The best thing about being part of Mantissa is the great people that you meet along the way. We were recently introduced to John Xie, a talented London-based DJ, who has delivered an absolute ripper of a mix for our series! Make sure you check out via the link below.
We got the chance to chat to John about his influences, European summers, and his plans for a new party called ‘Orientate’ that will be debuting in London later this year. Enjoy the read!
Hi John, how are you doing and have you been up to anything fun recently?
Hey there James, doing fantastic here and hope you are doing the same!
As this interview is dropping, I’ll be in the middle of a monthlong trip through Asia, headed through China, Singapore, Korea and Japan. No gigs lined up here, but I’ll definitely be exploring the local scenes in each of these places.
I also recently put out another mix through LA-based party series Fast at Work. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re doing some of the coolest parties in LA, with fantastic DIY production and some heavy-hitter bookings.
How did you get to know the ‘Fast at Work’ crew and how does this scene in the USA compare to the UK?
Seyer, one of my collaborators on our Orientate party (more details below!), was also a founding member of Fast at Work in LA before relocating to London himself a little over a year ago. My understanding is that there is a small but tight-knit dance music scene in LA, but Fast at Work seems to be one of the few parties really focusing on bringing the more forward-thinking, fast-BPM, breaks-oriented sound to LA.
Carré, one of the other founding members, recently put out an amazing release through Darwin’s SPE:C label that’s currently getting quite the recognition through DJ circuits – go check it out!
What brought about your move to London from the USA and how have you found settling into the London-life?
I lived in New York City before London, and it’s definitely been an adjustment moving here – though now, after nearly 6 years, I think I can comfortably call London home. Personally, I really enjoy the slower pace of life here (as strange as that might sound) and everything this city has to offer in terms of culture, art, travel opportunities, and quality of life.
I’ve found the music scene here to be especially inspiring – both now and historically. It’s hard to understate all of the fantastic music this country has brought to life over the years: whether it’s Punk, Shoegaze, Jungle, Dubstep, Grime or Triphop. I feel like the formation of these genres could only happen in a place like the UK, and it makes me appreciate living here.
The move came about as I found myself in a bit of a rut in my late-20’s and not really knowing what I wanted out of life. Moving to London seemed like an interesting option to me given its familiarity, career prospects and fabled music scene (especially dance music). Ultimately and practically speaking, I got a job offer that allowed me to relocate here full-time.
I remember us chatting briefly about our respective Summer bookending festivals. Yourself with Dekmantel, and myself with Nachti – two of Europe’s finest festivals.
How did you find it, and how did it compare to other events you’ve been to across the world?
In full disclosure – it was my first Dekmantel and in my opinion, it is truly a world-class festival in terms of production value and programming. Every single stage was fantastic and each would be a top notch nightclub in its own right. Considering the relatively “urban” location of the festival (which is more or less in a quiet neighborhood of Amsterdam city), I also respect what they are able to pull off production-wise, especially compared to London city festivals.
You don’t have a ton of European-style festivals in the US – the closest comparisons that come to mind would be Movement in Detroit and Sustain-Release in upstate New York (there are probably more now, but I’m a little bit out of the game). In that respect, Dekmantel is definitely one of the better festivals I’ve been to worldwide, in recent memory.
Let’s take it back to the beginning…Can you tell us a bit about some of your favourite music and bands growing up, and what led to your discovery of electronic music?
I grew up in American suburbia (Richmond, Virginia specifically) and compared to the UK, there was essentially no electronic music scene whatsoever growing up (though I do think there is now a crew in Richmond called Behavior804 that are doing cool parties these days!).
Instead, my town had a big hardcore punk and heavy metal scene, which is what I grew up on – listening to local acts like Lamb of God, Municipal Waste and Down to Nothing. Funnily enough, I actually first discovered electronic music in university when I met some UK exchange students who introduced me to dubstep and house. I do think that punk/metal and dance music share a commonality in that they are all quite visceral genres in nature, and the act of seeing this sort of music live is built on making your body move.
What was the inspiration behind starting your own party?
Though it’s still in its infancy, myself and two collaborators are working on a party called ‘Orientate’ which we hope to kick off later this year.
We are hoping to eventually tackle a segment of the London dance circuit that I feel is underserved, which are Sunday day parties. This is something that I feel New York has done very successfully with booming party series like Tiki Disco and Mister Sunday (both of which have been Brooklyn fixtures for more than a decade at this point), and something that I don’t think has really taken off in London, given the standard club night format here (outside of “afters” type situations, which is not really what we are going for).
Ironically, our first party later this year will probably be a night-time event, but we hope to expand on the daytime concept in 2024.
What are your aims for your party – the artists you want to represent, the venues, the crowd?
We’d love to attract a respectful and positive crowd that is in-keeping with the Sunday daytime energy that we’re trying to curate. We want to have people out for a party, but also remind them that it doesn’t have to happen in a dark room until the early hours of the morning (most of us aren’t getting any younger, and do have day jobs, unfortunately!).
The sound we envision for the party is fun, energetic and lighthearted, inline with the daytime setting. Artist-wise, we are pretty open to anything that fits the above description, though we’d love to book more Asian and Asian diaspora artists, who probably represent a smaller corner of the scene today (Seyer, one of our partners, is Filipino-American, and and I’m Chinese-American).
The mix you’ve put together for us is so sick, thank you very much! Can you tell us the ideas and themes that were the inspiration behind your mix?
I really appreciate the kind words – thank you! Though it’s September now, the mix is definitely inspired by summertime in London. It’s a pretty straight-ahead, fun, 4/4 mix of techy and proggier numbers that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s meant to keep your head bopping and feet moving.
Who are your favourite DJs, producers and labels at the moment?
Hard to pick favorites, but I’ve been really enjoying Jorg Kuning’s new release on Bakk Heia, all of Fibre Optixx’s recent productions (his recent Mantissa mix is also great!), as well as the stuff that has been coming out on Nerve Collect, Identified Patient and Gamma Intel’s new label.
Medicine 8, a former house group comprised of the owners of Trashmouth Records (and current members of Decius), also recently released their entire back catalog on Bandcamp, and almost everything is a sleazy, chunky 10/10.
What other plans do you have for the remainder of 2023?
My main focus is just working on our inaugural Orientate party, which is looking like it will happen in late November. Insert the proverbial “big things coming” tag here!
Interview By: James Acquaye Nortey-Glover