SAMPLING
Remember breakbeats? While the youthful fellows from Prospa might not recall those halcyon days of rave, they still do plenty to honor its genres. Indeed, the Leeds-bred/London-based lads – Gosha Smith and Harvey Blumler, both 22 – offer quite a blast from the past. Just check their latest EP, “Rave Science, Vol. 1,” which imagines some of the more thrilling moments of ’90s “electronica” acts like The Chemical Brothers, while still dropping punchy elements of U.K. bass. Cuts like “Sira,” an anthemic collab with Sweden’s DJ Seinfeld, and “Burns No More,” a bracing techno ride over whopping breaks, highlight the package. We recently connected with the duo during their LonProspa: (from left) Gosha Smith & Harvey Blumler. don lockdown. DJ Times: How have you spent the past year? Harvey Blumler: Making music, as we always do; however, we were living away from each other, which had its positives and negatives. The positive side of it was that they’ve been we didn’t have any shows to play; therefore, we had way more time to be able to waiting for. experiment with new technology and reinvent part of our sound.The list of negatives DJ Times: is endless. For example, we couldn’t switch between each other’s rooms when we What’s in your stuwanted to work on something in precise detail – and we missed the shows! dio? Gosha Smith: Yes, we lost the whole summer and we had a special event lined Blumler : Roland up in Ibiza, which really meant everything to us – 2020 was looking to be a year JX-3P, Roland Kiwi-3P, Euthat really stepped up our live game. We had not just DJ sets planned, but also live rorack Modular with countperformances with synthesizers, drum parts, modular synths and the rest. We also less modules, two acoustic lost extremely important income-producing work, which put a massive stress on guitars, a Fender Strat, a gueverything. zheng, a bouzouki, a Minimoog, Blumler: Streams and radio play are the only viable source of income at the moand a Roland drum pad. ment. We were really planning to try and get into making music for media and film, DJ Times: And online? but, as there are barely any operational workplaces, we weren’t able to get anything. Blumler : We have been running DJ Times: How have things changed over time? Rave Science Virtual Warehouse, a live, Smith: Everything has changed. I feel like the lack of gigs can really affect how virtual-reality rave, based in a crazy, dystoyou make your music, as we take a lot of that inspiration from the live side straight pian, abandoned bunker where you can literinto our production. With the lack of shows, we have had the opportunity to ally move your screen around to our own Proexplore new creative ventures within us, as musicians, and it has really benefited spa world – and everyone who wishes they were the progression of our sound. Incorporating acoustic instruments and structured at a rave can connect all at once. We really did this songwriting has been fun. for all of the people needing an escape and for those DJ Times: What has this downtime taught you? who haven’t been able to properly party for a long time. Smith: We are constantly learning and evolving on an ever-growing path that DJ Times: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve is music. I think we would both agree that, when it comes to creativity, we have realized during this time? to step outside of our comfort zone. For example, there may be something in the Smith: We’ve found that socially distanced raves could actrack that we’re not particularly used to and don’t like because it’s not something tually happen and be successful, in the fact that many were manwe have done before or we may believe that it doesn’t fit our aesthetic. Yet, we aged very well. Of course, we had a few planned before tighter have experimented with this mindset and proven to ourselves that when listening restrictions came into place. to the finished result, we loved it more than we could’ve ever imagined. DJ Times: Any advice on staying sane through this situation? DJ Times: What’s 2021 looking like? Smith: Keeping in touch with your friends is very important, as well Smith: We released our “Rave Science, Vol. 1” EP, which we are really excited as doing exercise, and also not putting too much pressure on yourself and about.This year is the time to showcase a side of our sound that we believe people your career. The world has been an uneasy place with this pandemic, so we haven’t heard enough of.This is the club sound. Ironically, we are probably not going hope people are looking after themselves. to have many club shows this year, if any at all. But we’ve been sitting on this music – Jim Tremayne so, so long, and we are absolutely dying to get it out there and give people what
PROSPA: BLAST FROM THE PAST
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DJTIMES.COM
• GAMING ISSUE
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2021
