Bas Mooy: Krull & all that Jazz

I’m tired.

And I fully realize this is a terrible opening to an article, especially one about Bas Mooy; I wish to god I were more “genki” as the Japanese say – which basically means a combination of fine and energetic. But unless you’ve had your head buried deep inside some obscure sandbox in a place a thousand miles from the nearest social network or wireless connection you can probably suss out the terrain I’m traveling right now: I live in Tokyo, and on March 11th the east coast of Japan was hit by an earthquake that tipped the scale at around 9.0 on the Charles Richter magnitude charts.

But do you want to know what?

This man and his music has been one of the things that’s helped me to get through this rough patch, and he’s also someone I consider a good mate. As an Australian I don’t use this term lightly – bona fide mates are as rare as hen’s teeth, but somehow, even though we’ve never met, we’ve developed a genuine mateship over the past year that’s remarkable.

It turns out that Bas and I are kindred spirits. We both make music but we both also love the written word with a passion that’s scary – so we made our recent to-and-fro interview something special. We’re not only both doting dads, but his remix of my track ‘Get Away From It All‘, digitally released on Elektrax and on 12″ through IF?, cemented the respect.

Bas Mooy, for those who haven’t encountered the man, is perhaps the enfant terrible of the current techno scene, but he’s hardly a fresh face or newcomer to the scene. This 34-year-old Dutchman has been around for an age and is now finally getting the plaudits he deserves for his DJ mixes as much as for his brilliant tunes – and, as intimated above, he’s not afraid to put pen to paper (or at least use a keyboard) to discuss where he’s coming from.

He has a new 12″ record soon out through Darknet called ‘Krull’ which I’m personally blown away by – for his original mix as much as by the Ortin Cam and DJ Hi-Shock & Gayle San remixes.

What follows is an intuitive discussion about his origins and his passions, and much as I’d love to format this into a tight story, there’s just no need – so let’s go basic Q&A to give him a chance to really say how he feels.

Anyway, without further self-indulgence or references to the current grand scheme of things, here’s what he had to say.

You’ve been making tunes for around 8 years, right? What was your first record, when was it released, and what do you think of it now, with the benefit of hindsight?

“I’ve been making music since 2003, I think. The first track that came out was a remix of a Mhonolink track, I think, which we released on his ‘Redlitedelite’ EP on Audio Assault 003. It was a collaboration with Jeroen Liebregts [Radial]. Even though I was really insecure about it and I probably wasn’t ready for it by far, it actually got picked up by some of the bigger names back then, which was pretty cool. How do I look back on it? Well, to be honest, I don’t think it was either really good or really bad, but I try to not rear vision too much.

“When I listen to older tracks I can only think about what I want to change and how bad the quality is every now and then. Being part of a scene where there’s already so much to be frustrated about, it seems like a wise decision to focus mainly on my future productions rather than that old stuff, and leave the past for what it is. I’m still learning so much every year, so when I look back it might have been smart to have waited for a bit more studio experience before actually releasing something, but in the end I guess you have to take opportunities when they come along. I think you shouldn’t regret decisions like this, since I’d rather fuck something up badly than always have the thought of ‘what might have happened if…’ in the back of my mind.”

How do you feel electronic/dance music itself has changed over the past 10-15 years?

“For me personally the techno that was made during the ’90s is still the best there is. I still combine loads of that classic material with the newer things when I play. It’s great to have experienced a time where music like that was played in many of the clubs around Europe. I’m really happy I experienced that part of techno history in the club scene. When I listen back to many of these tunes they can still fit in perfectly in today’s techno and even blow away current big tunes.

“It’s cool to keep this ‘techno sound’ alive and maybe even ‘educate’ the next generation, although I don’t mean that in an arrogant way or anything; I just feel that most of the new generation don’t know what they’re missing out on. If I can make a couple of kids look back and discover the great old stuff that has been made, then that’s cool. It might even inspire them to try and make something influenced by this direction too, instead of copying Beatport’s Top 100 stuff. Looking back, I really miss the social aspect of a record store – just hanging out and talking about music, while listening to the new stuff that just came in.

