Electronic music has seen a boom in the last few
years and DJ’s have become more in demand now more than ever. How do you
explain the rise in popularity?
Electronic
music is relatively new. When we started playing shows 20 years ago we'd often
be asked 'where are the instruments?'. Mostly people have grown up with it now
and appreciate the skills needed to DJ. There are many reasons to socialize
that don't directly relate to the style of music being played of course.
After making music for 20 years, how do you stay
current?
It's up
to others to judge if we are. We keep up with the technology, the tools of our
trade but we try and let the music flow naturally without much or any concern
for current fads. We'd prefer to be in the moment rather than to follow it.
After 20 years, what still inspires you?
We
write to make ourselves feel better, to change or enhance our moods. This has
never changed and is never likely to.
London is the epicenter of all things dubstep
since the city is credited for birthing the genre? How do you feel about
dubstep? Does it represent the city?
We're
not big fans of genre labels in general and 'dubstep' is no exception. Labeling
restricts creativity to a degree. There is a need to categorize due to the
quantities of music becoming available but it leads to far too much
emulation.
London's
a richly varied city. No one music represents it. No one culture.
Has London influenced your work?
Undoubtably,
it's one of our favorite places. Immigration has enriched the City many times.
There are few Cities in the world that have this culturally diverse and embrace
it happily.
Your latest album, Scintilli was released
in 2011. What did you do different on this last record that you never
did before?
We've
used synthesized vocalists on a few tracks this time. The software is actually
a few years old now but it's new to us and we haven't heard it used elsewhere.
The result is not dissimilar to the heavy pitch correction favored by some pop
producers but we found it more interesting to make our 'singers' sing slightly
out of tune. It gives them far more character.
What does Scintilli mean?
It's a
made up word based on the Latin for 'spark'. To us it means 'I am many sparks'.
It's an attempt to describe the feeling music sometimes gives us. As if there
were sparks inside. People also call this feeling 'goose bumps' but that title
didn't go down well with the focus groups.
You have contributed much music to motion
picture soundtracks, do you like that better than crafting your own albums? Or
is it a totally different animal?
It's
quite different really, there is specific direction given. Michael Arias, the
director of the movies we've scored to date gave us quite a lot of space to
interpret his direction but even so we had to write for specific moments. The
timing and mood of the music is crucial. We enjoy writing music in
general, directed or not.
Given that your music is electronic and the
ever-changing landscape of technology we are in, do you, as a musician even
find it difficult to keep up with how fast technology changes? Do you still use
some gear from back when you started?
We
still have a few old Roland machines but they're rarely used these days. It's
not too difficult to keep up. The only barrier is money really. We're pretty
happy with the quality of digital synthesis now. We've used hardly any analog
or live recordings on this last album.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Our
recent work with the Southbank Gamelan players has been very educational,
definitely a highlight. We hope to develop and record the pieces we've written
and performed with them early next year.