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For those who may not know, could you introduce yourself and tell us what you’ve been up to recently? 

DJ/Producer and owner of Aesthetic Audio, which is based in Detroit, MI.  As of late my focus has been to grow the Aesthetic Audio brand & sound by continuing to introduce quality sound to the genre.

You seem interested in avoiding conceptions of artists and labels, even suggesting that you try not to look at names on records – how do you prefer to think of music?

It’s certainly not intentional; my point is that the most important thing to me is to keep the focus on the music instead riding a ‘media hype style bandwagon’. For instance, ‘DJ so and so’ puts out a record, and regardless that the record is trash, the media positions it as the best thing since sliced bread, and then the masses ride the bandwagon … it’s sad actually, but again that’s just my opinion.

How do you organize the concept of this record or that without knowledge of its background?  

At some point, everyone in this industry is new at it, so names aside, if the music is good and it moves you, then the mission is accomplished. If it’s a quality piece or a nice DJ tool; then it’s automatically in my mental rolodex.

You were a well-known DJ for many years before you started to release your own music. Nowadays it’s rare for DJs to be widely noted without some original productions – what effect do you feel this has on electronic music?

There are some DJs that play quite a bit and do not have their own original productions, some play because they are talented, and some because of media hype, but what confuses me is how so many producers who are not skilled selectors are booked to DJ events just because they have a record out?  This has always confused me. Shouldn’t a big part of DJing gigs be determined by whether or not you rock a party?

Can you describe your creative process when you’re producing?

Personally, it varies for me; sometimes it takes me just to be relaxed, in a good mental space along with good energy flowing, and other times it takes just the opposite for more aggressive tracks.

How does it relate to the way you structure emotions and moods in your sets?

For me, its all about the people. I love to play a room when people’s energy is on high and they are ready to dance, and it’s easy for me to be free and let everything go. It’s a natural high for me to give them what they came for out of my appreciation.

Let’s talk about your mix – did you have anything specific in mind when you were recording it?

The main objective is to make sure that it resonates with the dancers and music fans and that’s all that I could ever ask for.

Can you tell us a bit about the artists you featured? 

There’s new unreleased music from Aesthetic Audio, and a mix of Detroit, Chicago and European based artists’ music in the set. Whenever I play I like to use the various elements to create the movement, and to tell a story in a set.

You’ve talked lots about Detroit talent, are there any artists at the moment that you’re really into?

I support everyone from the D, and anyone abroad who is dropping science…diversity in music is critical to sustaining the culture.

How important is the city for you in terms of early influence?

My early influences in the D are certainly a part of who I am now, but even though it’s in my DNA, I like to think that I am constantly growing both as a person and as an artist, so I stay open to everything, life, new experiences, and people can always influence me.

What do you think about producers from elsewhere in the world who seem to align themselves with certain aspects of Detroit’s many distinctive sounds?

I think of it mostly as a compliment, and I certainly do get it, but sometimes it can be a bit weird at times …

Can we ask about your production set up? Do you have any analogue/digital preference (or anything to add to the debate)?

My studio is a bit of mix of analog and digital pieces.  I know that allot of people love to talk about equipment, and I understand, but equipment is only the vehicle that is used to articulate what is already conceived in your mind and in your soul…a sequencer can only do so much.

Anybody else you’re listening to/playing out a lot at the moment?

This is really quite a long list (too many names here) … I have a lot of respect for the artists who came before us, and 90’s house and techno was some of the best and most creative music ever in my opinion, and I still listen to allot of the older stuff, but as far as playing out, I’m definitely about exploring new boundaries and taking the dancer floor on a new journey …

Do you find any particular producers to be a significant influence on your music? Or even themes/ideas?

For me … in the dance genre it was Larry Heard, Little Louis, Frankie Knuckles, Kevin, Juan, Derrick, Blake Baxter, Pepe Bradock, Kenny & Theo, Tony Humphries, M.A.W. , Jovann, DJ Gregory, Glenn Underground, and far too many others to name, but I got into this music by going out as a dancer and these are a few of the peeps that got me into it.

What have you got in store for 2013?

• (May 2013)   AES #017 – Aesthetic Audio presents The Sound Oasis by Joe Drive feat K. Worthy Remix
• (June 2013)  AES #018 – The Unusual Suspects (Various Artists E.P. featuring Miruga Yoshiki Tsuchiya (Japan), Jose Rico – Downbeat (Spain), Michael Zucker – Balance Alliance & Finale Sessions (U.S.A.) and Keith Worthy – Aesthetic Audio (U.S.A)
• (July 2013)     AES # 019 - Aesthetic Audio presents Dub Life E.P. by Lee Duncan
• 2013 T.B.D. AES #020 (Full Compilation Album by Various Artists) – Aesthetic Audio presents The Intangibles
• 2013 T.B.D. AES # 021 - (Solo Album) The $ of Non-Conformance by Keith Worthy

Could you tell us about how your new album came together? I understand you’ve been traveling a lot recently.

