Unlike the zombies in the artwork for the new Solar Eclipse ep on Eatbrain, Hungarian D&B soldier Chris.SU has never been eclipsed: long known for defining innovative D&B parameters and blasting them out on the live front before they become popularly categorized.
This ep is the perfect balance between the tearing and the true future funk: it has power but is subtle too, how does this all sit?
The whole Solar Eclipse EP is a little bit like my DJ sets: hitting hard but trying to be subtle, diverse, true to the old school and future thinking at the same time. We tried to put together a diverse material for this EP and I hope we succeeded.
The title tune features you up with Jade and Mindscape, wow, that’s some company. Plus the title is quite ominous…
We’ve done collabs with both Jade and Mindscape separately before so we had an idea to work on a project with all three of us together in the studio – to be honest it’s been long time overdue. The first session we had was in 2015 at the time of the partial solar eclipse so we went outside and watched it together, then went back in to my studio and started a track.
Since our schedule is quite busy, we haven’t finished the tune until this year but I hope it was worth the wait.
It’s very easy to work with the guys, as we all use pretty much the same plugins and our main DAW is also Cubase. I hope we can collaborate even more in the future!
The mighty Nuklear appears next on ‘The Last Laugh’: more threat, more darkness, what inspired the tune and how did you all work on this?
Jade hooked me up with Hal/Nuklear and he sent me over some vocals to work with. He’s been featured on Eatbrain before so he knew what kind of stuff we were after and he truly delivered!
The sketch I sent to him was quite dark, haunting and demonic, so I guess that’s partially responsible for the lyrics but you might have to ask him to be sure…
I feel you find a personal space in ‘Complexity’ and also ‘D4NC3’ where you flex your historical capabilities a lot: you sound like you have having a lot of fun with these tunes? Must’ve sounded amazing in the studio!
It was lots of fun creating these two tracks which might be probably a bit different to the Eatbrain sound fans of the label are accustomed to: they’re a bit old school and funky, but also futuristic sounding in my opinion, true to the old neurofunk, I guess.
On the other hand the final track ‘The Arrow’ is quite heavy, so that’s why I think we’ve put together a diverse selection of tunes for the EP.
What about live, what live arenas/cities have been great for you in terms of crowds, vibe, the unexpected, ambience, rigs etc?
In the Czech Republic and Austria it’s always amazing to play, also I had a gig in Italy in Bologna recently and the vibe was fantastic out there… and by the way Italy: SunAndBass festival in Sardinia is always highlight of the year for me; such an honour to say I was playing and nearly every SunAndBasses since the beginning.
I was also lucky enough to play to some bigger crowds in Hungary during the festival season, like Balaton Sound, Sziget Festival in Budapest and VOLT festival in Sopron, it’s always quite fun to play D&B to the not so hardcore fans, too.
But I think I prefer to play in clubs with around 500-1000 capacity the most, that’s where the real club sound works best.
You are part of a community of flourishing D&B in your part of the world… what keeps it alive?
We always tried to create a friendly atmosphere between the producers and DJ over here in Hungary. I’m really proud if a new producer from here sends me a new tune I like, then I play it out and people come over to ask me what it is. I’m also happy to give them studio tips, if that helps them moving forward with their career.
The passion for the music is what keeps things moving, it’s the most important thing, and not the free booze, girls or the fame that are certain producers are after – I don’t care about those things one bit.
I’ve always said I’m one of the happiest guys because I can do what I truly love.
Our main local promoters Bladerunnaz are also working hard so we can build up and keep our own scene alive and they also give opportunities to younger and up & coming talents and DJs at their events.
With such a ‘visual’ ep – the art, the title – what are some films and perhaps TV that you really dig where combo of visuals and sound design are amazing? The Walking Dead for me always always delivers. Solaris remake was another, also Melancholia… over to you.
The artwork was done by Lászlo Tringli, a really good friend of Jade.
I’m not so much of a zombie fan myself, but I thought what he drew for the Solar Eclipse EP was spot on!
Regards TV, I watched the Walking Dead a bit, but when it comes to zombie or vampire based shows, I prefer Buffy – does someone still remember that show?; and the missus is a big Supernatural fan so sometimes I watch it together with her. Regards movies, they can be very inspiring, especially if it has a great soundtrack.
I liked the remake of Solaris, too: Cliff Martinez is a genius.
One of my biggest inspirations was Battlestar Galactica though, on both visual and story. I really like it when the visuals and audio are in perfect balance with the storyline as well.
Any shouts Chris?
Shout out to my family, my wife & daughter, who are always supporting me, all the Eatbrain fans over the world, all the promoters working hard on events and Eatbrain nights, and everyone else involved with the EP!