DJ NEO: acid meister

de-VICE the 3rd

DJ NEO: acid meister

Melburnian Richard Macumber is hardly a novice when it comes to fiddling with the wheels of steel and jacking a crossfader. He's been at it for years now, honing his craft and gradually claiming a reputation as one of the DJs to look out for in this prolific Australian city, recently having played at the last Belfast party.

de-VICE decided it was high time to find out more, on the eve of his spot headlining at the IF? Records reunion party, called ZuZushi 2, on 10th February 2007...

de-VICE:

What kind of set, musically-speaking, can people expect from you at the IF? Records jaunt?

DJ NEO:

It'll be a new direction for me. I've traditionally gone for big sounds, hard and fast techno and acid, but in the last year or so I've been collecting and playing around with some slower, more funky and kind’a quirky minimal, electro, techno and acid. Plus there's a whole bunch of cool stuff I've collected over the years that I've never really played out because it didn't fit into my sets back then which will fit in with this new stuff. I thought an IF? party would be the perfect place for me to debut the new sound. So it'll be an eclectic mix of new and old funky electronic stuff with an acidic edge. Mm-mm stuff.

de-VICE:

How did you come up with the "Neo" moniker?

DJ NEO:

It seems kind of lame now, but it was the first Matrix movie that inspired it - I just thought they created a great metaphor for what a lot of people feel, that there's something not quite right in the world and that it could take just one person, given a push, to make a difference. The two sequels kind’a ruined it for me, but everyone knows me as Neo now, and I could never change it.

de-VICE:

Any hot tips for other DJs?

DJ NEO:

It's not enough to just love the music you're playing. If you've never lost it on the dance floor, you'll never understand what you're actually doing for people - you have play to that instead of for yourself.

de-VICE:

How did you get involved with the IF? label?

DJ NEO:

I've been a long-time supporter of the label, and a fan of the artists and especially the parties - Omniglobe at Global Village was one of my very first raves, back in 1995 - and Andrez and I have chatted on and off various music related internet boards over the last 5 years or so.

de-VICE:

What does IF? mean to you?

DJ NEO:

IF? is like standing between two opposing mirrors and looking eternally forward and backwards into infinity. It's about possibilities. The label, to me, is about finding people who are driven to achieve the unknown with what they have at their disposal.

de-VICE:

What are your current fave records?

DJ NEO:

Abe Duque & Tijana T - Ghost Dance

Tommy Four Seven - My Friend

Foreign Islands - We Know You Know It (Misstress Barbara's Naughty Little Boys Mix)

Gonno - Hi Ronnie

Heckmann & Zenker - Lightpen Duel

Robert Babicz - Markatech

Blake - What? feat. Liza (Blake's Acid Mix)

Thomas P. Heckmann - Acid Cushion

Stuart McKeown - Synthetic Heaven

Francesco Zappala - Automation House

de-VICE:

What are your thoughts on sampling and humour in music?

DJ NEO:

I like that artists can not take themselves too seriously, and it can be fun also to lighten the mood on the dance floor. It also depends on the track, too. If a track is just great music and it happens to come along with a fucked up or silly sounding sample, I'll tend to play it regardless. What I really, really hate, though, is when a producer just puts in an obligatory sample that adds nothing to an already unimaginative track, just to make it more memorable. That's just lazy producing.

richard's also a jolly nice guy!