A Rare Conversation With Ghostek

2013/07/25 //
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Lately, I’ve been keeping tabs on Ghostek. What he’s been creating and who he’s been working with. I started with his label, March’85 and their debut compilation, Tracks 4 My Mom. From there I’ve soaked in his productions, with their sharp rhythms and looming atmosphere. I’ve spent a lot of time mixing “My Lady” off his Easy Changes release. So far, this is my favorite Ghostek track, filled with slick movement and shuffled excellence. I enjoy connecting Disco Droppings to my artist work, giving the music I love a platform online, as well as in a live setting. Ghostek and March’85 are featured in my exclusive Bottom Forty Mix, which was recorded at Vermillion in Seattle, this past May.

 

I’m honored to share this talk I had with Ghostek. I hope this interview inspires, while also giving insight into the mind of this relentless force..

DD Hello Ghostek. Very happy to have you here on Disco Droppings. How are you doing?

GH Hey mate, I’m good. Bit busy as always.

DD This forthcoming collaboration you did with VVV called “Flashing Light” on DPR Recordings is rad. Can you give a clue into the release date? Also, I went over to VVV’s Soundcloud to get feel for his style. I was swept away by the depth and emotion of his productions. What attracted you to him for this collaboration, and what did you guys learn from each other through this process?

GH Shawnin (VVV) is a nice guy and I like his productions as well. Been following his music long before we started working together. And I’m so happy we made it. As for the release date  of ‘Flashing Light’, not sure atm, so I won’t lie. What I really like in working with Shawnin is that he’s quick on production. This is really rare thing, I know a few more guys that are as fast as VVV.

One of them is Sorrow

 

DD The debut release from your new label March’85 is solid. The diversity of sounds that still work cohesively as a whole is very admirable to me. I’m especially fond of Ed Motion’s “Everyday”, Arctic’s “Kings” and Atlus’s “Apophenia”..

GH I’m glad that you like the release, but I have a feeling that it is left a bit underestimated. There’s so much good and versatile music in it. It took long time to collect all those tunes. But it was out when I had some rough times, so I couldn’t spend enough time on promo and stuff. That was a mistake. But apart from it, I think this is one of the best things I took part in. And much love to everyone who supported the compilation! Special thanks to Olga Kalitkina and her mom for the photo and the artwork!

I hope to release more good music with March’85, but I’m too focused on preparing releases for Square Harmony atm. And I’m just trying to get the whole machine working properly. When it is done, I hope the releases will come more often and more regularly.

 

DD I’m also wondering about the time spent in each area of your artist life. Between your own productions, remixes and label managing does one area dominate the others? Are there times when one side has all your attention, and other areas take a break?

GH It is all simple. It differs from time to time. Everything is about inspiration, you know.

DD One release of yours that I absolutely love is the Leaving For The City of Saints EP. I feel a strong spiritual and expansive pull with this release.

GH Thanks man! I think this is one of my best releases so far. I was full of thoughts and ideas at that time. It was just before I was moving to Saint – Petersburg. Had a great time with my family despite all the problems.

DD What significance has becoming an artist played in your life? What kind of evolution have you noticed in yourself, comparing who you were pre-music making and after?

GH That’s a good question. A lot of things changed since then. Now I see everything through the prism of music. I’ve managed to connect all my life with music. Nearly all of my friends now are musicians or good music lovers. Music was around me since childhood. But it was a difficult decision leave everything behind and become a producer. It was a breaking point for me. But I don’t regret anything. If I had another chance, I’d have chosen the same way.

 

DD You did an interview with Katipo Audio recently and mentioned that you’re working on a sample pack. Seems like a fun idea.

GH Yeah, that sample pack is finally out. It was a huge work, but I’m pretty happy with it. And I’m glad I was given that chance. Thanks to Samplephonics for that.

Hope that people will find it useful and inspiring!

DD Any last words?

GH Want to say thank you to everyone who supports me and all the good music. It’s you that keeps it alive!

 

Ghostek – Facebook Twitter Soundcloud Discogs

– Jimi Jaxon

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Night Slugs – Club Constructions Vol.4 (Helix) & Vol. 5 (Hysterics)

2013/07/10 //
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I think Bok Bok and the Night Slugs crew nailed it with these new Club Constructions releases. So many good things to say! First off we have Helix, Georgia based producer of Club Constructions Vol. 4. His cold, metallic, minimal production style is brilliant here. Deceivingly simple, highly effective music that will dirty up any set in the best way. “Track Titled 1” reminds of Daft Punk’s Alive 1997, their tour around Homework. There’s a part, starting to build around 13 minutes with similar chord stabs.

 

 

Hysterics unleashed Club Constructions Vol. 5 yesterday, and the stripped back, industrial rave of the future continues. Girl Unit’s new alias is manacing! I hope the Night Slugs are ushering in a time for this brand of sinister Techno. The label’s description of the release clues you into the production process, “The three cuts on this volume are the result of an experimental production processes, incorporating tape feedback, raw drums punched in manually and percussive parts that are allowed to take unusual lead roles….The resulting recordings are intricate but highly robust rhythm trax.”

