It’s work experience time once again. A chance for an artist to tell us their dream collabos… And why. Following Stray’s revelations a few weeks back we thought it wise to give his longtime producer pal Halogenix a call and find out who he’d like to make noises with. But first, we get chatting about track titles. It’s one of the many aspects of production Halogenix thoroughly vibes off.
“Yeah I love naming tracks, I take a lot of enjoyment from it,” he tells us. Take his recent cut Raya on Dispatch. A joyous joint of tightly rolled glitches and techy gurgles, packed nicely with a mild Asian twist, he named it after the Indonesian word for great. His previous track Laika comes with an even deeper twist.
“It was the first Russian dog in space,” he explains. “Laika felt very apt. I’d just done St Clair which is lake in Detroit. I wanted to go on countries, looked at my Russian background and thought it would be a good name.”
Look out for his next one. He’s keeping tight lipped about it but tells us the translation means wonky…
“Yeah, we’re making some really weird, off-beat stuff at the moment,” he grins. “Don’t worry, I’m focussing on proper dancefloor stuff too.”
Whether it’s solo or collabo, off-beat or dancefloor, we’re loving Halogenix’s work right now. Here’s his thoughts on partnerships, and his all time dream studio situations…
“I love collaborating with people,” he says. “There’s more than one mind so you get more out of it. I enjoy the perspective you get from another person. You get some really unexpected turns with someone and I love the way a tune has a life of its own. I also take a lot of pleasure from writing tunes on my own too. Building my own sound which I can put the skills I learn collaboratively into. Likewise the skills I learn on my own feed into collaborations. It all works hand in hand.”
Halogenix’s Dream Collaborations
Amerie
“I wouldn’t call it a fascination, but I do have a strange obsession with Amerie. Whenever I update my iPod she’s always the first person to go on the playlist. I love the ways she sings and the lyrics she uses. Her style and voice. I love it all. She works with great producers too. I’m not sure what she’s up to now but that whole One Thing album is well worth checking out. I’d love to work with her.”
Jehst
“He has to be one of my all time favourite rappers. The whole Return Of The Drifter really inspired me back in the day. He’s got an unbelievable flow and swagger. I love the stuff he’s done with Alix Perez recently. For me, though, he was at his best in the late 90s. There seemed to be a lot more emotion on that album.”
Burial
“It seems quite clichéd but credit where it’s due! When I first heard him it really did change how I listen to music and how I make music. Every electronic music producer who’s come about in the last five or 10 years would be lying if they didn’t acknowledge this man. His whole approach is really inspiring. From a structural point of view he’d be really insightful.”
Listen and download to all Halogenix releases on our download store.