Gem1n1seven and Their Futuristic Benevolent Space Cult
Uniting under the mythological moniker gem1n1seven, veteran Los Angeles DJs Paris Potter (aka praiseOne) and James Raquel have just released their first EP, Spaceflight (Plant Records). Powered by filtered Moogs and venturing through the edges of the deep house universe, “Spaceflight” has taken off—receiving positive reviews from the likes of Martin Solveig, Roy Davis Jr., Wankelmut and others, and was also recently included on Coldcut x Seven Davis Jr.’s Ninja Tune 25th Anniversary Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1.
Today, gem1n1seven was kind enough to give us the Luka Tacon remix of “Spaceflight” for exclusive download, so we’re dropping the link below. While we’re at it, we figured we’d throw them some questions about their genesis, the importance of Madlib, and how they figured out they were twins lost at birth.
Where did you guys get your name? Tell us about the myth of gem1n1seven and why you guys thought it reflected your musical quest.
James Raquel: We had been DJing at parties together for a long time—playing disco, funk, hip-hop and house—eclectic party jams. People would often call us the Soul Twins, as we look a fair bit alike. Some people even began to mistake us for each other.
As nightlife and dance culture was shifting, playing that format became less and less interesting, and it became clear we needed to bring something specific to the landscape… to evolve. I looked at what parts of both of our styles could coexist and hybrid into a new approach. We both really loved house music—my touchpoint being an extensive disco singles collection and an obsession with Marques Wyatt’s ‘90s residency Release, and Paris always having his finger on the pulse of the most modern dance music trends.
“I named it ‘Spaceflight’ because I just wanted to escape my troubles by flying off to some other distant star system and live somewhere else in the universe or something. I guess I was just really high on some good Cali smoke.”
Listening to Roy Davis Jr.’s “Gabriel,” I got this idea: What if we could start a sort of movement—a futuristic benevolent space cult where music was the gospel? Thus, gem1n1seven was born. Named after the two-man space program of the ‘70s, it borrows spiritual ideas from religion and mythology—both Eastern and Western, ancient and modern.
The Gemini Twins—one immortal, the other a human—fought in the Trojan War, during which the mortal brother lost his life. The immortal begged his father Zeus/Jupiter/Amun to grant his brother immortality, to which he agreed, on the condition that only one of them would be in heaven at a time.
How’d you meet, and what made you think you might make good collaborators?
Paris Potter: We met a long time ago, when I was DJing at Firecacker and hanging out with my good artist friends Kime Buzzelli (Show Pony store/the End store) and Justin McNulty (DJ Kutmah, now based in London, UK). James owned a record store in Hollywood, and DJ Kutmah and I used to frequent his store and shop for gems there. Also, James and I both had dreadlocks back then, and so we both kind of thought, “Oh! That dude has dreadlocks too, so he must be cool.” Ha!
JR: We met in the early ‘00s. I owned a record store, the Beat Market, and Paris was a part of the legendary Firecracker crew, which was the stomping grounds of many stars of the modern independent landscape—including Flying Lotus, Kutmah, Gaslamp Killer—as well as bringing through some of the greatest legends of DJ history. It was always my favorite place to guest.
Paris and I became great friends, and our intention to move the crowd emotionally was always shared. We were both always trying new approaches and longed for new, kinetic tracks that would be a fresh surprise. When we played together, it was almost like we would trade tracks back-to-back, excited to see the other’s reaction. That’s still the way we DJ now; we’re each other’s biggest fan.
Last week, “Spaceflight” was featured on the BBC Radio 1 mix of one of the best labels on the planet, Ninja Tune. Describe your reaction finding out it played there.
PP: I found out from a Facebook post that Dominic Keegan (founder of Plant Records) posted early on a Saturday morning. I was dealing with a hangover from a great night of partying and DJing at our biweekly Friday club night that we do. James was repeatedly calling and calling me on my phone to tell me the good news, but I was like a hungover zombie and wasn’t answering any calls at that time.
I finally decided to check out my Facebook page as I slowly emerged out of my alcohol coma, and then discovered the post on Facebook. I immediately called James back, and we shared our enthusiasm over the phone that morning, and then proceeded to tell everyone on the planet that we know what had happened. I was so pumped, I wanted to go back into the studio that minute and start making more tracks (I actually kind of did just that later in the weekend). I was really, really excited because of the notoriety that BBC Radio 1 has around the world, and in the club music scene.
JR: When we set out on this quest, we knew we had something special to bring to the table, and we dreamed of the possibility that we’d make something that the people we respected would recognize… When I found out that Seven Davis Jr. had included us in what he felt represents the current landscape of dance music, I was floored. I literally rang Paris 20 times, but he was avoiding my call. I called Dominique Keegan, our biggest supporter and cofounder of Plant Music and was bouncing off the walls. Not only the fact that he included the Rhode and Brown remix, but also that it is in the company of Dorian Concept, ThatManMonkz, Jesse Rose, the legendary Moodyman, and Seven himself—such an incredible honor!
Tell us about the recording process, and also a bit on whom you chose to remix the track.
PP: “Spaceflight” was a track that I worked on last summer, during the 4th of July weekend. I was flat broke and had no money to party and celebrate the weekend with friends, so I just stayed home and worked on that track in my studio for hours and hours while everyone was out celebrating and getting wasted. I guess “Spaceflight” was a sort of creative distraction for me to forget my financial situation at that time—a sort of escape from my problems for me.
I named it “Spaceflight” because I just wanted to escape my situation and escape my troubles by flying off to some other distant star system and live somewhere else in the universe or something. I guess I was just really high on some good Cali smoke, and I got into a good groove that weekend and just was feeling where the music was taking me into my imagination. Haha!
