34. KID MACHINE EXCLUSIVE MINI MIX AND INTERVIEW

over the last few weeks, i've been speaking with kid machine about his current work, where he's headed and where he comes from. not only was i able to listen to his solid "Velours 77" EP, but he made an exclusive mini mix for me to share (at the bottom of this post). the mini mix takes you through a nice variation of tracks - house, electronica, funk. basically everything you're looking to do with the next half an hour of your time. kid machine also threw one of his remixes in there. be on the lookout for this guy!

the EP is an adventure through space and time. you can buy it online here for $4 (US). that's a big deal and totally worth it. i've included one of the tracks from his EP at the bottom of the post, check it out and then please support the artist!

here's our q & a-
slam: How long have you been making music and what got you started?

KM: I got my DJ break as a naive 19 year old on XMAS eve '99 (with a recovering broken leg, fuck it hurts carrying records boxes around like this) in Melbourne Australia. I played French filtered stuff and a bit of Trance. IT WAS '99! haha
I returned home to UK inspired by DJing I bought a PC and began to buy 100's of records from charity shops to sample the fuck out of. I became obsessive, and had my first vinyl EP out in 2001 on my own label Deluded Recordings. It was housey disco Filter stuff. You can still buy it online 'Maruko-NYC People' EP. Check it ;)
I was always in to Daft Punk, so they inspired me to produce. I left it for a while and became Kid Machine in 2007. Someone said I sounded like Kraftwerk, so the name Kid Machine derives from the track 'The Man Machine'.

slam: I ask all artists that I interview this question, and it's clearly a tough one- but I like hearing what they think: How would you describe your sound?

KM: Hmmmm. Well, Definitely Electronic. Definitely Nostalgic. Definitely Analog sounding. Definitely inspired... everything from Kraftwerk to Disco to Daft Punk to new wave to Italo to French Touch to House to Soundtrack scores . Definitely Dreamy. Definitely Spacey. Definitely Warm. Definitely Cool. Definitely ominous in places. Definitely always moving. Definitely Original. I hope.

slam: One of the reasons I'm into Velours 77 is because the three original tracks on the EP mix very nicely together - almost telling a story. When you listen to them in order, they take you for a ride. Was this intentional on your part and you can speak a little bit about the development of the EP?

KM: You're the only person who has 'got' this concept and mentioned it to me. I'm Impressed. It's a journey of influences and it just so happens it all happens in space. The track names give it a 'story' feeling, e.g 'Enter Exosphere' is like the start of the journey, 'Keepers of the Temple of the Sun' is maybe about having a laser sword fight battle with aliens as you travel unknown galaxy's, 'Velours 77' is a disco 77,000,000 miles away in deep space and is also the name of Kid Machine's Space craft.
The EP took about 6 months to develop. It was mainly written in the middle of cold,dark, clear starry nights over xmas / new year 2008. I was pretty obsessed with 'what was out there' at the time and I was given a book by my friend and label manager Mike TV from a Manchester band called Beats for Beginners. It was a 60's ex-library book explaining all about space, it had amazing words I could use for Title Tracks and illustrations and diagrams that inspired the music I was making. It only felt natural to steal and bastardise the imagery for the EP cover. I wrote about 9 or 10 tracks at the time, and decided to hold them back for an LP, so hopefully the EP is glimpse of light of what's to follow on the full album.

slam: I can hear a lot of similarities on your work to a lot of the stuff on Valerie (the Blog and the label). That smooth, french, 80s, electro, I'm in outerspace and it's great type of thing. I'm obviously a big fan of that stuff. Do you have any connections with them/ are you considering it?

KM: Wow, that's an amazing compliment. But, I discovered Valerie and it's artistes quite late on. My immediate reaction was, fuck, they sound like I do, but maybe better(?) I wish I lived in the same neighbourhood as these guys as kids. We'd have probably played around with DX7's, BMX's and Star Wars Figures. They are inspirational, but I can see where they have been influenced...most of the same places as I have. If they were to become interested in me becoming a 'friend of Valerie' then I would get my ass out to Nantes or wherever for a few beers and a studio session with them. The closest connection I have with Valerie is through Justin Faust, he remixed Velours '77, I THINK he has some connection with them anyway. I don't want people to think I emulate these guys, or even aspire to be like them. I just want to do my thing, and add a bit of Kid Machine to a typically claimed French sound.

slam: Your tracks seem like they would work well with some lyrics or vocal samples. Is that something you are considering for some of your future stuff?

KM: People seem to be split 50-50 on this with me. I personally used to think that my music was instrumental, but for the album and DEFINITELY the next EP, I'll have more vocal content. Vocals and song writing will come from Mike TV on next EP 'Pocket Universe', but I'd love to collab with someone like Doves, Interpol or more likely, a lesser known indie vocalist, I think that's where my sound will go next, more dark, indie influenced songs with my usual nostalgique synthy trimmings.

slam: You work with other artists to collaborate on other projects. Who are some of the artists you work with and what's different about the work you create when you work together?

