What happens when a man (Markoman) who makes tunes as ruthlessly savage as this…
Teams up with a man (Smooth) who makes silky tunes as rushy as this?
Telekinesis happens, that’s what.
A powerhouse partnership of Slovenian proportions, Smooth and Markoman’s pact has been in full effect since launching on Breed 12 Inches five years ago. Chewing up the rulebooks on Eat Brain, Bad Taste, SOM, Close 2 Death and Blackout Music, the pair make music that transcends expectations or profile limitations of the individuals. Music that, to be frank, bangs harder than a masters in physics.
Next week sees the release of their potty-mouthed five track EP Fight Club. It’s coming our way on Blackout and will rebuild their menacing metropolis after the apocalyptic fallout of 2013’s hyper-destructive Judgement Day EP. Five tracks heavy, each one weighing well over a tonne, here’s a little teaser…
We donned our boxing gloves, called up Luka Smooth (who was also featured on the site last week) and demanded he got in the ring. Our chat lasted eight rounds until he knocked us out with news of potential album. Ding ding!
Give us a bit of history please….
“Markoman is my neighbour and a very good friend. He’s a national drum & bass legend – he hosted massive parties with Pendulum and Ed Rush & Optical and people like that and he was releasing beats when I was getting into production. He was very inspiring for me growing up and getting into this music. We met up in the studio and quickly realised we had something really good going on.”
He was responsible for you doing what you do then?
“Well I was writing tracks before I met him but he was a big influence on bringing drum & bass to Slovenia. He put us on the map. He made tracks with a guy called Tsunami. They were a little too dark for me, but they still made a big impression in terms of inspiration… Knowing guys from Slovenia could take the music that far. It gave me inspiration!”
First Judgement Day, now Fight Club… I’m sensing a movie theme!
“It’s not supposed to be a movie theme but it’s shaping up that way. Fight Club came from a Coppa lyric. He’s an amazing MC and he always nails it. He sends the stems and they’re always insane. So there was no serious intention of making a movie theme. I just thought about the track Judgement Day and it made me feel the world is going to end. So we named it that way!”
How does it work studio-wise then? Do you have very separate hats for Smooth and Telekinesis?
Most of the time they’re separate. But these things always blur. Sometimes I wite a track alone as Smooth and realise it’s far too hard to be a Smooth track so I call up Marko and get him in the studio to finish it. Sometimes Marko does something at home and we finish it together. We try to avoid finishing anything on our own. We need to get the backbone together. We’re very tough on each other. We’ll just be like ‘no, take it out’. We’re very honest like that.
You bring out the best in each other then?
Yes, we’re trying to make the best things we can. If we’re trying to force something or if it doesn’t feel comfortable then we’re ruthless. We bring that out in each other. I love how we work, we don’t overthink about our reactions. I can tell him something is shit and I know he won’t cry!
Nice. You guys aren’t fighters though… Are you?
If you look at Marko you’d expect him to be a serial killer but he’s actually very peaceful. So am I… I’m usually the guy who gets involved and tells everyone to calm down.
If you HAD to fight three people, who would they be and why?
I’ve never fought Marko, he’s a big guy and he’d probably kick the shit out of me. But I’d have a go.
Maybe Edward Norton in his Fight Club character? It would be rude not to really.
And… Mohammed Ali. Back in his prime, of course! He’d kill me!
Ha! Give us some future jungle rumbles… What’s next on the Telekinesis agenda?
We’re working on a lot of new stuff. We’ve got a few tracks very close to completion and we have lots of ideas for the next release. It’s all gearing up towards an album… Once my Smooth album is out there, I’ll keep that mindset and get us working on a Telekinesis album!
Wanna Fight? Scrap with Telekinesis on Facebook