“The main record street in Rotterdam used to have about ten records stores in just a couple of hundred metres… now there’re only three or two I think. The digital era killed vinyl stores and will kill vinyl in the end. But to be honest, I don’t really want to be too sentimental about that. It’s how it is and we need to deal with it. I guess when there was only vinyl there was a much bigger filter on the whole output than nowadays. There’re just so many digital labels out there that release as much as possible. I have recently been overwhelmed by the amount of promos and demos I get.

“I really wanna listen to all tunes I get sent, but it takes away so much time and there’s only a very small percentage that I real like. Unfortunately some of the kids these days just wanna be superstars within a week after they bought their first computer and illegally downloaded sample-packs and VSTs. So many producers out there just paste some sample pack loops into Ableton and work on it for two hours and consider it finished. I’m always looking for tracks from people who try to add something original to their tracks and do it in their own way. Use their own recordings and loops instead of fabricated loops and be creative. Also, the slick sounding productions these days just inspire me to make my stuff dirtier and grittier then ever before. Before I get carried away too much in a negative sense, it’s good to see that people can make music and release stuff without owning an expensive studio, etc. It’s just so much easier now to make music – which means there’re many producers out there nowadays, which basically means there’s a shitload of new stuff coming out on a daily basis, especially since there’re tons of digital labels. Like Chris Finke said in an interview the other day: ‘Everybody used to be a DJ, and nowadays everyone is a producer’. I think you can add ‘label owner’ to that also. I think there’s still a lot of new talent out there, but it’s harder to get noticed these days. Overkill, overkill, overkill… I hope I can read this back and don’t feel too much like an old man, complaining about the current scene… Everything used to be so much better… blah blah blah…

“To end with something positive, I actually like performing with Ableton better then playing records, since I think my sets have become way more powerful and dynamic. To that end I think only the real deck wizards, like [Jeff] Mills, can still make a vinyl set more interesting then a digital set. It’s about what you get served on the dancefloor and I really don’t think the majority of party people care what format it is. It’s usually just a small group of people who have a problem with it. Most others just want to have a good time and dance and in my opinion that’s what it’s mainly about.”

Here’s the mandatory inane question: If you were pressed into a corner and forced to confess under great duress, how would you define the sounds/styles you’re currently producing?

“It’s always hard to describe what you’re doing yourself, that’s why I’d rather let other people define it! My latest release on Audio Assault was described by Juno using words such as: gritty, distorted, screeching metal. Currently I’m mainly focused on 128-130 BPM stuff – dirty, with a dark edge if I really have to label it myself. I’m using a lot of distortion lately; maybe its a counter-reaction to all the insanely clean and crystal clear, sample-CD based stuff out there at the moment. I’m always trying to become a better producer and still searching for what I really want to make, which is a constant journey, I guess. But I accomplished a wider bandwidth already, which is nice; it gives me some space and air to breath, since I get claustrophobic every once in a while from all the boxes we like to put our music and styles into.

“My main goal is to be as free as possible from outside influences, slowly getting there, but its a long road and I even doubt if I will ever get there. Getting older make me see things more into perspective and makes me care less about what others think, which is nice. I just enjoy making music and that’ s it… If you like it, that’s nice, but feel free to dislike it or even hate it.”

What are the main differences for you in making music and DJing?

“I think I feel more confident while I am DJing, since you get an immediate crowd response – which I’m sometimes missing in the studio. I can work on stuff for weeks and feel totally good about and then listen to it and think it’s complete shit. It’s hard to be your own judge. I always need to focus and convince myself that the way I’m following is the right way. Although I also strongly believe that even taking the wrong way can eventually lead to the right path again, in life, but also in music. In the end the journey is more important then the destination, at least in my opinion. I guess when you are DJing you can also use material from others to get a certain result and in the studio you are completely on your own. But in the end nothing beats the feeling of creating a tune you feel good about – when the sounds come together and you know you’re onto something. Then the first time you play it in a club and it hits the spot…Euphoria!”

Which artists and record labels tend to pop up in your sets these days?

“The first name that pops up is Luke Slater. I’m a big fan of Luke and his Planetary Assault Systems alter ego; such a legendary discography. Always delivering something new and different. I play almost every tune he releases. I Also really like the Mote Evolver output, especially the last couple of releases – they’re taking it to a direction that really appeals to me. I just got the promo in from his upcoming PAS release on ME, another outstanding piece of work.

