Jan 04, 2017

The Aston Shuffle: Only 100s

Last month The Aston Shuffle, a.k.a. Mikah and Vance, started a new monthly mixtape series titled Only 100s. Each week the guys are already tasked with creating a three hour radio show packed with new music to be broadcast nationally on Triple J in Australia. They joined us to talk about how that experience helped lead to Only 100s, as well as highlighting their standout tracks from the landmark episode. To wrap up the interview the duo reflected on their 2016 productions including a string of quality releases on The Magician’s Potion Records.

What led you guys to start the monthly show Only 100s? How long have you been thinking about starting it for?

It really hit home this year that we have so much music between us, compiled from our radio show and DJ sets. The amount of music we have to go through each week is ridiculous, so to help with our workflow we decided to create a shortlist of club weapons. These are the tunes that we think are the standout tracks of the moment. That's where Only 100s was born!! If it's dope, then chances are it's getting played on Only 100s.

For the first episode, you selected your favorite tracks from this year. Are these tracks “100s” in your eyes from the point of view of playing them in a club, listening at home, or some combination of both?

All of the above really, but there was definitely a strong focus on the tracks that were big in our Aston Shuffle DJ Sets and also on our radio show (Triple J's Friday Night Shuffle) throughout the year. Future Only 100s will feature all kinds of music.

Can you highlight three tracks from the first episode of Only 100s and why they stand out to you?

1. KC Lights – “Temptation” – This was a seriously huge weapon for us in the clubs this year. It's a solid house jam with some really cool techno elements. If dropped at the right time it always killed it on the floor for us.

2. Weiss – “You're Sunshine” – 2016 was the year of pianos in dance music, especially house music as it continues its resurgence the last couple of years. Weiss has recreated a proper nod to Chicago house and we can't get enough of it.

3. Dua Lipa – “Be The One (With You. Remix)” – Switch is well and truly back!!! He's gone pretty quirky with this remix, but it's incredibly well done! He's put Dua's Lipa's vocal to great use and come up with a really unique drop that works in the small rooms and also on the festival stages.

How do you think your experience over the last seven years making a weekly radio show for Triple J played into the creation of the first episode of Only 100s?

It's certainly helped a lot as we now know what goes into making a show like this, but the approach and presentation for Only 100s is quite different. The Friday Night Shuffle is Mikah and Vance curating three hours of brand new dance music each week, whereas Only 100s is all about what The Aston Shuffle are currently playing in the clubs or music we're listening to at home, in the studio, etc.

You guys have had a string of quality releases on Potion in 2016, from “High With You,” to “Only 1,” to “Make A Wrong Thing Right.” Do you guys have a proudest production from 2016?

We're both extremely proud of the music that we put out this year, but if we had to mention one of them, it would be “High With You.” It was the first track we'd done since our album Photographs and we felt really energized and inspired which helped to create the other songs like “Only 1” and “Make A Wrong Thing Right.”

Now you’re wrapping your year up with your remix of Maxwell – “All The Way Love Can Feel.” What made you want to remix that track?

We've been fans of his since high school. Vance is probably a bigger fan than Mikah though haha! He hit us up on Twitter saying he dug “Tear It Down” and we've been in regular contact since. He asked us if we would like to remix one of the songs off the album and we went with “All The Way Love Can Feel” as it's one of our favorites on the album.

What elements of the original did you want to preserve and how do you think you made the track your own?

We fell in love with the vocal straight away. We wanted to do something on a club tip, but keep it really classy and a little edgy in places. It ended up with a bit of a nod to classic Armand Van Helden, which was totally unintentional, but felt right considering the caliber of artist we were remixing.

Stay tuned as The Aston Shuffle will drop their first 2017 episode of Only 100s this month. You can always find the latest from The Aston Shuffle in their The Friday Night Shuffle tracklists.

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