NOTION Interview: "I'm feeling very lucky right now"

Returning from his US/CA tour earlier this month amid a summer packed with sets, established UK dance music DJ-producer NOTION has got a new mixtape on the horizon, ‘FORWARDS,’ Which is set to release on Friday. On the mixtape, the Bristol-based artist showcases his journey of self-exploration as he moves ‘forwards’ with a fresh and versatile sound.

Features previously released singles ‘Feel Like Me’, ‘Temporary Friends’ with Charlotte Plank, ‘Backbone’ with Olivia Rose, ‘TV Dreams’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘Think About U’ as well as never heard before club cuts like ‘Styling’ ‘Secrets’ and ‘Little Steps’; NOTION describes the project as a mixtape born from club music but with a personal touch and a better representation of who he is as an artist today. 

With the mixtape ready to release at the end of the week, as well as an AU/NZ tour with his Dance Dubs project fast approaching, we decided it best to catch up with NOTION to chat all about it. Scroll down and check out what he had to say below!

Hi Notion, how are you doing today, what have you been up to recently?

"Hey Tom, I’m really good thank you! Tired but good.

"I just got home from my first weekend of shows back in the UK after finishing my North America tour last week so it's been pretty non-stop. Still, I got to play on this insane stage at Leeds Festival with Oppidan on Saturday night and it was such a mad experience so I'm feeling very lucky right now."

We're here to chat about your new mixtape, FORWARDS, being released on the 30th, what can you tell us about it? How long has it been in the works?

"Yeah, I do! So FORWARDS has officially been in the works for about 12 months but I’ve been working on some of the music on the project for way longer so it's kind of hard to say.

"It wasn’t really a thing where I sat down like ‘ok I'm going to write a project’ - I just had all this music that fit together and it made sense to turn it into something.

"It’s basically my attempt at creating a project that, even though it's heavily influenced by all my dance music influences, is a bit more personal and maybe a bit less strictly club-focused than a lot of the music I’ve put out before.

"Me and the team have put a lot of time and love into the visual side of it too so it’s kind of just a big creative splurge of sounds and ideas that I’ve wanted to bring to life for a long time."

Your most recent Instagram post promoting the mixtape included some snippets of thought behind the release. What particularly resonated with me was the comments about the mixtape being the antithesis to the fast food, disposable snippet nature of music nowadays. Could you expand on that a bit for us, and how you went about counteracting this within the project?

"I dunno man it just feels like every form of art is so disposable now.

"Creatives spend all this time and energy pouring their hearts into their work just for it to get posted to social media and forgotten 24 hours later. I feel like that leads people to deliberately create more disposable stuff or tailor their work to social media algorithms because understandably the cycle is exhausting and it just becomes a bit of a numbers game (in every sense of the word).

"I think it would be very silly to think that I can really make any difference to any of that but I just decided I was going to do what I wanted with this project whether the algorithm hated it or not.

"All the music and visuals on this project were meant to be listened to and watched from start to finish, even if that means it doesn’t translate as well on social media. It’s probably a terrible business move, to be honest, but I'm just so over playing the social media game at the expense of doing what I want creatively haha."

There are some sick vocalist collabs on the project too, including Charlotte Plank, Olivia Rose, and Cameron Hayes. How do you go about picking who to collab with?

"Yeah, I’ve been very lucky to be able to work with so many amazing singers on this project.

"Everything came about pretty naturally, to be honest, and because none of the music was really written with the intention of going on the project it's just been a thing where I’ve been working on music with Charlotte, Olivia & Cameron in general and then some of the tracks have ended up on the project.

"I feel like everyone’s really brought their own style and vibe to the collabs on the tape though which is sick because it takes them above and beyond anything I’d be able to do just by myself."

The tracks have been getting some big love, I remember hearing TV Dreams for the first time spun by Salute on his wicked b2b set with Disclosure in Medellin, what has it been like seeing the tracks from the new project get so much love?

"The support on the whole project has been amazing but with TV DREAMS especially it’s actually been wild - especially as that felt like one of the least DJ-friendly tunes on there when I made it.

"Salute was definitely one of the first people to play it and since then it has had spins from Ben UFO, Joy Orbison and a bunch of other huge DJs which is absolutely crazy to me, so yeah I'm very very grateful that all these artists that I take so much inspiration from want to play my songs!"

