Contributing Writer
Marseille raised Amine Edge & DANCE have taken the music scene by storm with their high energy sets and ground-breaking releases on legendary labels including Defected, Get Twisted and Toolroom records.
For over a decade this iconic French duo have celebrated many accomplishments and become two of the most renowned House DJ’s in the music game, including gaining the title of DJ Awards Best Bass DJ’s in 2016, sets at popular festivals including Defected Croatia and South West Four to launching their ‘CUFF’ label in 2013.
Amine Edge & DANCE’ CUFF imprint has become one of the most charted labels with international artists releasing music, including the likes of Clyde P, Shiba San, Tough Love and Chicks Luv Us.
We caught up with Amine Edge & DANCE to hear about returning on Loco Dice’s Desolat Records, plans for their CUFF imprint, the music scene in their hometown Marseille and upcoming projects.
Thanks for speaking to us Amine Edge & DANCE, could you tell us what you’re doing currently?
AE: At the moment I barely go out, it’s cold outside so I stay home and work 24/7 on new music for new projects for CUFF in 2020, there are many exciting things to come.
DANCE: Same, I just work work work, I really want to release a lot of new music in 2020 so I just stay in the studio all day. At night I go out and have some drinks with my friends in my city Marseilles.
You’ve been really busy over the summer with sets for Defected’s closing in Ibiza, South West Four Festival and many more, how has your summer been and what events have been the most memorable for you?
Amine Edge & DANCE: Oh, you know we are also busy in the winter and other seasons, but you’re totally right, we had a really busy summer. It was a blast with Defected in Ibiza, one of our most memorable moments was definitely the closing at Eden and Defected Festival, the vibe was incredible.
What’s the music scene like in your home town of Marseilles, France right now?
Amine Edge & DANCE: It’s not bad at all, a lot of good promoters and music lovers are working hard to maintain the rise of electronic music, finally the politics have opened up about open-air parties so we have more of that every summer, it’s amazing.
You released ‘Fck Ur Opinion EP’ back in 2016 with Desolat records and have returned three years later to the label, releasing your new EP ‘Nosey Parker EP’, tell us about that!
Amine Edge & DANCE: You won’t believe it if we tell you that we’ve been sending tracks to Loco Dice constantly, he took him 3 years to lock this EP, he is a picky mother fucker and we love it (laughs). He knows what he is doing, he plays the tracks and tests them out in every club in the world. That helps to make a decision about whether a record is truly good or not. Crowd reactions don’t lie.
‘Nosey Parker’ features French DJ’s and producers Yungness & Jaminn on your track ‘Like This’, is there any back story on the collaboration and how did you join forces with the duo?
Amine Edge: These two are also from Marseilles, Yungness is DANCE’s younger brother, and Jaminn his best friend, they are so talented. I think it’s a gene in the family since DANCE is a fucking genius, they actually started this track and we finished it. Dice thought it was a good idea to put it on our EP to introduce the boys to the label’s fans, because their EP will be released next and it’s fucking huge. The most wanted EP from Desolat I promise you that.
DANCE: Lol, I’m not a genius, I’m just passionate and I work my ass off all day, every day and Yungness is my real little brother.
Your release on Desolat features the use of unique hi hats, trademark drums and distinctive bass, are there certain pieces of hardware you like to use when producing tracks?
Amine Edge & DANCE: The way we produce is very simple, we don’t use much hardware etc… most of our music comes from chopped and shaped samples, like they used to do back in the day with an MPC or SP1200, except that we do that through the computer.
Also the key for us is to have authenticity even if some of our tracks are Tech-house which is the most famous and mainstream genre in electronic music nowadays we always have our originality while many in this genre sound the same, every tracks will have different drums and sounds, constantly.
Over the past few years we’ve seen you both celebrate a huge amount of success, including being winning the title of the best ‘bass’ DJ’s back in 2016 at the DJ awards and launching your label CUFF in 2013, what would you say has been your ‘Pinch-me’ music industry moment since becoming the iconic ‘Amine Edge & DANCE’?
Amine Edge & DANCE: Oh wow we’ve had so many great moment, but of course when we have recognition from the most hyped and respected brands and taste makers it feels great, our ‘pinch me’ moments are of course those things that we were dreaming of and that happened in real life.
Like recording an Essential Mix for Pete Tong and BBC Radio1, Amine was a kid when he was collecting all those mix from Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, MK, Sasha etc… and boom they ask us to be part of it, incredible. Also we did a Mixmag cover and we still can’t believe it. We played Ministry Of Sound, it was a dream, we had our own label night and it was home there. Coachella, Pacha Ibiza, Amnesia… and so on.
We’ve seen some great releases on your label CUFF from artists like Tough Love and Clyde P, you also collaborated with Clyde P this summer and released ‘Dancin’ on Defected, which charted to Beatport and Traxsource’s ‘Top 10’. Are there any other artists you would like to work with in the future and on your label?
Amine Edge & DANCE: We can write down a huge list haha, Armand Van Helden, Paranoid London, Jimmy Edgar, Masters At Work, DJ Deeon, we’re gonna make it happen!
Are there any DJ’s you’d particularly consider going B2B with next year?
Amine Edge & DANCE: Amine just did a B2B in a shop called Daily Paper in Amsterdam with Loco Dice, it was great we had so many friends there it was a lot of fun. We hope to do one in front of a big crowd one day. Martinez Brothers would be a dope one also, Jamie Jones, Marco Carola, Paul Johnson and a lot more.
What can we expect to see from you to end the year and going into 2020? Are there any future projects, events or plans you would like to mention?
Amine Edge & DANCE: We’ve always been busy making music, but in the past we couldn’t be bothered to find labels for that, we changed our minds recently and decided to sign to a load of labels we respect. We have signed some dope EP’s and remixes on Voyeur, Cuckooland, Sweat It Out, Desert Heart Records, Rawthentic, South Of Saturn, Solotoko, Nervous with Arthur Baker, we heard that we’re going be the first release of Toolroom in 2020, and we are working hard on a CUFF world tour, expect more label showcases this year for sure.
That’s really exciting to hear and we will keep an eye out for your release on Toolroom entering into 2020 and content on your CUFF imprint. We can’t wait to hear from you again soon.
‘Nosey Parker’ on Desolat Records is out on the 22nd November 2019.
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