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Skyence talks collabs with Hecq & YAK Films

2012/04/09 //
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It’s a pleasure to have such a masterful artist on Disco Droppings. He’s got a lot of wonderful things to share with you. The tracks I’ve chosen to showcase start off slow and steady, followed by some massive tunes and ends with a diverse Skyence live set. P.s. The above picture is his sexy studio!

DD Welcome back! What’s going on in Hamburg?

S Thanks for having me! ;] We’re just having the last snowy hours for this year in Hamburg. The first flowers are out and the cherry tree in front of my balcony is in full bloom.

 

 

DD The new remixes collection on your Soundcloud have a dark and emotional feel. I was struck by the delivery with your “End Scene” and “Eating At The Void” remixes. Some forward thinking shit right there. What attracted you to these original songs?

S Troels Abrahamsen‘s “End Scene” has been one of my favourite songs since it was released in 2009. He offered the vocal tracks to remixers on MySpace one day around the WHT album release and since then, they have been laying around on my hard drive. Until end of 2011, when I wanted to backup older projects and stuff and stumbled upon the file. Some hours later I found myself with a finished remix, snow outside, foggy hamburg – melancholy, haha…

As for the Taprikk Sweezee Remix – Nikolai is a good friend of mine and I love his productions as he always pushes the boundaries of what I can take regarding glitches, clicks, cuts and crackles, but he delivers that chaos with a shitload of soul which glues it all together and totally makes sense. So when he asked me to do a remix for his forthcoming REPOLYX Remix EP, I didn’t have to think about it for one second. When remixing, I mostly like to use just the vocals of the original track – same here. I had that piano progression in mind and recorded it with a lot of reverb as a main element on which the remix is built, besides the vocals. I really like the idea of having a heavy bass on a smooth and soulful track and so I developed that whobbly bass sound for the chorus which is always a little surprise to the listeners, haha… Take that with a lot of handmade glitches and stereo modifications on the vocals, some minimalistic drums and there you go. Nikolai loved it and so it got released digitally and on casette via Error Broadcast on the REPOLYX EP, alongside remixes from B-Ju, Pixelord, Montgomery Clunk, kidkanevil, Digi G’Alessio and many more.

DD On to the Encheladus EP with Hecq..the track “Instaheat” is tough! What is your relationship like with Hecq? For fans of your individual work how would you describe this collaboration?

S Working as a sound designer for commercials and films myself, I’ve always been a big fan of Ben’s work – he’s able to put so much detail into music and sound that I always think of giving up when I hear his stuff, haha… I did a 1mn piece of heavy bass music for an audiovisual project in early 2011 which worked well as a temp-track but didn’t make it in the final film. But I really saw some potential in that short piece and so I sent the tracks over to Ben for a collab and told him to do whatever he likes with it – and some days later, I have that absolute BANGER in my inbox which was an early version of “Enceladus”. I see myself sitting there with headphones on, not even able to nod my head to those crazy edits he came up with – goose bumps. Basically, after some more changes we sent it to Nicolas who is running the Ad Noiseam label in Berlin and he was into it. So, backed with “Instaheat” and two remixes by the Knight Riderz and Mobthrow, the Enceladus EP was born. Regarding “Instaheat”: I only knew an early version of this tune Ben sent me one day and the whole thing just got me confused – those uncontrollable whobbles really made my braincells clip, haha… And the final version tops that again. This track feels like absolute chaos for the first 5 rewinds – and suddenly you begin to hear detailed structures behind the chaos, and more and more… I love it!

 

DD I have seen some awe-inspiring videos from YAK Films. Your track, “String Theory” is featured in a performance by Neguin. So rad! How much do you follow the YAK Films? Did Neguin personally contact you about using your track in his video?

S I’ve tried breakdancing when I was around 13, but after some time it was more bruises than fun and I had to admit that I’m not gonna be the best dancer, haha… (But I still have my old school Adidas dress with the superstars in blue and gold, hahaha….shit.) Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but good “street”-dancing always leaves me stone still and amazed. I really like that the movement or scene seems to get more and more attention and I have great respect for all the dancers. And if you show just a bit of interest in what’s happening on the parquet, you’ll end up with YAK Films sooner or later – those guys have a lot of love for the scene and you feel that in the movies. One day Ben of YAK Films contacted me, asking if I had any music to share for their movies as he’s been really into my stuff. Yessir! So I sent him some tunes and “String Theory” is the first one they used for the introduction of Neguin in the latest vid. He’s unbelievable! We’ll see if there will be more features with YAK. ;]

DD After hearing the Skyence Live piece on Mixcloud, I’m especially fond of the second half. Has a nice edge to it. When you recorded this live set in Hamburg, what was the party like?

