We FFundercats caught up with Akiva Moskovitz this past week and were able to discuss his latest mix release “Bassmouse – Life and Death”. Here are some notes from the man himself to keep you occupied while you listen.
I use Ableton Live and a Behringer knob box to do the live mix. I have other software I use to construct the mix to see how the tracks flow together, make sure they’re key matched, etc. That way, I have a good idea if the mix works before I start burning time trying to produce as flawless of a live mix as I possibly can.
I’ve been DJing since 2001. The earliest project was an experimental noise outfit called Radio Is Happy Noises. I did some drum n’ bass mixes as ghosts over dresden and then, later, spent a few years throwing out goa/psytrance mixes as thoughtDrop. I got tired of playing out, running a club night, and of that kind of life in general. Spent a year or so just gestating before drifting into house music and deciding to start releasing ’studio mixes’ rather than demos. The former showcasing the music and the latter being made to showcase mixing skills to get people to book you.
And thus Mouseplanet started in 2005 with Fatmouse, doing progressive, electro, and techno mixes. It’s the central producer of mixes. Bassmouse was added in 2008 when I decided to start doing dubstep mixes. There’s also Housemouse which is straight up house/disco house but there’s never been an official release. Eventually I’ll be throwing down drum n’ bass mixes under another -mouse moniker.
As for dubstep, I’ve been into UK Garage and 2-step, which dubstep descends from, since 2001 or so. I’ve been championing the genre as one of the best on the planet although most people didn’t pay attention to me until about a year ago when dubstep started getting big here in the states. The style of dubstep that Bassmouse uses is a bit different than what a lot of people are into: it’s more aggressive, darker, harder, and progressive. A lot of dubstep is real minimal and low key so Bassmouse tries to showcase a slightly different type of it.
Mouseplanet releases are available at http://www.mouseplanet.co.uk. Here’s a discography:
Fatmouse – Fatmouse (2005)
Fatmouse – Drive-By Barking (2006)
Fatmouse – Sorcerer (2006)
Fatmouse – Year of the Rat (2006)
Fatmouse – Labyrinth (2006)
Fatmouse – Every Minute of Every Day (2006)
Fatmouse – The Seattle Session (2006)
Fatmouse – Mastered for Cassette (2007)
Bassmouse – The Condition Within (2008)
Bassmouse – Life & Death (2009)Coming soon:
Fatmouse – Late Night/Early Morning (started working on this in 2005)
Fatmouse – The Tel Aviv Session (already complete but won’t release until after LN/EM)Obviously, 2006 was a prolific year.
We would like to thank Akiva for being so generous with his time and talents. Please show him your support by downloading his mixes and letting him know what you think.
At the end of our conversation, please enjoy a condensed preview to the latest bassmouse release, a debut mini-mix by Josh. Encoded to stereo MP3 (I know, BLASPHEMY!) at 320kbps CBR, 44.1 kHz, total fiule size = 56.8 MB. Please crank up the bass.
