Under The Influence with Dan Le Sac

With two hugely successful collaborative albums under his belt with Scroobius Pip, Daniel Stephens AKA Dan Le Sac decided to step out on his own for the brilliant “Space Between The Words”, recruiting guest vocals from Sarah Williams White, Merz and more.

He’s since been back in the studio with Pip and the result is “Repent Replenish Repeat”, undoubtedly their finest work to date.

From the full pelt numbers such as “Stunner” and “Gold Teeth” through to more solemn moments like “Terminal” and the phenomenal “Porter” it’s a brilliant piece of work that showcases both artists at the very top of their game.

You can pick up the album now at fairsharemusic (where 50% of the profit goes to charity), Juno and all the usual outlets. They’re currently on a small tour and will be taking in larger venues at the start of next year – info at lesacvspip.co.uk.

We caught up with Mr Le Sac to find out about the tracks that influenced him when he started producing and those that have influenced him along the way.

(also Dan put together a rather fine guest mix for us last year, grab that here…)

Under The Influence with Dan Le Sac

Influences and I have a strange relationship, I always know when a track has pushed me in a certain direction but I’m not sure how obvious it is to everyone else.

Hudson Mohawk – Overnight

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It bumps like crazy. Cannot not get past how tight yet sloppy the drums are, and for me if the drums suck then so does the track. From a programming point of view this track is a goal I am yet to achieve.

The Infesticons – Hero Theme

For me this is my out and out, all time favourite hip hop record. Mike Ladd‘s flow is insane, quotable lyrics pop in all directions and then there’s the beat. It was the first hip hop track I could relate to sonically, the stabs come as close to rave as is possible in hip hop.

Vincent Oliver – If Yellow Were Sad

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This is definitely one of those influences that bares no resemblance to the music I make but I promise you it’s there.

Lyrically it’s how I’d like to write and the atmospheric drive to the track is something I’m stealing all the time, especially on “Repent Replenish Repeat”.

Silver Mt Zion – God Bless Our Dead Marines

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This is definitely as influence on me, but maybe only in the sense that it’s better than I’ll ever be.

Double 99 – RIP Groove

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What can I say? I’m from Essex, SPEED GARAGE IS MY CULTCHA.

B Dolan – Bombzo for Baghdad

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If I’m honest “The Failure”, the LP this comes from, has been hugely influential on the way I perceive and create hip hop.

It’s like a Joe Frank radioplay (which are amazing btw!) but with better beat, a truly experimental, beautiful record, even if Bombzo is a bit of a dick.

Vex’d – Heart Space (feat. Anneka)

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Vex’d never get the credit the deserve, the true fathers of dubstep from before it became Pubstep or got used as filler on Microsoft adverts. Here though their roots give way to something far too beautiful to have come from their dirty, distorted roots.

Shitmat – Dubplate Murder Sound

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It’s kinda obvious to anyone who comes to see Pip and I live that I am gay for breakcore, well gay in fact. Any chance I get I will flip a track double time and drop the amen break, maybe Shitmat / Venetian Snares / Squarepusher is where that comes from.

Slam – Visions (Vitalic Remix)

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I’m chewing the inside of my mouth just thinking about this, music that influences me isn’t always about how it’s made or the sonics of the track, sometimes it’s the situation in which you first hear it.

This is certainly one of those tracks, although I can’t tell you about that particular night now mum’s worked out how to use the internet.

Warsaw (aka Joy Division) – They Walked in Line

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Joy Division are my first love, truly the reason I make music, my biggest influence of all, and this is just a demo!