Hospital label boss London Elektricity recently caught up with Royalston in Sydney during a recent visit to Australia to talk about the “Cerulean Blue” EP, his inspirations, track titles, building a modular synth, and plenty more!

Head over to the Med School YouTube channel to check it out or view it below:

On Friday 21st October we welcome Reso to Med School in Room Three at fabric for fabric’s 12th birthday, where he will be playing alongside Joe Syntax, Lung, June Miller and Ash Med School. Reso is a firm favourite for us at Med School and we’ve always been impressed with his forward thinking attitude and sharp beats, so it is a great honour to welcome him to the Med School room. In anticipation of this occasion, we caught up with Reso to find more more about the man behind the music.

Hi, so to start off can you tell us who are you and where are you from?

My name is Reso and I’m from the epicentre of all things hip and futuristic, Morden. It’s where Paul Merton and the band Good Shoes come from so it must be cool, right?

Any meaning behind your DJ / producer name?

I used to try and graff it on our disposable table cloths in one of my house shares at uni and I’m a firm believer in the idea that you should be able to graff your name, even if it is only in a halfbaked shit way. It also has production connotations.

How would you describe the music you make in 5 words?

Highly detailed anal brain farts.

Some of our personal favourites include…

“Hemisphere”

“Hyperglide”

and, on a tougher tip, “Technetium”

Tell us a bit about your musical evolution and your musical roots / inspirations?

I started off playing drums in bands before getting really stoned and pissing around on dance ejay which was great because it taught me about arrangement without the ball ache of actually composing music. At that time I used to listen to a lot of hip-hop and rock before progressing onto drum & bass and breaks. When breaks was dying was when I first heard dubstep and it filled the gap that breaks occupied in my brain. Now I basically listen to anything; I”m passed the whole thing of listening to a sound or being into a scene because I think it’s cool.  I”m just as happy listening to Pantera as I am Kiln or Jazzanova or Spor or any of a thousand artists.

How does it feel to be playing at fabric’s 12th birthday party?
It’s a pleasure and a privilage to be asked! I’m super happy.

You’re doing a live show now, right? Or developing one? What does this involve?

I’m supposed to be….. but it’s a long road. I’ve got myself some V-drums and my live drum kit so I’m just fiddling around trying to make it live rather than me checking my emails on Ableton.

What can we expect to hear from you when you play for Med School on 21st Oct?

I always play a varied set of deeper and upfront tunes. It’ll be nice though cause I’m gonna play a lot of stuff I don’t usually get to play.

And now some quick fire questions……

Favourite alcoholic poison of choice?
Whisky

Favourite club?
Don’t have a favourite really – different clubs have different reasons for being wicked.

Favourite holiday destination?
Cyprus at the mo!

Favourite Med School artist?
Bop

Any other things you want to mention?
I’ve got a new EP on Civil Music out in November called “Ishimura”. Keep an eye and an ear out for it!

Make sure you catch Reso at Med School @ Fabric’s 12th Birthday on Friday 21st October where he will be playing alongside: Joe Syntax, Lung, June Miller and Ash Med School with MC’s SP:MC and Ruthless hosting. In Room One is Caspa and Dub Police and Mistajam’s Jam Packed in Room Two!

On Friday 21st October Med School are taking over Room Three at fabric as part of fabric’s 12th birthday. Headlining is Joe Syntax alongside Lung, Reso, June Miller and Ash Med School.

We spoke to Med School label manager Ash Howard to find out more about Med School and what we can expect on the night!

1) Can you introduce yourself + tell us a bit about your role entails at Hospital and Med School?

Hello, I’m Ash. I’ve been working at Hospital for nearly 5 years where two contrasting roles keep me on my toes: label managing Med School Music and running our publishing company Songs In The Key Of Knife. The former enables me to engage in A+R and take an overview of all activities on the label, the latter incorporates everything from royalty collection to data admin to sample clearances. Occasionally I’ll hear “Aaaaaassssshhh” shouted across the office whenever the internet connection drops… for some reason people here seem to think I’m good at fixing techy problems… just don’t ask me to fix a Mac.

2) What does Med School stand for?

The concept for Med School is fairly straightforward; it’s essentially a vehicle for releasing, dare I say it, “deeper” electronic music and giving exposure to emerging artists. We generally stick to drum & bass but aren’t afraid to venture across different tempos in an attempt to offer something different to the Hospital musical ethos.

We try not to pay too much attention to what other labels do and we’re always looking for new sounds and new ideas; we like artists who are able to carve out a unique sound for themselves. Whether it’s tracks that make you want to dance or music for your MP3 player (or both!), musicality is crucial!

