Concord Dawn takes us on a trip through the rather splendid and in-parts-acid-tinged Gumshoe ep.
When did the Gumshoe ep start to take shape over all, in that you knew it was an EP?
I had a few tracks on a sort of acid/techno tip come together al at once so it made sense to put them together on an EP. I’ve been making a lot of house and techno and listening to a lot of it so it’s been a really big influence on me recently as I guess you can hear on the EP. My first House release is out later in April on Shadow Child and Kry Wolf’s label Food Music as ‘Coldwater’.
I’ve been asked to do my first remix of a track by two of my favourite acts too and it’s all going swimmingly at this point and it’s all rather exciting I must say.
About the acid aspects of Gumshoe… how did it come to be?
Like a lot of people I’m finding EDM / pubescent distorted electro bro sounds a little tiresome these days. I’m more into groove and hypnotic based stuff lately rather than Transformer fight scene soundtracks, you know ?
I own quite a few classic synths and, well, they’re classic for a reason!
Any ‘acid’ type music that you like? Acid house, acid rock you name it.
A bit of acid house and maybe some acid jazz, though I grew up as more of a fusion man really. But generally speaking the whole music scene needs more “acid” to promote experimentation, shared experiences and rule-breaking rather than, say, amphetamines that inspire narcissism, individualism and self obsession.
Gumshoe is full of long, phasing lines and intertwining things that must’ve made the studio process a lot of fun… ‘Zipper Ripper’ for example has that low ascending synth that messes with you, it’s great.
Yeah, that bassline is inspired by Failure, one of my favourite bands, who have the odd harmonies and harmonics sometimes that just crush a certain part of your brain a bit.
I’m kind of into longer lines lately and elements that stay in tracks and develop, rather than the attention deficient approach.
As you get older you start liking the movies with the long sweeping shots without edits more than the sh*t that looks like sportwear commercials I guess.
On to ‘Reverse’: love the beats, and the voice… where’s the latter from?
The vocal sample was put in there by Need For Mirrors so you would need to ask him. The bassline is a MS20 run through a distortion pedal and the drums are a secret!
Wanted to make a tune that evolves and grows on you rather than one that throws a handful of bass noises at you and then punches you
How did you and NFM come to collab?
We’ve known each other for maybe 15 years: he used to book us for his parties in Christchurch when he lived there and he had done a track with Evan years ago as Mosus and Kiljoy. But we had never made anything together.
The first track we did together got picked up by a really big label and still sorting out a B side for that! And we went on from there. Ww’ve made a dozen tracks together now and I think our skills and styles complement each other rather well.
His work ethic is incredible and I think we both push each other to make things we wouldn’t make by ourselves. There are a few other collaborations lined up for release in 2015 and they have been going down well so keep your ears peeled.
‘Reverse’ isn’t the kind of tune that’s everyone’s cup of tea but when people like it they seem to REALLY like it.
This – as do all the tracks – sounds great loud. Do you produce loud as well?
I don’t work TOO loud in the studio but I always give things a thrash at the end. There definitely is a different feel to things at certain volumes.
What about the kitchen: do you cook, I always wonder if you liked cooking, what sort of thing?
I love cooking and its one of the only times of the day I can put on an album and listen to it from start to finish. I miss my kitchen in Vienna almost as much as my studio!!!
On the domestic front, well let’s continue: films? TV? What do you like?
I watched the Ken Burns jazz series recently, and an excellent doco on 1959 which talks about the Brubeck, Mingus, Coleman and Miles Davis LPs that all came out that year.
But mostly I read these days, to get my eyes and mind off the screen. Have been on a George Orwell binge lately… Down and Out in Paris and London, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Coming Up for Air, The Road to Wigan Pier and now I’m back to Cormac McCarthy. I read a few of his books last year and got really into him but his shit can be really depressing so I took a break but now I am reading The Orchard Keeper which is his first novel I think.
What inspired ‘Colourless’?
A book!
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years Of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.
My Air Chrysalis LP title was a Murakami reference too.
All his books are kind of the same but I love them, easy reads with just the right amount of “acid”.
I read that book while I was writing the track and was listening to a lot of techno and “golden era” tech influenced drum and bass, back when it still had groove and was made for dancing rather than for head banging ha ha.
What plans you got to tour the Gumshoe EP?
America and I have some shows booked in when I get back to Vienna but I’m having a baby in June so I’ll be doing shows in Europe but not travelling too far from there for a little while. In Europe I do my bookings myself at the moment so I’m a lot more flexible about what dates I do.
And what’s happening for the rest of your day then?
I have to pre-record a radio show, I’m doing a house/techno and jungle/D&B mix show for the national dance music radio station down here in New Zealand, George FM.
Then getting a haircut in the afternoon… it’s getting rather long. And then hanging out with my godson and his folks and probably drinking a bucket or two of Pinot Noir.
I gave him two CDJ1000s and a mixer for his birthday so might have a mix round there with him and play him some music he ain’t heard yet.
