In a few more days, a Radio KUL joint effort with NEradio International called Malaysia Unite Tonight : A Worldwide Broadcast will take place. It’s a 12 hour broadcast of 6 Malaysian DJs mixing back to back, a first of it’s kind ever to create history as the world tunes in simultaneously. Part of this amazing line up is DJ Love aka Reuben Valentine, a key figure in the Malaysian trance scene over the last decade. He has held residencies in all the clubs that mattered, and his Transcend nights takes him around the world. As a producer he has worked on the Presence KUL compilation and has released tracks under Gilazia. We catch up with DJ Love to find out how the preparations for the broadcast are coming along. DJ Love How long have you been a DJ and describe the music that you play. I’ve been a DJ for 13 years. To say it in plain words, I play trance music but to describe it well, I play a collective of various sound elements in my set to create that deep, dark yet uplifting soulful feel, with a dash of tribal - tech beats. I have to say that after 13 years of experimenting mixing with a passion, I find it very soulless to play a record that has a big signature at the cover describing it as a trance track; rather find it’s more amusing to blend different elements of sounds to create that signature feel into my set. I strictly pay attention to my flow of music that emphasizes the euphoric yet transcending journey. Usually, I infuse sound elements like melancholy chords, euphoric pads, aggressive tech-y beats with some funky tribal beats and driving bass lines that creates aggressiveness whenever that sort of intensity is needed at certain parts of my set to uplift the people on the floor to raise their hands into the air. It’s such a euphoric feeling for me to see that. Ultimately I love making people dance & get crazy on the dance floor. I believe the above ingredient is what is needed to get that going. Are you excited about Malaysia Unite Tonight and what does it mean to you? I have to say there weren’t such efforts put in the past for Trance music so publicly which is open to everyone, rather than the usual club action but now seeing this event is happening, yes I’m amazed with the effort that Radio KUL (has) put into making this event specially with such a patriotic theme. I’m excited about the loud call to all Malaysians to Unite Tonight for the love & support of the music. This should indicate a very healthy support for its enthusiasts but let’s keep that a surprise at the end of the event when we do the head count. What do you think of the trance scene in Malaysia? To set the record straight, Malaysia is on the 4th place in music scene in South-East Asia alone. Its lead by Singapore, Indonesia & Thailand and we are still crawling at the back in terms of the music scene in a bigger perspective, so this leaves me a big question mark in my head which is “Where is the place for a minority sound like Trance in macro level although I love trance music?” Many have adopted false understandings that when they attend big outdoor events with thousands of people raving, it does not mean we have a scene going on here. It’s purely an event staged by the corporate giants in their marketing exercise to promote their product because such events are impossible (to organise) without the support of public financially. Normally, half of the event attendees are using free invites to attend such events provided by the organizers, so if the corporate boys decided to pull the plug in producing such events, where does our “scene” stand when our clubbing society has not reached to a sophistication of paying RM100 -300 for a cover charge to start with? Sadly, we don’t have a dance culture here in Malaysia or it has lost its spunk from the great explosion from 1998 till date due to cut backs of many corporate events compared to back then. I hope with such great passionate sincere efforts from the likes of Radio KUL, the scene may see some light in the future again. What can we expect from your set? The first hour is very avant garde & stylish, the second hour is a “Magical Journey”, where intensity is pushed; that’s my favorite part!!! I can bet it will make your feet dance if you would follow the show from the start to understand this statement because I had so much fun choosing & preparing this set with a vision of rocking the dance floor; its been tried & tested at my weekly Ultimate Dance gig at Bar Club and now its all ready to explode internationally. If you could change 3 things about the Malaysian dance scene, what would those be? 1 -To make people realize that it’s important what you pay to party does make a difference. As mentioned earlier, the scene can only develop if the fans start paying & support the music & the artistes they like. With financial support we can have regular gigs with top artistes of the genre you love. We need to come to this realization if we are keen in developing the trance or the dance music scene in its entirety. 2 – For people to understand what they want to hear & get to know certain genres more. Be a little more sophisticated. Don’t ask the DJ to play something silly like hard dance tracks when he is doing a trance set. It’s two different things with a big gap. 3 - To change peoples perception of thinking trance music must be hard, fast & extra noisy with heavy synth sounds. Especially the younger generation of clubbers who have this mindset; it’s so wrong. The name speaks for itself; Trance is a state of mind not a sweaty head bangers expo. How has 2008 been for you and what do you expect from next year’s releases? 2008 has been a wet dream for me; so many nice things had happen and still happening. We’ve build & established Maples; I guess that’s the best thing that happened post- Backroom in 2008… that’s after 10 years. It has also been a learning year for me in so many ways. I expect many more NuTrans style releases next year. This year saw producers like Martin Roth, Ernesto & Bastian rocking it…Labels like ‘In Charge’ is making great contributions to this new funky style. I love it too…In fact you can hear some of them in my set. What are your current and future plans? Currently I’m doing what I do the best, that’s working hard in everything that I’m involved in because I believe I am the inspiration for what I am. Besides that I would strive & spend more time into developing my Music for Asia (www.musicforasia.com) & Music for London (www.musicforlondon.co.uk) agency. There are some other interesting plans too for next year, which I’m not planning to reveal it now. I believe surprise is the word for it. Fire it up DJ Love ! Malaysia Unite Tonight : A Worldwide Broadcast airs Saturday 6th December 2008 at 1600 (GMT +8) on www.neradio.com. Malaysia Unite Tonight Flyer malaysia-unite-tonight-2008-promo More info :

DJ Love - http://www.reverbnation.com/djlove

Music For Asia - http://www.musicforasia.com

Music For London - http://www.musicforlondon.co.uk

Malaysia Unite Tonight : A Worldwide Broadcast - http://tinyurl.com/MUT2008