London-based producers Ed Butler and Robbie Lamond formed Billon at the start of 2013. From the moment they uploaded their work on to Soundcloud, both tracks ‘Turn It Around’ and ‘Hurt Me’ were discovered and supported by Skream on Radio 1. The boys’ distinctive sound combines modern production techniques and classic analogue equipment, creating a nostalgic yet current sound that draws influence from classic house, techno and UK garage. Having just released their new EP, Meditate, we got the duo to put together some massive tunes that they love.
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones – ‘Earth Jam’
R: This track definitely sets a scene when listening to it. I love the way it evolves, the unique instrumentation and the way it keeps you entertained all the way through with its progressive nature.
LFO – ‘LFO (Leeds Warehouse Mix)’
E: This classic was the inspiration for the bass sound on ‘Platypus’. Our friend and studio neighbour, Gavin ‘DJ Face’, who engineered a lot of classic garage of the 90s and has an amazing collection of analogue synths, helped out on getting that bass sound right.
Submotion Orchestra – ‘Snow’
R: I had the chance to work with Ruby Wood, the singer on this track. Before the session I found myself listening to this track a lot. I love the whole soundscape of the track; the use of the rhodes gives that extra warmth, and makes it so easy to listen to.
High Contrast – ‘Mermaid Scar’
E: Definitely one of my early musical influences, always admired the way High Contrast uses samples, especially vocals.
Michel Petrucciani – ‘Round Midnight’
R: This version of a jazz standard, by the legendary pianist Michel Petrucciani, is pretty special. The musicianship when he plays is just unparalleled. It was definitely in my mind at the time of playing the big piano chords on broken. Definitely worth a listen!
Wookie – ‘Battle feat Lain (MJ Cole remix)’
E: I’ve always loved the way MJ Cole uses orchestral elements within dance music, this is one of my favourite of his countless amazing remixes.
Faithless – ‘Muhammad Ali’
R: Faithless were one of my first introductions in to dance music. Although this song isn’t that electronic in sound, I really like the way the textures blend between the more electronic elements and the acoustic ones. The house-like chord stabs in this had an influence on the sound of Meditate.
Brian Eno – ‘St Elmo’s Fire’
E: This album has been a big influence on me in general since I first listened to it – Apparently Eno wanted the electric guitar solo on this track to sound like blue forks of lightning.
Grant Nelson – ‘Phantasm’
R: This track just grooves so well. I really like the space all the percussive sounds have and the squelchy bass. It’s a really well-thought-out track. We spent a lot of time on getting the drum grooves tight on the EP and this track helped inspire that.
Rudimental – ‘Powerless ft. Becky Hill’
E: Not so much an influence but an interesting point. The voice on ‘Broken’ is Hannah Symmonds, who is an amazing songwriter from Bath – she wrote Powerless which is my favourite song on this album. She has a lot of emotion in everything she sings. ‘All these little moments have left me feeling so broken’ is a line we sampled from a full song we wrote together.
Billon’s Meditate EP is available now via Rinse
-Alim Kheraj
