Right then…You may have noticed us here at HQ making a fuss of late over the musical output of the RiotControl crew, out of Brooklyn, New York. Put quite simply, these guys are on-point. RiotContol is Burt Fox and Sonny Noir, who produce quality mixes/podcasts, across a variety of genres. The shit is as it should be done, and was in fact the soundtrack to the first barbecue of the year at Blunt HQ (believe me, that is an accolade in itself)

Each episode is created in a mixtape style, and covers a lot of ground, across all kinds of genres. What makes it special is the selection, order and blending of some great tracks, with Burt on the decks, and Sonny with the mic, heading up proceedings.

We got in touch with the guys, both to let ‘em know we love what they do, and to tell ‘em that it’s good to link up with people who view music in a similar way to ourselves. Call it a meeting of like-minded soundbwoys! After chatting to Sonny, Agent M tapped the RiotControl crew up for an exclusive interview. It’s M on the questions, and Burt on the replies across the pond.

BB: W’sup gentlemen……

Burt: “What’s up bluntbeats.com!”

BB: Now, we’re RiotControl converts here at Blunt HQ, but some people that are looking at this may (foolishly) be RC virgins…So, to initiate the new disciples out there, give us a quick summary of what Riot Control is, and who you are….

Burt: “RiotControl is a dj mix show and podcast that we record live and distribute for free once a month.”

BB: How did you guys link up? - though the scene? - old friends? work/college?

We actually go way back.. We both grew up in South Florida, and now reside in Brooklyn.

BB: …and why did you decide to put Riot Control together?

Burt: “I’ve always loved mixtapes, especially well-thought out ones that took you all over. DJ Z-Trip and Radar, “Live at the Future Primitive”… Old DJ Spinbad mixes like the “Rock The Casbah” mixtape! So those are the kind I always ended up making. I used to sell CD’s in plastic bags at my hip-hop nights. They would float around and I would get hilarious feedback like the Miami Heat dancers use it to practice or I’m being played at afterparties in Delaware.”

“Then, in 2005 I first heard about podcasting via Eastvillageradio.com. I was listening to Mark Ronson’s show and Ballers Eve and thought podcasting and the whole concept of having the mixes delivered was perfect: you could reach a mass audience and not have to bug the shit out of people everytime you make a new mixtape. So Sonny and I decided to start a podcast that was more of a dj mix “show”. We were hearing a lot of music podcasts, but none that were really packaged up and mapped out mixtapes. So we started RiotControl with the intent of being a show or a program, more like a mixtape that would come out like a magazine subscription.”

BB: The signature tune you guys have for Riot Control is phat. Tell us more about it…

Burt: “Thank you sir. That’s a Burt Fox beat. I’m going to release it with Breez Evahflowin on it sooner or later.”

BB: Now, you guys are based in Brooklyn, which is internationally recognized as THE hip hop spot (without upsetting the West Coast!)…How do you find living there, hittin’ the spots and the clubs, and being around so much raw talent at street level, from MCs, to graf artists, or whatever? NY is the home of hip hop culture, but Brooklyn has gotta be special, man….Must be inspiring…

Burt: “ I think what’s cool is that all the hip-hop legends are still here. You can catch dudes live performing and djing that were here when hip-hop started. As someone who’s not from New York originally, that’s really cool to me. We noticed Hank Shocklee (he produced Public Enemy beats) hanging out at the last two Dub War events here in NY. So we said “whats up” and my friend told him how Nation of Millions was his favorite album growing up.”

NY isn’t doing much at all as far as releasing good, new innovative, hip-hop lately IMO, but MC’s here are still really sick. I’ve met a bunch of ridiculous MC’s, so maybe the production here is just a little dated or stale.. Putting out this NY MC Mims on a southern beat is a real sign of the times for US hip - hop IMO because that wouldn’t have happened like 3 years ago. (I dont hate the song though) But I think NY hip-hop will come back up eventually and I want to be a part of it. They just need to keep being progressive, the same old 90’s sound is a bit tired now.”

BB: One of the first things that grabbed us here at Blunt HQ about RiotControl, was the choice and order of the tracks you play. It’s a supreme selection. We at Blunt Beats pride ourselves on mixing up styles from across the board, and it’s rare in today’s music scene to meet people who simply say “I play good music”, as opposed to “I play techno” “I play house” “I play hip hop” or whatever….How do you go about choosing the records you wanna play for each episode?

