Interview with “Closure”

published on Mar 5 by Fursteh in Interview

We could talk with the sweet Kerri, who is now one half of the duo Project Closure and about to start another big project.


Let’s start with a small introduction, who are you and what kind of music do you make?
I write music under Project Closure with my friend Cole (who’s also a member of Glass Face) & recently started a side project under my name, Kerri.

 

Why Project Closure?
well as the name ‘Project Closure’ suggests, it was always a project of expression. I kinda wanted to keep it conceptual, and separate my personal life from the project.

 

Did you start the project together with Cole (if yes, who had the idea?), or did one of you start and the other joined as time passed?
Cole actually joined over the last month. Everything before then was written by me.

 

When and why did you start making music?
I’ve kinda always been doing art stuff, not just music. But I started taking music seriously when I was about 12. As I get older I keep gaining interest in other mediums, though. My goal is sort of to do everything once. This other project, Kerri, is hopefully going to be a place for photography and film stuff as well as all of the music I’m writing. The music under that name will be a lot more personal, and open – I feel like that’s only necessary since Project Closure is intentionally so disconnected.

 

Last year you released a 6 tracks EP, Second Thoughts, which gained a lot of attention. How did this EP start?
I wrote Second Thoughts after a really long period of self-doubt, it was basically just trying to push out all of the feelings of confusion I was drowning in at the time.

With the help of some friends you made a music video for the song ‘Hopes up’ from this EP, how was it and how did it happen?
It was a humbling experience, definitely. Getting the chance to the see somebody else’s interpretation of a song you wrote in your bedroom at 3am is so crazy. It turned out to be excellent as well.
Well actually, the small team that produced the video is led by Bree, a girl who’s dating my violinist, Sam. Bree heard the EP before its release and wanted to direct a video.

 

“I just love seeing cool people doing cool stuff.”

Who are your big inspirations?
I think artistically I’m a product of a lot of different people – to name a few, Asa, Ta-ku, Dpat, Atu, even people like Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator inspire me to an extent. Not even just musically – I just love seeing cool people doing cool stuff.

 

What advice would you give to a starting producer?
My best piece of advice would probably be to make sure you’re willing to give up free time & a social life to dedicate yourself. Instead of spending a Friday night out with friends, maybe stay back home & work on your basslines. It’s never a bad idea.
I think another good piece of advice I could give is that it’s important to realize that the marketing/business side and how you present yourself is just as important as the music itself.

 

I believe you have some new releases planned, could you tell us more?
Yeah, I’m working on a small EP for my ‘Kerri’ project and also Cole & I have been busy writing the next Closure record.

 

Any release dates or is it still too early?
We’re still in the writing stages, so I don’t think I can say just yet. We’ve been writing since December. Reaching out to artists we like, collaborating and writing out our own vocal parts for the first time. Exciting stuff!

 

And last question, what is your favourite movie?
Ohh man that’s a tough one. I really love films. I think ‘Good Will Hunting’ is my favorite movie of all time. The emotional performances by absolutely everyone in the cast are so perfect. And since I’m a nerd at heart I think a close second is the old ‘Spiderman 2’ from the Toby McGuire trilogy. Lately I’ve been super into this series, ‘Westworld’. It’s so incredible.

 

Check out Closure on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and listen to their stuff on YouTube, Soundcloud and Spotify or buy their music on Bandcamp!


Interview with “Resonata”

published on Feb 6 by easy_emu in Interview

We were able to interview Seth -the owner of Sekai Collective aka. Resonata just before he will be going on tour with SIDEWALKS AND SKELETONS and many more.


JACR: Hi Seth, could you give us a short introduction of who you are and what you do?

Resonata: I’m Resonata and I produce mostly sad music as well as run my own music collective.

 

What is it that got you started in producing music?

I started going to a lot of shows near the end of 2010 and I was really into the growing Dubstep scene at the time. A friend who would always go with me explained there were a few programs I could install on my computer if I wanted to try making my own.
So I tracked down a DAW that I liked. The first that I tried to write. Honestly I was never good at trying to produce Dubstep and always found myself slipping into either more chill compositions or something that seemed inspired by my industrial metal roots.

 

Already answering parts of the next question! Where does your inspiration come from?

