The fluid nature of dance music makes it notoriously difficult to define.
Take the recent sounds emanating from Glasgow’s LuckyMe Collective. 
Partly based on hip hop, yet informed by dubstep and left field electronica, it has had crowds flooding the dancefloor and critics reaching for the theasaurus. Wonky? Aquacrunk? Why bother to define something, especially when it slithers and moves as quickly as the music produced by this close knit band of producers.
LuckyMe has transformed itself from a bunch of club kids just looking for a place to play their records, into an agenda setting force capable of uniting fashion, art and music. Oh, and they’ve had a few mean parties along the way.
Recent releases by LuckyMe mainstays Hudson Mohawke and Rustie have seen the dance world sit up and take notice of this startling display of talent, with the iconic dance imprint Warp travelling up to Glasgow with their chequebook.
Producer Martyn Flyn answers our questions…
How did the Lucky Me collective begin?
We began as a club night in Stereo in Glasgow’s west end – playing underground hiphop and anything electronic that we were into. This then led to forming the collective around the idea of forming a record label. Later we expanded to include the artist’s wing as well.
Did it have any aims when you started out?
No huge masterplan. Only to unify whom we felt were really pushing the boundaries and exciting us with their music and help to promote them to the world.
Glasgow isn’t well known for its hiphop scene, any idea why this is?
Only that a lot of it is so niche/local that it couldn’t possibly exist outside its immediate environment. The local, especially music buying, hip hop scene is so small, those who are more well known have either gone directly to the source and received great recognition from American artists or have pushed into different creative territories – I think what we represent is undeniably hip hop but hopefully with our own slant on things.
Apparently it grew out of Surface Empire, does this group still exist?
The group doesn’t exist anymore- that was DomSum and Hudson Mohawke’s group – who recorded a lot of music and played a lot of gigs in the few years they were active. During recording of their first EP it became apparent that Hudson’s music was becoming something truly special and that was a tremendous catalyst to making us take it more seriously.
Who runs the record label? What is the signing policy – in house or broader?
Myself (FineArt) and Dom Sum run the label – this year will see us become more of a label and release 3-4 projects. Nadsroic, Mike Slott, The Blessings and American Men. Basically as far as signing we are a collective first and foremost and have definitely committed to releasing projects by everyone on the roster. We are also lucky enough to receive a lot of demos and have formed some great friendships with artists that way.
How does Rustie / Hudmo’s rising profile affect the collective?
Only in a good way. To me they are both still hugely innovative and exciting artists – and I feel in many ways they are both just getting started career wise. This has definitely brought a lot of attention onto the crew which will hopefully help us to establish ourselves more.
Fashion link up. Do music and fashion go hand in hand? Is there a shared aesthetic with the visual design elements of the collective?
All of the artists collective studied at GSA at some point – there are some shared sensibilities but like the musical side we choose to work with each of the artists because of their unique style and identity.
How did the link up with Flying Lotus occur?
Through him being on the Beat Dimensions project and being on Warp with Hudson and Rustie. We feel a close affinity with much of the LA scene who are continually encouraging and inspiring.
How do you get involved with the collective?
Through our website www.thisisluckyme.com, email me any music: martyn[at]thisisluckyme, come to gigs, and our monthly night Ballers Social Club in Glasgow.
Is there shared aesthetic / goal?
To establish ourselves as a byword for forward thinking Scottish arts.