New album ‘Accidental Beauty’ – a masterpiece of cross-genre downtempo bliss
Interview : Dan Prince
Roberto welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you today?
“I’m at home in London right now, though just returned from a trip to Cape Town.”
Massive news for you right now with the release of your debut album ‘Accidental Beauty’ out now on Section Records. A real masterpiece of downtempo electronic sounds kicking off with the cinematic opening of ‘End Titles’. How long has the album taken to create?
“The tracks assembled for this album have taken about 4 years to put together. I’ve been working on a whole heap of music during that time, some of which has appeared on different labels, and some of which isn’t under the Audioglider moniker. These tracks just seemed to pick themselves for this album, as I progressed.”
Please give us a few words on each of the eleven tracks on the album…
End Titles
“Intended to be the closing track of a movie or TV drama yet to be written – probably a good old fashioned thriller with an unexpected ending – I’d love my music ending up in a movie or a good HBO series.”
Fluid Motion
“Co-written with Florida based Brit – D-Step……..juxtaposing uber synthetic beat engine with fluid sequences and chord changes, and piano. Hopefully it sounds more natural than what I just wrote about it.”
The Bells
“I was listening to quite a lot of old System 7 and New Order at the time, and starting to play my guitar a bit more. I was trying to come up with some chiming sounds and riffs, but then the guitars took over!”
Dynamic Uno
“Revolving round a deep and dubby b’line……I’ve always loved bassline driven downtempo tracks – get them right, and you can weave all sorts of stuff around them. I heard the phrase Dynamic Uno on TV somewhere, and the title stuck!”
My Tru Blood
“A game of two halves – deep funk in defence, dub vocals in midfield in the first half, with a pacy syncopated and proggy drum laden all out attack, in the second. Er…..as you can tell I’m a bit rubbish at football analogies!”
Just Sound
“I love artists who beat their own drum, like Telefon Tel Aviv and Thievery Corporation, and this track started out with me listening to these guys a lot. I think some of what they do has soaked into the core of this track, though the track doesn’t sound much like either of them.”
Sliders
“The guitar came out again on this track, although not trad sounding….lots of feedback and fx, reverse riffs and other editing, although this track probably sounds the most synthetic out of the whole set. One of the more recent tracks on the album, and another deep bassline number.”
Disappear
“This track is the one that started the relationship between me and my label Section Records – so I feel quite happy about this one. We had a vision for a video for this track, where this normal guy would be planning his own disappearance, and this would soundtrack the whole thing, with him going off the grid, and reinventing himself. Unfortunately we didn’t have the Hollywood budget to match what was in our heads!”
Polydirective
“I collaborated with Chicago producer Mike Mucci on this one. Mike is a very talented producer (he remixed one of my earlier tracks, Coming Up For Air), and he had created a whole suite of 80s inspired samples…..they kind of took on a life of their own, and morphed into some Cocteau Twins influenced thing. What started off quite dark, ended up being quite an uplifting and euphoric track.”
Sundown (Cape Town)
“Upon my first trip to Cape Town over a decade ago, I managed to score a couple of DJ gigs through some friends of friends. I’ll never forget taking over a big bag of vinyl, and playing the sunset set at a beach bar in Camps Bay. It was a perfect setting and I had a big smile on my face the whole night.”
Cortexaphan
“I’m a big fan of the TV show Fringe, and the title of this track borrows from the made up drug at the centre of the series……I won’t spoil the show if you haven’t seen it, but I wanted to make something that might fit in with the whole aesthetic and concept……organic, synthetic, mind altering and genre defying. Hopefully I came close!”
Your music has echoes of artists such as Cocteau Twins, Boards of Canada, Nightmares On Wax…even Sasha’s Involver 3. Who were the artists you grew up listening to?
“I listened to a whole heap of punk and post punk, Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, The Pop Group, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Sound, Nick Cave, but also Kraftwerk, The Human League, Cocteau Twins – the 4AD label was very much a huge influence on me.”
Was there a moment, a live concert perhaps, when something clicked and you decided that you wanted a career in music?
