20 Years Of Planet-E: With Radio Slave

Matt Edwards aka Radio Slave is a man of many talents. In fact, he’s got so many production aliasesthat he might even be compared to his friend Carl Craig, whom he’s playing alongside at the 20 Years Of Planet E party on Saturday 5^th March at the Ewer Street Warehouse. We had a chat with Matt about Carl Craig's impact as a DJ, producer and label boss over the last 20 years...

How did you feel when you realised you’d be on the bill with Carl Craig at a party celebrating his 20 years of making music?         
It's always been an honour to play with Carl as I'm one of his biggest fans and still consider him to be the most important figure in modern electronic music. I used to book Carl years ago and we've now been playing together for about 2 years – and I mean together like back-to-back which has been a lot of fun – and I guess we're on the same page when it comes to performing. We're always asking each other about the records we play, which is a good thing. So of course it's great to be on the same bill as Carl and Francois K and it's going to be one hell of a party.

What does Planet E as a label mean to you?
I believe that it's a truly modern electronic music label, which is very open to musical styles but always retains a level of quality that most others have never achieved. That’s why Planet E is still here and I hope that it'll be around for another 20 years...

RADIO SLAVE - EAST WEST - REKIDS053 by rekids

What is your favourite track on the label?
Where to start... maybe Paperclip People's Throw! Probably the best house record of the 90's. This track transcended the boundaries between disco, house and techno and I was lucky enough to get a white label at the time, as I was resident DJ at the Ministry of Sound. I can remember taking it home and it just blew my mind and it still blows minds today, as it's just timeless. In fact, that question has just reminded me that I still wanna know what the vocals are...? I’ve heard it's Carl himself but pitched up !

Carl Craig likes to work on remixes of various different artists – do you have a favourite of his remixes?
System 7 - Sirenes, Tori Amos, Dave Angel...There's so many and they're all good....in fact I need to dig some out for the party!

Why is Detroit techno so special to you?
Because it's the real deal. To me Detroit techno is the sound of the future and even though the Detroit techno scene is well over 25 years old, many of the true Detroit artists still make some of the most forward-thinking music today. It's also still growing and there's so many new artists coming through like Kyle Hall and of course Seth Troxler, who's become one of the most loved elctronic music artists here in Europe.

How do you feel Carl has influenced the club scene in general? And you as an artist?
Carl's music has been incredibly influential as it's brought so many different scenes together. Giles Peterson is a fan. Hip-hop heads dig his work. His track Bug In The Bassbin was played at 45 rpm and had a huge impact on the D&B crowd back in the mid 90's. It's the melting pot of ideas in his work that draws real music fans in and I don't see that stopping any time soon.