KM: I have a collab track ready to go with Beats for Beginners. It's a clear split down the middle in terms of sounds. He has that kinda New Order thing going on, adding real bass, guitars and analogue synths, with some charity shop Yamaha toy keyboards plugged in to fx machines. Nothing has been released yet with any of the people I have collaborated with. Marc Remillard (an upcoming Canadian producer) and I have similar styles, but the track we did together takes a different spin when it comes to the final mix,he makes it more side-chained, pumping and French. Well French-Canadian.

slam: What's next for you? Any plans for an LP?

KM: I will get my head down and get busy with the next EP, so recording vocals to tracks that are already finished instrumentals. I aim to get an album out this year. I just listened to the tracks I worked on during 2009 that were meant for the LP, and decided not to put 'em out. So back to the drawing board.
I'm also waiting for the parts to a song called 'You Do Something' by label mates The 1,2,3,4's. I'll be having a go at a remix for that, but I guess it's all down to if they like it!
I'm just going to keep working, and If I'm successful, then cool, but if not, that's cool too. I never set out to become some kinda big name. I just enjoy making music that has all the influences from my first 30 years on planet earth.
This is only the VERY start of my music career and have been fortunate to meet a couple of great people in the music industry and great, fresh, talented people online with the likes of Myspace.

Kid Machine - Keepers Of The Temple Of The Sun

Kid Machine - Kid Machine Mini Mix Dec 2009
(bloggers feel free to repost, just let me know!)

34. KID MACHINE EXCLUSIVE MINI MIX AND INTERVIEW

33. INTERVIEW WITH BRANDT BRAUER FRICK

late last week, i was over at my favorite music video blog, and found this excellent video for brandt brauer frick (check it out below, or click here to take you straight to youtube), a german group that produces music with elements of house and contemporary classical music- haven't heard anything like this before, really original stuff.

Paul Frick and i had a little q&a-

slam: What got you guys started and how long have the three of you been working together?

PF: Jan Brauer and Daniel Brandt have been making music together since school times. I heard a track of their project "Scott" on myspace and loved it. So I contacted them (well, not entirely sure who contacted whom...), and as Daniel and Jan happened to come to Berlin shortly after that, we arranged a meeting to exchange some records. In the meantime they had noticed that I also compose music for classical instruments, and they proposed to start a project together that combines techniques and aesthetics of techno and contemporary classical music. Our first studio session was in late 2008.

slam: What's happening in the near future - any LP in the works?

PF: Our debut album is almost finished and will appear in march on Tartelet Records. Before that several EPs are coming as well:
"Wallah / Button" on The Gym
acoustic rework for Bozeman on Doppelschall Records
"Bop / Paino Shakur" incl. Losoul RMX on Tartelet Records
acoustic rework for Emika on Ninja Tune
And apart from that: touring, setting up our BBF ensemble with about 12 musicians, working on a performative installation for San Francisco based Gallery GAFFTA amongst others... it has to do with several musicians in separate rooms, and it requires the manipulation of the visitor/listener.

slam: It's great to hear some work by electronic musicians that is self-sampled. You don't often hear musicians of this genre sample only themselves. There are groups who play a lot of instruments, but sample (like The Twelves), and then there are groups that are electronic influenced, but don't sample at all, or rarely (like Whitest Boy Alive or Studio). Your work is different and feels like a unique approach. What brought you there? AND there's a lot of real instrumentation, but with very strong house roots. What brought the sounds together?

PF: Being 3 people with instrumental skills in a nicely equipped studio, it feels rather natural for us to record everything ourselves. We are of course not the first ones to do this... But we hope that our colliding aesthetic visions help in creating something authentic. As a lot our pieces use prepared piano, I should mention that our detuned old piano has also become quite typical for us: playing normally sounds really bad, so we focus a lot on interesting sounds... In a similar way, various instruments that we use determine our sound. And about the house roots: in our separated projects we are all much more housy. On our album we have set the house influence a bit aside, but on our new EP on "The Gym" the house side shows a lot (like already on our EP "Iron Man"). Those tracks will not be on the album, as their style does not really fit to it.

slam: Where do you take some of your inspiration and what are some artists you listen to?

PF: Concrete musical inspiration comes for example from Gustav Mahler, Morton Feldman, Kevin Saunderson, Mr. Bungle, Matthew Herbert, György Ligeti, Helmut Lachenmann, Meshuggah, Steve Reich, Thelonious Monk, 4hero, A Tribe Called Quest, Akufen, Theo Parrish...
The forthcoming debut EP of the Dutch producer "Bozeman" has lately inspired me a lot.

slam: Any plans to tour in the US?

PF: Not yet, but hopefully soon.



slam: The Bop video is a beautiful complement to the many layers in the track. Did you guys come up with the idea? How was the shoot?

PF: The concept and realization of the "Bop" video was made by Daniel Brandt who is a professional director, besides being a musician. One aspect of the video was also to visualize how we want to perform in the future, with a larger ensemble. The shoot was really stunning for me, having had very few film experience before. it took two 16-hours working days, with about 30 people working on it: amazing! Daniel directed it together with Julian Schleef, who also makes incredible work.

Wallah:


Button:


currently only available on vinyl. upcoming LP will be in digital and CD. look out for it!!!
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33. INTERVIEW WITH BRANDT BRAUER FRICK