S It was the 12th birthday celebration of the Hoch10 party series, which is founded and organized by a friend of mine, Gerald Steyr. He’s one of the few organizers that don’t just focus on big acts and hardcore rave hours – he’s up for experimenting with styles and genres, all covered by the word “bass” maybe, hehe… Honestly, I was a bit scared to stand in front of a crowd that is maybe 50% dubstep heads, desperately looking for “the drop” and 50% drum & bass heads that came to see what Rawtekk has in his pockets. When Roluxx, who played before me, had the crowd shaking and screaming I had to get me a beer because I knew that when I start my 3 minute intro, they’ll be like “WTF? We want to paaaaarteeeey!”. But just the opposite happened. I found myself playing my live-set in front of a really open-minded crowd of all ages and got a lot of positive feedback afterwards – I loved it! And there is no better feeling than playing the intro of INSCT and hearing someone in the crowd scream “Yeah, that’s the tune – he’s playing it, whooohooooooo!” Hahahaa…I was laughing out loud on stage at that point. Lovely night!

DD Last words?

S Hmm yeah, I’d love to thank you and all the other blogs, websites and music lovers for supporting my music! I feed on that! And second, I want to point you to some future releases: First we have a forthcoming remix for Triberg, which will be out soon on Hiperbole Records, a small and lovely label from Germany with a taste for Jazz and everything beyond. You can get a glimpse of the remix in the Live recording we were talking about. Later this year there will be a 12″ EP of myself on Origami Sound featuring two original tracks called “Azoic Zone” and “Pain Call”, including remixes of Hecq and others… I’m really looking forward to this!

Besides that, my new studio is almost finished and I’m really looking forward to making the first tunes in there. More soon, hopefully… 😮 Cheers!

Skyence – Facebook Twitter Soundcloud

– Jimi Jaxon

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The ZenBat EP – Collaboration between Crazy Old Bat and Zenjungle

2012/04/08 //
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Taking you on a journey with this one. Deep breath..

 

DD Phil, you are half of ZenBat, and live in Athens, a very tense environment. Has the current cultural and political upheaval influenced this release?

P Of course. it affects our life. The economical struggle, the cut off of salaries, pensions, people next to you that are losing their jobs… It isn’t possible to not have an impact on me. I can’t separate my every day life from my music, I never did. I’m here, my feet are on the ground, I have anger, sadness, the will to fight and I fight to gain back the real moments of a life that drowns in apathy. Music is one of the vehicles, one of the ways to do that.  

DD Individually you are Zenjungle and Crazy Old Bat. What do each of you bring to this duo?

P Phil Gardel (Zenjungle) My main instrument is the saxophone. It’s my voice. Apart from that I mix the sax with electronics, I like to create sounds from nothing and to not use samples or factory presets. In the EP, our work was 50-50. One of us would start a song and send the stems to the other. Then the other was playing on it or creating something totally different from that. It was very fun and a great experience to work with Don, and there was good communication between us. In a few words, I played sax, synths and used my voice. Also, I created the artwork for our EP. 

D Don Wilkins (Crazy Old Bat): I think both Phil and I have seen way too many films, the language of cinema infects our process, both as individuals and in our collaborations.  This is very apparent on the ZenBat EP, songs like, “At The Cinema (Death in a Parking Lot),” and, “Death is Overrated,” could have been ripped out of a movie, as far as I’m concerned. We both have a similar approach to music, but as an individual I guess I bring a certain skewed perspective to the project, just a way of approaching electronics, I suppose.

DD How do you guys interpret the meaning of this EP?

P History is repeating itself; fascism, wars, economical crisis. It’s happening, transformed to something else sometimes, but it’s happening. People fight or soak into misery. The story of the EP is our decade illustrated, our past and our future.  It’s also the dream of a better world, a life that is not ours, a world that we must build from scratch, a world in which we’ve chosen our leaders and put our hopes on them, proven that it was a mistake, proven that we needed to believe in ourselves. Our escape from reality is to build a new reality, beyond and against religion, hate, exploitation, injustice and a materialistic lifestyle. It was good that our spaceship crashed eventually.