I guess that’s always the case when I’m creating in the studio. Making music is definitely a pleasant escape from the world for me. It’s when I feel the most comfortable and the happiest nowadays: just hanging out in the studio, making tracks and smoking buds until the late-night hours.
When I was finished, I played it for James and he liked it a lot, so he started mastering the sounds to make them pop a little more. And it sounded even better, so he started shopping it around to people in the music scene. I guess the rest is history, so to speak.
“We are definitely DJs first, and communicating with the crowd is our passion over everything.”
JR: When we were shopping for remixes, we were looking to have diversity—to hear the record in different contexts. We had been reaching out to some of the Berlin tech house greats, but nothing was catching. Dominique suggested Luka from the Deep take a swing at it, and we were super pleased. Also, an old friend of Dom’s was the downtempo producer Grouse, who spun the track in a completely different direction.
We were still waiting to hear back from some of the other tech producers, when Dom asked who I would wish for to have do the remix. I’ve been a fan of Rhode and Brown productions for some time, and they were at the top of my thoughts. “Man, I love what those guys are doing… would be great to have them on it.” Dom reached out to them, and they were into it pretty immediately. We look forward to collaborating more with all of them.
Please each list your four favorite producers—doesn’t matter the genre—and tell me what you each learned from them in a couple sentences.
JR: Hmmm… Let’s say most influential to what we’re doing now. Roy Davis, Jr. for sure. His sound was the future in the ‘90s and always had a nod to soul music roots. I’m completely obsessed with Maceo Plex—how he builds a root groove and then uses sound manipulation and engineering to accelerate that. His sonic choices are also incredible.
Nile Rogers is the true godfather of all of this. There are so many great funk, R&B and disco producers, but Nile understood the whole thing on a greater level. He could take the raw music and give it style… a persona and context. For me, listening to his work is a visual experience; I can see the costumes in the sounds. It’s something I strive for in our music.
When Madlib put out Yesterday’s New Quintet’s Angles Without Edges, I felt like I was listening to all of the things that were in my mind—like we had shared all of the same influences and he had figured out a way to re-contextualize all of it into a cohesive work.
PP: This is a tough one, since I love so many genres of music and basically internalize almost everything I hear. I started out DJing hip-hop and disco and jungle (drum & bass), so I was heavily influenced by a lot of producers in those scenes. There are too many producers to name, but a few that stick out in my mind are J Dilla, DJ Premier, RZA and Madlib, J-Rocc (Beat junkies), and all the indie/backpack hip-hop producers.
Madlib, Willow (aka Gaslamp Killer) and Flying Lotus used to come to Firecracker and hang out all the time, so they definitely influenced me heavily when it came to rare beats and music. Roni Size influenced me in the drum & bass scene, for sure. In the house music scene, I’m really influenced by Roy Davis Jr., Disclosure, Detroit Swindle, Alan De Laniere, M.A.W. (Masters at Work), Jeremy Sylvester, DJ Q., and Tiger & Woods. Rhode & Brown are new favorites of mine, too.
Paris, you’ve been a staple in the L.A. underground for coming on two decades now. I’ve seen you spin golden-era and backpacker hip-hop at Firecracker, Afro-soul at Chocolate Bar, and house at Heaven’s Underground. You DJ a pretty wide swathe of music—why? What do you find rewarding about it? What’s the biggest advantage you see in that, and what’s the biggest disadvantage?
PP: I learned pretty quickly that to be a good DJ in L.A., you have to be versatile. L.A. is the central mecca of the entertainment industry in the world, and it attracts a lot of different artists and musicians with different musical tastes, and in order to appeal to the masses in the various club scenes around L.A., you have to be able to adapt quickly to your crowd, or else you can lose your audience. So, I collect almost every genre of music in order to be prepared for the differing crowds that you encounter along the way. The most important requirement to being a good DJ is finding and collecting good music to play. There are a lot of shitty DJs out there playing really bad music in the club world. It’s becoming an epidemic. Haha!
As far as disadvantages go, there aren’t too many that I can think of. I guess it kept me from specializing in one genre, but overall, I think it has been a wonderful learning experience. There are so many amazing DJs that I’ve gotten to play with in L.A., and it’s been a wonderful learning experience for me, listening and playing with them. I feel like I got an unofficial master’s degree in DJing and music running around in these L.A. streets! It’s true though. I had to stay on top of things if I wanted to continue to be relevant in L.A. There are a lot of DJs out here, and you can easily get forgotten if you are not keeping up with the current trends.
Tell us about your biweekly party at the Standard rooftop downtown, Heaven’s Underground.
JR: In 2002 and 2003, I was the resident DJ there; it was my first residency ever. This year, they upped the game and had a custom Funkworks system put in. I called them immediately and asked if we could get slotted in. Since the early summer, we have been curating music every Friday—playing most nights just the two of us—but have had the pleasure of a couple of great guests, including Plastic Plates and the legendary DJ T. The focus is on soul and R&B-driven future house with touches of disco, tech house, gospel and garage.
What’s next for gem1n1seven?
JR: Hoping to have another release ready in the next few months. Hoping this added visibility will lead to more opportunities to play out of town. We are definitely DJs first, and communicating with the crowd is our passion over everything.
PP: To keep making more music and working hard to create better and better music. I’m already back in the studio, putting in mad hours making new music that I really like—so yeah, that’s happening. Also, to get some chances to DJ in Europe and around the United States. Places like London, Paris, Berlin and Ibiza would be nice, for starters. I’d also love to do something regular in NYC, too. The music I’m making right now is heavily influenced by UK garage, G-house, 2-step and deep house, so London would be an ideal starting place to check out for me.
All photography by Thed Jewel.
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