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What do a DJ schooled in the NewYork disco and house uF'08'ur0:lrd and a virtuoso

experimentalguitaristwho pLayed with Captain Beeftreai: anl tru],re Sound 0f London have

in common? tn the case of WiLd Rumpus - DJ Cosmo anr,3 Gai L!,Eas - itt a love of dance

music and gtobal grooves, as their epic debut ahum attests-*"

Words: BEN MURPHY

084 dimag,com

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DJ Cosmo subseguently became known mostas a

dance DJ. and around this time she began to work with

Gary. Their paths had atready crossed when Gary had

been a guestseveraltimes on one ofCotleen's WNYU

shows, playing [ive, buttheir nextcoUaboration was topresage their future work together."I played on her programme a couple oftimes and

we stayed in touch," Gary reminisces. "Round about

the mid'90s, she contacted me and said,'Listen I've

become a fu[-btown dance DJ', When I was doing her

programme she wasn't playing much dance music,

it's something she became obsessed with, a tittLe bitlater on, and then threw hersetf fu [throttle into thescene. She reached outto me and said,'I'm doing

these midnight events atthis tittte space on the 14th

Street meat market, in Manhattan. In those days.

she commandeered a sma[[spacein the ctub, kind ofa chill-out room. She had turntables hooked up to a

PA, and itwas Colleen and a coup[e ofguys who called

themsetves the Departure Lounge group, one ofthemwas [sad[y departed infLuentiat D/producer] Adam

Goldstone. and his partnerwas a guy named Perry

Brandston. Theywere doing these nights with Coteen

and theyinvited me to come overwith a[L ofmy effects,

andjust plug into their board, I didn't even have an

amp. I was more or less improvising atong with therecords. it was very magical.."

Those sessions were to set the tone for Wi[d Rumpus,

when in 2001 they had a serendipitous meeting at

London's Royal FestivaI HaLt, where Gary was playing a

gig, and decided to gettogetherto make some music.

The project was born. Named after a phrase in suneaL

ptayfi.rt classic chi[dren's book Where The WiLd Things

Are, wherethe monsters and Max have a rave-up cated

a "witd rumpus", it's a fitting name to describe theirpassionate, teftfiel.d, party mentatity."Ifs about having fun, a rumpus to me sounds [ike not

tahng yourseLftoo seriously and being a bit crary on

that side ofthings, it's not pompous that's for sure,"

Co[[een smi[es.

For her, Wi[d Rumpus represented a chancetoreconcite her musicaI past and present - her tastes

in country, funk, dub, Americana, and everything

etse, with her career as a dance DJ, arguably what

she's best known fortoday, as wett as CtassicAhum

Sundays, her ahum listening events that have become

a wortdwide sensation - check here for more info:

classicahumsu ndays. com

"I remember doing some radio mixes, mixing otd rock

stuff. and this was in 2004, and then I started doingthe Wi Ld Rumpus project. That time in my life I went

backto my roots so to speak. I started putting these

things together. The thing with Witd Rumpus is when

I Listen to it I can hear aL[ these differentinfluences,

Santana. Harry Thumann, ManueL Gottsching, Giorgio

Moroder. then 'Lee Scratch' Perry. attthese types orartists and producers thatl [ove, butl do hope ifs not

too di$ointed."It does encapsulate a[tthese craly sounds that I Iketo puttogether. Wth me musicatly, peopte have a hard

time pinpointing me whether as a DJ or an artisf theremixes I do, it's not tike they'rejust one sound thatbrand gets put on. Ijust [isten to the song first and

then reflect on what I think should be done with itinmy crary head. with aLlthis different myriad ofmusicalinftuences. I hope there's a flow there's a musjcal

narrative."

There's certainty a cohesjon to the duo's work. which

they created over severa I studio sessions'in London,

Gary working on melodies and improvising over

gr0oves.

"0n a coupte ofthese trips I wentinto a studio with

Co[[een and her engineer partner," Garysays. "They

said, 'Youjust play us some ofyour meLodic ideas, riffideas'. We'd throw down some beats. and improvise.

0ften I had song ideas thatwere pretty much finished,

sometimes theyjust took fragments and looped them

086 djmag.com

to make something new. I did what I did. I woutd layer

a few guitars, some more rhythmic riffideas, then

I woutd do some wi[d improvisational. playing on a

second track orthird track. She woutd take it away and

do her magic."

