Words by Art Jefferson
Photos by Daniel Hafner, Garfield Trummer, courtesy of Simon/off
Austrian producer Simon/off isn’t concerned about being pigeon-holed into one particular genre, but rather having the flexibility to navigate between sounds to produce a great outcome. The results are forward thinking electronic music that could indeed glide through various styles, whether garage, grime, broken beat, bass or jungle – all which are boundless and prodigious.
Based in the city of Graz, Simon/off’s releases include “Realize It” on Haunted Audio, the “Forever” EP on Immerse, the “Planetary Communication” EP on Phuture Shock, and the “Take It Back” EP on his own crew’s label disko404, just to name a few.
The “Molecules” EP is the latest work by Simon/off which will get released on March 10th on the Phuture Shock label. Similar to previous recordings, it is a composite of future forward electronica that continues to astound.
Art Jefferson – While some people have tried to affiliate your sound with UK bass, I would actually say that I hear elements of future jazz and broken beat in some of your work. What are some of your personal influences musically?
Simon/off – Well, names and terms always just scratch on the surface of what’s actually behind. On the other hand, humans seem to need those terms to classify their perceptions and discuss them with others – those terms are also always somehow referential to different points in time, to (music) scenes, to countries, cities and so forth. So, someone stating his music as broken beat and future jazz would nowadays (to some people) refer to a scene from the past – which is absurd but understandable. And by the way, isn’t it already called future bass anyway? 😉
Anyway, talking about influences, it’s a bit tricky. Sure there are certain records, certain tunes that had an impact on me but it always depends on where I get my musical kick at the moment – as a listener, as a producer, as a DJ, or as a vinyl digger. So I could name you 5 really important personal records today, and next week I’d rate totally different tunes. It’s all mixing up in my head. And there are loads of different musical results – sometimes they’re not even manifested as tunes. And those of mine that appear on records are just what seem releasable for a certain label at a certain point in time.
Art Jefferson – When did you first begin producing, and what style of music was it?
Simon/off – When we were kids my sister, my brothers and me experimented a lot with tapes and keyboards and microphones, doing loops, voiceovers, environment recordings, terrorizing neighbours with sounds – that kind of stuff. With a bit of a break when school got too hectic I re-started doing music with a tracker program when I was 18 (were talking ‘95 here). You know pre-internet, in a small town behind the Alps – you can’t compare this with nowadays! Getting a certain record was just like “boooooom”! Nothing was “available”, no “How to write a EDM hit in 5 minutes” guide on YouTube 😉
Musically I was (still with my brothers) experimenting in a lot of different directions. It all ended up in a kind of Rephlex / Warp influenced project called Winterstrand (http://www.discogs.com/artist/109307-Winterstrand). We then did some Net label / creative commons releases. I think the last one was around 2007. My first solo 12″ was released in 2005.
Art Jefferson – You’re hailing from Austria, which boasts quality acts such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, and so forth. How would you describe the current scene in Austria at the moment?
Simon/off – Funny that K&D are still a referential point after 15 years of their musical heights. 😉
Well, EDM and (cheap) 4/4 are everywhere and everyone’s a DJ now. There’s a lot of people in it for money – lol.
But if you’re taking a deeper look it is quite diverse here – you can find a lot of quality DJs / musicians / bands / crews / labels in almost any subgenre you can imagine…mostly in Graz, Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck. Working with an international focus is standard for most people here.
To highlight some: IZC / Dubsquare ( http://dubsquare.net). Dorian Concept, Clonious, Cid Rim, Ogris Debris from the Affine Camp ( http://affinerecords.com ), Rer Repeter + Die Hand aka El Rakkas from Offseason (http://offseason.at) , Aplot + Dizzy Womack (Tiefparterre – http://soundcloud.com/tiefparterre-records), Austrian Juke pioneer Franjazzco (Footwork Frenzy – http://footworkfrenzy.com ), Slobodan Kaykut (God Records – http://godrec.com), Hella Comet ( https://soundcloud.com/hellacomet ), Fontarrian ( https://soundcloud.com/fontarrian ), etc.
I generally like the vibe in my hometown Graz! Everything is a bit more laid back here than in Vienna and no one’s taking it too seriously – no big conflicts within the scene and not too much competition – everything feels very underground here.
Unfortunately were getting more and more political pressure on the club scene lately. Venues and non-commercial places are being shut down. There are more and more restrictions going on. And the overall feeling of “freedom” within the city is declining. Some people are quite active to fight back – which gives a bit of hope though.
