Premiere: Spinnin’ Sessions 203 – Ape Drums Guestmix

Bringing the hottest tracks and the future hits to the radar every week, Spinnin’ Records return with their Spinnin’ Sessions setup to give us a sneak peak into upcoming releases and current chart-toppers. This week they’re showcasing the talents of Ape Drums, one of the hottest producers coming out of the US, whose signature progressive dancehall rhythms has already garnered support from some of the world’s top DJs & musicians including Skrillex, Sean Paul, and DJ Snake. Having impressed throughout 2016 and broken through to the mainstream with both his groundbreaking single “The Way We Do This” together with Major Lazer and his collaboration with Dougie F entitled “Go Crazy”, the producer showed his ability to appeal to the radio and pop fans without pandering and staying true to his roots. Carrying on this momentum into 2017, We Rave You is delighted to premiere his Spinnin’ Sessions guest mix.

Having recently reached their landmark 200th episode, the 203rd edition features music from the industry’s biggest names including EDX, KURA, Florian Picasso and Curbi to name a few, whilst the Talent Pool release of the week is Daclipse‘s enchanting “Lost Flute” – a track which caught Spinnin’s attention after pipping fellow demo-submitters to the top of the chart, making him the latest up and coming artist to get his music on the revered label. Equally impressive is this week’s Spotify track, Sophie Francis’ infectious “Without You”.

With the regular air-time catch up, heads turn to our this week’s guest mix from Ape Drums, and he did not disappoint.

We had the opportunity to sit down with the relentlessly talented producer for an exclusive interview, discussing previous collaborations, future plans, and more.

2016 was extremely successful for you. You released tracks alongside Major Lazer or Lil Uzi Vert and it seems like you are continuing with the success in great fashion in 2017. You recently released your “One Wine” remix, which features Sean Paul and Major Lazer. How did this record happen? Did they approach you and requested a remix?

Dip sent me some raw files and asked for a remix/VIP edit of the track that we could do together. Eventually finished it but it forgot about the song, years later we finally agreed on a release date and here we are.

How would you describe the true Ape Drums sound and how do you want people to view your music?

People know me for starting this dancehall movement in EDM. Im really proud of that, so i would describe my sound as bigger sounding dancehall, next level riddims.

What’s the main difference between working with Hip-Hop acts such as Lil Uzi Vert or Rizzoo Rizzoo and electronic acts?

Obviously the main difference is working with vocal artists and producers. I like to work with acapellas for vocal artists rather then starting from scratch. I work faster working around vocals. Working with producers is a lot easier, bc we’re basically just drawing our ideas down from scratch.

Your track “Mutant Brain” alongside Sam Spiegel was used in the 2016 Kenzo World ad campaign. Congratulations on that! How have things evolved for you since that milestone?

Thank You. That video has really opened up a lot of doors for me and created lots of new fans.  Anything to get my music out to more people is a huge plus.

How would you describe your relationship with the guys from Major Lazer? Can we expect another collaboration in the near future?

Our relationship is amazing, those are probably the closest people I know in music period, we can definitely be ourselves around each other, no pressure. Haven’t thought about it but definitely open to do something again.

Do you have any interesting projects coming up for 2017 that stand out to you?

Yes, along with working on singles for the rest of the year, I’m also working on building my label/sound crew called Vision Sound. I wanna release music, do events, tour, sell merch, everything with Vision Sound. I wanna build it as my brand, my crew, and try to help up & coming artists be active with shows & releases.

Check out the full mix in all its glory below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sxWnKEPX68&feature=youtu.be