WORI.D OT MUSIC'Musicat Blaze Up' is a nomadic odyssey across atl

musicaI reatms, Cotteen pachng the dancefloor nous

acquired atThe Loft and her own Lucky Ctoud parties,

Gary's guitar ptaying encapsulating his widescreen

approach and love ofsounds from aI corners oftheplanet. There's'Cloudhopping'. a sliver of psychotropic

techno reminiscent ofThe 0rb attheir heighf Lucas'

six-string forming a texturatsquat[thafs transportive

to saythe least;'Kazan'is Santana in disco mode. a

new !ingo'forThe Loft crew. 0rthere's'E[ Duende', a

Mexican Hacienda showdown. that begins menacing

and atmospheric, and etevates to a funlE, jaz4r lato

Schifrin/Ennio Morricone stand-off.'Tikkety-Boo'features KurtWagnerfrom a[t. country cats lambchop,

a spoken word stice of haunting weird Americana. the

meltow guitartinged with otherworldliness: David

Lynch wou[d be proud.

"I ptaythe basstine and the keys on'Kazan', itwas kind

oftike myversion ofCartos Santana going to Studio

54 on acidl" laughs Coteen. "Mixing itwith Harry

Thumann.'Underwater' is one of my favourite disco

tunes to play, it's atso a tittl.e bit like'Jingo',I puta[those things together and totd Gary whatl wanted

to do. With other ones like'E[ Duende'. itwasjust tikejamming, it was probab[y an idea he'd thought ofthathe hadn't used. and hp was tike, 'How'boutthis?'AndI kept tistening to itaird I was getting this spaghetti

western fee[. Quentin Tarantino. and Iwas playing

these hand percussion instruments, I think I had

sheUs. An Ennio Moriccone vibe. But Gary can ro[[ with

aL[ ofit, I guess I can too on the producer sjde."

The titte track, which features reggae toaster Brother

Cutture, reveals another side oftheteam's musicaI

taste. Both Gary and Colleen love reggae, so itwas a perfect opportunityto make something thatcetebrates the dubwisetradition. 0fcourse, this being

Witd Rumpus. there's something unexpected in tieretoo, thatofb[uegrass country guitar. But as Colleen

points out, the two genres aren'tquite as separate as

you mightthink.

"Ithoughtthat bluegrass would sound really good

with dub. itwas something I had to do, I don'tthinkI'm the first " Colleen says.'You [ookjnto a lot ofreggae artists, a lot ofthem cover country songs. [inthe '50s/'60s in Jamaical they were hearing the radio

stations from the Southern states, so you'd have theR&B, butyou'd also have the country stuff. beautiful

tyrics, it's homegrown music which is what reggae is,

it's folk music.""Whetherit's my own compositions orin tandem with

collaborators, I'm always trying to hit people overthe

head, tike'boing'l Did you everimagine hearing this,

castin this way? When I arrange something I always

tryto bring something fresh to it," enthuses Gary on

the exotic mixtures ofsounds on the record. "There's

not realty any genre ofmusic I [ike betterthan another.

I tike them al"l.. Even the stuffthat people might poke

fun at tike potka. I knowthatl do unite a lot ofthismusicin my playing, butit's never been a de[berate .

decision thatl catculated in advance. Itsortofcomesout of me. I feel ljke a vessel for a lot of differentvoices

in my head, thatarejustin the etherftoating around.

IfCot[een would put up a beat that suggested a Latin

groove, I'[[accept'it, man. It's allafterthefact, itjustcame out ofme, itfitted the mood thatwas setatthemoment of recording."

Beyond the Witd Rumpus project, Cotleen's other big

preoccupation is with her at[-encompassing Classic

Ahum Sundays brand and her continuing gigs forThe Loft, which she hetped bring to the UK but now

mostty ptays in NY- read more aboutthis on ourwebsite djmag.com. She also has her Lucky CLoud

parties a[ongside Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gihert,11 years young whjch remajn an ongoing word-of-mouth sensation forreatdance music lovers, and her

production cottabos as Darkstarr and Cosmodetica with

Yam Who and Ashtey Beedle. Gary Lucas meanwhile

has tons ofahums on the go, with an ahum with

traditionaI Hungarian singer Eniko Szabo, and a

record reinterpreting thejazz musicfrom '30s cartoon

Betty Boop,justthe tip ofthe iceberg. There's talk ofpossibte live shows, but uttimatetyifs a constant quest

ofdiscovery, and the acquiring of knowledgethatmotivates both ofthem."It's a never-endingjourney,just tike musjc," Cotteen

signs off.