I was fortunate enough after the release of my last album to be invited to a fair amount of places that I hadn’t spent much time in before and coincidentally also started producing a magazine, The Travel Almanac, with Paul Kominek (Pawel, one of the original founders of Dial Records) which additionally facilitated a number of other trips and extended stays.

You were born in Ohio, so how exactly did you become exposed to the sounds that have influenced your production?

I started getting interested in electronic music in my early teens and ended up going to raves in the Midwest when I was able. More importantly, I bought a lot of tapes that were made by Chicago DJs and sold at parties and record stores in Cleveland, where I was going to school at the time. A lot of these tapes were copies of copies of copies that just came with inkjet-printed labels and I loved the way they sounded; like melted figments of their original selves.

How was it that you hooked up with Dial and moved to Berlin? Was it an easy transition?

When I finished college I started visiting friends in Berlin here and there…sometimes for a few weeks and sometimes for a couple of months. I ended up meeting Romy Zips randomly who was a longtime friend of everyone from Dial. She DJd with them and was doing all of their bookings at that time.

I sent her some of my music and she ended up giving it to Pete (Lawrence), David (Carsten Jost), and Hendrik (Pantha du Prince) at a dinner party and they wrote me an email shortly after asking me to be a part of the label.  It was an incredibly sweet letter…Romy ended up moving to New York for awhile where I was living and she encouraged me to move to Berlin and offered to be my booking agent. So needless to say, I am eternally thankful to Romy for all of her help!

What did you think of the response to your debut Glass Eights? How much do you pay attention to critical and audience response?

I was incredibly thankful and humbled by the response as I certainly hadn’t planned for anything like that. Of course it feels nice to know that people appreciate what you are doing and I’m always very surprised and thankful when anyone tells me that they’ve enjoyed something that I’ve produced, but at the same time I try not to let opinions guide or change what I’m doing in any way. I try my best to keep as genuine and personal an output as possible.

Your new album, Fences, sounds rather different to previous material. The instrumentation seems busier and more organic, and perhaps less overtly orchestral? What has shaped your sound in the intervening years?

It’s difficult for me to evaluate something like that as I don’t really have enough distance from the music to analyze it in that way, but I think it’s just like any other sort of work…you learn new tricks, preferences, etc. along the way and those, combined with changes in your personality due to new experiences, spit out some sort of final product that hopefully doesn’t exactly replicate what you’ve produced in the past. I’ve always loved the idea of being able to look back on what you’ve done and see visible progressions and refinements over time.

You’ve said before that a lot of your music stems from samples of different origins. Is there a big difference in what you’re sampling and how you use these sounds on Fences? Has your process changed much?

I am still really open to samples from any source as long as they make sense to me aesthetically. With this album I made a lot of cassette recordings while traveling and cut those up once I returned home, but I approached the use of those sounds in the same way that I might use a sample from a record or an instrument; recording large pieces, slicing those into smaller more appealing portions, and leaving them in a pile to rearrange later.

Likewise, the track titles struck me as found objects, things you’d find on a walk or on a beach. Each has this kind of faded atmosphere, where did they come from?

I think the analogy of found objects on a beach perfects sums up how I arrived at the titles. Just like the samples that were used, the titles were ‘found’ pieces as well.  I oftentimes have this experience where I’ll be somewhere like a hotel, or a flea market, and see a book title and quickly imagine that it is something really amazing about a particular topic, but after opening it, realize that it is actually completely mundane. For example, I was staying at a hotel in Massachusetts awhile back and saw this cloth-bound book with gold-foil stamped lettering called “Fences” on the bedside table, which I imagined as some sort of strange collection of short stories, but when I opened it it was just a book about different types of fences that one could build.  I guess I like the idea of trying to re-inject the titles with what I was hoping they would be in the first place.

You release a magazine, The Travel Almanac, which deals with the artistic side of travel and temporary living. Where did the ideas for this come from? Has the nomadic life had a big influence on your musical output?

The original idea for the project came from Paul Kominek, who asked me early on to work together with him on developing it into a physical publication. The idea behind the magazine is to examine the ways in which traveling and temporary habitation affect artistic output, behavior, and modes of thinking.

I think that the influence of travel on creative pursuits is unavoidable and I definitely feel that it has changed and altered what I am doing musically and just generally in many ways. I know that personally every time I visit someplace new, or revisit a place that I’ve already been after some time has passed, my perception and way of interacting with that location and ways of working on whatever project I am consumed with at that time is definitely altered.

The magazine has interviewed big names not only in music but also in film, such as David Lynch and Harmony Korine. How does all this come about? Who would be your dream interviewee?

