Apple Music Interview
Describe one of your earliest musical memories in details.
​I started getting into music when I was a kid. One of my DJ friends gave me a computer program called "Fast Tracker 2" which is a modular tracker if anyone remembers. I was 13 years old at that time and was just starting to learn computers and everything related to them. After a long and painful installation, I was finally able to load a couple of samples into that "FT 2", arrange them as I wanted and press play. I was overjoyed. Now I could not only listen to other people's music and complain about the lack of this or that element in a song, but also change other's tracks and write my own. Days and nights I spent at my computer trying to create a dance song that would make a lasting impression on my classmates at the school disco. I ultimately accomplished my mix. It was a "Big Beat" track, a popular style at the time. I asked to go to the DJ's room for some time in which I performed my track. The audience appreciated it, and I was even asked to play it again. I experienced that exact feeling of self-satisfaction, happiness and finding meaning in life. Since that moment I haven't stopped making music, worked as a DJ in local clubs and as an audio engineer in independent studios. I wish all of you to follow your dreams, to try and not to give up. One day you will definitely break through that deaf wall between reality and dream.
What are your top 3 all-time favorite albums on Apple Music, and why?
Of the three essential albums in my life, "Dig Your Own Hole" by The Chemical Brothers. It has always hushed me down and given me peaceful and rational thoughts in my troubled head. When I need to perform some mechanical work, like assembling a computer or fixing a car, I play this album in the background.
One of the most beautiful and well produced releases I consider "Dead End Kings" by Swedish band Katatonia, especially the song "Decima", although it is not on this album. I enjoy Jonas Renkse's vocals as well as the drum parts, which I consider masterpieces. Predominantly I don't detect any flaws in this band's work, so I love listening to it, but there is one negative factor. After a couple of hours of listening to their albums I get depressed unfortunately, probably because of my Borderline Personality Disorder syndrome. That's why I consider the third album — the cure.
My favorite album to get me out of depression is "Radio Bemba Sound System" by Manu Chao. If I can't get out of my gloomy thoughts and sadness, I just play it. This album sound hyper fun and long enough to alter my mood and place my soul on a positive track. Definitely these are not my only three albums, but they are the first that entered my mind.
Find a song of yours on Apple Music that you love and tell us what makes it special.
All my songs are decent in their own way and if they weren't you wouldn't have heard them. Not everything I write goes into an album, some of the dull and ordinary stuff I simply delete. According to the listeners and me among others, my track "Vicious" from the album "Blush" is special. At least because it starts with electronic Gangsta — Hip Hop and in the middle goes into aggressive Metal — Drum 'n' Bass. The combination of styles is what I do, and it's not new, but this particular composition sounds special against the background of similar ones. It provides many hooks, and it hooks even me up and I'll be honest I listen to it in the loop in the evenings. It conveys what's going on in my head day in and day out.
Musical Influences, let us know what other artists and bands have influenced your musical style.
I decided to take a risk and develop something new. How many self-complete songs shorter than two minutes can you name? Probably not many. That was my idea to compose tiny tracks, not something like Intro or Skit, but accomplished tracks with hooks and melody. I also decided that since they are short and brief, so there are many of them in the album. It would be great to swap them around in a playlist and have them go from one to another in any position as one non-stop Megamix. I made them similar in that they start with a crash and end with a riser or uplifter. I called it the Mini-Tunes genre. The style of my music varies from light R&B to hard Breakbeat. However, my listeners say that my music bears signs of similarities of bands like The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. It's presumably because I was a fan of them all my youth. I have many respects for the work of Liam Howlett. One of my reference tracks is one of his compositions that I use to compare the bass and treble as many audio engineers do. I'm also influenced by Aphex Twin. When I doubt the adequacy of my composition and decide whether to leave this or that crazy piece of song, I recall the work of Richard D. James and leave it as is, assuming that he certainly would not have thought about it. Aphex Twin encourages me to carry out decisions about my song titles, for example. You may think my song titles are inadequate, but after announcing the names of Aphex Twin song names you won't think so. Don't get me wrong, I admire Richard's creativity. Many other bands have influenced my creativity, but to a lesser extent. Formerly I have listed and described exactly those bands and their styles which according to the listeners' opinion can be traced in my albums.