Reflective work inspired by his time living in the greatest musical city in the world (Berlin), Kasket is about to return to R&S’s more ambient / left-field outshoot Apollo on October 13 with the release of his super dreamy ‘Synthesis’ EP. Across its five tracks the release touches on elements of jazz, funk, and general soundscapes, beginning and ending with improvised synth explorations created as a result of raw experimentation – “I was just seeing what mess I could come up with. Beautiful mistakes.”
I’ve been lucky enough to have a chat with Kasket ahead of its release while also premiering track #2, ‘We Heart London’, a vocal-lead groover with the help from West London rapper Danny Jaqq who emphasises spoken word rather than melody. So check out our chat below and definitely have a listen to the track, it’ll be out October 13.
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It’s been 5-ish months since ‘Where is Alice’; it seems your production has changed across the two EPs in terms of their melodic focus, is this something you tried to highlight in ‘Synthesis’? More of an ambient vibe throughout?
I like to push myself in new way of working. There’s definitely an ambient vibe about it, but also a ruff sound to. I can’t stay I planned it that way, it just happens to sound like that after I made it. I don’t like to over think when I work, I go with what I feel on the day.
How was it working with Danny Jaqq? How’d that come about?
Working with Danny has been great, really nice guy and we are planning on working more together on tracks. A good friend of mine introduced me to Danny, he works for an agency and I was talking to him about getting some vocals on some track. I’m very picky when it comes to vocals, but Danny’s words and voice fitting really well, it all came together very naturally!
Even if someone tried, the EP cannot be pigeonholed to just one – or even two – genres. Do you have a preferred style of music in mind to create when you head into a release, or do you really try to not be confined to one particular sound to the point where listeners are constantly surprised by the sounds of your music?
It’s really hard to say. A lot of these I just roll with, I have concept for each EP, but if that concept stays is another thing. I think it’s impossible to not have a sound as long as you’re honest when creating.
Nobody really wants to call it ‘intelligent dance music’ – braindance, electronica, bleep techno, experimental – anything sounds better than dubbing anything you don’t know how to label IDM, but it seems the terms has stuck, and your music could definitely fit into its kinda ambient/left-field/moody reach. This is a super ambiguous and difficult question, but if you could have a favourite tune out of this so-called ‘IDM’ genre from any form and from any time, what would it be?
Whoa, that’s a hard one. But think if you’re going to go down that road I would say one of my all-time favourite tunes is “Come On My Selector” by Squarepusher. Mad and funky.
Yeah, that is a mad tune. Almost jungle-y. What’s next in-store after ‘Synthesis’ gets released?
More EP’s and an album and in going to start getting some live footage together. Planning on recording a full live set.
Are you touring, or have you got any gigs lined up to shine more light on the EP?
I have a few gigs coming up, Ukraine, Belgium, and Holland. Playing a few R&S nights. Hopefully more at the end of the year too!
Good good, looking forward to it. Who’s a producer you’d really be keen to collaborate with?
Would love to work with “long arm” or maybe (in a dream world) Herbie Hancock.
Dope! Ahere would you like to be as a producer in say, 5 years’ time? Any big goals?
Just to keep writing music, albums and other projects. I love working with other musicians so I hope to maybe do some collaborative work as well and doing some more composing for film.
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Kasket’s ‘Synthesis’ EP is out October 13 on Apollo.
Twitter: @kasketmusicuk / @Apollo_Records
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