By day, he’s history and sociology student Stephen Gomberg. By night he transforms into Fantastic Mr Fox, constructing digital hybrids by rummaging through emotive electronica and R&B beats. He’s set the heartbeats of dubstep’s darkside fluttering with synthesized soul and the feet of mainstream dance fans moving by bootlegging the likes of Brandy into stuttering frenzies.
The xx and Warpaint liked what they heard too. This year he toured the US with both bands, interspersing their sets with his eclectic DJ set sets.
We caught up with Mr Fox to speak about his musical education. Listen to one of our favourites, the fantastically garbled dancefloor hit ‘Sepia Song’, below.
I have no idea what the first track I heard was. It was probably by the Beatles or the Kinks but my older brother set me along the path of discovering new music when I was about ten years old. I used to have to always check with him if things were good or not after listening. He taught me the basics of production too so he was a pretty useful brother to have.
When I went to University I got into tracks like ‘Spongebob’ by Coki. I heard that track so much during my first few months there. Most of the early mornings were soundtracked by Burial and Bat for Lashes.
Nowadays, I don’t really buy records But I’ve got a lot on my hard-drive. It makes it a lot easier if my house was burning down, I’d just have to grab that. My favourites are Cannibal Ox, Madvillian, Burial and Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.
The last thing I listened to was the new Kanye West album while I was playing the Wii with my housemates. It made playing virtual ping pong seem pretty important.
