In DEPTH with: West & Hill and Les Enchanted!
West & Hill and Les Enchanted gave us 5 min of their time, to talk about their new project “MANTWE”.
Depth: This is your debut EP, how are you feeling about it?
West & Hill: I am pretty stoked that we have found the perfect platform to release our debut album. It has been quite a journey because our music is not easy to categorize. It contains a lot of influences from other genre’s and styles. This makes it pretty hard to classify.
Les Echanted: Excited! We both did released under other names in the past, but this one is the first under our current artist names. We actually finished the first version of Mantwe about a year ago, so we’re glad it is finally available!
D: You both come from 2 different cities — Maastricht and Antwerpen. How did you meet?
W&H: We met a few years back in Maastricht. Kris (Les Enchanted) was organizing minimal/house parties and on one day he invited me over to play a set. Since that day we became friends. Our love for electronic music is pretty much on the same level, that’s why we kept close contact between each other, even tho we both live in different cities (Antwerp and Maastricht).
D: When did you decided to start producing music together? Was it a natural evolution of your friendship?
L.E: My girlfriend recorded some vocals for Glenn. From that point on we stayed in touch and later on decided to start working on a project. Fast forward we finalized our second project and that resulted in the ‘MANTWE ep’.
D: What was the inspiration behind the Mantwe EP?
W&H: The name ‘Mantwe’ is based on the cities we are currently based. Actually, the title of the track is more then just that. It features some field recordings from both cities (Maastricht & Antwerp). For example; The kids in the break of the ‘Mantwe’ track are actually recorded at a kindergarten in Maastricht. The industrial background sound fx’s are recorded at the harbour in Antwerp.
L.E: We’re both into slower and more special house music. Also we’re big fan of tribal and African influences. The track evolved into a percussive and driving deephouse track with a big breakdown. It’s hard to compare the track to other releases but due the tempo it’s likely to be a tool for deephouse dj’s.
D: You decided to release the EP on a brand new label. Why?
W&H: At first I did send the ‘Mantwe EP’ as a demo to Offering Recordings because I really liked their vibe. When Sifa(Label Manager of Offering) told me about his new concept ‘Depth’ it immediately caught my attention. We met up in Brussels to exchange our vision of music and together we made a plan concerning the remixers, artwork and visa versa.. I am pretty happy with the result because we have 2 strong remixers on board from Innervisions and Diynamic that makes our debut album even more special.
D: Describe DEPTH with a fruit, a color, or emotion.
W&H: I think it would be a pineapple. colorful, exotic and full of surprises.
L.E: I would say passion. Because passion brought us all together.
D: What is coming up for West & Hill and Les Enchanted?
W&H: I have another EP planned on the german based JEUDI Records for this summer which I am really enthusiastic about. I am also working hard to finish some original material I had laying around for some time.
L.E: We’re both cooking on new ideas for the next EP and solo projects. On top of that you will be able to catch us at some venues in Belgium and the Netherlands.
West & Hill, Les Enchanted: Mantwe, out now on beatport: http://btprt.dj/2oB7v1x
EP Cover Artwork by Yazmín Huerta: https://www.facebook.com/yazminhuerta.art/