I grew up mostly listening to variations of metal and alt-rock with a dash of electronic music. My dad played a huge part in influencing my musical tastes. Bands like Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, and Tool reigned supreme on my stereo from a very early age. Around my 11th birthday, I was given Prodigy’s ‘The Fat of the Land’ album and I wore that album out.

 

Reading this I have a spontaneous question. As metal and rock is where my musical interest started to grow – do you have a theory why people with roots in this kind of music are dragged to genres like Dubstep, Future Garage and Drum and Bass for example?

I like to use the phrase “Dance Music for Sad People.”

Dubstep and DnB, in a way, are very aggressive so that makes sense that some would transition from one to the other.
I do find a lot of old metal heads buried deep inside the chiller genres though and I think it’s something else. Maybe we see beyond the aggression and into the emotional complexity of what we used to listen to. Genres like Future Garage can still be aggressive but it comes from a darker, less marketable kind of place.

I like to use the phrase “Dance Music for Sad People”.

 

Do you have any “rituals” when producing?

Coffee is usually within arm’s reach (laughs).

 

Very soon you’ll start a tour through America with other great artists – can you tell us more about it?

I saw an opportunity while planning a move I’ll be making next month and put the word out to a few of my artist friends, from there it birthed into this tour. I Spent the past 5 months grinding and contacting venues and promoters with pretty much every spare second I had to get shows lined up.

We will also be documenting everything with a photographer/videographer with hopes to crunch everything into a documentary once it’s over. Since it’s the first tour of its kind, I am particularly excited [about the documentary] as I cannot join in-person.

 

As you mentioned earlier you are also the owner of Sekai, what does Sekai stand for and what do you guys do?

I believe it’s Japanese for “world”. I inherited Sekai from someone else so I didn’t come up with the name but I’m largely responsible for its overall growth.
The “World” part was intended to encompass our love for all artists and music internationally.
We started as a regular online collective, but have since expanded into hosting shows and events near Seattle.

 

Did running Sekai affect your own production in any way?

A little bit. I’d say problematic people in my personal life took a bigger toll on my production though. Sekai takes some time, but the connections I’ve made to artists through the Collective is rewarding in itself. I just want to do more to get underrated artists heard and seen.

The “World” part was intended to encompass our love for all artists and music internationally.
We started as a regular online collective, but have since expanded into hosting shows and events near Seattle.

What’s your perfect Sunday?

Sunny morning by some harbor by the ocean working on music and just being lazy all day in general.

 

Between eating the most delicious food that blows your clothes off or having your body injected into your favorite MMORPG, which would you choose and why?

Delicious foods because food is life!

 

Follow Resonata on Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Bandcamp.

Follow Sekai Collective SoundcloudFacebook and/or Bandcamp.

The Dissolution Tour


Interview with “Flite”

published on Feb 1 by Petroll in Interview

2016 has been an exciting year for JACR, lots of events, stickers(!) and lots more. But not only for JACR, but also for the american producer Flite, we looked back with him on the past year and we looked at the coming year.

 


JACR: Let’s start off with a small introduction, who are you and what do you do?

Flite: My name is Justin, and I am a 22 year old music producer from the United States; I’ve been producing music for about 6 years now and I am currently pursuing it professionally. I write mainly Drum & Bass music, but also delve into compositions with more classical instruments and am severely interested in Video Game music.

 

So you have been making music for quite a long time now, if I remember correctly Flite isn’t your first alias. What or who influenced you to start making music?

I’ve been writing music for somewhere around 11 years now, as I started writing music with Midi on a program called Anvil Studio, as well as on a Yamaha Motif ES8 my parents had bought for the family a long time ago. This got me interested in writing music in a more convenient way, but much of the reason I began writing music in the first place was related to my love for the works of Koji Kondo and Joe Hisaishi. Eventually when I stumbled upon the sounds of Pendulum, Netsky, Fred V & Grafix, Logistics, Noisia, Hospital Records and Liquicity as a whole, my love for the styles of Joe Hisaishi and Koji Kondo converged on Drum & Bass, as these producers were releasing hugely influential records around the time I started.

 

I suppose your music did sound a lot different when you just started, was your music any similar to your music nowadays and how did your sound evolve?

