Interview : Rob Chadwick
Hey Jan welcome to DMCWORLD! How did you first fall in love with dance music in the first place and what has impressed you of late?
“Hi Rob! I was 12 years old when I got a CD by Tocotronic. There was a remix by Console who was the electronic mastermind of The Notwist, that really left an impression on me. The last time I was really impressed was the new Moderat album. Sascha really worked a lot on his beautiful voice and really all the other sounds are so fucking well produced.”
And when did you decide to start making it? How did it go?
“I started producing my own electronic music in 2004. Honestly I wish I would started to do electronic music much earlier but when I was a child it was not that easy, because it was not possible to work on a professional studio on a small Mac Book. Abelton even did not exist and Cubase was not running on our slow family computer. The only thing my parents could afford to buy me was a nice guitar and then an electric guitar later. So I did rock music and I liked it. After a while rock music bored me. There was nothing to discover anymore. It was always the same sounds and rhythms. Electronic music is more free and much more complex and even more difficult to create. I was super fascinated when I realized that electronic music is more like controlling a huge orchestra of sounds than simply playing one instrument. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like rock music anymore. I still love it. But yeah, electronic music is so much more interesting for me.”
How long did it take you to really find your own sound? Maybe you are still searching?
“I am searching for a kick, clap and hi-hat and a certain groove that fits to the idea for my ears. Sometimes it is more deep house, sometimes it is just electro or even electro pop. I am not fixed on a certain sound. Also I am changing my productions all the time. The last two years I played my certain Blomqvist style live, but in the studio I was always experimenting with everything. The album will sound a bit different for sure.”
Are you a hard or software man? Why? Are there any ideal bits of kit you would like to buy?
“There are two different parts of producing for me. One part is the creative part where I create the idea about texts and melodic stuff. This happens completely acoustic. Usually my guitar tells me what to do automatically. Then the second part for me means finishing the concept. Creating and recording sounds or searching for sounds to fill the track. I am working with a lot with my jomox to create kick drums. They are fat but warm also and you can work on their sound design easily. And at the moment we are working really often with the Prophet 08 for pads and with the moog little phatty. But I still also love my digital software of the mini moog. Sometimes the digital basses sound better than the analog stuff because you can control it much better in the digital way. Not every super fat analog sound fits to every track.”
Does it take you a long time to make a track or are you someone who works quickly?
“When an idea comes up, I start working without thinking and make a first sketch. This is always may favourite little part of the whole production. But then usually I save it in my ideas folder and go back to the other tracks that have to be finished first. In some cases the idea was waiting to be finished for nearly one year. Everybody has a different talent and needs less or more time to get to a point where they’re satisfied with their productions. I really adore the guys who fuck the time-pressure and work on their stuff until they feel it is finished. But these days so many tracks seem to be released unfinished. Or many tracks sound identical. In my opinion, this lack of creativity is a result of the time pressure that’s placed on you as an artist. On the other hand some guys (myself included) obviously need pressure to stay focused on producing, so I guess it’s a two-way street sometimes.”
What are your aims when it comes to Playing Live – to amaze, educate, edify, entertain?
“To me, it’s all about being emotional, honest, authentic, detailed, big-bassed, sometimes atonal, but mostly just indifferent to the rules. Because, more often than not, it is that wry-ish note that gives you goosebumps.”
What else have you got coming up/are you excited about?
“I am still working on my album. It’s taken me more than two years already, but now I am close to the point of finishing it. I can’t wait to play the new tracks live after the release. Also, I’m thinking about starting a label with my text writer, Ryan Mathiesen. We already have a good name for it but we have no certain plan when we’re gonna start it. But the first thing I’m going to do after the album will be a two week holiday in NYC, and then I’ll start working on a nice studio in Berlin or in the Swiss mountains.”
If you could own one track no other DJ could ever play, what would it be and why?
“So if I would have to choose a track that nobody else could ever play, then I would choose a really bad track and I would not even play it myself. A track by David Guetta or anyone of this terrible EDM puppets. It would be so funny to own their shit and just never ever play it.”
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Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/janblomqvist/jan-blomqvist-time-again
Youtube: http://youtu.be/7l1nijTC_yM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blomqvist.music
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/TimeAgain_iTunes