“I also play many of the classic ’90s stuff by legends such as Robert Hood, Surgeon, Regis, Speedy J, Jeff Mills, James Ruskin, Steve Rachmad. And I’m a big fan of labels such as Stroboscopic Artefacts, Perc Trax, CLR, Electric Deluxe, Blueprint and Ostgut Ton. So I play a lot of Dettmann, Klock, Peter van Hoesen, Jonas Kopp, Lucy, Perc and Xhin tunes. I’ve really liked all the Traversable Wormhole tunes and remixes – Adam X made quite an impact with this project.

“Tommy Four Seven is definitely one of my favourite producers, and I really like his raw and dirty approach a lot. I also really like Delta Funktionen, and have been digging most of his stuff a lot; Go Hiyama has been one of my favourite producers since we first signed him for Audio Assault. Never disappointing and always quality dark stuff. Also big ups for Simon [DJ Hi-Shock], who is doing an amazing job at the moment, producing a lot of new tunes, running several labels and combining talented newcomers with legendary names.

“I can go on forever, ‘cos names keep popping up: Forward Strategy Group, Exium, Reeko, Wunsch, Sawf, Mulero, Pacou, Little Nobody, Mike Parker, Ortin Cam, Radial, Orphx, Shed, and the list goes on and on. I’m currently listening a lot to Dead Sound. If you would ask me the same question in one hour I will probably add more names to the list… It’s just great to be able to combine all these different styles into a mix. That’s definitely one of the big advances of slowing down my tempo a little bit… I guess my sets are a combination of the current Berlin kind of techno – only the filthy, dirty stuff! – old ’90s techno, and ‘Audio Assault’ techno. A pretty dark and strong cocktail, I guess…”

What on earth keeps you motivated after so long working in this biz, and what do you foresee happening with the music we care about in 2011?

What keeps me motivated is the fact that every year I think my sound is changing a little bit and is getting slightly better. I guess when you’re making the same style of techno for over ten years you can get bored, that’s why I understood some of the techno guys jumping into this minimal adventure some years ago – although I never had the urge to do it myself. But on the other hand I just don’t try to think about stuff like that too much. I just make music that I like and I’m glad it slowly changes over the years. Sometimes it’s a banging 132 BPM screaming beast and the other time it’s a glitchy, dirty, rumbling 126 BPM slower one. I try to make what I like, but on the other hand of course you also get influenced by the ‘outside studio world’. And to be honest, sometimes I need a slap in the face, so I can return to reality – ‘cos I can get carried away with a certain direction or new influence every now and then.”

“What also motivates me is how happy I am to be able to life from my music. I spend many days in my studio, play gigs on the weekends, and have loads of time to spend with my daughter – which would basically be impossible if I was working a nine to five, which I actually did four years ago.

“I feel lucky to be able to make my money with music, so I can’t complain. What also keeps me motivated is the ever ongoing production of great techno by new people and new directions the music takes every time. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of this new heavy, bass-driven, clean techno that’s really popular at the moment. Personally I prefer the darker, slower direction that some labels/artists are taking right now. The current wave of dark, slow, dirty stuff is right up my alley. It’s really good to combine with the older stuff I like so much. I like my music to be dirty and dark.

“I’d rather have this horror show, ‘road to hell’ experience than riding a happy roller coaster in a theme park! [laughs]. Well, let’s say the last year really inspired me to find a new direction, which I’m currently taking – not a complete change of sound, but just sudden new insights in the direction to follow. But I will always keep on pushing this ‘old school’ ’90s techno. How cool is it when the kids come and ask you what new record that is, and it’s actually a classic Surgeon tune from 1996, which can still live up to the standard and kills every time you drop it? There’re definitely more people asking for the darker, banging stuff again. It’s slower then it used to be, but I like it even better now. I really feel this ‘dark’ direction is getting bigger every day.”

How has being a father changed the way in which you approach music and the DJ/production lifestyle in general?

