Mako has drawn some serious elemental synergy in creating his new Back To The Source ep for Dispatch. I was of course completely reserved and neutral when it came to discussing it with him.
Mako. I love this bloody ep… Love love love LOVE LOVE it.
Ha ha. Thanks for the kind words brother. It was conceived, written and mixed down between August 2013 and January 2014 in a midst of change.
Why Back To The Source as a title?
During the process of writing the EP I was feeling a deepening connection with the earth. I see mother nature as the source of where everything comes from in my life. The track title was a reflection of how I was feeling at the time I guess. In spiritual circles, the ‘Source’ is synonymous with the word God.
I’m not religious by any means but I don’t see science as the only way of looking at the world either.
The title was also a reference to the old masters like Photek and Dillinja as they are a major source of inspiration from where my music comes from aesthetically.
There’s a raw, elemental aspect to this: beautiful rainy sweeps in there, crackling mistrels, breezy tones, lovely synths… as well as the beats and bass of course! Did you want it to be simple and unrefined in parts?
Most definitely. Life, the inspiration for all this, is at its source raw and unrefined, so for me its natural for my music to capture that in the musical boundary. Of course you need to balance out the rough with the smooth to get a mixdown that still fits in with contemporary power and pressure. That’s one of the bits that my good friend DLR has helped with and reinforced in me.
This latter point is backed up by titles like ‘Planet Physical’ and the human touch of ‘We Could Help Each Other’… is there a nod to the way we are as humans, here as well? There’s that voice in ‘Planet Physical’ too, addressing ‘us’, as well.
Yeah, there’s an angle to humanity and its (sometimes) insane delusional mind. But the sample in ‘Planet Physical’ fitted in with a world view that has been prevailing my entire life, a view which is where I can’t logically see the point to anger and pain in the name of religion.
The vocal at the end of the tune talks about how god could be an illusion. I’m naturally a curious person which sometimes goes outside the hermit studio producer remit as it’s led to some interesting situations. I find that religion tries to shut so many doors for people too.
Tell me about the story behind ‘There’s Nothing We Can’t Be’? I love the solid affirmation in this sentiment.
I had made a tune called ‘Hungry for Lies’ that came out on Horizons and I wanted to use the same beat and make a more musical synth-based piece with a hypnotic bass line but with the pads changing on top.
Doc Scott and Mark System were inspiring me at the time: they both step out stripped-back tunes really well. When I found the sample ‘just taking a step’ – which I think was Theo Parish – I wanted to make a stepped out roller with a smokey aesthetic. I found a nice chord progression change to keep the song interesting whilst maintaining the simple two-step woody bass groove.
I couldn’t quite get the mixdown as good as I liked but it was good enough to be a digital track. I save my best tunes for vinyl. I think both ‘Planet Physical’ and ‘We could Help Each Other’ are two of my favourite-sounding mixdowns I’ve done so I’m happy they made it onto the wax.
Villem appears here amongst other guests,a Utopian vibe. What was it like to work with Villem? I mean is it a surprise when magic happens or you guys just will necessarily have that occur as so experienced?
Villdog has been a friend for a long time now, I know what he likes and all he has to do these days when writing a tune with me is sit on the sofa, almost like the perfect muse, someone who’s history you know so well that it influences the production of the music.
He also has the conviction to speak up when he feels things going slightly off track, a very useful asset.
He came with the main beat too and that is half the battle in D&B. It was fun and highly encouraging for me to be good enough to make a tune without him having to touch the computer once. Way back when we used to make tunes together, it was the other way round, but he was always up for a session, always listened to my opinion (as amateurish as it was at the time) and showed me my way around Logic. It’s great to work with him.
Until DLR came into my life, he was the guy I made most of my finished tunes with. It all boils down knowing history, the ability to communicate well with your production partner and creativity (obviously) to produce the best music I think. I’m blessed that I know him as when we start a tune I know it will be worth finishing.
Back To The Source is a voyage too: what tunes complement this material live? What else is in the BOX yo?
Break has done this 165 bpm amen thing that is f*cking sick as well as loads of house and dub where the production value is just unbelievable. He is amongst the best producers in ANY genre and embarrasses me.
I’m so happy to get love from him signing a solo thing I’ve done which I’ve been playing a lot in my sets recently called ‘The Space Inbetween’. I’ve done this dark thing called ‘Shadowlines’ with Break, Fields and Villem too which is coming out on Utopia in the autumn too that I’ve been playing in every set.
Mikal has hurt me with loads of new tunes: that guy is a dance floor destroyer machine. We’ve got a collab on the go at the moment which will come out on Utopia on the flip of his tune ‘Switch It’ which is an ultra dub at the moment. That won’t surface for a while.
What was it like to work with Dispatch? A lovely output for this!
The team at Dispatch are great. It’s a good look for me and it works out well for them so we’re all winning. Alex who helps run the label is helpful and supportive, as well as organised and hardworking. Ant has been playing my music for a little while now and when he came down to the Utopia studio he realised that I wasn’t in this game for the short term. We wrote a tune for Metalheadz with DLR and Villem which was well received and his links and advice have been invaluable. He commissioned a remix for Dispatch too and always puts his money where his mouth is, something I have respect for in this industry.
I’ve always paid advances and remix fees and I know how hard it is to make it work out. By working with Dispatch I also knew that I could get some promotion out of the release and it would be on vinyl, something I want to continue to support. I wanna send a big thank you to all the crew there x
Lastly you got holidays booked? Considering the earthy nature of this discussion, where’s somewhere on mother earth you would like to visit?
I want to go back to Barcelona and explore there more. Gaudi had some serious vibes and now I have a better camera I want to go back there and take more pictures. I want to explore more of hometown Bristol too, there is so much on your doorstep if you take the time to look. England has some amazing places. I would still like to go to America and explore the wilderness there even though it has a cheesy rep. I would love to go totally out of my comfort zone too and do some volunteer work in a disaster zone somewhere to try and give back at least a little.
Back To The Source ep
Mako
