‘We both have the same aspirations in sounds. Cold, distant soundtracks that resonate a little fear and unease’
A cursory glance out the window would reveal duo Current Value and Dean Rodell AKA Machine Code busily terraforming the planet and causing chaos in general. While they’re at it they took the time to do a Q&A with us about the Terraform EP…
Hey Machine Code, I always imagine you in a lather of activity, like it never stops.
Hi, yeah it’s a bit like that if it’s not one thing it’s another, but that’s the fun of it. There’s always something new to do and explore. I’m not sure we would want it any other way!
The Terraform EP grabbed me and alarmed me, not least by the cover image and title… is it a comment about human nature? I note the killer tune ‘Save The World’. Or is ALL just sci-fi?
To be honest there is no deep meaning from us in the title, it’s definitely more of a homage to Sci-fi.
I think at the time of doing this EP we were revisiting some 60s/70s Sci-Fi classics as you do after sessions, leaving it pretty likely that the track titles and themes of the tracks to be laced with Scifi and planetary references.
Do you follow science at all then? I mean why can’t they just MAKE a small, artificial planet and terraform it, Deathstar like? Then colonise it when Earth becomes overun by cyborgs.
I like that idea, there is a nice article on this on popularmechanics.com with the pros and cons of trying to build a deathstar-type planet, or a rock-based one with the right gravity for humans.
Even if it was possible, knowing how the powers that be work, it would probably either end up being a prison or a f*ck off weapon, unlikely to be something that would help us as a race as a whole.
Anyway, speaking of constructing deathstars, your music is a sonic equivalent and it’s pretty devastating… ‘Solar Core’ for example.
‘Solar Core’ was a bit of a strange one for us to be honest as it never seemed to be finished, every time we listened to it it seemed to be asking for more and then asking for less .
This went on for a wile before we finally decided on the version that it is now. I think it could have been 30 mins long with the amount of ideas coming in and out of it.
Coppa appears on the EP too, tell us how you came to work together?
Coppa is a legend around this way – we’ve worked with him on many projects, Underhill being another one, alongside quite a few Machinecode releases on Subsistenz – Subtrakt and His label Comanche Records. He always finds something in the track rhythm-wise that you wouldn’t expect.
He nails it on ‘Sound Dictator’ that’s for sure.
Coppa will also feature on our upcoming release on Cause4Concern Records.
I detect small tonal and melodic shifts on this ep, for example ‘Never’ so is your style changing?
I think if you go back to the first releases we did together actually – some weren’t under the MachineCode name – at the time we were always working with melodies and tonal paths a bit more.
Maybe now we’ve swapped a few disharmonic bleeps for some hooks, but these lines always seem to work their way into Machine Code tracks.
Any changes that can be heard are of a natural order we have always approached the project with no set limits to what we will do or what comes out. So far we feel it’s worked for us to evolve and hone in on a Machine Code.
Can you take us through ‘Terraforming’? Deadly tune.
‘Terraforming’ was the kind of track that wrote itself: one min it was a two bar loop next thing a pretty naughty floor mangler. It’s pretty stripped back and focused on the operator bass working off the kick, allowing for plenty of space for some MachineCode style atmos and bleeps.
There’s another version about that has some very typical Sci-Fi melodies that float in and out. Maybe one day this will see the light as a VIP.
So how do two exactly work together?
We generally meet every Wednesday to work on tracks or live sets. Terraform was the result of a good combination of good films, popcorn and the new studio. There is a good symbiosis in the studio – everything is very natural and rarely do we dislike something that one or the other does.
Both coming from love of Techno and Sci-Fi we both have the same aspirations in sounds. Cold, distant soundtracks that resonate a little fear and unease!
Speaking of the studio, what’s some small tip that you’d share with us?
As a wise man once told me – Let your ears rest.
Sometimes being in the studio is like sitting in your own butt sneeze for too long. It’s not until someone else or you come back in the room that you really know how good/ bad it is.
Also there is no harm in measuring your output with what is currently top of the game in the scene and seeing where it fits in production.
What’s your fave spot to play on the planet, before it’s destroyed by Extra-Terraformers?
That’s always a hard on to answer as there is so many good places to play these days.
But if it was the final day of days I’d say Portugal for the parties, food and port.
Any shouts, Machine Code?
Big ups to Jade and the two cover artists: Trinyó Art color: Art Gutierrez art, amazing job to bring the ep visually to life.
And all those that keep showing some love for Machine Code and the D&B scene.