Loose Joints - LUXE, dj_2button b2b Pigeon Steve

Unique, innovative, refreshing – three words greatly overused by the electronic music commentariat, PR pen pushers and marketing lackeys. For some artists breaking through, they strike true. For Luxe, a.k.a, Lucy Hopson, they only go so far in describing her groundbreaking work. Originally based in Brighton, LUXE studied classical music from a young age, with focus on flute, piano and voice. Following a move to Manchester for university, her focus shifted toward the city’s rich club scene. Since moving to London, her various disciplines have begun to converge – the open-ended possibilities of electronic music, the invaluable underpinning of music theory and the understated confidence afforded from years of classical practice. LUXE’s productions are built up from a base of intuitiveness, tracing influences from myriad sources and developing them with both an explorative enthusiasm and an assured backbone owed to her classical training. Tracks are sketched whole, constructed live, and fine-tuned retroactively, once the full picture has taken shape. All reliance on genre confines and aesthetic trappings are foregone in favour of a steadfast bottling of inspiration, be it from friends, travels or interactions, and a taste for creative risk-taking. Most distinctively, structure and melody are approached with deep musical understanding, resulting in rich, layered and surprising results that reach beyond the usual confines of club music production. These creative perspectives extend to LUXE’s DJ sets, weaving cohesively through styles while tossing tired categorisation to the wayside, while most importantly, consistently invigorating the dance. Not often is this level of versatility presented with such focus, and these elements will continue to be compounded into a singular and unique path. To the future, the relationship between performance and production will continue to be developed, with a debut album in the works alongside live sets that will delve deeper into ambient and electro-acoustic influences. In the words of DJMag: “LUXE makes it look easy.” Joining Luxe is Glasgow's very own Pigeon Steve, who makes a return to his hometown after a recent move to London. Co-honcho of the esteemed Partial parties, he's an esteemed alumni of the class of great Glasgow DJs - a true multi-genre-ist who is hard to, ahem, pigeon-hole. His debut EP on Future State is a chunky slab of psychedelic club flair which takes bits of everything from his wide knowledge. A serious talent who doesn't take himself to seriously, if you've had the pleasure of meeting him, you'll know he's one of the good ones. He goes back-to-back with Vancouvers' dj_2button. The multi-disciplinary artist, producer and DJ is proficient in intricate, intriguing and off-kilter music with a lot of warmth and a lot of oomph. We have to admit that we are only recently acquainted with their work, and we regret being a bit behind on the curve, given his incredible EP on Dummy Hand (the imprint of much missed Noods Radio) and releases on his co-run Weirdos Inc. Alongside Noods, check mixes for the likes of Pender Street Steppers on NTS, and on Rinse for Hessle Audio. We can't wait to get more acquainted!