The day parties at The BPM Festival foster a certain ambience: The vibe is free and easy, everybody looks their best and the only worry is the line to the bathroom. Things felt faultless on the eighth day at the Culprit vs. Leftroom party at Mamita’s Beach Club in Playa del Carmen.
After a year of unmistakable career growth, and becoming a key player on the Culprit roster, Jozif dropped a heavy storm of bumping beats for the sandy spectators.
Heading straight from the piping hot beaches of Mexico, Jozif is making an appearance tonight in the just-below-freezing New York City alongside Lee Foss and Subb-an thanks to our friends at Verboten. After a pit stop in Montreal, he’ll be landing down at one of our favorite spots in Miami Jan. 24 – the Electric Pickle.
Lounging on a swing with oversized pillows in the VIP area at Mamita’s, Jozif briefed us on his first time playing The BPM Festival, the new Balance mix he has coming up and his lack of plans for 2013.
Buy tickets here to see Jozif in New York City, Montreal or Miami.
Photo courtesy of Oliver Correa / Cultivora.com
Last year you released some awesome EPs on Culprit. How did you link up with Droog guys in the first place?
That’s a really good question. I can’t really remember. It’s like one of those things where something is so perfect that you can’t remember how it started. It just kind of happened. All I do know is that Culprit has become such a massive part of my musical life, which is amazing. They’ve always been so supportive and also very free with me.
For my readers who aren’t with us today, describe the vibe of this party at Mamita’s today — the venue, the crowd, the music.
I’m not sure I actually have the vocabulary to explain it, but it’s absolutely boiling. It’s a beautiful beach with a lot of beautiful people, which is also making me feel a little bit angry because I’m not a particularly beautiful person, so there’s a lot of jealousy happening right now. There’s a lot of really good hair and jewelry going on too. And more importantly, there are some really good tunes happening.
Have you been to The BPM Festival before this?
I’ve been to Playa four or five times but I’ve never done BPM. At my ripe old age of 633, I’ve finally popped my cherry. It’s amazing. Even the guy at the front desk of my hotel knows all the lineups. He knows everything. At one point I’m certain I asked him what time I was playing. Everyone’s super into the festival. And another thing I love is that everything is really close.
Tell us about the Balance mix you’ll be releasing soon.
To be honest, that Balance mix was a bit of a tricky one because it’s my first proper commercial mix CD. You have to do a mix that can only be 73 minutes long so you’re resitricted by the time, and then you’re restricted by what records you can actually use. It was a massive test for me. I actually did three versions of it. I did the first one and it was quite bangy and more representative of what I play at a club, but I didn’t really feel at home with it. And then I did a funkier one, which was also what I play and I sent those records to get cleared, but in the meantime, one of my good friends passed away. I felt a little bit guilty about putting out a funky up vibe mix when something as horrendous as that had happened. I went back and did another mix in one day. The mix turned out to be quite an emotional mix, but it’s representative of how I was feeling at that point because of what had happened.
You’re heading to NYC for a Verboten party and then Miami to play our favorite spot – the Electric Pickle. Do you prefer smaller, more intimate settings like the Pickle, or bigger events like today’s party?
I think for me it’s always small because my music is small anyway – it’s quite funky and intimate. To me it’s just about having a good time. Whether you’re playing in a small place or a big place, you just kind of go, “How do we make this the most amazing time possible?”
What do you expect of 2013 as far as producing, touring, or even laying low?
I don’t really know. I’m not very good at plotting and planning. I kind of like the idea of just making it up as you go along. Sometimes it can be amazing and sometime it can be absolutely appalling.
Comments are closed.