Remixes are either frowned upon or embraced for their creative originality. Radio Slave, who also goes by monikers Matthew E and Sea Devils—among many others—has deservingly earned the latter after reworking hundreds of tracks over the years. We suss out the English DJ/producer and finds out more about his “Midas touch” on dull black vinyl.

Who are we talking to today? Matthew E, Quiet Village, Sea Devils, Rekid or Radio Slave?
Matt Edwards! I’m the sum of all these parts.

Who is Matt Edwards really?
I’m just a crazy record collector and I’m still learning everyday.

What’s in a name?
The Radio Slave name was born as I needed to come up with something that suited what I was doing at the time. Around the end of 2000, I was working on a lot of re-edits of pop records and working on mash ups for Kylie Minogue, etc, so I was a slave to radio music (mainly pop). So the name Radio Slave was perfect!

Many consider you a remixer extraordinaire—you’ve put your essential touch to tracks from Talking Heads, Trentemøller and even Sir Elton John. How do you approach a track?
Every remix is like painting a different picture and the palette you have is of the parts from the artist or band involved. This can either be a very limited range of colors or a palette of sounds so large that the remix is already done when you start the work. I don’t know if this makes sense but that’s the point. And for me, if I like the artist then I will do as much as I can to respect the original song.

You’ve remixed over 260 tracks and counting compared to your personal releases of about 25 tracks. That’s quite a stat.
I’m just fascinated with seeing how other artists work and it’s so interesting to receive a track in its parts. I’ve learned so much from this and it led me to start releasing more of my own music.

We really can’t wait for your brand of brain stimulation at your forthcoming gig at Velvet Underground ...
I love the food in Singapore and the people are very welcoming, and Zouk is just an awesome club! It’s a unique space and I’m always itching to come back there to play. Expect house music all night long! I’m just super excited to be coming back to Singapore and I’m sure we’re going to have a great party!

Free up your schedule for a house music escape with Radio Slave on Jan 15, 10pm at Velvet Underground, Zouk, 17 Jiak Kim St., 6738-2988. $28-35 includes two drinks.

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