He’s been away for a while, but with a new EP on the shelves – and in his first ever interview – Navid Nourizadeh tells EQ what he’s been up to…
Last month saw the welcome return of Navid Nourizadeh, younger brother of Omid 16B, purveyor of quality deep house and all-round production tech-head. It’s been years since Nav’s last release – 2002’s Mawbass/Black & White on Alola – so you can’t really acuse him of being prolific. What you can safely say though is that he’s not wasted his time away from the production world. His new EP, Bassoligy – out now on Omid’s label Sex On Wax – is a beauty, and one which we hope will herald a lot more tunes from Mr Nourizadeh junior. To find out what’s been keeping Nav busy over the past few years, EQ tracked him down for his first ever interview…
It's been quite a while since your last release. What have you been up to since then?
Yes, it’s been a little while, but it’s been necessary for me. I’ve mainly been trying to refine my sounds. I’ve been studying sound heavily – for me it’s extremely important to have the time or even luxury to do that, and not only concentrate on making tunes. Making beats and rhymes comes very naturally to me – my stuff is not your everyday sounds and I never want it to be. I love spending time working out what sounds are good, what’s shit, and what useless sounds I want to completely stay away from. This way I’ve built up an amazing archive of sounds locked away on my hard drives, which I can break out when the time is right.
That’s not all I have been up to though. I’ve also been involved in some cool side projects that have kept me busy. I have my own studio in north London where I’ve met a lot of cool people making music in the last year. I’ve been working with a group called N-Dubz and I’ve produced two tracks from their upcoming album. It all happened very organically, just from hearing each other’s stuff down the corridor. You can check the tracks I produced on their MySpace page – one’s called Sex and the other is Love For My Slums which Dappi helped co-produce. And they just won best new British hip-hop act at the last MOBO awards. Respect!
Was it nerve-wracking dropping a new record after all that time?
To be honest, not really. I love putting out records in whatever capacity. In the past I’ve always kept it pretty low-key when I’ve put something out. I’ve not really kept up with much industry feedback and pretty much only really heard it through my bro, so I don’t feel huge pressure, like I have to please lots of people who have certain expectations. That way I make music I love without being bogged down by trends in music. I get more excited about putting out stuff than nervous.
How is the EP going down?
I think it’s going down well. At the time I absolutely loved the three tracks. I had a few accapellas in top of the instruments and they sounded amazing. I stripped the accapellas, and gave in the instruments, so if anyone laid an accapella over the track Bassoligy they would hear some phat sounds. But the problem is that it was a long time ago, and I’m constantly evolving musically, so when I hear the tracks now they don’t feel the same. I know that’s just me trying to move on though…
They’re three quite distinct tracks. Have people been surprised by the range of sounds on the EP?
I don’t know about surprised. I think people have definitely been digging it – reactions have been positive, and that makes all the time and effort I put in to making each individual sound amazing worth it. Yeah, I do it for me, but everyone likes a little pat on the back from time to time, from people they respect.
I like to think people would be surprised more if my tracks weren’t distinct. I think I am pretty diverse and don’t have a set direction. I’m all about sounds and trying to make them as amazing as possible, whether it’s a hip hop project, a dance project, or any other type of project for that matter.
Is your production taking in a lot of musical directions at the moment? What would you say most influenced this EP?
I think a lot of my influences come from my brother and watching him as a kid. Growing up in the eighties and early nineties has played a big part too. I just love the development of sounds from that period – they really stuck in my head. In my later years, other major influences are Dr Dre, early Timbaland, the very best album DMX made, Snoop Dog’s The Last Meal – that album actually tuned my ears to fatness in production, and that whole fat sound is what I wanted my house music to sound like. I think house music has just recently started to understand it’s all about the production, and it’s got to that place where production is becoming more and more important. That’s a good thing for me.
What's next from you? Are we going to have to wait ages for the follow-up to Bassoligy?
I’ve got lots of tunes ready and waiting in a long queue, and I’m dying for them to come out. So don’t worry, you won’t have to wait that long. I really believe I have some special music people should hear. I’ve done a lot of pushing in the past, and it can be a bit soul destroying, especially when you send out CDs to labels and get little or no response from them, even though you know the tunes are getting rinsed out in clubs. This is the name of the game though, and it doesn’t put me off. What it’s taught me is that there is no right or wrong way of doing stuff. I just need to find Nav’s tailor-made path in the music industry. That’s all.
Bassoligy is out now on SexOnWax. Visit www.sexonwax.com
