Interview: Hijinkx

By Jamie Kenyon on January 5, 2015

The past two years has seen James Stanley AKA Hijinkx transform from a relatively obscure artist into one of, if not the UK’s hottest young talent. Things are now moving faster than ever for the Leeds-based producer, who has just dropped the first release on his new label, Jinkx’d Records. We caught up with James to discuss his sound and what the future holds for him.

Soundspace

So who is Hijinkx?

Hijinkx

I started writing music under the name Hijinkx about 4 years ago now. Originally I made dubstep but as my music taste developed and I started exploring and indulging myself more with different sounds I found myself writing music between 120 – 130bpm, generally conforming to house music structures.

Soundspace

The first track of yours I heard was your Destiny’s Child remix back in summer 2012, which was a lot better than the Cyril Hahn one by the way. How do you think your sound has changed since then?

Hijinkx

Haha cheers! To be honest, I’d completely forgot about that one! I feel like I’m refining my sound all the time, I’m finally at a point now where I’m happy with the production values of my music. I’ve taught myself all I know production-wise to this point, it’s all a learning curve. I guess stuff like the Destiny’s Child remix is in the past now. Onwards and upwards!

Soundspace

Where do you draw your influence from?

Hijinkx

I’m inspired by lots of music. In terms of electronic, artists and producers such as Four Tet, Floating Points, Ben UFO, Synkro, Jacques Greene, MCDE, FlyLo… the list goes on. I also love classical music, in particular the romantic era, composers like Chopin, Liszt, Schubert and a lot of Jazz, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Miles Davis…

Soundspace

You’ve done a fair amount of DJing the last couple years, what’s the most memorable set you’ve done and why?

Hijinkx

I’m a resident for Leeds-based Brotherhood Sound System and the first gig they booked me for (as a non-resident) was at a venue called Holbeck Underground Ballroom with xxxy and Girl Unit. Literally four brick walls and a sound system, it was amazing! Pretty sure the venue lost its licence not long after! It’s also been a great to play for RBMA at Beacons Festival and also at Gottwood.

Soundspace

So you’ve recently launched your own label in Jinkx’d Records, how did this come about?

Hijinkx

It’s a project I’ve wanted to get off the ground for quite some time. Having graduated from Uni now, I’ve had a little more free time to concentrate on other endeavours, so it seemed like the right time to get cracking!

Soundspace

Your first EP on Jinkx’d is a fairly eclectic project to say the least, is this something you’d like to continue?

Hijinkx

Yeh, the idea of the first EP was to give a taster of what kind of material to expect from the label, hence the compilation like format. From JNX002 onwards, the EPs will be from individual artists / groups.

Soundspace

And finally, have you got any other projects up your sleeve we should be excited about?

Hijinkx

Remember that bassline tune Heartbroken? The girl who sung on that Jodie Aysha, i’m currently writing some music for her! Other than that I’ve been communicating with a few record labels and am hoping to get another EP out next year.

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Jamie Kenyon