Lightspeed Recordings is run by none other than Dj Agent 86 who actually started off becoming a hip hop DJ before turning his attention to the now touted Nu-Disco genre favoring low to mid tempos ranges.

He won Producer/Dj of the year in 2009 and the countless times he has shared the stage with many internationals is unfathomable, you'll probably have to look at his website to check out.

We got to talk to DJ Agent 86 about this Nu Disco thing and all that is Lightspeed Recordings

When did it all began for you? What was the turning point for you to becoming a producer and DJ?

Well, DJ'ing really started for me at around the age 11 or 12 - that's when I first heard the DJ's scratching in hip-hop - and I KNEW I wanted to do that. I have no idea how many of my mother's albums I damaged trying to do it myself!! A couple of years later I started building miniature FM transmitters and I set up my own "pirate radio station". It only transmitted about 1km so it wasn't exactly "big-time" but I set up a couple of turntables and starting collecting any records I could find or buy with my measly "pocket money".

At around the age of 16 I started going to clubs and when I saw the DJ's there, I instantly knew that was what I wanted to do as it was the perfect combination of technique-based DJ'ing and Radio DJ'ing, not to mention the fact that the music was incredible (early acid-house, hip-house, balearic, urban, etc) and the smoke machines and the lights and... ...well, you know the rest... ...suffice to say, I basically left school there 'n' then to pursue my dream...

Do you still go record shopping or is it all digital downloads like the rest of us?

I actually buy very little vinyl now. The only stuff I’ll purchase is classic stuff (mainly Rock, Blues & Funk, as well as the occasional Punk, Post-Punk & Electronica) but even then I only buy second-hand. As far as I'm concerned, the most important thing is what comes out of the speakers. I don’t care how it got there. So long as I can mix & scratch, I'm happy - I don't care what equipment I need to do it.

You’ve gotten some impressive accolades for Live Act Of The Year 2007, DJ Of The Year 2008, DJ/Producer Of The Year 2009, what were from? Pretty deserving if I say so myself.

Thank you very much. I’m honoured. They were industry awards given by Inpress Magazine here in Melbourne

Now you’re signed to Lightspeed Recordings in Australia, a fantastic new label that I’m digging right now. Could you give us a brief history and some of the artists on the label'?

Glad you’re digging it! I actually run the label, so that’s handy for me whenever I want to put some music out!

The history IS brief:

I’ve always loved diverse styles of music (it’s the mood I fall in love with, not necessarily the genre) and I’d especially loved deep, fat, hypnotic, mid-tempo grooves. With the emergence of the “nu-disco” scene a few years ago, with it’s proliferation of low & mid-tempo stuff, I decided to put on a few one-off nights called “Lightspeed” that were dedicated to that sound and, before long, I decided to start “Lightspeed Recordings” in order to release those types of sounds, as well as anything else that grabbed by attention. My partner, Kiti, also has a say in the releases as she has an incredible music taste & I trust her judgement implicitly. That’s basically how it began.

The artists have included myself, of course, as well as HMC aka Late Nite Tuff Guy (Adelaide), Fromage Disco (Melbourne), Bodie Lee (Idaho), LuvJam (UK) and the semi-live/DJ outfit Planet Jumper (Melbourne). The Remix artists have included Faze Action, Pete Herbert, Nick Thayer, Ajello, Rudy’s Midnight Machine, Drop Out Orchestra, DJ Butcher, Craig McWhinney, Wowlace, Gustav and ADM.

You’ve been DJing as early as 1989, so what can you tell us from the 20 years of Djing experience with regards to the music itself that you dj’ed in that time bracket? I mean let’s face it, you Dj’ed in what I’ve considered 2 of my favorite eras….the 80s and the 90s. I read somewhere that you were mostly involved with Hip Hop firstly with regards to a Dj’s first love genre huh?

Yes, hip-hop definitely moved me in a major way. I had groups like Run DMC, Mantronix, Beastie Boys, Schoolly D, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, Tuff Crew, Ice-T and many others on heavy-rotation in those days – and as I’ve already mentioned, I LOVED the scratching. And then when I discovered acid-house and hip-house and stuff like Soul II Soul and the like, it all started coming together – although I must confess that for the first year or 2 of my DJ career I mainly played at commercial clubs where I played a mixture of genre’s such as rock, pop, new-wave, dance, house, rap and beyond.

I started a techno club in 1990 called “Adrenalin” that was hugely successful and by the end of 1990 I was doing mainly club & hip-hop gigs. There’s absolutely no way I could recount what I’ve learnt & experienced in that 21 years but, suffice to say, I feel very lucky to have witnessed the evolution of club-music, the club-scene and technology in that time.

Describe the music you play out and produce on a daily basis?

Crikey. Well, I play rock, rockabilly, blues, surfie, metal, indie, old disco, nu-disco, old funk, nu-funk, hip-hop, glitch-hop, beats, soul, (real) electro, electro-funk, electronica, house, slomo-house, tech-house, a little bit of techno (tho’ not much at all these days), breaks, pop and fusions of the above as well as stuff that I can’t properly classify. I produce cut-up hip-hop (aka party breaks), some disco-ey, housey stuff, hip-hop influenced electro & funk and a little bit of rock as well. And I don’t mind doing the odd re-edit or remix, either. I’ve always wished I could just concentrate on just one style because I’d probably be more successful if I did, but I can’t help myself…

Who and what have been some of your major influences, musically or otherwise?

My biggest influence has been life itself: my experiences, my memories, my fears & so forth. Musically, it’s always been the mood that’s influenced me, not so much the genre, so to list artists would only give a limited view my sphere of influences.

What albums/artists/bands/etc did you grow up listening to when you were young(er)?

I can’t recall too many of them, but a few include Falco, Public Enemy, B52’s, Tuff Crew, EPMD, Jan Hammer, Run DMC, Eurythmics, Harold Faltemayer, Jean Michael Jarre, most stuff produced by William Orbit, Beastie Boys, TOOL, QOTSA, The Doors, Gangstarr, Model 500, HMC, S-Express, Kevin Saunderson and lot’s of the early house music, Egyptian Lover, just about all of the tracks on both Beat Street & Miami Vice soundtracks, Beethoven, Jeroen Tel & many of the C64 music composers. There’s so many more, but my I can’t think of them all off the top of my head right now.