I know a lot of people were wondering, What inspired your name?
I play a fairly wide range of genres from D’n’B via Breaks, Hiphop, Downtempo, Ragga, Techno/Minimal, House to Experimental Electronica, Ambient, Dub and Jazz and with my DJ name I was aiming for something to reflect my ability to fit into various music styles and club environments.
‘Izm’ is a suffix which you can find pinned with different words i.e. turntablizm, junglizm, minimalizm etc. and in a similar way I can be thrown into a number of scenes and well, still rock it.
Furthermore, as some people already know, it was also partially inspired by the pinnacle of modern cinema called ‘Jizm On That Ass Pt.7’ but I guess don’t quote me on that.
How long have you been DJing for and what keeps you coming back for more?
I first started DJing in 1997 so it’s been 11 years and it’s the music itself that inspires me the most. There are still tons of brilliant new records coming out and tons of great tracks to be dug out of the crates. Another awesome thing about DJing is club playouts, the satisfaction of bringing a positive vibe into the venue and getting it back multiplied by hundreds from the crowd is unbeatable.
We understand you’re originally from Poland and moved to the UK in 2003, shortly after this, you were playing on radio stations Origin FM, Drum And Bass Worldwide, London Live And Direct, Subliminal and Life FM, do you think living in London gives you more opportunity to reach so many people?
I like London primarily because it’s pretty much close to anywhere in Europe so it’s a good platform for international DJing and apart from that it has a huge scene of its own so there are always people to collaborate, exchange ideas with and generally be inspired by.
What is also great is the fact that London is a massive music resource, you can find the weirdest and strangest records here and really build up your library. There’s also a lot of history in this place and if you know where to look you can get to the roots of your favourite genre and understand it better.
On top of that I enjoy the speed of life here, it’s pretty much living in the 170bpm range!
With so many DJ’s in the scene today what do you think makes some one stand out from the crowd?
A lot of people forget about the performance side of DJing and it’s important to put on a bit of a show when you’re spinning tunes. I believe it’s the whole package that counts though – you need to be a good mixing technician, have a decent track selection, be able to both read and educate the crowd and above all make your personality shine through what you’re doing.
Where would you most like to DJ if you could play anywhere in the world?
These days it would either have to be Russia or Japan. Russia because they have the biggest and craziest raves down there, Japan because of the futuristic sci-fi factor and both of them because of the girls being incredibly hot!
What’s your top 5 tracks at the moment?
Break, Fierce & Nico / Draw [Quarantine]
Seba / Tomorrow [Combination]
Spectrasoul / Peninsula [Shogun Audio]
Donny / Search & Destroy [Barcode]
Manifest & Identity / Infected World [Deception]
You’ve recently been learning the ropes of production, what’s your setup and how’s it going for you so far?
My setup consists of Macbook Pro 17” running Logic Studio, NI Komplete and connected to Presonus Firebox Midi Interface / Alesis RA500 Amplifier / Yamaha NS10 replica monitors all coupled with Novation Midi controller.
The last couple of months I’ve spent going through various DVD production courses (mainly from Macprovideo, Steinberg and Native Instruments) and trying things out within my DAW. I started producing and I’ve got a couple of tracks in the works but I’m not rushing things because I want to have a solid knowledgebase and showcase my music when I feel it’s up to standards and 100% ready to get ‘out there’.
And finally, if stung by a Pogonomyrmex ant from North America what would you do?
I’d stick the latest Current Value EP on my turntable and brock it out pneumatic drill style. Sick.
Tracklist:
1. INTRO – KRUSH 4109Download
2. CALYX & TEEBEE + HIVE- SALVATION
3. INSIDEINFO - BOG
4. SPOR - STOPPIT
5. MISHA - BUGS
6. MANIFEST + IDENTITY – INFECTED WORLD
7. SUNCHASE – SOMETHING WHITE
8. AUDIO – ERROR
9. DONNY – SEARCH & DESTROY
10. CURRENT VALUE – EMPOWERED
11. EVOL INTENT – MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
12. PROXIMA – CRITICAL FORCES
13. CALIBRE – SOKITUME
14. NOISIA – DIPLODOCUS
15. GRIDLOK – THE MEDIA IS A JOKE
16. FORTRESS – TRAGEDY
17. CHRIS SU – OFFLINE
18. CONCORD DAWN – CHLOROFORM [STATE OF MIND RMX]
19. SUBTERRA – STEPPAHOLIC
20. LOXY + CERN – JUGGERNAUT
21. BREAK – GROUNDWORK 2007
22. AUDIO – BARRICADE
23. D.A.V.E THE DRUMMER – HYDRAULIX 9 [PROKET RMX]
24. N.PHONIX – DEAD END
25. THE UPBEATS + NOISIA – CREEP OUT
26. RECEPTOR – RHYNO
27. B SOUL – PRESSURE VIP
28. JOEY BELTRAM – ENERGY FLASH [2000 DYLAN RMX]
29. B… B… B… BONUS TRACK!
This Way Up Myspace
IZM Myspace
