The Mix 024: Farsight

Farsight’s knack for fusing elements of the hardcore continuum and Latin rhythms, with the verve and vigour of hard-hitting genres like hard groove, jersey club and reggaeton has helped him build a venerable reputation in both his native San Francisco and across the pond in the UK – where he has released on underground mainstays such as 17 Steps, Scuffed Recordings and Rinse, as well as the secretive CloudCore imprint. Le Motel’s Brussels-based Maloca label is another impressive arm of Farsight’s growing discography.

The Peruvian-American soundsmith is a clear student of dance music, employing learned elements of anything from UK garage and jungle to grime and dancehall in his tracks. With support from tastemakers like Jaguar, SHERELLE, Pearson Sound, Pangaea, Anz, Ayesha, Dixon, Nikki Nair, I. JORDAN, Moxie, Doctor Jeep and more, it’s evident that Farsight, AKA Marshall Smith, has studied well.

Outside of his armoury of breaks-fuelled bangers, Smith brings showmanship and flair to his DJ sets. “I like to think that no algorithm would ever be able to pick my selection of tracks and that no AI would ever combine them in that way,” he tells Mixmag.

One thing’s for sure, there are few DJs, AI or not, who would choose to use an old telephone to cue their tracks — the perfect example of the Farsight enigma; this is a man with a serious catalogue of tunes and a raging unserious streak to him. This lighthearted approach has won him the adoration of San Francisco’s best parties, and his contribution to the community goes beyond delivering electric DJ sets. The student is now a teacher, most notably as a host of a regular “Music Accountability Group'' where local producers put together a track every two weeks and gather together to provide feedback. In the past, Smith has also conducted one-off production workshops open to the public in collaboration with local venues.

We spoke to Farsight about where his transatlantic soundscape stems from, via Tomb Raider and old Facebook groups, his recently completed European tour, and the exciting projects that the Californian has in store.

How did your journey begin as a DJ and producer?

My introduction to performing was in my teenage years, I met this guy on my first day of high school and asked to be in his punk band, despite only playing the guitar for a couple of weeks. I kept bothering him and he eventually relented. It was just an excuse for us to hang out basically. Then the dubstep boom came to America and, the sad truth of it is, that’s what really captivated my interest.

Growing up I used to buy soundtrack CDs from films and games like Tomb Raider, it had Basement Jaxx and The Prodigy on there and that was my first exposure to the sounds of the UK underground. I remember really rating it, but I just didn’t know what it was or where it came from at the time.

Read this next: Harder, better, faster, stronger: has dance music got harder and faster?

When dubstep came around, however, I worked backwards and started digging into its origins. I’m just innately curious about music and I tend to look at things from the perspective of “what built this?” and “how did we arrive at this sound?” I naturally discovered things like Digital Mystikz and started to listen to the Get Darker podcast. I got into artists that you don’t really hear from anymore like Cluekid. He was my favourite man.

When Special Request’s ‘Soul Music’ came out that was a big moment for me too, from there I started digging into hardcore and all that stuff. Night Slugs was really important for me as well. I was never into four-to-the-floor, I thought it was too commercial and just wrong. It definitely had something to do with my desire not to conform. I’ve been trying to train myself for the last 5-6 years to understand it better and I like to play more of it in my sets now.

Being in America I was absorbing all of this UK stuff through the internet; through Rinse FM, through Soundcloud mixes, through whatever media. There weren’t that many parties in America that would play that kind of music at the time.

Fast forward to the present, it seems like there’s a booming scene going on in San Francisco at the moment and you seem to be an important part of it.

It has really mushroomed post-pandemic. A lot of people that had no involvement in the party scene before the pandemic have started throwing parties, so now there are so many amazing events run by amazing people — like Squish. Steven, who runs it, has this amazing knack for pacing a night, he was the first promoter who really found a way to book these stacked, headsy lineups and make them flow in a way that would appeal to someone who didn’t know anything about music.