 

 

I advise you to bump his new mix for Dis Magazine

I really feel like this, along with the Helix release are lighting the way for dance music of the future. We need things to be more primal, step back from the forced euphoria, and just work that rhythm and bass.

Helix – Soundcloud Twitter

Hysterics – Twitter

nightslugs.net

– Jimi Jaxon

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Astronomar (Mad Decent / Main Course) – On The Move

2013/07/08 //
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My friend Astronomar is wielding monstrous sonic energy with his recent productions. I’m buzzin’ off these recent promos from Marlon and his Main Course label. After some time apart, we’ve reconnected and here’s our conversation. See how he’s doin’ in his new home of LA, the mindset behind some of his tracks and the inner-workings of the super-rad Main Course label. 

 

 

DD Whatsup man? It’s been exactly a year since I had you on Disco Droppings. How are you doing?

AST I’m doing very well thank you! Hard to believe a whole year has passed!

DD Originally from Alaska, we met during your time in Seattle where I’m still at. Your now in L.A., and I’m happy the Emerald City is part of your list of hometowns. How has your most recent move impacted your life?

AST Yeah man I love Seattle! Still come to visit and/or DJ relatively frequently. Being in LA is amazing. Creative energy is through the roof, and it’s so easy to feel inspired.

 

DD The new tracks of yours that first perked my ears up were Like This / Pay Attention. These two sit between a few styles in their own distinct and fun way. Equally playful and demanding. To me, you are a breath of fresh air to the dance community and a formidable producer/DJ coming up. It doesn’t surprise me that your tracks have sparked the interest of DJ’s playing clubs and festivals all over. What was your intention with this release? These tracks seem perfectly made for the environments I mentioned above.

AST Thanks dude happy you like them! Ya I kind of imagine them fitting perfectly somewhere in the middle of a banging club set. Not over the top face melters nor are they very deep; rather something wide & hopefully groovy enough to help people get loose and prepared for a more demanding set of tracks.

DD I think “Untrapped” is a brilliant little term and you really nailed these 3 remixes for your self-released Untrapped Vol. 2. My favorite is your edit of Djemba Djemba’s “Stahp”, really kool! These all seem very fun to put together. What’s your mindset like in the studio? Is a high fun factor something you aim for? I keep coming back to this theme of your productions being colorful and also filled with attitude.

AST I really enjoy making edits! There is so much inspiring music coming out all the time I can’t help but want to ruin them, haha. The whole untrapped thing started from liking what was happening in EDM trap, and  I wanted to incorporate those into house paced sets. So the mindset is really to destroy/rebuild while still respecting the original piece, as well as pushing my personal genre boundaries. For Untrapped 2 I made an old school jungle edit of DJ Fresh VS Diplo “Earthquake”. I sent it to Diplo, then a couple days later I got an email chain back from Diplo with Ministry Of Sound guys saying they wanted to do something with it. I doubt anyone would ever expect me to make a jungle edit of anything, but it was a personally enjoyable musical exercise and to have it be embraced is pretty rewarding.

 

DD One thing I notice in a lot of interviews are the same questions being thrown around like, “where does your name come from?” I like that your playing with people a bit, based on these different responses you’ve given to different people. No question there, I just think it’s funny.

AST f you want to know where my music name comes from its in a different interview lol!

DD I think we are kindred spirits in a few ways, one of them being that we both operate labels. You now have Main Course; which is co-run by Neoteric and Bot. I relate to your guy’s approach of getting good music out there, regardless of genre. How is the work load split in the running of Main Course? And how has this area of management improved other areas of your artist world?

AST Main Course is awesome! I run it with two guys I have great respect and admiration for. There are very few clear lines as to where the duties are split; we all help where we can, when we can, and make decisions on a 3-way basis most of the time. My role is a bit of a mover & shaker on the ground, listening to lots of promos and talking with the artists whom naturally grow into friends (if they aren’t already). But I feel like working with a lot of the incoming music has helped me listen much deeper than I used to, and has helped me give clearer and unbiased feedback. Then, I turn that same ear to my own productions.

 

DD How was your trip to EDC Vegas 2013? I went in 2011 and 2012 and I wish I could’ve seen you at that time!

AST EDC was incredible!! was unreal and hope to make it back to play again in the future.

DD I’d say you are a highly passionate and motivated individual. Are there reminders or pieces of wisdom you use to stay on your desired path?

AST Ayye I appreciate that! I am just grateful that my output is appreciated & realized. Any success no matter how inconvenient is one worth pursuing. Nourish the vibes where you can, shake the hands and recycle the cans.

