Shy FX (UK)
Shy FX by name, shy by nature.
Here I am at S.O.U.R.'s offices trying to get one of their best producers, Shy FX, to answer a question longer than two sentences. It's quite clear he'd rather be somewhere else. Like the studio for instance, as it's from here his music does all the talking you want. This unassuming manner (and his slight build) makes it difficult to believe that this is the man responsible for some of the noisiest, beefiest, rawest, energetic jump-up jungle epics of the last few years. Maybe music is where he finds he can express himself fully, I don't know, but who cares it makes impressive listening and excellent dancing.
When a teenage Andre completed his sound engineering course, he was sent to S.O.U.R. on a work placement. He made the most of this lucky break when he made them one of the biggest tunes of '94, 'Original Gangsta'. With 'Goodfellas' dialogue, manic breaks and UK Apachi's chatting it was pure ragga jungle at its finest. Things went totally ballistic when they followed it up with 'Original Nuttah', another ragga jungle anthem that even made it into the national Top 20. How times change. Apachi now answers to the name of Abdul Wahab, and renounced his work with Shy. You get the idea the feeling was mutual; the whole experience seems to have put Shy of working with vocalists again. 'No disrespect to Apachi,' he says, 'but working with him was the hardest time of my life. I just like to do my own thing and be in charge.'
While Abdul is nowhere to be seen these days, Shy has returned to his underground roots and his music has grown and developed out of all recognition. 'I've dropped the ragga samples,' admits Shy, 'but not because everyone else has. I use whatever is relevant to the tune, but the basslines still have a reggae feel to them. I also used to be really into heavily edited and chopped-up breaks, but people can't always dance to them, and now I just try and keep tracks bouncy.'
Like so many other producers these days, he now also does a turn behind the decks, and while he doesn't push himself for bookings, he likes to play out regularly for other reasons. 'Since I've started DJing, I've found the tunes I've made are better. I don't think you can understand the effect of a tune until you've mixed it yourself and seen the response it gets. I used to make tunes with edits in the wrong place and whatever else would throw you off and wonder why DJs weren't playing it.'
Shy's debut album on S.O.U.R., 'Just An Example' was part of the first wave of jungle artist albums, and we can expect another in the Autumn. Looking back, it's clear he wasn't entirely satisfied with his first attempt, and now he feels his sound has matured he's ready to deliver a 'proper' one. Well, a couple actually. Shy's output is so prolific he's had to set up his own label, Ebony , as an outlet for his material and he's working on an album for it too. Shy's cryptic explanation of their differences is that the Ebony one will be 'bouncy' and the other, 'deeper', but we shall just have to wait and see.
Ebony began at the end of last year, and alongside Shy there's artists like Atomic Dog and Potential Bad Boy of 3rd Eye Records. Already onto their seventh release, the excellent 'Wolf' (another Shy FX track) and there's plenty more waiting in the wings.
Shy had his taste of commercial success, albeit unintentionally, early on in his career, but the bottom line behind his tunes is underground success and anything else is a bonus. While he is highly regarded amongst his musical peers and any true junglist, his profile outside isn't as big as some other producers, and I wonder if this bothers him at all. 'A lot of people have got respect outside of the scene and it's the deals that they've signed that's got them there,' he concludes. 'As long as I've got respect in the scene, that's all that matters.'
Here I am at S.O.U.R.'s offices trying to get one of their best producers, Shy FX, to answer a question longer than two sentences. It's quite clear he'd rather be somewhere else. Like the studio for instance, as it's from here his music does all the talking you want. This unassuming manner (and his slight build) makes it difficult to believe that this is the man responsible for some of the noisiest, beefiest, rawest, energetic jump-up jungle epics of the last few years. Maybe music is where he finds he can express himself fully, I don't know, but who cares it makes impressive listening and excellent dancing.
When a teenage Andre completed his sound engineering course, he was sent to S.O.U.R. on a work placement. He made the most of this lucky break when he made them one of the biggest tunes of '94, 'Original Gangsta'. With 'Goodfellas' dialogue, manic breaks and UK Apachi's chatting it was pure ragga jungle at its finest. Things went totally ballistic when they followed it up with 'Original Nuttah', another ragga jungle anthem that even made it into the national Top 20. How times change. Apachi now answers to the name of Abdul Wahab, and renounced his work with Shy. You get the idea the feeling was mutual; the whole experience seems to have put Shy of working with vocalists again. 'No disrespect to Apachi,' he says, 'but working with him was the hardest time of my life. I just like to do my own thing and be in charge.'
While Abdul is nowhere to be seen these days, Shy has returned to his underground roots and his music has grown and developed out of all recognition. 'I've dropped the ragga samples,' admits Shy, 'but not because everyone else has. I use whatever is relevant to the tune, but the basslines still have a reggae feel to them. I also used to be really into heavily edited and chopped-up breaks, but people can't always dance to them, and now I just try and keep tracks bouncy.'
Like so many other producers these days, he now also does a turn behind the decks, and while he doesn't push himself for bookings, he likes to play out regularly for other reasons. 'Since I've started DJing, I've found the tunes I've made are better. I don't think you can understand the effect of a tune until you've mixed it yourself and seen the response it gets. I used to make tunes with edits in the wrong place and whatever else would throw you off and wonder why DJs weren't playing it.'
Shy's debut album on S.O.U.R., 'Just An Example' was part of the first wave of jungle artist albums, and we can expect another in the Autumn. Looking back, it's clear he wasn't entirely satisfied with his first attempt, and now he feels his sound has matured he's ready to deliver a 'proper' one. Well, a couple actually. Shy's output is so prolific he's had to set up his own label, Ebony , as an outlet for his material and he's working on an album for it too. Shy's cryptic explanation of their differences is that the Ebony one will be 'bouncy' and the other, 'deeper', but we shall just have to wait and see.
Ebony began at the end of last year, and alongside Shy there's artists like Atomic Dog and Potential Bad Boy of 3rd Eye Records. Already onto their seventh release, the excellent 'Wolf' (another Shy FX track) and there's plenty more waiting in the wings.
Shy had his taste of commercial success, albeit unintentionally, early on in his career, but the bottom line behind his tunes is underground success and anything else is a bonus. While he is highly regarded amongst his musical peers and any true junglist, his profile outside isn't as big as some other producers, and I wonder if this bothers him at all. 'A lot of people have got respect outside of the scene and it's the deals that they've signed that's got them there,' he concludes. 'As long as I've got respect in the scene, that's all that matters.'