“I’ve always been a complete music nut, but two things really spring to mind – one was seeing Kraftwerk supported by the original Human League – both of them showed that you didn’t have to be a musician in the traditional sense – in order to make great music and move the crowd. The second was seeing Sasha at the Love Ranch in London – again, he was able to move the crowd with just vinyl and 1210s in ways I hadn’t experienced prior to that. He is still a huge influence on me.”
Your first break as a producer was getting two tracks on Nick Warren’s legendary GU30 Paris compilation. How big a moment was that for you?
“Well, it was a game changer for me – I had been plugging away for a while, and sending demos to various labels when, right place, right time. Since then Nick has been a huge supporter, using some of my tracks in his sets and giving feedback along the way.”
You are responsible for a whole heap of productions under different names, who are some of the aliases you have released under…?
“My current side project is Richard Switch, deep tech house stuff, but have also released as AG Electrics, Backdoor Man, Pastaboy. I also released some UK house stuff with some mates, channeling our inner divas, with Crystal, called Bring Me Luv – good times.”
As an artist who takes his craft very seriously, what are your thoughts on the madness that is going on over the pond with this whole EDM explosion? Not your thing musically at all, but I would be interested to know your feelings on a music genre that has swept a nation…
“It’s a world away from the culture I grew to be a part of. In the 90s I spent some time on the West Coast of the US, working in LA, and with labels like Rampant Records, Exist Dance, Zoe Magik, Hardkiss, etc, where their unique take on dance music culture was a refreshing change from the big super clubs and commercial house that was going on in the UK. Now the tables have turned and EDM has morphed into an out of control juggernaut. Who knows how long it will last for, and how it will evolve…..it’s not for me, but the biggest dance music album last year, was Daft Punk’s anti EDM statement, Random Access Memories, so go figure!”
So we head down to yours on a lazy Sunday afternoon. What would be an Audioglider Back To Mine 10 you’d spin us…
“Crikey……so much music, so little time! OK, here goes…
Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
Nils Frahm – Says
Sabres of Paradise – Smokebelch
Ulrich Schnauss – A Strangely Isolated Place
Helios – Every Hair On Your Head
Mosaik – Vercors
Red House Painters – Mistress
Essay (feat. Rhian Sheehan) – Morning Mountain
Beck – Morning
Tripswitch – Stereogram
Your Mixtape series’ are legendary, I know you love sourcing new music. Who are some of the new artists you have stumbled on recently that you love?
“So here’s a list of artists I love recently, but in no particular order – enh, XSPANCE, UNKNOWNjp, Mosaik, Weval, David Douglas, Data Rebel, Kevin Bryce, Scyye, Stray Theories, Need A Name, Tom Day, Kyson…the list goes on…”
What is it about Section Records that made you think, this is the right home for me?
“Head honcho, Nick Brennan, who also records as Tripswitch also appeared on GU30, and his track record since speaks for itself…..he contacted me via Soundcloud about one of my tracks and we bounced ideas back and forth over a number of months. His belief and mentorship in bringing this project to where it is now, has been fantastic – its been a real labour of love.”
Any thoughts on dusting the headphones off and getting back to DJ duties?
“I’ve thought about it – I’m going to have to relearn how to do it the digital way, unless I do an old school set with vinyl….either way, I’m coming round to the idea.”
Throw some DJ names at us you love…
“Nick Warren, Guy J, Hernan Cattaneo, Sasha Le Monnier, Andrew Weatherall, Sasha, King Unique…”
What is the last song you heard today?
“Tune-Yards – Time of Dark.”
It may not be good for my image, but I really love…
“Gogglebox – I’m not big on reality TV, but this is hilarious.”
Not many people know this, but Roberto Sodano is really good at…
“Photography – I’ve got a good eye. I also do a mean barbecue (or braai as they say in Cape Town).”
What does your family think of your music?
“They are my biggest fans. If the kids start dancing around or nodding heads first before asking what it is half way through the track, then you know it’s a goer. They love a good bassline!”
And finally, what is coming next studio wise from Audioglider…
“I’ve already started sketching out tracks for album number 2, and they’re sounding great so far….an evolution from Accidental Beauty…….I’ve also got a few remixes I need to finish!”
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