Normaling “Full Metal” (Vjuan Allure’s Elite Shrapnel Mix)

Shelling out top-shelf street bass sounds is the only thing you’d ever expect from Dev79 and Starkey’s Seclusiasis imprint. The Philly-based label has made it so through its solid catalog, which stretches far and wide across all manners of low-end club music. Such is the case with Normaling’s newest EP, Full Metal, which sees the boys break out a Bmore stomper that’s locked and loaded with superb screaming samples from the cult classic film Full Metal Jacket.

Backing up the original are three terrorizing remixes, in which .rar Kelly and Lemz enlist the talents of homies KING and House of Black Lanterns. Also falling into position on the release is ballroom originator Vjuan Allure, who charges out with a militantly meticulous rework that’ll make you shake in your boots. It bumps and bleeds brilliance like no other, while maintaining the rawness Normaling set out to conquer with their creation.

Available now via Seclusiasis.
Were you impulsive on this track, or did you have a sketch in mind before you started?
Normaling: The track was purely impulsive. We were in the studio that day, knowing we wanted to make something, but had no endgame on what. We happened upon the famous Full Metal Jacket scene and thought it would be funny to sample parts of it, and accidentally used the scream instead of dialogue. The rest flowed naturally.

Vjuan Allure: I was drawn to this track. I listened to the original and got inspired immediately. I took it from the first note to the last, got chills, and commenced. I only heard it once; that’s all I needed. It sunk in, and my creativity took off.

Who is the ideal person to remix this track?
N: We ended up getting our dream team of remixers for this track with Vjuan, KING and House of Black Lanterns. We were both listening to these three a lot when we made “Full Metal,” and their influence can be heard in the track. KING has this unique ability to craft these low-end masterpieces that don’t really fit neatly into any particular genre. His music is fearless. KING pushes the audience out of their comfort zone and inspired us to do the same with “Full Metal.”

Vjuan Allure is one of our favorite ballroom producers. His music is and has been a constant inspiration for us since we first started working together. He’s not afraid to take musical risks, and we love that he does so with a wink and a smile. There’s a lot of Vjuan’s subtle humor in “Full Metal,” and you can definitely hear it in his Elite Shrapnel Mix.

As for House of Black Lanterns, well, there’s really no producer that we’ve heard on this planet that creates his kind of atmospheric tones. His music is uniquely ominous and serene. House of Black Lanterns is a master of crafting visceral sounds that evoke polarizing, emotive responses simultaneously. We really wanted to create that kind of reaction with “Full Metal.” Honestly, we still can’t believe that all three of these producers remixed our track. We’re quite honored. It’s like everything came full circle.

Do you think advances in computer technology and gear have affected your creativity?
N: It has totally impacted the way we approach making music. I, Lemz, have always been making electronic, but .rar also spent time in bands, so the recording and creative process is a little different. Using technology gives us the ability to create our tracks exactly how we envision the final product, but lets us experiment with different processes on how to get there.

Did you discuss or exchange ideas with other producers while creating this track?
V: No, I don’t discuss anything I’m going to do with anyone. After I listen to what’s been presented to me, I try and imagine how can I speak the artist’s name the “elite” way, and then the shenanigans ensue…

If you were to describe this track as a scent, a signature fragrance as it were, what would it be called? If it were to have a tagline, what would it be?
N: If it were a signature fragrance, “Full Metal” would be called “Modine’s Agony,” as there are at least 23 different Matthew Modine screams from Full Metal Jacket layered in there. When Starkey sent us the masters, we sent “Full Metal” to Matthew Modine via a mutual friend, and he digs it. Tagline: “I scream, you scream, we all scream for beauty.”

Describe the best setting/activity to hear this track.
V: The perfect atmosphere to hear this track is turned up loud in a club, hyped up, already partying… and then this drops. You scream, you holler, you lose it!

How do you measure the success of a track?
V: The way I measure the success of a track is if the company or artist I am remixing likes what I’ve done. To please a record company, you have to satisfy what they would put out on their label themselves, and to please an artist with their creation—their “baby” that you’ve mixed or remixed for them—is a personal win; you’ve won their approval.

N: We are both really critical of our own material, and so “success” for us is if we’ve made a track that we both really like to listen to and enjoy playing out. If anyone else also likes it, that’s just a bonus.

How does this production reflect your personality/ethos?
N: “Full Metal” is a perfect example of both of our personalities. The guitars’ feedback and atmospheric noise sections are very much .rar Kelly’s headspace. The club patterns and low-end groove is very much Lemz. The Mathew Modine screams are the perfect blend of both of us: rage channeled through a club pattern—aggression for the dancefloor.

What were you doing when you came up with the idea for this song? Did you drop what you were doing and get to work, or did you make notes and get to it when you could?
V: When I started this project, I first got comfortable, got a drink, because I heard it was a rowdy one—and it did not disappoint! Once I heard it, I got an idea of where I would be taking what they did: just as rowdy, but in a different direction. I worked on it but had to take a break due to an unfortunate circumstance. But when I came back to it to finish it, I got deep into it and delivered it on time.

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process of this track that made you feel as though you were creating something pretty damn special?
N: The moment we realized that we had something special was when we played the work-in-progress that became “Full Metal” on Joe Nice’s SubFM show, Gourmet Beats. Joe loved the track and screamed in the studio for a rewind. And when Joe Nice calls “fives” on your own track, you know you’re on to something. We finished “Full Metal” 48 hours later.

Buy Full Metal on iTunes.