MILK ist seit fast zehn Jahren eine wahre Institution in Kanada. Gani & Felix, zwei Musikverrückte aus Toronto haben den Clubabend ins Leben gerufen und organisieren ihn bis heute durchschnittlich alle 8 Wochen. DJ-Grössen wie Dimitri From Paris, DJ Spinna, Dennis Ferrer oder Roy Davis Jr. sind nur einige, die hier schon den Club gerockt haben. MILK AUDIO ist jedoch noch viel mehr. Auf der Homepage werden neben der eigenen Internet-Radioshow auch weitere hochwertige Programmangebote (Soulpatrol/Germany, Nick & Nigel /Japan-UK, Dom Servini/UK) gestreamt. Alles ganz nach dem Motto "open minded" werden hier, wie selbstverständlich, jazz tunes neben elektro oder house tunes gespielt. Neben den wundervollen Gastmixen von Jazzanova, Maurice Fulton oder Domu ist MILK eine Plattform wo man einiges an gutem Sound erforschen kann. Einige von vielen Gründen MILK-Chef Gani Shaquir zum Interview zu bitten...

1. Please introduce the idea and the project MILK to us:

Hi there, milk. = people.music.design.radio. the whole concept started off in that order actually. My brother and his friends decided to start a party for their friends, felix and I took care of the music, and the signature black & white design was chosen because of its simplicity as well as cost effectiveness at the printshop. Radio was many years later after the station that originally hosted milk.radio changed its format.

Milk. is about the good in all of the above… when you come to one of our events you’ll be surrounded by good people & you will definitely be listening to good music

1. Where are your roots? When did you start to dj?

I started to dj about 10 or 12 years ago. My younger brother got a pair of turntables and I started to buy the records that I was hearing at raves, and later on, warehouse parties. My brother took more to the promoting angle and I stuck with the vinyl.

1. According to Gilles Peterson Worldwide Show on BBC is radio the best media to spread non-popular and specific music. What is your opinion about that topic?

I think that the statement is true only when you have stations that support the music. Gilles is lucky enough to have the BBC, which does a tremendous amount for underground music. I can speak only for Toronto’s radio scene and it’s pretty dry. There are only a couple shows worth listening too and you have to listen at very specific times. Most radio here is mainstream r&b and easy listening, there isn’t much support for the sound of the underground here on air.

With the internet a ‘new radio’ has been created and I think ‘radio stations’ like milkaudio.com are definitely excellent ways of spreading the underground sound.

1. One can listen to a great selection of guest mixes on the MILK-Page. Mr.Scruff, Carl Craig, Maurice Fulton, Yam-Who, Domu, Patrick Forge..etc.). How did this come about?

Everyone who appears on milkaudio.com is there because I admire what they do or have done for me through their music. Some of them have made some of my favourite records and I feel that it’s my turn to give back. I won’t put anyone up whose records/music I don’t enjoy or own.

Another reason for the diversity is because I want people who visit the site to discover new sounds… I hope that people take the time to dig through the mixes and listen to dj’s that they’ve never heard of. They should then go out and buy the music or support them when they see their name on a flyer somewhere.

1. Felix is your dj-partner. Do you both have the same style? How do you complement each other?

Felix and I have similar tastes but we still buy different music. We don’t always buy the same house records and Felix tends to buy more hiphop than I do, but I buy more downtempo than he does so it all balances out in the end.

1. One can see on your playlists and mixes that you are very variable. It is very important to not play only house music?!

I don’t think that my shows are varied on purpose, it just happens that way because I like a lot of different styles of music. I figure that most people who listen to internet radio are sitting at their desks working so a pumping house mix isn’t always appropriate. I listen to the shows at work so sometimes I think about what I would like to hear and other times I think about a friend and make a mix of what I think they would want to hear. Other times I pretend that I’m djing in front of my dream crowd who will dance to whatever I play and I get carried away…

1. Radioshows like milkaudio could give a lot of people the possibility to open their minds for

new kinds of music. Would you agree?

I totally agree. I try to give everyone a mix of music with my show so that people who are into house will enjoy it and the people who are into the other stuff will enjoy it too. hopefully each person will say to themselves… ‘well I trust his taste in house, so maybe I should keep listening…’ or vice versa.

1. Would you say that in general the influence in music from the United States is much bigger than that from Europe?

I tend to buy and listen to a lot of music from Europe. I don’t think that there’s a specific reason for this, but a lot of the house out of the states is the same old 1-2-3-4 type of thing with a female vocal or a flute or something like that. Kind of boring… there aren’t too may producers who are really pushing the limits on this side of the ocean.

1. Is it necessary to use a straight way to represent one’s own style, in graphic, music, guests to be different from the other radioshows?

Consistency has helped milk. become what it is today. I don’t think that I’m trying to be different than other radio shows or websites. I just do my thing and hope that people feel it. So far the support from fans/artists/labels has been very positive.

One thing that helps me is that I think I operate in a vacuum… I don’t listen to very much internet radio outside of milkaudio.com because most of what I saw/heard on the net prior to starting my site was sub-standard. I thought the streams that were offered were below grade and it seemed like people weren’t taking it seriously or putting in the time to do it right. There are some good sites out there of course but I felt that there wasn’t a comprehensive site that focused on the sounds that I liked.

