I heard about Dro Carey a week or so before this post via local Sydney DJ Nicky Damage and instantly wanted to know more. A trip to Dro Carey’s Tumblr and Vimeo sites soon became an epic audio visual journey through this prolific artists catalogue of original music. I quickly realised big things were happening and this was confirmed when i read that the Sydney based producer is one of FACT magazines top 10 producers to watch in 2011 with a string of upcoming releases at home and abroad. After making contact i was promptly provided with an exclusive Dro Carey mix for Forcefed Fistfuls (listen below), along with an illuminating Q&A session.

FFF: Whats happening with your latest releases? DC: I did the Trilogy Tapes one – Venus Knock. That was an EP limited to 200 pressings but because they sold out in a week 200 more have been repressed. Another Trilogy Tapes release is finished and coming soon, titled LBEP. And another Trilogy one is in the works, titled Chion Edits. As well as an EP for Ramp recordings called Journey With The Heavy that’s gonna be double vinyl. Finally there’s the Much Coke EP coming out in March on Sydney label Templar Sound. On Hum and Buzz [Ed: run by Ikonika and Optimum] I have the Candy Red/Hungry Horse single coming.

What can you tell us about your collab with UK Grime producer and MC TRIM? Aidan Bennison of Templar Sound organized that. He asked Trim over twitter and some supportive folks like Fact and Ben UFO essentially kept that request bumped up the twitter feed, if that makes sense. He heard the beat and put something together within a week or so. He sent the acapella stems and I did a new mixdown and that’s gonna be on the Much Coke release on Templar Sound. It was a weird experience because for so long I’d been contacting MCs to no avail and then this suddenly came about without me doing anything!

Your Vimeo channel is packed full; who is doing the video? I do those videos. Through mainly found footage and sometimes segments I’ve filmed myself. I feel it can be a good compliment to the music and also for promotion as well.

What are some of your main musical influences? I’m influenced by a range of music and production styles, Detroit Techno, Chicago house, garage rhythms, R&B, avant-garde/minimal synth records.

You mentioned in your Fact magazine interview “Even my most sugary productions are based around subliminal experiences of awkwardness, aggression and guilt”.  As a producer… and a neurotic, I think i understand… does this mean music is ‘therapy’ for you? I guess its therapy. I mean the core goal is to construct something fun and worth listening to, but also there’s this ridiculous undercurrent essentially that embodies all those emotional things. It’s very hard to provide evidence for this, given its electronic music, and I’m really not trying to simulate depth that isn’t there. Basically I’ll just say that yeah its an outlet for a range of neuroses. Hungry Horse was probably the first conscious realization of this, as it is an elaborate pun/inside joke concerning an ex-girlfriend (which is really lame now that I think about it).

Whats your argument for producers letting their guard down; are you yourself capable of being anything other than honest in your music making, or could you whip out a pop track anytime if you wanted? Actually, whipping out a pop track would be the pinnacle of honesty for me. In fact I’m going to have take an issue with ‘whipping out’… Writing a pop/hit song is the hardest thing for an artist to achieve. It takes more skill than any other musical pursuit. I am many stages from developing to that point and it is the ultimate thing I can hope for. It’s years away. Like I’m streetfighting right now, kicking a few dudes in the faces and impressing a small pit of people, but I want to be olympic.Some kind of Taekwondo gold medal. Refining your sound is never a corruption of an ideal, I don’t believe selling out exists. Letting your guard down is a matter of aiming for this but still being yourself, of not being elitist no matter what rung of the music world you’re on. Perhaps what I mean is that your personality can sell out.

You seem to be well noticed overseas, but still underground here in Australia. Is this accurate, and do you see this changing? It’s like Momus predicted, the internet age allows us not 15 minutes of fame, but to be famous to 15 people. And for me 10 of them are in Japan and 4 in the UK. Or some ratio like that. I’m underground everywhere, but I guess you could say I’m Artesian when it comes to Australia. Wouldn’t mind tunneling up to underground status.

Dro Carey Forcefed Fistfuls Mix

    1. Stagga – Ghetto Yutes
    2. Nochexxx – Timepiece
    3. Crooked Luck – Steel
    4. Sir Fresh & DJ Critical – I’m Smooth
    5. DJ Q – Final Boss
    6. Seiji – Sticks
    7. Sinden vs. SBTRKT – Seekwal / GS Boyz – I Wanna C Ya Acapella
    8. GS Boyz – I Wanna C Ya Acapella
    9. Royal T – Orangeade (Walton Edit)
    10. Kahn – Helter Skelter
    11. Soulja Boy & Lil B – That Boy Can Fly (Gucci Wings)
    12. Terror Danjah – Ride 4 Me
    13. Young Jeezy – I Got This
    14. Dro Carey – Delirium Event Line
    15. George Fitzgerald – Don’t You (SCB Edit)
    16. James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix)
  1. James T. Cotton – On Time (Rick Wade’s Grimetime Remix)
  2. Chromatic – Hypnotic
  3. BD1982 – Utukku (Ikonika & Optimum Remix)
  4. Yong 3rd & Tay 3rd – Fucc Dat Nigga (Tell Em I Said It)

Follow Dro Carey at his bursting tumblr and listen to his release over at Boomkat.