We recently caught up with Bretson Mann, one half of Embassy Recordings artist Broodlings.  The Atlanta native shared some thoughts on juke, paranoia, and the future.  Check the duo's feature mix here. 

Percussion Lab: Who is Broodlings?  

Broodlings: Broodlings is two 21 year olds (Bretson Mann and Danny Fernandez) from Atlanta, Georgia. Been friends since grade school and started making tracks together about three years ago.

PL: How did you arrive at juke?  Were you producing other 'bass' music prior to this?  

B: Like a lot of other people. Footcrab. It was really just working backwards from there. Opened our minds and ears up to new sonic potentials and we fell in love with what was coming out of Chicago. Over a year ago Distal and Mite brought in DJ Rashad to this small local venue and it ended up really inspiring us to start producing more Juke and Footwork. It was just really intimate and ear opening because we had never heard stuff like that played out before. We were used to dubstep shows and had been making that for a while but seeing Rashad really changed things.

PL: Are you connected to the Chicago scene in any way?  In other strains of 'bass' music, London or the UK in general is a sort of 'spiritual homeland' if you will; is Chicago like that for juke, or is the scene less place specific than that?

B: We're not directly connected to the Chicago scene, but we draw a lot of influence from there. We guess you could call it the spiritual homeland for juke haha. It’s where it came from and no one does it like them. The sound is spreading. It’s infectious and energetic. There are a lot of people over in Japan getting into it big time. It does what drum n’ bass and dubstep used to do for us and its probably like that for a lot of other people too. You either love it or hate it, but no one is doing anything like the guys from Chicago.

PL: Am I crazy, or does paranoia seem to be a major theme in juke?  What's that about?

B: Yes!!! It all stems from the battle. It’s about an atmosphere, just like with moody, subbed out dubstep. RP Boo says it best. It’s about imminent battle. That might be why juke and more importantly the weird footwork stuff that is really pushing boundaries is misunderstood outside of Chicago. Without a battle going on the atmosphere is different. The music is frantic and it doesn’t always translate well, which is a shame. People are warming up more though, at least to the jukey, ghetto house side of things, which is a good place to start.

PL: How did you hook up with Embassy?  What's their relation to the Atlanta scene?  Do you consider yourselves a part of the ATL 'bass' scene?  

B: We connected with Embassy through Distal. Danny has known the guys who run the label for a LONG time. He used to show up at drum n’ bass nights when he was 14. We just started sending Distal our tracks out of the blue and he was into it. We’re really excited to be out on a label run by such forward thinking people who are really pushing the Atlanta sound both locally and internationally. They’ve been a really big inspiration to us, bringing in international names and constantly pushing the sound here at home. They’ve been in it for a while. So with the release I guess we feel a part of the scene now more than ever. Having the guys from Embassy constantly support us and play our tracks out is really inspiring and keeps us going. Much love for the whole crew.

PL: Who are some of your influences? Who do you consider peers?

B: Where to start. As far as juke and footwork goes there’s DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, DJ Earl, RP Boo, Traxman, DJ Roc, the list goes on. Deep house and techno as well, people like Mike Huckaby, Theo Parrish, Omar S, and Kyle Hall. Big influences from Headhunter a.k.a Addison Groove, 2562, and everything Digital Mystikz. I guess our peers would be fellow Atliens Distal and Mite, and also Divine Interface and Rek Champa. Looking forward to getting in the studio with them. Embassy label mates Wheez-ie and Clicks and Whistles are doing great stuff as well.

PL: What's your studio setup?

B: Right now we just use a set of consumer speakers, an oxygen keyboard, and an SP 505 that a friend is letting us borrow. Switch back and forth between Reason and Ableton. We also have a pair of cdj’s.

PL:  How long does it take you to produce a tune?  What's your process, i.e., who does what? 

B: Anywhere from a few hours to weeks. It really just depends. Sometimes we start with samples, sometimes one of us makes a rhythm or a bass line and we just move from there. It really just depends. We don’t just make juke and footwork so it really varies between what kind of sound we’re going for.

PL: Future plans? (Touring, album, etc.)

B: Getting up to Chicago! Really want to get up there and see how they do it. Want to see a battle in person. The energy always looks unreal in the videos. Just gonna keep working on music and see where things take us. Hopefully playing out more and introducing more people to what drives us.