Monty Luke has made a specialty of blowing up our stereo and he did it again with the full length Nightdubbing album, out now from Radio Slave’s Rekids imprint.
From one of the foremost musicologists in the scene, Nightdubbing finds the former label manager for Carl Craig’s Planet E revealing a robust sound that draws on house, techno, dub and reggae for one of the most dynamic and just fucking brilliant albums of 2024.
“For whatever reason, it sometimes takes a really long time for my ideas to become real,” Monty Luke says. “One day in the summer of 2018, I was at my desk and the title ‘Nightdubbing’ just came to mind. I immediately wrote it on a sheet of paper and just kept it at my desk. It sat there for a really long time until I finally got started on the album itself.”
“In a world full of copycats, Nightdubbing is my attempt to look deeper within for inspiration. It’s a dive into the influence that dub, house and techno has had on me as an artist.”
—There is a thematic connection between the title and the music. What in your words is Nightdubbing?
Well, in a very literal sense, it’s a play on the title of one of my all-time favorite albums, Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing. But it’s also no accident that my album like Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing is a mix of styles that includes reggae and dub. Those two genres encompass my earliest musical influences.
The very early days of production for this album were in the same time I had been working on Serengeti by Night, the album I did with Brendan Moeller under our name, Zodiac. So the vibes just continued on from there, really.
—When did the project come together in your mind? It sounds structural, like it was made with a blueprint, if not in one frenzied sprint, at least with the concept already in mind?
It was something I had in the back of my mind for ages, but like I mentioned, the time to actual begin working on it came on the heels of the Zodiac album. I learned a lot about how to better approximate what I wanted my version of dub house/techno to sound like as a result of that album collaboration. And one day in the summer of 2018, I was at my desk and the title “Nightdubbing” just came to mind. I immediately wrote it on a sheet of paper and just kept it at my desk. It sat there for a really long time until I finally got started on the album itself.
It wasn’t really made with a blueprint, per se. But I did make a conscious effort for some type of stylistic consistency throughout most of it. For whatever reason, it sometimes takes a really long time for my ideas to become real. Sometimes so long that time has morphed the original idea into something completely different. That was the case with Hard Work, Not Hype. It started out as one thing, but then went to other places. With this album, one of my intents was to create something more cohesive.
—There were two EPs released that contained some but not all of the material on the album. What’s your pitch to get the listener to stop reading this right now and go play the full album on Spotify or Bandcamp or AppleMusic?
Yo, the two EPs thing is something Rekids thought would be the best way to introduce everyone to the album, the concept and the artist (me, lol). But the full album is really how it’s meant to be experienced. The ebb and flow of it is what I envisioned it to be. There are some housey bits, some techno-y bits and some straight up reggae vibes. Good for a workout, long bike/bus ride or doing your taxes, cleaning your house, gardening, etc. All things that people have told me they did while having it on since its release.
the bits with vocals and/or samples is very much me trying to infuse some personality and a Blackness into it. Like, it’s a reminder that reggae/dub and dub poetry are also very important components to the canon of Black music.
—This is your first album made after you moved to Berlin. You’ve lived in 3 very different cities for an artist. Is there anything we hear in the music that you attribute to your environment?
Not exactly true (eg, Zodiac), but as a solo artist, yeah.
Everything I do is influenced by my environment. I soak up shit even when I’m not aware that I’m doing so. “Dark Paradise” is a title that is 100% a reference to the crazy city of Berlin, for example.
—This is going to get filed under “dub techno” and that’s not even wrong but it’s so different than the records being made today. There’s a more direct encounter with reggae — beyond a lot of reverby FX or burying a rocksteady somewhere in the mix, there’s a thread that’s woven through this, in greater or less power in every track. And “toasting” is part of the lore of dub and there are moments here where I feel like you’re talking to spirits.
Yeah, I mean I specifically didn’t want it to have that greyscale dub techno sound. I think there is a LOT of inventiveness going on in that genre, but there is this slavishness to the uniformity of the sound of that music that I am really not into. And the bits with vocals and/or samples is very much me trying to infuse some personality and a Blackness into it. Like, it’s a reminder that reggae/dub and dub poetry are also very important components to the canon of Black music.
5 Mag Issue 213
Released: May 2024
ROOTED: This was originally published in 5 Mag Issue #213 featuring electronic music pioneer Laurent Garnier, Monty Luke, Petals In Sound, Henna Onna, Paul Johnson and more. Become a member for $2/month and get every issue in your inbox right away!
—This is a very different record than Hard Work, Not Hype, but I wrote about that album that you might intend to purposefully steer away from writing club music, but you can’t help it: there’s an underlying groove to everything you do, and I think that’s true here too. Even tracks that I think are not made with club DJs in mind, I’m always thinking how and where I could fit something like this in. You’re inherently groovy.
Hey thanks! Yeah it’s funny I’ve noticed a lot of cats in the UK on places like NTS playing “Cop Outside,” for example. This surprised me, but at the same time, of COURSE the Brits are playing reggae. Reggae/dub/bass are strong components to the cultural fabric of modern Britain. Duh.
—Your fellow producer nerds will want to know about the glorious and expensive system of tools that you made this record with.
Haha, ok well… it’s really nothing too fancy. There are a shitload of samples. I used a Urei 1601e mixer (a discontinued DJ mixer that has a really weird effects bank) to create some odd reggae loops, then did some further processing after I imported them into Ableton. This entire album except for one or two tracks was done in Ableton, the last album was almost all Logic Pro. The standout bits are my Dave Smith OB-6 (which I also used a lot on Hard Work, Not Hype)… A lot of the bassy/dubby elements actually came from my Elektron Model: Cycles.
—I thought “40 Acres and a Terabyte” would be the title track. You are always very direct in your messages and this is not any different. Is there a reason you made that the lead track and first thing the listener hears out of the box?
Yeah you know, as an artist it’s very difficult to not be pigeon-holed. Especially as a Black artist. In Hollywood, they call it typecasting. This annoys me greatly and I’m always thinking of way to subvert this.
I could’ve made the 2nd track, “Nightdubbing” the opening track, but that would be too obvious. What I’m trying to do there with “40 Acres” is let the listener know to be prepared for anything.
—How has the reception to the album been so far?
It has gotten great reception so far, but honestly, I have NO idea. People tell me they like it, but when there’s a lack of a robust publication eco-system, and we’re in an atmosphere where tens of thousands of songs are being released daily, who the fuck knows?
I recently saw a list of the dance music albums released in March and it blew my mind. I’m glad I didn’t know about any of them until after mine was already out. I would’ve lost a lot of sleep, thinking about it, lol. Regardless of how it’s received, I’m actually really happy with how this album turned out. To me, that’s most important.
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