With other people loving your stuff, I’d love to know which DJs you think are killing it right now, what tracks you’re loving, and if there's anyone not getting the credit they deserve.

"I might be a bit biased because they’re my mates but Oppidan and MPH are two artists I’ll shout about every chance I get. If you’ve heard me play a set in the last 2 years you’ve definitely heard about 100 of their tunes.

"Also, these two don’t really need any shoutouts at this point but I just want to mention Sammy Virji and IPC for pioneering the sound outside of the UK right now as well. I feel like those guys have kicked the door down for the rest of us from the UK to travel further with this sound, especially in the States!

"I hate this question because there are honestly so many talented artists coming up at the moment but someone I’m super excited to see continue to grow is Scruz.

"I'm not sure if I'd call him underrated because his name is all over the place at the moment but he’s really carved out his own lane and sound and I’m really excited to see where he takes it over the next few years."

You’ve also had a mad few months by the looks of it. From a whole host of festivals, most notably Glasto and Outlook, to just coming back from the US. How has this summer been for you? How was the US? And how have the new tunes from Forwards been going down?

"It's been mad haha.

"This is by far the busiest summer I’ve ever had and as hectic as it's been I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been able to travel to so many new places, especially in the US and it just feels like non-stop new experiences at the moment.

"America’s great, the dance music scene over there is very different to anywhere else I’ve been before but everyone out there is so supportive and welcoming so it's been a really sick experience.

"The new music has been going down amazingly too! I know it's a bit of a cliché but getting to go play a show on the other side of the planet and having people sing the lyrics back to you doesn’t ever really get old haha."

You’re also going to take your Dance Dubs project out to Australia and New Zealand later this year. First off, for those who don’t know, what is dance dubs? And how much are you looking forward to getting back over that side of the world?

"Yeah, I’m flying out next Tuesday in fact!

"So Dance Dubs is basically an outlet for all of my club tracks, bootlegs, and fun stuff I make for shows that I can’t really release in a more traditional format.

"It kind of just came about because I had tons of unreleased tracks I was playing at shows / in mixes etc, and me and my manager were talking about what we could do with them all and decided to make a little imprint/brand whatever you want to call it to drop them all under.

"I give all the music away for free & it's just a really fun way to give stuff to people with no real pressure to build big release campaigns and all that stuff around it, so it’s basically the complete opposite end of everything I’m doing with FORWARDS but it's sick to be able to have both outlets and showcase two different sides of myself as an artist in a way that hopefully makes sense to people.

"Somewhere along the line, it's ended up becoming its own little event and I’ve since toured it around the UK, just did my first ever Dance Dubs NYC show a couple of weeks ago and now I'm taking it to Australia & New Zealand which is pretty mad!"

Just to finish off, we do a feature at Skiddle called Three Tracks, which we always ask DJs we interview, so imagine your next set is reduced to just three tracks, what are you playing and why?

"Ah mate this is the worst question ever because if you asked me again tomorrow I’d probably have a completely different answer but off the top of my head…

"Diffrent - A Little Closer (Oppidan Edit) - because it's an absolute cheat code in my sets at the moment. The original has reached instant classic status this year and it's so fun dropping the edit and seeing people's reactions when the vocal loops and people realise it's not the version they were expecting.

"Soul Mass Transit System - Murderation (4 The Bristol Crew Mix) - just a straight-up banger that goes off every single time. It’s like the perfect speed garage tune in my opinion which is saying something considering Soul Mass is already absolutely untouchable when it comes to garage warpers. Also, it has Bristol in the title so extra points for that.

"Y U QT - Y’all Ready For Dis VIP - I actually told myself I was going to stop playing the original because I loved it so much that I rinsed it in almost every set for about 12 months but then Y U sent me the VIP and it’s so good it basically put me right back to square one. If you’ve been to any of my sets recently you’ve probably heard me play this and it’s just such a fun energetic tune, it’s really addictive to play."

Notion is playing at both Sundown Festival and Boundary Brighton Festival this month, click on the links below to find tickets:

Sundown Festival - HERE

Boundary Brighton Festival - HERE

Or, if you want to see where else Notion is playing, with tickets on sale on Skiddle, visit his artist page by clicking or tapping - HERE

Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.

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