3) Tell us about the four Med School signings?

Over the past couple of years we’ve carefully built up a core group of exciting artists, namely Joe Syntax, Unquote, Lung and Bop, who are at various different stages of their development. Our fruitarian Russian friend Bop was the first of the bunch to land on Med School and subsequently has delivered two sublime albums, made all the more impressive by the fact he’s still only 21 years old!

Next on board was Unquote, also from Saint-Petersburg in Russia, who is about to release his eagerly-anticipated debut album on Med School in October. Expect warm celestial navigations across the tempos as he skirts the boundary between introverted melancholy and uplifting ecstacy. Frustratingly, it’s really difficult to bring Bop and Unquote over to the UK, but there’s a really healthy drum & bass microcosm in Russia and it’s a privilege to be a part of it through our label.

Next up we have Joe Syntax, who lives round the corner from the Hospital office and released his debut single “Signal Drop” on Med School a couple of months back. Joe’s music flirts with the dancefloor more heavily than our resident Russians and he’s armed with a plethora of wicked dubplates at the moment which will hopefully form the basis of his debut album.

Last but not least is Lung from Cardiff, who we only signed recently to Med School. We’ve put out a few slower tempo tunes by various artists in the past, but Lung is a real breath of fresh air for Med School (no pun intended) thanks to the dubstep influence in his music and hopefully he can take us in a new direction. Expect to see Joe Syntax and Lung rinsing the dancefloor when Med School comes to a club in a town near you!

4) How does it feel to be hosting Room 3 at fabric for fabric’s 12th birthday?

Obviously it’s a huge honour whenever we get to represent our music at such an established, well-organised and generally sick venue, but to be able to be a part of their birthday celebrations is amazing and I know our DJs are really hyped! It may be smaller, but room 3 at fabric really creates a special vibe that’s very different to the main rooms – if not better.

Med School has hosted there a few times now and enjoyed it hugely every time; a few times as part of a Hospitality and another time alongside Marky & Friends and Urban Nerds, but I think this will be a different experience once again. The sound system is sooooo good!

5) So what else is in the pipeline for Med School this year?

As I mentioned before, Unquote’s debut album “Reverberation Box” is out in October on vinyl (with full CD album included), CD and Digital. In November Sydney-based bass music technician Royalston returns to the Med School operating table with his unique brand of twisted synth-work and complex drum programming. That will wrap up proceedings for 2011, so you’ll just have to keep it locked to see what comes next!

6) You’re playing at fabric’s 12^th birthday yourself. What can we expect from an Ash Med School set?

It’s exciting enough being able to host a Med School room at Fabric, to be playing there too is the cherry on the icing on the cake. As a fan of dance and electronic music, I’ve been to fabric more times than I can remember so the opportunity to be on the other side of the decks is something I’m really looking forward to. I’m on first so I think I’ll go in pretty mellow to begin with and then crank it up when, all being well, room 3 fills up. Needless to say, I’ll try and squeeze in a load of Med School tracks and some forthcoming bits too, but ultimately it will be a selection of tracks I’m into at the moment and maybe a few older bits that people might have forgotten about.

7) It’s a strong line up- tell us why you selected the artists on the line up?

Joe Syntax and Lung are integral to any Med School club line-up, not only as signed artists but as skilled DJs in their own right, anyway, I think I’ve bigged up our own artists enough at this point (sorry chaps!)

I’ve been a massive fan of Reso for a while now, and I remember being the first in the office to receive “Slap Chop” which later came out on Hospital and just being blown away by it. Some people might think he is a bit “smashy smashy” for a Med School line-up, but he does have an incredible talent and ear for all vibes and genres, whatever he plays is guaranteed to be good.

You can see Ash Med School play Room Three at fabric’s 12^th birthday on Friday 21^st October alongside: Joe Syntax, Lung, Reso and June Miller, with MCs Ruthless + SP:MC hosting. Tickets are £15 adv.

Ulrich Schnauss – A Strangely Isolated Place

Going in on an ethereal tip its “A Strangely Isolated Place” – a fitting title for being stranded on a desert island. This is an ambient masterpiece that builds and builds into a crescendo of light. Perfect for offering the hope I need of a return home. If I had a church this would be the music I’d play.


Chemical Brothers – My Elastic Eye

Chemical Brothers have always been a favourite of mine and this is a great track off their album “Come With Us”. Seeing them in 2000 on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury was a memorable experience. It’s hard to pick one track as there are so many good ones. However, while stranded on an island, this one would certainly remind me of the most the home, having been my ringtone for about 2 years! It’s actually strange listening to that intro now, it’s always as if I need to answer my phone!

