Next up in the 1 More Mix series comes Bristol-based talent Illament with a killer 140/170 session.
Easing us in slowly with smouldering 808 bass weight, Tristan Illament lays down the low end gospel and carefully maps his own musical journey and inspirations.
Exposed to producing at a very early age, he’s spent the 10+ years on digging deeper and deeper. What began as a love for heavyweight American style dubstep has now been fine-tuned into a swaggering, dark funk signature you can hear today on labels such as Incurzion, Flexout Audio, SWR, Calypso and, as of this coming Friday, 1 More Thing!
One of 16 artists to appear on 1 More Tune Vol 2 collection, Illament crashes the VA party with a big sack of groove grit entitled Eyes Closed. Listen closely and you’ll hear it in this mix just around the point he switches up the tempos. Eyes Closed is out Friday February 24, in the meantime check out Illament’s vibe and get to know his story below…
Thanks for getting involved in the 1 More Tune album!
I’m gassed to be part of it. As soon as I saw you put the opportunity out there I thought ‘I’ve got to be a part of this!’
Oh sick! Nice one. Tell me all about Eyes Closed…
It’s hard to explain really. When I go into making a tune I never think I’m going to make this thing or have something set in mind. I just made that weird funky bass and thought it could go somewhere started building the drums around that. I sent to my mates and people doing radio shows and the response has been sick. There’s videos of people going off to it in raves. It’s sick and I’m glad to have it out there, it doesn’t sound like much of my other music, it’s got a bit of vibe to it.
I think you’re developing a signature. I loved About You on Incurzion’s We Are Incurzion Vol 3 album
Ah thanks man. That’s a really different track again. it’s got much more of a musical vibe to it. I was playing on my synth here trying to get a nice chord progression and built it up from there. I’m really proud of that tune, I hope more people get to hear it over time.
It’s out there in the universe for people to find! How did you get into producing?
My mum’s ex-husband, when I was about eight, was a producer and DJing in Ibiza. He played tech house and stuff so I had access to DAWs from a really early age. Then I went to DBS in Plymouth in 2011 and started to really get into it. It was around the time of Skrillex’s Scary Monsters so I was making some very American sounding dubstep back then. Then I met Objectiv in 2016 and got into D&B and was like, ‘Okay this is what I want to do, this is my calling.’
So Objectiv played a massive role in your development in this way?
He definitely poured the inspiration out of me. Before I met him I was making some proper hard dubstep sounds but when I met Objectiv and he introduced me to this new world of music I was like, ‘Yeah this is me.’
But your love for 140 still remains, as proved with this mix!
Yeah these days I’ve toned it down a bit with the dubstep vibe and gone a bit deeper so it’s more cohesive with my drum & bass sound but dubstep is the reason I got into producing so it’ll always be there and have a space in my heart. If it wasn’t for people like Skream and his Stella Sessions back in the day. He was a huge inspiration!
Innit! Run me through the mix!
I really like starting off deep and easing people into the mix slowly. That first tune is a Host dub. It’s such a banger isn’t it? He’s killing it. There’s loads of new music in there that I’ve been sent by labels and mates. Quite a lot of artists who are really new to me, I just love the vibe of the music and it fits my mix perfectly. But yeah the mix starts off deep and slow, gets into a bit of a moody sound then builds up into more of a jump-up, Annixy type of sound as it builds up.
Yeah I love the jump-up energy in the Illament sound. You had an early release with Biological didn’t you?
Oh man that was a long time ago! That was with Telekom back in about 2018 or 2017. It made sense to come from aggressive dubstep that I’d head in a bit of a jump-up direction. I was used to that harsh vibe but thanks to the influence of people like QZB and Amoss I’ve gradually gone a bit deeper and darker. I think it’s an age thing I think isn’t it?
Yeah we mature like fine wines! So what’s coming up after Eyes Closed?
I’ve got a free download coming out on SWR who ar based in Exeter and do some really sick parties and releases. I’ve got a tune coming on Agro’s next Myriad release on Sub:liminal. We’re working on a tune at the moment, too. I’ve got some other bits and bobs but I’m holding back and stockpiling dubs at the moment. Once I’ve got a nice stash I’ll send them out but it’s nice to let them sit for a while. I’ve got a gig in Amsterdam in a couple of months, it’ll be nice to have a load of fresh tunes ready for that.
Is that Cheeky Mondays?
No it’s actually SWR. They’ve got a takeover at Spring Break, I can’t wait.
Go on. What makes a mix really stand out to you?
I’m all about vibe and how DJs set the tone. I’m not bothered about massive double drops or crazy blends, I like everything to be in key and for each tune to fit in. I love hearing the music breathe as well, I don’t need to be hit by a mix every 16 bars. I bought or downloaded the wav because I like the whole tune, not just the first drop! Enjoy the mix…
