Sir Egg Foo Young

I’v been meaning to post a short piece on the guy for ages but to be honest I just didn’t know where to start. Michna (previously known as Egg Foo Young) has been responsible for producing some of my favorite records over the last decade and despite maintaining a constant presence as one of dance music’s elite, he’s still remained pretty damn elusive. Anyhow the best way to deal with this I figured was to hit him up with a couple of broad questions concerning the last 10 years of his career in an attempt to shed a little light. This is what he had to say.

Q I first came across you stuff years ago when buying records on Turntablelab. I guess your tracks, mixes and the way you reviewed stood out because at the time the shop seemed like a total New York thing with a heavy disco and hip hop angle by reviewers like Eli and Language yet you were pushing all this heavy bass stuff. Was it actually like that? Like pushing your own angle?

A I think I was just contributing what I knew. But yeah you are spot on with the New York thing. At that time (around 2003-2004) if you were a working DJ in NYC you had crates of disco/funk/hip-hop/80′s/90′s and rock. I was coming from a whole Miami based DJ career that was rooted in electronic. My crates were full of electro/house/techno/breakbeat/drum ‘n bass/downtempo/hip-hop/experimental.

Q You’ve had a diverse history of releases from downtepmo hip hop beats to hard booty bass, yet you’ve somehow maintained a constant kind of relevance and sound, particularly with your mixtapes. Has there been a sound in your head all along that you want to represented by, rather than following what’s happening musically around you?

A I think one of the consistent things is that no matter what tempo, I like things that knock. Good basslines, good melody, things that have grit, texture, and things that aren’t cheesy and derivative.

I’m always influenced by new music around me, like there are so many new producers and bands coming out these days and a lot of them are really great. But when I get in the studio I kind of just do what I do. Even if I’m influenced by the newest trend when I go into my studio the end result is always something a bit different. Probably cause of the equipment setup I’m using too is pretty custom at this point.

Q Your Magic Monday release is almost like a return to kind of sound you had with the Secret Frequency Crew, but with all the club records that came in between such as the Bonde Do Role track you produced, was there a clear decision on returning to making records as a listeniang experience?

A Yes, with Magic Monday I wanted it to be an album that you could listen to from beginning to end. The intention of the album was to be a journey, but also have some joints that bump whether you were at home, in the car, or on the train.

____________________

Now if that small insight left you curious for more then I highly recommend getting to know some of his top notch back catalog listed below.

Michna Selected Discography

Secret Frequency Crew – Miami Eyes 2003

Egg Foo Young – Pop And Lock 2004

Bonde Do Role – Quero Te Amar (Michna production) 2007

Andrea Parker – Freaky Bitches (Michna remix) 2008

Michna – Triple Chrome Dipped 2008

…..and of course we can’t have post without giving up a track. Here is his rework of Take Off that was released as part of Adult Swim’s ATL remix compilation.

Young Dro – Take Off (Michna remix)