Burt: “Thanks, you guys understand me man!! But seriously, yeah I totally agree about dj’s narrowing themselves. I love the Afrika Baambaata style of hip-hop djing. You find bits and pieces of records from all over and string them together into some sort of hard to define “vibe.” Like somewhere in the cracks of all these records existed “hip-hop” and it only came to life once he strung all these pieces together. Someone would overlook a record (like a Jackson 5 intro), but Baambaata would play just one part of it and rock doubles for 5 minutes.. then play another segment from another record no one gave a fuck about and boom: there’s some new vibe in the room. Once they got enough pieces together, the vibe was more clearly defined and maybe finding it on other records became easier, or they could recreate the elements with a band or drum machine or whatever.. So that’s the way I love to think about the birth of hip-hop: a style that existed in the cracks. It was already there but it took a creative ear to point it out to people and present it.”

Anyways, that’s also how I like to think I approach the episodes for RiotControl.. Alot of the records I use I wouldn’t necessarily be like “you should go out and buy this album”, because most of it might suck.. But I look for 1 song or even 1 part of a song that is sick and has a unique vibe to it and link that with all the other songs and bits that have that similar vibe. That’s what I think a DJ with a good ear has to offer to music lovers.. beyond just like having an eccentric playlist, but using your knowledge of records to build a unique vibe of some sort. It’s really human, no IPod shuffle can do that shit!”

One last thing on this topic, for example, I really like this “Turkish Funk Mix” that the Stones Throw podcast put out last year. They cut up all these old turkish records, often creating their own choruses and whatnot. I think if you’re not a dj you wouldn’t even notice, but they mapped out all these in and out points for all the records and took what was already there much further (for me anyways)!”

BB: Your shows sound real polished, and very tight. (we tend to be a little more hectic, for better or for worse!) How long do you spend working on an episode? - any tricks you wanna let us in on?

Burt: “I usually have like 2 or 3 show ideas kicking around at once. I keep each idea in a stack on the floor until I get enough records for it to be a full set. Then I map out the episode and figure out all the in and out points. The in and out points are really important to me. I usually record the whole show once as a test, listen back to it later, figure out where my in and out points aren’t working and adjust.. I’ll practice it once or twice and then record it live with Sonny. I fix some stuff later if anything trainwrecked horribly, which I’m fine admitting because sometimes it’s just impossible to mix two live bands together perfectly everytime. I loved mixing the live cover of “organ donor” with the Baambaata “death mix” on RC4.. but the death mix is Bam cutting the records live.. it falls off beat constantly.. so stuff like that I re-record later and edit so it doesn’t sound like shit. The majority of the episodes are live mixing on two turntables though.”

BB: Talkin’ about the music, tell us a bit about your background, what got you into this whole music shizzle in the first place…?

Burt: “I was into it more casually until like age 15, playing guitar and whatever else. Then I had these ankle surgeries and I started my path to become a music obsessed freak because I was just laid up with a tape recorder 4 track all day making recordings and beats. That’s when I got the bug for it.”

BB: It’s obvious that funk, soul, and hip hop play a large part in your lives. But steppin’ back, give us some titles of the tunes that defined your youth and development of your style to what it is today, and why… For the record, pardon the pun, the first 12″ tune I went out and got was “The Show” by Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick…I must have been about 7,and I’ve still got that shit. I remember recording it onto this crappy old tape player, then playing it back, with the copy on the turntable out of phase, stopping it, speeding it up….the rest is history!

Burt: “We grew up in South Florida, which had a regional flavor I guess. The planet rock sound was always in the background of like every song. So there was all that stuff, cheesy but fun y’know.. like Debbie Deb, freestyle, & booty music. What these clubs looked like when it would get to that half hour of straight booty music, I cannot begin to explain to you! Sexually transmitted diseases: transmitted. Much success! But anyways, I think all the 90’s dance music spread really well throughout Florida because we already had our own healthy scene of dance music. So we had the Florida breaks music everywhere like Dynamix II, DJ Icey, and whatnot but we also loved Metalheadz, Roni Size, Photek, and LTJ Bukem. We loved Orbital, as well as DJ Shadow. And of course we loved all the US and especially NY hip-hop like Tribe, Beasties, and Wu-Tang, Redman etc.. So I think coming from that place has always shaped what records we like and what we’re now mixing together on RiotControl.”

BB: The geeky DJ in me is coming out…..Give us a quick description/pic of your record collection!!

Burt: “Take a look. It’s the leaning tower of Pisa!”

