For his new LP, Quantic has been bestowed the honour of Tru Thoughts 100th album release, 'An Announcement To Answer'. This is quite an achievement given that the producer in question is still in his mid twenties, but having released well over thirty remixes, eight full length albums, he has worked with some of the freshest producers around, he always seems to be touring, playing live all over the world, all this AND he has Alice Russell's phone number Quality is a word you associate with this young man.

The new album brings in fresh new sounds in terms of Quantic's solo productions, with a lot of influences drawn from the different countries that Will Holland has toured, the different people that he met, and all those kind hearted vinyl vendors who sold him records along the way Most of the new material was conceived and recorded on a laptop in various locations around the world, including the Candela studios in San Juan, Puerto Rico. You may recognise the studio name from the Nickodemus & Quantic release. The new record still has a deep rooted Quantic sound, but from a different perspective "I think with this album I've been trying to go for a little bit of a deeper sound, I've been experimenting over the last 3 albums recording different musicians and I think with this album, I was kind of getting more into recording musicians on my travels. It's just a reflection of the people I've met whilst I've been travelling and DJing really there's a lot of musicians I've met whilst in San Juan, Puerto Rico There's also Noel (Scaggs - The Rebirth) from LA, Omega Watts, who is also a good friend, I've been Djing with him in Oregon.. It's just kind of my friends I've met along the way "

Listening to Quantic's previous releases, the music has been moving further away from the funk roots, into more indigenous territories and rhythms. The opportunity to explore whilst touring has been a major influence in these fresh sounds, all those local musicians, the intimate gigs and the unexplored record shops "being in Puerto Rico probably three or four times in the past year its kind of just an educational voyage really just meeting some people and learning about the rhythms and also everywhere I'm going I'm looking for records digging for breaks and samples, and you know just good records to play out so that every where I go I learn new things about the music and I'm just trying to apply that to the Quantic sound "

If you were quick enough, you might have heard the first release on Will's own label, Magnetic Fields. It was a limited run mixed CD of mind blowing funk called, Off The Beaten Track. Well, the good news is that a new mix has been released, this time the focus is calypso, Latin and Soul Food. "The new mix CD is called Mofongo Para El Alma which basically means Mofongo for the soul which is kind of like saying mashed potato for the soul... Its just a very limited mixed CD, again more Latin stuff but its exposing some of the deeper Latin records I've been finding, and some of the odder records I have found."

Magnetic Fields is definently a label to watch, its only in its early days, and it will take you a while to track any of their stuff down but when you do, its worth it. Check the homepage on their website it will envisage the greatest reason for starting a label, it's a bit like J. Meade Falkner's book Moonfleet, only with a bit more funk n soul "Magnetic Fields was just something that I started to release some of the other projects I've been working on, and we've done three records now and just got to get on with the next few, which I haven't been able to recently. I've been busy with the Quantic stuff But Yeah, its just some of the odder tunes I've been getting on with really, I think people who've gotten into the Quantic Soul Orchestra sound will probably get into that kind of stuff really The Herb Holland Combo, The Sophistications and all these little strange off-shoot groups I've been working with. There's quite an elaborate story to sum it all up written by my good friend Russ Porter from the Limp Twins "

The Limp Twins is just one of many collaborations that Will Holland works under, if you check in the right places, you find a lot more records out there that are related to him in some way or another. There is a new Quantic Soul Orchestra project due later this year, rumoured to feature the great Spanky Wilson on vocals "I'm always eyeing up different people and thinking about doing projects, I mean a lot of getting people on records is kind of like, there's a lot of office paperwork that goes into it To get Spanky on record, it was more about getting her on the phone and getting her on email, trying to find her and she if she can do it, what she needs and so you know, its more logistics than anything. But there is no one I have got lined up at the moment but I am making enquiries. Ha ha constantly "

Its this sort of dedication and attention to detail that makes for such great music, take for example the great hook up that featured the Bamboos, Alice Russell and Will Holland. You can still listen to it on this very site, live from The Prince in Melbourne, its obviously not live now but if you close your eyes and turn it up a bit you almost imagine how good it was to be there "I think Australia is a marvellous place and just a great territory to come and play.. The audiences there are so up for it basically and every time we do it we really enjoy it Obviously last time we did it there was a mix up on straightup before from one of the shows we played From a point of view of numbers of people that come to the show, its probably double than that in England, its just really good to have that support really and after just two tours to come and play places like the Prince of Wales in Melbourne and there's a great theatre in Sydney that we played as well that was one of the largest indoor shows that I've played. It was quite amazing I'm also looking forward to the Bamboos, who backed us up on that tour, coming over to England in a couple of week so I'm looking forward to helping them here and doing the same thing for them really. But yeah, If I get chance to make a tune with them whilst they're here that would be rather wonderful "

So eventually, all good things come to an end, like this interview, but before we finish, I just had to find something out About being a man, and why when you leave your house for an undisclosed period of time, there always something rank in the fridge when you get back home "ha ha ha yeah there's always something like that I try and clear out the potential offenders before I leave but I do normally get back and find something a little bit off its normally milk Then I have to clear out the dead plants, all un watered and dry in the window but there you go ha ha"

Interview written and conducted by Mat D With thanks to Will Holland, Blair Stafford and Alex Marcou 8th June 2006 straightup.com.au

An Announcement To Answer is released on Tru Thoughts on the 21st July 2006 www.tru-thoughts.co.uk Mofongo Para El Alma is available now through www.beatstreet.ca Make your own Mofongo at home with this handy recipe www.hechoenpuertorico.org/comida/mofongo.html Read about Edwin Windermere Holland and the creation of Magnetic Fields www.magfields.com And check out the Quantic pages www.quantic.org