Smash TV Q&A

smashTalk us through where the inspiration for ‘Break the Monotony’ came from and how you then took those ideas to translate them into the final production?

This track basically started with Craig’s vocal, which wasn’t supposed to be used in the way we did in the end. It’s a bit from the track ‚live for the weekend‘ – we played around with it a bit and all of a sudden it was there!
We more or less built the track around that vocal, emphasizing the raw sound with using analog drum-machines and raw recordings from the modular synth.

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Which are your favourite pieces of software/ hardware that you currently like to use?

i just bought a modal 002. this synth in combination with a novation circuit used as a sequenzer for it is a bomb. also, we are currently preparing a liveset around the new pioneer toraiz sp 16. we planned to play live without laptop already for a while. now, slowly but surely all the pieces of the new setup come together.

The EP is released via Culprit on 26/08/2016. Tell us about how your relationship with the prestigious label came about?

We met Andrei from Culprit in Barcelona at OFF Sonar 2015, our friend Bambook introduced us. And as we talked it turned out that we were both fans of each others work – so we decided to work together!
The first tracks we sent over became the Cascadia EP which was released in late 2015, and with this diverse package we had here we thought culprit would be the right place to release them!

What’s the story behind your collaboration with Archive’s Craig Walker on: Live For The Weekend? And how do you rate the importance of vocals in today’s Dance culture?

Live fort he weekend was the first track oft hat EP that was finished, and with it’s light 80’s breaky synth feel it needed some vocals we felt. So we played it to our friend and studio neighbour Craig Walker and he was instantly up for it! He wrote some great autobiographical lyrics here, he says the track immediately transported him back to the days of early illegal raving in Brixton and South London.
The lyrics are about his days in London in the early 90s in a flat in Greenwich with a welsh poet who was a “raging alcoholic pisshead, making ecstasy and speed in the bathroom“ – it’s amazing to have such talent here on this EP.

It’s great to work with vocalists who bring in their own artistic persona and by that expand the horizon oft he music created – we think that this is great and important.
Vocals used in the right way are fantastic, all that sampling got a little boring lately to some people – so that’s why there might be a little less vocals at the moment, which doesn’t make them less important.

Who are your biggest influences outside of Dance music?

Kai: Apart from dance music I have been listening to The Jayhawks and Kishi Bashi a lot recently…

Can you tell us about your involvement with the Beirut Berlin Express?

BBX is a contest for music producers from Beirut done by the Grand Factory Beirut, Goathe Institute Lebanon, Riverside Studios and Jägermeister, in which the winner will come to Berlin to Riverside for a month an produce an EP there. And in that month we will work with the winner everyday and help/coach/advise and make sure there is a great release in the end.
This our second collaboration with Goethe Institute Lebanon and we are really happy about being part of this great project.
Apart from that we are a lot in the middle east, especially in Beirut so we are even more happy to support this great scene over there!

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