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DSM PRESENTS TRIAD AND SAM KDC
Shouts to Deep Soul Music, who allowed us to bring you some truly talented individuals who have seen some big releases on their DSM in the last month or so. We get to speak to Triad (a trio made up of Bass Tikal, Henree & LF Flow) and Sam KDC. Get to know some of the new breed, and enjoy the captivating mixes!
DOA: In going through your backstory, it looks like you three were working on solo material, with Triad as sort of a side project to get some product out. When did you realize that this "hobby" of a collective needed to be turned into the main event?
Triad: We reached a certain point where dnb didn't really give us the buzz anymore like it used to do. Productions became too fast, too overloaded and lost their vibe. Browsing through the record collection we realized that some of our favourite tunes from over ten years ago had more emotion, sounded better and were way more cutting edge than most of the stuff that came out at that time. As we wanted to do something together for quite a while we thought it was a good moment to try that. Right after finishing the first 1-2 tracks we realized how great it worked and that a certain kind of extra creativity came out of the collaboration for all sides. After getting some nice feedback and airplays on the first bits we decided to take it a lot more seriously and to put all our studio time in this project from now on, as it just felt right. The project is kind of a new landmark for us and we simply enjoy every single minute in the studio.
DOA: How would you describe the Triad sound? I imagine a lot of heads would place the recent buzzword of "minimal" on you guys? you OK with that?
Triad: Our sound is quite versatile and you could describe it as deep, moody and a bit dark. Basically it's a mixture of our wide-ranged influences, which go from Underground Resistance to Joy Division back to J Dilla and the likes of Roy Ayers, Kraftwerk, Bauhaus, George Clinton ending up with The XX. This list could go on and on.
There isn't really anything wrong about the term "minimal" except for the fact that it is sort of a trend word in DnB at the moment. Our sound is definitely more stripped down compared to other productions so we don't have a problem to be labeled as minimal. Minimalism for us means that we are concentrating on sound design details and most important the essence of club music (that's where the name of our debut EP came from by the way).
Also Triad isn't just restricted to DnB. We also work on a lot of house, dubstep and downbeat electronics and have releases forthcoming on non D&B labels such as ProgCity Deep or Peppermint Jam.
DOA: Talk to us about your EP on DSM, The Essence. Is this kind of like your defining statement of a release, or just a collection of some of your best work?
Triad: When Jonny Stumasta came up with the idea to do the first artist EP on his label, we were really proud to make this happen. And of course it wasn’t in our interest to give him just a collection of tunes. We wrote every song especially to fit in the 4-track EP concept and we're really happy with the result. We wanted to create a good follow up to our debut single "Fiasco", which pretty much brought us on the map. So we tried to create a package which transports the same emotions and energy but show our technical progress and development at the same time.
DOA: Do you guys have any favorite on the EP? If so, which tune and why?
Triad: Not really, we like to look at all four bits as one piece of music. Working with our long time cohort MC Fava on the track "Aftermath" was a great experience, so this would be the one to choose if we'd have to.
DOA: Any Triad tunes lined up for release currently?
Triad: There's is quite a lot of stuff coming up right before and after summer. Our 12" on X-Tinction Agenda ("Out Of Scale" / "Utopia") is ready to hit the streets in June. Also in June there will be a 12" on Engine Music with "Spellbound" on it and also a remix for a label called Influenza Minus. In September we'll have a 12" on Nu Directions and we're working on a 4-track House EP for the great german label ProgCity Deep. Of course we're working on a lot of new DnB material too. So it's going to be a really exciting year for us.
DOA: With Triad obviously catching on and taking on a larger part of your work output, do you have any plans for your solo projects currently?
Triad: Most of our time goes into Triad right now. We don't really plan to use the Henree and Bass Tikal monikers anymore, except DJ appearances. Henree also releases Deep House stuff under the name of "Henry L". He already has a few release out on Farside Records and got some stuff lined up for Drumpoet.
DOA: We also want to thank you for the sick mix you’ve given to us. What can we expect to hear on this one?