I feel really fortunate to have gotten a chance to feature everyone that we’ve interviewed thus far. Usually the opportunities to speak with our contributors has come through patience and gentle persistence. I think Will Oldham and Harmony Korine were two of my dream interviews, but right now I am really excited about our next issue with Willem Dafoe!

You’ve mentioned that you don’t listen to great deal of new releases. What do you tend to listen to?

When I’m home I listen to the classical radio station WQXR in the mornings and then the rap station HOT97 in the afternoons or while in cars. I usually don’t listen to much music when I’m traveling, but I am in Paris right now and have really gotten into this station here that plays sort of an insane medley of classical, jazz, and French songs.  Although yesterday they played a deformed rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” so I’ve decided to give it a rest for awhile.

John Roberts’ new album ‘Fences’ is out on the 27^th May.

While the festival’s top spots are generally reserved for alternative acts, and there are some almighty picks this year including Animal Collective, Kurt Vile, Mulatu Astatke and John Cooper Clarke, this year there are more electronic acts than ever. Worries about potential schedule clashes will undoubtedly get washed away by the flood of raw talent on display. Make sure not to miss Matthew Herbert discussing the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the Museum of Sound.

In terms of IA’s top picks, Field Day looks set to offer an impressive selection of DJs exploring the darker strains of the UK’s underground sounds. The likes of resident Berliners Shed and Objekt are nestled up against fresh blood Karenn, Lee Gamble, Happa and Daniel Avery, ensuring an impressive survey of today’s techno scene.

Meanwhile a dissection of the bass scene’s bleeding edge will be ably carried out by all three Hessle Audio founders; that’s Pearson Sound, Pangaea and Ben UFO. If that’s not enough, Bok Bok and Girl Unit come repping Night Slugs while Ben Pearce should provide a dose of Swamp81’s trend-setting sound. Meanwhile a personal recommendation should be extended for Koreless’ brilliant live set, ahead of the release of his superb Yugen EP.

This all goes without mentioning some of the biggest party DJs on the planet squeezed into a single night, with TNGHT, Disclosure, and Canadian bass wizard Jacques Greene all set to perform live sets, while Oneman and Julio Bashmore are sure to keep the mood buoyant throughout a heavy day of partying.

With so much to see it’ll inevitably be over to soon, but Field Day have certainly outdone themselves in 2013, hosting too much talent to even cram into a single preview (did we mention Daphni? Four Tet? Mount Kimbie?). Rain or shine, London’s only truly unmissable event is on Saturday 25 May, and you can head over here to buy tickets and explore the full line-up.

From May 30th to June 2nd the Parque Da Cidade in Porto, Portugal will host a comprehensive range of artists, from legendary live bands to DJs, electronic acts and more personal, experimental offerings. It’s a line-up that stands up to any major festival, ensuring the second installment of this still fledgling festival will deliver an all-encompassing experience.

Below are a few choice selections across the three days and four stages that aren’t to be missed:

• Thursday May 30th:
• Dead Can Dance – 2012’s Anastasis broke the 16-year silence for this utterly unique Australian duo, whose initial 80s output helped define    the still evolving 4AD. They’re a band steeped in mysticism, culture and literature, and when coupled with their escape from conventional pop structures it points to a truly thrilling live experience.
• James Blake – An artist whose distinctiveness increases with every release, Blake, like so many others, found solace and inspiration with the early dubstep propagated by DMZ. With second album Overgrown recently released and a band in accompaniment, it’d be a huge shame to miss out on a delicate and highly atmospheric encounter.

• Friday June 1st:
• Fuck Buttons – One of the most adventurous, exciting acts to emerge from anywhere over the last decade, Fuck Buttons marry a certain vulgarity and undiluted power with accessibility through sweeping melodies and sequences. One of the more abrasive live acts on the bill – intense would be an understatement.
• Four Tet –  A globally celebrated and renowned UK artist, few need introduction to Kieran Hebden’s musical output. One of the best selectors operating today, expect a blend of techno, abstract electronica, folk and jazz to influence a wonderfully refreshing set.

• Saturday June 2nd
• Dan Deacon – Back in 2007 Dan Deacon’s set at Pitchfork Festival was actually shut down due to raucousness. The Baltimore native is known for creating an inviting atmosphere for his attendees, and his mad, genre-bending sets make his appearance an essential contribution to the festival.
• My Bloody Valentine – Seduction isn’t what we’re looking at here. MBV don’t do seduction, at least live. Assault would be a more appropriate word. It says something when earplugs are handed out before a performance. Kevin Shields and his cohorts will be blasting the sound they patented over two decades ago, and with 2013s near-flawless MBV also on the agenda, it’s compulsory attendance.

TICKETS / PROGRAM

Dungeon Acid can you please introduce yourself and tell us what you’ve been up to since you recorded this exclusive Inverted Audio Session in London?

Hello my name is Jean-Louis Huhta. I live in Stockholm. I am a father and make sounds and stuff.

