I discovered December Beaches on Spotify, through his EP It’s not fair he gets to do morphine, which displayed a playful and personal take on the codes of acid house. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. As I made my way through his funky edits and mixes on SoundCloud, I felt like I was stepping through the looking glass, falling backwards into a kaleidoscopic universe of dance music informed by obscure references of various eras. I had to know more. Here’s my interview with Christian Vartanian, aka December Beaches.

You’re from Chicago, a city indissociable with the history of dance music. What was it like to grow up there? As it inspired you to do what you’re doing today?

I think it definitely affected a lot about who I am as a person and my taste in music. A grew up around house music, and sometime during high school I began to hang out with some of the local footwork crews. Most of my music life as a kid was spent at Gramaphone Records on Clark St. just taking it in (hard to get into clubs at 14-15 so staying in a record store for 7 hours at a time was the next best bet).

Where are you living now? How’s the scene in your neck of the woods?

Orlando, Fl! I go to university here and the town’s great, have to drive everywhere unfortunately. The scene is currently in a bit of a transitional period. Half the DJs here are just discovering tech house and acting like its the best thing under the sun.

Aside from that, and very shaky stability in venues (we only have a handful of spaces to do anything and they are dropping like flies), the scene is doing alright for a small city in the middle of Florida. My crew, Finesse Trax, is doing its best to do parties that are equal parts forward-thinking and cheeky, Basic Channel into Sean Paul-type situation at those. Great times.

What was the first track you heard that made you feel like making the music you're producing now?

There's a couple.

African Head Charge - Dervish Chant

I remember hearing this in a Record Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and being absolutely floored. AHC's the brainchild of my now favorite producer Adrian Sherwood and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah. The sounds were just so forward-thinking and felt to me like what the highest form of what dub could be.

Shara Nelson and the Circuit - Aiming at Your Heart Pt.2

Same day I heard Dervish Chant I heard this, absolutely massive crooner that is drenched in reverb and about 1000 dub whips. I sampled it on my tape for Lake Shore Drive.

Theo Parrish - Heal Yourself and Move

I was listening to a bunch of weirdo On-U Sound dub when I started making music, I think I was really trying to rip off Theo Parrish. I don't think I particularly succeeded in that endeavor, but the dude’s a G and hard to imitate.

Mr Fingers - Sun Can't Compare

Heard's magnum opus in my eyes, perfect example of overtly deep house music that is also somehow a major diva vocal track. Think my Dad actually showed me this.

Your EP It’s not fair he gets to do morphine was an exploration of lo-fi acid house in line with your 2016 experimental albums. Recently, you've released awesome sample-heavy, funky tracks on your SoundCloud. Can you talk about what led you to this transition?

I primarily use my SoundCloud as a toss pile for any edits or things that I can’t see getting a release on a label, or just don't want to sell since they are just edits and don't really have much original work in it. It's not really a transition as much as that I've been taking the time to make better music less often if that makes sense. Trying to make sure what I put out "officially" is up to a certain snuff level.

Will you ever go back to producing lo-fi house?

If by lo-fi house you mean tracks that are drowning in reverb and delay sure, I'm still making them. Just this time around I know how to do a proper mixdown and I care about sound quality. The disco edits were all fun club tools I was making cause i started DJing and wanted to play disco records, but at the time didn't have the requisite skills to mix them.

What’s the craziest interaction you’ve had with a fan?

Had a guy hop on stage and try to kiss me while playing in Vancouver. Dude proceeded to stumble when getting on stage and elbowed the pause button on the decks.

What’s the most useful thing you've learned from DJing?

Probably the idea of being prepared for anything and everything. I bring a 1TB hard drive when I play out. It lets me not really plan anything, while having access to enough music that any scenario can play itself out for as long as necessary. Kind of a good ethos to have for most stuff.

Name an artist you’ve discovered recently that truly inspires you?

Feel that I'm rather late to the game on this, but Holly Cook is absolutely insane, some of the best vocal dub I've ever heard. Overtly heavy and fun.

What’s coming up for December Beaches?

Got a couple tracks/edits/dub jams coming out on my friends at Beatsolow in Vancouver, in a month or so, and working on a nice full EP for another label presently. That EP's taking a while to get right, so I definitely hope it sees the light of day. Other than that, just more gigs and tracks here and there, hoping to be releasing some hardware sometime next year.

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