Mauoq has deftly delivered the totally absorbing Fabricate ep. It’s full of interesting spaces, wicked details, textures & unknowns and presented a perfect environment in which to simply press ‘play’ and catch up with the man himself, and get a bit philosophical along the way too.
Hi sir, how’s things?! How’s 2015 been?
Hey there! All good thanks! In many ways, 2015 has been a bit of a transitional year.. on one hand, it hasn’t been the busiest in terms of releases, but on another, a few new things have taken shape and I can certainly say I’ve kept moving forward, so all in all 2015 has, in all fairness, treated me well.
Have you learned anything new in music this year, that makes your outlook different to other years?
Well, in terms of production I’ve been pretty busy in the studio this year, in and out, but quite consistent. I wouldn’t be able to pin-point anything in particular, but I’m sure I’ve developed my skills – even if ever so slightly. You always do when you spend loads of time doing something, especially if that something excites you.
However, the main news this year, and probably my newest learning ground, must be the re-launch of my own label back in January, so that’s where my growth for this year roots from and also maybe what makes my ‘outlook’ different from previous years.
On to your shows (link at end) which are great, and you are a natural presenter! How can people check them out?
Ah nice one! It’s always good to hear that I can pull it off – even with my half Roman and half Londoner accent! So yeah, anyone looking for my podcasts can find them on iTunes – where they can subscribe for free and automatically receive a rich version of the podcast – including links and artworks of the tracks played inside – on their favorite devices, as soon as I upload it to my server.
Alternatively, all episodes (35 at the moment) are archived on my Mixcloud page with linked tracklists to buy the tunes. In there you’ll also find links to direct-download all single episodes.
‘Fabricate’ itself is lovely, I love the natural interplay of the elements… the whole thing is a mental journey. It builds beautifully, what inspired the tune?
Ta! All four tracks on the EP stem from a single session I had messing about with an analogue synth one night last year. It was basically one single 20-25 minutes long recording of me playing with the machine and making mainly bass noises.
I then chopped things up and came out with four sets of sounds that could be used as the backbone of as many tracks. And with the first set of sounds, I started fabricating…
Why the title? Is it a comment about how we fabricate our world/existence?
Okay, not exactly what I had in mind but I really like that! And maybe there is a bit of that in the title, but to be brutally honest I rarely go that deep when it comes to track tiles!
Having said that, one element of the title is definitely how ‘fabricated’ the music we make these days is. I have this idea that as a music producer and someone who doesn’t play a traditional instrument, I fabricate music rather than perform or play it; assembling blocks of sounds rather than recording music performances.
At least most of the time.
What really triggered the name idea thought was the fact that the night I had that session with the synth, I had just come back home from one and half hour spent in the queue to get into Fabric, where I hadn’t been for 7-8 years and where in the end, I didn’t even end up going.
That reminded me of my early days in London and in a mixture of memory lane and upset, I left the queue and went home to play with my synth.
I wanted to touch on the gorgeous ‘Escalate’, what a slick tune! A fantastic place to be.
Escalate has a similar vibe to the title track, but it’s even more stripped down, yet almost more effective on the dance. It’s probably my favorite in terms of bass progression, plus I’m not sure whether it was a good sample choice or a lucky mixdown session, but I totally love how the snare cuts through amazingly in every single mix.
Also, the second drop still makes me bounce a fair bit every time!
And ‘Voids’… wow, what are the voids in question then? Unexplored regions, fear of the unknown? This is a heads down tune, wow, the intensity is great… when did it come about and can you take us behind it?
Again, and I hope I’m not disappointing you, I’m afraid to say it’s all much simpler than that! This track was originally quite different to what it is now and had a vocal laid on top taken from an old client’s song, which I couldn’t really use for the final version.
So when it came down to finalising the track, I removed the sung parts and left just a few vocal snippets… which I eventually got a friend to re-sing for me.
All that removing action initially left gaps in the track and the title comes from the feeling I felt listening to it at the end of the session.
So I went in again the following day and filled those gaps, to a point where this has now become the most sounds-rich track of the EP. Despite that, the title was cool, so I kept it.
Will we find you DJing out soon and where?
It’ll be Friday December 11 at the ‘Nurtured Beatz Xmas Bash 2015’ at Bar A Bar in Stoke Newington, London.
I’ll be playing b2b with Kolectiv and on the night you will also find Genotype launching his new LP, as well as Soligen & Type2, Tephra & Arkoze, Kalm & Spindall and a few more!
Speaking of co-creators, who in D&B and electronic music inspires you?
In terms of D&B, I’d say pretty much the whole bunch at Exit Records, with a special mention to Skeptical and Mark System.
More widely, I’m not very much up to date like I used to be in the hey days of IDM, but that’s the kind of sound I’ve loved since my teens, so I’m 100% sure I’m still subconsciously drawing from that when I make my beats.
Any shouts, Mauoq?
Oh yes, shouts to my boy Dexta of Diffrent Music first and foremost; check the latest release there by Mtwn and featuring a collaboration with myself, Arkaik and Dexta himself.
Shouts also go out to Tom Retraflex of Flexout and Metro of MJazz for the support on the Fabricate EP and to my girlfriend for dealing amazingly with all of this!
And of course, big thanks to you and DNBArena for providing the space for my chatter!