Marek Peszynski and Artur Aldridge are two DJ/producers whose names stand alone in the Wellington club scene, but together they're creating a new sound under a name that tips a hat to their personal histories.
As Eastern Bloc (Marek's family is Polish, Artur's Ukrainian), they're making music that's fresh and accessible. And behind the music is a bond formed over nights working together in the capital's clubland. As a promoter, Marek has hosted artists like Baauer, Flume, Lil B, A$AP Ferg, Onra and Lunice - and Artur, under the name Beat Mob, opened for these acts along with Marek. “We [did] lots of DJing together and it just kind of gelled and evolved to not only a DJ duo but a production duo, it was very organic,” Marek says.
When I interview them, we're in Artur's lounge while the duo mix down their second single, ‘Cece Bounce’. Sitting on old, well-loved couches; underneath a picture of Morgan Freeman dressed as Nelson Mandela and listening to a pair of very nice monitor speakers, they introduce me to their music.
“It's a new thing we're doing,” Marek says, “that's why the show was an interesting experiment as we slowly introduce what's essentially a brand new kind of style here to a lot of people who have never heard it before and you have to do that very carefully.”
Refering to the Eastern Bloc the launch party at Wellington club Betty's last month, Artur says: “If you present it in a very accessible way through a remix or something people are more open to music. Even if they don't really understand the full structure of the rhythm yet, they're still open to it.
I don't feel that in our musical process that we're degrading our own musical interests by making it accessible. I definitely think accessibility is a very key aspect but it's not necessarily the main integral part.
“I don't feel that in our musical process that we're degrading our own musical interests by making it accessible. I definitely think accessibility is a very key aspect but it's not necessarily the main integral part, we want something people can listen to but also that we enjoy to produce.”
“There's a lot of future beat elements, ambient textures in there, light, kind of like slowly developing musical sounds that kind of grow ... as opposed to very detached, sharp iterations,” says Artur. He's describing production techniques characteristic of a fresh style of club music called Jersey Club. It is one sub-genre that's strongly influenced their first single ‘Milk’.
Reviewing the track, electronic music blog Unholy Rhythm wrote: “It’s playful and flirtatious, almost hinting, never fully breaking the whimsical build. The background track gleams while water drops disperse throughout, assimilating into the dragged out vocals and ebullient 808s.”
Artur has a classical music background and for Marek ,15 years of working multiple dance floors, means he won’t discriminate against music. Ff it's good, then it's good, he says, "even down to trance and stuff like that, if I like elements of a song then I've got no qualms about using it. It is what it is."
"I think it's good to be open to all kinds of music it makes you a much more flexible person, and a much more flexible DJ because you can kind of accommodate yourself to different situations; which is kind of the reason why I called myself Beat Mob because I made all kinds of beats," Artur says.
Marek says the duo aren't scared of pop music. “You know there is a lot of hate towards pop music and pop musicians and it's like one of this things which I've never understood because obviously being a fan of underground music and seeing so many artists kind of cross over. You know, like Diplo producing for Britney Spears and Justin Bieber and stuff like that, and Usher.
“It's like what's the difference between Diplo before everybody knew him to Diplo who's played on ZM you know? It's like he's still the same artist and he's still writing amazing music. One of my favourite tracks at the moment is Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper and I never thought I'd ever play that on the club but I played it on Saturday night.”
Listen to the interview here:
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