Both through his music—made under his own name and the alias Funkineven—and his work as the boss of the label Apron Records, the London artist Steven Julien has, since he entered the game in the early 2010s, kept up a freakishly high level of quality control. Whether it’s tracky house or buttery smooth boogie, Julien has always delivered a quality product—one that appeals to punters and connoisseurs alike. 

Julien has been busy lately. Last month, he released the EP Wraap't, the title track of which sees the artist reunited with the Swedish singer Fatima, a vocalist he collaborated with over a decade ago on the Funkinevn classic “Phoneline.” And then yesterday, the artist announced that he would be doing an edition of the legendary DJ-Kicks series. All of this activity felt like the perfect occasion to chat with the artist about career highlights, their working process, their past life as a barber in London, and a whole lot more.

So you used to work in a barber shop in West London, right? 

Steven Julien: Correct. 

Did that influence your music making in any way? 

No, but I've got a razor tattooed on my hand. And I guess being a barber and cutting audio and refining arrangements in my DAW have something in common, in a weird way. 

What kind of music were they playing in that barber shop? 

Well, it was basically my own barbershop. It was my auntie's salon, and I rented the basement. The basement was my own space. So I controlled the music, what was playing. And I kind of just played anything from—I just played a lot of hip hop stuff, to be fair. 

What years?

This was the early noughties up until 2009-ish, that's when I stopped working. 

And you were making tracks that whole time?

I've been making music since I was a kid. In the beginning, I was a dancer at school, did all the dancing competitions with my friends, then went into being a rapper with the same bunch of friends in a group. And I sucked as a rapper, so I put the mic down and then I really got into making beats. All the instrumentals that I heard back in the day, I was really intrigued on how they made the music. So I started to try that. And around the same time, I started cutting hair as an early teenager. So it always was hand in hand, you know? 

I love the new track. I've always been curious about that London street soul sort of style.

It's funny, because I never thought it was street soul until Giles Peterson played it and said this is a street soul style type of song. I just thought it was like R&B, new jack swing, but I guess it is street soul. 

And you've been working with Fatima for a while. Was “Phoneline” the first track you did together?

So yeah, in the beginning of my career, the very first record was with Fatima, when I was with this record label called Eglo Records. And then I kind of branched off and did my own thing, Apron Records, and then we rejoined ten years later. So it was like a long gap in between our first release and this release. 

What was it like collaborating after all those years off? 

Like it was ten years ago. It was just instant, instant chemistry. Didn’t really have to, you know, work too hard. It just kind of all came together really well.

You've worked with fashion houses collaborating on music. I’m curious about what that process is like and how that's different than when you're just making stuff for yourself. 

I don't know if I'll say fashion, but brands that I've worked with kind of wanted my take on the way I make music and my aesthetic and my sound. So I didn't really have to go think too outside the box to work on those collabs. It's just kind of them giving me the brief and then [doing] my own take on it. 

I've heard that there's always a bit of back and forth between you and the brand. 

Yeah. I mean, it wasn't anything that we had to fight for. It was quite natural and it flowed very well. So I've been lucky. 

You’ve also done a couple of art installation-type things. You did a thing with Mos Def. Is that a similar process? 

The Mos Def thing came about through a friend. She hit me up and was like, Mos Def’s in town and he wants to work with London producers. She wanted to meet up, meet in this place with other producers and catch a vibe with him. And I was like, it's not really my style, even though, you know, it's a good opportunity. So I didn't go to that—that listening or that gathering. But my friend did and he was blown away by my friend's music, which was Lord Tusk. So then about a week or two later, he asked me, can they use my studio to vocal his stuff? And I was like, sure. So he came in and then heard my stuff on top of that and was like, Yo, I really want to rap on your beats as well. So that's how it kind of naturally happened, you know? 

How often do you work with rappers? Is that a common thing? 

No, it's not common. 

But is that something you're interested in? 

I mean, I used to be a rapper. It’s where I'm kind of from. So, 100 percent, yeah, I'm down to. I don't know, I got swamped in this whole electronic, house, and techno scene. And that swept me away with touring and all that stuff. But it seems like I never really got a chance to work with rappers as much as I should or want to.

Did you ever have a hip house phase? 

Not really, no. At the time it came out, I was slightly too young, but I never went back to it. Do you know what? Actually, the next release I have on the forthcoming DJ Kicks, is kind of a hip house thing, actually, funnily enough.

Well, I'm excited to hear that. 

I'm not rapping. But it has a hip house energy for sure. 

Any new gear you're excited about? 

