That classic 90s house sound is one that modern producers have constantly tried to emulate over the past two decades; however, few have truly mastered the feeling quite like UK producer Braga Circuit.
Real name Joseph Burrows, the mysterious artist doesn’t have too many appearances in the form of the press. Still, his signature, vocal-infused tracks have been celebrated by the likes of Ben UFO, Moxie, and more.
His style is quintessentially British, mixing breakbeat, downtempo, deep house, and UKG elements into rave-ready records that would perfectly soundtrack a Friday night basement rave in Hackney.
Whilst being active from around 2016, BC started to gain momentum around 2018-2020 with tracks like Cloudburst and his remix of Ssin’s 2020 track Love Affair finding their way onto NTS radio and theBasement Discos label respectively. From there, the Margate resident has amassed an impressive discography, which includes five long-form albums that have been either self-released or released on labels such as Air Miles, Axe on Wax, and Sour Edits.
His journey into electronic music has been an organic one. His tutelage has come from the friends closest to him, like Loed & DECED, who have also gone on to make names for themselves within their own right. To sum it up, Braga Circuit is a forward-thinking artist who represents the very best of the underground UK scene (in our humble opinion). For our thirteenth edition of //SNCMIX, Mr Burrows takes us through an hour of 90s/early 2000s deep house, shares his origins, and the tracks that shaped him.
Tell us about your early life. You grew up in Hong Kong, right? What was the transition from Hong Kong to Margate like?
I was born in Hong Kong, but only lived there until I was four, so not too many clear memories sadly… and I still need to go back! Growing up in Margate is definitely full of fond memories and the sea is a huge part of me.
How did you get into music?
I’ve always been into music thanks to my older brother who’s been a huge role model. He was in a bunch of bands when I was a kid, and he would always play me a really diverse range of music. I remember him showing me the Beastie Boys when I was in primary school, and I was obsessed haha!
How/where did you discover electronic music in Margate?
I started DJing when I was 17 and somehow managed to get away with playing house tracks at drum and bass raves. There was quite a big culture for free party’s back then and a lot of the handmade Soundsystem’s were decent. A few years later a bunch of my mates came together to put on nights that were more focussed towards the Dubstep/Garage sound of the early-mid 2010s, I was still very much into house music, but the 130 scene at the time was an interesting crossover. My friends Wen, J-one and Maribor were making some incredible tracks which still inspire me even over a decade later.
You’ve got a slick production style. It’s like a mix between UKG, House, and Techno with a few vocal cuts thrown in for good measure. What led you to creating music in this way? Who are your influences?
Thank you! There are a lot of influences tbh. I think listening to other genres more than dance music makes me want to make a weird combination of everything – which more often than not just ends up being a house track. When I first started DJing I was listening to a lot of French house, which uses a certain style of sampling I like to adopt but you really can’t beat the groove of 90s garage house – there’s just endless amounts of amazing tunes from Chicago/New York/Detroit – you just can’t beat that groove. There are a lot of artists who inspire but a few whose music makes me feel a certain way would be Warren Harris, Karizma and Ron Trent.
Can you give us a couple of tracks that are responsible for Braga Circuit?
There are definitely a few tracks that have stuck with me over the years. There’s a similar feeling I try to encapsulate:
Panther Krause – Fews
Ron Trent – Sometimes I Feel Like
Moon Man – Laid Back
Did you ever have a mentor to teach you this stuff, or was it more YouTube and feedback from friends?
A friend of mine Dec (DECED – one of my favourite producers!) showed me the ropes on Logic about ten years ago now. We have very similar music tastes, so I think that helped to be aligned. I actually had a crack of Ableton at the time, so I tried to transfer some of the techniques/knowledge. I’ve most definitely adopted some of his approach to making music and you can hear it in both of our tunes! I have been trying to slowly tweak things over the years and having another pair of ears just to listen to your stuff is super helpful (Shoutout Leod haha!).
What’s your go-to tool for production?
I’ve always just stuck with Ableton as it’s the first thing I had; I find it super easy to use when sampling. I’ve got some old bits of hardware that I grabbed for cheap during lockdown, but I haven’t been using them much these days! I try to keep things simple to help with my creative output, but it’s always nice going through stages of trying out new plugins (more so for FX)/bits of hardware.
Tell us about your mix for //SNCMAG.
Every few months I build up a collection of dance tracks I really love, so it’s great to share them in this format. There’s a bunch of 90’s/early 2000’s deep house alongside some more recent tracks from Ploy, Parsa and Swoose. I’ve also included some unreleased/forthcoming bits of mine.
What have you got coming up?
I’ve just finished two new EPs, one of which will be a follow up to my last record on air miles. A few of the tracks have been getting a bit of hype over the summer, which has been crazy to see, so I’m really looking forward to sharing the full project.
Tracklist:
Axone / X_1 – Happy, Hippie, Hifi
Gumbo – Klarky Cat
Familia Loca – Sliced
Drivetrain – Just a Little Bit
Nail – Clear My Mind
Itamar Sagi – One Million Oaks (Funk D’Void Remix)
Vince Watson – Beneath The Sound
Michael Lange – The Only Way Is Up Feat. Ron Carroll (Oliver $ Dub)
Len – Steal My Sunshine (Bougie Soliterre Remix)
Delano Smith featuring Diamond Dancer – A Message For The DJ (Jimpster Red Light Remix)
Putch 2 – A
Braga Circuit – Right When I Told You
Anthony Naples – Lifetimes
Malin Genie & Frits Wentink – Fuzzy Dunlop
ZZ BANKS – Comet (Deep Mix)
Swoose – Sly Toot
Marius Acke – Realuv
Edu Reig – My Heart Beats
PARSA – Sometimes
Ploy – I Need You
Braga Circuit – Dance With Me
Rico Scott & Leigh Hunt – Node 01
Power In The Groove featuring Kemeisha Holmes – It’s Automatic (Solid Groove Dub Mix)
Azaad – Torn
Architectural – Love Drums Massacre
Braga Circuit – Break It Down
Follow Braga Circuit
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