pipedown#01 has finally come around, it’s tomorrow. Posts have been a bit focused on the night as of recent but I hope even if you don’t live in London or can’t make it to the night then you have at least found the content of interest.

I jumped on iChat with our headliner and friend, James Blake, (someone I couldn’t be more excited about) to get a little insight into what we can expect tomorrow night and over the coming year.

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I wanna ask something with respect to you, your vocals and sampling, it seems like you take very different approaches to both.

Yeah, but more recently the lines have been getting a little more blurry. I’ve written a lot of different stuff over the last few months, none of which sounds anything like Air and Lack Thereof. Hopefully people will be feeling it.

(followed by some mutterings of a project I’m not allowed to talk about yet.)

Ok, so what can we talk about forthcoming from you then? I remember talking to you once about only making an album when you felt you had something to say as an artist otherwise singles were the way forward.

I think what I was trying to say was that an album isn’t always the logical next step. It’s like you get people clamouring for, say, a Mala album. He’s written some of my favourite music (not just dubstep… music) but I’ll trust that the way he wanted to release that music is how it was best to do so. Doing 12″s says just as much about you as an ‘artist’ as doing a full length.

And do you have a plan with your releases?

Yeah, I’ll be gradually letting the cat out of the bag until there’s no mystery left and I can’t get a gig.

I’m fascinated with the term ‘quietly making noise’, you fall into that category. Whilst you don’t hide behind a mask like some others, you definitely hold a similar level of mystique. This something you do on purpose?

I really don’t know. I have no interest in this postmodern style anonymity really. It can get very vain and weird. I don’t mistake that type of anonymity for the one that Burial has/had though, which seems to be to be quite genuine.

Obviously you’re a producer first. But then you DJ and you also play live with Mount Kimbie, how do your approaches to the two differ?

I’d say I was a pianist/singer first! The live affair with Mount Kimbie has been brilliant because I’ve been able to do all the things I love at once; play keyboard, sing, and play our songs to audiences 100% live (no computer automation or suchlike).

DJing is a more recent discovery for me, and i’m loving it at the moment. It’s definitely a case of, a few years ago seeing my favourite DJs and wishing I was in their position, behind the decks, playing my favourite music, and now I get the chance to do that it’s a great feeling!

Do you wanna talk about the housey stuff you’ve started to play out and then make (or was it the other way round)? Like your stuff at 140 that is dubstep but isn’t, so the housey stuff I’ve heard isn’t really house but it is.

Sure. I’ve done quite a few 120-130 bits recently, and as with all my other music, what I think i’m writing and what it eventually sounds like are two very different things. It’s just been refreshing to change tempos, so not really a conscious effort to make house music persay. But yeah, my tastes have really broadened recently. I’m especially feeling Greena at the moment, so i’m looking forward to Pipedown on wednesday.

Ha, sick plug. I think that is where the most exciting stuff is at the moment > doing dubstep wrong or house wrong. Perverting sounds until they no longer sound where they originated is definately something you do.

(there’s a pause for about 5 minutes as I can see James typing something back to me, in the end)

Yep :).

And finally what can we expect from you at the Rhythm Factory tomorrow?

Punctuality and auto-tune.

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A suitable way to end, an answer that gives absolutely nothing but everything away at the same time. Punctuality and auto-tune IS what James does, everything is so carefully considered you couldn’t imagine it any other way.

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James Blake is playing PIPEDOWN#01 alongside Greena, Om Unit and Elijah & Skilliam. For more details click here.