New York’s A/Jus/Ted have been making some huge waves over the last year. With some massive singles and a steadily growing collection of killer remixes for the likes of Holy Ghost! and Blood Orange, they’ve coined a great sound that sits comfortably in the deep house pool but borrows easily from both techno and disco. The duo of vetran producer Justin Strauss and newcomer, Teddy “Eddie Mars” Stuart, are making their DC debut this Friday at Little Miss Whiskey’s, and they were nice enough to share a few words about themselves. Check out the interview below and make sure not to miss them with local favorites Man & Woman and newcomer Yomimbi.
Have you played in DC before as a duo? Any big plans for the weekend outside the show?
We have not, but are looking forward to it! We heard Joe’s Record Paradise is vinyl heaven so we’re definitely planning on hitting that up for some digging.
How did your recent MoMA set go?
Justin: The MOMA PS1 Warm Up parties are one of the best things about summer in New York and always been a dream to close the day out at one. An amazing day.
Teddy: Love the crowd – definitely an open minded group, which makes everything so much more enjoyable. Blood Orange came out as a surprise guest and we played our remix live with him, some synthesizers and stuff. So much fun.
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With both having successful careers in your own right, how’d you come together to form a/jus/ted?
We were both into each other’s work and our mutual friend Charles Damga, who runs UNO NYC, which we had both done projects for, introduced us. We met a few times, had some coffees, and hit the studio pretty much immediately.
What’s your writing process like between the two of you? How does it translate when you DJ?
T: Our writing process is always changing to keep us inspired. Our latest approach is to jam for an hour with hardware drums and synths, record it and then edit it into a 3 – 4 track EP over the course of a couple months.
For DJing we just jam and take each track one at a time. It’s not like “2 records each”, we just play, and when one person takes off the headphones its a signal for the other to take over.
J: For me djing has always inspired my production work. And it’s been great djing with Teddy and inspiring each other with new and old tracks.
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What’s your favorite part about the dance scene in New York?
J: That the scene is constantly reinventing itself. Just when you think it’s all stagnate something comes along and reignites it.
T: Going past 4 am!
We’re really loving the new Blood Orange remix! How’d you hook up with Dev?
J: Thanks! We met Dev through mutual friends and he told us he was a fan of the A/JUS/TED stuff he heard and we were big fans of his work. When I first heard “Uncle Ace” off his last album I knew it would be the perfect track of his for us remix and we were stoked he asked.
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It’s been a hot minute since you’ve released “Stay Up Here†and “A Brighter Lightâ€. What’s next for the project in 2014?
Both of our Holy Ghost! Remixes (Bridge & Tunnel and Okay) are coming out on a double sided 12″ on DFA sometime this summer. We’re also doing one more remix that we’re pretty pumped on. But above all else we’re concentrating on finishing as much original music as possible.
What are a few of your favorite tracks to play out at the moment?
T: I think we are both loving this Andre Bratten track Trommer Og Bass. It’s nuts!
J: Also love the new Genius of Time release “Juno Jam”