The Mix 102: IZCO

For those who are familiar with him, IZCO’s name will likely evoke some sensorial connections with London. Synonymous with the once industrial borough of Hackney, where pirate radio thrived and creative communities were in full bloom during the ‘90s, IZCO and his associated Brighter Days crew bring that familiar, nostalgic warmth into their music.

It comes as no surprise then, that the DJ and prominent behind-the-scenes producer has named his debut solo album after the street he grew up on in east London’s Hackney. ‘Powerscroft’, landing soon on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, is IZCO’s very first project working without a uniquely collaborative crew behind him, though still featuring many of the MCs, producers and vocalists he’s come to be affiliated with, and those whose music careers he’s helped to nurture over the years.

As part of the sprawling London-based collective Brighter Days Family, IZCO often deals in sweet, dub-licked homages to soundsystem culture of decades gone by, and the UK-focused sounds of garage, broken beat, grime and jungle with off-the-cuff MCs and lively parties in tow. But after a decade of working cooperatively, or as a producer getting tapped by the likes of PinkPantheress and Greentea Peng, ‘Powerscroft’ is a tapestry of IZCO’s standalone work, stitching together elements of dub, soul, jazz and much more into one cohesive, era-spanning 12-tracker.

Read this next: “It’s like a new sound”: Brighter Days Family are bringing positive change to dance music

We caught the ever-underground producer in the middle of his headline UK tour performing all-night-long hybrid-live shows, with a final stop-off at London’s Jazz Cafe in the coming weeks, about the making of ‘Powerscroft’, staying true to himself on his debut album, and how he’s tending to the community around him. He also turns in a radiating pre-summer mix – check it out below.

You just dropped your latest track ‘Wonderluv’, which you said is inspired by “how it feels to walk around the city when you’re in love”. Can you tell us more about that?

You know when things fall into place and life just feels like it's making sense? Not necessarily romantically, more just in a general life way when things feel good. The Leroy Hutson sample in the tune is just so smooth, it’s one of my favourite songs. It gives me this feeling of peace, intent and beauty.

I know you just got that sample cleared recently, what was that process like?

Brownswood helped me out with that, Gilles Peterson knows a lot of people! They managed to get in contact with his team. That was a big thing for me, because I've made a lot of remixes and stuff over the years that I haven't been able to release because of sample clearances, which I've just put on SoundCloud or Bandcamp for free. With this, working as a grassroots artist, it was one of the things I thought I'd be able to use their help on. So it was really nice to get that. I haven't had any personal or direct contact with Leroy, but from my understanding, they're happy for me to release the track.

It feels like London influences so much of your sound and your style, is that right? What is it about the city that informs the music you make?

I guess I'm trying to be true to myself with the music I make. I'm just a product of my environment, and my music is an extension of that. I was lucky to grow up where I grew up, and be able to observe so much and hear so many things. It’s a melting pot of all these sounds, and that’s where I like to be in the mix.

Your debut album ‘Powerscroft’ is coming out in a few weeks, how are you feeling about it?

It feels weird, to be honest. I've released projects before, like the Brighter Days albums and EPs, but it feels funny because this is just me making it. I'm more used to being a background character, so it's taking a bit of getting used to. When I do solo stuff, I think about it more, like how it's going to be perceived looking back on it. I think about the discography and the nice memories listening to songs and remembering certain things, but actually, making it is all a bit of a whirlwind. I’m looking forward to having more of a third-person perspective on it once it's actually out.

You say you feel like a bit of a background character, and I guess you have worked behind the scenes as a producer a lot over the years. But you also work so collaboratively with artists – how does it feel to curate your own record and have such control over it?

Yeah, it feels good. I feel like I deserve it. I want to just keep releasing as much music as possible. I would do an album every year if I could, whether that was my album or a Brighter Days album. It's funny, because I've worked on this myself, but at the same time, I've been working on so much other stuff at the same time too. I just need to do that, and I don't know if it's good for me, but I always need to be doing something.

Why did now feel like the right time to release a full-length debut?

I've always got big projects in me. I've always got more than enough music for albums, there’s music ready at any time, it just needs touching up. When Brownswood came and asked if I was up for doing something, I said yes because I like them and all the work they've done with Swindle and Mala – I bought those records when I was a kid. I always wanted to work with them one day, so when the opportunity came up, it just felt right. I leant into it, and I knew that it would be a nice challenge for me.

This record is said to be rooted in “memory and instinct”, can you expand on that? What kind of archival material are you bringing into the album?

