Producer Profile: Joker

Liam Mclean aka ‘Joker’ is a 22 year old Dubstep producer from Bristol. He is the owner of the label ‘Kapsize Records’ which includes releases from artists such as L-wiz, Rustie and Ginz. At the age of 18, Joker released ‘The Kapsize EP’ which came out on ‘Earwax’, a label run by one of Dubsteps pioneers ‘Pinch’. This clearly signifies that at a young age Joker was making records which were of a high standard. Throughout the years Joker has had releases on a range of labels from ‘Terrorrythm records’ to ‘Hyper dub’ but mainly through Bristol based labels such as: ‘H.E.N.C.H’, ‘Soul Motive’ & ‘Tectonic’.

Being known as an extremely versatile producer, Joker has covered remixes from Mainstream artists such as: Professor Green, Simian Mobile Disco and Turbo weekend (Danish rock band). Although Joker is considered to be a Dubstep producer, his sound tends to contrast from the typical dark and moody side of Dubstep and swings towards the high end almost uplifting aspect. Joker’s musical interests include Jungle, RnB, Hip Hop, Funk and soul which are demonstrated in his own songs.

Purple? “Purple is a colour,” states Joker mock seriously. “Purple is blue and red, so I mix blue and red to make purple. But really, my music is like Sega Mega Drive meets R&B meets grime with a little bit of Dubstep thrown in and a funk twist.”
Source: (http://www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk/news/joker-is-quite-a-card.html)

Outlined by this quote Joker refers to his own music as ‘Purple sound’ as it is said that this is the colour he sees when listening or creating his music. This perception of ‘Purple sound’ is also practiced by other Bristol-based producers such as ‘Gemmy’ & ‘Guido’. Though ‘Purple sound’ is not an actual genre; the main basis of the meaning comes down to the synthesizers and sounds produced. Every Joker song has a signature bassline or sound whilst the rest of the components run freely throughout the record. Production techniques include: 808/909 like drum kits, Legato basslines which are usually pitch bent, RnB/ Soulful melodies, heavy sub sections,1/16 arpeggio sections and syncopated drums usually with shuffle applied. Joker uses a range of methods to produce music, mainly using a combination of Reason & Logic to sequence his work; he also relies on hardware (outboard fx/proccesors + synths) to give it that studio sound which a lot of producers aspire to achieve.

Joker is iconic to the Dubstep genre because of his original and unique approach to creating music. Whilst a lot of producers within the genre were looking upon big names for inspiration, Joker took what his musical interests were and crafted a truly unique sound greatly valued by Dubstep fans around the world.