The 'What's What' with Bluntskull

While it makes it's way around dance floors & across the airwaves. Irish Moss H.Q caught up with the man behind the heavy hitting 'Blunt Force E.P'

IMR: Hey Man, so for the uninitiated. . . How exactly has a New Yorker started living in Vietnam and releasing tracks on an Irish record label? Can you give us a brief low-down?

Bluntskull: To start with, I have to give thanks to Liondub. I was still in NY when I got a message from him on Soundcloud saying "You should connect with my boy DJ Obese from the Dirty Dubsters. They'd love and respect your music like crazy." So I contacted you guys and the rest is history. I bounce around a lot so Vietnam is just the backdrop for the time being.

IMR: Your sound seems to go one of two possible ways (As far as we know anyway) Party starting mashup's or straight head-nodding ragga hip-hop, ode straight to the early 1990's. What and who has influenced you in your productions?

Bluntskull: A major influence on my sound is the era when dancehall mixed with hip-hop in the early '90s. Producers like Bobby Konders helped build that bridge and I've been in love with that sound ever since. To me, there were never enough of those tracks and the genre was very fringe and short-lived. I'd like to do my part to bring back that early '90s ragga hip-hop sound. Having said that, I still love ragga in all shapes and forms and do dabble in other sub-genres of it like jungle and breakbeat.

IMR: The Blunt Force EP is a heavy duty release. Three serious Deejays spitting on each set of hiphop breaks again very much ode to that classic 90's style. How did the collaborations come about? Are these three veterans people that had been on the Bluntskull radar for a while or did they just come about as these things seem to do in the digital era?

Bluntskull: Burro Banton was always someone I wanted to work with. I've loved his style since the early '90s so naturally I jumped at the chance to do a track with him. I noticed that you guys (Dirty Dubsters) did a track with him so I knew you had the connection to make it happen. 

I knew Tippa Irie was planning to come through Saigon town so I sent him some of my beats hoping he'd like one of them enough to do something over it. I liked what I heard on his demo and got to hang out with him for a minute when he was over here. 

My first single 'Bus' it in 2' featured Blackout JA. I love his gruff voice so I thought I'd enlist him again for the final track on the EP. He blesses any track he's on.

IMR: Speaking of a Digital Era and an online world. . . It's hard to find much about you online. Has this been by design or default? You want to remain quite anonymous or you just can't be arsed logging online everyday?

Bluntskull: Haha! Maybe it's because I'm still pretty new to producing (Been at it for two and a half years now). Also, I'm not a self-promoter. I like the music to speak for itself. I'm not sure what else I can do besides put tunes on my Soundcloud page and mixes on Mixcloud.

IMR: Any plans to do any shows in US / Europe over the next year? Also please let us know if there are anymore EPs, Edits or general Blunt-Goodness to look forward to.

Bluntskull: I would like to make it to Europe in the summer of '15 to do some gigs for sure. I hope I can turn out another E.P by then too. If not, then at least another single or two. Be on the lookout for some forthcoming releases on I.M.R and Dirty Dubster Digital. The best way to hear about Bluntskull would be to keep an eye on Soundcloud. I like to throw out freebie tracks now and again too. 

IMR: Any final words before you go deep underground for a while?

Bluntskull: Thanks as always to the Dirty Dubsters for supporting my stuff. Hope to slowly emerge from my cocoon in the months and years to come!