Almost Everyone in the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada talks about this lo-fi phenomenon. They refer to this sub-genre as raw house, or outsider house… Since I like to be clear about definitions;
what’s your take on the meaning of lo-fi? Is it a synonym of raw house?
First of all: ‘Lo-Fi’ isn’t a genre to me. It’s just a sound design. There’s Hi-Fi, there’s Lo-Fi. It’s some kind of trend right now. I think people always prefer imperfect music. Everybody loves the sound of crackling vinyl. That whole ‘Lo-Fi’ (I don’t like the word) hype refers to the music of the 80s and 90s. All those bedroom producers just had fun with a bit of gear and a tape machine. There was no computer to perfectly arrange your track. That’s why everybody loves the raw-ish sound of early productions in my opinion.
Some producers here in Italy described lo-fi as “fake house”? The opinion is that lo-fi is simply “old-school” house, maybe with some raw kicks or crunchy elements, but that’s all. Do you agree with that?
Like I said, to me Lo-Fi is a sound design – it can be Acid-House like Paranoid London, it can sound funky like John Swing. Some people also say it’s music made for home listening. I would agree with that in many ways because much of this stuff just doesn’t sound good at the club. It’s kinda weird to play bad sounding tunes on a good sound system. I mentioned that before in the Mixmag article. It’s not about a specific sound, it’s about the music.
How did you become confident with lo-fi?
I’m not sure. I’ve mostly listened to hip hop which has some kind of similar sound. I discovered Relative, Restoration and stuff like that and I liked the warmth of the sound they release.
What were your feelings, the day your debut EP for Lobster Theremin came out?
Of course it felt amazing. Lobster Theremin is one of my favourite labels out there. I’d never planned to release something, so when Jimmy contacted me I couldn’t believe it. It’s cool to see you can make people smile with what you’re doing.
For devoted followers and insiders, Jimmy Asquith is a boss, a guy who built a self-nurturing and sustaining system, with which he was able to discover and actively support a broad sarray of emerging labels and talents, as well as giving jobs to his collaborators at the LT HQ (recently even opening a record shop).
How did you get in touch with him and what it feels like, being part of the Lobster Theremin family?
Jimmy is digging the (SoundCloud) crates 24/7. He’s crazy about new music. That’s a great thing and there wouldn’t be a hype without him in my opinion. Lobster supports unknown Artists and gives them the chance to show their music to a fairly large audience. Cheers to all Lobsters at this point, you’re the best.
What can you say about your last release on UTTU? DJ Haus seems to be a very meticoulous individual. Did he ask you something specific, did he demand or did he let you fly?
A friend of mine released on UTTU some time ago and I was like ‘Damn, I’m jealous’. I’m a big fan of what he’s doing so I sent him some tracks and he forwarded them to DJ Haus. He instantly liked them and so things got rolling.
What’s your favourite Shall Not Fade artist?
Oh, that’s a tough question. There’s a lot of great music on there. Okay, if I have to pick one: I think my favourite is Steve Murphy. Man, he has such a big output. It’s quite similar to my all-time-favourite John Swing.
We all listened to TRP productions via soundcloud or the social netwrks; Youtube has also been a relevant medium, but your credibility has never been bound to one of those catalyst channels,
What do you think about it? How do you explain this “case”?
Of course Soundcloud helped me to gain some popularity and I’m still digging around there every free minute. But I have bought records long before I even knew about the platform. And I’m still gonna do it if there’s maybe no SoundCloud or social media anymore at some point.
How much was your hometown Heilbronn important, in your artistic path?
Heilbronn is a quite small and boring city. There’s only one good club there. A friend of mine introduced me to electronic music and we went partying a lot (we still do). Some dudes started the event series ‘who the fuck’ about 8 years ago which I joined as some kind of resident to play the warmups. The idea is to introduce people to artists they might not know. People who come to the parties know there will be good music and that’s what it’s about. I never had the intention to start touring, my whole music is just a product of my boredom. Shouts to the crew!
