Headline DJ
If you want to define a model, modern Englishman in 2007, you might name Lewis Hamilton. He's young, hugely talented and has reinvigorated his industry. There is a clinical, cold steel focus in everything he does, and he has the disarming modesty of a true gentleman. These qualities all also apply to dance music producer, Duke Dumont, whose tracks are becoming increasingly famous around the world for their total dancefloor annhilation.
After an astonishing amount of viral hype on the internet, borne from one Missy Elliott remix (not a bad way to start your remixing career!), the Duke released his first EP, Regality, on Tiga's Turbo label, which has been responsible for some of 2007's biggest club anthems. It quickly became one of their bestselling EPs. Lead track 'Lean and Bounce' is a monstrous collision of bass, AV8 breaks and acid, showing how the Duke is completely fusing the best of house and hip hop, not to mention any other genre you can throw at him (he spends a lot of his time searching for new sounds to use, so that he doesn't sound like the 'preset pretenders'). Flip the record over for a chopped reworking of Debbie Deb's freestyle classic 'When I Hear Music', complete with airhorns and a the sort of deep, low-end bass your feet can't help but respond to.
The Duke grew up in West London, and his early appreciation of so many diverse sounds came from his father's vast record collection which is known as one of the largest in the country. In 2006 he entered and won outright the 'Diesel U Music' competition for new producers (previously won by Mylo – just another indicator of how successful you can expect the Duke to become). With a touch of English eccentricity, he produced and mixed his winning track in a wardrobe, a necessity to stop his neighbours reporting him for noise pollution. He describes his main influences as Garage plus the Neptunes and Timbaland's golden age of commercial hip hop, while Switch and Justice's DJing sets have also made a big impact on him.
His new EP will be released on Dubsided, and it's fitting that he's found a place with one of the great English dancefloor labels. Label boss Dave 'Switch' Taylor keeps up an incredibly high quality control that has led to classics such as 'A Bit Patchy', and Duke Dumont is just the man to maintain this lineage. In keeping with the Duke's heritage, the second EP has a theme of the English empire, exploring beats and music from around the world in a similar way to M.I.A's astonishing sounds. So you'll hear Asian and African influences on one track, Aboriginal Didgeridoo type sounds on another. It's a great leap forward for dance music.
Duke Dumont stands out from the crowd not just for his musical talent but with his distinctive English identity amidst the sea of faceless dance producers. His tunes are a DJ's best friend in the reaction they bring to the dancefloor. And he's only just begun.
Author: Tom Wilson.