I think that stylistically I could have written something I would write today in the past, however my biggest limitation was my technical production skill. As my production skills evolved, this opened up new techniques to create more complex sounds, more intricate drum work, lusher sounds as a whole, and over all improve the quality of my music as I combined my new skills with refined writing! As for how my sound has evolved, recently I have become much more comfortable with creating dancefloor tracks, instead of just music that you might listen to on your own. I really want to expand my sound into something that I can hear playing at festivals and club nights, and still keeping every bit of Flite’s style to it.

 

“Good luck has certain prerequisites!”

If you had one tip for every starting producer, what would it be?

You are responsible for creating your own luck; when I say that, I don’t mean that luck isn’t real…however, good luck has certain prerequisites! If you are ever in the position where you are presented an opportunity, make sure that you have preceded this situation with lots of hard work and quality music. If you are caught by a potential opportunity, make sure that you have prepared for it in the best way possible! Spend the time on your mixes, spend the time creating compelling music, spend the time networking with other musicians to better yourself, spend the time getting to know those who might help your career succeed, and spend the time getting to know your fans! You never know what lies around the corner, but you must always be prepared to the best of your ability for it.

 

A few years back your songs were uploaded on the youtube channel of Liquicity, this was the first time I personally heard of you, and I guess the same counts for many others. How important has this been for your career?

Hugely important for me! Liquicity’s support for my music launched my career with an awesome community to push my music to, as well as a first group of fans that still follow my music to this day. Liquicity has featured 8 pieces of my music on their channel in the past, which led to me being featured and releasing music on UKF and MrSuicidesheep. Arguably, Liquicity’s support during one of its best years, 2012-2013, was instrumental in motivating me and connecting me to much of my current music network! At this moment I have 1.5 million hits across Liquicity, which is huge for me! I definitely would not have the audience I do if it were not for them.

 

It is around a year ago since you started streaming music production on Twitch, I can imagine the influence this had on your career. But for the people that have no clue what you do on Twitch, could you explain it in short?

I began broadcasting my production time on Twitch.Tv in late January of 2016, right after I had left school for the final time to pursue music professionally. Right now I broadcast two days of live music production, and one day for music feedback for my viewers! We have an amazing community full of very talented producers, and many people express that they come strictly to watch me write music and chill out. To me, it’s awesome to have the additional motivation for writing music, because it makes me insanely productive usually. In 2016 alone I wrote over 35 different pieces of music, where the year previous to that I had written only about 5 songs. I also have some incredibly kind viewers who send me donations on stream, and it has made an immense difference in my life; in my current state, my viewers and contributors actually keep me able to sustain my lifestyle of writing and producing music, and this has 100% been the sole reason I’ve written so much music this year. HUGE thank you to you guys who watch my streams, and any donors out there, you all are such an amazing community and I couldn’t be prouder to celebrate a year on Twitch!

 

So what does your workflow looks like? Do you already have something in mind when you start on a new project or is it much different than that?

Generally when I come into a new project, I have something in mind for the overall vibe of the music, however that can change at any moment! I have a template that I’ve created over the years that allows me to quickly get into the mixing attributes of the project and avoid needless time wasting setting the same things up over and over again, so I can maximize my creative energy actually writing and doing sound design. Often I will write something that I enjoy for a little bit, but I might lose my inspiration from what I was doing or stop feeling the project as a whole. I have learned to value any creative output that I make because one day I might see something different or better for the project, so sometimes I will come back to a project after several years of ignoring it. Otherwise, when I begin a project, I might have an idea for what I want, but usually the piece of music develops on its own. I’m just a facilitator, as I like to let the music write itself.

“I’m just a facilitator, as I like to let the music write itself.”

2016 has been a great year for you but with the release of ‘Awakening’ on Hospital Records, 2017 might even be crazier. What do you think 2017 will be like for you?

2016 was an incredible year for me, as I’ve always wanted to prove that I can do music production full time. I proved to myself and many of my relatives that it was possible, and to begin 2017, I’ve just signed Awakening and released it on Hospital Records, one of the labels I’ve always dreamed of releasing music on. So…this year will be something legendary for me, I feel as motivated as I possibly can be, and ultimately I intend to release plenty of music (possibly an EP), DJ more in the United States and hopefully Europe, and possibly work on a few secret side projects of mine. Perhaps a great change of pace would be to write a film or video game score. We’ll see! But I can tell you will strict confidence that I am going full force from here on out, as this is my life’s passion. Make sure you’re always doing what you love.

