Sound Traveler | Skeme Richards
A champion of 45 RPM records, Skeme Richards is also the mastermind behind Nostalgia King, an online experience aiming to spotlight DJs producing analog music. It also serves as a platform for filmmakers, visual artists, photographers, and not to mention, foodies.
As an ambassador of art and culture, Skeme was recently presented with a Citation by the City Council of Philadelphia. He has been immortalized in a mural that pays tribute to the city’s hip-hop culture.
We’re delighted to have him bless us with a Soundtraveler guest mix series and an exclusive Q&A.
Globetrotter Lab: What does being a sound traveler mean to you?
Skeme Richards: Being a sound traveler to me ultimately means sharing and spreading the love of culture through music on a worldwide level. It could be traveling to various cities and playing amazing music for audiences on the dance floor that takes them to another place and oftentimes a spiritual level, or it could be touching them via the airwaves on a radio show that reaches a global audience. The three largest connectors of people are food, drink, and music, and as DJs or sound travelers, we have the power to connect those dots while connecting people from all walks of life.
Globetrotter Lab: What inspired this set?
Skeme Richards: Whenever putting together music, I first think about the audience and what I want to convey to them in the given amount of time. The DJs’ number one job is to educate the listener while giving them a little bit of what they want and a lot of what they didn’t know they need. I always try to balance things out with the familiar, but not overly played or cliché songs mixed with the “Oh wow, what is that!?” Dig in the crates a little deeper selections because it’s about taking people on a journey and the unexpected is always the most enjoyed. The other thing that inspired this set is also the drive to be different than other DJs. What separates DJs is always our particular crates and no two should ever be alike because we all have different ears and tastes. I’m a vinyl guy through and through and having certain rare records means less of a chance that another DJ will work that into their sets.
Globetrotter Lab: Your love for 45s
Skeme Richards: My love for 45s comes from my love of Deep Funk and Sweet Soul because most of that music was only available on 45. Many of the regional independent labels back in the 1960s and 1970s were working on a budget so it was cheaper to do a 45 single than LP. Also, much of that music is more rare than say what would be on a 12″ or LP, which was pressed in higher numbers, so as a DJ and collector you stand out by having certain records that others don’t have. But at the end of the day, I’m a vinyl guy through and through. I love both 12″ for the extended disco versions and I love LPs for those cuts that weren’t singles but need to be heard and played.
Globetrotter Lab: As a sound traveler, what’s your favorite city to dig for records and to play in?
Skeme Richards: As a sound traveler, the city I love the most to dig in would be Amsterdam (The Netherlands in general). There’s just so much amazing music and pressings of songs that were never pressed elsewhere. It probably comes as a shock to most people that I didn’t say Japan, which is my favorite place in the world but that’s because Japan has pretty much every record you’re looking for right there, and to me that’s not digging; that’s shopping and there’s really no discovery. In Amsterdam, I might get shipped to a particular Dutch modern soul record one day and some crazy jazz the next day.
But when it comes to the city that I love to play in the most, it’s definitely Tokyo. I’m pretty much a local in Tokyo at this point because I’m there so much but really a local in the country as a whole. They call me Magma Taishi there and whenever I land, I know that the room will be packed and people will be tuned in to what I’m going to play.