BB: The Blunt Beats Studio is a dusty vinyl bunker 30 miles North of London, set in a traditional British house, in a traditional British street. Our base is a mess of cables, record sleeves, more cables, flightcases, broken amps, flyers, microphones, more cables, and more cables. Our office isn’t much better!….From the relaxed atmosphere that you guys project, I’d imagine RC HQ isn’t quite so chaotic - Give us a quick overview of your studio setup over there in Brooklyn….

Burt: “Cramped man, it’s New York! We have to record at set hours so we don’t disturb the neighbors too much.”

BB: Lets talk fresh shit….Who’s tracks are you feeling/what artists do you want to give love to right now that are comin’ up…

Burt: “Right now is tough! I love Burial. His album is one of the only things I’ve heard in a long time that really had it’s own thing going on. Once I heard Skream’s “Midnight Request Line”, I started looking for more dubstep because that beat is too sick! Detroit hip-hop’s evolution into what it is now is really ill to me too. As far as the funk and older stuff goes, I’m not a huge rare groove wealth of knowledge or anything (more like modest knowledge) but the Numero Group compilations are cool and seem to dig deep into some lesser known and obscure, yet totally listenable territory. Truth and soul records here in Brooklyn is a dope modern day funk label, I’ve played a bunch of their stuff so far.”

BB: 3 random but important questions to follow:

a) Adidas SuperStar, or Nike Air Force One (best believe its 3 stripes all the way here!!)

Burt: “As far as sneakers I love the triple 5 soul sneakers. I’m a total hipster douchebag I guess.”

b) Rips or Blunt wraps? (honey Blunt wraps are a current favourite at Blunt HQ)

Burt: “I can get down with that. I usually hit a shitty pyrex pipe at home. We loved hitting the bong on patios back in florida and I still maintain that time honored tradition. Sonny is a Scotch man. You heard his voice on RC5!”

c) Quincy M.E or Columbo? (we like both, but Peter Falk smashed it)

Burt: “I’m not going to even pretend, I’ve never seem ‘em! You guys seem to know what’s up for the good tv though. I watched that 45 minute documentary on the Bosnia and Serbian soccer match from your site and was sucked in the whole time.”

BB: The internet has really given the whole industry of music exposure and creation a kick up the arse. For example, it’s allowed us here at Blunt Beats to get our music heard worldwide (and to link up with like minded people like you guys)…..It’s a great feeling to get your music out the to the whole damn world, isn’t it?

(For example, one of our boys was working in Iraq….he hit us up during our live Wednesday night show, to let us know he was hanging out with a few of his lads, drinkin’ a beer on the roof of a Humvee, with his laptop plugged in, listening to our dub beats whilst watching the tracer fire over Baghdad…Heavy…power of the worldwide web!)

Burt: “That is really crazy. All of this is so fucking cool. To anyone reading this, you can check your daily stats of traffic to your site.. So you get to see how much action you’re getting and what countries people are listening from. Sonny and I always are amazed wondering what people are doing and in what context our shit is playing to the people listening in Dubai, Japan, China… all the places that seem really far from NY. What are you doing? Hopefully training monkeys to slam dunk basketballs.”

BB: Riot Control is gettin a lot of positive exposure…How do you see the future for you guys?

Burt: “We just want to be HUGE! We really appreciate the e-mails we get from people enjoying the show. The biggest thing anybody can do for us in return is spread the word, spread our link, and get us more traffic.. get us written up on a blog or posted somewhere so we get more exposure.”

BB: Following on from that, are you guys working on anything else that you wanna let us in on? (I know Burt dropped a tune of his in RC 5)

Burt: “I have an LP in the works with Breez Evahflowin.. We’re called “Yes You”. I recently invented this “new beat theory” that I’m working out like a weirdo with “beat experiments”… trying to explain it all to my friends who probably think I’m way too into this stuff. Thats my top secret shit!! I’ll release everything sooner or later and definitely have plans to mix in more Burt Fox beats in the future.”

BB: Right…shout out your people…..let us know who you’re givin love to….

Burt: “Shouts out to Bluntbeats.com for the interview and showing us love! And shouts out to everybody who’s been listening to the show. As the great Dirk Diggler said, “we’ll keep rocking and rolling as long as you do.””

Wicked stuff Gentlemen. it’s been a pleasure….Keep up the good work, we’re looking forward to Riot Control 6.

Big Love from all The Blunt Beats Crew