Premiere + Q&A: Lington

White Peach cohort delivers 'Vendetta In Space'...

One of the signs that something interesting is happening in a centre area of music is that it suddenly becomes impossible to name.

Take the current wave of energy in grime, for instance – a slew of new producers are emerging from this scene, but aren't making grime in the way you would recognise.

Spinning the template around and absorbing new influences, they're being true to the sound by removing themselves from the sound.

Lington is the perfect example. A producer on the rise, his work borrows from the alien nature of early dubstep, screwed up hip-hop and more, as he continually seeks out fresh ideas.

Working with White Peach, new cut 'Vendetta In Space' is forthcoming. Tune in first on Clash, then check out a Q&A with the producer below.

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Are we right in saying this is your third release on White Peach? How would you describe your latest EP?
Yeah, this is the third time on White Peach. First was with my single was "Bounty" in 2014, then it was "3310" a year later.The EP was a chance for me to release 4 tracks that can hold their own in live sets and out in clubs, but also be MC friendly at the same time.

What were the reference points 'Vendetta In Space'?
In terms of the name. I came about it by watching a lot of old cartoons and plucked the name out of a bit of dialogue. The title track was initially just "Vendetta" but for the EP I slightly re worked it as I felt it captured the aesthetic well. The artwork insert created with my friends Perry and Jamie helped capture the mood of the tracks visually. In terms of sound – I feel I drew influence from old and new grime instrumentals, darker dubstep tracks and just the producers and DJ's around me that I work with or rate at the moment.

How would you say your sound has developed since first touching wax with your remix of 'State Of War' for Mixclique Records a few years back?
I feel like since that tune, I've been able to pin down each track to a certain recognisable sound now. That remix was already fairly old before it even came out, so I guess I've been working on refining that sound ever since. A lot of my unreleased stuff is quite different to what you see come out on vinyl – so I'll probably be trying to showcase that a bit more soon to show some other routes I've been going down. I guess ultimately the main anchor for my sound is for it to work both in a club and with MC's. Going to various different events in both dubstep and grime as a teenager, I just wanted to create music I could hear out at a venue really.

What do you like about White Peach as a label?
Personally I always felt that music lives longer if released on vinyl. When I started buying records, I always wanted to have my own material released on the same format. To be able to consistently release music on vinyl is definitely exciting as it gives a whole depth of meaning to each release. Each EP/single that comes out is going to be appreciated more and delivered in a non disposable way. Me and Zha have been tight for a few years now, He's quite open minded to a lot of ideas in terms of releases or things to do with the label so it's an easy going process when working with the label. The label keeps progressing and expanding its catalogue with each release over the past few years. There's a lot of exciting stuff in the pipeline and more artists to be added to the roster soon.

Do you enjoy total creative freedom, or do you prefer to have an outside sense of guidance or even an end goal when it comes to writing music?
I usually have a slight guideline in mind when creating a tune. But I'll go about it in an experimental way and try and come up with a lot of different stuff before I settle on one. I'm always making different things but usually tend to release 140 orientated bits at the moment. I make a lot of sample hip hop under a different alias so I feel quite creatively free when producing those tunes. But with 140 tracks I usually set to have an end goal for each tune making its way to DJ's or MC's.

Where do you see yourself headed over the next 12 months musically?
In the past year or so I've been working on a lot more 130 stuff. Over the next year I'm going to look at putting more of that out in various different ways. Finalizing some collaborations with producers I'm friends with and releasing more 12"'s. Got a few things in the pipelines I can't really say yet in case they don't materialise, but I'll just carry on the consistency and working with some vocalists soon.

Where can people find you playing out over the summer?
Got a few things around London and a couple out of town that haven't been announced yet, but in the mean time I'll be on Radar Radio with White Peach for the monthly show.

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Stay in touch with Lington HERE.

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