Fresh from the release of his ‘Urban Deity’ EP on Liar’s new label Tessier-Ashpool, we quizzed Vancouver-based producer Spurz and bagged an exclusive of his ‘haunted-dancehall’ track ‘Diluted’.

- Hi Spurz, can you first please introduce yourself to the Get Some readers.

Hey! I’m Colin aka Spurz, a producer/DJ from Vancouver, Canada.

- Do you think of your music in any specific genre terms? Which?

I’ve produced in a fairly wide variety of genres over previous years and earlier projects, and while I can’t really classify everything I’ve done into specific genre terms, I’ve drawn a lot from UK club music, BMore/Philly club, techno and grime.

- How did you first come across grime music? Is there much of a grime scene where you’re from?

I really liked a lot of UK hip hop in high school, when a lot of my peers favoured the more popular North American stuff. I liked the way British emcees played with their cadence, and the off-kilter feel of the beats. Later on, getting into some of the earlier Night Slugs releases, it really opened my mind up to how those elements could be reworked for the club, especially some of the more aggressive elements.

Vancouver doesn’t have much of a grime scene currently, although there are a few DJs trying to bring those sounds to the masses, or at least the underground. It’s a tough go sometimes, because if people aren’t open to it, it can be a little jarring and it can clear a floor. Though I’ve never been kicked off the decks, I’ve definitely been asked to dial it back at some clubs. Wheeling a track does not get the intended effect in these parts.

- Can you tell us a bit about the production process of your release on Tessier-Ashpool? How did you first link up with Liar and Infinite Machine?

I had been trying to focus on making more cohesive, textural, club-based music starting with my last EP “Spirit Functions”. I knew that for the next EP I wanted to work in more melodic elements and give the tracks more space and structure. I work in Ableton, almost exclusively with samples and very few VSTs. I like to use the built-in tools to twist and distort samples into something completely different, and then work them into something melodic or unexpected.

As for the label, I’m a huge fan of Liar and Infinite Machine and I had been posting a lot about his Cybertime EP. He reached out to me through my personal facebook page to connect as friend, having no idea I was a producer. When he found out, he hit me up looking for un-signed stuff for a new imprint he was working on, and the end result is Urban Deity.

- Did anything in particular inspire the EP?

The EP is meant to convey the feelings we have as younger people, feeling invincible, uninhibited, voracious…that general feeling of being on top of your own world, and fearing no consequence. The EP was inspired in part by my move to Vancouver and becoming a part of the after-hours haze, feeling like the night never ends nor sleeps; it merely rests up a bit before doing it all over again.

- What do you have coming up next release-wise?

I have a few remixes coming up for some artists that I really admire that, unfortunately, I can’t really divulge just yet, but I’m very excited about them! As well, I’ve started working on some new demos for the next release, after having to force myself to take a break from the board for bit. I felt I needed a bit of recharge after having essentially back-to-back releases, wanting to focus on playing more shows. But now, I’m feeling the itch to get back at things and start working on something whole-heartedly again.

- What was the last thing, not music related, that amazed you?

Dusk, and the hubris and anonymity she provides.

- Tell us a bit about the track you’ve given Get Some Introducing.

“Diluted” is a track I had finished for Urban Deity, but it didn’t really fit the overall feel I was going for on the EP. I was trying to bring back some of the elements I really enjoyed about DJing dancehall, kuduro, and moombahton tracks and trying to focus them through a prism of club music structure. I suppose you could call it “haunted dancehall”.

- Finally, please complete the following sentence: Get Some…

Sleep. You look tired, love. - Get Some

Tough package of dancefloor material that piles a shitload of influences — grime, hardcore, jungle and bass music — into the mixing bowl and gives it a good stir. Well seasoned. - DJ Mag - Mark Gurney

Emerging out of the fertile creative grounds of NYC, Tessier-Ashpool Recordings is a brand-new imprint that obscurely takes its name from a family that appeared in the novels of sci-fi author William Gibson. With a nod like that to dystopian futurism, it’s no surprise that we’re hearing some cutting-edge sounds in Tessier-Ashpool’s releases.

There’s definitely something very “now” about the label’s output, particularly in the way they fuse a range of difference dance genres to create something that’s genuinely fresh and exciting. In a typical Tessier-Ashpool Recordings release, you might hear the hard, noisy pounding of techno, the sexy grooves of house, as well as the kind of rumbly low-end sounds you might know from dubstep, drum & bass or grime (let’s just call it “bass” music to keep things simple).

Let’s take a look at some of their upcoming releases:

Spurz “Slave Texture”

Vancouver rogue Colin Moir is otherwise known by the alias Spurz, and here we’ve got the heaviest selection from his new Urban Deity EP. “Slave Texture” perfectly captures the musical project of the Tessier-Ashpool label; it’s a harsh, abrasive blend of heavy techno rhythms and the sort of broken beats and heavy rumbles heard across the UK bass scene. Add to that a sizable dose of industrial noise, which seems destined to dominate on “Slave Texture” before those big, thumping drops really get the dancefloor moving. - Insomniac

"Spurz was a serendipitous find: I decided to ask a guy on my Facebook for a demo when I noticed he was very vocal about liking my Cybertime EP, had a Fade To Mind snapback, and made music. Makings of a star, right?

I think my leap-in-faith landed somewhere good though: Spurz's Urban Deity EP is about R&D departments, main branch architecture, and formal interior design—all rendered through club constructions that, while obviously owing a lot to the Night Slugs proto-genre, isn’t another eyeroll-inducing subpar clone of Jam City's Classical Curves. Spurz's genre-obsolete club trax set out to explore, instead of mindlessly "being random" on top of a Jersey club and ballroom patchwork." - Thump

Romanian producer Liar is next up to appear on Canadian label Infinite Machine's growing catalog, who has dropped notable EPs from recent XLR8R podcast contributor Pixelord and East London duo Wallwork & RZR in the past few weeks. With his Scorpio EP set to land via the label August 18, Liar has passed along this remix of EP cut "Key Party" from Canadian talent Spurz. On it, Spurz reshapes the track into an even more heavy-handed club affair, one where machine-made percussion rattles and rolls underneath a focused assemblage of blistering synths. Before Liar's full Scorpio EP sees its official release, the record is available to preview after the jump. - XLR8R

Ex-Dirt City, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, high-energy, eclectic remixologist Colin Moir is in ur basement, on ur CDJs, pushing all ur beatz to 137BPM. Known all over the Internets for his remixes of The xx and Foster the People, he's killing the underground with his sample-heavy trip-house. No booty to shake? No matter, skinnybutt; come shake your beard instead. - Sled Island