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Molek FMMono/Poly: Astral Beats
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Mono/Poly at Low End Theory from flying lotus on Vimeo.
Do you think music production comes too easy these days? Anyone can just download a music software off the internet and make music now.
It’s easier for sure, but that’s not automatically going to make you a good producer. I come from a generation of people who made stuff from the MPC, and nothing really changed. I mean, sure everything got easier, we got Ableton and all these softwares that make everything easier and faster, but if you don’t know the fundamentals of producing then it’s still not going to sound good. Even though it’s easier, at the end of the day it comes down to how you put the work down, you know.
What’s the secret to a good beat?
If you’re gonna make beat music, make sure you work on your drums. It doesn’t mean you come up with complex patterns, just make it sound good. Everything should fall into place then most of the time.
What’s your set up like? Tell us your favourite piece of technology in music making.
MPC 2000xl, Ableton Live, Massive, Kontakt, FM8, Virus TI, Roland XV5050. I think the Ableton Live is my favourite piece of technology.
Being someone who is more of a producer than a DJ (one that makes particularly atmospheric music to boot), is it a different experience when playing to a crowd in a club?
Yeah, it’s definitely a different experience. It’s not hard for me to get a crowd dancing but it’s not always my intent when I’m producing to make a crowd dance. So when I’m playing at certain places where all people want to hear is rap music that is being played on the radio, it annoys me. My approach is more catered toward the creation of sound and music as an art form and not just mindless entertainment. Though not everything I do is serious… it’s about having fun too!
How was it transitioning from producing to actually play in front of people?
It was in my third year in college, which is later on in my producing career, that I started out playing out. Around 2007, 2008 or something. It’s not too hard to pick up. I made it harder than I actually need to in the beginning since I liked to make super complex effects, even now. It was almost like I’m experimenting on the fly without knowing how it was going to sound. I can do a f*cking sh!tty show because I was trying to do something new, but sometimes I have to go from there to learn from it. Now I’m trying to keep things simpler, but yeah, it wasn’t hard! When I look at everybody else and what they do, they barely do anything, you know. So f*ck it, I don’t need to do more than I need to. I do just enough – just play the music.
You’ve been travelling a lot lately, how does that inspire you musically?
It’s really inspiring. I’ve always love going away, even in the States. Meeting new people, seeing the reaction of the crowd… it’s always inspiring when you make something and you can tell people like it. It just makes me wanna work harder and come out with new music. I’m happy that I’m in a place where I can explore what I want, I’ve established that, you know. No matter how hard it was in the beginning with trying something new and waiting for people to accept it, it’s not that bad.
Can you give us a glimpse of something new you’re working on?
I have a new record that I want to play somewhere soon. Think I’m gonna make a totally new set for it because it’s a different approach to my music. I’m really proud of it. It’s called Golden Skies and it’s coming out in September. It’s really beautiful, I can’t wait to show people the record. It’s a lot easier to get into, it doesn’t have a lot of intense stuff. It’s really relaxing.
