Our latest installment of Substitute Teachers comes from Grinel, one half of the Brighton-based label Donky Pitch. They’ve been responsible for some top releases this year (including a couple that have shown up in our monthly mix series), and I was also given the opportunity to shoot Grinel a few questions about their work.

When did you start Donky Pitch? Was there a particular artist/track that got you started?

I first started thinking about the club night in December 2008. I’d been to visit a friend in Bristol, he’d played me a bunch of tracks that clean blew me away including Mike Slott‘s “My Light Bridge” and Bullion‘s “Get Familiar” and it was clear to me no one was playing this kinda music in Brighton. Having spent the previous year buying barely any records, my spending jumped to around £80 a week to catch up on all this stuff. I was obsessed. A few months later I stalked Pete (who I now run Donky with) on Dubstep Forum. His avatar suggested he lived in Brighton and he commented on similar threads to me, we met up for the first time in around February or March and the first party was in June 2009. Gemmy headlined with Slugabed and Rekordah on support.

What’s the scene like in Brighton?

It’s good, but there still aren’t many nights doing the same thing as us. This obviously has its plus points when selecting fresh line ups, but I wish there were; it would make regular clubbing so much more fun. Dubstep is on the slide, Drum & Bass remains the same as it has for the last five years, House is very much on the up. Shouts out to some of the friends doing good things – It’s Goin Off, Ye Ye Fever & Aka Aka Roar.

Could you tell us about the mix you’ve made?

It’s a mostly a headphone-centric version of what I’m playing out at the moment, warm up set type beats with a few bangers and oddments through in. It includes some forthcoming Donky exclusives, a weird 80s sounding cut from Autre Ne Veut (if you didn’t buy his self-titled debut album I highly recommend checking that out), the only track that never leaves my mp3 player, Kinema‘s vocal edit of Beem, and my favourite Lapalux tune.

What releases/shows do you have planned for the rest of the year?

Next up for us is the debut 12″ from Keyboard Kid (aka Lil B‘s main producer). I’ve been a massive fan of his music for the last 12 months and am stoked that we’re giving him his first physical release. After that we have a heavy collaboration between Arp101 and Yorke and a Ghost Mutt 12″. That’ll keep us busy enough for now.

Aside from releases I really just want to get myself and the team out doing showcases / playing parties as much as possible. We have a showcase at Glade and are working on a few other festivals. We don’t have any club night’s locked down for Brighton at the moment, but have been throwing a few ideas around. Pete gets itchy if we don’t throw regular parties so it won’t be long til we do.

Lapalux – Cotriade (unreleased)
Ital Tek – Up (self-released)
Clams Casino – Dripped All-Stars (self-released)
Arp101 x Yorke – Polybot (forthcoming Donky Pitch)
Microburst – Clutch (forthcoming Svetlana Industries)
Ben Butler & Mouse Pad – Dmore II (Musique Large)
Beem – Manka (Kinema vocal edit) (free download)
Clams Casino – She’s Hot (self-released)
Autre Ne Veut – Wake Up (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Quitter – Odious (unreleased)
Hourglass Sea – Another World (unreleased)
Keyboard Kid 206 – WelcomeX (forthcoming Donky Pitch)
Young L – Pop That Coochi (self-released)
Jon Phonics – Gettin To Go (unreleased)
Rustie – Crystal Echo (Warp)