If you haven’t yet heard of Joseph Ashworth, you have some homework to do. Already releasing on a string of electronic labels Joseph Ashworth has done more than most can dream. Life & Death, Get Weird, Pets, ELEMENTS and Needwant have helped him grow a reputable fanbase on both sides of the Atlantic.
Joseph Ashworth ability to blend the gritty harder sounds of the techno realm with experimental and melodic beats is something to be marvelled at. So much so the likes of Lee Burridge, Jonas Rathsman, DJ Tennis, Patrice Baumel and Kolsch all regularly sing his praises.
Joseph Ashworth most recent success has been a release on Moscoman’s Disco Halal. A label that been feverishly pushing the constructs of electronic music in recent months. With each new booking, comes more experience and given a jam-packed diary and hectic release schedule it was time to peer behind the headphones.
You currently reside in London. How would you describe the current state of the London scene? Is it a good place for an artist to try to break through into electronic music?
London’s a lovely place to live, and the scene’s pretty decent. I moved to London 15 years ago, and overall I’ve seen a steady decline in the number of clubs, venues and record shops. I do feel like things seem a bit buzzier now than they were 4 years ago.
There is a nice little illegal rave scene and some new venues (small and larger) opening with good sound systems. If you can afford to live in London, then it is a pretty great place to breakthrough. Personally I’ve been here so long that I take it for granted. There are alot of music people based here. Also, anyone that isn’t based here comes to the city a few times a year, so you are bang in the middle of everything.
Rave music before clubbing back when it was illegal used to be a form of political escapism. Now we have seen it flip and be used as a political voice with Brexit and Tsibili. What role do you think dance music should play in political change?
It’s been 30 years since the early illegal acid house raves. In that time journalists and cultural commentators have been able to examine how the rave scene fitted into the wider political context. For example, New York in the 70s and 80s. As well as Detroit in the late 80s and 90s. It will be interesting to see how recent years will be viewed 30 years from now.
The 90s rave scene can be simplified as a working-class youth disenfranchised by Thatcherism of the 80s and heavy-handed policing. Brexit to me seems much more complicated, where it’s less clear where the class divides are, and who’s rebelling against the establishment, and for what reason.
Tsibili seems like a much more clear-cut case of a brave bunch of people getting together and using music to stand up against a sinister, emboldened far-right. Watching those videos as it happened live gave me goosebumps, really powerful!
With dance music having become such a huge industry in the past decade, it has been easy for people to lose track of where dance music came from – in particular it’s black, Latin, gay and trans roots, but overall I still think club culture plays a powerful role in society that goes far beyond just the music itself.
What has been the biggest achievement in your life to date?
Tough question! I feel like in terms of dance music, I’ve been on a long path of small achievements that all together amount to something I’m really proud of as a whole. In terms of single achievements, I think some projects I’ve done outside of dance music would maybe be the things that I would tell my parents about. Maybe writing music for a few Nick Knight videos, or having worked behind the scenes on a UK no.1 single with KDA.
When you are making your music do you have a routine you follow? Are you a regimented person or do you perform best off the cusp and at the moment?
I try to keep relatively regular working hours, but if I’m honest, 90% of the time I’m working is messing around, fine-tuning little details, and then I get occasional moments of inspiration where I get the bulk of the music made in short amounts of time. It’s totally unpredictable, and I can often go many weeks without coming up with anything that I think is worth pursuing, so I have to make sure I keep going and just wait for the inspiration to kick in.
In Berlin at the moment clubs seem to be shutting at an alarming rate. The same has happened in London recently. Is there a future for club culture?
It is sad, isn’t it! I don’t know as much about Berlin, but as I mentioned before, there seems to have been a bit of a reverse of the trend in London over the past couple of years (or at least from my perspective – I could be wrong/overly optimistic).
In general, I feel like clubs are here to stay in one form or another, but it has been a rocky decade because of gentrification, and a new generation of kids who maybe don’t choose to get off their heads on the weekend.
Finally, if you produce a track with anyone past or present who would it be and why?
I’d love to work with Ricardo Villalobos. I’d be so interested to see what his process is, and what kind of method there is to his madness.