Triad: We tried to give you a picture of how our club sets sound like by putting together a journey through our favourite DnB artists of the moment. Expect to hear some fresh bits by Data, Anile, Sam KDC, Synth Sense and of course some of our own bits.
Tracklist:
Synth Sense - Next Level
Loxy, Ink & Genotype - Yellow Eyed Demon
Dakosa - So Long
Nether - Reflections
Triad - The Puzzle
Anile - Last March
Sam KDC - How Long
Triad - Spellbound
Sam KDC - Sepia
Boymerang - Still
Data - Burning Paradise
Dan Habarnam - One Note Bass
Nether - True Believer (Marcus Intalex Rave Up Remix)
Triad - Essence
Atom - Solar Flare
Triad – Crooked
>>> DOWNLOAD THE MIX <<<
DOA: Now, many have just recently gotten introduced to you by way of "Selfless", which caught on with the Autonomic podcast series via Instra:Mental, as well as Nu Directions, who plan to drop it on 10". How would you describe your style of production?
Sam KDC: It's difficult for me to talk about anything I've created critically. I don't really know how to describe the style of my production in words... I guess it's very lo-fi and sublime and most of the time it's more about what isn't there than what is. I know that sounds strange, but when I first started making music, I didn't really know how to get the sounds I wanted, so often I'd hear something in the background of a sound, like the hats in a break, and hear something in them that maybe other people wouldn't, or that would get lost once they were layered with other sounds, so I'd do my best to try and isolate those little background sounds and the result was often really lo-fi. Of course, through time, I have got a lot better at finding and making the sounds that I hear in my head, but have always remained conscious of early techniques that I used, and I try and incorporate them into how I work. In regards to the kind of genre I make, I don't like to limit myself to only making one type of music. I think there are a lot of producers in every genre who just churn out slightly different versions of the same song. I've always been very aware of this, so when I sit down to try and get something out, I'm consciously trying not to do that. Don't get me wrong though, it's not the most important thing to me, I'm not just trying to be different or make everything I do different from the last thing. Some people are so driven by trying to be different and sometimes just forget what I see as the most important thing, the music: the emotion. I'm not really that bothered about creating something that's not been heard before, but on the same hand, I don't want my music to just sound like everything else out there.
I draw a large part of my influence from the music I listen to, which is almost everything apart from DnB. I know that also sounds strange, but the way I got into DnB was strange, I never meant to get so weighed down with it really... but, as I was saying, the music I listen to heavily influences my musical output. My first musical love was grunge, I love the anger and emotion, it's very real and close to the bone, it really struck a chord with me as an angry kid (haha). My Dad has an incredible taste in music and introduced me to almost everything I love now, including a lot of the first jungle that I loved. I used to visit him and we'd spend hours going through CDs, he'd get so excited playing me music and seeing my reaction to it, that's one of the things I love about DJing, and I think that was a large reason why I started. It was through him I got into music as a kid, the grunge I love and early experimental artists such as Frank Zappa, Ozric Tentacles and Gong. Bands that were introducing synthesis into their songs where always some of my favourites, like Pink Floyd; the emotion in their music really touched me as a child and still does now. The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon are still 2 of my favourite albums to this day, regardless of genre or whatever... And I draw so much influence from these artists, trying to capture the feeling of nostalgia that I get when I listen to it. That's another big thing for me, trying to create something that clicks with your heart straight away, maybe just because of one sound that triggers an emotion that you've felt before, maybe not since you were a child, and so you associate that particular piece of music to that emotion or forgotten memory and it becomes very personal to you. The most inspiring thing for me is emotions that I've felt, situations that have hurt me and I've lived through to tell the tale, but through music I guess, something that really only I can truly understand, but I think people interpret that in their own way, or at least, I hope so. I think it's almost impossible to know exactly what any artist is trying to portray through their work. Whenever I've talked about poetry with anyone, I always seem to get a different interpretation than that of the other person, and I guess that's the beautiful thing about art that is created from emotion, that it's so personal. No one really knows what it means but the person who created that work... Obviously I'm massively influenced by modern music too, I love tech-house and minimal, dubstep and IDM. Warp Records was hugely inspiring for me when I first getting into electronic music. I love ambient music and have been working on a lot of it myself recently, in the vein of artists like Basinski and Jeck. So, yeah, I guess in short I would describe my style of production as lo-fi, sublime, dreamcatcher music... Sounds of childhood, haha...
