Beat Wala

After nearly a decade producing mostly mainstream artists in LA, Osunlade headed East, took a two-year spiritual sabbatical and launched Yoruba Records. Early on, he established two rules: 1) only sign artists willing to be mentored, and 2) only release works you believe in. In today´s podcast with Jo Youle, he explains how these artists have become his family and he only starts to release records after roughly four years and he really gets to know people. He created five albums in the pandemic and is in the process of putting this music out after a hugely prolific spell whilst the world slowed down. Taking time out to become ordained as a Yorubian Priest also had a huge impact on his sound. He moved to NYC, went to a lot of house parties in the late 90´s and crafted a more folklore focussed style of electronic music we hear in his sets today.

Henrik Schwarz, an internationally renowned music producer and composer known for his eclectic musical approach to composition and sound design, joins us in Ibiza for Episode 11 at Sunset overlooking Dalt Vila. As a producer and performer, he has successfully maintained a balance between electronic music, classical and jazz, and between energetic, highly charged dance sets at huge Techno events and concert performances in seated auditoriums. He explains his love for techno to podcast host Jo Youle in todsays episode and says that when he first heard it in his local club, he found it "horrible," until Jeff Mills turned up one day, took charge and literally "opened the door" for him, so that he could finally wrap his head around it. He says for him techno "is the most open music he can think of," and he hasn´t looked back. Amongst those whose work he’s tailored for the global dance floor are Michael Jackson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Boy George, Coldplay and Mary J. Blige. Since 2002, Schwarz has been releasing his own music, and has accrued over 250 music releases.

One half of Groove Armada, Andy Cato, joins us as we celebrate 25 years of House music record label, Defected. The electronic duo, made up of Tom Findlay and Andy, put out their latest EP, Freejamm on DFTD, a sub label of Defected back in May and in this episode Andy shares how they created the tracks and plan to release more new music very soon with them. Tom recently made a trip to New York where he hit A1 records and Andy says they needed excess baggage to return from the trip with the amount of samples they plan to go through to start putting out some new projects, including one featuring Candi Staton. Groove Armada play Defected´s next Tuesday party at Ushuaia on 10 September.

New York-based DJ and Grammy nominated record producer Danny Tenaglia joined music journalist Jo Youle for an explosive start to Series 02 in front of a live audience on the rooftop of W Hotel Ibiza. They first met at DC10 more then twenty years ago and Danny spent an hour revealing some of his finest stories, from starting to DJ at the tender age of 15 after his brothers snuck him into a club to see the scene that would become his life for the next 5 decades. His success came not behind a major label release, or a world tour, or a hit remix. It happened when enough people had the private Tenaglia experience for themselves. He has held residencies at Twilo, Vinyl, The Tunnel and so many other of NYC´s finest establishments, but it was not until he returned from Miami playing at Cheers, that he began to produce his own music. In 1998 Danny released his LP titled Tourism which featured his track “Elements,” which he talks us through the making of in todays conversation, as well as how he "borrowed" a few bits off Moby to craft the song. With his own warped voice providing the narration, “Elements” walked the listener through the different components of a dance track in real time, going from kick to drum loop to snare hit, letting each layer over the other until the track exploded with dark, drum-heavy energy. “Music is the answer” came next featuring Celeda which he explains started over a phone call with the vocalist and after a short get together, Be Yourself was also created during the few spare hours at the end of the session. Music is the Answer is now 25 years old, about the same mental age as Danny´s huge heart and never ending passion for his music, which he still making today, with his the latest release landing on Nervous Records soon.

Róisín Murphy has been performing live for almost 30 years and her music has always stood out in terms of the eclecticism from record to record. As she has morphed from one half of being Moloko, to striking as a solo artist, her sound has changed dramatically, especially with her latest and sixth studio album, Hit parade, that came out last year. A brand new remix package of some of those tracks has also just dropped, which forms part of the exploration of this conversation. From working with Moodyman and his unique vision for his version of What Not To Do, to artists she already has relationships with like Ruf Dug, Roisin says "no amount of begging will get you a good remix," and that it is down to an artists vision for the track. She gave all those who worked on her Remixes free reign to choose which, if any, songs they wished to work on and the results are a series of tracks that will fire up any dance floor. Join us for our FREE launch party in Ibiza this weekend as our second guest of the series, NYC House legend Danny Tenaglis will be joining us for a LIVE interview and then play at W Ibiza. Sign up for the Guest list Here

Today we are joined by Matt Black, one half of Coldcut, who are renowned as pioneers of pop sampling in the 1980s. The duo are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, which features chopped up samples of hip-hop, soul, funk, spoken word and various other types formats as well as video and multimedia.... The British born electronic duo also started Ninja Tune an English independent record label based in London. We caught up with Matt at the IMS in Ibiza after he featured on a panel discussing the labels success stories.

Our very first Episode of Beat Wala is Live featuring New York Artist, DJ and producer OVEOUS, who tells us how the death of his brother inspired him to create the uplifting music and words he shares today.His younger brother Carlos Paul, who used to go by the name of Ziiinc Blue suffered from depression and tragically ended his time with us on October 6 2002.OVEOUS says he was an incredible lyricist and he wished to take him to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and felt he could be discovered. When he went to clear his apartment he found a book of rhymes and he says his brothers spirit came in and guided him to use his own voice and find his way to performing for the first time - which landed him a standing  ovation.The rest as they say is history, but today OVEOUS uses his poetry and lyrics in live performance to enhance his musicianship and creativity at festivals and live shows.For the full story head to Spotify on the the link in our @Beatwalamusic instagram Biog to watch the video & hear the episode.