To be honest with you, I think technology is caught up. So I'm really in the box with a lot of stuff at the moment, in the DAW. I think software sims and plug-ins sound really good at the moment, so I'm kind of like a touch of analogue and in the box. I think it's a good medium. 

Was there a point when you realized software has gone to another level? Or has it just been this kind of gradual shift? 

It didn't sound that good a few years ago, but as the years go by and as we're going into this futuristic age, I think that it sounds very close to the real thing nowadays. 

Do you feel like your music process and your output is changing at all because of this?

I don't think it's changed. The only thing that's changed is it's a lot quicker. It's just a lot quicker to write stuff and I don't have to worry about going back and trying to figure out a patch and what it was and stuff like that. It's just very easy nowadays. Convenient. 

Do you find yourself tweaking more because you can? 

No, I don’t. I never really go back. Whatever comes out, I kind of stick with that because I don't want to be a skeleton on the mixing desk trying to tweak something for ten years. 

The problem with software is that for some people, the project is never finished. But it seems like you have an evolved attitude. 

Yeah, I kind of train myself to let things go basically and just move on. 

Maybe the hardest part of the creative process is finishing. 

That's the number one hardest thing. I've gone through those phases, but like I said, I've trained myself just to be like, Okay, let that one go. I find the less I work on something, the more it resonates with everyone else. You know, it feels more natural. So I kind of just stick with that.

Are there any tracks from your catalog that you made really fast and didn't think so much about then sort of became a big hit with your crowd? 

“Bloodline” and “XL.” Basically, the tracks that got the most numbers on Spotify are the ones that I least thought about. They just happened. 

Were those made in like a day or two? 

Yeah, and the ones that you try and tweak, you know, they get love, but the ones that are quick get way more love for some reason, resonates more. 

How did you link up with Kyle Hall to begin with? 

Through Floating Points. Floating Points used to own the record label that I started on basically, Eglo Records. So we were all friends and used to hang out. Anyway, so [Kyle Hall] was friends with Floating Points, Sam, and he came over to tour in London. And then I met him and then we just clicked straight away. He was a big fan of Hanna, Warren Harris, and I was the same, so we just clicked on that. We just hung out and, you know, got pretty close as friends, and then we started working together, and it went from there really. He was the one who actually helped me with my record label. Because at the time, he already had a label called Wild Oats, he still has it. And he pointed me to the right distribution and gave me advice, what to do to make my vinyl and stuff like that. He was very involved in the beginning of my coming up in this music business. 

Have you been to Detroit? 

Funny enough, a lot of people think I'm from Detroit, in Europe, and I've never been to Detroit ever. 

Do you have visions of what you think Detroit is? I feel like a lot of people from England or Europe, they have some idea of what they think it’s like and then it's kind of spoiled almost.

I kind of already know. I guess it's more of a European thing where they just think it's like Disneyland because they've got all of these amazing producers and rich culture and history and everything that's happening in Detroit. Because I've got the lowdown and friends there, I kind of know that it's not—it's not Disneyland. 

I'm curious how you've seen London change in the time that you've been a professional musician. When you started in 2009, 2010, what was the landscape like? 

I feel like there was a community. I don't know. There is still a community, but I think everyone's more out for themselves now. Everyone kind of got what they wanted and are going where they need to be or where they want to go. But I feel like in the beginning it was way more of a community, like everyone's coming up in the electronic scene from, you know, Bristol to Manchester to London. As a solo artist, I feel like it's less community than it was, to be fair. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but it's just what it is. 

Do you think that's partially a symptom of just everybody kind of growing up and these things dissolving? Have you found new communities since then? 

I don't know if a lot of those people have given back to where it came from. Do you know what I mean? So there is definitely an element and even myself as an artist, you've grown up and you like, you know, you just do your thing and you go in separate ways. Naturally, you don't hang around with the same friends and do certain things. But most importantly, I think you always have to give back and remember where this shit came from. 

Do you think running a label for you has helped kind of ground you in that way? 

Yeah, because you know, that's one place where I give back and put other people on. It’s definitely grounding, for sure. 

Do you still keep your ear to what younger kids in London are doing? 

2,000 percent. Yeah, can't run away from that. It’s naturally there. 

Are there other things you're checking for that are kind of outside of your sort of specific dance music zone?

I don't really listen to that much electronic music in my spare time, to be fair. It's mostly rap, trap, and some just weird shit, different from what people think that I probably listen to. 

Do you have any recommendations or some stuff that's happening in London right now that you're really excited about? 

Honestly not sure. Maybe lunch at Lea Cafe by The River Lea.