Since this recording was made I’ve spent the past two months in LA together with my girlfriend who was there on behalf of a film stipend. We had a great time there exploring the scene and making some new friends and meeting some old ones. I skated a little and made some recordings with friends. I was planning on going to Detroit as well but couldn’t make it there in time.

Before going to LA we recorded a new album with our band The Skull Defekts, for due release on Thrill Jockey Records.

I made a Dungeon Acid room in a group show “I want to hold your hand” at The Borås Art Museum. The Exhibition celebrates 50 years of POP music in Sweden. It’s a great show with lots of photos, old records, fanzines and art going through all different genres from 1968.

At this moment I am doing a music workshop, writing and am at a art school in Brunnsvik. I’ve been here for a week teaching how to do a soundwalk, jamming with synthesizers and watching movies. It’s great fun and a fantastic school that will unfortunately be shut down soon.

Did you have a preconceived theme before playing this performance or was it a random live jam?

Well you could say the theme was the patterns that were in the machines made for the gig I did at the Xenoglossy party previously.

It always changes, I never do a set list, usually I start with a prerecorded intro to set the mood and lead me into the pool of sequences. From there on I’ll build the set and move about freely as I choose. I play the machines and the machines play me. It’s about being in the ZONE.

Can you tell us about the equipment you used to create this live session?

MPC 1000, Bass Bot, Electro-Harmonix Hazarai. A-100 Eurorack modular synthesizer case with mostly MakeNoise modules and some other stuff. I am now in the process of switching from the MPC 1000  to a Octatrack machine.

You played purely live, no laptop, just analog machines. Have you always been into using analog gear? If so, why?

I started buying analog equipment years ago. I have always had a fascination for machines since I was a kid. I got my first mac with a soundcard and sound designer in the early nineties, then eventually moved to just working in a computer environment. Exploring the possibilities of performance and live improvisation with just a computer mixer and a soundcard. It was fun and inspiring, but got boring after a while, so after a long period of that I started using my machines again.

So for Dungeon Acid it’s just hardware no arrangements, no after treatments apart from mastering. What you hear on the record is what went down and basically how it sounds live if the sound is good. That’s how I used to record when I started doing Techno. Record straight to DAT then edit it.

How long have you been producing as Dungeon Acid? Can you tell us about your musical heritage, previous production?

My musical heritage is based on everything that has influenced me in my life.

My parents record collection of the punk years in Gothenburg. The years with the people at Radium 226.05 (Radium was a gallery that later became a record label run by Ulrich Hillebrand, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff and Erik Pauser. They brought William S Burroughs to Sweden to read and show the films “Cut Up” and “Towers Open fire”. I was in a band called Cortex we played after screening).

Dungeon Acid has been going since 2009. Previous projects and bands through the years have included Cortex, Anti-Cimex, Texas Instruments, The Stone Funkers, Lucky People Center. Brommage Dub, Ocsid. 413, Dr. Nobody, Kozmic Niggah and some others.

What is Dungeon Acid? What’s story behind the coining of the Dungeon Acid moniker?

Dungeon is a metaphor for the subconscious, breaking the chain or connecting the chain, to move on several levels, being in the present like skateboarding or aikido. Vibration, movement, communication, empowerment, heat, eroticism, physicality, decoding ancient rhythms, taking control, loosing control, the unseen, traveling, in time, trying to understand, the love of rhythm of sound and noise, celebrating acid music and Detroit techno, looking back and moving forward in time and space. Ad infinitum

What music did you grow up listening to and what records would you say define your childhood?

The JB’s, Sly Stone, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Dollar Brand, Mc 5, Bob Marley, Santana, Weather Report, Marvin Gaye,

Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and so forth. My parents had a huge record collection, when I was a kid I used to zone out for hours listening to records with headphones on.

Kiss was the first band I became a fan of, later when I started skateboarding I discovered DEVO through Skateboarder magazine. I became totally fascinated by the world of DEVO. In the 80′s I got into punk and Industrial music, dub and early tape and computer music.

Some records that were on heavy rotation in my childhood:

Archie Shepp “Fire Music”

Miles Davis  “Sketches Of Spain”

Santana 3

Donna Summer  “Love To Love You Baby”

Herbie Hancock “Feets Don’t Fail Me Now”

Kiss “Hotter Than Hell”

The Tubes (album)

Devo  ” Q:Are We Not Men? A:We Are DEVO!”

Ramones “Road To Ruin”

Buzzcocks  “A Different Kind Of Tension”

You studied at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts – What attracted you to study at STDH and can you tell us about your experience at the academy, what key things did you learn from studying there?

I am autodidactic so the possibility to go to school was cool to be able to do at this point in my life. It was an opportunity for me to focus on projects and ideas I’ve wanted to do, there were a lot of inspiring lectures by different artists.

