Interview with Sully

Big up to all, I've got a treat for you today, in the form of an interview with Sully, the badman responsible for album-of-the-year-list-botherer Carrier which was released on Blackdown's Keysound Recordings. Read on and find out a little more about the man behind it and check out some of his tunes if you're not a fan yet... (The interview continues after the page break)

NT: Hey man, can you give us an introduction to those who may not know Sully yet?
S: In short, I make tunes, mainly but definitely not strictly in a 2-step fashion.
I've worked with a lot of labels but most closely tied with Frijsfo beats and Keysound Recordings. The latter released my debut LP Carrier in September and currently I'm getting (back) into DJing...

Click here, here, here, or here to buy Carrier

NT: You’ve been releasing for a few years now, what made you decide to put out an album?
S: In all honesty it was down to Blackdown's persistance. I've had a fair few people put the idea to me, but Keysound kept with it and the time came where it seemed the thing to do. I wanted to try out some new things, have the oppurtunity to write some tunes without a dancefloor and DJ in mind, as result I did a lot of experimenting and came up with some tunes I would have never made outside of an LP. So I'm thankful to everyone who pushed the idea to me over the years!

Sully - It's Your Love

NT: Your album came out on Blackdown’s label Keysound Recordings. How did you manage to convince Blackdown to put out a full album on vinyl? That label has so many albums that need a vinyl release! Does it feel more special that Carrier got that treatment?
S: It's true, Keysound have a serious catalog. They've stepped up even more over the last year or two and I'm stoked to be nestled in there at such an interesting time for the label. I can't think of a thing they've done that doesn't deserve wax, would love some of Damu's Unity in particular, but the sad fact with vinyl is that it's economically difficult, the sales are undoubtedly going down as people switch to Serato and so on, so it isn't always possible to put double or triple disc LPs . I even know some labels have such a passion for vinyl they'll make a loss and make it up with digital sales, which I think is worth it, I love vinyl and always seems to go back to playing it over anything else, but there's a limit to how much you can put into it. I was lucky, Carrier is short enough to fit on 2 sides, which is perfect for the flow of the record too, as you mention...

A Recommendation: Sully - Carrier

In my humble opinion, Sully is one of the most underrated producers on the scene right now. Toffee Apple, as well as looking cool, absolutely smashes it, and his Phonebox EP is really something to check out. He's released his first LP on Blackdown's ever quality label Keysound Recordings, who to my knowledge have never release a full LP on vinyl, so for them to take this step, you know it's got to be good. I've just bought it now, can't wait for it to arrive. Track 2 on the LP is "2 Hearts" which, if you hang around near any grape vines, you may have heard was originally planned for the clearly-never-coming-out DJ Kicks mix by Burial.

A personal fave at the moment is possibly the opener, "It's Your Love", where Sully out El-B's El-B himself. The second half of the album takes a more juke/footwork inspired angle, and sees the tempo hit 160 on "Trust" before dropping down to "82" on the amazing closing track "Exit". This is an album that I really feel people will be talking about for years, not quite a collection that's going to shake up the world of EDM, but Sully has definitely come along and shown a few people how it's done. BAG ON SIGHT.

Check out some of the tracks below, courtesy of Boomkat:

Buy on ChemicalBuy on BoomkatBuy on JunoBuy on Redeye