Talking to: Phuture Shock Musik
We are all about getting to know creatives and what makes them tick, and we recently had the pleasure of talking to someone fully embedded in the Bristol dance music scene; all about his passion for music, what drives him, and why setting up a black-owned and black-run business in the music industry is so vital and so needed.
Introducing Josiah Hartley, founder of Bristol-based independent record label Phuture Shock Musik. Much of the label’s output explores a diverse range of leftfield, genre-bending house, broken beat, bass and beyond, with a forward thinking twist. As well as getting to know Josiah, he also introduces us to some past key releases on the label, and the current signings he is really excited about.
Tell us a bit about Phuture Shock Musik. Who started the label up?
Basically it is a one-man operation. It is not a massively glamorous thing like you would expect with labels; I started it myself and just kept it going, doing all the stuff like press releases, organising the releases, promotion. It’s a lot of juggling, but I don’t mind because music is my passion and always has been.
Is that what drove you to set up a record label?
To be honest with you I always had a desire to set up a record label. It has definitely always been a dream to work in the creative side of the music industry.
When you realise you’ve got a genuine love for music, I guess for some it’s just one of those nerdy dreams to maybe one day set up and run your own record label, isn’t it? Or for others it could be to put on gigs/club events, start up a music magazine, form a radio station, or own and run a record shop - anything music-related really, as well as the many creative paths from starting a band or becoming a producer or emcee.
As for a label, whether you can make that dream a reality is a whole different thing though. For me the idea was always in the back of my mind; working at an independent record label and with the experience gained maybe one day set up my own. So as you do, I did the usual thing of seeking out possible work experience placements and internship positions at a number of labels to try and get a foot in the door. But I found myself facing the classic case of ‘with no experience, [there are] no opportunities available’. This never really made sense to me as the only way to get experience is to be offered an opportunity to gain experience in the first place.
Anyhow, fast forward a couple years on with some timely inspiration taken from the growing UK funky scene, I adopted more of a DIY mindset, did a little homework, and remained determined until 2010 when I started up Phuture Shock Musik on my own.
Tell us more about how you got such a passion for music.
My passion for music probably started in a fully conscious sense around my early teens with hip hop. Growing up in pre-internet/digital times during the 90’s with just MTV and radio, I was exposed to and enjoyed a lot of different music; from your regular pop stuff, hip hop, R&B, indie, and all the different styles of electronic dance music that came along, from house and garage to jungle/drum & bass.
On top of that, music was always playing in our household, especially by my Dad (R.I.P) playing his reggae records and sound tapes, my Mum would often have the radio on when cooking or even just hearing my older brothers listening to hip hop through their bedroom walls, so I guess I got a good ear and sense for it from a very young age. Growing up it was just embedded, hearing bass lines when I was a young kid, you know.
I would say in the early 90’s my proper musical journey began and I got the bug, you know? Hip hop was my first love; I got into Wu-Tang, Nas, all that sort of stuff, then came dance music like jungle. I don’t know if you remember the tapes back in the day which would be just going around, I had never heard anything like that, music sped up and connected with dub and reggae, with rare groove and soul samples in there.
Looking back, I feel fortunate that I was born in the in the era I was, to live through the birth of so many new and different genres of music - near enough spanning the evolution of UK dance music, even though I wasn’t quite old enough to go out raving to the exciting early jungle and garage days.
Are you a musician as well, or a DJ or producer?
I have dabbled with a bit of music, played in a few bands and stuff. I am an 80’s baby you know, I have been on the music scene a little while!
Around 2003 or 2004, my older brother gave me an old PC which had a music software program called Fruity Loops (now known as FL Studio) on there. Back then FL was the standard production tool of choice for a lot of people I knew producing hip hop or grime beats. It was kind of the Marmite of DAW’s and got some stick from some people, but it was free and fairly easy to use, so this is when I first started dabbling with electronic music production just for fun.
I had already absorbed a lot of different electronic music, though at the time I was into grime and anything produced by The Neptunes, and was making weird experimental beats reflecting these influences, with the odd few electronica elements also thrown in. A few years later I caught wind of the UK funky sounds coming out of London and instantly loved the vibe, picking up on its connections to house, UK garage, and broken beat.
Not only did I love the music as a raver, but for me as a young black man I was really inspired by the whole DIY ethos and raw energy of the scene, which reminded me of the earlier UK garage scene and grime to an extent. You had people like Roska, Apple, Fuzzy Logik, Fingaprint with Invasion records; all predominantly young black guys from underprivileged, working class backgrounds like myself, setting up their own labels, putting out their own music and creating an exciting, vibrant scene. UK funky still doesn’t get the props it deserves in the history of the UK underground dance music. It was definitely a big inspiration for me, but on the other hand music and label-wise I’ve also been just as inspired by say WARP, Metalheadz, and 2000black, to name a few.
