The Glitch Mob feature – Serie B 2008

The Glitch Mob feature – Published in Serie B Magazine, 2008

This feature is accompanied by a mix, which is available here.

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Mobbin’ the future… West Coast rocks

As a musical tag, glitch-hop has a lot to answer for. Like trip-hop before it, it was nothing more than lazy journalism used to separate new styles of production from their hip hop origin. But if it wasn’t for glitch-hop, and the almost comical ring to it, the Glitch Mob wouldn’t have had such an easy time finding a name. A collective of four producers and DJs based on the U.S west coast, they were originally named as a joke. Like most good jokes though, it stuck.

Composed of edIT, based in L.A, Ooah, Kraddy, originally based in San Francisco and now in L.A, and Boreta, still based in San Fran, the Mob grew from the connections between the four, their collective gigs and their musical affinities. “It turned out to be a lot of fun playing with 4 people as it adds a dynamic that’s not present from a one person show,” Boreta explains while talking about their first shows together.

As Kraddy remarks though, “at first we were just a DJ collective but as we developed we tightened it and started operating as a band.” This idea of DJs or producers coming together as a ‘band’ isn’t anything new, but what the Mob have done is take it a step further by deciding to operate as one in the studio as well as on stage while continuing to release as solo artists. With the success of edIT’s second album last year, a string of solo digital singles on their own imprint, and more live shows and mixes than most people get around to in an entire career, the Mob is more than ready to prove that they can do much more than just “slay the crowds” as they like to put it.

A unifying element of their music is bass. The three San Francisco members have an understanding and affinity for bass led music after years of producing for and playing on big systems. Something which took edIT by surprise at first, leading him to “put the bass back” into his album after hooking up with them a few years back. “Ridiculous bass is very important: our music is made for large sound systems,” Boreta says, “we spend a lot of time shaping frequencies to optimize the experience of people coming to our shows.” For Kraddy the Mob’s music and production approach is easily summed up in three words: “dirty, fucking, bass.”

The other defining element of their music is its dancefloor appeal. To fully ‘get’ it you need to hear the music live. Armed with laptops, records, turntables, controllers and the desire to make people go nuts, they fuse their musical influences into a digitally enhanced melting pot with face twitching drum hits and chest rattling bass. This mix of styles united by bass has not only earned them an army of fans but also come to represent part of a new hip hop ideal, centered on the dancefloor and with deep-rooted electronic influences.

With their reputation and approach to music firmly taken care of with the last few years of work, they’re now returning to the studio for their debut album. But producing as a collective is wholly different to playing gigs together, especially when each member is an accomplished producer on their own. It seems, however, that what might be a hindrance is actually proving a catalyst. “We’ve worked out a good system to collaborate,” explains Kraddy. “It’s exciting working together because we all throw in ideas and what comes out is something none of us could have done on our own.”

As for what it might sound like, they joke but also hint at a sound that will be different to the live experience but still close to what fans might expect. “The live show is high energy and extreme, but the full listening experience is most important when working on the album. We want the listener to be enveloped in sound and taken on a high octane journey through sound and emotion,” says Boreta.
While the album takes shape the Mob continues its all out assault on the world with shows, releases and tours that should see their name cemented into the public consciousness in time to hit us with their debut and show us just how the west coast rocks.