We meet Detroit duo, Octave One, at ADE in the first of three shows recorded at the Andaz Hotel in Amsterdam last month. Brothers Lenny and Lawrence Burden made their techno debut on Derrick May´s Transmat label with I Believe in 1989. It was the start of their 35 year career and was included on the compilation Techno 2: The Next Generation. It marked the start of their LIVE performance and shows they deliver in a very hardware heavy fashion. With their other brother Lynell, they formed the record label 430 West Records to release the vinyl record Octave One "The Octivation EP" and have remixed recordings for Massive Attack, Joey Negro, DJ Rolando, Steve Bug amongst many others. In 2000 they released their most commercially successful recording, "Blackwater" but say it took them in a direction they didn´t want to go and returned quickly to a more underground style.

Ben Westbeech has his roots steeped in the Bristolian music scene and is a producer, vocalist, DJ and classically trained cellist and pianist who lives in Ibiza. As a teenager, he got hooked on knock-off rave tapes and bought his first decks when he was only 12 and went to his first parties at Bagleys in London´s Coal Drops Yard. He has since worked under many aliases and switched music styles, which he says is due to the fact he makes music for himself, not an audience. Ben´s work has ranged from Jazz to hip hop, house and drum and bass and he has worked with a broad array of talent, from DJ Marky and Redlight to Kelis and Gilles Peterson, and combines his collaborative instincts with making his own stuff and running his own record label. His latest record which is scheduled for June is called Everything is Within You and Ben gave us an exclusive listen and chance to include one, as yet unreleased track, at the end of the episode, All in You (46.10).

Martin Stimming joins us to talk about his latest album Elderberry, which is a Live Techno concept LP in our next episode, which he says in parts is “mildly aggressive.”The fifth track on board, called The Seeker, is a moment where things get a little bit harder on the all hardware effort and he says it was created during lockdown at his Hamburg home. The german music producer is well known for using hand-made sounds and field recordings in his compositions, and crafting improvised sounds during live sets, but making this record was very much a static process for the tan tracks on board. He explained how he moulded a deeper, more techno oriented sound in parts, which he had time to systematically put together while taking care of his three sons. Elderberry was unleashed in full playback session at Akasha Ibiza where we recorded this interview after a full analysis.It’s out now on Carl Cox & Christopher Coe´s record label, Awesome Sound Wave, which is a 100% live artist label, focused on live electronic music artists.

Ten years ago we met French electronic duo, dOP at the Pacha Hotel, before their gig at Wisdom of the Glove with Guy Gerber. In today´s Episode we hear what wisdom they have collected through 30 years of friendship after meeting at school.The pair play and perform 100% their own music and we had an honest heart felt chat at Pikes about their party days, becoming a father (Damian Vandesande) and how that has changed things, discuss their time living and producing in Berlin compared to Paris for inspiration and how that shaped their musical identity, plus their sources of inspiration and why there is so much “hype” in the music industry around certain artists and how that can destroy everything for some and make or break bands.Not to mention that “Horny” moment in the pool at Sonar Festival and THAT video that went viral as a result and how it impacted their notoriety.

Christian Löffler joins us to talk about his new album, "A Life" for our third edition of Beat Wala and explains why his latest record is a departure from his usual love of melancholic music. Löffler delves into unexplored territory by looking into the influence of artificial intelligence in music making and reflects on his personal musical journey in this podcast recorded before his show at Akasha in Ibiza. He says, reworking the likes of Chopin, Bach and Beethoven for Deutsche Grammaphon marked a turning point for him. After the release of Parallels: Shellac Reworks as part of the DG initiative The Shellac Project, it gave him a lift. The German conceptual artist and composer was forced to step away from well-trodden paths to create his own interpretations of the classical greats which, as he explains, opened up a welcome dialogue between past and present and allowed him to step into a new future of the way he creates, which is demonstrated, on A Life´s first single, Roused with Malou.

Our second guest in the Beat Wala series is Tulum based artist Eduardo Castillo. He seeks out spaces in which self-expression, rediscovery and human connection can prosper, adapting musically to each environment. His sound encompasses the depth of his studies in the industry and influences stemming from a South American and European upbringing. He crafted his art through music composition, orchestration and was also training to become a tenor in opera during his time in New York after leaving his Venezuelan home aged 18. His in depth study provide him with a vast understanding of harmonies, dynamics and musical textures and last summer he brought The Overview Effect to Ibiza where Jo Youle hosted todays conversation in his private, temporary home in the island countryside. He frequently fuses Jazz, Avant-Garde, Middle Eastern, South American, Afro-Cuban folk, Soul, Funk, and Electronic Minimalism, in his compositions, live shows, his singing, and his DJ sets, whether in their pure from or intertwined with down, mid or up-tempo electronic treatments. Ultimately, simplicity is what Eduardo strives for. An effort is always made to have fresh, organic sound while inevitably providing touches of technological advances shaping music today.

This is Beat Wala. Serving up the stories behind the beats - and taking you straight to the soul of exceptional artists, as we sit down every week to unravel what fuels their artistic expression and creation with Music Journalist Jo Youle.