InYourBass.com

The collective started its activity in 2001 and got an official stamp in 2003. Since then they’re an active player and supporter of the Belgian electronic music scene (and not only) through various projects which brings together musicians, graphic artists, visual artists and everything in between. The recognition for their contribution to culture and their volunteer work came through the “Gouden Ketje” prize, awarded to them earlier this year.

What made InYourBass curious is actually the forthcoming release of Jemenfish001, their first vinyl, scheduled for the 1st of October. The disc showcases 4 tracks produced by Belgian artists, newcomers and already established names. Grab it while you can, it has a limited run and the rumours say it’s on high demand! If this wasn’t convincing, you should know that it has already received support from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC Radio 1) and Bunzer0, to name only a few. The featured artists will be playing at a number of large-scale events, where you will be able to get a copy for free if you come early enough.

In Brussels: 02/10 La Raffinerie (20 years VK* concerts), 09/10 Drumderground at Fuse, and 31/10 Biouel Boat. You can also catch Je M’en Fish on tour this autumn in various venues across Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.

IYB spoke with Bart , the founder of the organization to find out more details about this release, the collective and its future projects.

IYB : What’s your interpretation for “Je m’en fish”?

Bart: Literally speaking ‘Je m’en fiche’ would mean ‘I don’t care’, but in the larger scope of things the name has been a wordplay for years and is mostly meant to state that we do initiatives or events where people usually said ‘bad idea’. We’ve previously done several events pushing collaborations between artists such as live painting on the tones of an electronic producer. It also counts for something that we have seen evolve in the fact that a lot of events are doing contests to ‘give young DJ’s a chance’ and giving them slots that are not interesting or material that is faulty, we want to give young producers a chance and if they play at a peak moment, so much the better.
 
IYB: What is the hardest thing to surpass when running a volunteer based collective?
 
BD: It’s really a double-edged sword: A permanent stream of volunteers is often hard to find. Usually they’re the same people that are also producing. When their producing stops, they fade out of the picture. On the other hand, we have not tried to receive a financial input by the government to be able to contractually make people work for us on a paid basis, because we just prefer not to have it work like that. I don’t want any volunteer to feel burdened by it or feel as if it’s a second job, which it can be, if you don’t pay attention. Generally speaking, I think a lot of organizations working with volunteers have to pay very close attention to them, because they are free to leave whenever they want, leaving more work for the ones left. Having a good communication and mutual respect is probably indispensable. There are a lot of even larger organizations where the heart of the events lies in the hands of the volunteers and not the ones under contract. Allow them to have some input and feedback. If the work they do was made by people contracted through interim or similar, the costs would go up by 300 percent in some cases. I’d also say, keep the fun in it. If the fun goes out of it and some people say ‘oh yey, another event’, there’s something seriously wrong, obviously.
 
IYB: In which direction is heading “Je m’en fish”? Plans for the next year?
 
BD: Several things are planned: Infosessions will continue on a by-demand basis and for free, where anyone can request these; workshops in Ableton Live will be started in co-production with Recyclart and Culte ASBL. We will be looking at the option of bringing out more vinyl releases and of course we co-produce a number of events, in Brussels but also throughout Belgium and Europe. Although, truth be told we want to keep the events entirely run by ourselves now to a strict minimum and we prefer co-productions and partnerships with others. In the larger scope of things, we have been informing ourselves about preferably buying, and otherwise hiring, locations for our own.
 
IYB: How did the vinyl project started? Are you planning more releases like this?
 
BD: So far we have released 3 compilation cd’s (the 2 first home-grown) and a DVD (Technically 2) in a span of 4 years, and we noticed a surge in interest in an audio carrier such as vinyl. We were aiming to bring one out for a while now, but we were not sure about the investment, we preferred not to launch one at the regular price of a vinyl but to look for a more promotional item to launch it. Luckily enough by winning the prize of the ‘Gouden Ketje’ the problem got solved easily. All of our releases have always been mainly to promote the featured artists and internationally, the Belgian scene. Currently the next one is in a development stage. Larger international artists have expressed interest to remix a Belgian artist and there are plenty of quality artists to choose from in our country. But it’s useless now to launch another promotional item, so we’re looking into the possibilities of distribution too.
 
IYB: How could you describe the sounds on it?
 
BD : They’re pretty diverse. Personally I hate to pigeon-hole myself or artists in any style. It’s the same story for our next vinyl. We have been promoting a number of dubstep gigs and now on some websites the label platform is written as a ‘dubstep’ only thing, but when people have a listen they always say ‘hey this isn’t really dubstep man’. To be honest I can’t even be bothered trying to put genres on all the tracks. Tracks are what they are, no reason to label them. Myrkur’s track, for instance, incorporated a live guitar in the remix and multiple people can’t really place it. Fine for me. Some magazines have criticized the lack of focus on genres before, especially with the compilation cd, but so be it. I wouldn’t want anyone internationally getting our releases into their hands unfamiliar with Belgian artists think most producers are making the same subgenre.
 
IYB: What kind of feedback did you get so far? 
 

BD : It’s out officially on October 1st, and so far about half the copies will already be gone before that date. It’s had airplay on BBC1’s Mary Anne Hobbs, focus will be on it on Studio Brussel, and more. So far, most people seem to like the complete sound of it from what I read online. I’m assuming if we get played on Sub.FM, BBC1, Studio Brussel and more radios, at least it shows the audio blend is accessible to a large enough audience, as we hoped.

 
IYB : Where people can get the vinyl from?
 
BD : As a venue, radio, magazine and more, it’s best to just get in contact directly and we drop by or put it in the post. As for the regular audience, there’s not a lot available, sales weren’t what we were aiming for, but they can find it on Discogs. In Brussels they can get in at Lost in Music and in Antwerp at Wally’s Groove World. Additionally, we will make a small number of copies available, for free, to the first people present at the events we run in the beginning of October.

 

more info > http://jemenfish.be