Inspired by the sounds of the world, French producer Teho opens the doors of his musical stimuli with debut LP project ‘Polytone’, released on his own label Labo T. With over a decade of experience, from his first EP releases in 2010 to featuring on Stephan Bodzin’s ‘Herzblut Recordings’ label as well as fellow countryman Agoria’s ‘Sapiens’ label, Teho has gone on to perform for esteemed live stream channel Cercle, with his stream amassing near to one million views. He’s also featured at some of the world’s leading clubs such as De Marktkantine – Amsterdam, Zig Zag – Paris, Fuse – Brussels, Module – Tokyo and festivals such as I Love Techno Europe and La Rêve Festival. Establishing his Labo T label in 2016, Teho has also worked hard to provide other artists and friends a platform to grow. DMCWORLD dives in for a world exclusive….
Where do your influences stem from and how did they help you reach your current sound?
Since I was a child, I have travelled to lots of countries with my parents where I discovered new cultures from a young age. This is where my influences stemmed from and so when I started producing music, it felt natural to express these cultures through my music.
You played for Cercle in 2017 with
the video amassing almost a million views. Was this a pivotal moment for your
career? How have things changed since?
Definitely! When Cercle invited me to play in Colorado Provencal, I didn’t
expect for so many good reactions! Even now, two and half years later people are
still discovering my music because of this video.
‘Polytone’ is your debut LP, can you tell us the back story of the album and your inspirations for producing it?
Actually, there were many inspirations for this album. With it being my first album, I took my time with the productions as I wanted each track to tell a different story. With each of these pieces, I wanted to make a puzzle intertwining a message of understanding and acceptance. I have a strong feeling that people today don’t live in harmony together because they don’t understand each other. The music, especially electronic music, can connect people to each other. That’s what I’d like to do through this album.
What were the key production techniques that you used to get the message of the album across?
For the major part of the album, I used many samples and plug-ins of acoustic instruments from Asia, Middle East, Africa etc. The idea was to make people discover new sounds from other countries, something unusual for them. For example, in the track ‘Because’ , you can hear a Morin Khuur which is a kind of violin from Mongolia, or a Koto which is a very special string instrument in ‘Yamataï’.
The release is on your own imprint ‘Labo T’. What is the mindset behind the label and what are your aspirations for it?
I created Labo T at the end of 2016, because I was tired of making music while having to think about what label I could send which tracks to. I wanted to musically explore new things without any limits and do whatever I wanted!
I also had many friends/artists who were having the same problem, so the idea was to create a label which gave more freedom to artists. Of course, I love melodies so this was what I expected from them but also I wanted emotions and harmonies. Finally, the most important thing to me with the label, was to create a kind of small family, a community.
You play with a live show. How did this come about and how are you using this in promoting the album?
Since the beginning of my career I chose to only play live sets, I (almost) never DJ. I like to have all the control of what I play and to transform the energy of the crowd into energy in the music. I’ve already tried many of the tracks from the album on stage and it helped me to make better final versions of the tittles before releasing them.
Have you got any big shows coming up?
I’ll be playing
at Thuishaven in Amsterdam on February 15th for La Rêve Winterfestival. This
Festival will most likely sell out. After that, in my hometown Montpellier in
the south of France, we will have a release party for the album in an intimate
club called L’Antirouille on February 22nd. This is a very important gig for me
because I will try a new Live set with a lot of new material which will push me
out of my confort zone.
I’ll also be playing for, in my opinion the most exciting festival in
France this year, but I can’t tell you anything about that yet, the announcement
will be made mid February.
And finally, you can come listen to me in Turkey, Switzerland, England,
India, France for sure, and more to be announced soon…
What’s next for Teho?
For several months, I stopped producing new music and I kept focus on ‘Polytone’. I’ve started to think about a second album but I want to build a concept before going back into the studio. The first album was made over a long period, but for the next one, I’d like to produce everything straight up and make the album as one piece of music. First though, I go on tour with the new show! I’m super excited for this!
Labo T – https://www.labo-t.fr/
Soundcloud here – https://soundcloud.com/teho
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Tehomusic/
