- Jamie Vex'd slips into his Kuedo moniker for a delightfully wonky mix of bass music.
- Even if you only have a passing interest in the more sub-heavy end of dance music, chances are you'll have heard of Vex'd. Jamie Teasdale and Roly Porter's fusion of dubstep with industrial and UK rave music on 2005's Degenerate album paved the way for countless international and festival appearances. Tiring of the hectic schedule and life in London, the pair decided to move from the city in early '07, with Roly heading west to Bristol and Jamie jetting to Berlin. Unfortunately, this meant that producing collaborative Vex'd material for their planned second album was a slow and difficult process, and they consequently decided to each focus on their own solo material. Jamie has been the more prolific of the two thus far, again aligning himself with Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu imprint for 12-inches both as Jamie Vex'd, and more recently under his new Kuedo moniker.
The recent material has seen Teasdale move away from the dark and industrial dubstep sound of Vex'd, instead taking inspiration from the new wave of off-kilter beatsmiths that have emerged in the post-Dilla era. His fantastically wonky take on Scuba's "Twitch" was the first track to hint at his stylistic change, but the two solo EPs that followed have cemented his reputation as both a formidable and versatile producer, featuring nods to blissful electronic jazz, kaleidoscopic dubstep and even ambient music.
Those wanting to check out Jamie in action can head down to RA and Red Bull Music Academy's free party at London's T Bar this Thursday, where he'll be playing alongside fellow bass scientists Scuba, Untold and Mike Slott.
What have you been up to recently?
Recently I've been finishing a few remixes, a few radio and podcast mixes, and my EP has just come out on Planet Mu.
How and where did you record the mix?
In my little studio space, the same one I write in. I used Ableton with an APC controller so that I could be more hands on, and not so program-based.
Can you tell us a little about the idea behind the mix?
When I do these mixes, I'm really thinking of people listening on headphones, on a long walk or long ride somewhere, and I'm playing music that has been feeding into my own music and inspiring me recently. It's not so much a representation of what I play live, but that's why I like doing these mixes—you can paint a bigger picture. They're good for collecting your thoughts and exploring directions, especially early in the year like this.
How are you finding the production process now that you're flying solo. Is your way of working much different, and are you enjoying it as much?
It's become more spontaneous, but not as a result of working alone. It's just something I've learned to value. I realised that the more you enjoy the process of writing music, the more the music bears that mark, so that's been my aim for a while now.
Do you think that you and Roly will collaborate in the future?
He was in Berlin a last month, and we spent almost a week writing new ideas. So yes, albeit very sporadically.
Can you explain your reasons behind starting a new moniker rather than keeping everything under the name of Jamie Vex'd?
Vex'd is its own idea. I shied away from separating the two initially, but it really deserves its own space. I'd like to keep that intact, hopefully to come back to it in the future, while I explore a different direction. I wanted to push my own ability, and try writing music that was more open, melodic, and colourful than Vex'd. The Kuedo material is closer to a lot of the types of music I listen to, so it's a bit truer in some ways.
What are you up to next?
I'm going to be doing some more remixes for a while. I guess they're like warm up stretches before an album.