№ 130 - IKSE Soundsystem

IKSE is a Hi-Fi sound system project brought to life by the DJs Judaah, Ntn, Victor aka Stigmates, and photographer Hugo, who aimed to build a sound system, that can perform at any venue or outdoor space to “explore different types of music events, not just raves, block parties or clubs”, as the IKSE creators reveal in the interview that complements their mix. Constructed with the help of EDWIN, IKSE has already hosted some prominent artists who are tuning its amplifiers and speakers.

In August it travelled to DJ Sundae’s Rituale festival, transmitting the music of the likes of John T. Gast or O.G. Jigg (aka Memotone). In its hometown, Marseille IKSE flamed parties with DJs like Manchester’s finest electronic avant-gardists Demdike Stare, British downtempo droners Raime, or the IKSE founders Judaah and Ntn.

What kind of music the system is able to feature, is reflected in the IKSE Soundsystem mix, which brings house, Techno, Dancehall, Dubstep, Dub Techno and more by artists like Detroit legends Scott Grooves and Paperclip People aka Carl Craig, Berlin’s legendary duo Basic Channel, mysterious dancehall producer Akee, renowned English electronic musician and DJ Surgeon as well as contemporary producers like UK artist DJ Gonz or Shinichi Atobe from Japan.

To gain a deeper insight into the creation and mission of the custom-built IKSE Soundsystem, we talked to Judaah, Ntn, Hugo and Victor about their musical love affairs, their ambitions for the IKSE mission and what they love besides music.

Q. Can you introduce a bit of the IKSE sound system story to our readers? How did the idea start? And who is involved? 
 
Judaah: Ever since I was a teenager, I've been going to sound system parties. Growing up in the South of France, there were various crews who came to set up their sounds, such as Iration Steppas, Channel 1, Vibronics etc... a promoter who organized Dub Stations parties often brought them back. It always made me dream, and I always told myself that one day I'd have one.

The idea took shape over the last two years, I spoke to a long-standing buddy Ntn (the boss of the Few Crackles label) who was in the same mind frame as me. We wrote up the project and talked about it around us, which interested other buddies of ours who joined us in the adventure, Hugo and Victor. So, there are four of us in the project. I contacted a buddy of mine who owns a sound system (the Suave Soundsystem, S/O to Guillaume aka Slash). Guillaume designed in partnership with KornHent, the “Suave Sound System” is the world's first transportable Hi-Fi system capable of providing sound for a dancefloor of over 1,000 people.

Guillaume recommended and introduced us to Paul, a cabinetmaker and acoustician who himself helped build the Suave Soundsystem. After several exchanges, Paul (S/O to him) designed the sound system and started building it. We went up to his workshop a few times to help him with cutting, assembly, etc... 

Q. Does Marseille play an important part in the sound system development or could IKSE operate from any place in the world? 
 
Victor: Marseille is the place where our partnership and the whole concept of the sound system was born, so it plays a significant role in its creation and development. It's also a city where you can find a really special variety of musical influences, and as a team, we all bring our inspirations and personalities that we've developed or feel connected to this particular place.

At the same time, we have already started to play our system in some other, much smaller locations, and it is also very important for us to collaborate with other scenes and not just stick to what Marseille has to offer in terms of venues. 
 
Q. Did you have role models in mind when you started IKSE? 
 
Ntn: A few people doing it with a quite DIY approach, for example, Klaus with his Tanum Sound System (in between London and Glasgow). Shout out to him. But the list is quite long.  
 
Judaah: The Killasan Sound System, Killamanjaro Soundsystem. 

Q. What does the name ''IKSE'' mean? 
 
Victor: IKSE is the reversed word for "Eski", which is the short of “Eskimo riddim” the instrumental produced by Grime artist Wiley. People would use the word Eski to define grime when it originated. It’s a way of paying tribute to the sound system culture origins and linking the UK and France, as reversing words is a peculiarity of French slang.

When we started IKSE, we knew we wanted to bring together all kinds of musicians and DJs, regardless of their fame, as long as we could offer something coherent and satisfying for the audience, the artists and ourselves. Our roles are quite diverse in the sense that we all know what our strengths and weaknesses are as people and as sound system managers. We come from different backgrounds and have different levels of involvement in the music industry, but as a team, we manage to fill in most of the gaps we have as individuals to meet the needs required to provide good management within IKSE.  
 
Q. How do you plan to use the system? Will it be in a space like a club? Or will it travel? 
 
Victor: The system as it is now, fits perfectly into a small truck, so it's quite convenient for us to move it from one place to the next, regardless of the distance. This way we can easily move it to different venues or spaces in Marseille, but also anywhere else in France.