I’m currently working on a project, which enables me to make sound and graphics while skateboarding. May 24 and 25 will be the premiere of that project at the music museum in Stockholm.

In the near future I could come to London and skate the sinewaves!

You currently live in Stockholm. What’s the electronic music scene like in Sweden, how often do you get to play your music out and experience other types of music in Sweden?

The electronic music scene in Sweden is strong, a lot of people organise great concerts and events. I play now and then and DJ sometimes in local bars and one-off parties and such.

We also have EMS, which is the electronic music studio in Stockholm, a great place to record electronic and electroacoustic music.

There are some great record shops and music equipment shops and distributors. A lot of people are into being creative musically which is good.

We need more freer venues for people to do gigs and stuff. There is too much control at present.

Who/what is responsible for getting you interested in producing techno?

I believe I have always liked techno. Everything is connected from always being interested in electronic music, different and unusual sound textures and machine like rhythms.

Long chains of events have led to this. Emrik the singer of Stone Funkers played me a tape around 88-89 called “Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit” it was so funky.

Later we did a show in Copenhagen in a jazz club. Underground Resistance had played in the city as well. They came and checked us out backstage; they were into the Moog synths and stuff.

That was the first time I met Mike Banks. When I started DJ’ing in the late 80′s I was spinning mostly hip-hop, GO-GO music and funk in our club Lucky People Center.

Later when I moved to Stockholm I started buying gear and tinkering by myself and continued DJ’ing but focused more on Detroit techno.

Andrew Diey and a mate of his opened a record shop called Surface Elements focusing on Techno. There was also Pitch Records and later Planet Rhythm. Cari Lekebusch had his studio in the basement of Planet Rhythm. He had just started his own imprint called Label Hybrid and he put out my first record together with Simon Hartley. It was an electro track “Get Your Ass To Mars” it was a long track with samples from Bladerunner and Total Recall.

Do you have a personal philosophy on sound?

I feel there is no end to creation and this is something that I enjoy doing, this is what I have always wanted to do and probably will do for the rest of my life in some way or another. The world of sound is vast. There’s so much to do and explore. Just keep doing it man. Don’t stop till you drop.

I heard you used to have live cockroaches in your bedroom. Tell me about that?

This was in the 90′s Brommage Collective days. We lived in a big house with a studio in the basement. Simon Hartley whom I had some projects with lived there as well.

An artist friend of mine named Henrik Håkansson whose work usually centers around animals, insect, plants and science, had a whole aquarium filled with them for an installation.

I took care of them for a while but when it got dark they become quite active It was fascinating and a bit scary at the same time. I had nightmares of them escaping and taking over the house. Later they were driven to Germany for a show, but the trip was too cold for them and  not many made of them made it to the show.

What environments do you prefer to write tracks in?

Mostly I work in my studio or I will bring some equipment home and work there. Sometimes I go to EMS which is the Electronic music studio in Stockholm they have a huge Buchla and Serge modular system.

Where are the strangest places you’ve played at?

It was probably in the Russian Ural Mountains. In a small room it was like an après-ski place. Kids sat and played board games and drank tea while I banged away in the corner. There were also a group of Swedish language students there. Their Swedish was excellent.

What other activities or hobbies do you get up to apart from music?

I still skateboard and do aikido now and then. I like taking pictures, filming and reading books, I guess those are my hobbies. I want to get into surfing its been a dream of mine since I was 10. I have to ride the waves before I leave this world.

Do you have any records coming out this year? If so please tell us about them and how long you’ve been working on it for.

I just released a Dungeon Acid record on my label Huhta Home Studio. There is one coming soon on Fit recordings. An album and a split record with Russell Haswell coming soon iDeal Recordings and one on a new label called Zodiac.

Do you have any final words, words of wisdom perhaps?

- Don’t be an asshole
- Take control of your life
- Cut the crap

Peace out

Jean-Louis Huhta

Dungeon Acid plays in London on Saturday 13th July 2013 at Bleed & Xenoglossy present… Frak, Helena Hauff & Dungeon Acid at The Hive Project – Tickets can be bought from RA

>>ENTER COMPETITION

MACHINEDRUM
DARK SKY
MARIBOU STATE
REDLINE
MATT BOGARD & SAM DMS

9PM – 3AM | £8 EARLYBIRD | £12.50 ADV | £15 – £20 OTD
TICKETS: RA / TICKET ABC

A key player in the bass and footwork revolutions, Machinedrum a.k.a Travis Stewart’s unyielding creativity has bore witness through his many projects- be it on his own, with Praveen Sharma as Sepalcure, or his most recent collaboration with Jimmy Edgar, JETS (an acronym that is formed of both their initials in case you were wondering). Now as the Berlin-based Edgar and Stewart announce the launch of their own label, Ultramajic, there’s been no better time to catch Machinedrum at his peak.

