LemLem Talks To: Alex Crescent

For the second interview of the 2013, LemLem interviewed someone that we've never heard before, BUT were very excited when we found out a little more about him. Alex Crescent is a founder and owner of the London based record label The Crescent that was setup in 2012. The Crescent already has a number of solid releases under its name; all unique and special in their own right. Because of this, The Crescent really stood out in my opinion from all the other emerging labels out there right now as it does not focus on one type of genre or tempo but rather promotes different types of good electronic music. But I'll let you hear it from the owner himself as he talks to LL about why he started The Crescent, the start of his new label and what makes a good sandwich. Enjoy.

LL: How and why did you start the record label "The Crescent" ? What were the motivations behind it?

AC: I started the Crescent project because I wanted to try and do something a little different to the majority of small labels out there at the time. I've always liked the idea of not being locked down to one particular tempo bracket and thought this would be a good platform to experiment by putting out some good, different music. As far as the 'how' goes, it was mostly a case of throwing demos at distributors until the music met the right ears... that process was a bit of a ball-ache.

LL: What was the last song you had in your head?

AC: Ummm, most probably Bobby Caldwell - What you won't do for love.
or Honey by DjRum

LL: How important is music in your everyday life?

AC: I suppose its importance to me is pretty immeasurable. I spend all my time outside of work involved in it in one way or another, spend all my money on it, and generally don't have much else to talk about.

LL: What are your thoughts on the current state of music?

AC: Well, for the most part I'd say its pretty healthy, I think the recent progressions in the UK and Europe have eroded our genre boundaries even further which is great. Don't get me wrong, there's a hell of a lot of shit around, that's nothing new. But there's some mind-blowing stuff lurking, you just need to look a little harder for it nowadays.

LL: Tell me about your craziest party experience !

AC: Um, Sun and Bass would have to be up there, I think it was back in 2010. That club 'Ambra night' was too cool, the music was great, and those cocktails could have knocked out an elephant! Met some great people there.

LL: Whats the most important part of a sandwich?

AC: I'd probably say bread as without that you just have a salad. Then again, I suppose it wouldn't even be considered a sandwich without the bread? So second to that I would say a good cheese is an absolute necessity. Goat cheese or a good cheddar.

LL: Apart from owning a record label and DJing, do you also produce music?

AC:Yes I do but more as a hobby, I rarely get big chunks of time to knuckle down. I may share some of it in due course, who knows.

LL: How would you best describe your labels sound?

AC: Well I'm pretty keen for The Crescent to not be known for one particular niche. Generally I just want the theme to be thoughtful, experimental electronic music.

LL: I heard you are launching a new label soon! can you tell me more about it? Will it be attached to Crescent, or a completely different entity? What's the concept behind it?

AC:Yes... The label is called Voyager and it's much more specifically dedicated to dubtechno and deep-house. Our first release is by an amazing producer from Georgia called HVL, that'll be out in May. All the records will be extremely limited edition and the artwork done by a guy called Brendan Monroe, an illustrator from the States. As far as the relationship between the labels goes, I think they are both separate entities but very much part of the same family, with the same underlying principles.

LL: To finish up, what can we expect next from The Crescent? What's the next release?

AC: Well you can expect a good variety of stuff as I hope you've seen till now, we've got a good mix of 130-170 BPM coming and even some stuff that's more 'out there'. Our next release is by an artist called Rowl and it'll be accompanied by a remix to be revealed nearer the time. Just before signing out, want to say a big thanks to Lemlem & the afromullets crew for the questions and massive respect and thanks to everyone that has bought any of our music to date. x

And we want to thank Alex and LemLem for taking their time to do this interview for us. Make sure to check out the tracks that have been released under The Crescent label over at their soundcloud page, and as always make sure to follow Lamushka on her twitter/facebook.