Hi Mandla, glad to have you on Far Yards.

 

Thanks for making time for this interview, we get a chance to know more of you and your music and get a better view of your music perspective. Firstly, who is Mandla Jamela and where is he from?
MJ is an open-minded music enthusiast all the way from a Kasi in the East of Johannesburg named Tsakane.

 

What inspires your music?
I have always been attracted to different sounds, from an early age I used to beatbox to myself. The older I grew, the more genres and artists I was introduced to, the more complex the beats in my head were. My cure was to lay down the music.

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Who or what is your main influence in music production?
Well, everything. I pay attention to detail of sounds; inspiration can come from the smallest life experiences like a bird making an awkward noise as it passes over my head to hanging out with people and have a random conversation. Anything that can stimulate my mood, my mind will shape into a combination of sounds. In addition, the music I listen to on a daily is also a major influence.

 

How long have you been into music?
I remember my early introduction to music was a D12 CD when I was doing grade 4 or 5 in primary, and one of The Gorillaz releases. We also used to heavily dose on Eminem like the rest of the kids in my generation, from there it just grew in all sorts of directions. That is as early as I can remember collecting music.

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What’s your view about the level of house music in your country and do you feel it’s moving in a right direction?
I feel like South Africa is the capital of house music. There is such a large following of the genre divided into several sub-genres such as Deep House, Afro House, Commercial, etc. As long as good honest music is produced & released on a daily, the direction is right.

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How has music changed or had any effect in your life?
Music is my lifetime companion, which makes every moment worth living. I have made many friends who I met at events who have played a role in educating each other in terms of music production and new artists we show each other regularly.

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What’s your first musical instrument you learnt to play?
Sadly, I have not learnt to play any musical instrument outside the DAW, yet.

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Besides house music in general, what other genres are you most engaged with?
I heavily dose in Trip Hop, Rap and I am not even sure if Ambient/Dub Techno fall under house since it’s very much experimental.

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The history behind your upcoming release; Konflicted EP with Far Yards?
Let me start with the track Kosmic Revelation, it was initially titled “I dunno” the first time it escaped the DAW as that was the first thing that came to my mind (yes, I’m random) and I think it’s the track which took me the shortest amount of time to produce in all my production history. Can’t remember the main influence behind it but I remember having lots of fun! After adding some touches to it, I loved it and the name just brought itself to me once it felt complete.
The track Konflications was created from a track titled Konflicts. The pieces were born from moments where experimenting made sense. I was trying to tell myself to stop starting new projects but complete work in progress, regardless of that the music was born. While modifying Konflicts I changed it to a point I felt it deserved to be a track on its own, and that is how Konflications came to life.

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Which platform you believe best represents a perfect distribution; cassette, vinyl or cd?
It all depends on the type of listener you are trying to attract. I don’t think many people still own a Cassette player, so that may only work for the select few. With Vinyl, I feel as if mostly deejays collect Vinyl to play them out at gigs more than people who purchase for listening pleasures. CD is the best within the three options, because it is relevant to must media players such as your car radio and works on most CDJs so it is perfect for both listener and DJ, but personally a Vinyl release stands out more than a CD release.

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Top 3 labels you’d want your future music/collabos to be featured in?
That’s a really tough one, I follow a lot of record labels and choosing that one that fits my production style is tough. Regardless, I would say Drift Deeper Recordings, for the Dub Tech/ Experimental stuff. Box Aus Holz for the trippy material. Lastly, because of the owners’ unbelievable versatility I would go for Freerange Records. I think this has been the toughest question to answer haha!

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Top 3 artists you’d appreciate to have a remix/collabo with?
Atjazz – I love his early music, the emotions captured in his music drove me insane. For me, his earlier music is perfect constructions. Therefore, I feel I could learn a thing or three from him. 

Asphalt Layer – Mind blowing musician! Everything he touches is just out of this world!
Wun Two – Fuckin’ insane musician! His work just introduced me to a new trippy world, short tracks which really pack a punch!

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Where do you see the state of house music in general in the next 10 years?
It will continue to grow; maybe less explored genres will take on bigger platforms in the future.

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What’s your take on music sales?
Piracy is too common, only a select few make actual purchases.

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Best release whether vinyl/cassette or cd you’ve bought thus far?
Erykah badu – Mommas Gun, as a gift for a special lady. The rest of my purchases are digital.

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How important is business and pleasure when it comes to music, do you believe artists deserve remuneration for their work or pure art covers all?
I feel like record labels should not exploit artists as that can cause unwanted tensions, what is important is good communication and honesty. The artist should not be left in the dark, as that may decrease the artists will to create beautiful music. Therefore, I believe artists do deserve remuneration for their work to keep them motivated to perform. At the end of the day the reason why music is created should not be based on business but pure artistry, at least that’s what I believe.

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Your top 5 tracks for the year 2017 so far
I collect a lot of music from previous years in majority but for 2017 I would go for the following in no specific order:
Eddvin – Acid Trip
Lunga SA – Dubin Azania (OG Azanian Abstract Dub)
Bonobo – Bambro Koyo Ganda
Tyler The Creator Ft. Estelle – Garden shed
Tyler The Creator – November
On my playlist currently.

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Any upcoming projects/bookings for the year 2017/2018?
I am launching a 5 track Ep titled L I B R A R Y O F M I N D under the alias Bomps’Agden, I believe it will be out by the end of august 2017. No confirmed bookings at this point.

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Any last words to other artists who believe in true raw music?

“Music that burrows down and down, past the surface noise of all those young pretenders who think they’ve got a vibe nailed, into a hazy realm where synths wander like plumes of smoke and bumpin’ basslines massage all the stress out of your mind”