Super prolific, hyper-respected and confidently experimental, Current Value has pushed the boundaries of the harder side of D&B for almost 20 years. Currently hitting 2015 hard with key releases on both Blackout and Critical he appears more inspired than perhaps ever before.
We caught up with the Berlin-based beatmonger to find out more:
How is life treating you so far in 2015?
Brilliant, thanks! Things are going pretty well!
You’ve got a mighty new release dropping on Blackout Music; the Nitro EP. It’s techier than previous releases. Is this a new sound you’re pushing?
The Blackout EP definitely sets a new direction for me as I started focussing on rolling D&B / neurofunk in late 2014. I’ve always loved it but found that there has been a change lately in the genre that took it even further and more challenging than ever before. Lots of inspiration out there.
Still as prolific as ever we see! No signs of slowing down?
I’m only getting warm to be honest. There’s so much more in the pipeline.
You were also the latest in line for Critical’s Binary series – tell me how this came about…
Some producers especially caught my attention in 2013/14 – one of them is Mefjus who’s music I know for nearly a decade now. In November I decided to send Critical Boss Kasra some new tunes I was doing at the time. It took him about five weeks to get back but when he did he was very positive about some of these tunes – three at this point. He then decided to have me do an EP for him. That’s when a fourth and a fifth tune got added. Escalate was actually the last one to be submitted. I was, and still am, mega happy to be on board with Critical!
Berlin is most certainly synonymous with techno and house. But what’s the attitude towards D&B like over there, what names are pushing the scene?
Difficult to say for me as nearly everything D&B happens outside Berlin / Germany.
Berlin has always been a good place to work on my own stuff without distraction.
When you started producing did the influence of Germany’s bona fide tech scene shape your sound?
Definitely! I actually started with techno in the mid nineties, growing up listening to Marusha’s Rave Satellite where I got first introduced to jungle and later D&B.
On that thought – how did you ever get into production and when did you know that was the career for you?
Quite early, when I was about 15. I started bying second hand studio gear: samplers, fx and an Atari ST with Notator Alpha. In 1997 I started playing at Kiss FM at Radio Massive regularly and introduced new tunes.
You’re also known for your dubstep production as well – do approach a dubstep song differently to drum and bass, in terms of production method?
Yeah it’s quite different. For me dubstep is more like an experiment – something I do when I want to let myself go a little bit as opposed to be super focussed and fast with D&B.
It’s been a while that I’ve looked at a 140 on the bpm meter to be honest.
You’ve released a load of albums over the last 20 years, smashing out almost one a year since 2009! What’s the driving force behind this incredible production rate?
It’s the constant inspiration and then the “mission” to get these ideas (sometimes whole songparts) done into music while they’re vivid and worth doing.
What have been your career highs and lows over that time?
Well I’d say it’s been evolving in steps – starting in Berlin where the Hamburg based record label Don-Q discovered me and released my first record with following releases on Position Chrome.
The next big step for me was when Dylan signed tracks to Freak Recordings and later Obscene and Tech Freak. With that came the Therapy Sessions and numerous big shows in Europe and Russia for me being on Anger Managements artist roster.
I think the most important thing for me always was to never get stuck in strictly one direction – one reason I love D&B is that it always has new challenges and ideas. Ideally It’s always fresh, sort of like a nectar that feeds you constantly…
This new turn now with Blacklout and Critical is certainly the most amazing one I’ve had and I’m set to take it very far.
If you could be in the studio whilst any track ever was being produced, what track would it be?
Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up” 😛
What’s next on the horizon for Current Value?
More work for Critical and some interesting collabs – already started working with Phace (brilliant co-pilot in the studio!!) and a few others..
Thanks for your time, any famous last words to go out on?
“Dark – is – this – rain – falling – from – endless – skies – ….” 🙂