London trio Dark Sky have been making bass-shaped waves for a while now, with their oeuvre spread across numerous prestigious labels, such as Black Acre, Naked Naked, 50 Weapons, and most recently, Mister Saturday Night. With a sonic aesthetic that is informed in equal parts by techno and grime, their dark, uncompromising set will be a treat.

A slightly lighter offering is served by Maribou State, whose pop-inflected take on the classic garage/ house hybrid operates as the perfect amuse-bouche before the big hitters later on in the night. Following remixes for the likes of 2 Bears and Crookers, their crowd pleasing sound is sure to go down smoothly. All three acts take to the main room at XOYO for what looks like to be a belter of a night all ends up.

We met with Martin Dust to discuss the new album and recent experiences of Sheffield. He also shares insight into the cities industrial, cultural and musical progression, fall and rise and the way that the scene is emerging again with the help of the younger generation.

You have both your album ‘Tranklements‘ and ‘Darkhouse Vol.02‘ EP out on Dust Science Recordings. Let’s talk about ‘Darkhouse’ first.

The “Dark House” series was for playing in nightclubs really and squarely ended dance floor. Simply because we write quite a broad spectrum of stuff and we kind of got this dark theme running through everything that we were writing, so we decided to write a series of 12” and then invite some of our friends to do a remix of one of the tracks, do something more upbeat and something for the party crowd.

Quite often on our albums, we don’t get the opportunity to do that, because albums for us work differently. They work as this “one thing” you’re able to listen to from start to finish rather than with 12”, you can select a track, something for DJs as well.

We’ve got a long history of electronic music in Sheffield you know, from Human League, Clock DVA, Vice Versa and lots of bands that nobody’s ever heard of. It’s kind of a weird analogy, you talk to guys in Detroit and Chicago and they loved Penthouse & Pavement. So we don’t see it as separate areas, it’s just one group of people, talking to another group of people, getting influenced. What’s not to like?

Talking about Sheffield, a city that has artists that influenced a big group of people around the world, you share on your twitter page that you were strolling around the city centre and you felt kind of sad, as there’s a lot of deserted buildings. Do you feel that Sheffield is similar to Detroit at the moment, in terms of this?

No, no. I think a lot of people think Detroit is all about abandoned buildings, Detroit is not like that. Anybody that’s been there will tell you that. OK, there’s a large portion that is like that but it’s the same in Sheffield as well, but what’s happened in Sheffield is we’ve got a large shopping centre in the edge of Sheffield, which has taken probably 90% of the business at the city centre. They’re not giving opportunities to new businesses and younger people.

There are hundreds of empty shops, which could be given to creative people to fill them, give them a chance. They don’t seem to do that and all the popular places to have a drink there are just down two streets now. It’s weird as in the 70’s; the whole city was populated over a wider spectrum and now it’s just restricted into small focuses.

Do you think that the city might be losing its cultural identity and that’s why a lot of music and arts professionals are no longer based there?

I think Sheffield, like Detroit or like Birmingham probably again in the 60s-70s, we used to invent things, we used to make things, we manufactured things and people’s careers were pretty much mapped out. You followed your father into a job.

Since the UK has become a service industry- it’s not a manufacturer-it changed the landscape in a matter of 4 years. Within those 4 years, it suddenly got 790,000 people unemployed. So the landscape’s changed, but the talent of artists and the music hasn’t, there are still people kicking in Sheffield again as you can live here pretty cheap, where you can’t really do that in London.

Anybody that’s lived in London knows you’ve got to fight for a living, to live in a decent building. Up here you can still buy a new 4-bedroom house for £220k, you couldn’t buy a garage in London for that. You can still see the old factories and works around the city; you definitely know you’re into some heavy industry.

I think the young talent that’s coming out and people we’ve been supporting have got some mad skills; it’s still a creative city, against all the odds.

What is your connection with Electronic Supper Club?

We started ESC because we’ve always been interested in the broadcasting medium. We got 12 weeks together and we’re actually just about to start again. We put an internet connection into a small building and just organised a series of parties, bringing big artists from Sheffield, mixed with really talented younger ones with some mad skills. It’s really lovely and really refreshing to see that and to see that there are as good as anybody else that we’ve ever played with, you know? They are only 18-19 years old and I think that’s great, it’s really refreshing.

So your faith in the younger generation has been restored, or was it never lost?

I don’t think we’ve ever lost it! We are fairly old not, sitting in the studio making music. We don’t go out from Thursday and come back Sunday morning anymore! It’s great just to know there are so many great talents out there. We can’t help not to be supportive. You can’t deny a good record and you can’t deny a good DJ.

Your new album “Tranklements” is released this month. I know you don’t want to analyse it track by track, but all tracks express different thoughts.

We kind of saw the album more as an artist would see a painting.  Tranklements…there’s these things we were talking about that started it. The older generation in Sheffield and probably in other places as well, they used to have little cabinets with things that they are connected, a collection of things that were really precious.

