U:Move

Hailing from Minneapolis, DJ, Vocalist and Multi-Instrumentalist Chuck Love is known for his live ‘on-the-fly-produced’ performances.  This year Chuck launched his label, LOVE NETWORK, and has teamed up with Colette for the first release - UR EVERYTHING (with Remixes by Santiago & Bushido). His productions range from downtempo to minimal electronica to head-bopping 4/4 house - all infused with his signature soulful, jazzy flavor influenced by his Minneapolis roots. You can find his releases on Love Network, OM, Great Lakes Audio, Shifted Music, Salted, Onethirty, Celebrity, Lingo, Large and Tango.

U:Move’s Andrew Northern caught up with Chuck for an exclusive Q&A session.

Where do you personally envision as the next big trend in dance music?
That’s a pretty tough question. I got into music as a producer and have been kind of focused on my own stuff.  I’ve Always been a little bit on the corners of dance music in the first place because I got into the dance music world as a producer and performer, more so than as a DJ or a crate-digger. I am a little more familiar with the direction I am going personally than where the world is taking it. Continuing to expand media. The collaborations and the various things with video and audio is what I am really cranked up about.

When you record, what do you use?
I use logic on Macintosh

You play a lot of the instruments yourself right?
Yeah, I play all of the instruments myself. I play guitar,  trumpet, melodica, hand percussion and do vocals while I spin so it’s a live-hybrid cameo sort of show.

You just started up your label recently Love Network, right?
We are just about to release our first track with Collette.

What else can we expect to see on Love Net?
We are exploring down tempo stuff as well. There is an artist from Minneapolis named Alicia Wiley that I’ve got some remix stuff on and I’m anxious to release as well.

How do you feel about sample culture?
I was making music back in the 80s when sampling became a thing.  If you track it back to dj culture or hip-hop culture for re-purposing, it can be very exciting.

What words best describe your sound?
Eclectic and leaning more towards smooth and sexy.  I think I am best known for the smooth stuff, although the party doesn’t always call for that so I play for the party.

When you DJ do you play only your own music, or other people’s as well?
I spin about 85% of my own music.  I basically became very interested in DJing when the Pioneer CDJ-1000 came out. I could go out and play my own track that I made that afternoon, where other people had to wait for it to be pressed to vinyl.  This opened up my style of dj’ing. The fact that I could present digital media that I had just made with the appropriate parts missing in order to present in my live hybrid set.

So would you consider yourself more of an artist who happens to Dj rather than a Dj who is also an artist?
Definitely an artist who happens to DJ.  An artist that happens to go to work in the same place as a DJ I think is a better way to put it. DJ’s that are taste-makers, that knows what everybody wants to hear and that can ID the songs from ten miles away are an entirely different discipline. Big ups to anybody who does that.  Because I am not in that mode really. I am trying to get more and more in that mold with my own label where I need to cultivate peoples’ interest and interact with people’s charts and making my own charts. I have to know what they are releasing and know what my DJ buddies are doing. So that will be a new focus - getting that taste maker thing hooked up again.

Any hot tracks you are particularly into right now?
I am really liking Atnarko’s new stuff. He’s got a new release Lazy Days called Solid Ground.

Cake or pie?
Cake, as chocolaty as you can make it and make it a double or triple.