TRACKLIST:
Chaka Khan – I know you, I live you (Danny Krivit Mix)
Melba Moore – Piece of the Rock (Laberge Edit)
Hotmood – Superstar
Shazzam – Hopscotch
Roy Davis Jr Ft. Peven Everett – Gabriel (Live Garage Version)
Chris Gray – Blue Waters
Joshua – Shimmy
Wrecktarr – Spent (Nu Sample Mix)
Paul Johnson – The Groove I Have
Silicon Soul – Chi-o-Laa
Tyshaun – Peace n Luv
Dimitri & Tom – How We Are
Julien Jabre – Yalopa
Ray Mang – Number One
Royksopp – Remind Me (Ernest St Laurent Moonfish Mix)
Cassius Ft. Leroy Burgess – Under Influence
Moodymann – I’m Doing Fine
To introduce yourself, who are you and how would you describe your music?
I’m Justin Laberge, from Vancouver BC. I’ve been DJ’ing and producing for almost 10 years now. My music is sample based with very heavy influence from disco, funk and soul. I’ve produced everything from house music, to hip hop.
Were you from a musical background or is it something you came to on your own?
As a child, my parents wanted me to learn the piano. My mom has played a lot of different instruments throughout her life so it’s always been a part of my life. I stopped playing piano at the age of 12 and started again in my early 20’s. Ever since I started in music, I was able to instinctively tell basic things like when songs were in or out of key. As I started to DJ, I began really finding the sounds I liked and the sounds I really didn’t like. I should have never stopped playing the piano though!
Which artists and styles inspired and influenced you the most?
Well the obvious answer here is Daft Punk, but to be honest, it was during the original Le Knight Club and Roule releases when I actually took interest in sampling. When I was about 15, my friend Brad had bought the original copies of Waves I & II and lent them to me. I must have listened to those hundreds of times. I was already into Daft Punk, but this is when I got obsessed with that style. In the simplest terms, house music from 1998-2003 is the strongest influence on my sound and style.
If you were stuck on a desert island, and could only listen to three albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?
The Avalanches – Since I Left You
I’ve listened to these all hundreds of times, and I still get excited to hear them again. Seriously how is that Shakatak album so good? There’s only hits on every track. The other two should be self explanatory, “900 Degrees” is one of the best sampled house tracks ever made, if not the best. Without a doubt “Since I Left You” is the best hour of music ever. Again I have to give huge credit to Brad for lending me both the Ian Pooley and Avalanches albums when they originally came out in 2000.
Do you have any interesting hobbies besides music?
Oh yes, which explains why I am pretty sporadic with my releases and tend to not put stuff out properly. I love skateboarding, snowboarding, video games, video production, writing and more. I’ve been working on video editing a lot lately, including After Effects. I started my own Youtube channel to practice voice-overs and editing skills. I think I’m addicted to learning new things but never quite mastering them.
Tell us a bit about the Mixtape you’ve put together.
This mixtape is really a big mish-mash of a lot of cool records I have sitting around, a few little side projects I worked on and just a few neat house tracks. Just a quick aside, there’s one track I worked on with Wrecktarr called “Spent” (Nu Sample Mix) which was really cool since he had used a Rhodes sample, and I reproduced it using my own Rhodes and then mastered the track with him. It’s one of my favorite tracks this year and I didn’t even write it. Other than that, I have an unreleased edit in here and the rest is just some stuff I really like. I feel it’s a bit all over the place, which is a pretty accurate representation of myself.
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