The Joy Of Decks

Alongside Roots Manuva, Deckwrecka is the leader of the UK hip-hop new school. Crafting entertaining samples with accessible grooves and just the right amount of scratching, Deckwrecka (aka Agsi) put out a series of well-received 12s on Ronin Records, and his debut album, V Is For Vengeance is to be released next month.

Sussed enough to avoid hip-hop s turntablism and misogynistic leanings, Vengeance boasts subtlety, humour, loads of hilarious samples and an array of tight-assed beats. It s the best hip-hop album we ve heard this year, a confident, compelling first step from a highly gifted producer, and also the culmination of Agsi s lifelong musical obsession.
Having learnt to play the drums at school because it would get you out of English or Maths ( I picked drums because I figured I m never gonna have a drum kit at home ), Agsi soon graduated to turntables and started experimenting with reggae and ska the music his parents had introduced him to then electro and later on, hip-hop. It was also around this time that Agsi adopted the Deckwrecka moniker, a name borne out of necessity that only later took on a more significant meaning.
Originally, I just needed to come up with a name, he offers, explaining casually that someone was putting me on in a club and I didn t want to put DJ in front of Agsi. I had to think of something a bit more imaginative. If I was an MC then people would think I was a mike checker, because I m a DJ, I m a Deckwrecka!
His choice of pseudonym may sound suspiciously turntablist, but Agsi is keen to distance himself from the scratching school of hip-hop.
I wouldn t really consider myself a turntablist, he says, but there are some serious dudes out there like the Q Tips and Tony Vegases of this world. It s mainly the production side that I enjoy, he adds. I don t make beats just to scratch on, so everybody can see me scratching. I don t consider myself part of that. Deckwrecka is there because, if I play a club, I just try and have a good time. I scratch a bit because as a DJ that s your voice; I love it, but I wouldn t want to listen to a whole album of it.
It s a viewpoint he has reinforced with the powerful image of a smashed up Technics deck on the cover of his debut album. One of the strongest dance music and club culture icons over the last fifteen odd years, the use of a destroyed deck on Vengeance is intended to shock.
I did it so people would go why did he do that? , he admits. We all love that turntable, it means something to a lot of people. I remember saving for months to get one and then another one. At the same time, with the name Deckwrecka, what else could I have on the cover? I don t want a picture of me trying to look cool or something. That s not what the record s about. It seems fitting and at the same time I knew it would work because it was a horrific image.
So, while our conversation veers into comparisons with Jimi Hendrix s guitar-burning antics of the late 60s and Agsi s deck wrecking activities, there s also a lot of music to talk about. Vengeance contains a staggering 28 tracks, all teeming with Deckwrecka s unique sense of humour and love of sampling obscure television programmes and films. It s a refreshing change of direction for hip-hop, especially when most of its proponents are content to live in their music industry-created ivory towers, casually emitting pseudo ghetto-sussed missives.
The things on the album are there very deliberately, he offers. There s a sense of humour, man. It s not about being hard. I m not into beating up women or shooting people, so any violence on there is always just a bit of fun. Anyway, it s not a dark record. I m glad because I think that s the easiest emotion to contain in music. Most people rely on it because it s easy, something sinister. It s all relative to your understanding, but music should hit you emotionally.
Judging on its title, Vengeance might sound like Agsi has a few accounts left to settle, but in reality Deckwrecka and his affiliated Ronin label are happy to do their own thing, regardless of the latest trend. Unlike many of their peers, it seems that if it sounds right, they ll put it out, regardless of what the industry thinks.
On Vengeance there s a story about being independent and still, against all odds, doing it your way, he explains. It s called V For Vengeance because when I started making the record, people around me like our old management were suggesting that you should think commercially with a very deliberate market and all that rubbish. My feeling was disillusionment and I just felt that I ll leave you to it and make something I m proud of, and if only two people like it and they say to me yeah, I can feel that , at least I ll know that I did what I wanted to do.
The album s called Vengeance because despite people saying it s not going to work, the album s coming out now, so for those people, here s a little taste of vengeance. I ain t seen their albums yet!
V Is For Vengeance is out on Ronin Records in June.