:: BB INTERVIEWS ::

:: JARITEN of SOUND OF HABIB ::

Jariten - The Man Behind The Beard by Doug Vaccaro Jariten used to be Johan Soh, Spark, Sidekick and used to be in Random Source and also in Invincible... see how fast that got confusing? Now it's all just under one name. Jariten's started his path into the world of music by DJ-ing at the very popular student nights in Gothenburg. He quickly became well know on the local circuit for venturing outside the student night norm and intruducing a mainstream crowd to electronic music. As he grew in polularity, playing 3-5 nights a week meant staying awake in class was a near impossible feat, and Jariten left his studies behind, having undertaken an eclectic mix of courses including Chemistry and Chinese. In 1995 the relentless drum & bass movement took it's first baby steps in Sweden, and Jariten was right promoting nights and touring with Aphrodite, among others. After a 2 month US tour playing drum & bass, Jariten returned for Europe to play some UK dates, but felt the politics of drum & bass was getting to him and no interesting records were being released. But under the surface things were bubbling in London. Jariten met Botchit founder Vini Medley who introduced him to a whole new world of sounds and people. Breaks had all the energy of drum & bass, a more interesting approach and none of the politics. After meeting and getting a studio tutorial from Rennie Pilgrem in 1998, Jariten shelfed his drum & bass records for good and started looking into production. In 1999 the first Sound of Habib release saw the light of day, distributed by ST Holdings. The track "Enjoy" by Jariten under the "Spark" moniker secured a sureplayer in DJ Magazine, and after having Stisch masterpeice JFK as the 3rd release on the label, it was already legendary. Sound of Habib is the longest running international breakbeat label, and one of the most consistent breaks labels in the world. Jariten continued using different monikers for himself and his various collaborations and release tunes as Invincible, Random Source, Spark and Johan Soh. In 2006 he felt it was time to focus it all on one alias, and then there was only Jariten. The strength of Jariten's production lies in originality and an endless effort to give each track a life of it's own, something that gives the tracks and remixes extra shelf life, and that is what makes them stay in peoples boxes and cd wallets for a long time. Jariten has always been an in demand DJ and playing 2-3 times a week means he has done over 1500 gigs in his professional career, all over the globe. His refined surgical mixing skills combined with an uncanny ear for the right tune at the right time, he always has the crowds screaming for more. Hello Johan. How are you man? Busy... best way to describe it really. But happy. Very happy. Good to hear. How’s the weather treating you in Sweden? Please don’t get me started. With global warming we’re not getting white winters any more. Not that we ever did, mind you, but still. It’s raining with virtually no daylight. Great. I feel ya. Not much snow in NY either. It’s not so much that I miss the snow as the fact that winter is rather pointless without it. I like extremes, black or white. Not much for greyscale. Either it’s proper winter, or we might as well skip directly to spring. You are about to launch the 25th release on Sound of Habib. Congratz! How has the ride been for you thus far? Long? Listening back to the stuff we started out doing, it’s fun to see how it’s evolved from Stisch “JFK” to where we are today. It’s 25 releases in 6 years… As much as we’ve evolved along side the breaks genre, I think we might now be further from the rest, in a way. In my opinion, our stuff has longer shelf life than a majority of tunes released. I hear time and time again people saying that they’ve “still got that tune” in their boxes. One of the reasons why we sometimes have gaps in between releases is that I’ve got to have that love for a track to release it, which means that for months on end there might be stuff coming through the office that doesn’t strike a chord with me. Also I won’t sign one off tracks (anymore). I want the fans to be able to follow each artist’s musical progression. We’re your friends, we’re your family. A true sign of quality. SoH is no doubt one of the finest labels around, and is my personal favorite as well. If you had to choose a favorite from your catalogue, which release would it be? I love all my kids equally! But if I have to make my mind up, I’d have to say “You weirdo” by Dan F. That track is just magical. No remix can ever do it justice, so we never tried. Each release has been a track that I’ve fallen in love with one way or the other, but this still gets me going. The 25th release is an original from Dan F and yourself as Jariten. Before we move along… Another name change?! Explain. Random Source is dead, Invincible faded years ago when Stisch started working on his first album and Marcus Haze (the vocalist) went on US tour with another project.. I’m now going under the name Jariten on all productions. So it’s Dan F & Jariten “Halo”. All the guises are gone… no more Random Source, no more Johan Soh, no more Invincible, Spark, Sidekick or any other name I’ve gone under. Just been clearing up the mess lately. You do a track under one name and people think it’s great, do another one with somebody else under another and nobody knows it’s you. That