know I will be busting this year that aren’t out yet like Audiojack – Motion Sickness and Simon Baker – The Trick. I Imagined arriving at Space and heading upstairs to the top floor for a drink on the roof before where I could hear a tracks like ‘Ocean’ and then ‘Love on the line’ before heading down to the covered Terrace as the House starts to thump. A big turning point in the mix is the Radioslave track which is an epic production under his Panorama Garage moniker. As I was mixing the album I visited Berlin with Mark and Sarah Broadbent and we went to Panorama and Berghain. As luck would have it Matt Edwards (Radioslave) delivered his track for the album as I came back to the hotel and I put it straight on the headphones in my hotel room. After a night at the infamous club it totally hit the spot and I listened to it about 5 times in a row enjoying it more each time. Of course it had to go the CD and it marks the moment at a night at Space when the crowd is now ready to go and needs the beats tougher. The strings give a classic feel to the mix and really stand out.

I have a rule that I have to DJ my mixes live. I just feel they are more spontaneous and have a more natural feel that way. I can always tell when they have been pieced together one track at a time. I used Traktor Scratch pro to try mixes and then used Ableton on an Allen and Heath 4D to do the final mix but on the jam page so I could still DJ it. I did it like that so I could edit afterwards. It was recorded at 2020HQ in Leeds.” Ralph Lawson

Tags: 2020Soundsystem, 2020Vision, Berghain, Berlin, CD, Ibiza, Leeds, Mark Broadbent, Mix, Promotion, Ralph Lawson, Sarah Broadbent, Terraza

This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Ibiza, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.