As the current lockdown is strongly affecting our lives in Paris, we are no longer able to continue the shipments of our first two releases. These last weeks were tough but rich as we kept on digging uncovered gems and discovering emerging artists.  Then, we wanted to help you being patient while stuck at home with our “Lockdown Paradise edits".

In this edits series, we’ll post 4 tracks edited by artists we are supporting and who accepted to share their latest works with you. We’ll provide the tracks and some small interviews so you’ll also understand their artistic approach and background.

For this last edit, we welcome DJ Duckcomb from L.A.

We’ve been following him for a long time, often playing his edits in our podcasts and DJ sets and it was a big deal to us to finally collaborate with him !

Hello DJ Duckcomb, how are you? What are you up to these days?

Hello Mister T! Lately I’ve been working a few mixes for Aquarium Drunkard, Pleasure of Love, Purple Noon and Balaeric Banana. The Aquarium Drunkard one went up last week and it’s mostly AOR inspired by these rather dark times we are living in. The others will be on a balearic tip but the Pleasure of Love mix will be more disco vibes typical of what I spin live. 

I have some exciting releases coming up on Emotional Rescue in the summer of licensed reggae disco jams including extended edits of mine alongside the original mixes. First up is local LA/Jamaica native Haile Maskel’s project 101 Band which put out a wicked 7” and 12” in 1983 called “Crazy Kind of Feeling”. I got the master reels from Haile and got them baked and transferred and we unearthed unreleased dub versions which was exciting. I’m very happy with the mix I did incorporating dub elements and making it a nice long track that feels natural and is true to the brilliant original. 

Also in the works of course is a release with Mister T which will dip into my lifelong passion for obscure italo disco. It will feature a very cool slowburn New Beat jam that i’ve been sitting on for ages and will dip into the waters of later 80s italo where the line between proto-house and HI-NRG cheese is blurry but when you edit out the offensive bits you have some something special for the dancefloor.

I know that you currently work as an audio engineer. Can you tell us a bit more of your background and how you came up with this DJ Duckcomb project ? 

Well DJ Duckcomb is my DJ name for at least 15 years now. I chose it as a joke because I had this comb shaped like a duck, I still have it actually! It stuck, and of course, it’s unique, i haven’t had any competition for this dj name! I began DJing in the late 90s in Florida, starting with s soul night and a brit-pop night which was big at the time. I moved to NYC in 2000 and started DJing more post-punk and no-wave sounds and eventually got huge into disco and started going to the Loft and becoming part of the scene there. I began DJing with Steve Shakewell as Sharegroove and we had residencies in Brooklyn for over 13 years.

Even though I have a music journalism background and degree, I went back to school for audio engineering in New York in the early 2000s. I ended up interning at a legendary studio in the Lower East Side called Loho and worked with everyone from Ryan Adams, The Roots, The Strokes, They Might Be Giants, D-Train, too many to list. Eventually the studio went under and I ended up becoming head engineer at the now defunct Sweetsounds studio in Soho where I worked on a ton of hip hop. 

I moved to Los Angeles in 2016 and got a job working for Penguin Random House recording audio books. While I miss working everyday in the music industry, it’s nice to have a steady job with benefits and not having to work until 3 in the morning, which is tough now that I have kids.

Because of your professional background, editing seems quite a natural path for you, but what’s your objective behind it ?

I started doing disco edits around 2005 or 2006 when I was in audio engineering school and learning Bias Peak and Pro-Tools. The first edit I completed is one based around the break and ending of Kool and The Gang “Ladies Night” and it’s still a killer! It’s very effective. I think it was the timing of me learning the software while also DJing disco records and disco edit records from Theo Parrish, Danny Krivit, DJ Harvey, etc that got me inspired to do it. It  all goes back to why the original disco DJs in the late 70s and 80s made them. You have a great track that is too short, or a mediocre track with an amazing section, and it’s really fun trying to break the code and solve the riddle and finish an edit. It’s so much fun, and it’s such a strange peculiar skill to have but i’ve always had a knack for it. I even won the Million Dollar Disco edit competition back in 2008 or so!

Do you have any creative process as a DJ / editor ? In the way you select the tracks, dig for new records ?

I’m a lifelong digger and have a bit of a reputation for finding expensive records for very cheap! Unfortunately those days of the crazy come-ups are in the past. It’s in my blood, I love going to thrift stores, flea markets, record stores whenever i have the time, and of course, now digging online as well. When I am digging, I go on instinct, looking at the covers and song titles and instrumentation and looking for players and producers names you recognize. This was essential back in the pre-internet and early internet days. Now with discogs, you can look most things up but there’s still plenty that’s not on discogs or youtube so having good instincts is crucial. My specialties are disco 12”s and islands/reggae disco. At this point, it’s rare to find things in the field I don’t already have but it’s such a natural high when I do. 

When I’m pulling records for DJing it’s a similar process, i just go through my 12” collection and just pull whatever i’m feeling in the moment, what i feel will be good that night. I don’t like to plan out sets at all, i just do it all on feel and instinct. I like to compare it to a painter putting colors on his pallet, for me the records in the record bag are the ingredients for my set. For the most part it works out well for me. I mostly play vinyl, and I’m getting old, so these days I feel I’ve really nailed it when I bring not too many records and play each one!

You told me this track was quite unheard, what would you let us know about it while listening ?

This track is certainly obscure, and to me it is quite special. It’s by a band from Barbados named Ivory. They are an all white group from Barbados which is predominantly black, so this would explain the Ivory moniker. Judging from what else I’ve heard from this band, they are a typical generic 70’s rock/AOR group, but this track “Warm Love” strikes all the right notes. It’s sultry and funky and groovy and yet quite short, so as an editor, I just extended it as much as possible to ride this groove all summer long!

Thank you Patrick and see you soon !

Follow DJ Duckcomb:

https://djduckcomb.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/djduckcomb

Mail : mister.t.records[@]gmail.com