DOA: We read that you had been making music for a while, and after focusing on DnB for a bit, you stopped making DnB entirely before coming back to it in 2009. Why did you feel you needed this self-imposed exile from creating DnB, and how has it bettered your output since returning?
Sam KDC: The reasons why are hard for me to talk about because it was a stressful and difficult time of my life, in all aspects, not just music. I'd kind of got roped into making liquid stuff because that's what I was playing in DJ sets. I had an EP signed to one of my favourite DnB labels at the time, and obviously it was a big thing for me. The people that I met and was working with in music were very receptive to the liquid style music I was making and very dismissive of everything else I was doing, I had people telling me I could be the next Calibre and I shouldn't bother with the other stuff I was doing. I remember when I made stuff like "Silver Box" and "Left Behind" back in 2007 and people were like "that shit’s too weird, you couldn't play it with DnB, what's the point?", apart from my good friend Nayf, who loved it, but he's just as weird as I am haha... Anyway, it frustrated me, but as I was so young, I listened to those people and just churned out run of the mill liquid tunes. Strangely, it was a track called "Forgotten" that was the first thing that got signed and although it could technically be classed as liquid, it was more trip-hop than anything, but I got drawn away from that by peer pressure. It got too much for me in the end and I just kinda thought "fuck DnB". I didn't bother with it for a while, stopped making it, stopped listening to new stuff and stopped DJing too. I went back to my first loves in electronic and sampled music and just made some trip hop, downtempo and IDM stuff. Dubstep really caught my attention at this point, the early Martyn, 2562 and Burial stuff. I started buying a lot of it and making ambient dubstep-influenced stuff under another name, which I never really did anything with, apart from send to a few close friends, as it was very much just for me. Everyone who has heard that stuff loves it and I've thought a lot about trying to revive some of it and re-work it as it's a little old now and some of the ideas could be a bit more drawn out. But, in regards to coming back to DnB, my friend Nayf convinced me to put some of the older stuff up onto MySpace and people I really admired starting hitting me up asking me for music, one of which was Damon from Instra:Mental, who wanted "Silver Box", which by that time was 2 years old. I'd just finished my first bit of DnB in over a year, which was "Selfless" and I sent him over that as well... Damon asked me not to give it to anyone else and used it on Layer 3 of the Autonomic podcast. From that one tune on that one podcast, a lot of people got in touch and from that I realised that I could actually just make the music I wanted to. It was relieving more than anything and I started to make stuff at 170 again without feeling pushed, or forced, or restricted, or any of the other negative things I felt before... For the last year I've just been writing music that I want, and have actually finished a healthy amount of music, probably a good 10 or 12 tunes in the last year. I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot to some people, but it is for me. It usually takes me about a month to finish something from scratch, and often I'll start something and not touch it for 6 months because I hate forcing anything and want everything to feel natural to me in music. If that means it takes me longer to write a piece of music than the average producer, then so be it, that's not important to me. I think a lot people start with an inspired idea, a feeling, and end up just turning it into a "tune" by just filling it to finish it, instead of waiting until the emotion is back and finishing it with the same love that it started with. At least with the way I work, I can know that everything I do is an actual expression of how I'm feeling and is something that I can hear again and again without the emotion I attach to that tune fading, even if no-one else understands that. That's the reason I make music, it's for me. Some people take photographs to immortalize how they felt about something and use them to remember, others paint pictures or write poems, even keep a diary... I make music. It's the only thing that really captures those emotions for me...
DOA: Out this month is your Six Degrees of Separation EP on Deep Soul Music Digital. Tell us about the four tracks that have been called "four pieces of stunningly beautiful music" as "opposed to simply 'Drum & Bass'".
