Adam Ten

Israeli-mainstay Adam Ten is a leading talent in Tel Aviv’s thriving underground scene. Having cut his teeth in the capital for over ten years, appearances across the Isreali club-circuit have not gone unnoticed, with international performances swiftly stacking up across Europe, Africa and North America. Previous releases on Moscoman’s Disco Halal as well as Dave Seaman’s label Selador have springboarded his sound into the wider spotlight, a testament to his keen ear for production. This December he is set to make his debut on Rebellion with “We Move” – DMCWORLD dive in for another world exclusive…

Adam Ten, thank you for speaking with us today! How are you doing and whereabouts are you based at the moment?

Hey guys! I’m doing quite well, putting all my focus on finishing lot’s of new original music (as well as remixes requests) that will be released next year. I’ve been living in Tel-Aviv in the past 5 years and I’ve just moved to a new flat with another room for my studio. The sound experience is way better now with the acoustic treatment, so I’m pretty excited to see what will be the results!

It has been a challenging year across the globe for many reasons, how has the year been for you with all things considered?

There is few 2 sides I need to consider for this question:
Economically this year hasn’t been easy for all the artists out there, as most of the income is actually coming from playing gigs and doing shows.
From artistic point of view, I had plenty of time to explore new music territories and to develop myself as a musician (and as a person) and  that’s something I’m really happy about. In the end, things could always be worse, so you need to be happy with what you have today and don’t take anything for granted. I’m always keeping this in my mind.

How would you describe your sound in your own words for our readers?

Overall, It’s just dance music with lot’s of groove, twists & surprises. It’s hard to describe it as I’m trying not to follow rules and stick to genres. My tracks sound different according to the mood I had in the studio on that day, It could be influenced by deep feelings I’m having, but then it can also be just easy & fun times with no deep meaning at all.

We want to wish you a big congrats on your upcoming debut on Rebellion! It is a massive release! Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the release?

I’ve made these tracks with clear ideas about how I want to move & feel when I’m dancing in the middle of a dancefloor, which is actually the thing I like the most. This was after the festival season ended in 2019 and I came back full of inspiration, getting wide influences from a wide spectrum of  dance music genres such as: Hip Hop,Minimal, Psytrance & ofcourse House music.
“We Move” and “Hamakor” is about getting the right amount of groove & melodies for a sunny festival experience. Both “Mita In Reverse” & “The Queen” (Which is done with friend Mita Gami) is more about the hypnotic trippy beats that stay with you in your head when you’re leaving the party.
As a curious DJ, I like sets when you’re going between different moods and colours and this is also my vision when it comes to music production.

How did it find its home on Rebellion and what does it mean to you to land this EP on the label?

As a DJ 1st, I’ve been a long time fan of lot’s of the label releases and decided to send Damian Lazarus my early tracks. He liked some of them immediately and we just took some time to decide which ones would feets the best for the label vision. This EP is a step in my neverending exploration of dance music, as well as a step in my development as an artist. I’m happy to share this with the team of Rebellion.

Fellow Israeli artist Mita Gami also features on the release, collaborating with you on the track “The Queen”. You have previously collaborated on tracks such as  one of your earlier releases, “Mango”. What’s it like working together? 

Amit (aka Mita Gami) is a good friend of mine and a talented musician, we enjoy working together because we both are dj’s 1st and have very similar music taste.  We have lots of fun when producing which for me is the key when you’re working in the studio.
“Mango” was the 1st track we ever did and the reaction we got for it was bigger than we expected, for us it was just like a “first meeting”. For next year I can say that we have 8 tracks that’s gonna be released + lots of private edits we might wanna share.

Can you tell us a bit about your studio set up and your creative process?

My studio setup is pretty very simple in a way but I feel it’s more than enough for my needs. I use Roland SE-02 for most of my tracks, usually for basslines & leads, then I use Roland Boutique JU-06A for atmospheric sounds and pads. Beside that I have the Roland TR-8S for drums sections.
Then all the other stuff is basically just samples I play with and sound design VST’s in Ableton,  Mainly soundtoys & Arturia stuff which stand for quality. My creative process is usually the same – I just built a nice small loop that moves me or exists in a way, then I’m trying to make “mistakes” and experiment with the synths and effects, I record everything until something hits me. Usually it’s a pattern but it could also be just 1 unique sound i’ve created.
After that I’m just trying to listen to the track and understand what should be the next step, recording more layers? changing the groove? make it more complex? make it more simple? There are no right or wrong answers, you just need to trust your instincts and you need to truly “feel” it, then the rest will follow.

Adam, thank you for chatting with us today and congrats on the EP. To round things off, is there anything else coming up from yourself that you can let us in on?

Thank you for this great talk! There is lot’s of new music coming out soon on the next month’, plus a new music concept I’m working on. 2021 looks promising!

Adam Ten ‘We Move’ is released 11th December on Rebellion pre-order link

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