D I wrote the story that accompanies the EP, but I didn’t intend it to be didactic.  I just view it as one of many possible ways of interpreting our current reality and our past/future.  I personally don’t believe that we learn anything from history, but it is interesting to try and discern the patterns and allow them to shape your existence.  Like the wicked witch says, “I’m melting.”

DD What got each of you into electronic music?

P The great electro stuff of the late 80’s. The new wave synthpop, dark, gothic songs of the early nineties and of course the great mid 90’s period of the rave movement. A period that is rather blurred into my mind for obvious reasons. I started experimenting with synths and electronic sounds in the mid 90’s, I never stopped, but there were periods that I was playing and listening to mostly free jazz of the 70’s. 

D I really don’t know, I started out as a drummer and then became fascinated by electronic music, the possibilities with today’s technology are truly limitless, which is both good and bad.  The ability to trick the listener with an electronic palette is something I find attractive, it’s just another way to mess around with identity.

DD What’s next for the two of you? Together and/or individually?

P I will continue creating music with Don, that’s for sure. Apart from that I have a very good collaboration with an Irish guitarist and electronic artist, Tunedin52/John Daly who is also the narrator in the ZenBat EP, and we’ve already released two experimental jazz albums together, available here and here 

D I’ve got a few projects I’m working on, including an audio/video project with Phil and John.  I don’t like to predict the future, everything has a funny way of going to hell, but I’ve been lucky to have been able to create my own music and work with people like Phil.

 

Crazy Old Bat – New Release on Bandcamp + Soundcloud Twitter 

Zenjungle – Soundcloud 

John Daly – Soundcloud Twitter Facebook 

– Jimi Jaxon 

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Henry Krinkle – Formerly The Get

2012/04/04 //
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DD Between your lush house tracks as The Get and these new Henry Krinkle productions, I am blown away. You are so damn good! Did you plan on making so many different styles or has recent inspiration caused you to change things up? 

HK  I find that inspiration does not operate on a timetable. It strikes when it pleases and I try my best to get it into the real world in the most accurate way possible. My productions and mixing will always improve because I’m always learning new techniques. I make a wide variety of music mostly because I love experimenting so much. I like making music that makes me feel good.

DD  Whats the energy like down in Florida for electronic music right now? 

HK Florida is wonderful. I love the weather and the people. It turns out everyone likes good music. I’ve played one show at The Vagabond in Miami wth Shuttle Life and it was great. Much love and support all around.

 

DD Does your ethnic cultural background contribute to your sense of rhythm and flow?

HK My rhythm and flow seem more to be an intrinsic part of who I am — my cultural background is part of that but there is so much more that defines any one person than their culture and ethnicity. 

DD Do you releases planned for Henry Krinkle? 

HK I have a single that I am about to start shopping around as well as a free EP that I’m putting together of some futurechill.

 

DD Happy to hear an Adventure Time sample in that “End Of Time” remix. Whats your favorite episode and which character is closest to your personality? 

HK I love the one where Marceline and Finn see a movie. I’m probably Jake cause I am straight up and caring. He also don’t give no fucks.

Henry Krinkle – Facebook Soundcloud Twitter Tumblr Bandcamp

– Jimi Jaxon 

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Etnik

2012/03/29 //
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Goin hard tonight. This young producer is crafting a massive techno sound. Welcome to his world..

 

DD When I hear your tracks and Gesaffelstein’s, I get similar feelings. Which is rad because I feel he’s one of the freshest dance producers around! Who do you feel influences Etnik the most?

E I like listening to every genre and I get influenced by all of them. Over the last months I remixed songs for rock bands, pop acts and fellow techno producers, and right now I‘m working on a track that has a typical hip hop beat.

DD This “Summer” remix got the Skrillex bump a little while back. And I’m sure your plays skyrocketed immediately. The 8-bit, high pitched synth melody is growing on me. I feel it’s a distinguishing feature of yours. Is this your first interaction with Skrillex? How are you enjoying the new boost in fans? 

E Well, yes it’s my first interaction with Skrillex, although we’re both signed to the same label and booking agency in Germany. But I was thrilled when I first heard about his post on facebook, because it allows me to reach so many new people, that had never heard of me before. The track on my soundcloud page now has over 100000 plays.

 

DD Is there a community of producers you’re connected with in Germany?

E Yes, they are called friends. Two of them are Mendoza and Shakes Milano – it’s kinda cool, because they also do electronic music but more releaxed stuff then I do.

DD Do you have any releases planned for 2012?

E There are many things planned for 2012. I’ll have a free EP coming out in the end of March via Australian label Trashbags and I’m working on the next release after that right now. Also, I have a couple of festival gigs confirmed. 