IKSE can be played in any venue or outdoor space. At the end of the day it's just speakers and amplifiers, what's important for us is to carefully choose the context in which we want to use it and the artists we want to collaborate with. We think IKSE should try to explore different types of music events, not just raves, block parties or clubs, but also events where it's not expected and would work well.  
 
Q. Can you give some advice to someone interested in building and establishing his/her own sound system? 
 
Ntn: Reading manuals and documentation on any sort of sound system culture around the world to get a rough idea of the number of possibilities near you. 
 
Victor: Take an interest in acoustics and stage management. You need to know exactly what it's about, all the work involved and all the people you need to get in touch with, to gain as much knowledge as possible about what a sound system is as a broadcasting device and as a tool for bringing people together.

Q. Name three records to start a party on the IKSE sound system. 
 
Victor: Get Digit by Flore  
 
Hugo: Verächtung Wird Einen Messertragenden Schatten by Urfaust 

Judaah: You’re Da Man by Nas 

Ntn: Revenge Of the Underdog  by Singers & Players 
 
Q. Did you have some music in mind while building? 
 
Ntn: Paul Thomas, the master behind the construction is usually creating sound systems targeting a more audiophile audience. With that in mind, we used the tracks with the heaviest bass we knew like Techno, Dubstep, Reggae and so on. While building it, we try to create a nice balance between sound quality and body impact.  
 
Q. How did you select the tracks for The EDWIN Music Channel? And how is your mix linked to the IKSE vibe? 
 
Judaah: The advantage of being four means an eclectic selection. We shared a number of tracks and in the end, came up with a final selection that was as close as possible to what we wanted to promote on the Ikse Soundsystem. Hugo is more into Metal and Trap. Me and Ntn are more into House, Techno and Dubstep, whereas Victor is more into Industrial and Rock. Not all the musical genres mentioned above are included, as it's complicated to synthesize them all in one hour, but we've tried to get as close as possible. Anyway, the best way to get an idea of what we play is to come to our parties, each one has its own vibe and energy.  
 
Ntn: These days mostly hardcore punk and 80’s synth/funk but it’s constantly changing. 

Judaah: And a lot of Old School Dubstep (Horsepower Productions, Slimzee , Hatcha , DMZ, Coki , etc.) 

Victor: 3Phaz , Meekz , The Melvins. 

Hugo: Too much Death Metal. 

Q. What does the sound of tomorrow look like? 
 
Ntn: Hard to tell, considering all sorts of trends nowadays I guess it will be a mix of popular and edgy, one eye looking backward the other looking forward…Odd but good.  

Q. How is music a part of your life? 
 
Ntn: I work in a record store (and I’ve been working around record stores for a bit more than ten years), Victor has graduated in fine art in sound design and spends most of his days looking for innovative technologies in that field, Judaah has been running labels and touring for the past ten years, Hugo is working as a construction worker and digs for the deepest stuff to rhythm is shifts. It means a lot to us, as to anybody, I guess. It’s always a good escape.  
 
Q. If you could spend a night partying with any of your icons, who would it be? 
 
Ntn: I’m not sure I want to know how my icons are partying, definitely not ready for that. A more classic choice would be one night in the Music Box club with Ron Hardy on the decks.  
 
Hugo: Coil & Mr. TP 
 
Q. What are your hobbies besides music? 

Hugo: Golf. 
  
Victor: Creative Coding. 
  
Ntn: Magic The Gathering and Comics. 
  
Judaah: Golf, Gym, Water. 
 
Q. What do you know now that you wish someone had told you ten years ago? 
 
Judaah: Life is beautiful. I wanna add a big thanks to the EDWIN Team, and all the people who helped us with this project. Also, a big thank you to Paul for designing and creating the sound system, and a big up to Guillaume for his invaluable advice. 

TRACKLIST
A-Muzak - 01 Program-A 
Unknow - Unknow 
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Cognition (Forbes)  
Ghost Dubs - Hot Wired 
Unit Moebius - Lange Leun 
H-FUSION - Entity 70 
Le Melange' Inc. Featuring China - (Drum) A Journey 
Shinichi Atobe - Ongaku 1 
Surgeon - Balance  
DJ Qu - Sliding Thru 
FULL EFX - No Love 
Da Sampla -Frictional Beat #6 (KMFH 808 Dub) 
Robert Armani - Work Dat Shit Again 
Howard Thomas - Tie Up 
Weird Weather - Serpent Song  
DJ Gonz - First Light Scion  
Paperclip People - The Climax (Basic Reshape)  
Basic Channel - Octagon 
Cyrus - Recall 
Scott Grooves - O.T.R.C. 1 (Caitlynx) 
Soa420 - No Nerve 
Tinky - gawd  
Ackee - Lick Them (Dancehall Style)