 Sam KDC: It's nice to hear them called that haha... Well, the title track was made when I was feeling quite distant from everything. I had a period last year where I really shut myself off from the outside world and was really trying to find direction in my life. I'm not gonna go to deep into, as it's obviously quite personal, and I don't think anyone else really cares, but I was really confused about what I was trying to achieve with my existence. "Six Degrees Of Separation" really captures how I felt at that time. I felt like I'd pretty much achieved all the goals I had set for myself and I was happy, but I'm not the kind of person to sit around on plateaus, I always want to be striving for something, in my teens I spent a lot of time pushing, fighting really, just for somewhere to sleep, something to eat, something to smoke and the feeling of accomplishment when you achieve something that might seem trivial to others but is like the be-all and end-all for you is amazing. I never take anything for granted and am always very aware that everything I do have could be taken away from me, any minute of any given day. Maybe that's the reason I don't have many material possessions, I'm not bothered about new gadgets or fancy clothes, the physical things in my life could fit in a suitcase, and infact, that's where most of them are now haha... The things that are important to me are the people around me, places I cherish, memories, music, conversation... I think this has all lead to the kind of attitude I've got now... There's a great William Burroughs quote which my friend Doug introduced me to: "When you stop growing you start dying" and that's something I live by now. I've never really talked about the way I've put a tune together, but with that, all the vocals are pitched down, which makes them feel slower, how I was feeling at the time. The vocal says "I watched you grow up", and I was feeling like I'd watched myself growing up, changing, and feeling like I was stuck, no where to go. Like I said earlier, I'd achieved all the goals I'd set myself in my life, and I was satisfied about that, and maybe most people would revel in that, but I just kept thinking about what to do next, and couldn't think of anything I wanted that I could achieve, it was like a miserable victory. That's why I used the french horn in "Six Degrees" that comes in. It has an almost a military feel, like the horn that announces the end of a battle, but there's something so melancholic about it, for me anyway. Like a battle that had to be fought, but leaves a void. All the elements that make up that piece are very distant sounding, when I listen to it, I often find my ears are flickering all over the spectrum, picking out bits which maybe I hadn't even noticed before...
The whole EP has quite a dubby feel to it, traditional dub I mean, lot's of big reverbs and delays. That's something I've always tried to push in music. I love dub, King Tubby was the first "producer" I ever listened to, his methods and techniques are still to this day so ahead of their time. There's a mixed array of emotions on the EP, "Inspiration Lies" is very uplifting, for me anyway, I was feeling very inspired and together when I made it. "Truth Be Told" is quite self explaining I think. I found out some shit which really fucked me off. Same goes for "Betrayed", which is also coming on DSM next year, they're both a little darker and that's how I was feeling... "Left Behind" is the oldest of all of them all there, was in 2007 and all my friends and my girlfriend at the time went on holiday for two weeks without me. I was supposed to go, but couldn't in the end due to other things going on in my life, I was definitely feeling left behind...
DOA: We hear you've also got a vinyl 12" on DSM, followed by a 12" on 31 Records and other tunes lined up. Can you give us a rundown on what you have in the pipeline, release-wise?
Sam KDC: Sure... Coming on DSM this year is "Silver Box" on the "Intelligent Systems Volume 2" EP, along with "Betrayed" which will be on 12" at the tail end of this year...
