Kipsy
Kipsy – Soul Deep Artist Profile Interview
Give us a little background on yourself….
I’m a producer from Nottingham in the UK, making liquid funk / soulful drum and bass with some live elements in it. I’ve been producing for a while but more seriously/consistently for the last 3 or 4 years.
How were you introduced to Drum & Bass?
A friend gave me a ‘Pukka Jungle’ mixtape mixed by his friend that included stuff like Bukem’s Horizons and Doc Scott’s Far Away. Also some other classics such as ‘P-Funk Era’ and ‘The Lighter’. The mixing wasn’t great but it didn’t matter as the tunes were so good. I hadn’t heard anything like it before and loved the blend of musical styles that it incorporated.
You had a new Artist Profile Album come out on Soul Deep. Tell us about the album.
It’s mainly focused on upbeat liquid funk type tunes with a few twists and turns thrown in such as ‘All In’ and a few deeper / more atmospheric tracks.
The title ‘Jazz Tangent’ comes from taking a basic element such as some jazz chords and then taking that off in a bit of a different direction with some other influences such as blues, funk, soul etc. One of the great things about creating a tune is that you never know quite what direction it will take. You may start thinking I want to make a tune like xyz but it always goes off on a tangent and morphs into a different style / sound from the one that you were originally intending it to be.
I try to get some live parts into each track, be it bass guitar, guitar or keys and for other melodic stuff I will have a go using the keyboard for strings / horns etc. For me that can be the most fun part of the creative process. If I get a bit of a creative block I will often go back to the guitar and just try and figure out some chords or a riff that I might then take back to the keys and use that as a starting point to build an idea around.
Going forward I would like to try and source more live parts such as horns / vocals etc.
For this album I have been trying to improve the drum production as well where there is always something new to learn and that is hopefully having an impact on the tunes.
Becoming more focused on finishing tunes is something I have tried to do for this album as I didn’t have the full set of tracks initially. Sometimes it’s tempting to leave tracks half finished and move onto something new if you get a bit of a block. Whilst doing the album I learnt if you liked the initial idea then often you just need to come back to it another day and just adding 1 or 2 new parts can transform the feel of the tune and get you back on track with it so you can finish it. I try to get a tune 90% finished before I move onto the next one and then go back for the last 10% a week or two later for mix tweaks etc.
What inspired you to write the album?
Going to see some live music is always really inspiring. There is a place in Nottingham called ‘Peggy’s Skylight’ which is a Jazz venue hosting a lot of varying styles of Jazz with funk/blues /latin etc. influences. The ‘Jazz Tangent’ track was written after watching a gig there. Other times it can be after a DnB night and hearing the music on a large sound system.
Also, inspiration comes from the constant desire to create something that you are happy with and trying to improve on what you’ve created before. That can’t happen with every tune you create, but hopefully there is an improvement over time.
Who are some of your biggest influences as a producer?
I think from a DnB viewpoint it would be a combination of the labels that I listened to the most when I first got into DnB which were V, Good Looking (especially the Progression Sessions series), Soul:r, and Metalheadz. Artist wise I would say Makoto, Carlito, Marky, Peshay, Random Movement as well as newer artists such as Sl8r, Dash and Motiv.
When you’re not listening to D&B, what are your favorite genres & artists to listen to?
It really depends on what I’m doing and what the listening environment is but it can be blues, jazz, rock, funk, soul, house, latin, etc.
Do you have a favorite Drum & Bass tune, new or old?
Not sure I have a favourite as there are so many good tunes but one that I always have when A/B referencing my own tunes is Marky’s Changing Moods with Lorna King not only because the mix is so tight and punchy but it puts you in such a good mood every time I hear it. A large number of Makoto tunes and Carlito tunes :0).
You’ve been around the D&B game for a long time. What do you think of where the scene has evolved to? And what do you think about the progression of the genre?
It definitely seems DnB is having a rise in popularity in the last couple of years, and as the scene has evolved so has the number of stylssub-genres. Think this is a healthy thing and makes DnB accessible to a wider range of musical tastes. Also, people who hear some mainstream DnB on the radio/at a festival will likely then stumble across other sub-genres such as the soulful/funky side that they hopefully then become fans of.
The improvement in audio software and online tutorials means that there are a lot more people making music now, it’s great that people have more access to what they are passionate about. The increase in volume of labels and music output can make it hard to keep up with everything that is going on in the scene but I guess podcasts/live streams can help do that and have replaced the mixtape. Listening to podcasts/livestreams of DJ’s/artists/labels that I have similar tastes to are very valuable as they’ve already filtered their promo inboxes/picked out the choice tunes.
What else do you have coming up that we should all look forward to?
I have a track coming as part of the Four Corners Music 100th release as well as 4 tracks coming on the 4CM Jazz Corner Vol. 2 which I think will be out next spring/summer.
Would you like to give any shout-outs?
Yes to my wife for putting up with the repetitive beats of half-finished tunes week in week out.
Whilst creating music is something you do for yourself to try and capture a feeling, it is a massive bonus to receive support for the music from other people. With the vast volume of music being created these days it means a huge amount to get support from labels such as Soul Deep, Four Corners, Detached Audio and Kos.Mos.Music.
I’m equally grateful to both people playing the tunes out and on their live streams as well as anyone buying/streaming the music. Massive shout to Scott Allen, Melinki, K2T, DJ Sincere and Donovan Badboy Smith who have been super encouraging in giving my tracks some early support.
Follow Kipsy:
https://www.instagram.com/kipsydnb/
https://www.facebook.com/kipsy.dnb/