A breath of fresh air from the faceless droves of percussive, devoid-of-melody house, New York’s M A N I K (miss out the spaces at your own peril) has cut a fine line in making warm, tuneful deepness with a splash of tech soul. After completing a degree in Music Business, he soon set about spewing forth his own lovely grooves, and over the last few years he’s impressed with classy releases for Ovum, Four:twenty and Fresh Meat.
His combination of heads-down grooves and fluffier sounds works a treat and gives him a bit of a range, and it’s no wonder that everyone from Hot Chip to Joris Voorn digs his shit. Still only 24, he’s got a lot of good housing ahead of him.
How and when were you first infected by dance music?
I’d say when I was listening to the Prodigy’s Fat Of The Land album back when I was in elementary school. This was the first exposure I had. I grew up on hip-hop but this was the first electronic music encounter.
When did you start producing, and how long was it before you started making tracks that you were really happy with?
I started producing when I was in junior high school actually. I was probably about 13 years old. I was making hip-hop mostly and after school was done in the day, my friends and I would go to Sam Ash Queens Blvd here in New York City. I’d always be the last of my friends to leave the “drum machine/keyboard/sampler”department.True story. Anyways, I started making electronic dance tracks a few years ago for fun, but I do not think until I signed my first tracks to Ovum in 2009 that I actually found my sound and was really truly happy with what I was doing.
What have been your personal favourite productions so far?
That’s a tough one because they are all special to me in different ways. Fable on Four:twenty was meaningful track to me as was Juice on Fresh Meat. But I guess I would say my absolute favorite thus far was the whole entire Park To The Slope EP on Ovum. I would also say my upcoming track on Culprit entitled McLovin You is a favorite of mine, as well as my new track on Poker Flat and a few others coming up. So keep them ears ready.
Where does your name come from?
My real name is Chris Manik and MANIK is meant to be the shortened “brand” end of it. On flyers, it is meant to be M A N I K spelled like that with spaces because to me it is also about a visual/logo appeal – to stand apart.
Who would you most like to work with?
Honestly, my aspirations go beyond electronic music. I would love to work with Pharell Williams of The Neptunes one day. He has been a big influence to me. I’d like to collaborate with him for sure. In electronic music, I would love to sit down with Martin Buttrich.
What have you got in store for the coming months?
This summer is actually quite busy for me release wise. I have a new EP on Luca Bacchetti & Davide Squillace new label Hideout as well a release on Dark Energy that’s run by Shur-i-kan and Milton Jackson. In addition I have a 4 tracker coming out in August on LA-based Culprit that has had a superb year thus far with releases from Hot Natured, Lee Foss, and SECT.
What can we expect from one of your DJ sets?
Well, I pride myself in being different and setting myself apart from the masses. With that said, chances are you will hear a diverse set from me with everything from some solid house grooves and dubbier sounds to the more disco based movements. I drop slow and sexy jams, and I love to play raw sounding tunes from the early ‘90s era as well as stuff influenced by this era. I’ll even play some cosmic funky stuff too and you’d also probably hear me play a lot of my original tunes. Honestly, good music is good music. So I will just play my definition of what that is.
If you weren’t a DJ/producer, what would you be?
I would probably have been a basketball player or a basketball coach/teacher. That was my first passion but the music bug grew in me as I got older.
Which other producers and DJs do you really rate?
Some artists in electronic dance music I am feeling these days are Lee Foss and the whole Hot Natured project with Jamie Jones. I have always been a huge Jamie Jones fan since back in 2004, and I still credit him as one of my top 5 producers that got me into doing what I am doing today. Kris Wadsworth and Burnski are also two producers I am really into these days as well. Lastly, I am feeling the new music from Sven Tasnadi as well.
Written By: BenGomori
Look out for M A N I K’s Harbin EP on Hideout 20th July 2010.