We were thinking as artists that this is what we’re doing. A painter would be painting an individual picture of some thoughts, a discussion, triggered of by an influence. That’s kind of what we wanted to do.

Its track has a story, some are written about certain things but because they have no vocals in, it allows people to reinterpret in any way that they wish.  Sometimes it’s kind of frustrating that you have to explain everything, people don’t take art’s value. It’s similar with contemporary art; a lot of people don’t put any value in it. It’s about creating a picture of art and it’s about expressing an idea, no matter how badly sometimes we manage to do that.

Are there any experiences you recently had, which made you feel extremely happy?

There are a lot of things! We’ve already talked about new artists in Sheffield that we’re really into and we started touring again and we played in Paris with a young band that’s Polar Inertia, they were just amazing! What’s also refreshing is that a lot of the promoters are youngsters as well and got so much enthusiasm. Carrying on the “history of electronic music”.

People are now more open-minded to different genres of music and different kinds. Whereas before you might get the guy with a beard, in an Underground Resistance t-shirt moaning that “this is not techno” and stuff like that. I think people are more open-minded.

That’s something that was great about punk. You could listen to X Ray Spex or you could listen to Discharge, vastly different styles of music but with the same ethics running through it. There’s a lot of great music out there today, you know as soon as you play, it will get everybody dancing. It’s all about having a good party.

Another thing is, a lot more artists are getting a lot more political now; they are speaking up against sexism, against fascism, against the government in UK. We didn’t really vote for this government, nobody did and we’ve still not dealt with it. What the fuck is happening? They just seem to punish the poor over and over again. It’s kind of like people are having some revelation again, just people had enough of it, because I think they had!

You’re releasing your music on CD and vinyl. In what kind of form do you think that music is going to be distributed in the next… 10 years let’s say?

I don’t know! We as an older generation, we have a different view on it. We like 12”, the vinyl pressings are really important, but I don’t think it matters. As long as people get to hear it in a decent quality format it doesn’t matter.

We’ve been in offices to meet people and they’re listening to music from YouTube playlists, and you kind of think, the quality of sound is so horrible! But there’s a generation gap where some people don’t care about the quality of it. That’s been brought by iTunes, just feeding you with 192kbps, and then there’s a generation that are kind of becoming the next music nerds, supporting vinyl and supporting releases.

I think that Facebook and Twitter and all the social media are giving an opportunity to talk to them fans. We’ve just done some t-shirts and we’ve explained to people that we can’t afford to get 50 done one of each style and sit on it stock, so what we did is take orders first and then give a little manufacturer in Sheffield the job to do it and it keeps somebody in work in Sheffield. People have been great about it and if you’re open and honest and ask people-which a lot people are not good at- that will give you support back.

Record labels are sharing streams of new albums, EPs before there are released and so people have the chance to listen before they buy them. There are of course a lot of people that are illegally downloading music. How do you feel about this?

Firstly the music industry is still working off the same model before digital. Because we still have printed press, people won’t think stream into their advance. Because of fast digital lines, it’s kind of like the spoilt kid in the playground who always has everything. There will always be somebody that wants to share it, give it to somebody else and get numbers for their blogs. Underneath all that, the difference of me giving you a copy, it’s vastly different from somebody who is industrially mining music

Part of what we did in our studio myself and Rich, we did quite a lot of programming and the amount of things that professional bloggers and not the casual music lovers share, it’s something like 760G a day of music. Perhaps one person manages to get a free download and then they ask for something like $3 for a membership, that’s how it works. The bloggers give them 60% of their money, that’s been really well documented.

There’s a different between music lovers, they might put on a track on but that’s kind of ok as they will spend time listen to tracks, then write about them. You look like Evil.com and they are doing 700 releases a day and they are doing that for a living and this will never stop. You’re giving the money to the wrong people. That’s what you’ve got to try and educate people.

I think music industry has to change from a 3 months promotion, to 6 weeks. Then if it does leak, you can still release it. It’s the whole industry that’s go it wrong really and we’re still in that industry and there’s nothing you can do. The argument that stands is they would never have bought it anyway. If some of them don’t have money that’s fine, but does it de-value it? I think it does!

We were talking to somebody about how great we thought Black Sabbath was and when we’ve seen him next they’ve downloaded the whole back catalogue. He got everything, rarities, b-sides, the whole thing. You don’t have everything in such way, you’re not exploring every album one by one and you’re missing on the artwork!

You’ll be touring quite a lot and one of the shows you’re doing is Freerotation Festival in July. How was the connection made?

We’ve wanted to play there for quite a long time! All our friends that have gone to Freerotation said, “it’s such a great party, you need to experience it”. And it’s a great crowd, they are all music lovers, they know what tracks you’re playing! And that’s definitely the experience you want to have.

