Exclusive Premier Playless - Hurt In The MRJ Remix

 Exclusive Interview 

Chatting Hurt With MRJ 

Michael Radziwanowski or Michael R Jr, also known as MRJ, is a DJ and producer from Walbrzych, Poland. His passion for house music was inspired by his father, Noiseman, one of the first underground house DJs in their hometown. At the young age of 10, he had his first chance to get behind the decks, experimenting with some UK garage classics from his father’s vinyl collection. Soon after, his childhood fascination became a driving passion. It was only a matter of time until he started producing his own sound. Honing his production skills as Michael R Jr with a more jackin/funky flavor, he signed to noteable labels like Flapjack and DOIN’ WORK. Now he's flexing his skills as MRJ with deeper, garage-styled vibes, featuring tracks on labels like Simma Black and Country Club Disco. Hi recent release comes in the for of a remix for Playless's brand new track Hurts on Love & Other. 

We had the honor of speaking to the talented MRJ about his remix of Playless Hurt

Hello Michael Thank you so much for taking time out to do this interview with us we are so excited! A very warm welcome to think in electronic

We live in South Africa and have never experienced snow what’s your favourite thing about winter and the snow?

Well basically it looks good till it gets messy and becomes dirty pile of frozen water .

For the first time you might be amazed but people living here in Poland got used to snow so its not anything special to us haha and I hate winter cause its really cold here.

1.     This is a staple TIE question what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?

Wild animals , Lions , deserts . That’s what comes to my mind and maybe DaSunlounge mix from 2011 I think when he played there .

1.     Tell us more about yourself on a non musical front.

My name is Michal Radziwanowski Im 20 .

I am studying management here in Wroclaw where I live . My family lives in smaller city nearby so whenever I want I can go back to my homecity Walbrzych and spend some time with my parents . Im bit messy guy and I drink a lot of tea so my desk looks funny with all those cups everywhere . I play a lot of video games and in free time I play dota and csgo and I think ill never grow up enough to ditch games haha I just love them . Like most of the people I like to look good so whenever I can I go to gym . I think that’s pretty much how looks my life right now . Its best time in my life I’m having now

2.     Your dad Noiseman inspired your passion for music. What are some of your fondest musical memories from growing up?

Well my dad had that great shelf with CD’s on it and I just picked random stuff to listen to . I remember that I loved some really oldschool music like Kraftwerk or Yello and when I was like 8 or something I listened to prodigy nonstop .

3.     You started DJ’n at the age of 10 on vinyl. Tell us more..

Yeah my dad got technics 1200 mk2 and I was fascinated with that enough to start putting tracks together myself . Well start was rough I couldn’t adjust the tempo right and it took me few weeks till I got used to that. Well its nothing special -practice makes perfect.

4.     Everyone can DJ but not everyone can produce. Producing is a lot harder than it sounds. How did you learn to produce? Do you have any musical training?

I don’t have any musical training . I have figured all that musical stuff myself. I started producing on logic but it was not my kind of DAW and switched to Ableton quickly which is so much easier and faster for me to recreate what’s in my mind.I was doing some Jackin house and funky house back then and it was really easy for me to just get the right sample and work with it . I didn’t have to worry about that musical stuff and theory having right samples , cutting them and putting together .But then I become more into deep house and garage sounds and I thought I have to figure out how the heck they are doing those sounds and I just sat and analyzed loads of tracks . Watched some tutorials on yt but it was just for taking good direction not really for copying what was on the video and signing myself under that.

5.     How long did it take you to find your sound?

I think im still looking for my sound , experimenting with different kind’s of styles , some of my tracks are bright and flashy , with clean sound and other are just dirty with minimalistic perc and bassline . Im inspired by Shadow Child and im into that kind of sound lately .

6.     What encourages/ inspires you to produce music e.g. other music, surroundings, feelings, emotions? Do you ever feel like you have to stay restricted to just one genre? 

I love to listen to dnb and some indie stuff but don’t really feel like I have to produce that stuff. Whenever I sit to produce I have to be filled with some kind of emotions like you asked. Track depends on my mood and current flow . Foundation for my tracks is always 4x4 beat and then I can put some other stuff like breakbeat breakdown in the middle or 2step beat to add some little flavour . 

For me its just music and genres are not restricting me but as I said I base on 4x4 beat always .

7.     We are bungled with new music being released everyday how do you keep up to date with new releases as well as selecting what you play?

I can’t spend so much time on finding tracks now cause of studies but my dad is like finding so much good stuff from his sources I don’t even know where finds that but I feel comfortable that I don’t have to do it myself haha .

8.     Sell us your music in 3 words?

Goose bumps everywhere

9.     You just did a remix of Playless Hurt. Tell us what you were trying to achieve with the remix and how you tackled it.

I let myself flow . I just wanted to achieve good sound which will give you goose bumps on right soundsystem .

10.  How do you go about planning your set? Do you have a routine you go through before sets?

I select my tracks before like everyone I think . I don’t really plan it . I just listen through stuff and put that into my folder .

11.  Do you have any comments from fans about how your music has affected them or changed their lives?

Well there was few responses from my fans but I don’t think im well known enough and have that much people my board yet .

12.  If you had only 5 minutes to play one track that could leave a great impact on the world, what track would you play and why?

Candy Dealers – Street Delight ( Harold Heath re-rub) . because it’s just beautiful track and makes you forget about the bad things for a moment . Maybe people would appreciate real deep house and start to listen to good electronic music after that .

13.  The music industry  can be very negative how do you turn the negative into positive?

I just do my thing and don’t let anyone fuck me , lol. That’s pretty much how I don’t get into that negative stuff

14.  We noticed that you in to fitness, share with us your fitness routine.

I do Captain America routine haha . Im pretty sure you can find it on the internet . it’s pretty straight forward . Train with biggest weight you can and do 5 reps every time and by that I mean that weight should stop you doing 6th.

15.  What can we expect from MRJ in the future?

Well I don’t even know what I will be doing yet . but for sure im gonna deliver you some great tunes and mixes !.

Rapid Fire

1. When you not doing music what can you be found doing?

Playing dota, spending time with my girlfriend,watching movies,studying

2. 3 things you absolutely can't live without?

Tea,My PC,music

3. One thing your fans don't know about you

I was bboying till I had surgery .

4. Your favorite item of clothing and favorite scent...

A Tie , STR8 that normal one .

5. 3 things you would like to change about yourself (physical or personality wise)

I’d love to be more patient . be little bit higher and have Magenta Eyes .

Any last messages for your fans

I will treat you really good with some upcoming stuff on my soundcloud and facebook page !

Thank you Michael for doing this interview with us we hope to catch you performing around the world sometime soon