Are you from Bristol originally?
Born and bred. I love Bristol, we have got a great city, there is always loads going on.
What is it you love about being involved in the Bristol music scene and the music scene in the city in general?
It's just got everything really. I am born to Jamaican parents, I have grown up with music in the household. As I said earlier my Dad was really into reggae and dub, the sound system culture, which was and is really prominent in Bristol, as you probably know. I got into jungle in the early 90’s so I was hearing that and then I guess it all just grew, and I got into the Bristol scene; Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, all the usual suspects!
At the time I set up Phuture Shock Musik there weren’t any record labels in Bristol that I was aware of releasing UK funky, broken beat or anything close to it in a house context, as most of the underground scene was still dominated by the sounds of dubstep or newer variations of it creeping in. And, as always in Bristol, there was still a sizeable D&B scene. With Phuture Shock, I wanted to represent something a little bit different from the norm and step outside the comfort zone of the archetypal dark and moody ‘Bristol Sound’ template. Instead, maybe bring a more upbeat, funkier vibe, leaning towards the left-of-centre, whilst keeping the heavy bass element in the label’s output.
Looking back now with no idea of the shape of things to come, the timing was probably just about right for us because the UK underground was at a very interesting musical crossroads in 2010, where a lot of cross pollination between genres was starting to happen, bringing about new hybrid bass sounds. It was a really exciting time in music again, full of creativity and developing scenes. Then of course you had Bristol boy Julio Bashmore blowing up around the same time with his bass-driven house tracks, and by the following year, almost out of nowhere, you saw Bristol go crazy for house music.
What also occurred to me though was the lack of (or near non-existence) of black owned/run record labels in the local scene. There were and likely still are hundreds of record labels in Bristol - a great deal of them within the electronic field releasing underground dance music of black origin, but you’d probably struggle to count black-owned and run labels even on one hand. And let’s not fool ourselves that black people just aren’t interested in running dance music labels or black people are only into “urban” music’.
That being said, I thought why not switch up the narrative and try to make a difference by taking up the opposite path to the well-represented artistic path? There’s never been a shortage of black creative talent in music, as history tells us. Ultimately it’s all about the music, but I think the electronic music scene could really do with seeing more black and/or people of colour behind record labels.
So is the label your day job or a side hustle?
To be honest with you it is kind of a full time hobby! You kind of, like the magazine probably, you just squeeze it in because it is your passion.
That is exactly it!
And that’s the thing, especially in the creative industries, it is a labour of love. You have to be willing to not expect loads of money out of it. With the label sometimes we won’t even break even with a release, we have lost a lot of money over the years. But I have never felt like just giving it up. The thing with music is it just draws you back in, there is nothing quite like it; it just connects people, it is a beautiful thing.
Introduce us to some of the artists you have got signed at the moment.
At the moment we have got a bit of a global roster, artists from all over the world. One is South Korean producer, DJ and award-winning turntablist, DJ Bowlcut, who is a prominent figure of Seoul's blossoming dance music scene.
Evan If is an electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Seattle, though now based in Barcelona and very much a part of the city’s experimental music scene.
ECHLN was born in Pretoria, though currently based in Cape Town. He is an electronic soul producer and audio engineer who has been bubbling away in the South African house underground and wider R&B/soul scene for a number of years now. Citing The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) as one of his key influences, his sound fuses house, hip hop and soul with an upbeat, futuristic slant.
Hailing from Atlanta, Stefan Ringer is a producer, DJ and all round key player in his hometown’s dance music scene.
And what about any particular artists and tracks that really sum up the label’s sound?
Psyah - Motherland
https://phutureshockmusik.bandcamp.com/track/motherland
I’ve never really considered myself a serious producer or ever planned to release any of the stuff I was simply making for fun. Under my production alias - Psyah, this is my ropey, Bristolian take on UK Funky with a little bruk twist to it, which became the A-side of our first release. With Africa – the ‘Motherland’ being the home of rhythm, I feel this release set the tone for many later releases down the line, not so much the production values, but in terms of the heavy broken beat influence and funky syncopated rhythms you can hear throughout the Phuture Shock Musik back catalogue.