The Bay Area scene as a whole is really thriving and I’ve got to shout out Fake & Gay, NO BIAS, Garage Access, Parameter & Amor Digital plus more established San Fran institutions like Stamina, Werd and Sunset Sound System. Massive credit is also due to Vague Terrain, rest in peace, who were a huge influence with their consistently exceptional programming.

Bored Lord and bastiengoat also deserve a mention as they have done so much for the East Bay scene, they’ve really been an inspiration to so many people.

You mentioned your connection to UK club music and how it began as a distant obsession fed via the internet. This relationship has now blossomed into releases on some of the most esteemed labels in British dance music. How did this happen?

The single biggest thing that has allowed this relationship to develop was my first release on Scuffed. I love Will (Wager) and Ian (DPM), who run Scuffed. I hadn’t seen any American artists release on UK labels for a long time, probably because people hadn’t absorbed that sound yet, and then I saw that Scuffed put out stuff from this guy I’d never heard of… Nikki Nair.

Read this next: Scuffed Recordings introduce artist development scheme for women and non-binary electronic music producers

Once I heard that he was from America, I decided to send them some tunes as I liked their music and aesthetic, and Will recognised me from my Soundcloud releases via this Facebook group Classical Tracks.

I’m really blessed with such a wealth of lovely, wonderful and supportive people around me in my life right now, but in my college, a lot of my strongest connections with other people were through the internet. Classical Tracks was run by this guy from New Jersey, which had been inspired by Night Slugs where people would share mixes and put out digital releases on Soundcloud. This was my first real taste of someone wanting to release my music.

When I go to London now, I could just run my mouth for hours just chatting about the scene, tracks and stuff like that but back then it was all in my head and the internet was my only way to speak about these things.

The 17 Steps release was sick too. I love Dusky, they’re the sweetest guys. When they invited me through to the studio it was funny because, in my head, I was like “Oh I’d love to make a big wofty four to the floor record” and they were like, “no let’s make some dark shit". People probably associate me with that sound because most of the music I put out has bassy and, I don’t know, sinister undertones.

While you can definitely hear references to hardcore continuum, there’s also a distinct Latin flair to your tracks...

I mean I’m half-Peruvian and I speak Spanish you know, I love shit like that. Not too long ago I was in Peru and I went to a house party where everyone was taking turns YouTube DJing, and every single track was a different reggaeton classic that I hadn’t heard of. It was just blowing my mind seeing all these tracks go off and it was a big moment for me where I looked around and thought “these are my people” and “this is my heritage.”

I met Pearson Sound a couple of years ago and we ended up speaking about reggaeton. He casually dropped the fact that reggaeton stems from dancehall samples and I was like “What the fuck, David Kennedy you just blew my mind bro!”

Read this next: No more 4x4: how sounds from the Global South stopped club culture stagnating

Latin club is really having its moment right now, so the hipster and contrarian side of me doesn’t want to jump on the bandwagon, but I am putting out some Latin club tracks on a sick Mexican label called WVWV later this year. I love the project and I love the label so, ultimately, I’m really happy we’re doing it.

Having watched your sets at Boiler Room and The Lot Radio, I came across your peculiar choice of headphones. Where did you get the idea to use a telephone from?

Hahahahaha. I saw a DJ in LA use a (singular) headphone in 2017 and I thought it was really sick. In my defence, I did not run out and buy a headphone until like three years later, but I would say that I really value showmanship. I enjoy the spectacle, not in a way where it is more important than the music, but in a way where the two complement each other.

We’re all used to DJing and it is innately boring to watch someone standing behind the decks as opposed to watching a traditional band in full swing where there’s the interaction between musicians, the ebb and flow and stuff like that. Obviously the really bait DJ stuff like getting on the table is out of pocket but I feel like the phone is a way of creating visual interest in a way that’s non-obtrusive. For context, it’s a 15 dollar plastic red phone with an aux cable that I’ve had for five years. It’s held up okay but I must say it sounds like utter shit.

