Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque.
For today's epic interview - we have an absolutely legendary person stepping up to the virtual hot seat here on the blog - Canadian nu disco / house producer (and bloghouse legend!) - Laberge. Known for his seminal work on labels such as Solid Bump Records and buttery smooth (this pun wasn't intended) independent productions across almost two decades - it is an absolute honor to have him here today. Without further ado, I'll let him do the talking!
For those who don’t know you – who are you, and what music do you make?
I am Laberge, from Vancouver, Canada. I have been producing disco house since 2007.
You’ve been making music since 2005 – and rose to prominence during the bloghouse era – can you name some of your favourite artists from that period?
Well, my 2005 music was basically Daft Punk mashups or rave rap (electro house 140bpm with rap acapellas). Yeah that time was… something.
Building onto that, what would you say is your best work from that period as Laberge?
I think the Just Don’t Let Go EP was probably some of my best work of all time. When I was finding samples for the EP, I would go buy records from the Salvation Army next to my place. I remember buying a Pointer Sisters album, and when I got home, I heard the sample, and played it back at 45 rpm. It sounded amazing!
I then decided that every sample on that EP had to be a track played back at 45 RPM. I couldn’t adjust the pitch of the sample either afterwards. It took me a long time to find the three samples since the criteria was so specific. Every drum on the tracks was ripped from drums on vinyl. I think I layered on a kick under some of it but otherwise entirely vinyl ripped drums. I’m pretty sure the dry kick on We Don’t Know is a Sharon Redd track.
And what would you say is the best work you’ve done recently?
There’s that track I put in my recent mix called “More Satisfied” which I started working on in 2021 that I really like. I’m not really releasing any music so it’s a little strange to talk about songs I’m not sharing.
Another track I’ve released more recently was called “Hectic (2024 Dub)” a follow up to a track I released some years ago. Just a neat original production though its 160 bpm. The keys were recorded with a Rhodes I used to own.
Back in the summer of 2020, you released your killer album “That’s The Stuff I Like” – can you tell us some secrets of the production process for that album?
That was really a compilation of my best work. Every story has a concept behind it. My favourite track is “Losing Control” but I really love the Vocal Mix where I basically just played back an acapella section of an RNB track back twice. The track has over 6 samples, all playing at once, all New Jack Swing from the period.
Alternatively, stuff like Wake Up Your Body was specifically around using pitch shifting the sample as the melody. I still have no idea how I got the “wake up your body” vocals to do what they do, but it’s extremely cool to me.
One more example is Broke, a song I produced after selling my rhodes piano. But the real motivation was that I had become obsessed with 2000black, Needs and the nu jazz movement from the early 2000s. I’m fond of the pitched down Aretha Franklin flip and the bass. I took this inspiration so far I put out the Outside Spaces EP. Which has some neat ideas, if a bit… odd.
Aside from your fantastic disco stuff, you also are known for doing footwork and juke. Who are some of your biggest inspirations in those scenes?
The footwork scene of 2013 was crazy. At that point I still liked Disco House but I was putting out a lot of cool footwork tracks on little releases everywhere and people like DJ Rashad and many of my heroes were taking note. I still can’t believe DJ Rashad followed me on Twitter.
Footwork was much like disco house of 2008 when it felt new and exciting and an international audience was participating.
First random question of the interview – what’s your favourite dessert?
I’m more of a sweets guy. Deserts are often just too filling after dinner so I generally skip them. One of my favourites though is one my dad makes, basically just a puff pastry square, a lemon cream and strawberries.
You’ve had the opportunities to open for some awesome people – including Sunship, Fred Falke and Lifelike – what were those experiences like?
All the DJ’s and producers I’ve met have been cool and friendly. I’ve met so many people over the years and am thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given.
Before you became Laberge – you initially performed under the name Diizy between 2007-2009. What’s your favourite track you’ve done for that alias?
Probably a juke track called “Aight tho” - was one of the first tracks I ever wrote and still a pretty decent little juke track.
What’s your favourite piece of physical hardware to use?
The Oktatrack. I sold it and I held on to my MPC instead but for what it’s capable of, there is absolutely no other piece of musical equipment that matches the capabilities of the OT.
It’s a massive undertaking to learn, mostly because each option leads to a thousand more options and somehow all the limitations it has are basically nullified by its scalability. This probably makes little sense but I can’t describe it otherwise.
Recently, your incredible track Just Don’t Let Go surpassed 300,000 streams. Tell us a bit of the backstory behind that track.
Thankfully I already did, above :)
If you could open a club anywhere in the world – what would it be called, where would it be, and who would be the resident DJs?
I probably wouldn’t - I suck at naming stuff and I’m not sure. While that doesn’t make much sense as my success is thanks to these venues, promoters and fellow DJ’s, I was never a big fan of the club concept. I don’t drink, I’ve never been a night owl and unless you were at the one venue with a perfect sound system, I hated how loud it was. With the exception, Ginger 62, a club which had the best system ever. I could just sit in a corner and enjoy it for hours.
What are you currently listening to?
A lot of Grant Nelson music. His more recent song Relentless got me going through his back catalogue and there isn’t a week were I haven’t listened to this track or his insane Barbara Tucker Remix as Underground Network. And we can’t forget his contributions to 24HR Experience with Need a Man. I listen to lots of stuff but this is what came up first.
I’ll throw in this DnB album called Dee Pulse & X-Plorer - Pleasure Principles because it’s too good and people need to listen to it.
Do you have any tips for aspiring music producers and DJs that want to follow in your footsteps?
Do it for yourself and no one else. I listen to my own music because I made it so I could listen to what I wanted to hear in my head. I know I can’t make everything but I’ll try!
Do you want to give any shoutouts to anyone?
You, for putting this together. I haven’t cared much about my music in terms of sharing because social media put an incentive I hated in front of creativity. You have reminded me that there’s people out there who really care about my work, so thank you!
There you have it, everyone!
You can find Laberge on Bandcamp and SoundCloud - and you can also check his awesome YouTube channel for music, hardware beats and video essays. I'll link his Bandcamp and YouTube here!
As always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
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