Enigmatic duo Conduct have appeared: dusty, drawn and silhouetted against a wide-stretching vista and are now encapsulated within the rather fittingly-entitled Borderlands on BMTM, dropping on 1st July, so we drew up some chairs and caught up.
Hi Conduct. Straight in, what was your entry to D&B, what caught you?
Robin: It was around 2005-6 when the streaming music thing started with people like Liquicity, SuicideSheep and UKF building channels that made it so easy to discover music that I’d never heard before.
There’s just something about the pace and energy at 170, and the diversity within the genre that grabs me. It’s amazing the different directions you can take drum & bass and we’ve tried to explore and push those boundaries as much as possible with Borderlands.
Chris: Im pretty sure my very first taste of drum and bass was AK1200’s remix of Cleveland Lounge ‘Drowning’, followed quickly by DJ Hype’s Drum & Bass Essentials CD from 2005, I can also vividly remember getting Shy FX Diary of a Digital Soundboy and rinsing the hell out of it in a big way.
Originally I was caught by the pace, energy and attitude held in the music, I had no idea at the time that there was so much room for the artists to be so experimental and for it too generally be well accepted by the scene. Which is what I have come to truly love about drum and bass: it has no boundaries and can invoke such a huge array of emotions.
I really love the sound of Borderlands, the vibe of it, the place it takes me to. So I feel that you really set out to do something with a lot of depth, is that the case?
Yes absolutely, it’s always been at the forefront of what we do to ‘take the listener on a journey’, so to speak. We try to make sure that by the end of the track you feel something palpable, whatever that something may be. We have certain emotions in our minds when writing but it’s been really interesting to hear how our tracks affect other people, and the feelings and parallels people draw.
For example, we’ve had dozens of people tell us the title track ’Borderlands’ is reminiscent of Photek’s early work. It’s not something we had in mind at the time of course, but it’s such an honour that people are willing to make that comparison.
We were really honoured that Blu Mar Ten offered us the opportunity to make this album, it made us take our production and approach to song writing a lot more seriously.
I love the instrumentation in this… for example within ‘Archaic’? It’s all barren rocks, blue skies and silence when I delve into the world of this tune.
Our aim with ‘Archaic’ was exactly that, for it to sound barren. We wanted it to sound relentlessly hot and dry, like you’ve woken up tripping balls in the middle of the Nevada Desert and you’re seeing mirages lakes and people all around.
And the wonderful ‘Grand Panjadrum’? What inspired?
‘Grand Panjadrum’ was always intended to be a cute, nostalgic tune. We want you to lose yourself in this one, it’s a dreamy, pretty sea of reverb, melody and harmony.
The name comes from the word panjandrum, which means to possess a feeling of great importance. Speaking cinematically, picture the scene after the climax of an apocalyptic film – the dust settles and those survivors contemplate their continued existence.
What’s ‘Bat Country’?! & where is it?
The title ‘Bat Country’ is taken from the 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the 1998 film of the same name. Most will be familiar with the quote ‘We can’t stop here. This is Bat Country’ and the scene it’s taken from, with Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo driving through the desert, tripping on a cocktail of drugs.
We wanted the song to represent that trip, the desolate surroundings, and the feeling that scene gave us.
What is it in D&B that keeps you immersed?
At the minute we’re really excited about the footwork/juke influenced sounds we’re hearing come through on Exit Records, Diffrent Music, Cosmic Bridge Records etc.
We’re really looking forward to Alix Perez’s new 1985 imprint, and that Richie Brains LP is fantastic too. Anything that’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at 170 is exciting to us.
It has so much to offer on so many levels. The community within drum and bass is amazing its incomparable to any other. The technical abilities of some of the producers is just ridiculous and gets you fully addicted.
Can you take us behind ‘Borderlands’, the tune… and the choice of title. I could go on all day about the album.
The title came from one of our favourite games. Borderlands is set on a barren, desolate planet, with such weird and utterly crazy inhabitants. The soundtrack to the game, courtesy of Jesper Kydd, is a rich culmination of deep south, twangy American guitars and Tuvan throat singing, and evoked such an interesting atmosphere while playing that we drew a huge amount of influence while working on this project.
The track ‘Borderlands’ was in a sense the game-changer for this project, which is why we titled the LP with it. At the time it was made we had loads of tracks that we thought sounded solid on their own but didn’t quite gel as one entity. Borderlands helped us to focus the project into a more fluid piece of work.
Take us into another tune of your choice.
‘Divergence’ is – as the name suggests – a departure from the rest of the album, a sort of nod to the heavier dancefloor side of the genre.
We’ve maintained the same level of musicianship in the track but it’s a far more focused club track, it gets a great reaction wherever we play it.
BMT is known for it’s diversity and overall good taste, so do you guys get on?
Yes, absolutely! Chris BMT is a fantastic guy to be involved with, he’s been in the game for such a long time that his knowledge and passion for the music has been invaluable to us.
We also met Kimyan Law at Hospitality Brixton a few weeks ago, and he’s a great guy, a fantastically interesting character. We started working on a track together with his laptop on a bin out the back of the venue as soon as our set was over!
We couldn’t envision a better label to be involved with, in all honesty. It’s the like-minded creativity and professionalism that makes it such a fantastic group to be part of.
Any shouts Conduct… final thoughts?
A massive thank you to Chris BMT for all his help and guidance in bringing this project to fruition.
Borderlands is out on Blu Mar Ten Music on the 1st of July
Preorder info
Vinyl with free CD & digital
CD with free digital
Digital
DJ Bookings: chrism@clinictalent.com
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