G-Sounds 20: Corbeau

Corbeau’s true House recipe…

Interview: Stephen Reynolds

Aligning with the theme of 90′s inspired house music we bring you two budding Sheffield producers Luciano Giaimo and Adam Smith who are making headway under the umbrella of Corbeau. A duo that is too irresistible to shy away from, with their wide range of influences, mainly from 90′s House, Garage and Deep House elements, all being infused into their music and their DJ sets. They seem to be truly harnessing the right ingredients for some real house vibes, mixing it up with the full deep flavours of modern day sounds, a few tablespoons of swinging house and garage groove and slight sprinkling of funkiness. This is the recipe for a good serving of Corbeau. A dish that is becoming a staple diet in the Sheffield house scene.

So how did Corbeau come about?
Well we had been DJing together on and off for a couple of years before we became Corbeau but it took a few shandies and a heart-to-heart after a gig at Global Gathering to make us finally take the plunge and begin working together officially! A couple of months later we got our acts together and started making tunes under our new name.

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen new additions to your expanding collection including “Street Walker” and “Visions” released on AOI Records, what else have you got coming up in the pipeline?
Yeah we have a few releases in the pipeline over the next couple of months actually. Firstly the three track “Red City EP” being released on Cyprus based label Fly In A Jam Records, out at the end of February. Then we have the “Street Walker EP” coming out in March on Sheffield’s All Over It Records. This features the title track and as well as “Visions”, we are really buzzing about this one as AOI have lined up some exciting remixes for it. March will also see a track we signed to Love Not Money Records a while back featuring on their latest VA Compilation.

We have really enjoyed the changing sounds in your releases, has it been difficult to maintain that individuality to each record?
We don’t make tracks and think “let’s make something completely different to the last one”, but if we think something sounds too similar or unoriginal we won’t put our name to it. We maintain our individuality by taking inspiration from various different genres. There is a lot of music out there so it is important to be different.

Originally captivated by a couple of their younger tracks “Stand Up” and “My Love”; “Stand Up” forthcoming on Fly In A Jam Records is one of their more garage influenced tracks. A warm hum of analogue bass tones supported by a wealth of offbeat shoulder jerking claps and hi hats that instantly thrust your hips into dancing action. A clean, bouncing, melodic hook takes lead giving the track its addictive qualities, it later transcends into soft chord stabs for the breakdown and rides nicely back into the mix adding it to the list of vinyl’s to purchase.

“My Love” also forthcoming on Fly In A Jam Records takes a darker approach with a solid stabbing bassline and futuristic dubby overcoats whilst the eerie spoken word vocal lulls the listener into a hypnotic groove. Layered on top are perfectly placed, dampened synth chords and an upbeat hi hat thickening the overall sound as well as adding to the dark, deep timbre you’d expect from real Deep House.

So where does the inspiration for these tracks come from?
We both grew up listening to UK Garage so a lot of our music is influenced by that, as well as the Old Skool 90′s House stuff. The thing is there are so many other types of music that we draw inspiration from it would be unfair to say “this particular sound or artist is the one”.

And which producers are pushing the right buttons for you at the moment?
At the minute we are really digging the stuff that Waze & Odyssey are putting out there plus people like Anil Aras and New Jack City. Squarehead is killing it at the moment as well.

Finally what can we expect from you guys in the exciting run up to summer?
We will be working on more original tracks as well as a load of exciting remixes so keep an eye out for these, plus we hope to announce some gigs a little bit further afield so keep an eye on our Soundcloud page for more info.

Once again we see the revival and resurgence of old-school sounds with new school production values. Considering they have only just emerged their music sounds incredibly professional; the mix downs and mastering are top notch and the content is original and highly addictive.

Dates:
23 Feb @ AOI Underground Heroes, Sheffield, UK
02 Mar @ MiS Warehouse Party, Sheffield, UK
30 Mar @ Secret Soiree, Sheffield, UK

Corbeau |