Aeph. The name needs to be in neon. 30 metre high letters. With women from Tron flanking.
Sorry, was drifting off into Personal Video Land there, inspired by the new Enter the Vision ep… we all do that from time to time. Maybe I was Entering The Vision? Aeph was forthcoming about his new ep, and was candid about the past few years too…
Aeph, why the title Enter The Vision? Are we entering YOUR world, is it an invite to enter your dimension?
Or… maybe it’s everyone’s?
OK. Let’s try another way: do you work on a necessarily big scale in the live arena? I feel you have a big vision on that front.
It depends on the venue. I do love playing for big crowds with crazy visuals, lights and fireworks: it’s like trying to tame a huge monster under your will.
I also like small intimate venues where you can really get along with the crowd, looking at people’s face and see that bass face coming in real time. That’s real 3D shit.
Speaking of visions, when I listen to Aeph I imagine you in a big streamlined room of synths, banks of them…
I’ve got the same vision but… apparently it’s not real. I’m writing and producing all my music ‘in the box’. I know you can’t beat the hardware sound – using the right ones – but the amount of solutions a computer and a sound card can give you are almost endless. Also, London is a quite expensive city to live in!
I feel it has an epic, almost a ‘cinematic’ quality. How does that sit with you?
That was the aim. I always wanted to have a release where every tune is telling a story within the music, connecting one to another into one unique ‘voyage’. At the same time I wanted it to sound simple and straight forward so the listeners could enjoy it as much at home as in a club. I don’t think I will keep this formula for my next releases; this was a one way trip and we’ll see for the return ticket.
Are you implying that this ep was a one-off?
It has been a long process. Actually this EP wasn’t planned to be made in the first place. I’ve been writing all these tunes during 2013 without knowing exactly what to do with them. Some were just random music concepts I wrote without any D&B elements. At one point Chris Renegade made me realise I had some kind of concept EP going on so I’ve focused the next months wrapping them up to one full concept release.
So how would you sum up the last few years then?
After an amazing 2012 and rough 2013 I’ve managed to release something new in 2014 and my intent is to carry on with a tight schedule for the rest of the year.
I’m wondering there’s a bit of darkness here. There IS a tune called ‘Aeph Is Dead’ for eg…
‘Aeph Is Dead’ came after one of those long periods where I though this game was over and I had to move to a different direction.
Being a producer is not an easy task. I personally struggle with the paranoia of not being good enough for this game, most of the time nourished by life and personal issues. Sometimes it last couple of days, sometimes couple of months.
I feel we are in times of change: what are other things that are dead now, culturally?
While I don’t think there is a cultural problem underway, I do think we sometimes we miss the chance to truly enjoy a cultural product because at the same time there are way too many informations we try to assimilate everyday and in a very short time. There’s not much time to sit down and think about what you have listened to or watched or read… because we already moved to something else.
Any shouts?
As ever, I’d thank all the people who helped me out with their feedback and support. Most of all Chris Renegade, Memtrix and my lovely girlfriend.