Having released music on international labels like Norman Foreman and Rubricate Records, music producer and DJ Joel Malcolm-Smith, aka Altercation, specialises in the more soulful side of drum and bass. Originally from Tāhuna Queenstown, he is set to play Northern Bass among other festivals this summer, following the release of his latest single Destination, which was realised with the help of NZ On Air funding. Joel runs us through the song’s creation for this world premiere.

The idea for what has ended up as Destination started off with a sampled vocal, actually! I sent it to Sam Taylor, the owner of my South African label Norman Foreman, and he then passed it on to Aunty Rae and Windu who are the vocalists. It’s a lot better to have their authentic vocals over sampled ones! I was happy with the original, but Sam had a vision, so I’ve got to thank him for that.

Even though we never actually met in person to record the vocals, Aunty Rae and Windu, made it sound like we did. They both left gaps for each other in the recording process, and then filled the gaps beautifully.

The song and video follows the story of them heading to a club on a night out, wondering if they will run in to each other. Having that idea behind the video made it really fun to shoot. Actress Poppi Robertson-Gray was Aunty Rae’s stand-in. She did an amazing job and really nailed the vibe we were going for!

My favourite part of the song has got to be the second verse that Aunty Rae comes in on. I dropped out a lot of the elements at this point, and her voice just sits on top of the drums and bass line really well. The track definitely fits my back catalogue – liquid/minimal drum and bass is where I’ve put most of my focus. I know this is the same with almost every producer, but to date this is my best piece!

The biggest challenge of them all was re-writing the song. In February, after NZ On Air announced their funding decisions, I spilt water on my laptop, therefore destroying it and everything that was on it. I can now say I’m an avid Dropbox user and backup man…

Spending 20 hours recreating a song rather than writing a new one is really mentally draining. There’s not that same spark you have when you get an idea, because you are trying to recreate an old one! Having to find the drum samples, FXs and re-design the sounds was a pain, but in the end the song came out sounding cleaner than the original demo!

Two people who made this project come to life were Kelly Bent and Arvid Eriksson. Kelly handled all of the admin and made sure everything ran as smoothly as possible, so a massive thanks to her for that! Arvid was super helpful with directing and what shots would look good and what wouldn’t, but he still left it up to me which was great!

Overall this song has been a big process, but I’m super stoked to get out in the world!