‘A good sample is worth a thousand synths or plug ins’
Blocks & Escher‘s new work is as visually seductive as is the music.
To break it down: Narratives Music 001R is ‘Sagan VIP’ along with ‘Broken’, the Paradox remix.
There’s also Narratives Music 001X, ‘Broken’ Om Unit remix. The latter being cryptically etched by lazer. See above.
Both however will be permanently etched in your soul, for sure.
Hey. So. When did the remix concept come about… when did it take shape in your head? This is life affirming.
We wrote the ‘Sagan VIP’ a few years back just for our sets and I think a few others had it like Goldie, Scotty and Loxy.
The original ‘Sagan’ was the first release on Narratives so remains a special one for us; the vip just allowed us to keep it fresh in our sets..
As with all these things, people catch on to what is getting played and then a mix ripped version appeared online.
We have had so many requests to release it, we had pondered over it for a little while.
And ‘Broken’?
At the start of the year we had finished remixes of ‘Broken’ from Paradox and Om Unit so the full remix release kinda took a life of its own.
When you stand back from it all, how do you regard what Paradox and OU have done here?
Ha what can I say, they both did their own thing in exactly their own styles and, aside from being amazing pieces of music, I think they show just how beautiful and varied Drum and Bass can still be.
Can I ask: would you ever go totally beatless/totally abstract? It’s just the joy that seems to exist in abstract sound… sometimes do you imagine it without beats?
Yeah absolutely, certainly music without drums.
I hear the terms ‘abstrac’t batted about a lot though and not entirely sure what it means. If it is just token abstraction for the sake of being different then it doesn’t do anything for me – crisp packet sound fx instead of an amen break? Drum machine glitches instead of an analogue drum break?
I guess it’s how it’s done at the end of the day, I think as I’ve gotten older, I appreciate more effortlessness in the music I love rather than contrived moves or pretension.
But it is all a question of context.
This batch of music harks back to a really special time in D&B for me (not saying when) but do you guys ‘go back to go forward’ sometimes? Do you embrace the past sometimes, or are you totally future?
I think the short answer for this is that when it comes to drum and bass, we are much more inspired by the music of the mid to late 90s. I just think it had a vibe, musicality and daring that has stood the test of time.
It was a time when expression was key, production was about exploring rather than loudness. Artists were writing amazing music because they had nothing to lose.
What’s some fave arsenal in the studio? I’m a bit drenched in the wonderful synths thru all of this… that’s why I ask.
The studios are certainly mostly computer-based. We have some hardware synths and the emu sampler comes out occasionally but I’d say nothing gets me more excited than finding the perfect sample.
A good sample is worth a thousand synths or plug ins.
Remixes. In general what remix work over time makes you trip due to how amazing it is. Could be Autechre, could be in hip hop, could be rock…
Tough question. Off top of my head this very second I’m thinking of Photek’s remix 12″ on Razors Edge: ‘The Rain/Still Life’. And Roots Manuva’s remix of Grand Master Flash ‘The Message’.
Would you personally like to remix someone, perhaps someone unattainable? Or someone totally random… Slint or someone.
Off top of my head, Ryu Sakamoto, Kate Bush. It would be great to be let loose on the Blue Note jazz collection.
Last tell us about the way this will be presented: what will it look like?
‘Sagan Vip’ and the Paradox remix is on gorgeous jet black vinyl with the catalogue number 001R.
The Om Unit remix is out on a one sided 12″ with a laser etched design on the other side.
These releases are slightly separate to the discography, and so the Narratives catalogue will continue on Narratives 012 very soon.