“When my girlfriend told me she was pregnant, I had just quit my job to focus on music full-time, so I guess you could say the timing wasn’t the best. But I immediately felt this was something that would change my life in several positive ways. My daughter Amélie is the best thing that ever happened to me. She really made me realize what’s important and what’s not. It made me care less about so many other things. She’s turning three next month and time flies, so I try to enjoy every moment with her as much as I can. My girlfriend works part-time, so we get to spend so many hours with her. In a world where most parents work five days each, I think we are very lucky to be able to do it this way. Sometimes it’s difficult to switch from the DJ/producer to father-mode – with the traveling, etc, it can be quite tiring, getting home after almost no sleep and traveling for twelve hours and be the fun daddy again. But as soon as she comes running to me and jumps into my arms and starts hugging me, you tend to forget how tired you actually are.

“It’s difficult sometimes to fit in a DJ/studio life in your family life, especially since inspiration isn’t something you can plan ahead. Sometimes there’s just no time to get to the studio or to finish something, which can be a bit hard and frustrating every now and then. But my girlfriend is really supportive and gives me as much time as possible to work on my music. With a less understanding girlfriend I guess it would be so much more difficult. These days I also try to party a bit less hard then I used to. Not too many after-parties and trying to get some sleep in the hotel instead of hammering booze after my gig! [laughs] I still like to party every now and then, but as you get older you realize that’s it’s actually nice to not have a hangover on a Sunday; besides that, everyone who’s travelled by plane while experiencing a massive hangover will agree there’s not a lot of fun in that…”

What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment?

“I use a Mac, Ableton, Maschine, Genelec speakers, A&H mixer, a 303, Aphex 204 and several software synths – with Komplete from Native Instruments being the most important. I love to experiment with old ‘useless’ machines I run into, such as an old radio with tape deck i found in my basement. I also recently found a tape with a course to learn Japanese, from 1968, that belonged to my grandfather. That stuff makes me happy. Just recording the voices and cutting them up. I’m currently looking for some hardware, but not sure what I wanna get yet and I don’t want to rush it. I think you don’t actually need much these days, but it’s nice to play with and get some new inspiration.”

Which part of your studio is the most vital facet?

I guess that’s the space itself. I currently have a great space 200 metres from my house. It’s a studio that I share with one of my best friends, Boris Ross. It’s a space that has two studios, a kitchen, chill-out space and a big basement. Really nice! Our old studio was on the other side of the city and only had one studio room. Now we have two, which is so much more flexible and efficient to work in. And I really missed the social part of hanging out in the studio together. It can get kind of lonely every now and then and it’s just nice to have some proper feedback while you are working on something or just drink a cup of coffee or some whisky together.”

How do you feel about the course of Audio Assault nine years later?

“I’m happy with the direction of the label. I think the label followed the same direction that we followed as artists. It got a little slower but still stands for quality, dark techno in my opinion. Working together with Jeroen [aka Radial] always went really smoothly and we are a good team, I think. Our tastes are alike in many ways, but every now and then it’s probably easier to run something by yourself; that’s why I also decided to start a new label again. It’s in the process of starting up now, so more news on that soon! But I feel lucky to have been able to release so many great tracks over the years and I am proud of the discography we built.”

Recently you’ve been done some killer vinyl for Audio Assault, Planet Rhythm and IF? – do you set yourself any perimetres for each label you work with, or do you give yourself freedom to move?

“Usually I just make tunes and then start to think about where it can fit label-wise after it’s finished. Regarding remixes I recently discovered I might be adjusting a bit too much to the sound of the original artist or label every now and then. I’m not the fastest producer around and, besides that, I’m only releasing a small part of what I actually make – so recently I decided to take it easy on the remixes. I just finished the last one that was on the list and now I’ll be focusing on my own stuff for awhile. There’re a couple of labels I wanna send some tunes to and I’m slowly getting there. But I used to work too much with deadlines, which sometimes lead to me being not completely happy after all. Sometimes I made it hard for myself, because I was really trying to stay within the bandwidth of a label’s sound, and then you’re just compromising – and that’s never good, I think. So no compromises anymore from now on.”

Tell us all about the upcoming ‘Krull’ release.