Coldcut and Hexstatic – Timber

Two of my favorite artists; Ninja Tune’s Coldcut & Hexstatic collaborate with “Timber” – an audiovisual track made from sounds and footage of the rainforest in partnership with Greenpeace. The moral message is clear. This track would definitely suit my surrounding whilst stranded on the island and hopefully discourage me from destroying its natural beauty. Hexstatic are the dons of AV, so be sure to check out “Auto”, “Extralife” and “Deadly Media” as well.

Mauro Picotto – Verdi

One for the night time! A slice of techno genius from the Italian maestro Mauro Picotto. Famed for his more commercial outings with tunes like “Iguana” and “Lizard” which I still like a lot, “Verdi” on the other hand, is a more aggressive and electro synth driven work out and would be perfect for a night time rave beneath the island’s canopy. I bought this on vinyl about 7 years ago and it still has a firm place in my collection.

Burning Spear – Slavery Days

On a desert island, I’d probably need some reggae to compliment the endless Pina Coladas I’d be drinking from the falling coconuts. This one will do the trick. I saw Burning Spear as a young boy at WOMAD festival and this is one of my favourite tracks. “Slavery Days” also evokes memories of getting high with my friends.

Our “New Blood 011″ compilation has been a huge success, reaching the Top 10 Dance chart on iTunes no less! Massive thanks to all the artists involved and all you guys who have bought and supported it.

If the album somehow passed you by, check out our round up of all things “New Blood 011″… .

Buy the album if you haven’t already:
New Blood 011 release info
Buy on iTunes
Buy on Hospital Shop
New Blood back catalogue offer

The compilation received rave reviews in many recognised and respected printed and online publications:
iDJ review
Resident Advisor review
DJ Mag review
Mixmag review
Data Transmission review
DOA review
Headphone Commute review

There were plenty of free downloads, podcasts and artist features to get your mitts on too:
Hospital Podcast with Clarity, Eleven8 and Ash
Sato, Lung and Ash phone interviews on URN radio
Data Transmission podcast (Anile / Lung / Eleven8 / Subreachers)
Video interviews with 11 NB011 artists
NB011 Minimix (free download)
NB011 Wallpaper (free download)
TrackItDown, Beatport and JunoDownload DJ Charts
Mixmag DJ charts

Find out a bit more about Bulb, Tiiu, Anile, Rawtekk, Flame, Furi Anga, Lung, Eleven8, Nuage, Strago and Clarity, including what inspires their music and what their favourite ‘New Blood 011′ track is…

Don’t forget ‘New Blood 011′ is out now on vinyl, cd and digital download from all good stores including the Hospital shop…
GO BUY IT NOW!!

If you liked the minimix in the background of this video you can download it here.

As we near the release of ‘New Blood 011′ we hooked up with our friends over at Data Transmission for a Med School podcast featuring 20 minute mixes from: Lung, Anile, Eleven8 and Subreachers.

Click HERE to read the interviews with all the artists + listen to the podcast.

Tracklists:

ANILE

We thought we would catch up with recent Med School signing and rising star Joe Syntax to introduce himself and what he’s got lined up with Med School over the coming months when he came down to Hospital HQ last week.

One of KMag’s ‘Top 10 Producers To Watch for 2011‘, you will recognise Joe from his previous releases on Hospital or ‘Unified’ from the free 3 track EP which is available with all ticket purchases for our event in Brixton on April 22nd:

As if that’s not enough you can also stream Joe Syntax’s set, recorded live at fabric on 7th January 2011:

Following the success of the Med School takeover in Room Three at fabric on 7th January, we’ve got a number of Med School rooms coming up at Hospitality events across the UK in the coming months. Starting with Birmingham @ HMV Institute this weekend (Saturday 29th January) and then Southampton on 4th March, Cambridge on 12th March and Bristol on 29th April.

You can catch Joe Syntax at all these events alongside a number of other Med School artists and guests including Stray, Trisector, Blu Mar Ten, Fracture + Neptune and more.

Head over to the Knowledge website to read Bop’s reviews of Oak, dBridge, Despot, Sunchase and Blu Mar Ten…
http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/blogs/drum_and_bass/bop-guest-reviews

YouTube.com/MedSchoolMusic

Music:
[00:00] Derrick, Tonika & Implex ‘Personal Diving’
[01:24] Royalston ‘The Test’
[02:55] Joe Syntax ‘Expectra’
[04:20] Helios ‘First Dream Called Ocean’ (Stray remix)

BUY ‘NEW BLOOD 010′ NOW ON 2×12″ VINYL, CD AND MP3…