Art Jefferson – You’re releasing your “Molecules EP” through Phuture Shock Musik. I must say that every track is top notch. How long did it take to record the new record?
Simon/off – Thank you! 🙂 I have to admit – I don’t know. The tracks are from 4 total different production periods within 3 years. Sometimes labels are just sleeping on stuff (Phuture Shock thankfully didn’t!) and I never get them signed, which seems to happen hopefully not only to me lol. Anyway “Rhythm 38” is the freshest one, from a time where I just tried to kick out as many tunes from my DAW as possible in short time. Post-production & mixing always needs a bit of time though :), especially when you’re not thinking of the mixing down aspect during the creative process – this can be a pain in the ass sometimes. But it would feel kind of weird to produce something for the sole dance floor impact.
Art Jefferson – Talk about the disko404 crew and record label which you’re a part of.
Simon/off – disko404 ( https://soundcloud.com/disko404) is existing since about 11 years now. My hometown Graz is small. So when you are in the same town and you are sharing the same (musical) interests you just start to work together. And as I thought of starting a label already for quite some time we just joined forces. Basically were doing it to feature befriended artists and our own musical output. There is about 10 of us, so naturally our musical tastes are really diverse. You won’t find just one certain style on the label as it is more a reflection of an ongoing musical orientation and process of change.
Our next 12″ will be by IZC – long time friend and producer from Vienna. Its sparse and powerful analogue leftfield grime / techno influenced stuff. A couple more releases are also planned for this year – watch out!
Art Jefferson – In terms of production gear, what are your preferred choices when creating and why?
Simon/off – It’s been just my laptop for quite some time now – but right now I’m starting to experiment with analogue gear again. Changing DAW and thinking of a different workflow – it’s these natural changes you need from time to time I guess. Actually I think the way you produce is not necessarily influencing the way your music sounds. It’s more a change of thinking / acting – but changing the equipment helps to change these parameters in your head I guess…maybe I’m simply over-thinking here 😉
Art Jefferson – Being so experimental with your production, what sort of sounds are you currently spinning as a DJ?
Simon/off – Generally I try to find the right balance between moving a crowd and also giving them kind of weird stuff. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Usually it’s something between 120 and 140, but I love to span the sounds as wide as possible from 70’s disco to bassy stuff, to juke, jungle and minimal D&B with some noisy ambient or jazz in-between. This works out like twice a year or something. But then it can be magical! Having something like a real musical trip is what I’m aiming for. Just 1 style for 2 hours is not my kind of thing.
Art Jefferson – I have to commend you for still playing vinyl. People say that there is a vinyl resurgence happening. What are your thoughts?
Simon/off – Well it’s just my favourite medium. I love going to 2nd hand shops and flea markets. I love the tactile aspect – I love the sound and smell of old records. You just can’t have this with digital files. I do also play digital though, but I never would totally switch over I guess. I actually played digital-only for quite some time in 2005/2006 with Ableton – it has a certain fun factor and there are loads of possibilities you simply can’t have with vinyl, but while I love to have all those possibilities when playing live sets, I’m happier with certain restrictions while playing vinyl.
Plus there is also the aspect of quality in mastering – I assume there are way more vinyl labels investing in good mastering than digital labels. Loudness war and bleeding ears are the result.
By the way I’m waiting for the resurgence on quality equipment in clubs though. Too many 1210’s in bad conditions, too many sound engineers not even knowing that you can cause feedback on turntables when not placing them right. Also bringing my own needles unfortunately has become a standard.
Art Jefferson – Finally, what other projects will you be working on this year?
Simon/off – There is another EP forthcoming on Car Crash Set Records ( http://carcrashset.com/ ) – 3 originals + 3 remixes. A remix I did for Mite (Embassy), maybe another 12″ on disko404. Hopefully an album cassette release under my Mighty Buha (https://soundcloud.com/mighty-buha) moniker on Offseason Records later this year. And I definitely should find more time to do 160 stuff as Sun People (https://soundcloud.com/simon-off/sets/sun-people-disko404) as well. I will also continue to do the bi-weekly disko404 radio show ( http://www.mixcloud.com/disko404/) on Sub FM (http://www.sub.fm/).
http://soundcloud.com/simon-off
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http://residentadvisor.net/dj/simonoff
http://disko404.org/
http://simonoff.bandcamp.com/
http://www.mixcloud.com/simon_off/
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