The 31 Records 12" is a really special one to me, both the tunes reflect some really deep rooted memories and feelings of mine. The A-side of that one is "Detached", which was written over the course of about 6 and I only worked on it while I was under the effects of Temazepam. I like tranquilizers, they take the edge of the world. Everything seems so distant, even more so than they usually do. "Detached" is very much based on that feeling, which was something that I got before tranquilizers, I used to feel like that as a kid listening to Pink Floyd, especially at the beginning of "Comfortably Numb", something else that was very influential to this piece. The other side, "Perish" is a really personal to me. I finished it and loved it but didn't want to send it to anyone. It was my housemate at the time, Frank, that convinced me to show it to others, not through what he said, but the fact he asked me for a copy of it and I used to come home and I'd hear it blasting out of his room and he doesn't even like DnB, so that was a sign to me for that one... It's cool like that too, he plays an integral part in my screening process, he's a big music lover and we have a lot of shared favourite tunes, so his opinion means a lot to me and he's one of the few people I actually really listen to when it comes to critical advice. He understands my music creating process more than anyone as he's seen it first hand, been there when the things that I write about have happened and been there when I've written about them. "Perish" has got a lot more female vocal in than I usually use, they're very subdued tho, stretched and pitched and disguised. The first vocal right at the beginning says "I feel safe with you" and that was something that was missing in my life at the time, and in truth, still is... I called it "Perish" because I sampled a home video from a couple of years ago that I wanted gone, I got rid of the video once I'd taken the audio from it and so it was like that moment in my life was trapped in that piece of music, with all other remaining context of it lost... Perished...
Coming on a limited edition 10" picture disc on Nu: Directions is "Selfless" backed with NotioN "Searching For An Answer (Sam KDC Re-Think)", which is the first remix I've ever done. I'm really happy with it and thankfully so are NotioN and Nu: Directions. Even though it's a remix, I still feel it's really personal to me. I loved the original tune so it was a bit of an honour that they approached me to remix it for them.
I've just finished a flip, which is currently untitled, for "The Iron Gate" which is coming on Eternia Music. "The Iron Gate" is an older one too, another from the more experimental batch back in 2007. Eternia is shaping up to be a really good little label with music coming from Loxy, June Miller, NotioN, Despot, Getz & Nuage and others.
There's more in the pipeline too, but, some of it isn't 100% confirmed yet and some is being kept under wraps at label’s request. There is one project I'm really excited about, which is in very early stages so I'm not gonna say much about it, but a very good friend is looking at starting a label by the end of this year and already has got some amazing music reserved for it already, including a piece of mine called "Walk The Path", which is a collaboration with my friend Mark, "Mr. Smith". It's one of the few things I've finished this year, and is probably the best one. It's also his first fully finished tune, so he's quite excited too! There's a lot of collabs with other artists too, in various states of completion, some of the artists I'm working with at the minute are Hydro, Spinline, Dot, FD, Blocks & Escher, Gremlinz, NotioN, T-Dj & Kemo MC, Loxy, Nuage, CJ Weaver, LSB & Messy MC, Vendy & Mr.Smith.
DOA: What's it like going from someone who's kind of noodling with music, really trying to find themselves, to have the likes of Doc Scott, Loxy and many labels interested in your output?
Sam KDC: It's reassuring. Both the artists you've mentioned above have been big influences on me for years, with the music they make as producers and the music they support through their DJ sets and labels, so it's quite humbling to be supported by them myself now. To be honest, the most touching thing about it all is messages from people who talk about how they relate to the music I make, how it reminds them of something, or how it makes them feel. Often it's the same way it makes me feel and it does feel good to know that people relate to it like that. People also find other things in it and it's nice that people interpret my creations in their own ways too...
DOA: Would you ever consider working on an artist LP in the future?
Sam KDC: Most definitely. It's something I really want to do when I feel ready. The sort of music I grew up listening to was all about albums. The album would be made and singles would come from those albums. I think that's a lot of the reason that dance music is over saturated, it's all about singles. I don't know when I'd be ready to do an album, I think it's probably a fair few years off yet. I'm also not sure if I'd do a Sam KDC album or even an album on a DnB label, that's not to say I wouldn't though. It's just not something I've ever imagined, maybe just because the time's not right yet. I think albums are the things that really position you as an artist, people really relate to albums so much more than singles and for that I'd want it to be perfect, something I could listen to for the rest of my life on repeat and not lose the passion, excitement and feeling for it.
DOA: What can heads expect from this special mix you sorted us with?
