Part of the Firecracker and Prime Numbers crew, Fudge Fingas (Gavin Sutherland) released the acclaimed NOW ABOUT HOW LP a few month ago. Collaborating with both labels since 2004, starting with the gorgeous soulful house track, ‘Getting together’, he has since continued dropping bombs such as ‘Ghost House’, ‘Me & u’, ‘What works’ and many more. We’re super excited for him to headline the This is Not Happening party this Saturday at our basement disco.

The This is Not Happening blog caught up with Fudge Fingas for a little chat. Check it out below and download a mix from the man himself after the jump!

This is not Happening: For those who don’t know, could you please introduce yourself.

Fudge Fingas: Okay… hello, my name is Gavin Sutherland, though for some reason I go by the name of ‘Fudge Fingas’ when recording certain styles of music. I have been known to use other pseudonyms in the past, notably ‘Vin Landers’, but for the time being he is dormant.

TINH: How would you describe your sound? What artists influenced the way your music sounds today?

FF: I’d generally rather not describe it, thanks. That’s for the listener to attempt. However, if pushed, I prefer the term ‘Psychedelic Techno Soul’. ‘Psychedelic’ in the sense of the sort of 60s/70s artists I grew up listening to, who fused a myriad of musical influences from around the world with their own musical heritage, and who had a general philosophy of mind expansion, inner and outer exploration. ‘Techno’ in the sense of the original meaning of the word, as coined by the legendary ‘Belleville Three’ – i.e. man and machine making music together. ‘Soul’ in the sense of that which is heartfelt and honest.

TINH: Walk us through your studio setup…

FF: That would be telling! And anyway, who’s interested? Alright… frankly, it changes, but there are some staples – Akai MPC 2000 / 1000, various synths, sound modules, keyboards, guitars, noise boxes, effects, percussive bits of wood, blowy things, interchangeable mixing desks big and small, microphones… And also a laptop which proved invaluable for the long period in which I had no studio space at all. In fact, much of my album ‘Now About How’ was written on the laptop, sitting in my living room with the headphones on while my family watched TV. Not the ideal set up that, though.

TINH: What’s the one record that never leaves your record box?

FF: Davina, ‘Don’t You Want It’

TINH: Name one song you would play for the Ladies…

FF: Wee, ‘Try Me’.

TINH: Before going to bed?

FF: Fleet Foxes, ‘Oliver James’.

TINH: If you had to choose one artist to play back to back with, who would that be and why?

FF: The truthful answer would be one of my pals, but I suppose I’m meant to say, oooooh, Ron Hardy or something like that. I tell you what then…John Peel. Why? Because he’d probably keep me on my toes, continuously throwing stylistic curveballs that would be impossible to second guess. And because he seemed such a bloody nice bloke. Wish I could’ve met him.

TINH: We’ve got the chance to feature an exclusive mix from you, can you tell us about it?

I just picked a bunch of tracks, all on wax, old and new, as I would usually do when putting together a mix or a bag of records for a night out. With this particular selection, I was trying to get across the sort of sounds I would play throughout a night, from the beginning through the middle to the end. Not that easy to achieve in 45 minutes, but I think I did it. I’ll be honest – it was quickly recorded, after breakfast time, in one take, with folk mowing the grass outside my window and the neighbours above me thumping on the floor to complain about the volume, so it’s not the most technically perfect… but I’d rather have emotional content than clinical perfection any day, thanks very much!

Download Fudge Fingas mix here!

Tracklist:

Moodymann – Amerika – KDJ
Vakula – Music – Dekmantel
Linkwood – Untitled – Prime Numbers
Glenn Underground – Waterhodes – Guidance
Fudge Fingas – Escape – Firecracker
Todd Edwards – Saved My Life – i! Records
I.F.M. – World Is Changed – Bosconi
Blaze – Lovelee Dae – Playhouse
Joy Orbison – BB – Doldrums
Bernard Badie – Groove In You – La Casa
Legowelt – Bayville Cove – Clone West Coast Series
Millenium to Millenium – Timeline – Underground Resistance
Erro – Change For Me (accapella) – Z records