1. What must a good dj-set have?

A good dj should have a variety of music over it’s duration. If it’s a house set then there should be a mix of vocal, deep, disco etc. a dj should be able to switch up the beats as well… instead of 4 on the floor all the time throw in a different of interesting beat. Even changing the tempo and style is good depending on the crowd. The ladies have to be dancing as well. Nobody wants to see a floor filled with guys going to crazy to broken-beat. It would be nice to see some ladies in there too!

1. What is more important? The choice of the records you play or the mixing?

The music that you play is the most important thing although you still need basic dj skills but you don’t need to ride the mix for very long. As long as you can bring the song in and out, on beat and without killing the vibe then you’re fine.

1. The Canadian people are generally considered as liberals. Would say that’s a reason why they are open to new music and parties beside the mainstream?

I would say that most people here who go to clubs and parties go for the more popular music like r&b, commercial hip hop, pumping house etc. there is a core of underground heads that know what time it is and attend out events but if everyone was liberal and willing to take a chance on something new we’d have really big parties. I think that people here, and most people for that matter, are happy with what they hear on commercial radio and for some reason they just want to hear the same songs over and over again… it baffles me.

1. Which tunes are your personal favourites of summer 2004?

I like the new Ame track ‘nia’ on Sonar Kollektiv, Quentin harris’ record ‘travelling’ and a lot of the stuff that Franck Roger is doing. He’s come on pretty strong lately.

1. Milkparties are a stable component of the cultural side of Toronto! Tell us something about these events! A lot of famous guests played there. I remember the great Bobbito or Mr..Scruff and Dimitri from Paris sets!

We basically try to get the people who make the records we like out to play at our parties. You’ve mentioned a few of the famous names above, but we’ve also had other famous people like perry Farrell from jane’s addiction, kruder & dorfmeister, howie b, reuben wu from ladytron and a whole bunch of others. We’re just grateful that we’ve got a stage to feature some of our heroes. When I look at the roster of talent that we’ve worked with we’ve covered a few countries.

Which dj would you like to invite to a milk event?

It would be nice have bjork dj and event. I tried to get kate moss to dj an event but apparently she only dj’s for close friends.

1. At the moment there is a big deep house/detroit techno hype around all famous freestyle djs in Europe. Rainer Trüby, Jazzanova, Michael Rütten…etc. – they were all stuck on this handle. What is your opinion about that issue? The death of the last real freestyle legends?

I think that a lot of dj’s are changing their style because of music that they have discovered. They tell their friends and then they get into it and then everyone tries to add their own twist on it. I think that the dj’s you’ve mentioned have perhaps been playing similar kinds of music for a while and like have changed it up. I recently heard rainer play here a few weeks ago and I was hearing a lot of house as opposed to the brasilian stuff that he’s known for. I saw jazzanova at a warehouse party at the 2nd demf and they were great. The deep and dirty sound is a little bit attractive. There is nothing like playing a god moodyman track over a system and seeing peope react. I don’t think it’s the death of the freestlyle legends but maybe a rebirth… they now have a new sounds to include into the mix.

1. Back in the days you could find hiphop as a youth culture. “Don’t bite – be original” was the guiding priciples. Now – world wide hiphop is the most (pop)ular music. It seems there is a lack of the original sense. Of course you can see artists like common, jurrasic 5 or madlib – but is the sell-out destroying the platform for creatives?

I don’t think so… a lot of the popular r&b tracks out there right now have some really amazing beats. As far as I’m concerned the commercial side of things is where there is a lot of interesting things happening. I do buy some r&b for myself and I go straight got the instrumentals. I also think about the artists… do they know they are going to make a song that everyone will like? Are they doing it for money? I would like to think that they are making music that they enjoy and just happens to be popular.

1. The whole mp3s and p2p/napster-thing has changed the industry. A lot of small labels couldn’t survive. What do you think about that?

I don’t know that this whole napster thing affects small labels… I don’t run a label and have never downloaded a song off the internet, so maybe I’m not the best one to ask, but I figure that it would affect the bigger companies/artists more. If anything I think that small labels now have the technology to distribute their music digitally directly from their site. This way they make more money and don’t have to spend too much

1. Who are your favourite DJs out there?

I would say Mr.Scruff, Bobbito, Dimitri from Paris, Dave Lee.

1. Did you ever dj in Europe? Is there any possibility to see you in Germany next time?

I haven’t played in Europe but if you know anyone who wants to book me give them my email address!

1. What is your next aim?

I’d like to get clothing on milkaudio.com as well as some products. That’s what I’m working on now. And of course some good parties next time around.

1. What will we hear from you in the nearest future?

Not sure… I’d like to get the store on milkaudio running properly so that people will buy stuff which will help the site pay for itself. At the moment it’s all run on my credit card!

1. What should one absolutely visit if he is in Torronto?

Hmm… one of our parties if there is one happening of course! Haha. We have some nice spots to eat as well. There is the tourist stuff like the cn tower, the art gallery etc. that stuff is ok. Make sure you bring dancing shoes though because there are a lot of clubs you can go to.

1. To the conclusion: Some words from you to all the jazzriots-fans worldwide:

Thanks for reading this far and I hope that if you visit milkaudio.com you’ll find it enjoyable and tell your friends about it.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Thank you for the questions… I’m honoured.

Interview: Peter Hagen (Jazzriots)

Photos: Milkaudio.com