Sam KDC: I don't want to say to much about what to expect, as I often find when I expect something it doesn't have the same impact as when I just let it do it's thing. What you will find on here though is two hours of music from artists that I am really feeling. Unfortunately, 2 hours is still not enough time for me to do everything I want to do. I always beat myself up about DJ sets and mixes as I always think of tunes and artists that I didn't get to include after I've finished. I try and keep as adaptable as possible as a DJ, but never compromise taste. I wouldn't play something I didn't really like because other people feel it, or it would go down well on a dancefloor. I'm not interested in that. I'm a producer primarily, not a DJ and so DJing for me is a chance to give some exposure to music that might not get it otherwise, and also to hear some of my favourite music too. Music is a listening thing to me, so to listen to something for an hour or two, it has to be interesting. I always like studio mixes to be a bit of a journey, to move through feelings, to invoke a bit of thought, rather than just be a collection of tunes. That's what I've tried to do here anyway... I'd just like to say a big thank you to all the artists who have given me music over the years, it's you guys that enable me to play the sets that I do.
Tracklist:
01. Data & Kingsin - Baggage [Deep Soul Music]
02. CJ Weaver - Bioluminescence [Dub]
03. Blue Motion - Zebra's Crossing Road [Dub]
04. Dot - The Days Outside [Dub]
05. Getz & Nuage - Is The Way [54 Dub]
06. Kharm - Hiding Place [Deep Soul Music Dub]
07. Nether - True Believer [Deep Soul Music Dub]
08. Sam KDC - Persish [31 Records Dub]
09. Nuage - The Time Between Us [Dub]
10. Thorne - Ephe [Broken Audio Dub]
11. Unquote - Cold Tenderness (Muted Remix) [Nu: Directions Dub]
12. Despot - No Future [Eternia Music Dub]
13. Sam KDC - Detached [31 Records Dub]
14. Need For Mirrors - Pantone [Dub]
15. DJG - Hydration Dub [Warm Communications Dub]
16. Sam KDC - Inspiration Lies [Deep Soul Music]
17. Sam KDC - Six Degrees Of Separation [Deep Soul Music]
18. Spinline - Suicide Club [Dub]
19. Amit - Pirates [Metalheadz]
>> Breakage & SP - The Lurgie [Shogun Audio]
20. Morphy - Ruffneck (Dirty Dub)
21. Anile - Dub Creation [Buried Audio Dub]
22. Sam KDC - Truth Be Told [Deep Soul Music]
23. Subterra & Dekko - Bonsai Run [Invisible]
24. Blocks - Simmer Down [Dub]
25. Escher - Rugged [Dub]
26. FD, Hydro & Keza - Remorse [Critical]
27. Spinline - Life [Dub]
28. Optical - To Shape The Future Remix [Metalheadz]
29. Code 3 - Living Proof [Exit]
30. NotioN - Even Out [Nu: Directions Dub]
31. Sabre - One Hundred Teeth (Mindmapper Remix)
32. Gremlinz - Natty Ting [Dub]
33. Amoss - Swamp Meet [Dub]
34. Spinline - Kicker [Dub]
35. Halogenix & Carera - Microdot [Dub]
36. Naibu - Use Of Weapons [Warm Communications Dub]
37. Eveson - Cursed [Dub]
38. Seba - Crockett [Secret Operations]
39. Zero Method - Flaw [Dub]
40. Need For Mirrors - Lowtide [Nu: Directions]
41. Triad - Crooked [Nu: Directions Dub]
42. Dot - Morocco [Dub]
>> Missy Elliot - The Rain (Sam's 170 Edit)
43. Sam KDC & Mr.Smith - Walk The Path [Dub]
>>> DOWNLOAD THE MIX <<<
*GRAB TRIAD RELEASES FROM THE DOA STORE
*GRAB TRIAD TRACKS FROM DOA DOWNLOADS
*GRAB SAM KDC TRACKS FROM DOA DOWNLOADS
*GRAB DEEP SOUL MUSIC RELEASES FROM THE DOA STORE
*GRAB DEEP SOUL MUSIC TRACKS FROM DOA DOWNLOADS
Words: khal |
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Dogs On Acid > Comments > DSM PRESENTS TRIAD AND SAM KDC
05-26-2010 02:54 PM
