A breath of fresh air for America’s EDM. Exclusive interview live and direct
Tim welcome to DMCWORLD towers, an incredible four track ‘Mercury EP’ that has the world’s dancefloors jumping as we speak. You have your own method in making music…”I generally create my song concept in a few days but then take a few weeks fine tuning the details. I also work on several songs at once though to keep my brain fresh.” So how long did this piece of magic take to create?
“This EP has been about a year in the making. That’s not by any means to say I only made four tracks in a year. I produce every day and make tonnes of songs, but compiling a cohesive album and coming up with a goal and concept for a release and then picking the right four tracks means a lot to me.”
Let’s go through the four tracks one by one. Talk us through…
‘Mercury’
“Mercury to me is the extreme example of my sound. Strong themes, melodies, and chord progressions that are more than you hear in EDM. It’s like a proof of concept. I tried to do this with Mafiosa as well, my release last year. It’s to show that electronic music can be more then just noises and the same 4-chord progressions. I also clearly might have an obsession with dark classical music…”
‘Panzer’
“Panzer is about defying expectation. The big bright synth in the intro makes the listener expect a drop with a similar concept like most house songs do now. A A form (where the drop/chorus is the same melody as verse/intro). But it drops a dark rolling slightly a rhythmic groove like a German tank rolling down a street. Hence ‘Panzer’.”
‘Get Static’
“Get static, besides being one of my favorite drops ever to DJ, is an experiment on space for me. What makes the first drop so big is that there is no crash, no static, not really many hi frequencies at all. That’s the really the irony of the lyrics “get, get static. Make you move on my track automatic”. But on this drop there is no static. As a general rule of thumb for me, and mind you there are many exceptions to every rule, the more bells and whistles, static noise, sirens, etc. that you need in a track, the weaker you mix really is. I think a perfect drop shouldn’t need little more than a crash symbol. Just how I look at it, though.”
‘Out Of This World’
“I grew up listening to punk rock and ska, which was an easy transition into electronic music once I found artist like The Bloody Beetroots. Out of this world is just a rock song to me; a head-banging electro rock track. I also love the juxtaposition of the beautiful vocals and chords in between. What’s a song without some real music in it?”
After the release of the ‘X’ EP you stated that you wanted to show people EDM can be more than it is now” and that “each track” incorporates techniques that have not been explored much”. What was the aim of this EP, other than get everyone jumping around?
“I kind of explained this in detail in the track by track description, but to sum it up, I think a big chunk of music you hear now is all people using the same techniques, presets, and samples. With DJing being so competitive now, a lot of people are afraid to take chances on a dance floor and production. I think if someone makes music you should be able to hear their voice in their music. Otherwise I’ll just download that random track that I heard on that car commercial the other day and not know or care who made it.”
You played at the fantastic ‘Made In America’ event in Philadelphia a few weeks back and I noted your post on Facebook regarding your excitement to rush over and watch Run DMC after your set. Was Hip Hop important to you growing up, if so, who were the artists you were listening to back then…
“Actually funny enough I rarely listened to Hip Hop. I do love stuff with a slightly older sound like Souls of Mischief, or anything RJD2 has ever made, but a tall white guy listening to Hip Hop always felt stupid to me. The reason I wanted to see Run DMC was that last year I played the Dirty-Dutch show in Amsterdam for ADE and my buddy DJ Ruckus and Rev Run were doing a set a few hours before me. Needless to say Rev Run is a character and I was not going miss the full Run DMC experience with a backstage pass.”
What are the records that changed your life?
Simian Mobile Disco – I Believe
Daft Punk – Digital Love
Feist – 1,2,3,4 (Van She Tech Remix)
What are the current tunes you are spinning alongside your own music at the moment…
Kaskade – Lessons In Love (Headhunterz Remix)
Pance Party – Maru (Sticky K remix)
Deadmau5 – Maths
Dog Blood – New Order
Wolfgang Gartner – Love & War
Seven Lions ft. Birds of Paradise – She Was
‘Made In America is just another of the dozens of fabulous festivals and stadium events that have rocked America this year. What have been some of your favourites this year and what is your favourite memory?
“Festivals are my favourite. Made in America was mindblow, Day Glow was the highest energy set hands down, but Wave Front Music festival has been the best experience for me. Chicago had been getting bad weather that day and the festival had to be evacuated in the morning. I was the first DJ to go back on in the afternoon to a completely empty mainstage. Felt like a sound check for a 10,000 person stage. 25 minutes into my set it felt like every person who was outside had come over to my stage to show support or just see what was happening at my stage. Starting my set to a roaring crowd is amazing, but seeing the contrast from literally not one person to a pack outdoor festival is something I’ve never experienced before.”
You must be looking forward to ADE this week, the Dirty Dutch party looks off the radar!
“Every time I play a Dirty Dutch show I never know what the set up is going to be and don’t even know what time I’m playing till day of, but every time they have the most amazing line ups, most amazing light, and a giant packed room of people. Its going to be a memorable one.”
