Loon with the tunes

>> When it comes to the wide world of grooves, England’s Switch lives up to his name

by JACK OATMON

Dave Taylor of Chester, England, aka Switch (and also Solid Groove), is a tough guy to get a hold of, and with good reason. Aside from applying his signature genre-garbling house style to remixes for the upper crust of the dance music scene—from Lady Sovereign and Futureheads to Chemical Brothers and Spank Rock—and a residency at London’s infamous Fabric nightclub, he’s also done production duty on M.I.A.’s forthcoming album, Power Power, and toured hectically. Before he flew off to Austin, Texas to Diplo’s SXSW party, the Mirror tracked Switch down for a highway-side phone conversation about working with M.I.A. (aka Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam), partying and jumping around like a loon.

“I actually got involved right at the end of Maya’s last album, and worked on ‘Bucky Done Gun’ and ‘Pull Up the People,’” says Taylor. “I kept in touch with her and when she decided to do this new album, she had the idea to go and source underground music from far-flung corners of the world. She grew up in a place called Chennai in India, so we went out there and met all these amazing musicians. We formed the basis of the album there and then we basically just went to all these mad crazy places to hear different underground club sounds. Then we took it all back to New York and worked on it there.”

The idea of Dave Taylor compressing club sounds from multiple continents shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who have heard his recent tracks, which jam elements of just about any genre you can bother to name on top of a dance beat to form off-kilter, staccato club ragers that command attention.

“I suppose that’s why we managed to find a good working relationship, because I like to switch from genre to genre and I incorporate different styles into a club sound.”

That’s a formula that Taylor says is quickly gaining momentum. “There are more people whose ears have opened up to it. At the clubs and gigs I play, it feels really fresh, the reaction. It’s not the traditional house club where the beat stays the same for six hours and everyone plods along. Mix it up a little bit, you know?

“It’s just a result of the technology, really. I’m currently switching from Ableton to Serato because you get all of the advantages that a laptop set-up can add, but you still have that physical presence as a DJ. I found using a laptop sort of awkward because I’d always end up setting the computer to one side of the decks or under a monitor. Also, using MIDI controllers can sometimes be a bit fiddly when you’re jumping around like a loon to house music.”

With “jumping around like a loon,” Taylor’s referring to behaviour which is reputedly a regular feature of his DJ sets. “I just did a tour of the States where I managed to miss 11 flights, because I like to get involved. If people are coming out for a night out, I like to come out for a night out as well. I’m definitely not one of these studious DJs who show up, play their records and order a cab for five minutes after their set. That’s definitely not me.”

With Jordan Dare, Sean Kosa and DJ Bind
at les Saints on Saturday, March 17, 10 p.m., $25