 

Follow Flite on SoundcloudTwitchTwitterBandcampYouTube


Sizzlebird – Escape From Reality

published on Apr 15 by HappyPants in Featured Tunes

Sizzlebird, as ever, has delivered a solid album with ‘Imagine’ and this is probably my favourite track.


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Interview with “Black Visor”

published on Apr 6 by Neveragain_Gc in Interview

Our beloved host Lukas (known as Neveragain_Gc) had the opportunity to talk with the artist “Black Visor”. Read about his motivation behind making his music, his interests and overall gain an inside look of the person behind the name Black Visor!


black_visor_profileOkay, first of all can you give a little summary of yourself as artist and person for an introduction?
My name is Chase, I am 22 years old and I’m a Canadian born music producer who writes and releases electronic music under the alias Black Visor.

 

You released an LP on Harrow Recordings about 2 weeks ago. Most of the songs have an ambient / future garage sound, what got you interested in making this type of music?

I began the Black Visor project because my taste in sounds and style started to change, At the time, I was listening to loads of Burial and I felt so addicted to his sound. It was all I listened to. His music has a deep impact on my life in a way, and his music really aided myself through rough times. I started writing these tunes so I could help myself get through it all.

 

I can definitely understand the addiction to Burial! A good person to be inspired of, do you have a favourite track?

Probably Fostercare. It always changes haha

Near Dark is brilliant as well

 

For how long have you been creating music and how did you start? Are there any suggestions you have for aspiring musicians?

Music in general, I’ve been writing since I was in middle school when I began playing the guitar. As I grew older, I started listening to heavier styles of music and went to local hardcore shows. I eventually grew out of that kind of music and really got into downtempo productions from producers such as bonobo, and that’s when everything changed. I started writing electronic music and have been committing myself to it for the last 3 years.

For aspiring musicians, don’t give up on yourself. Don’t give yourself too hard of a time. I’m someone who still learns new things all the time, and I never give myself enough credit. Believe in yourself if you think you can do better.

 

Do you have any hobbies besides creating music?

For a long while, all I was doing was producing music, and as soon as the album was released, I finally felt like I had some free time again. I’ve always been really into graphic design and photoshop, and just recently I’ve started making these collages on canvas using pieces and scraps from old magazines. I always try and find new ways to express myself creatively. I also really enjoy bike riding and spending time with friends.

 

What 3 things would you take with you on an abandoned Island?

Ableton, Food, and marijuana, that’s all I need!

 

What else is there to come from you in 2016?

At the moment, I’m looking into playing local shows, and I was previously booked for one for march, but unfortunately it got cancelled. I have a load of new music being written lately, really different from the last tracks I’ve released. Still assembling and figuring out how I should release them.

I’ve just recently started learning how to create mixes, and actually put my traktor to use haha it’s been fun.

 

Getting us all excited with announcing lots of new music, I hope we hear it rather soon than late.

Yeah, I’ve been generally in a decent mood as of late, so I’ve been writing some pretty dancy, yet still weird productions with a more uplifting vibe.

It still has these almost depressing overtones over them, but they’re alot more groovy. My skill in production I felt has also improved so they’ve been sounding great.

 

That’s great!
We’ll make sure to check them out once you share them with us

Yeah absolutely, very excited to share these tracks, like for real lol

 

Are there any shoutouts you want to make?

Shoutout to Harrow for being very supportive, and believing in the music I create. To everyone who’s checked out my music, I appreciate it a lot.

I’ve met a lot of new people through this project, so it’s been a great experience.

 

Thats what music gives to us all.

Thank you very much for taking time of your day for this interview!

Yeah no problem man its been a pleasure.


Sekai Selects – 006 (Staff Picks vol. 1)

published on Apr 2 by Fursteh in Featured Tunes


Sekai Collective – Selects – Bandcamp – Facebook – Twitter

 

Whynnel – Murvan

published on Mar 29 by HappyPants in Featured Tunes

This one just ticks every box for me, amazing track throughout.