 

DD Would you say there are certain themes associated to Etnik? Are there any major non-musical influences? 

E I’d say fashion and art. I like it when these two components come together

DD How would you encourage all the young producers out there like yourself, that are trying to establish themselves? 

E If you produce your own music everyday you can’t get worse over time, you only get experiences so keep making music, don’t stop.

 Etnik – Soundcloud Facebook Twitter

– Jimi Jaxon 

 

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The Voice of Nero – Interview With Vocalist Alana Watson

2012/03/26 //
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The wonderful Alana took time out of her grueling tour schedule to talk with Disco Droppings. We cover a lot in this interview; Nero’s NYE performance in Seattle, Daft Punk, dystopian worlds and such. I am always thinking of them, for their ability to deliver an epic artistic vision while still remaining kind and well-balanced. Cheers to Dan, Joe and Alana! If you haven’t already, listen to their monumental Essential Mix and pick up the Deluxe Version of their album, Welcome Reality 

 

DD Such a delight to talk with you again Alana. When I first met you it was NYE. Nero headlined the Resolution show, and I feel it was a stunning performance by Dan and yourself. I was thrashing around harder than anyone on that stage. What did you think of Seattle? 

A Great to talk to you too. I loved Seattle. It was my first time there and I was suitably impressed. The venue was awesome, the crowd were mental and the sushi was delicious! Dan and I really enjoyed ourselves and hope that next time we’re in town we don’t have to rush off to LA to shoot a music video!

DD That NYE show had a lot of symmetry for me. Back in 2007, I saw my first electronic show, Daft Punk, in that same venue. To be able to work for you guys in the same venue was awe-inspiring. You saw Daft Punk in Australia right? What do you remember most vividly about that night? 

A We saw Daft Punk in London actually. They played Hyde Park for the O2 Wireless Festival in 2007. It was insane. Ridiculously good. The light show (pyramid) and production was outstanding and really inspired us. I remember daydreaming about that show for days afterwards thinking ‘will we ever be able to do anything even half as good?’


DD From the album, “Welcome Reality”, which songs lyrics do you resonate with most? Also, which song was most difficult for you to master in a live setting? 

A The answer to both questions is probably ‘Guilt’. I think lyrically it’s open to interpretation and can have different meanings for different people which I like. I personally imagine a girl who is unsure of where she stands in a relationship. 

I said to Dan and Joe the day that we recorded it in the studio that I would never be up for singing it live. It was at the top of my range and really difficult. However, it sneaked it’s way into our live show and with practice it has become easier. 

 

DD Who are some vocalists that you draw inspiration from? 

A I’m inspired by such a vast range of vocalists from all decades and genres of music. I love Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Thom Yorke, Michael Jackson, Skin from Skunk Anansie, the list could go on and on for days to be honest. 

DD Dan & Joe have mentioned dystopian environments such as Akira and Bladerunner as inspirations for Nero. Are you into these kinds of stories too?

A Yes, absolutely. I’m slightly obsessed with post apocalyptic films and love that dark 80’s vision of the future. Akira and Bladerunner are classics but i’m also into films like 28 Days Later…you’ve gotta love a good zombie flick. 

DD Which remix of a Nero track do you connect with most? Personally I’m in love with Fred Falke’s remix of “Reaching Out”. 

A For me it’s Nero and Skrillex’s collaboration remix of ‘Promises’. Sonny came to our studio in London and wrote the piano intro in a matter of minutes. I was in awe of how fast he worked. We had the main bulk of the tune written and produced after only 2 to 3 hours. What I particularly like is that I can hear a little of all three producer’s style in the one tune. 


DD How has working with Dan & Joe impacted your mindset and perspective? And lastly, what would you say to young artists, trying to find their voice?

A I’ve been best friends with Dan and Joe for over 10 years so working with them initially was just like hanging out and jamming with mates. Then, whilst I was training to be a midwife things got more serious for Nero but I still perceived it as more of a hobby. In October of last year my mindset definitely changed when I gave up midwifery to concentrate on music full time. We’ve been pretty much touring solidly since and I love it!

I would say to other artists that finding your own sound can be difficult. I had it easy because Dan and Joe really knew what they liked. They helped me find a sound that worked well with their music. The female airy quality of my voice seems to work really well with their more masculine bass driven production.

 

Nero – Twitter Facebook Soundcloud 

http://www.thisisnero.com/

– Jimi Jaxon 

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