Om Unit has emerged in D&B over the last few years, in the way that ‘something’ has emerged in The Andromeda Strain.
It’s like a language, a threaded code which is familar but transmitted by unknown means, to be revealed over time.
So I put it to him to begin the unravelling process.
Your album Threads is a startling journey and is thought provoking. Does that sit well with you, or is it just a simple collation of your music, ie it’s not MEANT to be thought provoking?
Thanks for saying that, I am beyond having any expectations from the listener, the best we can be as an artist is make stuff and learn to hone skills over time.
You say ‘over time’, is it fair to say that to D&B you may be a recent discovery, after so long doing your own thing.
Absolutely, I’ve been busy doing my own thing.
The title: is it in reference to THAT film of yore? The one from the 80s? About nuclear war?
No film reference; ‘Threads’ really says about how I have fused different musical threads in the LP, familiar threads but perhaps arranged in unusual ways.
Phew. You have a stunning video, for ‘The Silence’. Is that the visual you had in your mind, when you penned the song?
The concept was put together by Tim Fox, I really didn’t have a visual concept as such, sometimes it’s good to just let the video maker become the artist and run with it, I trust Tim to come with something decent as I’ve known him for 10 years or so.
httpv://youtu.be/Z1UhMdu53Ak
Who’s the vocalist?
The vocalist is Jinadu – you should listen to The Beauty Room which is him and Kirk de Georgio doing this kind of sweet orchestral soul type stuff.
Do you have a fave place to sit and ruminate? Cafe, pub, bench in park.
Right now I’d say Steve’s Cafe in Herne Hill is my spot, special three and a green tea.
A tune, at random: ‘Wall of Light’. Could you discuss it, in terms of where it came from?
Somewhere between here and there, perhaps I ate something funny. It’s about aliens basically. Check this out:
httpv://youtu.be/WvrOfOUmSzM
What about another tune? More!
‘Jus Sayin” – Feat Gone the Hero. Gone has been doing shows with Doom for a while, I like the fact that it’s so sincere that it probably annoys most people who are into rap – I like the idea of an honest rap verse, it’s so not stylish or hammed up and therefore probably nobody gives a shit either.
Were the tracks all recent or came together over time?
Most of the music was made in 2013, some ideas and bits in 2012.
(click the image below to hear Threads)
Back to D&B: when you DJ does D&B factor in or is purely to DJ as you feel, to say F*ck it and roll out your world of music.
I surf the edge between those two things, sometimes I throw in jungle/D&B classics into my sets, only stuff that I enjoy though really, percys.
Otherwise I’m playing my stuff or music by my peers.
Speaking of things you like: do you have an album in your collection where you would’ve loved to have attended the recording session? Any genre.
I’d like to have hung out with A Certain Ratio; I think their approach to writing and recording was really unique in the early days, they had a real funk element to their sound but had this overarching strangeness that I look for in a lot of music
To finish on D&B: what’s some D&B-related work of your you are very proud of? Lots of firepower in this vibe of yours.
The Metalheadz 12 I did this year…
… the Exit EP with Sam Binga, Small Victories
… and my track ‘Timelines’ which is forthcoming on Metalheadz in 2014.
Om Unit
photo by Jonangelo Molinari