One Offs, Remixes & B-Sides: Domu Serves Up His Finest And Breaks Some Beats In Downtown Los Angeles
Towards the end of the 90’s and in the beginning part of the decade, the world of electronic music got a sharp infusion of soul, in the form of the sub-genre, broken-beat, which all too often gets lazily clumped into the term “chillout” or “downtempo.” For genre-redefining artists, such as Nightmares on Wax, Sven Van Hees, Thievery Corporation, Jazzanova, Quantic to name but a few, they defied being pigeon-holed by creating sounds that were infused by so many other genres that no track ever truly sounded the same. It was through the work of Quantic, the prolific producer by the name of, Will Holland, that I discovered the sounds of Dominic Stanton’s Domu project.
Domu has been almost as equally proficient as Holland and in the span of a decade has already amassed such a large and diverse collection of tunes, that his label (as well as Quantic’s), Tru Thoughts, has lovingly put together the latest installment in their esteemed, One-Offs, Remixes & B-Sides, compilations, which compile work from the selected artist that has not been released or collected before.
“It’s a chance to look at ten years of work really,” Dominic told us before he was to play a loft party to in the deepest part of downtown Los Angeles. “You kind of put it behind you and say, ‘ok, that was me growing’ and now I’m into my 30’s, and can sort of be proud of that but you have to kind of leave it behind and move on and try a different sound but it’s a good taste for people who haven’t heard of me.”
He’s right about that as the album is two discs worth of Domu cuts, such as floor-filling, “Mash Up,” under his Chaka Domu alias, the equally groovy, “Spring Break,” or of course his choice remixes for the likes of heavy hitters, Jazzanova, Cinematic Orchestra and of even, Holland’s Quantic Soul Orchestra outfit.
If you listen to the compilation, it’s all tempos and all moods.
Dominic then added, “The broken bits stick out and that’s what I was kind of known for mainly but you know, I’ve made house stuff, I’ve made hip-hop stuff and I’m originally from drum & bass, so I work in all tempos and all styles.”
There’s no doubt about the diversity the the songs selected for this compilation. But it was later on, when I entered the downtown loft party thrown by the fine folks at Funky In the Middle and Tighten Up, that I got to see firsthand just how far Stanton’s musical spectrum reached.
“I don’t play any music I don’t like and my tastes generally are always around soul,” Dominic said. “It’s dance music but it’s not particularly drug-induced dance music, it’s not heavily repetitive house or techno."
One way for a DJ to work is give the crowd something they know and something they don’t and I’m always more than happy to do that.
On this night, he treated myself and Smash LeFunk to some serious sounds of the underground during his first show in Los Angeles in over three years. This being a loft party, the crowd was very intimate but filled the upstairs area, where Domu and fellow producer, Simbad switched back and forth on the wheels of steel, all soundtracked by Amon, a live drummer, who added an infusion of energy to the room with his skilled playing.
“I love it, I love touring the States and picking up all the vibes,” Dominic enthusiastically told me. “I come away really refreshed with loads of new musical influences and attitudes. It’s been three years ago now I think, and I could do it every year but it makes more sense to do when I’ve something worthwhile to promote and the last Domu record came out the end of 2005, so I toured in 2006 for that but it’s been three years since I’ve had another album to promote, so that’s why it’s been so long.”
There are comparisons between Domu the producer and Domu the DJ and that’s alright with Dominc because he’s all over the place in his sets, jumping between vocal house, funky Mr. Scruff classic, “Get A Move On” and even some trademark broken-beat as well, such as the legendary sounds of St. Germain.
“I would hope that people who listen to the cd would draw a comparison to how I DJ,” Dominic mused. “My sets have many tempos, many styles but hopefully it’s as soulful as it is danceable and that’s one of the hardest compromises to meet in dance music at the moment.”
He couldn’t be more right about that and as for the the future, Domu is definitely down for dabbling in some new sounds but isn’t quite sure where all his explorations will ultimately lead him.
“Well, I’m still finding that really, because there’s a lot of stuff going on in terms of what has come out of broken-beat. They’re saying that this is the year that dubstep has broken through, so it’s definitely going to be as big if not bigger than drum & bass has been as of late or ever was. Those are the two main sort of dance-y sort of sounds that have been related to broken-beat but I’m also into loopy, disco sort of stuff, the cosmic, which is very different too, so I’m kind of in between all of these at the moment and trying to see what I’ll make next.”
It’s that bold ambition and appetite to try new things that has served Domu’s sound so well. On this new album, there’s never been a better time to catch-up on this cat if you are new to the scene but also for those that have closely followed his prolific career like I have, then this is truly a treat for the ears.
Editor’s Note: Shortly after this article was conducted, Domu sadly decided to retire from the music world. Here’s what he had to say:
“It’s over… I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists,” Dominic Stanton said. “I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed.”
We'll miss those beats Dom but thanks for the plethora of past works that will keep us enchanted for years to come.
Photos By: Smash LeFunk
