Sirus Hood Talks Remixing Dj Pierre and His New Label with Manda Moor

Last month French producer and DJ Sirus Hood delivered a summery mix for Gray Area’s OCHO that brought us to the sunny shores of Ibiza. Recorded during an epic sunset at White Isle institution Bora Bora Beachclub, he blazed through a set that fluidly drifts through classic Chicago, funky tribal, warped tech house, and disco.

Putting his deep knowledge of house music on display has been a hallmark of his style since he burst onto the scene with releases on CUFF and Dirtybird in 2014 and 2016 respectively. At that point he’d been a student of dance music from the age of 10, when he started listening to mixtapes passed down to him from older friends.

Over the years he’s flexed his skills as a producer on many lauded labels including Hot Creations, Cajual, and Sola. However, his more recent project with Manda Moor is where his focus lies these days.

We caught up with Sirus to chat about Mood Child Records, the challenges of producing vinyl, and what’s to come for the Ibiza regular.

You have a new label with Manda Moor. What brought the two of you together for this project and what's different about this project?

That’s right. Actually, this is the first time that I’m talking about our label. The name of the label is Mood Child. After releasing a series of successful edits with Manda Moor, it seemed natural to evolve to original music from us, from the artists that we love, and to start our party [brand]. The whole concept of Mood Child is to have multiple colors, multiple moods, and multiple cultures. We believe in diversity, and this is what we want to share.

Vinyl has consistently been on the uptick for the last several years. What's the thought process behind putting out a limited vinyl release?

During the pandemic, we created a community on Bandcamp of music lovers who supported our limited stuff. We believe in the scarcity, and we are huge vinyl lovers. By definition vinyl is limited so, we decided to launch our best edits on wax for all the DJs who want to play rare edits on 12”.

Manda Moor and Sirus Hood

Where there any challenges you had to overcome when planning on releasing vinyl?

Producing vinyl is very challenging. The vinyl pressing plants are facing material shortages and a higher demand which increases the costs and delays. Some plants are facing a one-year delay. So, the first challenge was to find a plant who offer a shorter delay and the best pressing quality. Then we had— in a very short time— to remaster the 12 tracks for vinyl because mastering for digital releases and vinyl doesn't have the same requirements.

We called Most Wanted Audio who do analog mastering. It’s very challenging because any change means starting from scratch and re-recording second by second. The final result is amazing.

Then we had challenges of the artwork and label stickers with very specific formats. But our friend Sami Galetto created for us a crazy piece of art. Now we are waiting to see the babies (the vinyl copies).

You have a project with DJ Pierre as well, can you tell us about that?

The legendary DJ Pierre (Phuture) who created the acid sound (acid House, acid Techno) in Chicago in 1985 [asked] me to remix the first acid track ever called “Acid Tracks.” It’s a huge honor for me. It’s gonna be released on a very limited vinyl that is available on pre-order on Diggers Factory.

What's it like being asked to remix such a historical piece of dance music culture?

I’m so proud to retouch such a classic piece that served as a foundation of the music that we make and play today. I had the chance to get an original Roland TB-303 to recreate the acid bass parts as the original track, then I added my groove on it. I love how it came out, a very groovy acid techno version. I can’t wait to have the vinyl in hands.

What's coming up for you this summer?

Mainly Ibiza. Manda and I did our first Mood Child party at Hï in the Wild Corner in June and it was one of the few super magic nights that we had in our lives. The feedback was incredible. Fun fact: The same night, Hï Ibiza was announced to be number one club in the world. After this first success, I’m happy to announce the next Mood Child party at Hï on August 23rd.

I’ll also play Paradise Amnesia on August 10th, The Martinez Brothers event on August 30th at Hï, and very nice gigs and festivals in some of my fav countries like Brazil, Italy and France.

Can you talk about your OCHO mix? What's special about the tracklist?

This OCHO is very special because I recorded it during a sunset at Bora Bora Ibiza for their opening party a couple of weeks ago. You can hear in the background the crowd vibing. The track selection is mainly 90s Ibiza magic vibe. I won’t say more ;)