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Under the gun: Trus'me
RA peeks into Manchester soul man Trus'me's record bag to see what he's using to keep the floor happy.
The name Trus'me, as you might expect, comes from "Trust Me" and it's exactly what David Wolstencroft says to his audiences every night that he DJs. Disco, soul, funk, techno, house. It's all going to come out. "Just trust me that I'm going to make it work."
That DJ credo has also spilled over into his production work, which has been celebrated far-and-wide for its "Moodymann with a smile" soul and saw his 2007 album, Working Nights, garner him DJing gigs throughout the world. And since its release, Wolstencroft has also been busy setting up his own label, Prime Numbers. In only a few releases, it's crafted an identifiable sound handed down from Detroit producers like Rick Wade, Rick Wilhite and others with production from the likes of Linkwood, Fudge Fingas, Discreet Unit and Reggie Dokes.
We chatted up Wolstencroft in advance of another set of North American gigs later this month to talk about the tracks that are burning up his record box.
 VA – Prime Numbers 02 [Prime Numbers]
"This is basically the past, present and future of my label, Prime Numbers, something that I started when I got frustrated with not getting paid and not being able to put out releases when I wanted to put them out. It's a two CD package and one is mixed, and one is for CD DJs—because so far we've only released on vinyl and mp3. It's sort of a thing where we wanted to get the music out to people who might not have heard of it already—the non-DJs. Linkwood, Fudge Fingas, Discreet Unit, Reggie Dokes and myself are all in there. And those other guys are all people whose music has somehow found it my way that I really love. There's a real thing happening in Scotland—in Edinburgh right now."
 VA – Prime Numbers 05 [Prime Numbers]
"I think there is definitely a theme that connects everyone on Prime Numbers. When I set off to do the label, I didn't actually think about that because the idea was to be varied and to not be concerned with what was going to be a big seller. (Although we've been very lucky in that they've all been big sellers so far.) But when I put the mix [PN02] together, I started to realize that we were actually selecting tracks that were very similar to one another. Reggie Dokes, Discreet Unit and Fudge Fingas who all contribute a track on this EP all sound really different, but there's something about them that makes it all sound like Prime Numbers."
 Wireman – Armour [Prime Numbers]
"Wireman is possibly the next level to Prime Numbers. He's like a melting pot where Carl Craig, Deepchord, Burial and Drexcyia are all put together. He's from Glasgow, which is really similar to Manchester where I live. We have so many ties, the whole club culture, buying records, etc. He's part of the same age group and we've spoken to him and he's already really become part of the family. This will be out in December and will be the teaser for the album to come in 2009."
 Linkwood – Electricity [Prime Numbers]
"This is going to be big. I think Linkwood is one of the best producers in the world of electronic music today. He and I started talking because we felt like we were making pretty similar music to one another and he was one of the main reasons that we started Prime Numbers at all. The first time I heard this, I got shivers, thinking it was going to be a seminal track. It pushes the boundaries, but it's got 'dance floor killer' all over it too. It's a really accomplished house track that sounds current, but still old-school. The only problem is that he's taken so long with it. He works really slowly and now we have so many artists that have albums ready to go that I almost don't know what to do with them all!" [laughs]
 J&M Edits [Path]
"This is part of an edit label that we're starting. We want to do big, fat loud remixes of classic, often unheard, gems of disco, funk, soul and Afro that are designed with the DJ in mind. The goal is to take advantage of why the 12-inch record was created in the first place. We also want to make something that people want to collect. A lot of these edits nowadays are just put in a black disco sleeve with a tacky label. Or no label at all. We want to bring the '80s repress vibe back."
 Martyn – Natural Selection [3024]
"It's funny, I didn't hear of Martyn for a while. I kind of knew about him from his drum & bass days because there's a guy from around here named Marcus Intalex who runs a label called Soul:ution who worked with him. He's just one of these guys who has been around for a long time and his time has come. He's found his niche and sound, much like someone like Flying Lotus has done. Martyn's come up with this whole techno/dubstep thing that you immediately know by its sound. I really admire that. (I think I've got a few years before I get to that point in my career.) His are not necessarily records the average house DJ might buy, but I've been incorporating it into my set lately."
 Kenny Larkin – The Chronicles [Rush Hour]
"These just got recently released on vinyl by Rush Hour. They were going for 50 quid or something before that. They've all been remastered. It's a sound that I'm really into and it still sounds as fresh today as it did when I was first buying it. I bought a lot of this stuff originally, because I was into techno really early on. I mean, I'm from Manchester. [ laughs] I was buying all the records that were being played on the radio and all the things on the mixtapes that my brothers had. I mellowed out a little bit obviously, but I'm getting back into it nowadays."
 Bo Kirkland and Ruth Davis - You're Gonna Get Next To Me [EMI]
"This is definitely where my mind is out of the club. But also in the club as well. I like to push this kind of music that totally grooves. It's absolutely solid disco music, and if someone doesn't like it, it's not something that I could comprehend. [laughs] It sounds good in the car, or in the club and simply makes me feel inferior production-wise. I want to keep learning every day when I hear records like this."
 Jessie G. - That's Hot [Nugget]
"This is the old producer Jesse Gould from P&P Records. He used the strings from "Out of Work," a track that I didn't think could be improved, but this is just pure and utter filthy disco. I wish he had made more records. Two isn't nearly enough. Everybody runs to the box when you play it, because it sounds like an electronic production, but you can also hear the flaws of that live music that was being played in the studio. It's one of those great crossover tracks that you can use to move from disco to house music. Those bridges/DJ tools are one of the reasons that I started making tracks. Listen to "W.A.R"—it goes from 105 BPM to 122 BPM and you don't hear the gap. I'm really into records that do a similar thing like that."
 Kid Creole And The Coconuts - Table Manners [ZE]
"I'm a massive Kid Creole fan. I just love that goofy disco heavy production. I like humor in music. Someone once claimed I was 'Moodyman with a smile.' I think that you hear that in my productions all the time. I definitely try to keep them light. I want to make something that moves your spiritually…but makes you laugh at the same time. [laughs] Cheeky records, greatly produced are something that I'm definitely trying to bring into my own work. Maybe not as extreme as Kid Creole. But it's there."
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Published / Mon, 20 Oct 2008
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