Numbers have never been important to us, some of the best parties that we’ve done have been in small buildings, one of the best ones that we did was in an old concrete barn in Sheffield. There were just 300 people, all partying in a field, just everything went right that night for us. Everything! I think the day that feeling leaves us, is probably the day that we stop making music or playing live.

We’ve always tried to support small venues and we’re really strict with our agent, no matter what the offer is, we must see it. Because we think if there’s somebody that’s really trying in a city and perhaps only 200 people might turn up, they are really trying and they need to get supported. Sheffield is like that; for years there was nothing, people like Aphex Twin or Squarepusher used to play and nobody turned up, it was freezing and there was nobody there!

Now there is a big nostalgia about it and having so much warehouse space in the city, we are happy to start again, get some bigger names and the young generation together. It’s coming on and it’s great to see people enjoy it.

If you rewind the analogy of a night-clubbing and look at his other releases over the last few years, ‘MTI‘ was in backward ways a glimpse back at a euphoric dance-floor; instead of direct energy you find a suffusion of spacious noise and melody overlaid with vocal swipes that tug and twist their way in circles. ‘4D‘ was of a similar ilk, a faint-hearted banger with threadbare melodic tension.

So fast forward to the spring and Koreless is back with an outing this time on Young Turks, picking up where he left off with those vocal slices, soft slow burn pads and urgent percussion. Except lead track ‘Sun‘ exudes far more than this, a grandiose distillation of his previous trademarks recast into something positively galactic, airless drums that pitter patter like heavy rain, melodies that take you by the hand and push you through fierce waves of synth-led emotion.

‘Last Remnants’ soars and thrums with vitality; fresh kaleidoscope melodies that circle and tick along purposefully before accelerating and collapsing in feedback. What follows is ‘No Sun’, effectively a black-hole of a sonic counterpart for ‘Sun’. The closing ‘Never’ dovetails hazily around feathery arpeggios that wrong foot delightfully. A subtle change of pace slows the tempo allowing numerous melodic layers to creep in and build tension organically. It works because the melodies are nimble, tweaked subtly with effects that pulsate gently, but no less intensely. Conclusion reached, Koreless is undoubtedly a talent and is purring nicely, more releases and an undoubtedly gripping live show will see his audience widen dramatically in 2013.

Earlier this month we were approached by Derelicht founder and curator Gavin Mee to help promote his vision of creating three unique electronic music events in Suffolk.

The concept behind Derelicht is a composite of musical integrity, sensory exploration and promotion of the electronic arts. Derelicht aims to achieve this vision by fusing abandoned spaces and redundant architecture with innovative 3D mapping, light and visual installations to provide a totally immersive environment where some of the best electronic musicians from the world of house, techno and electronica can thrive.

The first Derelicht party is with Sian, Auntie Flo and ThermalBear on the 15th June, the second is with James Zabiela and Tom Demac on 27th July and the third is with Âme of Innervisions and Will Saul of Aus Music on 31st August. All three events will take place in secret locations on the outskirts of Ipswich.

By using abandoned structures, architecture and spaces not normally associated with electronic music they hope to create mind blowing backdrops that will provide a uniqueness and sense of exploration for each event. These parties are one off events in unique environments. If you’re bored of going to the same club time after time and want to rekindle that sense of adventure, Derelicht is without doubt the destination for you.

BUY TICKETS:

DERELICHT 01 – Sian / Auntie Flo – 15th June
DERELICHT 02 – James Zabiela / Tom Demac – 27th July
DERELICHT03 – Ame / Will Saul – 31st August

Derelicht: Facebook / Twitter

The title theme opens the EP, and after fifteen seconds all hell breaks loose. The constantly recurring noise patterns recalls the sweaty masculinity of industrial, while the tempo is really tight, driven by stern drums. What makes this track really interesting is that it finds some peace about halfway, where a warm synth line begins to emerge; but soon brutality overcomes the atmosphere, and the closure is everything but peaceful. Perc’s Metal Mix comes next: he puts more effort into crafting an identifiable bass, introducing his trademark sound well. The remix is pretty straightforward, and transforms the track into a standard, yet flawless and highly recommendable DJ tool. There is also a ‘Bubble Mix‘ by Perc in the release’s digital content, featuring some frankly haunting chords.

The last piece on the wax is ‘Cloned‘, an abstract breakbeat manifestation, bringing back memories from the second half of the good ol’ ‘90s. The synths are dominating; their first appearance after the opening sequence suspecting the slow arrival of something wicked. Darkness is all over the track, expressed properly by a chopped, intermittent female vocal. In the EP’s digital bonuses, Temple includes one more original work: ‘Decolonization‘ is the hardest to decipher. It builds around the idea of placing samples oddly. It is like solving equations, arranging and simplifying the elements. The chant-like shards towards the end unfolds a mystical layer; combining it with mathematical approach, the result is like reading a Neal Stephenson novel.