London's newest house talent steps up. Maya Jane Coles is a 23-year-old London-based house producer whose recent work under her own name has been a point of intrigue for those in the wider dance music community. Club-going folk in her hometown may actually have been acquainted with Coles for a while now. Despite her relative youth, she's been playing DJ sets and live shows in and around the city for a number of years. Others may have had their introduction—whether they realised it or not—through Scuba's RA podcast at the beginning of last year, on which her excellent "Can't Hide The Way I Feel" track under the dubstep moniker Nocturnal Sunshine shone like a beacon. Coles can also be found performing live as part of the duo She Is Danger alongside Lena Cullen. Her breakthrough moment arrived back in October 2010 with the release of "What They Say" through French label Real Tone. The track reached the summit of RA's top 50 for that month and continues to reside within the top 10 months after its release. On her RA podcast Coles plots a steady course through grooving and often melodic house music, with plenty of her own unreleased tracks and edits thrown in along the way.
What have you been up to recently? I've been busier than ever with gigs so that's been occupying most of my time. It's been really nice seeing lots of new places and faces. I've been working on some cool remixes too, and I'm excited about my EP coming out on Mobilee at the end of the month.
How and where was the mix recorded? Just at mine on a pair of CDJs. Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix? It's quite different to what I would play out, but I wanted to include some stuff that I wouldn't usually get the opportunity to play in clubs. I wanted to express a bit of musical variation within the house genre. I wasn't really thinking about trying to prove anything or impress anyone, I just wanted it to reflect a certain part of me and that I like. (And of course it's always a bonus if others like it too!)
There's a review of "What They Say" on discogs that suggests the track is a nod to '90s house producer MK. Is he, and this time period, indeed an influence on you? To be honest I wouldn't say MK was a specific influence as I was only familiar with a couple of tracks of his before I made "What They Say." Obviously after the comments I checked out more of his stuff I can see why people would make the link. I respect his work a lot and can see that he's definitely carved a strong sound in early house. Actually Defected have asked me to remix his track "For You," which they are re-releasing sometime this year, which is pretty cool, so that's currently something I'm working on. Even though I've never been a hardcore follower of '90s house music, (mainly because it was just a little before my time) I've always liked and respected the early sounds of house. I appreciate the simplicity yet effectiveness of early dance music, and I think this is what I was trying to achieve with "What They Say."
Will your Nocturnal Sunshine alias, and by extension dubstep, always be a secondary/side project for you? I guess it will be, just because I set it up as a genre-specific project. With the MJC stuff (including my album that I'm currently working on) I haven't set myself any boundaries genre-wise, which I guess is why it will always be my main outlet.
What are you up to next? When I have a little more time I'd like to get my label up and running, mainly because I want to have an outlet for my music alongside my artwork and have 100% creative control. But that probably won't be for a while. I've got sooo many ideas for projects and things I want to do I just wish I had more time to be able to carry them all out. My main priority is always making new music.
Tracklist
Rob Shields - Slum Room
DC Salas - Peru (Dave DK Brussels Berlin Connection Remix) - Doctor Vinyl Records
Axel Boman - Depression
Maya Jane Coles - Run with the Wild
El_Txef_A - See It All (Edit)
Maya Jane Coles - Protect Them
Youandewan - Eidolon - Magicbag Music
Julian Perez - Nelipot - Recycle Records
Rhythm & Sound ft. Jennifer Lara - Queen In My Empire - Burial Mix Records / Funman, Kick Da Joey & Vansam - Get Down - VectoRecords 2.0
Miss Kittin - All I Need (Gesaffelstein Remix) - Mobilee
The Timewriter - Wasteland - Neurotraxx Deluxe
Rhythm & Sound - Why / T. Williams & Terri Walker - Heartbeat - Local Action / Asad Rizvi - Me Tangare (MJC Edit) - Reverberations
Luca Albano - Calinda (Francesco Bonora Remix) - High Definition Records
Greenville Massive - Lost - Soul Sheep Music
Axel Boman - Naomi
Joni Mitchell vs. Maya Jane Coles - Stardust
