Image courtesy The Echo Agency
Esteemed Northern Irish techno producers Lloyd Reid and James People, otherwise known as Loco & Jam, are no strangers to a good remix. Their remix of Henry Von’s Propaganda would serve as their breakout, being picked up by Carl Cox for inclusion on his Space Ibiza compilation in 2009 and leading to further remixes for the likes of Green Velvet. Now, Loco & Jam make their eagerly anticipated debut on There Is A Light as they unveil an immense techno-leaning interpretation of the title track from Ron Costa’s forthcoming EP, Koi, due September 10th.
Pre-order ‘Koi’ featuring the Loco & Jam remix here
Adding another dimension to the standout opener, Loco & Jam’s take is intricately layered, driven by pulsating basslines, whirring industrial synthesisers and intermittent voice drops. Ahead of the track’s premiere, we chatted to the duo to get some insight on what inspired their version of Koi and their approach to remixing:
Can you tell us more about the direction you decided to go with Koi?
We wanted to go in a slightly different direction to the original and take it up a gear. As it’s still festival season now, we wanted to make a festival banger and hopefully catch a couple videos of DJs playing it over the next few weeks.
The remix features the original’s vocal sample prominently. What inspired the choice to zone in on this element?
Yes, the vocal sample is the reason we chose this track to remix. “Hollars Poppin Collars” is just a really cool hip hop type vocal that we felt would have some crossover appeal.
In your opinion, what makes a good remix?
A good remix uses the original elements of the track but puts your own spin on it. Keeping it on a different sound than the original is important as nobody really wants to have two similar tracks in the same playlist.
What is your approach when remixing a track? Can you give us some insight on the process?
We usually start by importing the main parts of the original we want to use. Then we start building our drums, groove and lead sounds around it. Once we have something we feel is strong enough, it’s ready to start arranging! In this case the part was that amazing vocal!
Listen to Koi (Loco & Jam Remix) below.
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