Swiss duo Zebra & Howard have dropped a succession of absolutely superb mixes in the past, but it’s been a little quiet on their front recently so we started speaking about kicking off the mixes in 2012 with an exclusive Mahogany mix, and oh boy did they deliver!
The pair have answered some questions as well so click play and read on…
- The Dead Rose Music Company – Keep the Faith
- Tiger Skin – Unreal Thing (Original Mix)
- LeSale – Make me Feel so Good (Original Mix)
- Adana Twins, Dr. Dru – Juicy Fruit (Original Mix)
- Discodromo, Hard Ton – Build a House (Tensnake Remix)
- Audiojack – Get Serious (Original Mix)
- Maxxi Soundsystem, Royston – Open Your Eyes (Original Mix)
- Terry Walker, Jozif – Twilight (Casino Times Remix)
- Jonas Rathsman – Feeling You (Original Mix)
- Lula Circus – Miami Vice (Original Mix)
- Ruben & Ra – Street Machine
- NY’s Finest, Victor Simonelli – Can You Feel Me (Club Mix)
- Jazzler (Dixxie Yure) – She Has (El Txef A Remix)
1. Who is Zebra & Howard, where are you both based and when did it all begin?
Zebra & Howard are Cedric Marti and Jan Skalski. We are both from Switzerland and met in Geneva for the first time, about 3 years ago. We both studied there and got to know each other by attending the same classes.
We soon found out that we both like the same kind of electronic music and as Geneva offers a lot of venues with good DJs we partly got inspired by some of the acts we had seen there. We both had been experimenting with programmes like Ableton for some time before but we had never played in bars or clubs. One day a friend offered us to play in Zurich and we decided to give it a try. We had a lot of fun that night and that’s how it basically began.
2. Where do you both stand when it comes to analog vs. digital — are you the record store or Beatport generation?
We both like going to record stores and get inspired by digging and discovering new records and sounds. We do the same on the internet and usually get the tracks there.
When we listen to a mix or dj set we attribute more importance to how it is mixed than where the tracks are bought or what device is used. The whole thing must be coherent, which means that there must be some sort of logic continuation with one track following the other. But most important of all, you have to be able to enjoy what you are hearing.
3. Talk to us about the mix you created for us
The mix we did for you is a compilation of some tracks we have been listening to lately. It has some disco, soul and house influences.
Some of the tracks contained I’ve discovered during my recent stay in New York, like NY’s finest and Victor Simonellis 1993 track ‘Do You Feel Me’ or the mor recent Lula Circus’ ‘Miami Vice’. The Miami Vice EP came out this fall on Brooklyn based label Stranjjur which is led by some guys who initially limited themselves to organizing parties in New York and introducing amongst others artist such as MANIK (Hot Natured) and Pezzner (Freerange, Crosstown Rebels) to their hometown. As a consequence the EP now also features remixes by both MANIK and Pezzner to which it is also worth listening to.
Other tracks are from emerging European producers, such as British youngster Maxxi Soundsystem, whose moves we have been observing since his debut ‘Criticize’, or Göteborg based Jonas Rathsman, who started out together with DJ Nibc as the duo ‘Stuffa’.
Finally, and since we both started out by playing disco and nu disco records, we’ve got some these in it too, like e.g. Tensnake’s remix of ’Build a House’.