 

Astronomar – Facebook Twitter Soundcloud 

maincourse.me

– Jimi Jaxon

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The Brilliance of Graze

2013/06/26 //
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I recently wrote a quick piece on Graze for Bottom Forty, but one feature just isn’t enough. I cannot stay away from this debut Graze EP. So now, I go further into the depths of my admiration here on Disco Droppings. Anyone who follows me knows I’m a die hard lover of XI. He’s joined forces with Adam Marshall, head of the phenomenal label, New Kanada for Graze. As a production pair so far, they’ve brought 6 productions to life .

 

In a rad new interview with Truants, Marshall talked about the idea behind this powerhouse group. After first hearing XI he said..”I heard some of Christian’s (XI) music and I didn’t know what to call it, but it was quite innovative.” Both felt a strong connection to the music each of them represented and produced. With Graze they, “wanted to get a project together to specifically perform live. That was the plan, assuming it all worked. The underlying idea was to get something we could tour, jam and perform live with.” Impressively, their first show was at Mutek 2013 in Montreal.

 

The very deliberate intentions with Graze are perfectly understood by me, after hearing the music. The pieces and structure of each track sound like they can be cut and pasted live with ease; reworked and tweaked into a unique live experience. I can hear Marshall’s techno style in the tracks stable nature, and I can hear some of XI’s signature drums and percussion as well as his alien sonic textures. Stay tuned for a full length Graze release, coming soon..

 

Graze – Twitter Facebook

graze.cc

newkanada.com

– Jimi Jaxon

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Phon.o Interview (50 Weapons)

2013/06/21 //
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When I listen to Phon.o, some wonderful things happen. The stable, confident sense of rhythm invites me to move, and the emotional vulnerability calls for a deeper experience. His productions meld with my sensitive personality and my desire to feel something real. It’s a combination of approaches that I find most impressive, and this man has it down. We talk about his newest release on 50 Weapons (Modeselektor’s label), his thoughts on channeling emotions as a producer, his free Live Pack for Ableton and my favorite track of his, “Fukushima”..

 

DD Hello Phon.o. Thank you for taking time to talk with me on Disco Droppings.

P.O Hi Jimi. 

DD You have a new release on 50 Weapons. It’s a nice balance between the dark, emotional “Schn33” and the more fun, upbeat “Go”. What goes into choosing which tracks get released? Did you know these were the ones you wanted to put out, or was it more of a collaborative effort with Modeselektor (heads of the label) sorting through a lot of your productions and deciding these were the ones?

P.O When I work on songs, I leave the sketches for several days and go back to them to check if they’re worth arranging into a full-length. In this case I was very happy with these tracks and was sure they’d come out great if I arranged them well. So in the end, I did these 2 songs and gave them to Modeselektor. They liked them immediately which was great. There were just a few hints Gernot gave me concerning the levels of the rides in “Schn33”. But that was all he had to “criticize”.

 

DD My recent feelings of loneliness and introspection have helped me connect to your “Black Boulder” album. It sits right between coldness and things shifting towards the positive..

P.O Somehow, I am always suffering when I am doing music, because I think “oh damn… that’s not good enough” or “is it worth releasing?” and so on. I guess this kind of fight with myself has an affect on my music. It’s a good and necessary struggle you find yourself in as a musician. I love to make songs and not just tracks especially for an album. That means I always use melodies or harmonic progressions to create songs. And for sure, I love melodies :] I need to get an emotional moment in the studio while I am working on songs. I can’t just do a rhythm. It would be boring for me.

 

DD I’m really enjoying the sounds included in your free Live Pack for Ableton. You mentioned in your Ableton interview that about half of the sounds used in “Black Boulder” are included here. Some artists can be very protective of the sounds and samples used in their tracks, what to you is the benefit of being more open-handed?

P.O Yes, it’s true that a lot of artists protect their samples. I don’t understand, because with drum samples you can’t make songs or create impressive ideas. And that is what matters in the end. I see the drum samples just as a tool and I am happy if people can use a sound here and there. I was never interested in creating a blue print sound for myself. I just do what I like and if people come afterwards and tell me that it’s a typical “Phon.o sound” I am happy. I guess this comes how I do the songs, the beats and how I mix them at the end.

 

DD I opened a recent set of mine with your track “Fukushima”. It is refreshing to see dance music reflect society as this track does. The emotional and dire intensity you’ve created, matches the real life events surrounding the title. Was this a deliberate connection? 

P.O When I did the sketch for this song this big disaster was happening at Fukushima. I just saved the project with “Fukushima” as a working title. Months later I opened it up and realized that there was some drama going on and that the name fit really well. I added the sample “save me” to emphasize this dramatic feeling of the synths and it was done. I am a political or better yet quite critical person, but I don’t often put political content in my music. Here and there but not too often.

 

DD What do you hope to accomplish in the remainder of 2013?

P.O I start working on my album after my holidays and hope to finish it in autumn. Besides that, U am working on a great project with a singer and musician called “Born in Flamez”. I am doing co-production for it. It’s very interesting to me, because its musically very different and more arty. I will learn a lot.

 

Phon.o – Facebook Twitter Soundcloud

50weapons.com

– Jimi Jaxon

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