Across the record, there are lots of sounds that I might have drawn from the older stuff that I've made. Not many of the tunes were 100% made for this album, they were put together for it, but there's a lot of things that started on old projects. I feel like my projects kind of fall into place over time, and I like to collect my sounds. A lot of the time I start ideas and don't necessarily finish them, and then end up merging them later with another idea. It’s a lot to deliver perfection. It’s impossible and kind of daunting, whereas to deliver something true to yourself, that’s what I’m trying to do. It draws from most of my vibes from over the years, but it doesn't sound random. There's a certain texture and certain sounds that repeat throughout all the tracks. I tried to go a little outside of the brackets of genres, but within my own sound or texture.

It feels like you’ve taken a slight pivot from your garage-focused Brighter Days era and into new territory here – is this you reconnecting with your original influences and bringing your own solo sound to the front?

I can't force myself to make something that isn't really true to me, because I just won't do it. It's just a reflection of my own self and my own life. A lot of people associated me with garage for a while, and I love that music and I still make that stuff. If people want to hear those sounds from me, they're coming, but the tunes on this album are more like the songs that I like. They’re more my taste as a listener, and the ones that I enjoy making – they just flow out of me. I don't even know what they are, a lot of them, it’s just the stuff that satisfies me to make. 

You've got a fair few collaborations on this album too. Is there anyone that you want to work with next?

Not particularly, because I like to work with my people. Over the years, I've gone to people who I know, because my favourite thing to do is help an artist make a project. I like to focus on making their project come to life and bring out what really represents them. As they grow older, they're gonna look back on it and they're still gonna feel like it's true to them. They're never gonna regret the music, and that’s gonna put them in a really great position going forward in terms of their identity, and I feel like you can only do that through knowing people. I like to just work with people that I also want to be around in life – that's where I feel most comfortable. I don't really do many sessions with people, I'm lucky enough to have a lot of good musicians around me who I believe in, like what we've done with Reek0 over the years, that means more than anything. That man knows his family and sees what it does for them. He’s just getting started.

There’s all sorts of people I'd want to make a tune with in the world, I want to work with Popcaan innit. That's who I’d want to work with one day, because I’ve dancehall tunes and reggae tunes! 

What’s next for you?

I was thinking about this stuff day, like where I’m gonna go from here. Obviously Brighter Days is my baby, so I just want to keep that healthy. But I'm still figuring it out. The right things seem to just appear and happen if I keep my mind in the right place, and keep in the studio writing music. Going forward, I want to keep it pure – I'd love to work with Brownswood again, maybe on a special project or something, but my main goal would be to get around the world with this music a bit more and continue to help the people around me and help the world see them how I see them.

Can you tell us about your mix?

This album is a lot, so it was hard to condense this mix down into an hour, especially doing the all-night-long tour right now. I've basically tried to span across the different pockets of my sound and vibing with this new project. Everything's super vibrant, everything's full of character and edge. I hope it gives a taste of the world of music that I'm in, and what it's like to hear music through my ears.

IZCO's debut album 'Powerscroft' is out on Brownswood on May 1. Pre-order it here

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on X

Tracklist:
Mondo grosso - Star Suite (Shelter Vocal Mix)
Yazmin Lacey - Where Did You Go (Edit)
New Regency Orchestra - Sambaroco ft. Caique & P Wavey (Samtheman Dub Mix)
Zed Bias - Music Deep Inside
Geoffrey C - This Is Hot (Yes Indeedy) (Original Mix)
IZCO - Down 4 ft. Osquello
IZCO - Tek Control ft. Liam Bailey
LCSM (Likwid Continual Space Motion) - Medulla Oblongata ft. Rara Zulu (IZCO Remix)
Samtheman - Mas Que Nada (Edit)
IZCO & Camille Munn - Nature X Wun Note
Ubruquity - Mystic (Free n Happy Brukt) (Shall I Bruk it)
S.I. & Samtheman - Wholesome (Acapella)
Fruit - 2 The
Brighter Days Family - Breathe
IZCO & Reek0 & S.I - Wun Note x Big Marvin
Goapele - Closer (Funky Edit)
IZCO - Longest Road ft. PK
Pentola - I Want You
IZCO - Komodo
IZCO - Guiding Star ft. Reek0
IZCO - Japan Greatly ft. Reek0 & S.I
Ahmed Sosso & Mr Raoul K - Africans in Deep and Dance (Original Mix)
Oreglo - Levels (IZCO & Reek0 Remix)
IZCO - Wonderluv
IZCO - Rockin u Eternally (Edit)
S.I - Flash G