I give to you Mr. Mitch, a producer from South-East London. He's riding the wave of amazing new grime producers creating beats centred on melody and a sense of fun. His songs are clear evidence that grime is moving away from being nothing more than greezy basslines and dark synths.
It’s refreshing and exciting to hear 90s video games influencing electronic music across the board because we all love the simplicity and catchiness of those sounds, right?
Tamagotchi Love by Mr.Mitch
A perfect example of these sounds can be heard in his 'Tamagotchi Love' song
Speaking to him, you get the idea that he feels grime will gain the recognition it deserves. I for one believe him because there are so many forward thinking producers around at the minute all just waiting for their time
I caught up with Mr. Mitch to talk about working with Skepta, live grime shows and a little secret…
Could you tell us about your past and what inspired you to start making beats?
Hip Hop eJay! I got a copy of this when I was about 12 and loved messing about with it, but it just made me want to explore further into the world of music making. So I got a copy of Fruity Loops and just progressed from there.
What are your plans for promoting your forthcoming ‘Fright Night’ EP?
DJs are very important to me. They're the main port of call for most people when trying to hear the newest music, so getting the DJs to play them is a big first step. I'm getting a lot of support from DJs outside of the grime scene which is a big help.
All producers have their own method of making a song. What's yours?
I'm a melody guy so when I'm building my tunes, 90% of the time I start by layering loads of melodies together to try to give it a particular groove. The rest just follows from there. I've got a pretty small setup: I'm running Logic 9 off of my iMac, my monitors are KRK Rokit 6s and I've got a Roland Juno D that I'm just using as a midi controller.
Your songs have upbeat, ‘fun’ melodies in a grime template, does it just come naturally?
I've tried to make greezy sounding beats before but when I do I'm not really being true to myself. I've never had a hard life or been an aggressive guy, so my music reflects my personality. Plus when I'm in a rave I would personally rather hear music that makes me happy and want to dance instead of making me feel like fighting everyone around me.
You have a lot of remixes and instrumentals. Do you plan to have many vocals and if so who are you looking to work with?
I'm currently working with Skepta on a couple of tracks. I'm also working with a rapper called Abiade and I've got some tracks out at the moment with Norwegian rap group Vaagsbgyd Handy. I'm definitely open to working with more in the future, as long as I like what they’re doing.
What are your plans for DJing?
I really want to develop a good live show, integrating a lot of the music that I'm influenced by as well. I really want to develop a new live dimension to Grime.
What producers should we all be aware of and what music do you enjoy playing out?
Producers doing a lot right now are SRC, Royal-T, J Beatz, Deeco and Swindle. Each of them have their own specific styles and are pushing grime in a big way.
What’s your ultimate goal as a musician/DJ?
My main ambition is just to have international recognition and success as a grime producer. I want grime to be a respected genre, so having many different strands of it will help move it onwards and upwards!
And finally… can you tell us a secret?
My girlfriend is giving birth to my son in December! I'm going to turn him into a musical genius.
Here's an exclusive track for our blog
His next release, the 'Fright Night’ EP (featuring remixes from Deset, FA Kode, Moony and SRC) will be released on his own label Gob Stopper Records on 19th September.
Get it from iTunes, Juno, Amazon and Spotify.
Mr.Mitch - Fright Night EP [GOB001] Mr.Mitch
I wish soon-to-be father Mr. Mitch all the best for the future!
MuskMan Benji