Back in 2011 you once said when describing EDM, “what I love about this genre is the room and respect that is given to people who take chances to experiment.” So as EDM and Pop merge ever closer in the States, who do you think has taken a chance musically in 2012?
“The funny thing about EDM is that there is no reason that EDM has to be so poppy. Of course the word pop is all relative. Three years ago I was listening to Skrillex and played it at a party and people started booing. Now it’s all they want to hear. I think Skrillex and Boys Noize separately and together as Dog Blood are continuing to evolve their sounds and the sound of electronic music. Also Dillion Francis always seems to evolve more and more every time I hear him. In general, the Trap scene is an interesting counter culture movement I think. It’s both a reaction to electronic music becoming so cheesy and a movement back to hip hop at the same time. Even though it’s not necessarily my thing as much I applaud everyone who committed to that way before it even had a name. Gesaffelstein is pretty rad too.”
The EDM scene in the States is getting a lot of flack from some of the ‘serious music’ spinners this side of the pond. A lot of them claim that the American crowd are turning DJs into jukeboxes over there as all they want is hit after hit. Thoughts on that?
“A little bit yeah, but I see it in every country. I think it depends more about who you’re talking about when you say “American crowd”. If you consider Vegas and Hollywood as America than definitely, but that is not where I go out at night. More and more in America you’re seeing serious EDM nights where the crowd is tired of the mainstream club sound. It’s a quickly evolving scene because it’s really only been big in the US for about three years. I think really soon there is going to be a backlash to this trend, just give it a sec.”
Some are also saying that EDM is going to be like Disco was in the 70s, when the American youth have had enough they will simply chuck it in the trash can and move onto the next sound. Discuss…
“All music these days is electronic in some for or another. There is no way it’s going away. Rock, hip hop, and EDM area always going to be in our culture now. But don’t misunderstand me, it’s not going to be Skrillex roars and Avicii cheese forever. Not sure what we’ll be listening in 5 years.”
What has been your anthem of summer 2012?
“I’ve really just playing my own music the last 6 months. I’ve almost completed my album, separate from the Mercury EP, so playing and producing all those tracks has really taken over my life. I like playing a set of so many unreleased songs. It’s a totally different experience for a party goer to hear a set of songs they don’t know. The one song that I can’t stop playing though is that Headhunterz remix of Kaskade. Something about it just blows my mind.”
What do you love and hate about your home city Los Angeles?
“My favourite thing about LA, besides the weather, is that I can meet a DJ in Philadelphia we can chat for an hour, and then I learn that he lives 10 minutes from my house in LA. There are so many interesting people here that it never gets old. As for hating, honestly, besides the traffic I’m pretty content every time I’m home. If you visit LA you just have no know where to go and not get stuck at your hotel in Hollywood for a week.”
Who are the producers from around the world you are giving high fives to at the moment?
“SebastiAn
Soulwax
Jack Beats
Shinichi Osawa
Etienne De Crécy
Nero
Gerruzz
…and Justice and Daft Punk, obviously.”
What is coming next from you studio wise?
“I have two pretty different remixes coming out real soon, but the real exciting news is a track ft. Mark Foster from Foster the People. Remember Relic from the X EP? Well, I have completely redone the track instrumentally, and then recorded some of the most amazing vocals ever. He is the most talented singer I’ve ever worked with and it is such a special track to me (taken me over two years to perfect).”
To the thousands of aspiring Betatraxx’s reading this, what advice can you offer to people wanting to follow in your footsteps?
“I think finding what it is that you enjoy about music is the hardest and most important step to being a producer. Anyone can find sounds and create drum loops, but finding what you love about music and the working that angle to its fullest is what will make you happy with your productions. Don’t waste your time trying to create someone else’s sound. You’ll naturally be influenced plenty by what you listen to.”
Not many people know this, but Betatraxx is really good at…
“Snowboarding. Can’t wait for winter.”
If you hadn’t have become a producer and DJ, what career could have been an option?
“I actually lived in China for 6 months right before I got really into DJing. If it wasn’t for music I’d probably be living there doing something. I have not really thought of anything but EDM since I came back from China.”
What is the strangest ever request you have had from a clubber whilst playing live/Djing?
“Fortunately I haven’t had a request in a long time, but once this huge football player came up to me in this dark very ravey party and in all seriousness said, “Hey could play some Britney Spears?” I’ve never given anyone such a cockeyed look.”
And finally, looking back, what is your proudest piece of production to date?
“I’m very proud of my writing on Mercury and my sound design on Get Static, but actually I’m most proud of a track on the X EP called Dinosaurs for one reason — the track has a ¾ meter; which is generally impossible in dance music because you have the snares on 2 and 4. That’s for the fact that it is hard to make it not feel like a waltz. This was my challenge. It is definitely a concept that I plan explore further.”
http://soundcloud.com/betatraxx/betatraxx-dinosaurs
http://soundcloud.com/betatraxx/sets/betatraxx-mercury-ep/
Buy link: http://atlr.ec/Betatraxx
