There are two things you can count on when it comes to the current dance music scene in Chicago. Firstly, “World’s Best Dance Club” Smartbar will always bring in the best artists to play on its unrivaled sound system, and secondly, lanky young Milwaukee export James Amato — the club’s booking agent and new dad to infant label Potty Mouth — will always be wearing his hat curiously cocked to the side. Perhaps the latter is in homage to the rave days, we don’t know. But one thing’s definitely for sure — Amato’s Potty Mouth imprint is finding favor with house fans seeking an updated perspective and is bringing a burgeoning electronic sound called “fidget” to new heights through a bevy of talented producers. Artists like Santiago & Bushido and Crookers are fashioning tracks that represent a rich casserole of electronic genres and set dancefloors ablaze. So how did all this come about?

How did the idea for Potty Mouth music first come about, and where did you get the idea for the name?
My mother always said I had a Potty Mouth (which is very true). You can ask any of my co-workers and I’m sure they will all agree. One night I told my former roommate that he had a Potty Mouth and stumbled across the idea/concept of calling something/someone ‘Potty Mouth’ but at the time had no use for the name. A month or so later, in December of 2006, I hung out with Chris Santiago of ‘Santiago & Bushido’ from Chicago late one night who turned me on to the sounds of the Crookers. Early that year during a trip to Vegas, a friend of mine introduced me to the music of Dave Taylor aka Switch/Solid Groove. Both of those experiences were two times in a very long time that I got excited about music. My roots go deep with the passion I have for electronic music, but after living in a nightclub for 10+ years, you begin to hear it all and things can get a little stale. At the time I felt compelled and intrigued to invest myself and indulge into this new sound by launching an indie record label called Potty Mouth Music.

What do you think of the ‘fidget house’ moniker — and how does that term relate to the kind of music PM is putting out?
Potty Mouth artist Scoot Cooper said it best when he described fidget as “forward thinking house music” and I totally agree. I’m not necessarily a fan of the term ‘fidget’ but have accepted the fact of it is what it is and has been coined that name. It seems to be the only term people have been able to successfully describe/relate to on a global scale. I just got tired of calling it “you know, the kind of music that Switch plays.” I don’t really like calling it “fidget house” more just “fidget” cause I feel the sound is more then just house, but techno, electro, hip hop, breaks & drum n bass. The beauty of the sound is that it crosses over a wide variety of genres that flourishes the sound within its own. My artists come from such a wide variety of backgrounds. I’m signing artists who used to produce trance, breaks hardcore and about everything else between here and there. It’s refreshing to be apart of something that’s new, that people are excited about. It creates a lot of positive growth and networking between a ton of artists that might not have known about each other in previous years. It opens minds and attitudes.

chris santiago, crookers duo, james amato, tim bushido

Who’s on your label?
We have a few artists from the label that live in America and Australia, but a majority of the roster resides in Europe. Currently artists that are signed to the label include the Crookers (Italy), Santiago & Bushido (Chicago), Hijack (UK), Dj Fame (New York), The Bulgarian (UK), Heavyfeet (UK), Cops & Robbers (Chicago), Electric Soulside (Belgium), Andy George (UK), Scott Cooper (UK), Klaus Hill (Australia), Mightyfools (Netherlands), Adam Bozzetto (Australia), Alias (Toronto), Chris James (UK), Urchins (UK) and Pette Vaydex (Ljubljana, Slovenia).

The label earned international notoriety in January of 2008, when Santiago & Bushido claimed the number-one downloaded track spot for their Potty Mouth single, “Head Trick” it held the spot for three consecutive weeks on beatport.com (the digital download site is the second most-trafficked music Internet site in the world). Santiago & Bushido have a very bright future ahead of them, I think your really gonna seem some things pop later this year and into 2009.

What happened to “regular” house music? Do you think there’s still a market for upfront house in today’s genre-melding world?
To each his own. I respect house, I respect fidget. At the end of the day it comes down to whatever floats your boat and gets people on the dance floor. I get into both sounds. Personally for me though, fidget is a breath of fresh air. I’ve been a supporter/promoter of house music for over 15 years, but recently it all began sounding the same and the vibe just got a little too negative for me to want to be apart of it. Fidget definitely attracts a much broader and bigger crowd (from techno & house heads to dnb & electro heads, from commercial to underground). I can tell you from a promoter standpoint that house is not coming close to bringing in the amount of people that these newer sounds of electro/fidget/bmore/hipster are unless your name is Mark Farina.

America is in a huge recession right now and it’s human instinct for us to let if affect our music. As the country gets depressed, our music seems to get dirty/moody. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but at least in the states I think house music will continue to flourish however on a much smaller scale then to years in the past.

Crookers

How do you feel an imprint can survive in the face of free mp3’s on blogs across the Interweb? Have you come up with any interesting strategies?

And for that matter, what do you feel about the blogosphere in general?
We try and work with the blogs rather than against them. The idea of blogs is to promote ‘new’ music, artists, events, etc and not to give away free music. Usually the majority of blogs will put up whatever they can without having permission from the label, however will take it down per the labels request (if discovered & requested). Usually once you contact a blog once to inform them not to give away your music for free, they will respect your request and will not do it again from that point out. However with the growing culture of blogging, there are more and more blogs launching everyday and its harder and harder to keep track and keep an eye on things. By searching on websites like Hype Machine you can check out if you’re tracks are being blogged: http://hypem.com

I do feel blogs are important and do expose people to new music. It just needs to be done in away that everyone benefits from it — from the blog to the user to the artists to the label. I do work with several blogs in regards to Potty Mouth. I give those blogs specific promo versions of the tracks to post and put up for download. These are edited, low quality mono “promo” versions of the song. That way the blogs can promote the new music, the user can download/experience it in the comfort of their home or ipod and if they are really into it will hopefully encourage them to purchase a full length high res copy for download from sites such as beatport.com, stompy.com and djdownload.com to name a few. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. The blogs Potty Mouth currently enjoys working with are Discobelle, Electric Zoo, Palms Out, and Red Threat.

Who is one of your favorite artist/producer/djs right now and why?
Some of my favorite artists/producers right now are Santiago & Bushido from Chicago, Hijack and Stupid Fresh from the UK. They are all young aspiring producers that are all on the fringe of blowing up. Each of them can be classified under the umbrella of fidget, however each have their own distinctive sounds which makes them each unique and truly defines this new sound.

tim bushido, chris santiago

What makes a good fidget track?
Obviously besides strong wobbly bass-lines, a good fidget track exemplifies the concept of ’surprise.’ The less you can predict within the track the better. The track should always keep you on your toes and keep you interested. It’s kinda like electronic music for all of us who have A.D.D.

What is coming up for Potty Mouth music in the coming year?
We were averaging a release a month for almost 7 months, took a short 3 month sabbatical and are now back in full force releasing 2 EPs per month! We have a wide variety of releases that all fall under the term fidget, however each release indulges more onto either a techy side, electro side, housey side or even minimal side. Also keep your eyes out for a “best of remix album” this Summer which will include a Solid Groove remix of Santiago & Bushidos ‘For What’ track.

Last, but not least, we recently started a Potty Mouth message board and have received a tremendous positive response back! We like to bill it as “embracing the fidget community” - http://board.pottymouthmusic.com. Check it out!

Santiago & Bushido - Head Trick