Dippin’ w/ Saucy Lady

We caught up with the one and only Saucy Lady recently for a little chat about music, records, and life. Enjoy!

You’ve been very busy lately. Tell us what you have been up to…

Besides my 9-5pm job as a program manager for a tech company, I’m continuing to DJ, record tunes, and run my own label so I guess I’m busy. But I do feel like I can take on more musically.

I’m working on an EP now which is almost done. That’s in the style of what you’d associate my sound. But I also love acid house sounds and I just got a fun toy for it so I’m experimenting with making some all-instrumental acid house and techno Saucy tracks. Anytime I spin that style I get so zoned in, it’s addictive and really adrenaline-pumping fun.

Besides that, I also have an idea of a dream electro-jazz funk project in my head so I want to make it happen. I have so many concrete ideas now, and people I want to work with for this project so that’s my next life goal.

You also have a brand new record label: Dippin’ Records. How’d you come up with the name and what’s the origin of the label?

It was a struggle to find a record label name that no one had used before.

You’d be shocked to learn the sheer number of labels that exist on this planet. Somehow Dippin’ was not taken so I grabbed it, formed the LLC with the name, and applied for Trademark.

There’s no fancy history with the name because anything I wanted was all taken. That said, I think it’s catchy, easy to remember, and looks good visually. Our new catchphrase is “keep dippin’ in the crates”.

You’re latest release Lee Wilson’s “Do Better” is a banger! Tell us how this collaboration came about and how Yuki’s monolog reprise (which is superb!) came to be.

It’s actually our 5th release on the label. Lee Wilson is a long-time friend of mine from Boston, and we’ve collaborated and performed together. I’ve always wanted to release an original tune by him and he suggested a few.

This one in particular caught my ear as it felt fitting for Dippin’. It was released digitally a few years ago and there are multiple remixes of it. I wanted a fresh new take on it for the flip, so I asked Yuki to make a remix. Within a few days, he gave me a couple of options. Both were incredible and it was extremely hard to choose but we went for the monolog Reprise, an all-acoustic recording that is a good contrast to the original synth-based boogie version. All instruments are played by Yuki, which is the type of project he calls “monolog”. The one-man band essentially. The other remix is dope too so I’m going to see if we can release that in the future.

What other releases do you have planned? Anything you can talk about?

The next release is a cover of Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters’s Watermelon Man which Yuki worked on as a monolog project.

Yuki flew to New Orleans to record Bill Summers, the Headhunters percussionist for the original song, playing a variety of percussive instruments for the track at his home. Hindewhu, Peruvian pan flute Zampoña, congas, shekere, and shaker. When I say shaker, I mean his hands. He rubs his hands together and it sounds like a shaker, it’s crazy wild. His groove is so naturally on, it’s captivating. Even his hands literally have grooves that create sounds that just sit right.

For the soprano sax, we wanted someone of quality of course so I asked Curtis Fitz Williams from Kool and the Gang to play and he also added some clavs.

Can’t wait for the world to hear it. The tempo is faster so you can definitely play it at the club and also the flip side is a drum break version so buying doubles is highly encouraged.

-Top 5 Records at the Moment

Just Like You Used To / What A Difference She Made – Jalen Ngonda

Love Explosion – Tania Maria

Nighlife Unlimited – Nightlife Unlimited

XL Middleton & Soul Clap Records present New Directions in Funk Volume 1

Grupo Irakere – Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital

Danny Krivit told me he rocks New Balance while DJing. What’s your favorite footwear to wear in the DJ booth? We gotta take care of our feet!

I usually wear my Reebok, I probably own one too many pairs but they fit me so why not.

NYC food you must have when you’re in town

I don’t really have a favorite, I try to stay healthy when I’m traveling so I don’t typically eat anything extravagant but I’m open to recommendations.

I did have some super spicy Szechuan soup recently that I loved so anything in that part of the globe I’m down to try.