Nubian Mindz
Nubian Mindz - Many Poly
Nubian Mind is a true pioneer in the history of what some people like to collectively refer to as 'bass music', which is pretty much the entire lineage of the UK dance music underground. Heavy bass and soundsystem culture is rooted in it all. I’ve been a big fan of his work since his early jungle/D&B stuff under his Alpha Omega alias on 4hero’s seminal Reinforced label in the 90s, through to his later broken beat and techno gear. Therefore it was a massive honour to work together to put out the ‘TV Watches You’ EP and further other projects. The EP is a rugged and killer hybrid of bruk, dystopian leaning techno and proto-junglist bizniz. This B side cut is an absolute dance floor monster.
Sandile
Cyclonix - You'd Better Not (Nu Era Remix)
https://phutureshockmusik.bandcamp.com/track/youd-better-not-nu-era-remix
The ever-talented Cyclonix has such a varied production palette that we really admire. Whether its house, techno, or downtempo beats he always brings something different to the table that captures the imagination. Marc Mac's work alongside Dego (as 4hero and both individually), has had a major influence on the label’s output and continues to do so. Having grown up listening to 4hero and related side projects since the 90s it was a dream come true to secure and release this stellar remix by one of mine and Cyclonix’ biggest musical heroes (excuse the pun).
Sandilé - Bulla Bulla
https://m.soundcloud.com/moskalus/premiere-sandile-bulla-bulla-phuture-shock-musik
I’ve always had a love affair with unusual chord changes, chords in general and the powerful feelings they evoke. Sandilé is a very talented producer based in Cologne, that has a gift for creating a great air of melancholy through her use of chords, whilst maintaining a solid groove that can range between hard-hitting and funky. I love how this track works on a paradoxical level with its dark and heavy, relentless bassline and deep emotive chord changes that trigger a hypnotic state that just takes you to another place. For me, it has some similar qualities as the deep intelligent jungle, that LTJ Bukem and his Good Looking records imprint were killing it with during the 90s.
Karmasound
Karmasound - Lo Único Que Queiro
https://youtu.be/U7O3ByVK-io
Damian Botigue aka Karmasound is an incredibly talented producer and musician who has been a staple artist on Phuture Shock over the last few years. I’ve always wanted to reflect some of my jazz and Latin fusion tastes on the label, and the rich musical diversity of his work is the perfect fit that aligns with PSM’s varied sounds and forward thinking ethos. We had the honour releasing his stunning debut album ‘La Busqueda’ album back in February, which has been our biggest project to date. This is a single taken from said album, and one of the rare few tracks featuring a full vocal performance by Karmasound, over a candombe rhythm wrapped in a Stevie Wonder-esque soulful warmth.
What do you like about running a record label the most? What is the thing that really keeps you going?
Basically just that lifelong obsession with music. Discovering new music is always exciting, there is still so much I have to learn; I am still a student in this thing, learning about new genres, new styles. It's the variety, and it's different [running a physical vinyl release label] from running a digital label as well. When you are running a record label in a traditional sense there is loads more to do, from the point of finding a track and getting a demo, in the rough raw form, you then have to get it mastered, get it cut, followed by getting the records pressed up. Alongside that you have to deal with the artwork, and the promotion and marketing. You are dealing with radio, the press, each release is a separate project. I just love it!
Although it's kind of difficult to make money out of it, I think you reap rewards in other ways, like discovering new talent and watching their journey as they go on to do bigger things.
What advice do you have for any readers who may want to get into the music industry? It can seem like quite a difficult industry to get into, quite a jump.
I would say that if music is your real passion, just follow your passion. If you are a producer for example, just do it yourself! Send in your demos, set up yourself. It does cost money, but lots of things do. You know, going out on the weekend costs money, we all need to have fun and stuff, but you have to make that choice, what you want to do with what money you have got.
I am all about the DIY ethos, just doing it yourself. I love that, like you are with the magazine, we are not necessarily doing it for the money, but for the love. If people pick up on it and appreciate it, then that’s a great thing, but just keep going even when you go through hard times. Follow your dream, as cheesy as that sounds!
What is coming up next for the label?
The next release to drop is a vinyl-only V/A release called ‘EXCURSIONS # 7’ via our sub label Phuture Shock Excursions on 22nd January. That one’s now available to pre-order on Bandcamp and most other vinyl stockists.
After that we have an EP coming up from Trinidadian Deep, which if you know his past work is pure fire, and we can’t wait to share it with the world!
Loads more things are in the pipeline, but as we’re still living in uncertain times we’re taking things at a steady pace and lord willing more will come in due course. Finally, depending on the status of the Covid situation and when clubs open again, we’d hopefully like to put on a belated event of some sort to mark Phuture Shock’s 10th anniversary. So hold tight for that!