session #054 – Diesler

Dip into Diesler aka Jonathan Radford. He serves up a “slice of the most charismatic spectrum of modern soul” or in our words, a funkadelic excursion from start to finish featuring labels like Jazzman, Freestyle and Record Kicks. His album “Life in The Slow Lane” as the duo Double Yellow drops 12 Nov 2012.

When and where, how was this mix recorded?

The mix is a collection of some of my favorite tracks at the moment from artists, groups and producers along side material that I have been involved in both as a writer and producer. I mixed the mix over at my friend’s house in Bolton a couple of weeks ago. We had a massive FIFA13 session after… and sadly I am not as good on that game as I wish I was!!

How would you describe it to us?

Well, I could either go with ‘loads of wicked funky tunes’ or ‘a slice of the most charismatic spectrum of modern soul and jazz’ haha – up to you! Hopefully its entertaining and enjoyable for listeners!!

You must be excited about your upcoming album as Double Yellow dropping 12 Nov 12. Could you tell us more about the process behind it?

Yes very excited that its finally coming out and with such a great label as Here & Now Recordings. The label have been a massive support in order to get this release out and showed a real love for the album from the moment they heard it.

Dave Lilley and I worked on this album in 2008 and 9 and it finally found a home in 2011 with Here and Now after being hooked up with John Cunningham from the label via a friend.

Dave and I developed Life In The Slow Lane over 18 months of recording and bouncing ideas back and forth to one another. We trimmed it into what we hope is a solid and engaging album after hours of recording horns, pianos, guitars, percussion etc.

We had an EP out in May which featured remixes from Yam Who? and Phase 5 Stereo which got an amazing critical response from Gilles Peterson, Joey Negro, Danny Krivit and many other heavyweight names!!

Could you tell us about your working relationship with Dave Lilley?

I first met Dave in 2004 when he was a promoter and ran a night called ‘The Beat Route’ in Manchester. I became a resident at the night and after some late night musical chats we made some collaborations, along with his wife Suzi on vocals, which ended up on each of my 4 Diesler albums.

We spoke about developing Double Yellow as a project in its own right rather than it just ‘featuring’ on my albums with the focus being on Dave as the vocalist. He took the lead to develop and write tracks then recording horns, piano and vocals etc around at the spare room in friends houses. We both worked on the structure and arrangement of the tracks as well as the production.

I think Dave is such a talented guy and I so honored to work with him!

What do you think is the best part of what you do…and the worst?

The best part is being totally dedicated to making music and producing. I love the creative process and releasing it. Quite simply I get a kick out of it!! The worst part is when releases might miss an audience which, of course, can sometimes impact on future ventures!! The roller coaster of music I suppose!!

And…what’s up for 2013?

Promoting the Double Yellow – Life In The Slow lane album, developing a Here & Now vs Diesler Remix Album, a secret 7″ Diesler series with another producer and working on new Diesler material with a brass band which should hopefully see the light of day next year, oh and the usual DJing and remixing!

Thanks for letting me guest on your wonderful podcast series!!