The master of mighty basslines Mladen Tomic is causing a storm with his Bosnian Techno magic. With new releases out on My Favourite Freaks and The Plot Music, along with receiving support from some of biggest cats on the scene, we find out more about Techno’s rapidly rising star..
Interview by Ratha Gud
Hi Mladen welcome to DMCworld! Where are you in the world right now?
MT: Hi DMC and thank you for such a nice welcome! It’s Sunday and right now I’m travelling home from a gig, but in general I am pretty occupied with gigs, production, label work and all other things connected with this business. I am trying to keep a good balance between everything; work, family, free time, friends and to make sure I enjoy in my music.
What was the first piece of music you heard today?
MT: ‘Expending’ from The Chillout Lounge Mix Podcast.
How would you describe your sound?
MT: My sound is known by its recognizable groove accompanied by a heavy bass lines, trippy percussion moments, pumping break downs and lately there have been some melodies. I could say it is created to make people happy, dance and enjoy on the dance floor.
Your releases have been supported by Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, Monika Kruse, Umek and many more, what was your first big break and did you ever anticipate your music would receive this kind of attention from the high flyers?
MT: ‘Before Sunset’ and ‘Tangas’ were my first big tracks when I got international attention. Maybe I didn’t except that I will get such great attention from the biggest names, but I always wanted to achieve that. I’ve followed my dreams and worked hard, so everything is possible when you know what you want and when you have a clear goal.
Tell us about the tracks on your ace new Hot Moog EP forthcoming for the My Favourite Freaks label.
MT: It’s pretty hard to explain this EP musically, because it is not typically techno or tech house which is popular nowadays. There are three tracks on the EP, all pretty different from each other. ‘Hot Moog’ has a heavy techno kick, bass and groove, with short synths and female vocal moments going through it. ‘Miss You’ is more funky, with two bass lines following each other, one is static and the other changes frequencies and resonance all the time. There is a male ‘miss you’ vocal on top and a strong break with a combination of snares and claps. ‘Digitalism’ is my favourite track on the EP. This is my typical sound, with a strong kick and bass, crazy groove and modulated synth melodies.
How do you set about writing tracks and what are your favourite studio toys?
MT: I work with VST Instruments, and manage and control them with midi controllers. I used to work with Cubase, however recently I’ve switched to Ableton and I am now discovering new sounds and features. At the moment, I have in my studio a RME Fireface UCX sound card, KRK monitors, Maschine MK2, Korg Microcontrol midi controller and new toy Arturia Beatstep Pro Sequencer. I use many VST instruments to get my own sound such as Native, Spectrasonics, Arturia, Moog and many others. My favourite VST is Trilian, I’ve made bass lines with it in many of my tracks.
You’ve also got a pretty impressive remix portfolio including Mauro Picotto, Sebastian Leger, Cristian Varela, Stefano Noferini, Chus & Ceballos, ANNA, Manuel De La Mare, Paolo Mojo, Marko Nastic and Boris to name a few, what’s been your highlight so far?
MT: The most successful were remixes for Mauro Picotto, Stefano Noferini, Sebastien Leger and Anna.
Your remix of Johan Mila ‘Prisoner Of Anger’ has just come out on The Plot Music, how does it sound and are you happy with the results?
MT: To be honest I had a lot of problems working on this remix and spent more time on it than usual. I like the original track, but I had a problem to get the sound that I wanted, but after 6 or 7 versions I finally got it. When I tested it at a gig in Barcelona in April, I finally knew that I’d hit the right sound.
Who else would you most like to make a collaboration with or remix for?
MT: Gaiser, Dubfire, Richie Hawtin.
What’s been the biggest moment of your career so far?
MT: My most successful tracks are ‘Before Sunset’, ‘Physical Level’, ‘Front Pocket’, ‘Solar Wind’ which all reached very high positions on the Beatport sale chart. Also I’ve had some great gigs at big music events in Miami, Amsterdam, Mexico City and many other cool festivals.
Any plans for an album soon, what else do you have coming up?
MT: I’m thinking of working on an album, probably next year. I first need to finish the agreed and planned things for this year. After ‘Hot Moog’ on MFF, I’ve got an EP on Night Light Records and in September a collaboration EP with Uto Karem on Unrillis.
Tell us about your relationship with Sinisa Tamamović and your joint label Night Light Records?
MT: Sinisa Tamamovic and I are best friends and business partners and we are together in the music scene from the late 90’s. We started to organize events in our home town Banja Luka (BiH) and until today we work still together and support each other. We have been running Night Light Records since 2008 as a vinyl only label, then after couple of years we switched to digital. The label is doing really well. We kept and released only underground techno sounds. We recently had release number 143 and we had artists such are Juan DDD, Celic, Gaga, Alberto Ruiz, D-Deck, Alex Costa, Alex Mine, Dani Sbert, Paride Saraceni, Grasso & Maxim and of course Sinisa Tamamovic and myself, and many other great artists.
Who is currently rocking it on the Bosnian scene and who should we be on the look out for?
MT: Beside Sinisa and myself, I could highlight a couple of other names which work seriously in Bosnia such as Forest People, Black Acid, Rub a Dub, Zlatnichi and Alexander G.
Looking back, what piece of precious advice would you give to yourself when you were first starting out as a musician?
MT: I was very young when I started and and I’m satisfied with where I am now, but I made some mistakes along the way. My advice would be: don’t rush, don’t miss the chances and opportunities, think cleverly and don’t forget to focus more on the business and management side of the music industry.
We come to your house and raid your record collection, which embarrassing record do you need to chuck out the window as we arrive?
MT: I am not sure that there are any embarrassing records in my collection, because here in Bosnia it was very hard to buy records. In the late 90’s and early 00’s I needed to travel a couple of hours by car to Belgrade, Novi Sad or Zagreb to buy the record that I wanted, so somehow every record is in fact very precious. Lately, when internet buying started to be available, it made life a little more easier, but still I was only buying records which I really liked.
Which festival do you dream of playing at and which big events are you most looking forward spinning at this summer?
MT: Let’s say Awakenings or Time Warp. I have in my schedule a lot of nice festivals this summer, but I am most looking forward to the Fresh Wave Festival in August in the city of Banja Luka. This festival is happening in my home town, and I am the official resident of the festival and will host and play together with Dubfire, Carlo Lio, Shaded and many others.
‘Hot Moog EP’ is out now on My Favourite Freaks
