Contributing WriterCanada’s TUSH (Kamilah Apong and Jamie Kidd) follow up their acclaimed 2025 ‘Heavy Weather’ EP with a remixed revision, featuring a remix of lead single, ‘Push’ by German house music legend Ian Pooley, and a collection of further remixes by Afrique Like Me, Pursuit Grooves, and Olive T.
1. Hello, thanks for sitting down with us today. How have you been?
Enjoying the spring and the feeling of renewal that the changing of seasons brings.
2. You’ve got a remixed version of your EP ‘Heavy Weather’ featuring some great artists. What made you decide to do a remixed revision of the release?
Although we have been selective in remixes of our work (only having had two previous to this release), we’ve always appreciated the collaborative and reinterpretation aspect of remixes. As a follow-up to Heavy Weather, we wanted to release a collection of remixes, as we had not done that before, as well as to provide an opening for us to include producers from our community. Also likely a little bit of nostalgia for those remix albums of UK electronica that were common in the early 00’s.
3. You’ve got some big names on the EP, including Ian Pooley, Afrique Like Me, Pursuit Grooves, and Olive T. How did you choose the remixers for this, and what was it like working with these artists?
Kamilah Apong: sound & connection & community. Both Jamie and I have a connection to Pooley in different ways. Afrique Like Me, Pursuit Grooves, are peers in our scene we’ve admired for a long time, and Olive T was by chance – heard her grooves and really enjoyed them.
Jamie Kidd: It’s been wonderful to have such an esteemed group of artists collaborate with us for this project. After opening for Ian Pooley in Toronto last year (the second or third time I’ve played a party with him – shout out to my crew, Box of Kittens, and friends, Toronto After Dark, for that event), I sent Ian some of our (at that time) unreleased music, and he really connected with our song Push. It seemed like a natural fit to have Ian remix Push, and it was a joy to work with him and have such a banger of a tune in that signature Pooley vibe. Ian still produces with a lot of analog, vintage gear, and to have him remix our music using techniques and equipment used to make those classic records we love made his inclusion extra special.
4. How does this release differ from the original ‘Heavy Weather’ EP?
Songs from the original EP are reimagined, some extended and simplified, all with their own vibe and made for the dance floor. Ian Pooley’s lush deepness; Afrique Like Me’s percussive afro-tech; Pursuit Grooves spacious left-field minimalism, and Olive T’s raw house grooves all complement each other beautifully.
5. You work a lot with musicians, layering live instruments and electronic hardware. Can you talk us through your production style and what goes into making your music?
Kamilah: I’ve come to learn that I am a person who lives and breathes in a hybrid state, just by nature of my various identities and life experiences…always a mix, a straddling, a bidirectional. So layering and combining sonic frameworks feels rather natural. I’m fortunate to work with Jamie.
Jamie: Really depends on the song. But it usually starts with a core idea, theme, vibe, or sound design. Something to build around that helps inform choices. This could be a jam session – Kamilah and I with a vocal looper, drum machine, and synthesizers. Or with other musicians – live drums, bass, keys, etc., which are tracked live off the floor and later edited. For our song Push, the initial drum groove was programmed on Maschine. Bass line variations were then written on my ‘77 Fender Jazz and re-recorded on a Moog before sending a simple arrangement to Kamilah for lead and harmony vocal writing. After we had a solid arrangement, we would record the lead and backing vocals at my home studio (some as just temporary placeholders) before recording the full gang harmonies at Dreamhouse Studios in Toronto with an all-star group of local singers (Desiire, R. Flex, James Baley, Tafari Anthony). Finally, we recorded the piano (Alexa Belgrave), trumpet (Tara Kannangara), and hand percussion (Matias Recharte) parts at my studio. So much in music today (dance music especially) is fabricated and impersonal, and it’s important for us not to be a part of that. When you listen to TUSH, you are always hearing us and sometimes our friends’ recorded performances (all credited). No commercial loops and certainly no AI.
6. You release your music on your label ‘TUSH’. When did you start, and what made you want to start your own label?
It felt necessary to finish and release this music on our own timeline. Heavy Weather was the first EP on the label, with the remixed version as the follow-up. After releasing a couple of EPs and an album on an established label, it was time for us to build our own platform for our work.
7. Away from the studio or DJ booth, what are your other pursuits and passions?
Kamilah: using music and other art forms as a means of political education and public health intervention.
Jamie: Many of my passions are music and art-related. Beyond production, playing instruments and performing live – collecting records, researching and teaching music history, and mentoring other artists are all nourishing and rewarding in different ways and help keep what’s important in perspective.
8. Thank you for sitting down with us today. What can we expect from TUSH for the rest of the year?
Some time for rest, and then time to be creative once again.