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Ghost Youth X Honeyruin – Bleed Through/Life In Pictures/Special Needs

published on Mar 29 by simpsinator in Featured Tunes

I stumbled across this future garage collaboration on Soundcloud and it’s a pure bliss. Enjoy this heavy 14 minute journey.


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Slow Meadow – Crown of Amber Canopy Pt.1 and Pt.2

published on Mar 7 by HappyPants in Featured Tunes

This track from Slow Meadow was featured in our showcase back on plug.dj and stuck in my head, but when i saw this live performance it just blew me away.


SoundcloudBandcampiTunes – Spotify

 

Harrow – From The Depths Mix

published on Feb 25 by simpsinator in Featured Tunes

Listen to the wonderful atmospheric “From The Depths” mix which the awesome artists from the Harrow Collective created/contributed to. First presented during an event in our room, you can now experience it once again on our soundcloud. Enjoy and give them a follow!


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Sekai Selects – 003

published on Jan 7 by Fursteh in Featured Tunes


Sekai – Sekai Selects – Bandcamp – Facebook

Sekai Sessions 001: Aerocity – “Love Lost”

published on Dec 12 by Fursteh in Interview

Introduction:

Hello, and welcome to Sekai Sessions. This is your host Resonata, and this is the first in a new series from the Sekai family where we interview your favourite electronic music artists and indie artists, discussing their tracks and breaking down everything from the emotions behind the songs to the production technique.

I’m very excited to bring this new series in and introduce you to our first guest: Aerocity.

 

Aerocity: Hey, this is Reece, I go by Aerocity. I like blending real world instruments with, sort of a heavy electronic music influence. I grew up playing piano, guitar and violin mostly so I’m trying to find a place for those wherever I can.

 

As far as the piano goes I actually stumbled across this sampling company called Spitfire a while back, and they’ve got this really cool section with a bunch of really, very unique instruments called Labs, and, they’re like 3 bucks a piece and it all goes to UNICEF I believe. But they’ve got a particular Kontakt library for piano called “The Spitfire Soft Piano”, and I thought $3 for a library on Kontakt it’s, an absolute steal, and, I think that was the only piano sound I actually used on Escapism.

 

It was played live though MIDI and I recorded on Ableton but I was trigerring thos Spitfire samples, and it’s got just this gorgeous, really detailed real world sound. And that’s something that I struggled for a long time to find with sampled pianos, was, a really organic, real…honest sound to it. And that’s something I love about Spitfire, they kept all that noise in, and it’s a very full-bodied, full of character piano instrument.

 

I think the drums were all hand-placed from the Native Instruments Battery Glitch Kit. It’s got a really unique sound to it, lot of really cool micro-samples, and, I’d spent a couple of months trying to figure out how I could place these in songs and I really enjoyed it. It’s really sporadic and random and, it kind of provides a cool, like, emotional contrast to the soft undertones of the rest of the instrumental.

I’ve got to mention I did use a snare from the Steelan sample pack that is just a gorgeous snare sound, hugely tense, and you know like I mentioned, the emotional contrast, I felt like the tension with that snare along with the sporadic, sort of randomly placed glitch samples from Battery really enhanced that because by itself, the “Love Lost” instrumental, the drums, is a very calm, slow, just kind of boring song, and what I was feeling at the time was that heavy emotional contrast and I wanted to kinda empathyze that, and the drums were where I found that.

 

As far as the outro goes, I innitialy layed down a piano line with a heavy delay, and it was just kind of improvised like most of the rest of the song, that’s pretty much how everything I write comes together, just pure improvisation and fitting little bits and pieces together one at a time. And then from that I took little bits of the guitar and some of the ambient sense and just chopped them up and you know, reversed them and re-arranged them into little bit and pieces,  and tried from there to piece together a new melody that would kind of bring the song to a close.


Sekai – Sekai Selects – Resonata – Aerocity

KISNOU – Tale of a man who whispered to flowers

published on Nov 30 by Fursteh in Featured Tunes


Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Facebook

haven – i forgive you

published on Nov 19 by Fursteh in Featured Tunes


Soundcloud – Facebook – VK – Instagram

 

Azaleh – Misfortune

published on Nov 2 by Fursteh in Featured Tunes

Mesmerizing ambience and perfect beat for this beautiful song.


 

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