“The ‘Krull’ track has been a complete nightmare building, actually. I had the concept ready pretty fast and then sent it to Simon [Hi-Shock] from Elektrax, who was immediately interested. So we started to talk about remixers and in the end he teamed up with Gayle San for a remix, Audio Injection did one, and also my homeboy Ortin Cam.

“This sounded like a solid and diverse package. I decided to leave the track for a while and then finish the final mix in a month or so. Then the trouble started, ‘cos soon I realized I used way too many layers in this tune, but people were already remixing and I just couldn’t get it right anymore – up to a point that I almost decided to leave it for what it was. Then I decided to give it one more try and that actually turned out pretty evil. I immediately got great support for it, so I’ve actually looked forward to this being released – a lot.”

The ‘Get Away From It All’ 12-inch received great responses from people like Trevor Rockcliffe, Orlando Voorn, Lenny Burden (Octave One), Angel Alanis, Dustin Zahn, Audio Injection and BCR Boys. When you did the remix, did you have a particular game-plan or style you wanted to use, or did it just create itself?

“Sometimes I wish I could be work with game plans, since I always just start and see where it goes, which sometimes leads to having to start all over again. But I actually like the process of building something layer by layer, especially when certain sounds just seem to fall in perfectly. I liked to do this remix, since there were a lot of loops and sounds to work with, which isn’t always the case when you remix. In the end I was pretty pleased with the result. It’s always nice to get support from people you respect; that means a lot to me. For me, personally, I really appreciate the support I get from DJ/producers, especially ones who at first don’t seem to be into the same kind of style. It’s cool if you managed to build a bridge in between styles. I’ve been stigmatized in the ‘hard’ techno corner for so long, so it feels good that my stuff can fit smoothly into a 128-130 BPM set these days – but it’s also played by the more energetic hard-groove DJs that still play at 136-138 BPM.”

You’ve also remixed Gayle San and Virgil Enzinger for Elektrax, as well as Jeroen Liebregts (Radial), Christian Wunsch and Go Hiyama for Audio Assault. In remixing, how do you assert the Bas Mooy signature?

“Like I said, I actually think I adjusted a bit too much in some of my remixes. In the end it will always have your signature on it, since I guess you work in certain patterns – which one way or the other will always be repeated, without sometimes even noticing yourself. Sometimes when you think you’re making completely different tunes, other people still see similarities and they label it as a typical ‘Bas Mooy’ tune. In the end I think that’s cool, since it means I feel free to do what I want and explore different styles and cross certain boundaries and still be appreciated.”

Any upcoming Bas Mooy remixes/events/releases we should know about for 2011?

“My new release on Audio Assault has been out since last month, with remixes by Patrick Walker from FSG and Go Hiyama; besides that there’s my remix of Little Nobody’s ‘Get Away From It All’ which is now out as a digital file also, after being released on vinyl last year. Also out now is a remix of Go Hiyama’s ‘Doubt’ on Blank Records. I just finished remixes for JT Kyrke and DJ Hi-Shock; they were actually the last ones for a while, since the last two years I spent way too many time on doing remixes.

“I have problems saying no when it comes to remixes, but I’d really like to focus on my own stuff for a while now. In May the ‘Krull‘ 12″ release on Darknet will be out. I also just finished a couple of new tracks and there’s a lot more in progress. I’m working on some new tunes for labels that I want to try to get my new stuff on, and later this year there will be a new Planet Rhythm release and an Audio Assault release. There’s a versus with Radial, but we need to finish that – we did four tracks, but they still need some work and in the end it might even be that we won’t release them. I also did some new tracks with Ortin Cam, but we’re not sure where we want to release it yet.

“Regarding events, in the coming months I’ll be playing gigs in Holland, Spain, Italy, Wales, Belgium and more to follow soon. The last few months I’ve also been brainstorming a lot about my new label – this is a project that I’m really looking forward to, and although vinyl is dying I still want to release on vinyl, so long as it’s possible. Even though I don’t play the medium myself anymore, it feels like an obligation to those who still support vinyl – and it’s just cool to hold a physical product instead of staring a .WAV file. But we’re at a point where it’s almost costing money to release on vinyl, so it that may be over very soon, I’m afraid.”

© 2011 Andrez Bergen