means you start from scratch every time, which is fun, but time consuming. Doing everything under one name just means a lot of doors will already be open. And that settles that! So tell me about the remixes and how you chose them. The remixes come from carefully selected producers. Dopamine does one thing when he does his own productions for TCR, Title fight and the remixes he does for other labels, but he just turns around and goes nuts on the remixes for us. I don’t think anyone expected his “Little creatures” remix to come out the way it did, and we had been talking about doing another thing. I don’t like to use the same remixers over and over as there are so many cool acts around, but Matt and I decided that he’d be the first. He’s transformed “Halo” into his own creation which is really cool. To some people’s amazement, I chose Backdraft to do a remix. I’ve been a fan ever since I heard “Infrasound” on Botchit. When you come to a Jariten gig or listen to the Bearded Show on Breaks FM, you won’t be subjected to tune after tune of samey type beats. The thing I love about breaks is that you can make a set really interesting while staying in the breaks world. A lot of DJs tend to stick to one formula, but I like to give you a unique experience. Breaks is inviting, and my set has something for everyone. I’m guessing that’s why I get a lot of DJ work. Backdraft turned the “Halo” experience on it’s head. The intro is just evil and puts a big smile on my face every time. Then rolling breaks and our original bassline, given the Backdraft treatment… stellar. Neztic of course. He really shouldn’t need any introduction by now. The reason he’s on is because he can’t do wrong. Especially with remixes. I don’t know… I guess he’s found the fountain of inspiration in Mexico or something. It’s just non stop. The last remix is from Hi 8. I’ve just been waiting for the right track to give him, really. He’s got that bleepyness that I love in a tune. Some melody and hooks, while staying on the right side of cheesy. Hoping to have the chance to do a collaboration with him in the near future. I find them all excellent in their own way. My favorite being the Hi8 Remix. Stunning! It seems like everyone has their favourite remix, which is the whole point really. The original track has so many elements that each remix can make a unique version. This whole experiment turned out better than I ever expected, to be honest. So what else is lined up for SoH? Any other interesting projects you’ve got in the pipelines? Trying, like I do every year, to get more stuff out on the label. I always say that and we end up doing 5-6 releases a year, like the year before. It’s a strange thing… I’m trying to pick up some new artists too, but that takes a LOT of time. I have strange standards artistically and the new artists need to fit the overall vibe of the label plus share our view of the world. That said I’ve managed to find a couple of great ones, both established and new to the international scene. The way I’ve always done it, really. I’m also really getting back into production now. Made the Switch from PC to Mac, from Nuendo and Cubase to Logic. Seemed like the obvious choice since I have been working closely with Dan F in Logic for 2 years now, it seemed stupid to go back to PC when I had the chance to learn from one of the best Logic based producers around. The switch also means it’s easier to do collaborations with Dan over the net, since our busy business schedules clash with our production schedules. We just finished a remix for Sharam Jey. It’s his massive “Feel nobody” getting the remix treatment and I dare say it’s fat. Not strictly breaks, but we don’t want to be limited by genres. Makes it more fun. I’ve also remixes Neztic and the new Karton single “Can’t see” for my own Sound of Habib label, plus I just finished a remix for Re:connect. All should be in stores before summer. So we'll see you in Miami at WMC this year? WMC marks the end of winter for me. So yes, yes I will. It’s going to be a quick one this year, though as I have to be back home for some big things. Fun, but at the same time a bit of a shame, as I’ve had to turn down two big WMC gigs. I usually stay the full week, but this year it’s simply not possibly. Hoping to get back to the States for some touring this summer, but that’s also something I always say and then end up going out to Asia instead. I will try my best. But yes, WMC should be a blast, as it always is. It’s a great way to meet both your mates, colleagues and fans. If anyone reading this wants to have a chat, come say hello at one of the gigs or when I’m mulling around South Beach. I’ll be the one looking like me. Where can we find ya? Still waiting for confirmation from Beatport, but I will be doing the BreaksFM party and of course Future Sound of Breaks. Or every day at Jerry’s Famous Deli. They really should start endorsing me. Good stuff man. Thanks for talking with me pal. Always a pleasure! :: February 2007 :: Releasing March 12th, Sound of Habib's 25th release is an extra spacial 5 track EP. The original Dan F & Jariten - ‘Halo' also features stunning remixes from Dopamine, Backdraft, Neztic and Hi 8. Set for release February 2007, 'Halo' sees label boss Jariten and Dan F's unholy alliance in top form, delivering a quirky yet heavy bit of breakbeat electronica to celebrate. More info at SoundofHabib.com

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