I take the lift up to the 13th floor and walk alone down the silent corridor, then knock on the door with ‘Blocks & Escher‘ engraved on a small metal plate. The door is opened a fraction and I venture inside. It’s quiet and the curtains are drawn. I’m there to ask about that startling new release on Headz out this week, namely ‘Moods/Razor’. Door clicks shut.
Hi Blocks & Escher. I wrote the following words as I listened to the tunes: smoky, epic, disturbed, unwanted, dream logic, jungle, visual, dread, faltering, acceptance, daybreak. What words would you add?
Music. Rufige.
I’m stunned by the array, the absolute magnitude of the sound and mass of vivid signals here. Was this release long in the creation?
We are pretty slow writing with most tunes taking weeks to do at least.
Can we talk about ‘Moods’ specifically?
The intro and basic theme to ‘Moods’ came kinda quick. The intro vocal, pads and horns.
If I remember it was laid out right up to the first breakdown so the mood changes with the darker pads. But I remember us both thinking that the beat was a bit dry.
So what then?
Because of the intro samples and sub bass we felt it sounded a bit too much like an linear liquid tune: the beat a bit predictable… It took a few weeks of going in and out of it when some edits finally worked on beat and it clicked with the main drop….
What inspired the tunes? ‘Razor’ in particular? Savage beast of a tune.
Big f*ck off Terminator battle scenes.
Do the tunes say anything about the times we live in? They are unpredictable and quite alarming in parts – in a great way of course – but very HUMAN too I feel.
I don’t think there was a conscious effort to say anything about the times we live in. ‘Moods’ was an opportunity, as the title suggests, to just flow through different moods. Both tracks are quite similar in terms of contrast.
The mood changes very quickly on both…
They are both massively visual: with unlimited budget, what visuals would be completely *sick* for one of the tunes? What do you imagine?
We are both fans of Lynchian stuff. Abstract environments, architecture, nature, people in their day to day; real life sets a bewildering scene. I’d love to see Lynch or Cunningham’s take on our music.
For someone new to you guys, here is a simple question: what part of D&B do you rep? What mindset are you part of?
I’m not sure where we lay in the scene. I suppose we aim to make varied music that mostly lands in the bracket of D&B. There’s loads of producers we love but I couldn’t tell you their mindset…
Do you guys produce together as it were? How does that work and is it fun? I imagine lots of written notes, coffee, LED lights blinking in the working area…
Often we work in our separate studios. But yeah: lots of coffee, aim and phone discussions, late night film recommendations, food reviews, hundreds of audio bounces. It’s good fun, mostly..
What tune is in your head right now?
John Coltrane ‘Nature Boy’.
Any shouts? Thanks for your time.
All the artists on Narratives and Metalheadz, and everyone who sends us music.