You recently completed your European tour. How did you find it?

It was incredible, it’s really rewarding and I feel very blessed that I’m at the fortunate point in my career now where people give a fuck about what I’m doing and are very kind to me at shows. It’s heartwarming honestly! People really fuck with me in London.

I’ve been to the UK quite a few times now and I’m at a point where I can appreciate what it is and, over the years, I’ve slowly built up some strong friendships here. It doesn’t feel like tourism anymore, I’m just seeing loads of good friends.

I have nothing but love and admiration for my peers and all the parties going on in America but the UK and the rest of Europe just excites me so much more as far as opportunities and the actual culture of partying goes. They just really get what I’m doing across the Atlantic.

What was your favourite place to play?

I mean I enjoyed every night in its own different way. London is of course mega but I will give a shout out to the night I played in Leeds.

Read this next: 7 DJs pay tribute to Wire, a legendary Leeds nightclub

The show was really nice and the afters was crazy. We went to a rammed house party with cheap monitors and a little DJ controller setup where everyone was playing UKG classics, bashment edits and 2000s pop. Everyone in the room seemed to know every word. The Leeds crew really showed me a proper time, I had a roast and enjoyed the full experience, so shout out to Buckley and Harpriya.

Aside from the aforementioned WVWV release, what’s next for Farsight?

I’ve got a collaborative EP with JIALING coming out on Eleanor’s CLASICO label in the next few months, and I’m working on a new vinyl-only DJ project that features 90s speed garage, breaks, house and more, but I want to take as much time as I need to make sure my vinyl skills meet my quality standards.

I also collect ‘45s and recently played a three-hour set comprising dub, reggae, soul and 60s pop. I’d love to spin dub ‘45s at Carnival on a proper soundsystem one day!

Finally, tell us about your mix.

This is a three-deck mix showcasing music I have been playing out recently, including unreleased bits from myself and a friend, across a wide range of genres and rhythmic motifs. The energy is representative of what I might play at peak time, with rapid-fire passages contrasting against longer, more hypnotic blends. As with any mix I create, I like to think no algorithm would ever be able to pick this selection of tracks, and no AI would ever combine them this way.

Thank you to Monarch for letting me record this on their setup, it's a lovely venue where I've had many great memories. Also thanks to RITCHRD of NO BIAS for helping me on the day of recording and lending me a iPhone to USB A cable!

Tibor Heskett is a freelance writer, follow him on Instagram

Tracklist:

GG12 - EMPTY LIGHTNING_FUNK
Johnny Bravo x Billy G - TUDO MENTIRA
Farsight - Locura
Loud Provider - Juke-A-Later RMX
JIALING - FREAKY HORNS
Dave Nunes - Taka Cheka (feat. NAKEN)
RITCHRD - Uh (Ah)
Paurro - Meiyo / Honor
Chrissy - U Can’t Stop
TLIM SHUG - quick rep
TAH - Pop
Prince Pasensi - RUTU
Farsight - Kalimotxo
Farsight - Up Right Good Good
Farsight - Ladron
Fonzo - Crofters Wrongs
DJ BUCK - Magic
Danny Goliger - Push n’ Pull
Buckley - Jaro Sound
Farsight - ROQUE HUDSON
JIALING x Farsight - ? (FARSIGHT FLIP)
Dagga x Manao - Young Miko Acento Edit
Dusky x Farsight ft. Manga Saint Hilare - ?
Frazer Ray - Count Me In
Papa Nugs - 145 in a Ford Escort (Acid Cut)
Brick x Farsight - ?
Brick x Farsight - ?
Zero Idea - Breeze
DJ Double Oh! - Burst
Farsight - Selva
Ipman - Mirage
DUTY PAID - Make Dat
Dokker - Drift That
Manni Dee & Manuka Honey - All Of It
The Wake - Pale Spectre