CERCA

CERCA are the producer duo whose sound is grounded in bass. Their production is an eclectic mix of dynamic electronic sounds. The pair grew up in a village in Devon, The infrequent buses to the closest town made it difficult to get to, so most things happened locally—as part of the community. With musicians for dads who played in New Wave bands (i.e. Yachts and the Names) in the late 70s, it was only a matter of time before they joined forces. Playing the drums and guitar at primary school, respectively, Conor and George found themselves playing in bands together and jamming at the community centre beside the pub. By their teens, they acquired an old iMac G3 that had been thrown out along with some demo software CDs. Making dubstep became the agenda. Inspired by UK pioneers Skream and Benga, they turned to YouTube tutorials to learn their craft.

CERCA's influences are as wide-ranging as the music they produce, and under their other alias Slim Typical, the guys have paired up with collaborators ranging from pop artists like MORGAN to Drill giants such as M24 + OFB, across to multi-hyphenate Peter Xan and then onto multi-platinum acts Rudimental, Professor Green + Wiley. CERCA are resisting being pigeon-holed by combining seemingly disparate worlds, and expect them to keep pushing boundaries with their sound by travelling to new places and producing records that bounce off those new surroundings. The duo's production is marked by its versatility, it's the sound of unrestricted movement—unburdened by the need to conform to existing ways. As they begin to build outside the studio with live gigs, they are developing a close-knit community as well as a distinct identity as producer-artists. Whether it's instrumentation, genre or even status—as long as the energies are aligned, anything goes in their musical village.

The duo's first project is a dark and groovy club record crafted over the course of four days in a home studio in Essex. The new environment (and a neighbour's spacecakes) set the duo on a path of discovery, unearthing a series of bouncy house grooves. Chopping up the vocals for "I'M IN THE MOOD" made CERCA realise they were sitting on gold dust; they flipped previous recordings to create house cuts with a real sense of freeness.